Knights in the Nightmare (DS)

Knights in the Nightmare
Sting / Atlus

Anthony: All right Sting, you win. I thought Riviera: The Promised Land was pretty creative, but apparently that wasn’t enough. Now I’ve just had my gaming mind violated by arguably one of the most unique ideas to get successful implementation in years. Tackling Knights in the Nightmare is bound to be a daunting experience in one way or another. Maybe bad, maybe mind-blowingly awesome, but somewhere along the road, you feel like Knights might be more complex than functional games are allowed to be.

Explain it? Dang. Okay... Knights in the Nightmare is akin to an unholy trinity of action, strategy-RPG, and shooter genres. In an overly simplistic nutshell, Knights is about using the touch screen to activate strategically placed units to attack moving enemies on screen and dodge their various “bullet” attacks. That’s an unjust oversimplification though, as aspects such as turn time, item/weapon usage, unit types, monster/unit movement, elemental properties, specialized recruitment, item fusion/strengthening, Law/Chaos modes, attack types, enemy reels, unit vitality, hiding, and skill holds are among a minor list of elements that just scratch the surface of all there is to the gameplay. The good news is it has an extensive tutorial, and impressively requires a deft combination of strategic planning and very careful live action. The bad news is it very well may be one of the most limited-audience games I’ve ever seen.

What’s good:
- Incredible artwork is found all throughout the game. Designs for each type of knight, the characters, the monsters, the environments... they all have extremely impressive artwork. It may very well be the best and most intricate work on a portable system to date.

- Unlike some complicated games, Sting is fully aware of the beast they’ve unleashed on us. In doing so, they added a live-action tutorial mode to start you out, a section with more text-based instructions on major gameplay elements, and a big additional section with tons of tips covering just about every aspect of the game. Further, when you get a Game Over, the game actually gives you a full, detailed paragraph giving you advice on what you did wrong and/or some things to look for in trying the stage again. They also give you options to retry a stage from scratch, keep going with the damage/kills you’ve made... or you can go back to the title screen and do free leveling to earn exp and items for your knights. If you miss the recruitment of some knights, they even provide you “Nameless” knights of a class you’re missing so you can still play the levels as though you’d recruited properly. And in the preview screen before battle, they even tell you the weakness of each monster. Clearly, they had the players’ fragile psyche in mind.

- To that point as well, the included “Easy” mode is very generous, allowing someone a significantly simplified experience that’s good for weaning you on the gameplay or just making the game less hectic, while still requiring proper strategy and execution.

- The packaging deserves special note for this game as well. Not only did the game come with a free music CD and an enormous instruction booklet for helping to understand the game, pre-orders also got a very large and extensive art book collection with notes from the directors and artists. It’s a great glimpse into the work put into this game.
- Despite the vast amount of information crammed into the item and unit screens in the game, they did a surprisingly good job of keeping it all manageable. A great deal of item/unit information appears on the top screen with instant loading, and all item/units can be instantly sorted by several categories. Aside from just scrolling through the sheer amount of them, I was impressed by how overall simple it was to work with.

- It probably took me until I was two-thirds through the game, but at some point, the stars truly aligned and I could appreciate working through all the intricacies of the game. No doubt, this game is so complex and unusual compared to pretty much any recent offering, that it will absolutely drive some players away, and make others shelve it in frustration. I even found myself taking a long break from the game because it just felt daunting to play it night after night. But as time went on, I started to understand the knights’ functionalities, enemy patterns, and the use of abilities such as hiding, skill-holding and hi-skills... before I knew it, I was really good at the game, and I was having fun despite its challenge. It absolutely made me want to go back and replay levels with the greater understanding I had.

- With a long main game, and the option to play the game again with your collected knights and/or play a different storyline, this game has a massive amount of replay value if you find yourself to be a fan. Knights is undoubtedly a great “desert island” game.

What’s neutral:
- The narrative is bound to get some mixed reactions among players. At its core, there’s a decent story here that’s rather sad, mainly because death, both literal and metaphorical, is arguably the most present theme throughout. However, there’s bound to be some confusion and head-scratching throughout, as after each scene, Knights plays story scenes that jump all over various timelines. Typically each scene is only prefaced with “x nights before/after y event,” so reconciling that in your mind to events z, a, and b, when you just spent 20 minutes frenetically piloting a wisp is tricky. It’s brought together more and more as the end comes, but with a whopping 47 scenes, there very well may be players that give up and start skipping scenes before that happens. Further, though they give the intriguing option to get snippets of back-story on the dozens of knights in the game, being only able to see it by pausing during battle is an odd inclusion. Battles are hectic and require a lot of focus, so many players will ignore this feature in favor of trying to carefully beat the level.
- Repetition is a doubtlessly a factor in the game. Like a strategy RPG, the story plays out the same through each scene... chapter intro, scene leading to battle, pre-battle dialog, battle, post-battle dialog, flashback scene, unit organization time, final chapter scene, next chapter intro... thing is, this exact formula happens 47 times. And unlike a strategy RPG, battles are often hectic, rarely unique, always time-based, and every single level has specific items that can only be obtained during the story battle. That’s a whole lot of being a Knight in the Nightmare. It’s worthy of note that you also fight a certain boss three or four times, and consider it’s basically the same fight each time, that’s kind of disappointing.
- Whether intentional or not, luck will undoubtedly play a factor in how each person plays the game. Because there are no shops or item creation, you are, in many ways, a complete slave to the weapon drops you get in game. In my own case, I had serious trouble getting weapons for the highly useful Lance Knight class, which led to me not using a valuable class often, and subsequently missing early key items as a result. The same can happen with having an overabundance or dearth of certain elemental weapons, or just not having enough of the right item to unleash the powerful and important Hi-skills. The leveling option and trying to kill as many enemies as possible can help, but neither removes the randomness.
- Boss fights will either be epic or a sticking point for gamers depending on how they see the issue. Normal fights have enemies whose attacks are small and might only take away 2-4 seconds of your time if hit. Bosses typically have enormous attacks that nearly fill the screen and require lots of practice to effectively dodge... and those attacks often take away anywhere from 9-20 seconds when you’re hit. It’s a pretty huge spike in difficulty, and it may either be fun or infuriating depending on the circumstance.

