September was an eventful month. I went to Fan Expo, spent three days powering through Mario Maker for a review, started classes for another year, and ended my post-secondary career in the span of 30 days. The last one might seem drastic and surprising, but it has been surprisingly refreshing. A great weight lifted off my shoulders when I handed in the withdrawal form. School took up every facet of life for the past five years, so to finally be done is surreal. Now, I got more time to play games!
Enough about me, we got games to talk about especially with the fall game rush in full effect. For the uninitiated, the fall game rush is the incredible amount of games that release from September to November each year. And I bet if you're a self-respecting gamer, you picking up at least one brand new title in the next few months. I know I'm buying quite a few.
Game of the Month
Super Mario Maker would be the easy choice for Game of the Month with its robust level editor and insane amount of user-created content, but I haven't spent as much time with the game that I originally thought I would. Mario Maker is one of the best games on the Wii U; it just hasn't grabbed me in the way I wanted it to. Outside of the first weekend owning the game, I've only picked it up a handful of times over the last few weeks. Let's just say seeing little reaction to your uploaded levels can be disheartening.
While Mario Maker didn't grab all my free time, Yacht Club Games' free expansion for Shovel Knight sure did.
In Plague of Shadows, you take control of Plague Knight as he collects the essence of his fellow knights in order to create the ultimate potion. Instead of relying on a shovel to bounce off enemies like a pogo stick, Plague Knight must use bombs, spells and his charge launch ability to reach the chambers of his former comrades. Although you play through the same levels that are in the main campaign, using Plague Knight's unique abilities makes each level play in a whole new way. Plus as an added bonus, each level has special area that only Plague Knight can get through. Plague Knight may be tricky to control at first, but you will definitely get the hang of his arsenal after the first few levels. In addition to the brand new campaign, Plague of Shadows adds a challenge mode with over 40 challenges to complete as Shovel or Plague Knight.
As an expansion, Plague of Shadows offers more content than most game expansions or DLC. Plus, it's all free for anybody who buys or already owns Shovel Knight! If the other planned expansions for the game are just as good as Plague of Shadows, Shovel Knight may be one of the top games for years to come.
Most Anticipated Games of the Month
I can't nail down my most anticipated game of September since I have three big game purchases during the first three weeks of October. Very similar to those picking up all the big AAA releases in November, October is my big rush of games. Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash drops Friday, October 9th followed by Yoshi's Wooly World a week after that and The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes just a week later. With all those games, I'm going to have quite a bit to talk about this upcoming month. No promises, but maybe I will get around to posting some reviews for them in the near future.
In all seriousness, I am really looking forward to playing all these new Nintendo games. Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash is going to be to closet thing to a new Castlevania until Bloodstained comes out in 2017, Yoshi's Wooly World might just be the best Yoshi solo outing in decades, and The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes takes the fun of multiplayer Zelda and melds it with the expert dungeon design of traditional 2D Zeldas. Also two out of the three games come with adorable amiibos, which is always a plus in my books.
Video of the Month
Words will not do this video justice. Just sit back and enjoy the spectacle that is the Japanese launch trailer for Tearaway Unfolded. I promise you, it's one hell of an acid trip.
Showing posts with label Legend of Zelda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Legend of Zelda. Show all posts
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
On the Download: Mario Kart 8 DLC Impressions
While DLC and how game companies approach pricing and releasing it has become a hot topic in recent years, Nintendo has received a great amount of praise for their approach to these DLC packs. The reason behind the praise comes from the critical reception for Mario Kart 8 on its own and the timing of the DLC announcement.
First, Mario Kart 8 received universal praise from fans and critics alike. Both thought the game was packed with great amount of content to begin with and many were craving for more content for the game. Instead of feeling like Nintendo was adding content that should have already been in Mario Kart 8, the announcement of the DLC felt like a natural extension of the game and an evolutionary step for the whole franchise.
Second, most DLC announcements come well before a game hits store shelves. This practice can alienate consumers as it can be interpreted as game companies holding back content in order to extort money out of their loyal customers at a later date. Nintendo waited a good three months after the release of Mario Kart 8 to announce DLC for the game. Although Nintendo may have been working on the content at the same time as the game, the timing of the announcement, coupled with the affordable price, makes consumers feel that they are getting more bang for their buck and that the DLC content is in addition to the content already in the game.
Aside from dissecting the wide acceptance of the Mario Kart 8 DLC, the content provided in these packs are superb. Playing through each pack gave me a greater appreciation for Mario Kart 8 as a whole. Certain aspects that I overlooked upon my initial playthrough, such as graphics, audio and track design, are brought to the forefront in unique ways.
Seeing the rain-soaked neon landscape of Neo Bowser City hits home how wonderful it is to see Nintendo properties in full HD glory. Hearing the unique audio cues from Animal Crossing and Legend of Zelda on their respective tracks along with the electric fences and healing pads in the F-Zero tracks shows Mario Kart 8's incredible attention to detail and the reverence Nintendo has to their properties. Pulling together old and new Mario Kart tracks, in addition to re-imagining tracks from both F-Zero and Excitebike, spruces up the tried-and-true formula of cups having all new tracks or all old tracks and injects a ton of variety into the track designs. Speaking of the track designs, the changing seasons of the Animal Crossing track, the randomized layout of mud spots and ramps on the Excitebike and even slightly tilting Baby Park on its side for the track to be raced entirely in anti-gravity are wonderful tweaks that make the tracks a lot more engaging and exciting to play.
Although the inclusion of Link, Villager and Isabelle open Mario Kart up to the possibility of becoming Nintendo Kart, the three other "new" characters are nothing more than new costumes for existing characters. They don't bring anything new to the game other than a cosmetic change. Nintendo could of easily added these new costumes by having the a separate menu pop-up when selecting either Mario, Peach or Bowser much like they did with the boy and girl Villager and the colour variants for Yoshi and Shy Guy. Adding these unnecessary characters brings more attention to Mario Kart 8's overinflated roster problem. Also including these variants on existing characters over brand new characters from either the Mario universe or Nintendo as a whole feels like a missed opportunity in my opinion.
At 12 dollars for both of packs, the DLC for Mario Kart 8 is must own. The amount of content packed into it is astonishing. You are literally getting another half-game of content for the price of movie admission. Hopefully, the success of these DLC packs leads for more content for Mario Kart 8 in the years to come.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Bit by Bit: February 2015
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.
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.
Monday, February 16, 2015
2015: The Year and Games Ahead
Although we are already a month into 2015, the year is still young. As each day passes, we move one step closer to the next big game release or product launch. After how disappointing 2014 was, the video game industry will be trying to bounce back in 2015 with grander spectacles, shocking surprises and innovative concepts. While we may not know everything that is coming in the next 11 months, I want to share, in no particular order, the games and other products I am looking forward to in the coming year.
Amiibo
Yes, I know it's not socially acceptable for a 23 year-old adult male to be collecting little "children's" toys, but I honestly don't care. Nintendo and their games have and always will be a significant part of my life and the ability to get physical statues of the characters I love without spending an entire paycheck is incredible. I want to own them all, but things haven't been going to plan considering the low supply and the insanely high demand. With their cool designs and extra functionality, I am excited to buy future waves of Amiibos, but I am not going to let these toys consume my life like they have for many others.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
If it wasn't for the additional delay, it would only be weeks between me and Geralt of Rivia instead of months. The delay may be for the best considering all my responsibilities with school and work at the moment. No matter when The Witcher 3 drops, I know it consume a gigantic portion of my time. The scope and scale of The Witcher 3 is just mesmerizing as you can literally go anywhere and do anything you want in its open fantasy world. Every new piece of information, be it a trailer or news story, gets my blood pumping to play this game. On May 19th, the rampage of the Wild Hunt begins.
Mighty No. 9
Everybody and their mother has been clamouring for a new Mega Man game for years now. No matter how loud and boisterous people get about the severe lack of the Blue Bomber, Capcom just doesn't want to give their mascot any love outside the occasional cameo or guest appearance. While Capcom may not be listening to their fans, Keiji Inafune, father of Mega Man, took the opportunity to capitalize on the high demand with Mega Man's spiritual successor, Mighty No. 9. Launched via Kickstarter back in 2013, Mighty No. 9 easily demolished its goal and has gone onto entice millions to donate money even after the initial funding campaign. What Inafune and his studio Comcept have shown off of Mighty No. 9 through trailers, closed betas and previews has looked outstanding. The game has similar elements to past Mega Man games, but combines them with some unique mechanics, such as dashing as the main way of dispatching enemies, that sets protagonist Beck out of his older brother's shadow. With Mighty No. 9 coming to every system on the market today, there's no way you should miss out on the biggest platforming games of the year.
