February usually marks the beginning of the first quarter game rush. Despite not being as jam-packed with titles as past years, this February has been a good month for games. Nintendo launched the New Nintendo 3DS XL in North America with two highly anticipated portable games, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, and some big AAA titles like Evolve and The Order: 1886 dropped. It's easy to say February was quite an eventful month. As midterms and major projects will soon be a constant part of life, best to utilize the little free time I have to deliver another exciting edition of Bit by Bit.
Game of the Month
As much as I love the core Pokemon RPGs, I can honestly say Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire didn't excite me that much before their release. Nintendo and GameFreak have been releasing Pokemon RPGs every year since Pokemon Platinum released for DS in 2009 and I was starting to get sick of the yearly releases. Although I planned on buying one of the remakes no matter what (sorry, I'm a sucker for Pokemon), I seriously thought Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were going to be as disappointing as Black and White 2. Much like past entries, differences between the two versions are relegated to minor story alterations and Pokemon exclusive to one version over the other. While I only played Omega Ruby, my opinions on the game can be applied to Alpha Sapphire as well.
It may have taken a few hours of play, but oh was I ever so wrong about these games. Applying the 3D graphics of Pokemon X and Y to the third gen Pokemon games may be the most noticeable addition to these remakes, but it isn't the biggest. First, story has become a bigger part of recent Pokemon games and Omega Ruby makes huge advances in this area. The story is far more engaging than any Pokemon game before it especially the Delta Episode. Unlocked after beating the Elite Four, the Delta Episode links capturing Rayquaza into a Hoenn-wide adventure that has major implications on the series as a whole. Instead of skipping through story moments, I felt compelled to read through all the lines of dialogue for once. The other big additions change the means of exploring the world and capturing Pokemon. The DexNav app of the PokeNav makes finding and capturing Pokemon in each route a lot more approachable as it tells what Pokemon are in the immediate vicinity and helps in finding rarer Pokemon. Also the Soar ability adds a new dimension to exploring as you get to see Hoenn from the skies. Soaring makes the act of flying far more engaging than the fast-travel of regular flying and allows trainers to go off the beaten path to find Mirage Spots, special locations that offer the chance to catch rare and legendary Pokemon. After experiencing the wonders of soaring, I hope that it replaces Fly as the prime form for aerial travel in future Pokemon games.
Despite my early skepticism, Pokemon Omega Ruby turned out to be a great game that I gladly sunk my precious time into. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the game, enough to pick it for Game of the Month over The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, I still feel I am at my wits end with these yearly releases. I love Pokemon, but Nintendo and GameFreak please give us a year off!
Most Anticipated Game of the Month
It seems Intelligent Systems is dominating my Most Anticipated Game of the Month section this year. Last month, I gushed over the announcement of a new Fire Emblem for the 3DS. This month, I am eagerly anticipating Intelligent Systems' new intellectual property, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. First announced at last year's E3, Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. along with Splatoon represent the first new properties for the Big N since the early years of the Wii. Code Name: S.T.E.A.M.'s interesting look and the pedigree of Intelligent Systems sold me on the game initially then the demo came out and everything changed for the better.
Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. is one of those games that you can't capture the quality in screenshots or trailers—you need to get your hands on it. The demo takes players through the first few missions of the game, which slowly teach you the core mechanics of the game. Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. takes aspects from both Valkyria Chronicles and the newest X-Com and blend them into an extremely engaging turn-based strategy game with turns that play like a third-person shooter.
After getting hands-on with Code Name: S.T.E.A.M., I have a feeling this will be one of those great titles that gets lost in the shuffle because its a new IP and doesn't have much marketing from Nintendo. I highly recommend 3DS owners download the demo and give Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. a chance. It is well worth it
Video of the Month
There are times when a trailer comes around that just sells you on a game. It may only be a few minutes long, but everything contained in that video just leaves you in awe and wonder. That happened this past month with the newest trailer for Persona 5.
In all honesty, I am still fairly new to the Shin Megami Tensei franchise as I have only played the fourth entry in the main series. Despite my current unfamiliarity with the franchise, the trailer caught my full attention with its stylish UI, jazz soundtrack and unique gameplay mechanics. Seriously, traversing through the world like an action-platformer or sneaking up on enemies using cover in a JRPG is freaking awesome!
Thanks to this trailer I want to dive headfirst into the world of Persona. Be it Persona 3, 4, Q or Arena, I am really excited to get into this series when I have the time. Also I will definitely be there day one to buy the newest entry when it releases later this year.
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