What’s bad:
- There are a couple minor concerns with using the all-touch-screen interface for battles. Early going, one frustration that may pop up is that the battle screen gets so “busy” with enemies and their attacks, that in attempting to dodge everything, you’ll inevitably activate knights and not realize it, often causing you to lose precious time unintentionally. That problem can eventually be rectified with practice, but what doesn’t change is that the fixed position on the right side of the screen for switching Law/Chaos modes, grabbing weapons/key items, and activating skill holding, rather than being mapped to any buttons, means that depending on enemy attack patterns, you can effectively be “trapped” on the left side of the screen from utilizing several functions that are necessary to win. Also, even practice won’t rectify how difficult it is to grab the correct weapon when a Knight is positioned right next to the item list.
- Surprisingly, there are a few odd oversights within. Before beginning a battle turn, you can tap an enemy to see its movement path - a practice that’s absolutely vital for selecting the right knight and weaponry to deal with it. However, if an enemy happens to be placed on a space with a knight, tapping the area will only bring up knight selection. Additionally, attacks can be rendered useless from changes in the height of the map...so it’s somewhat cruel that in previewing a knight’s range, they often show the maximum range, despite that activating a weapon actually reduces that potential range due to height changes. Weapons list a height range, but this is unclear in practice, as some attacks seem to hit outside of it or miss inside of the specified range.
- Maybe I’m just complaining, but I found the chest mimic situation a bit on the “jerk” side. Chests often have key items and need to be attacked a few times to open. Sometimes though, attacking the chest reveals it’s a mimic, which will bounce around an undetermined area and either escape the stage during the turn, or completely disappear when the turn ends. That means to appropriately deal with chests, you need to specifically try to open them at the beginning of a turn to allow time for a mimic, figure out a mimic’s pattern so you can try to attack it multiple times, and just hope that this is all doable within one turn (while enemies are attacking you) before it escapes. Kind of cruel.

Phew. Rarely does a game elicit this kind of reaction. At the same time that I find myself wanting to talk to people about all of its intricacies and how I personally dealt with x and y obstacles in the game, I find myself wondering what absurdly small percentage of gamers out there (hardcore RPGers included) will really go for this game... and further, what percentage will see it through to the end. It’s full of creativity, ambition, and a huge pair of balls, in introducing a completely new style of RPG gameplay while simultaneously not sugar-coating a thing.

All of that said, something that really stands out to me is that despite Knights single-handedly developing a complex genre, at no point does Sting ever completely throw its players to the wolves. The huge tutorial, easy leveling mode, options to keep going after a loss, providing “free” knights if you’re missing a class, generous Easy mode, and even paragraphs of advice when you die show that they wanted you to play and enjoy the game, rather than just watch you suffer.

In short, Knights in the Nightmare is a true behemoth of a game. It’s hard, it’s crazily complex, has a ton to explore, is pretty glorious when it all comes together, and may just have the most limited gaming audience I can imagine. If you’ve enjoyed Sting’s diverse offerings or just want to try something extremely unique and challenging, I absolutely recommend it. Similarly, I wouldn’t blame anyone who decides it’s not for them, regardless of whether it takes 5 minutes or 20 hours to realize that.

---

Lauren: With Anthony's review in mind, I was essentially prepared to give up on Knights in the Nightmare after giving it a brief attempt. After I heard his stance on the game, I was intimidated. After I completed the tutorials, I was terrified. Character and weapon elements, attack ranges dependent on law and chaos modes, obstacles containing key items for recruitment and more weapons, knights that can't be attacked directly (except sometimes!), "effects", and so on. You have to worry about vitality running out, durability running out, and time running out. There seemed to be simply too much to bear in mind at any given time, which would be fine if it were a turn-based strategy RPG, but the action of Knights happens in real-time. I assumed that this game would not be for me after fumbling and panicking through the first battle. But, I gave it another try the next night. And the next night. And with some time and good coaching, I finally saw the appeal of Knights and excitedly saw it through to the end.

That said, it is still not for everyone. The scene-battle-scene-battle-scene formula never changes, and the dark story hops all around the timeline in a somewhat confusing manner. Even the music, while fantastic, gets repetitive due to this formula. And the voice acting was just "there", even bothering me when I realized that badass Maria has a high- pitched little girl voice.

But even so, I truly enjoyed this game. Its unique style was simply fascinating, and that allowed me to look past those flaws to happily continue the experience. And despite the odd pacing of the plot, it is a very engaging one that's made more convincing by fantastic artwork.

Let's get down to the gameplay, though. Anthony has done a great job of describing the many intricacies of how Knights works, so I will just add a few thoughts to that. Easy Mode makes things infinitely more manageable if you're concerned with learning how the game works first. As he mentioned, it gives you 26 turns for every battle, max MP at the start of each battle, warning signals when a big attack is about to hit, and apparently no Mimics. While that seems like a lot of hand-holding considering their forgiveness even with Game Overs, it's nice to know you're "safe" while learning the ropes and aiming for victory as though there's a serious turn limit anyway.

My major complaints with the gameplay are also in line with Anthony's. Accidentally activating a Knight while dodging is very easy to do, and quite frustrating because it causes a time penalty, which is the same result as letting yourself get hit. And again, when there is a knight in the top-right corner of the screen, it's always a struggle to grab the right item without activating him/her by accident. Finally, when you try to give an NPC a key item while a monster is on the same square, you'll undoubtedly have to wait until the monster decides to move.

Most battles can be very hectic, especially if you focus on obtaining key items and weapons from obstacles before fighting the enemies. As a result, activating a knight by accident or struggling to reach the right side of the screen to switch modes or grab an item can certainly mess with your strategy. It felt like the menu portions of the screen should have been kept separate from the action itself, but that's just my opinion. It took some practice to grasp the general strategy of the battles, but once I got used to the fact that time doesn't tick down unless you do something or get hit, the stress level went down. It's odd to think of a timer as not ticking down when it's right there at the top of your screen, but that's just another thing that Knights does differently.

Hellhounds and a certain boss are an exception to the "only the wisp can be hurt, and it only subtracts time" rule. These monsters can chomp away at a knight's Vitality, which is an extremely important stat. When your VIT runs out, you die. If Maria dies, it's game over. If a knight dies, the knight is permanently gone. VIT is consumed by actions in battle, and replenished with experience points or the "transoul" feature. However, the aforementioned monsters can attack a knight and rapidly deplete his or her Vitality if they spot him/her while activated. Just another intimidating feature of Knights in the Nightmare.

A slightly cruel addition was the method to obtain the "good" ending of this game. It's pretty vague, and thus far I've found absolutely no references to it within the game itself. Perhaps it will come after the completion of the alternate playthrough, but I can't confirm this yet. Regardless, the trigger to the ideal ending is on a seemingly random panel that has to be broken twice, earning it a well-deserved "Guide Dang It" tag on TVTropes. On that topic, however, a more positive note - Knights has many different endings and a completely separate playthrough with a different main character and battles, so the replay value on this one is incredible.

After feeling like I had to take a college course on Knights in the Nightmare, and then feeling like an utter failure during many boss fights just for getting hit a lot, I'm not quite sure how to recommend this game to you. I stuck it out and would now even consider playing through the alternate story, even though I'm still a bit intimidated by it. Even Anthony was still learning new minor gameplay aspects while helping me on my playthrough.

All I can say is bravo, Sting. Each game you create seems more unique, complex, and engaging than the last. While I can't recommend it to everyone, I think Knights deserves a chance for its interesting style alone.

Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? (PSP)

Prinny

Nippon Ichi Software

Review by Anthony

Phew. Okay, Nippon Ichi decided to stray from their general format of strategy RPGs with quirky characters and instead decided to punish their fans a bit. Not with a bad game, but with a game so difficult that it’s unquestionably landed in my top three most difficult games I’ve played in the last ten years, nestled gently alongside Ikaruga and The Dark Spire. This time, we’re working with a surprisingly good and enjoyable platformer that also happens to be scrotum-grindingly difficult.

Prinny: Can I Really be the Hero? is akin to fanservice in that it stars a sidekick-like character from its Disgaea franchise and is filled to the brim with references to its games. The gameplay is pure 2-D Platformer though, sending you through stages full of obstacles, enemies, harrowing jumps, and challenging bosses. The good news is with few exceptions, you can probably grin and bear the difficulty on account of the game’s reference-laden charm and satisfying “I finally beat it!” game mechanics.

What’s good:

- In a fashion very uncharacteristic of Nippon Ichi titles, the graphics and graphical design of the stages and characters are actually quite excellent. Backgrounds of stages look especially gorgeous, the sprites of enemies and bosses are well animated, and the game itself sports a nice bright, clean look to it in contrast to the muddy and grainy look of its PS2 titles.

- In a fashion completely characteristic of Nippon Ichi titles, the music is just fantastic and the characters all have excellent voice acting. There are numerous songs in the game, and many are spectacular, with some even having tunes that sound like they’re inspired by other Nippon Ichi soundtracks. With almost all dialogue voice acted, they did a great job of bringing life to the characters and even the minor bosses.

- In another fashion characteristic of their franchises, Prinny is full of laugh-out-loud moments both in the dialog between characters and their numerous encyclopedia entries on items and enemies throughout the game. As you might expect from a game about exploding sinner-penguins tasked to make a special dessert, it never really takes itself serious in the slightest.

- Despite the difficulty inherent in the game, the actual gameplay design is pretty shrewdly simple and deep at the same time. Prinny can jump, attack, pound the ground, pick up objects, dash/become invincible after charging and sometimes ride in special vehicles. That doesn’t sound like much, but there are plenty of nuances in how one can coordinate jumps, attacks, and ground-pounds to navigate the world. There are few truly unique gimmicks between levels, but they’re designed differently enough that it still remains fresh through its simplicity.
- They added an option where you can restart your game from the beginning with all the items/stage completion information you’ve collected at any time. This is a nice feature on two accounts: it allows you to play all 36 iterations of the regular stages without having to constantly redo the difficult final stages, and it gives an option to practice a different variety of stages before attempting to beat the game.

- The Boss fights in the game are pretty dang cool. They vary nicely between huge lumbering beasts and absurdly quick characters, and will inevitably lead to your doom numerous times. They’re very satisfying to take down though, and there’s a pretty good number of them stuffed into the game as well.

- I appreciated the fact that you could collect “records” that allowed you to select the background music of your stages. Especially for the more difficult stages, it was nice being able to listen to a tune you really enjoy.

What’s neutral:
- Prinny caters to an extremely limited audience. Prinnies themselves are very recognizable mascots, but only to people who’ve played the Disgaea franchise. And considering many of those gamers are RPG fans, throwing a platformer into the fray, much less an extremely difficult platformer is kind of a risky venture.

- Prinny’s difficulty is both a blessing and a curse. On the good side, this is a game that really makes you work. You’ll have to work hard to assess your situation and how to overcome certain obstacles, and it can be extremely satisfying to make it to the exit or take down a crazily difficult boss. The included bonus area of the Martial Tower is such a deviously hard and long level that it’s difficult not to marvel at their ability to design stages. On the bad side, the difficulty also borders on unfair at times. Prinny can take a few hits unless you’re on Hard mode, but considering certain enemies/projectiles can fly onto the screen without audio cues, and ground-pounding can sometimes eject a hidden bonus enemy from the ground that can immediately kill you if you’re in the wrong spot, absorbing a few hits won’t make up for the challenge inherent. Further, the final boss is absurdly difficult, easily being the hardest final boss I’ve played in any game, ever. It requires a ton of time spent learning a long string of pattern recognition, and multiple minutes of absolutely furious button-mashing mixed with perilous dodging. Wow.

- I’ve seen talk of the game having “bad” or “imprecise” controls and I really don’t see that. It’s a tricky system to learn, but it’s not the control’s fault. The only aspects I found odd is that you can’t attack while carrying an object, and instead have to hit a specific “throw” button to get rid of it. Also sometimes if you fall near the bottom of the screen, it won’t let you jump back up even if you normally could. Minor concerns overall.

What’s bad:

- While I’m sure making a brand new game outside of their usual genres was difficult, there’s just no reason for a $39.99 retail price on the game. That’s simply too high, especially considering...

- The replay value in the game takes a serious hit. Although collection aspects and bonus stages can add a lot to the game, there’s no getting around the fact that a single playthrough can run as little as 5-8 hours. In my case, I beat the game, played all 36 iterations of the normal stages, collected enough lucky dolls to beat the Martial Tower and Etna, and also played through the entirety of the included Asagi Mode. My total time in the game was still a little less than 20 hours though. Considering I did almost everything the game had to offer aside from obsessive collection aspects, that’s not a particularly good amount of time for a game that retails more than average.

- Similar to that point, the fact that three extra Download-only stages are available at a cost is kind of a raw deal considering how expensive the game is to begin with. No thanks, guys.

I don’t have much else to say here. Nippon Ichi proved here that they can successfully spread their wings into other genres; it makes me wonder what they’re capable of and what they may attempt in the future. Prinny is a funny, pretty, entertaining, extremely challenging, but short and overpriced adventure.

Scribblenauts (DS)

Scribblenauts
5th Cell / Warner Bros.

Reviewed by Anthony

All right, I admit it. I bought into the hype. I heard the stories about the game, watched that video where they knock over the cans in creative ways, and skimmed through a guide, ogling at the words they crammed in there (They added _____? Ha ha, how droll!) Unfortunately, Scribblenauts not only didn’t live up to my expectations, it left me with an absolutely baffled feeling. How in the world can a game get away with such glitchy and poor programming in this day and age, and why do I want to vomit upon seeing some outlets give this a perfect score?

I probably don’t have to summarize, but here goes just in case you don’t know. Scribblenauts is a puzzle/action hybrid game that has you control a character as he goes through lava and high water to obtain a “Starite” or make one appear. Along the way, you can open up a typing pad and summon an object into the world to help you accomplish those tasks. The idea is that by summoning ‘any item you can dream of’, that you can follow your dreams however you want, towards destiny. The execution is far less epic than that, though.

What’s good:
- Admittedly, they have a pretty impressive library of items that were all drawn, and each has to have certain aspects programmed into it. Does it float? Does it burn? Does it consider murdering your main character a hobby? Certainly I can’t discount them for the work it took to realize all of the thousands of objects.
- When Scribblenauts is at its best, the game can really give you a mental workout in trying to come up with a way to counter the numerous traps in your way. Often I found the shorter levels to be enjoyable when they simply asked me to fulfill the requests of some characters on screen. No doubt, the game has its moments.
- There’s a nice dose of humor within the game at times. References to things like Ceiling Cat, and a level based on Bioshock telling you to not harm the “smaller sister” are worth a chuckle. They did try to have fun with it at times, and I appreciate that.