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Back in 2012, Xenoblade Chronicles impressed with its humongous vistas and superb adaptation of MMORPG gameplay into a single-player experience and on the Wii no less. Sadly due to a limited production run, many people were unable to experience one of the best JRPGs of the last generation. For those who purchase the New Nintendo 3DS, a port of the original Xenoblade Chronicles is coming in early April, but, in my opinion, the smaller screen of the 3DS will not do the magnificence of Xenoblade's incredible scope justice. Fortunately, Monolith Soft and Nintendo are joining forces once again to deliver a sequel for the Wii U later this year. Xenoblade Chronicles X looks to have even larger environments to explore, more refined RPG mechanics and the addition of mechs! As much as I love giant robots, the added mechs makes the scope of the combat feel as awe-inspiring as the environments. If you aren't convinced, take some time to watch the 24-minute gameplay trailer Nintendo released a few weeks back and see for yourself.
The Legend of Zelda
The release of a brand new Zelda is always a highly anticipated event. This time around, the anticipation is at a fever pitch. Nintendo has shown only two short trailers for the game yet they have been enough to send gamers into a frenzy of speculation. The reason for this frenzy comes from the significant changes to the formula in the way of progression, combat and exploration. The most significant change being the creation of a fully realized open-world Hyrule where you can complete dungeons however you choose. Since Nintendo is aiming to have this new Zelda out by the end of 2015, there is still plenty of information to be revealed in the months ahead.
Yes, I know it's not socially acceptable for a 23 year-old adult male to be collecting little "children's" toys, but I honestly don't care. Nintendo and their games have and always will be a significant part of my life and the ability to get physical statues of the characters I love without spending an entire paycheck is incredible. I want to own them all, but things haven't been going to plan considering the low supply and the insanely high demand. With their cool designs and extra functionality, I am excited to buy future waves of Amiibos, but I am not going to let these toys consume my life like they have for many others.
If it wasn't for the additional delay, it would only be weeks between me and Geralt of Rivia instead of months. The delay may be for the best considering all my responsibilities with school and work at the moment. No matter when The Witcher 3 drops, I know it consume a gigantic portion of my time. The scope and scale of The Witcher 3 is just mesmerizing as you can literally go anywhere and do anything you want in its open fantasy world. Every new piece of information, be it a trailer or news story, gets my blood pumping to play this game. On May 19th, the rampage of the Wild Hunt begins.
Everybody and their mother has been clamouring for a new Mega Man game for years now. No matter how loud and boisterous people get about the severe lack of the Blue Bomber, Capcom just doesn't want to give their mascot any love outside the occasional cameo or guest appearance. While Capcom may not be listening to their fans, Keiji Inafune, father of Mega Man, took the opportunity to capitalize on the high demand with Mega Man's spiritual successor, Mighty No. 9. Launched via Kickstarter back in 2013, Mighty No. 9 easily demolished its goal and has gone onto entice millions to donate money even after the initial funding campaign. What Inafune and his studio Comcept have shown off of Mighty No. 9 through trailers, closed betas and previews has looked outstanding. The game has similar elements to past Mega Man games, but combines them with some unique mechanics, such as dashing as the main way of dispatching enemies, that sets protagonist Beck out of his older brother's shadow. With Mighty No. 9 coming to every system on the market today, there's no way you should miss out on the biggest platforming games of the year.
Back in 2012, Xenoblade Chronicles impressed with its humongous vistas and superb adaptation of MMORPG gameplay into a single-player experience and on the Wii no less. Sadly due to a limited production run, many people were unable to experience one of the best JRPGs of the last generation. For those who purchase the New Nintendo 3DS, a port of the original Xenoblade Chronicles is coming in early April, but, in my opinion, the smaller screen of the 3DS will not do the magnificence of Xenoblade's incredible scope justice. Fortunately, Monolith Soft and Nintendo are joining forces once again to deliver a sequel for the Wii U later this year. Xenoblade Chronicles X looks to have even larger environments to explore, more refined RPG mechanics and the addition of mechs! As much as I love giant robots, the added mechs makes the scope of the combat feel as awe-inspiring as the environments. If you aren't convinced, take some time to watch the 24-minute gameplay trailer Nintendo released a few weeks back and see for yourself.
The release of a brand new Zelda is always a highly anticipated event. This time around, the anticipation is at a fever pitch. Nintendo has shown only two short trailers for the game yet they have been enough to send gamers into a frenzy of speculation. The reason for this frenzy comes from the significant changes to the formula in the way of progression, combat and exploration. The most significant change being the creation of a fully realized open-world Hyrule where you can complete dungeons however you choose. Since Nintendo is aiming to have this new Zelda out by the end of 2015, there is still plenty of information to be revealed in the months ahead.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Bit by Bit: December 2014
The funny thing about plans is that they get thrown out the window at a moment's notice. Coming off of school, I had a lot of ideas swirling around my head in which I was so eager to write about. During this time, life has been a lot more eventful than I anticipated it to be and plans changed to cover these new developments like The Game Awards, Amiibogeddon and the Uncharted 4 demo. In all honesty, I was hoping to produce a lot more content than I actually did, but I am really happy with the quality of articles posted in the last month.
As 2014 comes to a close, Silver Bit starts its annual Year in Review series. Check back in the coming weeks to see the great games I missed out on, my favourite games of the year and the illustrious Game of the Year. Starting with this new edition of Bit by Bit, Silver Bit is going to bring in 2015 in style.
Game of the Month
With Silver Bit's Year in Review just around the corner, I am going to be highlighting a lot of great games. Sadly, I am going to be cutting back on the number of games I highlight in The Games portion of the Year in Review. I am making this decision due to how little games I played this year compared to previous years. Since I am cutting back, some great games are not going to make the cut. Most of these titles have already been highlighted in past editions of Bit by Bit or through reviews and previews. With that in mind, I want to shine the spotlight on one more title that deserves some love despite not making the cut. Without any further ado, December's Game of the Month is Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for the Wii U.
Many people fondly remember the Captain Toad levels from Super Mario 3D World for their change in pace and unorthodox gameplay. Mario games are known for their pixel perfect platforming and these levels stripped that away. Since Captain Toad couldn't jump, players needed to maneuver the camera in order to reveal the optimal path for Toad to take. While there were only a handful of Captain Toad levels in 3D World, they left quite the impression on players. In fact, these levels left such a great impression that Nintendo elaborated on the gameplay and puzzles to create an entire game revolving around the whimsical captain.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker features over 70 levels to complete on Toad and Toadette's quest to collect treasure and defeat the psychedelic bird Wingo. The levels in Treasure Tracker grow to be four to five times larger than the ones found in 3D World. This expansion in level size creates new challenges for players to overcome as the puzzles involve multiple levels and more enemies stand in the way. Adding to this challenge are the special objectives, such as collecting three gems, completing a level without taking damage or finding the Gold Mushroom, offered for every level. All-in-all, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a charmingly fun puzzle platformer that deserves more than getting lost in the hustle and bustle of larger titles this holiday season.
Most Anticipated Toys of the Month
Nintendo's line of Amiibo figures have gotten tons of attention since they released alongside Super Smash Bros. for Wii U this past November. This attention stems from the ensuing craze started from these figures selling out across the globe. I have been fortunate enough to get every Amiibo released in the first two waves. Now, my sights are set on collecting the third wave releasing this coming February. So far, I have pre-ordered every figure available through EB Games including the exclusive Shulk figure and am impatiently waiting to pre-order the other exclusive figures as soon as they are available. To say these figures are my most anticipated things of the month may be an understatement as collecting these toys are becoming a job unto itself.
