Ninja Gaiden 2 // Xbox 360
Having recently completed both the excellent God of War and Devil May Cry 4, I was strangely drawn to Ninja Gaiden 2, a game I wouldn’t normally buy. It’s a gory hack ‘n’ slash type affair, not unlike the above, only it’s rubbish - unless you’re a die hard fan probably. I’m not (a fan), so I only managed up to the second boss before I became tired and put it on eBay.
Ninja Gaiden 2 is one of those games that basically makes your thumb hurt. It’s all about button mashing, which in my case is very random, and therefore unrewarding. On top of that the camera is jumpy and frustrating, it doesn’t look as good as everyone says it does and it feels very dated.
To cut a long story short; if you want a good hack ‘n’ slash (even if you generally don’t like them), go DMC4 or Chains.
Mobison
Michael Jackson Playmobil custom figures on Flickr..?
Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune™ - PS3
Drake’s Fortune is your classic ‘Tomb Raider’ adventure type game, combining beautifully rendered landscapes (and some are stunning), with pirates (arrrrrr - no not really) and treasure. Basically, you’re on an undiscovered island, where puzzle solving, jumpy platforming, and shooting are used to unearth an ancient mystery. Yawn.
I’m about 30% in, which is about two hours (it’s not an overly long game then). The majority of those two hours have been spent getting shot while trying to come to terms with the ineffective camera and control system. There’s a lot of suddenly looking at the sky, or a tree, or putting your gun away and ‘rolling into’ the guy with the AK47 - in the midst of a deadly battle. It’s pretty frustrating stuff.
Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, Wii
I, like all brought up on a diet of Shigeru Miyamoto games, was very excited by the prospect of a new Zelda outing. I have played Zelda from NES up and have enjoyed all the titles to date. Mostly. It’s been a while, and this version had been touted as a return to form after the slightly below par Windmaker.
Sadly, my excitement soon faded, and I once again found myself questioning the much-loved Nintendo. Twilight Princess is essentially a Game Cube port - but it feels like it belongs on the N64 (and on my HDTV it’s almost as milky).
The Wiimote is obviously the big USP here, but realistically (for me), it’s not as intuitive, accurate or easy to use as the N64 pad was for Ocarina. I am repeatedly finding myself annoyed at the apparent randomness and wavey nature of the controls.
The simple fact of the matter is, I’ve played Zelda for about 10 hours since it’s launch in early December – and that as any fan will know, is not much. I have tried and tried , but every time the frustration means I fail - and that says it all.
I play a lot of games - good games. And so by default, this is not a good game.
I just haven’t played it.
Come on Mario.
Kororinpa Wii
Bought a Wii, played Tennis (a bit), played Zelda (a bit), waited for software.
Kororinpa came out, played Kororinpa. Waving a Wiimote around to tip a platform/ball should be fun right? Wrong. Returned Kororinpa. Waited for software.