What’s neutral:
- The level creation option was a nice thought, and though you can do some amusing things with it, it’s a bit too restrained to really produce anything of value. You can only program Action stages (goal already visible) and you have to use pre-made stage layouts to work with. Though you can do funny things with it, like make God defend Hell with his life, or make God afraid of a salad, or make God attack a baby, or make a Priest fight God, the likelihood of doing anything truly substantial with the stages is low.
- The option to replay a level three times using different items to earn a gold medal is a decent attempt at adding replay value. However, there are exploits one can use to get around it, and typically, multiple similar items will have the exact same effect. In other words, it’s exploitable, and not even that hard to do, unless you’re dealing with the horrendous physics and glitches in trying to do so.

What’s bad:
- Controls! Piloting Maxwell, the main character, is, to put it gently, horrendous. For starters, mapping the entirety of his controls to the touch screen rather than the D-pad was an egregious misstep. Maxwell and his soulless eyes run like a maniac to whatever general area you tap on the screen. He’ll then automatically jump for you when he deems it necessary. This often makes minor adjustments impossible because there’s no way to regulate his enthusiasm, and the touch screen is simultaneously used to interact with any object on the stage. As a result, you’re bound to witness several dozen instances of Maxwell spazzing out, jumping up and down, leaping to his death, and not knowing when to fly or jump. Considering that you can’t control Maxwell when interacting with objects anyway, I see no argument for why they didn’t at least give the option to control him directly.
- Physics! You know how those are important in games, so that when you shoot a gun at an enemy, he doesn’t go flying across the room and breaking through the ceiling? Well, 5th Cell apparently hates physics and decides to do things its own way. As a result, sometimes objects will go flying or careening off the screen for seemingly no reason, or react in ways that should be impossible. If a bridge is safely sitting on two edges of a cliff, how is it that the whole bridge springs upward and buckles into the ground when stepped on? Documenting every case in which something very impossible happens with an item in game would take a review in itself.
- Glitches! You remember those things that used to happen often a few decades ago? 5th Cell misses those days. Thus you can look forward to situations that I came across, such as when I was supposed to collect a diamond amongst a pack of hungry wolves (I have no idea). But upon nearing the diamond, the wolves started hopping onto the diamond, and eventually it fell through the floor and out of the screen. So wait, I ‘lost’ because of that? This happened several times actually, and back when Superman 64 did it, they mocked it as one of the worst games ever.
- Repetition! You know how there are like, hundreds of levels in the game? Well what if I told you that it feels like a good 80% of the puzzle stages involve getting object C from point A to point B, and 80% of action stages involve killing all obstacles and then navigating to the Starite? For a game that advertises so much open-ended gameplay, the number of times I was attaching a rope/vine/wire/cable to some object/character and dragging it to another side of the screen during puzzle levels was absurd. During action levels, once I figured out that “Ooze” was a versatile and immortal destroyer of worlds, almost every level became about letting Ooze slay my enemies and then navigating through minor obstructions to the goal.
- Pointlessness! This aspect pervades so much of the Scribblenauts experience. For one, forget about the apparent 10,000+ items they’ve made available in the game, because a good 9,900 of them are pointless to beating the game beginning to end. They put hundreds of food items in the game, many of which I’ve never even heard of, and there’s a whopping one puzzle in the whole game that asks you to provide food. Otherwise, characters may just eat them. Add that to things like hundreds of specific species of animals that only exist to sit there and maybe attack others/be attacked, or a whole bunch of buildings and structures that you’ll never, ever have to summon to complete any challenge. Part of that 10,000 number includes items they specifically made just for creating the levels too. Was anyone at any point going to really type in “Large Cracked Wood Pillar” to try to complete some challenge? It’s like an RPG advertising 10,000 available weapons, and 9,800 of them are Wooden Sticks with 1 Attack.
- Shallow Programming! Animals mostly exist to murder each other on site (I didn’t know that any dog immediately kills any cat), a Tailor doesn’t react to clothes, a Lifeguard won’t react to an infant in the water, wearing Armor doesn’t appear to protect you in any way, being in a Fallout Shelter or various vehicles won’t stop you from being damaged, Police love to shoot you, being struck by Lightning tickles, and placing Rats into a hot oven is the same as storing your Rats. Perhaps the game could’ve benefited from say, about a hundredth of the items included if it meant they could’ve added more dynamic AI to the items included.
- Missing refinements! Making a typo brings up a suggestion box that may or may not be helpful, but more odd is that for the myriad of compound words, a minor typo can mean summoning the complete wrong item. When I write “Flyingg Car” I don’t get a “did you mean ‘Flying Car’, ‘Car’” etc., it just summons a regular Car, ignoring what it assumes was a pointless adjective. I’d be worried that this affects the “Par” challenge of trying to beat a stage with as few items as possible, except that it’s also pretty pointless. Earning a few more “Ollars” from dealing with issues like this is meaningless when I easily bought every bonus item in the game with plenty to spare despite not even making the effort to do so.

The real problem here is that I could go on. The number of times that something bafflingly stupid happened in the game along with the variety of nonfunctional elements is truly staggering. I went into the game with moderately high hopes, and I should’ve been worried when in trying to give a Chef a whisk, Maxwell proceeded to violently beat the Chef over the head with the whisk instead. But I laughed it off thinking “What an odd single occurrence!” only to be very disappointed with all that continued to transpire throughout.

I appreciate innovation and all, but it’s pretty much always assumed that whatever company is innovating has at least a general grasp on how to program a modern video game. To see a game with such shoddy physics, controls and interaction get high scores is rather insulting. I’ve seen games like Avalon Code, Knights in the Nightmare, The World Ends With You, and Henry Hatsworth just within the last year be very innovative offerings on the DS, and none of those games can have you lose because some object in the level made the goal fall through solid ground. To scrutinize unique games normally and then laud this game because the concept seems ‘really cool’ is ridiculous.

Sure, there are a few bright spots in the game and moments where I genuinely liked what they did. That said, that ratio of enjoyment to sheer boredom/frustration was probably somewhere around 15%/85%. I remember in grade school back in the day, 63% was failure. Just watch videos of it if you think the concept is cool. At best, if you -really- love the concept of the game and are willing to soldier on through all of the missteps, bad programming and repetition it throws at you, the one thing the game has is plenty of replay value. Retrying stages in new ways and trying to think of items you’re not sure are in the game or not could certainly provide a lot of fun. I, for one, would’ve rather been able to type “Much Better Game” and have that appear instead.