Video of the Month
There was nothing better at The Game Awards than the world premiere gameplay for the new Legend of Zelda for Wii U. Way back at E3, Nintendo gave us a thin little snippet of a trailer to show the initial vision of the game. While only four minutes in length, this video gave gamers a ton more information to chew on. No piece of information made my jaw drop than the sheer size of Hyrule in the new Zelda. From the few seconds focused on the map, Hyrule looks to be as expansive as the largest open worlds from the past generation. Some cool moments came from showcasing the horseback combat especially the slow motion vaulting bow attack. Altogether, the gameplay video for the new Legend of Zelda is something to behold. Take four minutes out of your busy schedule to take in the awesomeness of the next evolution in this legendary franchise.
As 2014 comes to a close, Silver Bit starts its annual Year in Review series. Check back in the coming weeks to see the great games I missed out on, my favourite games of the year and the illustrious Game of the Year. Starting with this new edition of Bit by Bit, Silver Bit is going to bring in 2015 in style.
Game of the Month
With Silver Bit's Year in Review just around the corner, I am going to be highlighting a lot of great games. Sadly, I am going to be cutting back on the number of games I highlight in The Games portion of the Year in Review. I am making this decision due to how little games I played this year compared to previous years. Since I am cutting back, some great games are not going to make the cut. Most of these titles have already been highlighted in past editions of Bit by Bit or through reviews and previews. With that in mind, I want to shine the spotlight on one more title that deserves some love despite not making the cut. Without any further ado, December's Game of the Month is Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker for the Wii U.
Many people fondly remember the Captain Toad levels from Super Mario 3D World for their change in pace and unorthodox gameplay. Mario games are known for their pixel perfect platforming and these levels stripped that away. Since Captain Toad couldn't jump, players needed to maneuver the camera in order to reveal the optimal path for Toad to take. While there were only a handful of Captain Toad levels in 3D World, they left quite the impression on players. In fact, these levels left such a great impression that Nintendo elaborated on the gameplay and puzzles to create an entire game revolving around the whimsical captain.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker features over 70 levels to complete on Toad and Toadette's quest to collect treasure and defeat the psychedelic bird Wingo. The levels in Treasure Tracker grow to be four to five times larger than the ones found in 3D World. This expansion in level size creates new challenges for players to overcome as the puzzles involve multiple levels and more enemies stand in the way. Adding to this challenge are the special objectives, such as collecting three gems, completing a level without taking damage or finding the Gold Mushroom, offered for every level. All-in-all, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a charmingly fun puzzle platformer that deserves more than getting lost in the hustle and bustle of larger titles this holiday season.
Most Anticipated Toys of the Month
Nintendo's line of Amiibo figures have gotten tons of attention since they released alongside Super Smash Bros. for Wii U this past November. This attention stems from the ensuing craze started from these figures selling out across the globe. I have been fortunate enough to get every Amiibo released in the first two waves. Now, my sights are set on collecting the third wave releasing this coming February. So far, I have pre-ordered every figure available through EB Games including the exclusive Shulk figure and am impatiently waiting to pre-order the other exclusive figures as soon as they are available. To say these figures are my most anticipated things of the month may be an understatement as collecting these toys are becoming a job unto itself.
Video of the Month
There was nothing better at The Game Awards than the world premiere gameplay for the new Legend of Zelda for Wii U. Way back at E3, Nintendo gave us a thin little snippet of a trailer to show the initial vision of the game. While only four minutes in length, this video gave gamers a ton more information to chew on. No piece of information made my jaw drop than the sheer size of Hyrule in the new Zelda. From the few seconds focused on the map, Hyrule looks to be as expansive as the largest open worlds from the past generation. Some cool moments came from showcasing the horseback combat especially the slow motion vaulting bow attack. Altogether, the gameplay video for the new Legend of Zelda is something to behold. Take four minutes out of your busy schedule to take in the awesomeness of the next evolution in this legendary franchise.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
The Game Awards 2014 Impressions
Before diving right into all the flaws with the Game Awards, I will admit there were some good to great moments in this show. There were a good amount of reveals with Metal Gear Online, Adr1ft, Human Element and the new Legend of Zelda being the standouts in my opinion. Speaking of the new Zelda, that gameplay footage, albeit being short in length, made me feel all giddy inside. Just the sheer size of Hyrule made my jaw drop. While I found them unneeded, most of the musical performances were done well especially the collaboration between Imagine Dragons and Koji Kondo. Geoff Keighley's friend Greg from Scotland stole the show with his performance of classic game tunes from Mario, Sonic, Street Fighter and Tetris using lasers to produce the music. After a performance that spectacular, Greg definitely deserves a job in the video game industry. It is up to the developer and publishers now, give the guy a chance.
One of my main complaints with the VGAs was their complete lack of respect and effort put into the awards aspect of the awards show. The Game Awards fixed some of that by putting together credible award categories, having most of the awards selected by of panel of industry veterans and highlighting more awards on the show than ever before. While I do have some complaints about the handling of awards outside of the main stage (more on this in a bit), the Game Awards did a job leaps and bounds better than any of the VGAs. Also the awards look much better than the stupid monkey statues they use to give out.
For everything good about the Game Awards, there were two or three things wrong with the show. For a three hour show, it had no sense of pacing. Some segments like Conan O'Brien's videos on the nominees for Game of the Year and Lindsay Stirling's performance of Dragon Age: Inquistion's theme song felt rushed, while others such as Keighley's asides with others in the crowd went on for far too long. Speaking of Keighley's asides, these moments made two key problems with the show evident: the lack of rehearsals and poor representation of awards not shown on the main stage
It is understandable that a level of improvisation makes the show feel organic, but every conversation, speech and introduction came off as awkward and highly unprofessional. The fact that you forget a member of the Hearthstone team was in the audience to accept their award for Mobile/Handheld Game of the Year, overheard a musical performance tuning their instruments on the main speakers or had a Sony representative call out the existence of a teleprompter is just unacceptable. These unfortunate instances make the video game industry as a whole look like a laughing stock to casual viewers and people from other mediums. These mistakes would have been ironed out with a few rehearsals before the show.
Building off of the lack of rehearsals, the awards given out off of the main stage were handled poorly. Nobody is going to take these awards seriously if Keighley and company are just going to hand them out with little to no context. Time may be a constraint, but have a pre-show or cut unnecessary segments in order to make these awards feel credible rather than awkwardly pulling people out of the audience to hand them their awards. These parts just reinforced how unprofessional the show was.
Apart from the Game Awards itself, my brother and I found it next to impossible to view the show on our Xbox 360 and PS3. We tried everything from looking on the dashboards to searching on the Youtube and IGN apps to no avail. When we went to search for instructions on how to watch on our game consoles, all we found were press releases boasting the show was available on all platforms without any instructions on where exactly to watch it. It is one thing to boast about the show's availability, but to not provide a means of helping people gain access to it added more frustration to this entire ordeal.
While the Game Awards is a disappointing and boring show, it is a small step in the right direction. Sadly, this step has created a plethora of new problems that Keighley and company will have to overcome before the show can gain widespread credibility. After this year's show, I believe efforts should be made on creating an awards show that competes with the DICE Awards and the BAFTA Game Awards rather than the Grammys and Oscars. Despite the Game Awards having a few moments that are worth watching, I cannot recommend spending three hours viewing the Game Awards in its entirety.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Launch Station: Super Smash Bros. for 3DS
Since Super Smash Bros. for 3DS will be the first Smash Bros. to release on a handheld, many gamers have had reservations over how the chaotic gameplay will translate to the small screen. Nintendo's answer to these worries is by placing outlines around all characters in order to improve visibility especially when the camera zooms out. Although both editions of the new Super Smash Bros. share the exact same roster, gameplay and multiplayer modes, there are a few areas where the 3DS version deviates from its Wii U brethren. Mainly, all the stages, aside from stages like Final Destination, Battlefield and Brinstar, are exclusive to the 3DS version as they pull from handheld games such as Pokemon X & Y, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and Super Mario 3D Land. Apart from the stages, the main exclusive for the 3DS version of Smash Bros. is the Smash Run mode. Very similar to Kirby Air Ride's City Trial mode, Smash Run places players at random locations in this large open environment with the goal of collecting as many stat-boosting power-ups as possible in five minutes. After the five minutes are up, these super-charged combatants are put in a randomized match to determine who made the best of their run. Along with the Wii U version, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS also allows players to create their own Mii Fighters, customize move sets for preexisting characters and use Amiibo to train computer-controlled characters. One heavily rumoured feature, which cannot be confirmed until the release of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, is the ability to use the 3DS as a controller for the Wii U version of the game.
No matter the size of the screen, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS looks to be a worthy of the Smash Bros. name. From my time with the demo, I found the controls to take quite a while to get use to and the visibility of the characters to be difficult to follow in four-man brawls. Despite my reservations with a few mechanics, the demo is loads of fun and I highly recommend giving it a swing before picking up the full game. Super Smash Bros. for 3DS is one of the most highly anticipated games for a reason. It's just about time to settle all your differences and conflicts in Smash!
Monday, September 8, 2014
Silver Bit @ Fan Expo 2014
On Friday, August 29th, yours truly made the trek down to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in the heart of Canada's largest city for this year's Fan Expo Canada. Fan Expo Canada is a multi-day event annually held at the very August. Originally the convention was made to bring together fans of multiple genres, mainly comic books, science fiction, fantasy and film, Fan Expo has gone on to include a vast range of popular media such as video games, anime, manga and horror. Over the years, the convention has grown to fill four whole days with panels, workshops, special screenings, tournaments, meet and greets, after parties, signings and photo ops among a plethora of other attractions. Fan Expo Canada is easily the largest convention in all of Canada as it fills both buildings of the Toronto Convention Centre to capacity.
It has been four long years since I last went to Fan Expo Canada and a whole lot has changed since then. I was astounded on how the convention has grown in size especially video game portion of the convention. Back in 2010, the entire convention was held in the North Building of the Toronto Convention Centre with less than five percent of that space being dedicated to video games. This year, the video game portion of the convention took up a whole quarter of the South Building and a large area of the North Building. The video game industry was more than well represented at Fan Expo 2014 and a lot of the thanks has to go to EB Games Canada and their Gamer Zone. EB Games Canada brought in the likes of Ubisoft, Sony, Microsoft, Bethesda, Disney, WB Games and 2K Games to demo some of the most anticipated games coming out in the next year. There were well over 30 games on the show floor to demo including Evolve, Destiny, Far Cry 4, Sunset Overdrive, The Evil Within, Mortal Kombat X and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Personally, I spent the majority of my time in this section playing all the upcoming games I could get my hands on. Considering I went for the one day, I only got to play about a third of the games available, but it was well worth all the kilometres traveled and the time spent waiting in lines. I look forward to sharing my impressions on the demos I played in the coming weeks. So stay tuned.
I did not spend my entire Friday in the video game section of Fan Expo. There were tons of vendors selling video games, comics, art books, t-shirts, framed artwork, action figures, plush toys and anything you can think of. Out of thousands of items available to buy, I picked up two Official Nintendo Legend of Zelda shirts for 40 dollars. A lot of time outside of the games section was spent taking pictures of all the incredible statues set up on the floor such as giant Lego statues of the Shedder and Lord Business, and life-sized models of Prowl from Transfromers G1 and the Batmobile from Batman: Arkham Knight. I also got to watch the very first episode of Star Wars: Rebels, the new Star Wars animated TV show set between Episodes III and IV, in the John Bassett Theatre with tons of excited fans both young and old. It was a completely different experience watching a show with hundreds of other people as you got to hear live reactions from everybody in the audience, not just yourself. While Rebels is geared towards a young audience, I found it to be very enjoyable for Star Wars fans of all ages. It will definitely worth a viewing when it premieres on Disney XD this October.
Last but not least, I got to meet the cast of Reviews on the Run and Electric Playground along with famous video game composer and founder of Video Games Live, Tommy Tallarico. Even though I met most of these gaming celebrities before, I was incredibly starstruck in front of all of them. Some people idolize athletes, film stars or musicians, I idolize people in the video games industry including the developers, journalists and game analysts. While I may have awkwardly stumbled over my words while talking to them, they all made me feel welcomed and appreciated. I would like to thank Victor Lucas, Ben Silverman, Jose Sanchez, Marissa Roberto, Steve Tilley, Raju Mudhar and Tommy Tallarico for making a great Fan Expo even more special for me. It was an excellent day and I cannot wait to go again next year.
It has been four long years since I last went to Fan Expo Canada and a whole lot has changed since then. I was astounded on how the convention has grown in size especially video game portion of the convention. Back in 2010, the entire convention was held in the North Building of the Toronto Convention Centre with less than five percent of that space being dedicated to video games. This year, the video game portion of the convention took up a whole quarter of the South Building and a large area of the North Building. The video game industry was more than well represented at Fan Expo 2014 and a lot of the thanks has to go to EB Games Canada and their Gamer Zone. EB Games Canada brought in the likes of Ubisoft, Sony, Microsoft, Bethesda, Disney, WB Games and 2K Games to demo some of the most anticipated games coming out in the next year. There were well over 30 games on the show floor to demo including Evolve, Destiny, Far Cry 4, Sunset Overdrive, The Evil Within, Mortal Kombat X and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Personally, I spent the majority of my time in this section playing all the upcoming games I could get my hands on. Considering I went for the one day, I only got to play about a third of the games available, but it was well worth all the kilometres traveled and the time spent waiting in lines. I look forward to sharing my impressions on the demos I played in the coming weeks. So stay tuned.
I did not spend my entire Friday in the video game section of Fan Expo. There were tons of vendors selling video games, comics, art books, t-shirts, framed artwork, action figures, plush toys and anything you can think of. Out of thousands of items available to buy, I picked up two Official Nintendo Legend of Zelda shirts for 40 dollars. A lot of time outside of the games section was spent taking pictures of all the incredible statues set up on the floor such as giant Lego statues of the Shedder and Lord Business, and life-sized models of Prowl from Transfromers G1 and the Batmobile from Batman: Arkham Knight. I also got to watch the very first episode of Star Wars: Rebels, the new Star Wars animated TV show set between Episodes III and IV, in the John Bassett Theatre with tons of excited fans both young and old. It was a completely different experience watching a show with hundreds of other people as you got to hear live reactions from everybody in the audience, not just yourself. While Rebels is geared towards a young audience, I found it to be very enjoyable for Star Wars fans of all ages. It will definitely worth a viewing when it premieres on Disney XD this October.
Last but not least, I got to meet the cast of Reviews on the Run and Electric Playground along with famous video game composer and founder of Video Games Live, Tommy Tallarico. Even though I met most of these gaming celebrities before, I was incredibly starstruck in front of all of them. Some people idolize athletes, film stars or musicians, I idolize people in the video games industry including the developers, journalists and game analysts. While I may have awkwardly stumbled over my words while talking to them, they all made me feel welcomed and appreciated. I would like to thank Victor Lucas, Ben Silverman, Jose Sanchez, Marissa Roberto, Steve Tilley, Raju Mudhar and Tommy Tallarico for making a great Fan Expo even more special for me. It was an excellent day and I cannot wait to go again next year.
Friday, September 5, 2014
First Byte: New Nintendo 3DS
In the wee hours of the morning last Friday, Nintendo announced the New Nintendo 3DS during a Japan-only Nintendo Direct. The New Nintendo 3DS is very similar in design to past models, but there a significant amount of additions to the hardware that justify the title of "New". The most noticeable features of the New 3DS are the additions of a small analog nub referred to as the C-Stick, the ZL and ZR shoulder buttons, coloured face buttons and a volume slider located on the top screen. The other features of the New 3DS include built-in NFC functionality in the touch screen for use with Amiibo, facial tracking via the inner camera to improve the line of sight for the glasses-less 3D effect, the use of Micro SD cards instead of SD cards for storage and more processing power to improve download speeds and graphics capability. With the additional processing power, Nintendo has confirmed there will be exclusive games, such as an enhanced port of Xenoblade Chronicles, coming to the New 3DS. Sadly, these games will not be compatible with previous versions of the system. The New 3DS is currently set to release in both standard and XL versions on October 10th in Japan with no official announcement on worldwide release at this time.
The announcement of a brand new system, be it console or handheld, is suppose to bring excitement and joy for the next advancements in video game software and technology. When I saw the announcement for the New 3DS, I was stunned and not in a good way. In all honesty, I love Nintendo and the 3DS XL is one of the best designed handheld systems on the market today, but I do not understand Nintendo's incessant need to annualize the release of 3DS hardware especially when it alienates owners of previous versions. Video game handhelds are in a completely different beast than smartphones and tablets because people look for a dedicated system to take the quality gaming experiences on the go rather than a multipurpose machine where gaming is not much of a focus. Due to these opposing mindsets, there is no need to adapt the practice of updating hardware (no matter how minor) annually that is so prevalent in the smartphone and tablet market into Nintendo's handheld strategy.