Spectrobes: Origins (Wii)

Spectrobes: Origins
Disney Interactive Studios

Anthony: From time to time, the primitive meathead gamer in me longs for a good, solid hack and slash game. Sure, they’re repetitive, but there’s always something to be said for being able to hit a button over and over and it make carnage happen. In my search for the next co-op hack and slash for us to play, I came across Spectrobes: Origins, which had the added benefit of being a monster-based RPG and having drop-in/drop-out co-op gameplay. While I won’t claim for a second that this is an excellent game, I’ll absolutely say we had a lot of fun playing it.

Tearing pages straight from Saturday morning cartoons and “Japanimation”, Spectrobes: Origins follows two young space.. somethings.. who control some kind of monsters called Spectrobes to combat an evil race of some sort. What that actually means is you control a character who fights with various weapons and can issue commands to explore and fight with various diminutive and hulking monsters. The “Spectrobes” are unearthed and excavated by the player, and can be controlled either issuing commands via remote swings or a second player.

Naturally, the plot is rather groan-inducing. That’s not from a lack of presentation though... oddly enough, the voice acting is very solid. But as you might expect, characters have very typical personalities, poke at each other with very childish jokes, and the story never really goes beyond “Beat bad dude.” They give a little exposition, but it doesn’t really mean much. That said, I’ve seen reviews actually dock the game for the plot, and to that I say.. what? I seem to recall a decade of Pokemon RPGs receiving 8.5-10 scores despite never having a plot more than “win badges, but don’t let bumbling bad guys get strong pokemon!” So let’s not be inconsistent and claim that suddenly the plot should matter in scoring the game.

The gameplay is the heart of everything here, and though there are a slew of minor issues and “huh?” moments with it, overall the news is good. Although the main character starts with very generic and some borderline unusable weapons, exploration in the world reveals a host of improved weapons that have special attacks, different combinations of attacks, status effects and elemental properties. If one thing surprised me most about the game beyond the graphics, it was the wide variety of different weapons you can get throughout the game.

In single-player mode, Spectrobes are commanded by swinging the remote to either send it out to attack or call it back to retreat. Timing the attack orders with the main character’s attack can produce different attacks and combos, which is an interesting feature, while special attacks are simply triggered with B. In two-player mode, the second character controls the active Spectrobe, and the retreat/attack options are disabled. Instead, the second player freely moves and attacks using the Spectrobe’s strongest attacks, and becomes the one to initiate special attacks. The only advantage single-player mode offers is that Spectrobes will teleport to and from the enemies, making chipping at threatening bosses a potential strategy. Otherwise, having a partner makes things infinitely easier and saves your wrist a lot of swinging.

The prognosis is similar for exploration. Alone, a player has to swing the remote to send a baby spectrobe to search for shining items on the field. It’s repetitive, and a little annoying in both hearing “Go!” repeatedly and having to wait for the Spectrobe to do its thing. With a second player, a simple remote point-and-click interface immediately unearths items, and is a vastly superior system to doing it solo.

Excavating fossils to spawn new Spectrobes is a pretty robust system that can be both fun and challenging while having huge benefits. All items start as a chunk of rock, but with a combination of tools like a world-destroying laser, an X-ray beam and gentle drill, you can unearth the creatures within. Then a very simplistic music minigame awakens them for use either as an exploring baby or an evolved, battling adult. Minimal damage and time elapsed results in a better ranking and higher leveled Spectrobe.

A moment should be taken to mention the graphics. This aspect went well above and beyond my expectations. Environments look nice and fairly pretty, but especially the scenes in space and the few limited CG scenes look excellent. On top of that, the models for the Spectrobes are unique and impressive looking. Each one starts out as a tiny baby, and ends up a miniature-Godzilla when fully evolved. They look cool, and all manage to have a good amount of personality and variety to their designs. Menus are cleanly designed and smartly work with either the remote pointer or button input as you see fit. I might’ve liked the weapon-change screen to load a little faster, but that’s a minor gripe.

It’s worthy of note that despite being geared at children, the difficulty is not quite at kid-level. Although you can keep up to six, the Spectrobes can never be healed in battle unless they level up... and as the game goes on, the main character’s damage output begins to pale in comparison to a same-leveled Spectrobe. Combine those aspects with enormous bosses that typically have huge area-attacks with little room to attack and dodge safely, and you have a game that just might humble you once or twice. Even normal enemies can pose a challenge if you don’t keep healing up and aren’t switching to the right elemental properties. I’d be impressed if some kid managed to tackle the impressively challenging final boss without a ton of exp-grinding.

Thankfully, they let you retry from the beginning whenever you wipe out to a boss, and typically provide save points prior to them, so it’s not like Disney hates children per se.

But let’s not kid ourselves, there are some definite flaws to point out. While the drop-in/drop-out co-op feature is great and very helpful, it’s baffling to me why they’d make the exploration so obtuse for a single player in comparison. And in battle, despite Spectrobes typically having a few attack patterns, a second player is limited to only using the strongest (and sometimes the slowest) attack available. Why limit anything? Stranger still, the very short instruction booklet doesn’t even cover the second player’s controls, despite the box advertising the drop-in/drop-out gameplay.

Oddly enough, you’re kind of discouraged from sticking with the same Spectrobes throughout the game. Because you can take up to six with you in battle (and realistically, you want at least five.. one for each element), the main character levels up much more quickly than his/her Spectrobes. Exp-granting crystals can be unearthed all over to help augment this, but especially as levels get higher, they don’t come close to offsetting this disparity in levels. The reason this discourages loyalty is that getting an “A” rank on fossil excavation nets you a Spectrobe of your main character’s level, and there’s no stat difference between a levelled-up Spectrobe and a newly born one. As a result, every 10-20 levels, you’ll probably just want to excavate a fresh batch of your current team to keep them appropriately strong, rather than try to grind and gut it out with each of the five-six members in your current crew.

A few more oddities... Special weapons are found throughout the world that are locked behind one of five elemental barriers, and are unlocked by a child Spectrobe of the same element. However, you can only have three child Spectrobes at a time, so it means you’ll have to backtrack to a save point/the ship to switch Spectrobes if you don’t have the right element.. silly. A few bosses guard literally everything, forcing you to use only the main character with an Axe for potential damage. Guarding as the main character is a little awkward, as it requires lifting the remote/nunchuk.. something not easily done when you need to quickly defend. And while it clearly marks the fossils you obtain as “New” or the name of the Spectrobe inside, you can unearth Crystal-containing fossils that are arguably pointless for the time spent, yet always say “New” instead of just telling you it’s a crystal. Why?

But for those oddities and flaws, there are some other pleasant things to report too. The game has a nice map overlay for navigating areas and finding the zones. Save points heal and are at placed at good intervals, with it not forcing you to redo mandatory battles within the same area if you backtrack. Encounters are often voluntary in areas when you’re looking to level up or charge special attacks. Switching Spectrobes in battle is easy, with it even showing you how much of their special attacks are charged as you scroll through.

There’s a lot of variety in the Spectrobes themselves, which made trying new ones and finding ones that Lauren liked to use quite addictive. The game length is a respectable 15-30 hours, with plenty of play value if you try out different Spectrobes or do the silly post-game quest. Slamming enemies with their elemental weakness is nice and satisfying enough... But gathering up your Spectrobes’ special attacks, and unleashing all in succession and watching a Boss’ HP bar shoot down... is pretty dang cool to do.