Although I do fear Nintendo is looking at smartphones and tablets as influence more than they should, my main problem with the New 3DS stems from the exclusive games for the device. In no way has Nintendo officially confirmed if the New 3DS is their next generation handheld, which leaves the system feeling like it is caught between the current handheld generation and whatever Nintendo creates next. Considering the New 3DS sits amidst two handheld generations, it begs the question: why should someone buy a New 3DS when the next generation of handhelds is maybe two to three years away? The exclusive games seems like Nintendo's way to elicit people to ignore that question, yet the install-base of the New 3DS will never reach a point where it is more viable sales-wise to release large portable franchises like Pokemon exclusively on it. With that thought in mind, I do not see the New 3DS's exclusive games being more than Nintendo-published ports like Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story, and experimental titles such as WarioWare. In my opinion, the whole exclusive games conundrum will cause more division between the 3DS consumer base than unity because there will be two groups of gamers with systems that are compatible in some ways and incompatible in others. Much like Nintendo's missteps with DSiWare during the DS era, it is a short-sighted move by Nintendo to coerce people into buying a New 3DS with exclusive games.
While the New Nintendo 3DS adds some highly requested features like a second analog stick and improved stereoscopic 3D, it is not needed at this point in time. The 3DS is the most successful console on the market today. There is no need to change up the formula or make significant changes to this system to ensure success other than continuing to release compelling software for the 3DS on a regular basis. Gamers would rather see a remake for Majora's Mask or a new 2D Metroid over a brand new 3DS with the processing power of the Wii. I may sound like a broken record, but Nintendo needs to focus on improving the sales of the Wii U over anything else. The poor sales of the Wii U is the main cause of Nintendo's current financial woes, so it is better to right that ship than meddle with the one that is raking in all the money. The final verdict on the New 3DS will have to wait until it reaches North American shores sometime in 2015. Right now, I am no where near convinced that the New 3DS is worth my hard-earned cash especially after buying a 3DS XL earlier in this year.
The announcement of a brand new system, be it console or handheld, is suppose to bring excitement and joy for the next advancements in video game software and technology. When I saw the announcement for the New 3DS, I was stunned and not in a good way. In all honesty, I love Nintendo and the 3DS XL is one of the best designed handheld systems on the market today, but I do not understand Nintendo's incessant need to annualize the release of 3DS hardware especially when it alienates owners of previous versions. Video game handhelds are in a completely different beast than smartphones and tablets because people look for a dedicated system to take the quality gaming experiences on the go rather than a multipurpose machine where gaming is not much of a focus. Due to these opposing mindsets, there is no need to adapt the practice of updating hardware (no matter how minor) annually that is so prevalent in the smartphone and tablet market into Nintendo's handheld strategy.
Although I do fear Nintendo is looking at smartphones and tablets as influence more than they should, my main problem with the New 3DS stems from the exclusive games for the device. In no way has Nintendo officially confirmed if the New 3DS is their next generation handheld, which leaves the system feeling like it is caught between the current handheld generation and whatever Nintendo creates next. Considering the New 3DS sits amidst two handheld generations, it begs the question: why should someone buy a New 3DS when the next generation of handhelds is maybe two to three years away? The exclusive games seems like Nintendo's way to elicit people to ignore that question, yet the install-base of the New 3DS will never reach a point where it is more viable sales-wise to release large portable franchises like Pokemon exclusively on it. With that thought in mind, I do not see the New 3DS's exclusive games being more than Nintendo-published ports like Xenoblade Chronicles and The Last Story, and experimental titles such as WarioWare. In my opinion, the whole exclusive games conundrum will cause more division between the 3DS consumer base than unity because there will be two groups of gamers with systems that are compatible in some ways and incompatible in others. Much like Nintendo's missteps with DSiWare during the DS era, it is a short-sighted move by Nintendo to coerce people into buying a New 3DS with exclusive games.
While the New Nintendo 3DS adds some highly requested features like a second analog stick and improved stereoscopic 3D, it is not needed at this point in time. The 3DS is the most successful console on the market today. There is no need to change up the formula or make significant changes to this system to ensure success other than continuing to release compelling software for the 3DS on a regular basis. Gamers would rather see a remake for Majora's Mask or a new 2D Metroid over a brand new 3DS with the processing power of the Wii. I may sound like a broken record, but Nintendo needs to focus on improving the sales of the Wii U over anything else. The poor sales of the Wii U is the main cause of Nintendo's current financial woes, so it is better to right that ship than meddle with the one that is raking in all the money. The final verdict on the New 3DS will have to wait until it reaches North American shores sometime in 2015. Right now, I am no where near convinced that the New 3DS is worth my hard-earned cash especially after buying a 3DS XL earlier in this year.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Launch Station: Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Transported to the medieval city of Labyrinthia, Professor Layton, Phoenix Wright and company are tasked with solving puzzles and winning court battles in order to help Espella Cantabella, a girl who is wrongly accused of being a witch, prove her innocence and find a way back to their respective universes. Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is divided into two distinct sections that coincide with each franchises respective gameplay. The Adventure section of the game will be awfully familiar to Professor Layton fans as you are searching environments for clues and interacting with characters. Through your interactions with the environments and characters, you open up a multitude of thought-provoking puzzles which earn Picarats, the currency from the Professor Layton games used for unlocking extra puzzles and buying hints, and advance the story. The other section of Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is the Witch Trial. This is the section where Phoenix Wright and the gameplay from the Ace Attorney series takes centre stage. Using the clues from the Adventure section, Phoenix must cross-examine witnesses and find contradictions in their testimonies in order to pull out the not guilty verdict for Espella. Although finding contradictions involves the standard pressing for information and presenting of evidence that the Ace Attorney faithful are accustomed to, there are a couple twists to the standard Ace Attorney formula which spice up the proceedings quite a bit. These twists are the ability to cross-examine multiple witnesses at a time and the addition of presenting magic spells as evidence. After completing the main game, there is additional content such as special episodes and art galleries available for players to download for Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney via the Nintendo Network.
When crossing over two completely different franchises, you always wonder how their signature elements such as gameplay, audio and art style will co-exist. In the careful hands of both Capcom and Level 5, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney looks to strike a careful balance between the unique gameplay, art styles and designs of each franchise in a way that truly compliments one another. Although it took four long years since its initial announcement to reach North America, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney should be a quality third-party title to keep 3DS owners satisfied until major titles like Pokemon and Super Smash Bros. release this fall.
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
E3 2014: Nintendo Digital Event Impressions
As a whole, the Nintendo Digital Event delivered as a perfectly paced entertaining forty-five minute show. It provided a great amount of new information on Nintendo properties people were most concerned about and wove it into a fun captivating presentation including smooth transitions, funny Robot Chicken skits and a steady pace. With all that said, the presentation felt pretty safe and underwhelming in this writer's humble opinion. Not to mean Nintendo's performance was bad, in fact it was better than last year's showing, however nothing truly surprised or caught this writer off-guard. Also this writer would of ended the event with The Legend of Zelda reveal instead of the Palutena character reveal for Super Smash Bros. Speaking of The Legend of Zelda reveal, the new game looks incredible with a cel-shaded anime art style and the futuristic technology mixed with medieval fantasy. A more substantial Zelda trailer or gameplay would have been nice yet what we got was great nonetheless.
Super Smash Bros. saw Palutena and Mii Fighters revealed as new additions to the character roster. Masahiro Sakurai took a bit of time to focus on the Mii Fighters as they look to be Smash's answer to create-a-fighters in other fighting games as you get to choose the Mii's style (brawler, sword-fighter and gunner), special moves and most likely appearance. That news was coupled with an excellent one-on-one fight between Reggie and Iwata and the introduction of amiibos. Despite the weird name, amiibos are Nintendo's answer to the collectable toy genre popularized by Disney Infinity and Skylanders and they allow you to store, transfer and unlock different data across multiple Nintendo games. Currently confirmed to work with Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8 and Mario Party 10 among others, the amiibos showed off at the event looked really well crafted. There were a lot more games covered in this event including Mario Maker, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2 with the first Bayonetta included on disc, Xenoblade Chronicles X and Yoshi's Woolly World. Sadly, most of them are coming out in 2015. Not much incentive to buy a Wii U this coming Fall, which is a mistake on Nintendo's part, but in 2015 the Wii U will be releasing games at a considerable pace.