So this isn’t a world-smashingly amazing game by any means, and having played it, I still don’t know what a Spectrobe is nor do I have any interest in more of the storyline. With that said, I only look back on the game fondly, because it was pretty dang fun piling up a team of hulking beasts and having Lauren and I smash them in sometimes quite epic fashion. I’ve played better games that aren’t as fun, and guess what matters more to me in the end? Spectrobes: Origins is great, mindless entertainment, though much moreso with a partner. Plus, you can make fun of the corny dialogue together.

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Lauren: Every now and then, we crave a good co-op hack-and-slash game, even if it's almost completely mindless. Games like Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance usually fit that bill, but surprisingly, a cutesy Disney Pokemon-esque title gave us a similar experience.

Spectrobes: Origins is mainly a monster-training RPG. I'll leave the main gameplay descriptions to Anthony, since I was just his monster co-pilot through the adventure. From the Player 2 standpoint, I can say that even the level grinding was pretty entertaining. You can swap between several different Spectrobes during battle in order to maximize elemental damage. The Spectrobes also have a special move gauge that fills up as they deal damage, which can then be unleashed with a tap of the B button and a silly Wii-mote pose. These attacks can be extremely useful on difficult bosses, since it's possible to charge up every Spectrobe's special move in advance, then unleash them all consecutively.

The graphics are very nice for a Wii title - pretty, though a little on the simple side. Environments are generally colourful with pretty details, especially the mountainous backgrounds. Each Spectrobe's appearance is impressively unique, from swordfish to cacti to a pair of dancing boots. The attacks and animations are also varied and fun to watch. The human character models are fairly simple in comparison, but it's not really a problem.

The story was the weakest point for me. It might not be fair of me to say that, since we knowingly purchased a Disney game that's geared toward kids, but it still bears mentioning. Don't expect an epic storyline - just the usual generic fluff with innocuous dialogue that tries a little too hard to be funny. Though the voice acting is generally quite good and features some very well-known actors, I found it to be a little less enjoyable because of the script.

All plot complaints aside, it was still a very fun (and even occasionally challenging) game to play. I got to explore, collect shiny things, and beat the you-know-what out of enemies with a variety of neat Spectrobes, and that kept us both entertained for many hours. I also got to feel like an anime character as I busted out various Wii-mote poses.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3)

Metal Gear Solid 4:
Guns of the Patriots
Kojima Productions/Konami

Lauren: Metal Gear Solid 4 - AKA the main reason I purchased a PS3. I've been a fan of the series since the beginning, so I was extremely excited about this one. I completely avoided spoilers before playing it, and I'd highly recommend that everyone else do the same. What I wouldn't recommend is even touching this game if you haven't played any of the previous three. That's not to say that it's a bad game otherwise - in fact, it's one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I've ever had - but it simply can't be appreciated to nearly the same extent without the proper background.

The graphics, as you'd probably imagine, are simply jaw-dropping. The backgrounds have meticulous detail (even where most people wouldn't look), clothing textures look incredibly realistic, and the character designs and expressions made me feel like I was watching a movie. It was great to see PS1-era characters come to life with these wonderful graphics. Even something as simple as a leather glove amazed me to no end. These are some of the best visuals I've ever seen in a game, period. On top of that, MGS once again showcases incredible graphics in the form of both cutscenes -and- gameplay, with beautifully seamless transitions in between.

What surprised me about MGS4 was the range of environments in which the story takes place. The game begins in a dusty desert city, then proceeds through a South American jungle, a film-noir style of dark European city streets, and a throwback area that's too cool of a surprise to mention here. I enjoyed the variations as a change from being stuck indoors or out in the wild for most of the game. It keeps the action well-paced, and almost makes the game seem too short, but only because it's so varied and enjoyable. The boss battles are also very unique, from hide-and-seek chases to an epic Metal Gear vs. Metal Gear battle to two tired old men punching each other in slow motion.

And the time flies by. The average gamer will probably clock in about 20 hours in his or her first playthrough, which is pretty normal for an action/stealth game. I found myself craving more time with the game as I reached its conclusion, but that's certainly not a bad thing. As always, there are plenty of reasons to play through the game again, though the usual rewards are a bit more difficult to obtain this time around, and the Big Boss Emblem challenge is exceptionally difficult. I actually replayed it just to see the story scenes again.

One of the best parts about MGS4 is the amount of old characters and references that the creators brought back. Although making a list of them is tempting, I don't want to spoil those who haven't experienced this yet. Trust me - you'll run into a lot of surprises. The whole thing was very surreal, combining characters I've known in separate games over the past 12 years into one fantastic story. MGS4 was clearly made with the fans in mind, so newcomers unfortunately won't be half as impressed. The rest of the players, however, will be cheering at their screens as the plot proceeds (and as they spot the many obscure details/references within).

The MGS veteran in me is obligated to point out the fact that some characters' accents were watered down. This was likely done in order to maintain consistency between the more recent Twin Snakes and the rest of the series. It still felt a bit wrong to not have Naomi speaking with a British accent and Mei Ling with an Asian one, though. With that minor complaint aside, the voice acting is as amazing as it always has been in this series. Kudos to the voice actors for staying on board this long - they really make the characters seem human.

Speaking of human, something I love about the character development here is how "real" they make Snake seem. I don't need an invincible hero who can do backflips over lasers. I like someone I can relate to and believe in, and Snake is the perfect example. He's a tough military man with great skills, but he still stumbles. He falls flat on his face if you try to somersault down a set of stairs. He gets tired. He struggles. And in MGS4, it's especially apparent that his age is catching up to him. I thought this might end up being lame, but they pulled it off in a very believable manner. One scene in particular did an amazingly good job of representing his struggle - you'll know it when you get there. I could even sense Snake's frustration during the final battle (which was also wonderfully done) as though he were a real person. Another kudos to the team for managing to tie in the seemingly disjointed storylines of the previous three games into one. I certainly did not expect them to do this, but it was a pleasant and satisfying surprise.

If I were to describe the controls of MGS4 in one word, I'd choose "smooth." I don't know how Konami did it, but they took the basic idea of the controls from all the previous titles, then made them work in a way that feels completely natural to play. ...After a few hours, anyway. I struggled at first and still found myself sometimes hitting Square to shoot, Circle for CQC, or R1 for first-person view (to the glee of enemy soldiers), but it was great after a few hours of conditioning. Despite seeming complex at first, the controls simply make sense, and the developers even fixed the crawling controls to be more convenient. You can now "edge" from side to side while crawling, which is wonderful for sniping. The aiming was drastically improved too, allowing surprisingly good accuracy for regular shooting as well. Even the basic tranquilizer gun gets a nice little reticule to simplify the process.