Before the Palutena reveal, Nintendo ended off with a brand new property for Wii U called Splatoon. Splatoon is a third-person shooter where you play as a squid-human hybrid and the goal of each match is to cover the arena with the most ink. Ink plays a greater role than being your ammo as you can use it travel far distances quickly in squid form and slow down opposing players that get caught in it. While Splatoon looks more like a downloadable game rather than a system seller, it was nice to see Nintendo introduce a brand new property for the first time in what seems like years. Splatoon is hopefully a sign of more good things to come from Nintendo.
Although this writer did find Nintendo's Digital Event thoroughly entertaining, it was not the home run the company needed. Nintendo did a great job in developing a definitive lineup for the rest of 2014 with set release dates for all their titles except Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, giving fans confidence in the games further down the pipeline and wrapping it all in an entertaining package. Despite all that great stuff, this writer wanted Nintendo to make a much bigger statement this year and they fell short. The Wii U will definitely gain some much needed ground in 2014, just not enough to compete on the same level as Sony and Microsoft.
Grade: B+
Sunday, June 8, 2014
E3 2014: The Big Questions
What is the 2014 holiday lineup?
The last few weeks leading up to E3 has seen some delays for games originally set to release later this year such as The Order 1886 and Batman: Arkham Knight. The more delays announced, the more worried this writer has been getting. Aside from the usual suspects (Assassin's Creed, Battlefield and Call of Duty), the lineup of games releasing this holiday season are much slimmer than years past. With everything still up in the air, there is nothing that truly stands out among the deluge of similar experiences. Destiny may be the exception as this writer sees this game generating a large of amount of sales due to Activision's aggressive marketing, but Destiny is just one game that releases at the very beginning of the holiday season. All video game publishers especially the console manufacturers (Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo) need to make their plans for the holidays clear with firm release dates and a mix between sequels and new properties. The holiday season is the most crucial time for any business especially video games. To come out of E3 2014 without a solid holiday lineup set will be bad news for console manufacturers that are looking to push hardware sales and game publishers hoping to sell large quantities of software.
What is Microsoft's and Nintendo's plan to fix their current woes?
Out of the three big console manufacturers, Sony is the only one currently on solid footing. While the Vita and its games may not be selling much, Sony has written off the handheld as a peripheral for the PS4, a non-factor in their current business plan. As much as eyes will be on Sony to see if they can keep their momentum, there are more eyes peering at Microsoft and Nintendo to see what they can do to fix their current situations.
Although the Xbox One is selling, it is significantly lagging behind the PS4. All of the Xbox One's woes come from Microsoft's debacle from a year ago. Alienating their primary audience with no used games policy, always connected requirement and forcing Kinect on every Xbox One owner was not the best decision for Microsoft to make leading into the next console generation. With the recent announcements about a cheaper Xbox One and more benefits for Xbox Live Silver, it seems Microsoft has finally learned from their mistakes and is looking to reconcile with those they alienated a year ago. The effort may come too late to fix anything in the immediate future, but making these adjustments now will benefit Microsoft farther down the road. Their E3 2014 press conference is the next step in the healing process and Microsoft better make the most of this opportunity because they will only get one shot. A subpar to decent performance will not be tolerated, Microsoft needs to come out with games and experiences that gamers can only get by owning a Xbox One. Microsoft was once a great first-party developer, but has significantly scaled back in the last decade. It is fine time to flex that software making muscles again and show why Microsoft deserves to be making video games.
Nintendo's issues are on a whole different level. To get an extensive break down of the problems this writer believes is plaguing Nintendo, check out the A Link to the Wrong post from a few months back. What Nintendo needs to do at E3 is make steps in fixing the elephant in the room-- the Wii U's dismal sales. Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. will definitely move a ton of units this year, but those two games can only push console sales so far. Nintendo needs to show consumers why they have to own a Wii U and key part of convincing people to buy their console comes from showing how their games will take full advantage of the Wii U's tablet-like controller. Nintendo has to hammer home the Gamepad's full potential with every game they show. Every game does not need a fancy gimmick, they just need to make the Gamepad relevant for gamers. Speaking of games, time for Nintendo to drop some information on new titles such as the next entries in The Legend of Zelda and Metroid franchises or Shigeru Miyamoto's super secret project along with release dates for already confirmed titles like Super Smash Bros., Bayonetta 2 and X. Much like Microsoft, the stakes are high for Nintendo this year. Anything short of amazing will be considered a failure by critics and gamers alike. Positive buzz absolutely needs to be generated at E3 2014 around the Wii U and the Nintendo brand as a whole or things will continue to slip for the Big N this cycle.
Why should I buy a next generation console?
A year has passed and it seems like we have not made any progress whatsoever with this question from a year ago. The next generation is here and there is nothing that truly differentiates it from the last. All we got so far is a massive game drought, shinier graphics and a hike in video game prices. To make matters worse, most of the quote-on-quote next gen experiences these major game companies brag about are also available on the previous console generation. The graphic fidelity may not be as spotless and the frame rate may not be that smooth on the PS3 and Xbox 360, but there is little to no difference between these cross-generational games. These issues give little to no incentive on consumers to drop close to six hundred dollars on a brand new console when there is barely anything that they cannot already get on the consoles they already own. Every publisher and developer has a huge task this E3 in providing the games and experiences that can only be conceived with the power of these new consoles. Time is not currently on anybody's side as consumers are already losing patience with these systems. Moves need to be made this coming week on all fronts to keep consumers from getting too anxious and to ensure people their six hundred dollar investments were worth it.
Seeing as the industry is currently in the middle of a game drought, it is time to get people excited about what is coming in the weeks, months and even years ahead. E3 is arguably the most pivotal event of year for video game companies. As seen with the PS4 and Xbox One respectively, E3 can generate enormous amounts of buzz around a product or completely derail a product altogether. More than ever before, this year's E3 has to deliver with the games announced, the surprises revealed and the excitement generated because it will be the event that launches the video game industry into the next stage of this eighth console generation. Come June 9th, all eyes will be on Los Angeles, the LA Convention Center and the video game industry as a whole. Time for the video game industry to put up or shut up.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Year in Review 2013: The Games Part 2
Delays could not hold back the quality of Ubisoft Montpellier's masterpiece, Rayman Legends. This game was the reason I bought a Wii U and it lived up to my expectations and more. Rayman Legends is platforming fans dream come true. The pacing is excellent, the speed and responsiveness of the controls is spot-on and the level design is genius. While all versions of Legends are great, the Wii U version stands as the definitive edition of the game. Legends for the Wii U is built from the ground-up with Nintendo's system in mind. The Wii U game pad is integrated perfectly as it is used to easily zip around the game's interactive menus and for special Murphy levels. In these Murphy levels, the player with the game pad controls the fairy-like Murphy while another player or the computer controls another character. As Murphy, the player creates a safe path for the other character by interacting with the environment through tilting the game pad or swiping the screen. I cannot talk about Rayman Legends without mentioning the superb music levels. These levels will push your platforming skills to their limits as you run, jump and bash enemies to the beat of remixed versions of Eye of the Tiger and Black Betty. Legends is so amazing that it even trumps Mario's recent efforts in the 2D platforming space. Nintendo's mascot could learn a thing or two from Ubisoft's limbless hero and this must-own title.