As smooth as the controls can be, they don't make MGS4 an easy game. It lacks both the Soliton radar of MGS1 and 2, and the silent, open jungles of MGS3. You'll find yourself thrown into a surprisingly chaotic environment with only limited radar functions, which certainly takes some conditioning as well. I spent the first few hours feeling genuinely intimidated by the game, what with all the explosions and gunfire (even if mostly for show) going on in the first couple of chapters.

While the radar's functions are not as clear-cut as they were in the first two games, they are still quite helpful. The "Solid Eye" provides a sound radar, as well as clear marking of items and other soldiers. The radar itself runs on a battery, which is slightly inconvenient, but it lasts a long time and isn't always necessary anyway. As with all the other new features, it's great once you get used to it.

Camouflage makes a return from MGS3, but in a much more convenient way. Snake is equipped with the "OctoCamo" - a suit that can change its pattern depending on its surroundings, like a chameleon. Very handy. And for the most part, it keeps Snake very well hidden. You'll also be able to don a few full disguises throughout the game.

MGS took an interesting turn this time with a shopping system. A certain mysterious individual will assist Snake by activating locked guns for him (for a price), and selling additional weapons, ammo, and items. Any extra guns that Snake picks up are automatically sold to this shop for additional points. Additionally, you can customize your weapons by adding accessories such a silencers and scopes. It's a great system, and a lot of very interesting items become available as the game progresses, as well as on subsequent playthroughs.

As I mentioned earlier, MGS4 combines several gameplay elements from its predecessors into one neat package. The psyche gauge from MGS3 remains, but Snake no longer needs to hunt for food. Rations can save him from death once again, and he doesn't have to worry about fixing injuries anymore. CQC still exists and is very useful, though enemies are much smarter with responding to it now. It's an excellent combination of everything great from the previous games, with a lot of smart new innovations.

There is one main problem I can see with MGS4 - its exclusivity. The inside jokes. The weird references. But of course, that's been the case with every entry into the Metal Gear Solid series thus far. Do not jump into this game without playing at least one of the others first. Doing so would be a disservice to both yourself and the quirky genius Kojima, while spoiling a spectacular gaming experience. MGS4 is, in essence, a grand homage to everything fans loved in MGS1, 2, and 3, from gameplay elements to characters to random oddities.

This is what gaming should be all about. It's the whole package of gorgeous graphics, smooth gameplay, and a strong connection to the fans. On top of that, the story, cinematography, and "acting" is fantastic. Few games have brought tears to my eyes, but MGS4's ending absolutely did. If this is truly the end of Solid Snake's story, I honestly cannot imagine a better conclusion.

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Anthony: I’ll try to not be a broken record here. But to the point, MGS4 is absolutely one of the best games I’ve played, and arguably has the most engaging storyline I’ve come across.

Lauren touched on the graphics, and I’ll simply reiterate the point by saying that MGS4 also manages to have better cinematography and more evocative use of its scenes than most movie-makers could hope for. Although it’s far too long and too in-depth to make a movie storyline, Kojima and his crew have arguably outdone some of the best movie-makers in producing some of the exciting, emotional, and dramatic scenes in this game.

Although there are plenty of great aspects of the whole gameplay experience, I have to really put in my praise for the controls. Though it took a brief period of getting used to after playing the early MGS games (the X button is confirm now? Madness!), once it all came together, the word that came to mind was “glorious”. Crawling is finally fixed, making it easy to transition in and out of it, while making adjustments on the ground is finally free from the “turn, move, turn” dynamic. Hiding, aiming, running, and doing all three simultaneously always worked smoothly. Whether I went for crafty stealth or “guns a’blazin” glory, I never once felt like I had to fight the controls to do so.

Other gameplay improvements and enhancements were quite welcome. They kept some of Snake’s CQC from MGS3 and Hold-up tactics, but managed to trim some of the less functional aspects and made them easier to do. Simultaneously, they also increased enemy AI, where it’s a lot harder to just run up and grab alerted soldiers for easy knockouts than it was in MGS3. The OctoCamo was useful for making the camouflage system less cumbersome, the Drebin point system was an excellent way to customize your gameplay style, and the Solid Eye functionality allowed you to use several beneficial types of items from previous games all rolled into one. Everything is streamlined, while items and the AI react in such a way that it doesn’t make the game any easier. For instance, the Solid Eye’s “Night Vision” mode is arguably even better than the Thermal Goggles of previous games, but these temporarily blind you when turning them on so you can’t do the same “flick on and off” trick in previous games.

There are a couple very minor issues to address. As Lauren said, unfamiliarity with the series would no doubt take down one’s appreciation of both the story and gameplay. It’s still a great game, but seeing elements of all the previous entries come together in both story and gameplay is part of what makes this special. The significant change in controls and the very noisy early areas of the game are likely to put a MGS player out of his/her element early on, as it feels much more chaotic than stealthy. I also take slight issue with the fact that enemies can be alerted to you by hearing a single gunshot among what’s a hale of gunfire and explosions all around you. Though it’s an ever-present PS3 issue, the font is also extremely small for some portions of the game for us non-HDTV owners. All of these are very minor gripes overall.

One thing that bears note is the replay value in a game like this. Not even touching the bonus content, this strongly carries the tradition of its predecessors of being a great argument for at least a second playthrough. The game length is moderate, but playing it again really gives you a chance to go through sections of the game using different tactics, different weapons, and exploring different areas. The game has plenty of sections off the beaten path that can be missed, and the wealth of weapons and techniques to use on enemies adds plenty of depth. The game rewards you with cool bonus items and has a nice system for earning emblems for actions during the gameplay. None of those even touch on the amount of hidden easter eggs and codec conversations throughout the game. Although the storyline is linear, the gameplay to get through it could be different every time you play.

In contrast to many games I’ve played lately that feel like they missed the mark, MGS4 is one I think surpassed its expectations. I can’t think of a better way to have wrapped up Snake’s storyline, for one. And as far as gameplay goes, they’ve managed to do a great feat in combining aspects of all the previous entries in a way that’s more functional and diverse than ever before. They managed to do so while still keeping the challenge high and having plenty of variety in the gameplay. Simply put, it’s one of the best games and best series I’ve played.

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Kojima Productions/Konami

Lauren: I generally dislike first-person and third-person shooters. I wasn't very good at stealth games like Tenchu or Splinter Cell. Action games are hit-or-miss for me, too. And don't even get me started on war games. Yet despite all that, I fell in love with Metal Gear Solid. Then Metal Gear Solid 2. And I don't know how Kojima/Konami keep doing this, but they pulled off yet another excellent entry in the Metal Gear series with Snake Eater.

There is something different about the Metal Gear Solid series that I haven't experienced in any other games. Perhaps it's the personality behind the whole experience. The characters feel like real people, the dialogue is absolutely hilarious at times, and sometimes the whole thing even feels a bit campy. It may also be the staggering level of detail and hidden references that they put into each game. Whatever the defining feature is, it keeps me coming back to the series for more.