People have been clamouring to see Pokemon make the true jump to 3D for ages. With Pokemon X and Y, those prayers have been answered. A fully 3D world has brought on the biggest changes for the series in years. The 3D models bring new life to world of Pokemon as they make battles much more dramatic with new camera angles and attack animations. Seeing an actual Flamethrower or Bubblebeam come out of a Pokemon's mouth is an incredible sight especially when compared to the limited attack animations of past entries. Aside from choosing your gender, Pokemon X and Y offers a whole suite of customization to your avatar. You can buy new clothes, accessories and even change your haircut. This freedom allows players create an avatar that truly reflects their personal tastes. The major changes come with the addition of Mega Evolutions and the online offerings. Mega Evolutions are temporary forms that can only be used in battle. Once you have a Mega Stone for a certain Pokemon and the Mega Ring, you can unleash these powerful new forms on your foes. These new evolutions add an interesting new strategy to battle, but are limited to one Mega Evolution per battle. The online offerings for X and Y are incredible as you no longer have to go to certain locations to connect with Pokemon fans across the globe. Just enable the 3DS's wireless connection and you can connect with anybody at anytime. Trading and battling online is the same as before but the addition of Wonder Trade is just amazing. Wonder Trade may scare a few because it is anonymous trading with anybody in the world, but it is incredibly addicting and thrilling. While I can easily go on for days about the greatness of Pokemon X and Y, there are some shortcomings in the story and post-game content. Aside from those shortcomings, these games are the next big evolution for Nintendo's venerable monster hunting series.
As a sequel to arguably one of the greatest games in Legend of Zelda history, A Link to the Past, A Link Between Worlds had a lot to live up to. Funny enough, Link's first original adventure on the 3DS easily surpassed these titanic expectations by usurping tradition. For the longest time, The Legend of Zelda has been a rather linear affair. Find dungeon, collect item from dungeon, use item to beat boss, rinse and repeat. There is more to this franchise than my over-simplified explanation of its linear nature, but you get the gist of it. The first few entries in the series allowed the player to explore and complete dungeons in any order; a design choice that A Link Between Worlds fully embraces. After the first dungeon, you gain access to Rovio's shop. Through this shop, the player can buy or rent any item they need to complete whatever dungeon they want. Outright purchasing items is not available right away so you are forced to rent items. The risk of renting items comes with death as you lose all those items. It is a risk-reward system that makes the game much more intense. Early on in A Link Between Worlds, you get a bracelet that allows Link to merge with any flat surface. This bracelet opens up the game to tons of mind-bending puzzles which forces you to think in a whole different way. All-in-all, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is a worthy successor to A Link to the Past, an outstanding entry in this series and easily this writer's runner-up for best game of 2013.
While gaming's favourite plumber may have stiff competition on the 2D platforming front, Mario is the king and ruler of the 3D platformer. Super Mario 3D World had a horrible first showing as many were expecting the next evolution of Super Mario Galaxy rather than a console sequel to Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS. While the later trailers and gameplay footage did a better job of showing off the greatness of 3D World's gameplay, once people got their hands on this game the rest was history. Super Mario 3D World takes the excellent blend of 2D and 3D Mario gameplay introduced in 3D Land and expands on it in new and creative ways. There are a plethora of power-ups both new and old, but the one that stands head and shoulders above them all is the Cat Suit. Although this new suit makes Mario and company look all cute and cuddly, it adds the integral ability to climb walls for a set period of time and the lunge attack, which serves both as an extended jump and an offensive move. 3D World's other main feature is the four-player multiplayer. While I personally played 3D World as single player experience, the time I did spend playing multiplayer was a blast. Super Mario 3D World perfectly balances working cooperatively and competing for top honours (and that damn crown!) as players have more room in a 3D space to avoid constantly running into one another like in Super Mario Bros. Wii and U. It is incredibly hard to summarize everything that Super Mario 3D World has to offer from the brand new overworld map to the great amount of challenging bonus levels. Hands down, Super Mario 3D World is THE reason to own a Wii U.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Most Anticipated Games of the Next Half
Just last week, this writer reflected upon his favourite games from the first half of 2013. While there were some great games already available to play, there are some stellar ones coming out in the next six months. The summer is definitely slow on releases, but the holiday season sure makes up for the slack. There are the regulars like Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed that rake in the big bucks yet are losing traction with more gamers with each yearly release. The most exciting new releases of the upcoming months are sequels that have not been diluted by a yearly release schedule or brand new experiences that uses new interesting ideas to grasp our attention and money. Here is this writer’s list of his most anticipated games of this Summer and Fall.
Splinter Cell: Blacklist
Splinter Cell: Conviction was one of the games that this writer bought an Xbox 360 just to play. While some of the Splinter Cell hardcore were not fond with Sam Fisher’s new direction, yours truly found Conviction unbelievably fun. The stealth was smooth, the guns felt great and the Mark and Execute system made clearing a room of enemies such an adrenaline pumping experience. With Blacklist, Ubisoft Toronto looks to expand on what made Conviction so much fun with the Killing in Motion system. Killing in Motion allows Sam to string together stealth kills with the Mark and Execute moves in one fluid motion. Along with an interconnected campaign that allows you to access both single and multiplayer levels from the same mobile base and the return of the Mercs vs. Spies multiplayer mode, Blacklist is shaping up to be one of the standout games of the Summer.
Rayman Legends
Ubisoft broke many hearts with the seven-month delay of Rayman Legends and the loss of Wii U exclusivity. The thought of Ubisoft’s betrayal still stings, but this French publisher has at least made an effort to mend the bridges they burnt with the free Challenge App on Wii , which gives early access to Legend’s multiplayer Challenge mode. There are both weekly and daily challenges in various difficulty levels to complete and earn trophies in order to increase your Awesomeness level. Having this leaderboard-focused multiplayer mode along with an incredible single-player should easily keep Legends stuck in many disc drives for months after release.
The Wonderful 101
Put the vast number of controllable units from a game like Pikmin with the B-movie superhero hijacks of Viewtiful Joe and the result would be Platinum’s Wonderful 101. The first game in Nintendo’s exclusive deal with this extraordinary Japanese developer, The Wonderful 101 has the player taking control of one hundred different superheroes much like Captain Olimar controls Pikmin. While it is neat to control the entire horde of little heroes, Wonderful 101’s hook comes from all the various ways you can use these heroes' Unite powers, which are activated these by drawing a different symbols on the Gamepad’s touch screen. These Unite powers allow these heroes to form into either a ladder, a sword or even a giant fist. Each of these Unite powers can be used to interact with the environment or fight off all the enemies that stand in your way. The Wonderful 101 looks to be the beginning of a beautiful partnership that this writer hopes to see continue in the years to come.
Watch Dogs
Chicago is your playground and weapon. In the world of Watch Dogs, the Windy City is in the palm of your hands and you are free to do whatever you want with it. Hacking into the city’s systems to spy on strangers, evade the law, complete your agenda and cause as much chaos as humanly possible are some of the activities you can get up to in Watch Dogs. Funny enough those activities are only the tip of the iceberg in this open-world. Watch Dogs immerses the player with multiplayer that seamlessly integrates with the single-player campaign. No need to log into a separate lobby to play with others, just have to be connected to the internet or playing on the companion app for iOS and Android platforms. The potential of Ubisoft Montreal’s newest venture is limitless, which has this writer and many others excited.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
It has been ages since Nintendo has delivered a proper top-down Zelda adventure to gamers. The announcement of true return to the top down format with A Link Between Worlds left many including yours truly weeping tears of joy. On top of the return of the top-down perspective, A Link Between Worlds is a direct sequel to A Link to the Past, a game among the top echelon of the Legend of Zelda series. The brand new mechanic in A Link Between Worlds is Link’s ability to merge with the wall as a painting. This mechanic opens up the door for some unique platforming-like puzzles for the developers at Nintendo to test gamers with. Much of the game is still under wraps by the Big N, but what has been shown so far looks very promising. No matter what, A Link Between Worlds should be a stellar game to wrap up the 3DS’s phenomenal year.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Hump Day Music: Song of Storms
Back at the very end of March, I bought a ticket to The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddess concert when it comes to Toronto this September. Just today, I got my ticket in the mail from Ticketmaster and I was surprised. The concert was always in the back of my mind, but I kept on forgetting how close it was getting. Now the tickets will now serve as an almost constant reminder that I got to figure out my transportation, food and other things very soon. To celebrating getting my ticket to what should be a phenomenal night at the symphony, I would like to share one of my favourite tracks from The Legend of Zelda.
This song comes from Ocarina of Time. You learn it in the Windmill in Kakariko Village. It is the Song of Storms. This simple little tune that Link learns for his Ocarina is not just a great way to summon a storm in the land of Hyrule, it is a pretty catchy piece of music. It is very playful and has a fun melody to it. Every time I hear the Song of Storms, I start swaying back and forth to the music because it is so infectious. While I cannot wait to hear how the live orchestra will play the song at the Symphony of the Goddess concert, the original flute and accordion used for this track is how I will always remember this great piece of video game music. Today, I will be sharing the remix of the Song of Storms from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I hope everybody enjoys.
This song comes from Ocarina of Time. You learn it in the Windmill in Kakariko Village. It is the Song of Storms. This simple little tune that Link learns for his Ocarina is not just a great way to summon a storm in the land of Hyrule, it is a pretty catchy piece of music. It is very playful and has a fun melody to it. Every time I hear the Song of Storms, I start swaying back and forth to the music because it is so infectious. While I cannot wait to hear how the live orchestra will play the song at the Symphony of the Goddess concert, the original flute and accordion used for this track is how I will always remember this great piece of video game music. Today, I will be sharing the remix of the Song of Storms from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I hope everybody enjoys.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Hump Day Music: Bits of Me Impressions
I first listened to Bits of Me when I received the free digital copy over a month, I was not impressed. I do not know exactly why. I might have just been in a bad mood when I listened to it. When I popped the CD into my Mac to listen to it last week, I had a completely different reaction to the CD. I loved it. There is only one song on the entire 18 track CD that I did not entirely enjoy. The rest of the CD is absolutely incredible. I have listened to it many times in the one week I have owned the physical CD. While I do love every track on this CD other than Meet Me in the Dungeon, Dear, my personal favourites are Contra with Lyrics, Castlevania II with Lyrics, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!! with Lyrics and Zelda II with Lyrics. All-in-all, any video game fan will find something to love about Bits of Me. If you are interested in picking up Bits of Me, you can buy the physical CD from Level Up Studios for 13 dollars or download it from iTunes, Amazon MP3 and Bandcamp for about 9 to 10 dollars. Bits of Me is well worth any price you pay. And for your viewing pleasure is one of the songs featured on Bits of Me, Castlevania II with Lyrics.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Top 10 Games of 2011
Yesterday, I listed my Top 5 Downloads of 2011. Now on the final day of this calendar year, I give you my Top 10 Games of 2011. As one person, it is very hard to play every single game that comes out in a year especially when you get some of them for Christmas. So there will be some big games that I am playing at the moment that might have made this list if I had the money to get them earlier this year, but ultimately will not at this point in time. Before you see this list and immediately make comments that I did not make this list, just remember this list is just one man's opinion. If you want to share your opinion, I encourage you to make your own Top 10 list. So let us countdown in my opinion the best games of 2011.
10. Jetpack Joyride
This addictive, time chopping, one button run for your life game sunk its claws in me early this year when I downloaded it to my iPad. I have sunk many hours into this dollar game trying to collect coins, complete missions and beat my friends' best distance. You can play Jetpack Joyride for two minutes or two hours, you will always have fun.
9. Sonic Generations
After years of being dragged through the mud, Sonic has remerged as one of the kings of the platform genre. To celebrate The Blue Blur's 20th Birthday, Sega gave the fans Sonic Generations, a game that gives us both the classic Sonic platforming and the modern Sonic mix of high-speed obstacle course and platforming segments to make the best Sonic game of the last 10 years. Personally running through a HD version of Chemical Plant Zone as both classic and modern Sonic with remixed background music was one of the highlights of my year in gaming.
8. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
It is all about choice in Eidos Montreal's Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Will you run in guns blazing or take a more stealthy approach? Will you hack into a computer and turn the security droids on your enemies or disable the droids with a EMP Grenade? There is no clearly defined right or wrong way to complete any objective in Human Revolution and that is what makes this game so amazing.
7. Bastion
Beautiful art, great music, compelling story and deep gameplay that even works with a mouse and keyboard, this Action-RPG stand out above all the other downloadable games. Bastion literally looks like watching art in motion, it is so beautiful. Also having the ominous ever-present narrator tell the story is one great touch that has not been done before in games. If you own a Xbox 360 or a PC, Bastion is the best downloadable game and one of the best games you can play this year.
6. Portal 2
Once you start thinking with portals, you can never go back. Back in 2007, Portal charmed gamers around the globe with its great puzzles and amazing villain in GlaDOS. With more brain-racking puzzles and more GlaDOS, Valve adds in more challenging puzzles with co-op and new hilarious characters in Wheatley, Cave Johnson and last but not least the Space Core. More story, more puzzles, more laughs and ultimately more fun, these are all the things most sequels look to do, but never achieve. Portal 2 is one of the few exceptions and that is why it is the best puzzle game of the year and one of the best games of 2011.
5. Pokemon Black and White
For years, people have felt that Pokemon needed a huge shake-up or this RPG behemoth would loss some steam. Nintendo and Game Freak proved that it they did not need to make some radical changes to make the series feel fresh again. Launched head first into the Unova region as a new trainer, you start off with a new batch of 150 Pokemon with none of your old favourites in sight. The additions of seasons that affect terrain you traverse, TMs that no longer disappear from your inventory after one use and the improved online features make Pokemon Black and White the definitive games in the Pokemon franchise.
4. Super Mario 3D Land
The Nintendo 3DS had a slow start when it launched earlier this year, but those woes seemed to end with the release of Super Mario 3D Land. A portable Mario that cohesively blends concepts from both 2D and 3D Mario games into one compact handheld game that you can play on your 3DS. It is one of the must-own games for any 3DS owner and the best portable Mario game of all-time.
3. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
Confession time. I have never completed The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time until I got it for the 3DS this year. Boy, was I ever missing out. Even with the 3D coat of paint on it, Ocarina of Time stands the test of time (seriously no pun intended) and shows why it is considered the greatest game of all-time. Either on consoles or in the palm of your hand, Ocarina of Time is one of the best games of this year.
2. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
I am one of the few that did not consider Uncharted 2: Among Thieves to be the masterpiece everybody says it is. Do not get me wrong, Uncharted 2 is a phenomenal game, but it felt like it followed the same formula from the first game. It is just the difference between what I consider a 9.5 and what I consider a 10. Uncharted 2 was a 9.5, but Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is a 10. Naughty Dog hit it out of the park as it improved on all the mechanics from the second game, added a fun and rewarding multi-player that I can even get into and got rid of the bullet sponge enemies that I hated from the previous two Uncharted games. When I finished Uncharted 3, this was my Game of the Year that was until I played this next game.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Sorry Nathan Drake, I love you, but Link schooled you. If you have read my blog for the past month, you would know how much I love The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. It is the greatest game of this generation, the best game of 2011 and in my opinion, the greatest game in this iconic franchise. Again when people complain that said Nintendo franchise is getting stale, Nintendo shows them up and makes one of the best games in the series. It happened earlier with Pokemon and happened again with Zelda. Shows that you don't mess with Nintendo.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Hump Day Music: Ballad of the Goddess
Since I bought it last Monday, I have been playing a whole lot of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Almost 20 hours into the game by now, considering I play it once or twice a day in one to two hour blocks of time and have a job, manage two blogs and many other things going on. There are many new additions to the Zelda series in Skyward Sword, including one fans have been waiting for. For the first time in a Legend of Zelda game, all the music for the game was done by a live orchestra. Personally, I have always been a fan of the music in every Zelda game no matter what format it was in. After hearing the quality of the music in Skyward Sword, I am a believer. The live orchestra brings a whole new level to the music in the Legend of Zelda. It feels so alive and natural that it will be hard to go back and listen to the music from previous Zelda games.
If there is one track in the entirety of Skyward Sword's phenomenal soundtrack that shows how great using a live orchestra is to Zelda, it is the main theme of Skyward Sword, the Ballad of the Goddess. If you have watched any Skyward Sword trailer for this past year or watched my 25th Anniversary Tribute video for Zelda, then you probably have heard this beautiful piece of music. Over the course of 25 years, Koji Kondo and other Nintendo composers have composed many excellent tracks for the series, but Ballad of the Goddess ranks up there with some personal favourites like Saria's Song, Zelda's Lullaby (note to all big Zelda fans, play Ballad of the Goddess backwards and you will hear Zelda's Lullaby, cool isn't it) and the Main Theme of the Legend of Zelda. After a few listens, you will not be able to get it out of your head, it is so infectious. I still hum it from time to time. I hope you enjoy this great piece of video game music as much as I do and if planning on getting Skyward Sword soon, this track is included on the Special Orchestra CD that comes with the game.
Thank you to Wildi630 for uploading Ballad of the Goddess for us to enjoy.
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