I'll admit that I was skeptical at first. The initial previews for Snake Eater seemed downright bizarre. No radar? Camouflage? A jungle? ...Eating snakes? I thought Kojima had gone off the deep end, but as always, he knew what he was doing. Never will I doubt him again.

I can't say a lot about the story without getting into spoilers, but I can definitely say it was a great one. The setting is much further back than the last two Metal Gear Solid games, and there's another distinct difference with the characters involved, but it still manages to keep that "MGS feel" for the most part. The plot will definitely keep you guessing right up until the post-credits scene.

David Hayter's classic voice acting returns for our protagonist. He does a great job as always, though this Snake is understandably a little less badass than what we're used to. The new voice actors were also very convincing in their roles. The music is suitably tense, and the James Bond-style vocal song "Snake Eater" is amusing and fitting for the time period of the game. The ambient jungle noises are also very well done - I often can't tell if a bird is chirping in the game or outside of my window.

Most of the game is played in a jungle environment, which can provide both safety and additional danger. A more realistic stamina gauge has been added, and Snake needs to keep it up by eating. If he doesn't, there will be consequences such as an unsteady aim, slower health recovery, and a growling stomach, which can alert guards. Of course, you'll still find the classic rations here and there, but Snake will usually have to hunt for the rest of his food. You'll be scouring the jungle for snakes, rabbits, birds, fish, and so on. Of course, certain enemies will want to bite back, too, so there is a fair bit of strategy in this element of the game as well. Most animals will only last about one real-life day before their meat begins to rot, and this usually means you'll want to toss the meat or risk giving Snake food poisoning. Yes, really.

Adding to the theme of realism is the new "Cure" menu. Instead of simply having his health bar go down with every injury, Snake now has to take care of each one individually. You'll find first aid supplies throughout the game, and it will be very important to fix up your wounds, or else your health will not recover. This system gets impressively detailed; for example, a cut requires styptic, disinfectant, a suture kit, and a bandage, while Snake can rid himself of a leech by burning it off with a cigar, or remove a crossbow bolt from his arm by digging it out with his trusty knife. This guy can take a lot of punishment, apparently, but at least it's more realistic than chowing down on rations to fix gunshot wounds to the head.

The new Mei Ling equivalent is a lady by the codename of Para-Medic. She'll help explain the first aid procedures, as well as act as your field guide when it comes to animals in the jungle. In classic MGS style, this amounts to some very amusing conversations. The same goes for your weapons expert this time around. It's definitely worth calling both of them on a regular basis. I'm still amazed by the amount of radio conversations they put into these games, even though the casual gamer would miss out on half of them.

A new camouflage system has also been implemented. Depending on where Snake is standing, his outfit will give him a certain percentage which represents how visible he is. You can gather different outfits and facepaint throughout the game that will be helpful in various environments. Some hard-to-get camouflage pieces also have hidden additional effects, such as stamina recovery. There is definitely something thrilling about laying down in the grass with a 95% camo index, wondering if that nearby guard is going to see you or not.

And then there's the actual action of the game. Stealth is as fun and engaging as ever, but it's definitely much more challenging. Your precious radar is gone, and there's no way to get it back. You are given a sonar and two other sensors which can function in a similar way, but it's still not quite the same. You'll definitely feel somewhat exposed for the first while if you've become conditioned to the other MGS games. You'll be breathing a sigh of relief when you finally come across the familiar thermal goggles. Using advanced stealth techniques will become important, since alerts happen much more easily this time around, and caution mode lasts a very long time.

My main complaint with Snake Eater is the lack of a controllable camera. You can either move in third-person view, or look around in first-person, but you can't move in this way unless you're crawling. The analog sticks allow you to peek a little further in each direction, but it's still not nearly enough for sneaking up on some guards. You'll sometimes have to get only a few feet away from a guard before you can even see him, and by then, he'll probably spot you and sound the alert. This isn't as much of a problem once you get used to it and use the appropriate tools at your disposal, but it can seem pretty tough at first. I know that the remake, Subsistence, fixed this issue, and now I wish I'd purchased that instead.

The gameplay doesn't get boring. You'll be in a jungle, underground, in a cave, climbing a mountain, and then finally back to the familiar indoor environments. You can take enemies down with traditional weapons, or make use of the many new close-quarters combat techniques. The boss fights also add a lot of variety, and there are usually many different techniques that can be used to defeat them.

Another thing that always impresses me about MGS is the developers' attention to detail. There are countless additions to these games that the casual player will likely miss. For example, one boss in Snake Eater can be defeated in three ways - the traditional approach (which could mean several different methods as well), or by shutting off the game and setting the PS2 clock ahead a few weeks so that he'll die of old age, or you can snipe him when he is shown earlier in the game briefly following a cutscene. Just amazing. Never before have I seen details like this put into a video game.

The graphics definitely push the PS2 near its limits. Once again, the smooth real-time graphics are as gorgeous as those found in cutscenes. Everything is beautifully animated, from the characters' facial expressions right down to every single blade of grass.

And of course, there's plenty of reason to play MGS3 again. As always, there are many unlockable items and goals to aim for, including the usual infinite ammo item and stealth camouflage. The game is already a long one, taking most gamers 20-25 hours to complete the first playthrough. Not too shabby for an action game.

Metal Gear Solid 3 isn't just a decent prequel. It's an incredibly well designed game on its own. It's beautiful, it's challenging, it's fun, it's hilarious, and it's interesting all at the same time. The initial learning curve may be a bit steep, but I encourage all potential players to tough it out, because this one was absolutely worth it.

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Anthony: I was very late to the Metal Gear Solid franchise in that I didn’t play the original MGS until MGS4 was out. So, I can’t claim the same storied past with the series. That said, the fact that I eagerly play these games and love them now is a testament to the point Lauren made - there’s just something different and unique about this franchise. Third or first-person shooters have never been my thing, but just like Metroid Prime games will always have me breaking that rule, so too will games like MGS3.

Beyond the fact that it was amusing to see a young Ocelot and get more of the background on Snake and his history, the game was great to play. Keep in mind though, the difficulty is significantly ramped up compared to MGS2... guards are sent into alert much easier, caution mode takes much longer to end, and the lack of the soliton radar means you’ll be shuffling through various less effective equipment if you want the same effect. Couple that with a very unfortunate camera system that often makes it difficult to see things right in front of you, plus the new stamina/injury system included with your health gauge, and you have a significantly more difficult experience.

Does it matter? Not really. Early frustrations and camera-impeded areas aside, the game plays fantastically, and once again manages to be a part of an absolutely huge experience that no one will be able to discover every aspect of alone. Self-referencing humor, spoken dialog even for improbable unlockable items, crazily in-depth systems that allow you to blow up food stores so guards will complain of hunger to give away their position... A review can’t even begin to touch all of the easter eggs you can find in the game and how many ways to go about solving each stage’s challenges.

It’s just that kind of experience that makes you want to come back for more. MGS3 is an excellent continuation of the series that gives me fond memories even as I think about the hard parts that frustrated me. It makes me want to go back and play them again!