Review: Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Level-5 has become a very successful RPG-developer over the past few years, but with the Professor Layton series, they are taking a step in a different direction. With the first entry in the series, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Level-5 has created a unique, enjoyable adventure game filled with interesting brainteasers and puzzles for the Nintendo DS.

The game follows Professor Layton, a renowned archaeologist and puzzle expert, and his young assistant Luke. Layton and Luke are invited to the town of St. Mystere by the family of a wealthy Baron who has recently passed away. They are asked to investigate the Baron's will, which sets them on a search for the family's treasure known as the Golden Apple. As the two go out to investigate they run into more mysteries along the way. The game mixes a bunch of interesting characters and even some laughs in to create a neat little mystery story.

Wolves and chicks... will they ever get along?

The game plays like a point and click style adventure game. You'll use the stylus and touch screen to move around the town and look into solving the various mysteries you're investigating. Basically, you just move around town tapping on people or things in the environment. This will help you get information. But to get this info, you'll usually need to solve some kind of puzzle, brainteaser, or riddle. These make up the bulk of the gameplay and usually will have you reading what the puzzle wants you to do in the top-screen and using the touch-screen to solve it. Some examples of the types of puzzles you'll run into are figuring out which of a few slots a crank fits into or you'll be tasked with moving blocks around to get a ball or another item from one spot to another. For other puzzles you'll have to divide a liquid into two equal portions using three different sized pitchers. Some of these puzzles will be story-related while others will be just an excuse to give you another puzzle. Also, some are necessary to move on in the game others are not. Either way they are for the most part pretty fun. There are things to collect around town too. Coins can be found and used to get hints on puzzles. Other things can be put together to get more puzzles or actually help you in-game in some cases. All the puzzles in the game are also worth a certain amount of points that both tell you the difficulty and add to your score (though with each incorrect answer the score added will decrease). Overall, the gameplay is a fun combination of adventure and puzzle elements.

The titular Prof. Layton (right) and his assistant Luke (left) on the run in the game's distinctive artstyle.

The game features an interesting cartoonish artstyle. It's certainly a breath of fresh air amongst the visuals we're used to seeing, but it's not really close to being one of my favorite styles in gaming. Okami it is not, but unique none-the-less. This artstyle is at it's best in the full motion video cutscenes which are pretty good especially on the DS, but do not happen too often. The rest of the game also looks nice and carries over the same style.

The previously mentioned cutscenes are all fully voiced and the voice acting is quite good. The story bits are told mostly through text, but their are a few voice samples that come up when you solve (or fail to solve) a puzzle. The original soundtrack is pretty neat and a good fit for the mystery story, but it won't blow you away.

You'll have to solve a number of puzzles similar to the one pictured above.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village has a pretty decent playtime your first time through especially for a handheld game. The story mode has over 100 puzzles along with the different parts to collect. Once you're done, you'll unlock some more puzzles to solve in the bonus section and there are also downloadable puzzles to solve (though admittedly I haven't tried any of these). So, the game has a decent amount of stuff to do, but the problem is once you've done it there isn't much to come back for. I mean the puzzles are kind of finished once you've solved them and since this makes up the bulk of the gameplay, I don't see much motivation to play through the story mode a second time.

Summary

Story
A neat little mystery story filled with interesting characters and some funny moments.
Gameplay
A point and click style-adventure filled with puzzles and brainteasers. It's pretty fun if you can get into the puzzle-solving.
Graphics
A unique cartoon artstyle combined with some cool fully-voiced video cutscenes makes for a pretty good package.
Sound
There's not a whole lot of it, but the voice-acting is good when it's there. The soundtrack is also a good fit for the game's mystery storyline.
Replay Value and Extras
The story-mode has a pretty good length for a handheld game. You'll also have items to find as well as downloadable puzzles and the puzzles you unlock by finishing the game to keep you busy for a bit. But there is not much reason to come back to the story once you've finished.
Overall
I had fun playing through Professor Layton and the Curious Village and I was quite addicted to the game while I was playing through it. If you're into puzzles and brainteasers, you should definitely take a look at this game. The story and cutscenes should keep you interested throughout as well. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Professor and Luke get into in future and applaud Level-5 for taking a chance on a different type of game.
Score-8/10

DJ Max Fever

I've been reading about how cool DJ Max Portable and it's sequel were the past couple years and I've wanted to try them, but as I'm not the importing type, I've never had the chance. Lucky for me and those like me, a version of the popular Korean rhythm game for PSP is coming to the U.S. called DJ Max Fever. For those that aren't familiar with the game, you tap and hold buttons on the PSP as notes corresponding to each button come down and pass a line. They have a large range of tracks, but it seems to focus on techno and some pop stuff from overseas. There are also some anime and other videos that play in the background and host of different modes available. It looks like a lot of fun, though it seems really difficult. You can't read about any of the games in this series without someone mentioning how hard it is. IGN said there will be a difficulty "...that will thankfully approach 'feasible for mortals'..." After watching some videos of the game online, I only thought I could do a few of the handful I watched. Hopefully, with this beginner level and some practice I'll be able to enjoy this game. DJ Max Fever is set to release this November for PSP.

(Thanks to IGN for the info and screenshot. You can find more info and screens plus some videos (which seem to be of one of the other games) at the following link: http://psp.ign.com/articles/898/898179p1.html)

Review: Uncharted: Drake's Fortune

Late last year, Naughty Dog released their first game on Sony’s newest console, the PS3. After becoming known for their cartoony platformers (Crash Bandicoot on PS1 and Jak and Daxter on PS2), ND took a step in a different direction with their first PS3 game. Their latest game, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, is a realistic and mature offering and it’s also a lot of fun.

Uncharted puts you in the control of modern-day treasure hunter, Nathan Drake. You see, Nate believes that he is the descendant of Sir Francis Drake and a clue in his supposed ancestor’s coffin leads Nathan on a hunt for the lost treasure of El Dorado. The story here is a great of mix of action sequences and plot twists with a bit of humor mixed in which is made even better by the sky-high production values. Another big plus for the story are the great characters. Drake and his videographer friend Elena steal the show and their interactions are always amusing, but Nate’s friend and mentor Sully as well as the game’s multiple antagonists are good, too. Overall, Naughty Dog has spun an interesting tale full of excitement, adventure, mystery, and humor that will help drive you through the game.

The game's environments are beautiful whether it be a jungle area like this one or the various indoor environments Nathan will find himself in.

Lucky for us the gameplay is also very well done. The gameplay consists for the most part of platforming and combat. The platforming is similar to that seen in recent Prince of Persia and Tomb Raider games. Expect plenty of gaps to jump and ledges to shimmy along. You can also climb vines and chains as well as use them to help you run along walls to propel yourself to hard to reach spots. Uncharted also featured a neat mechanic where you could walk along trees and keep yourself balanced with the Sixaxis' tilt controls, but oddly it is only used a few times. There are also some sequences where platforms or ledges will fall or crumble which keeping the platforming more fast-paced. The platforming portion of the game isn’t as deep as some of it’s competition that I mentioned earlier, but it’s still a load of fun and controls extremely well.

The combat is for most part cover based gunplay. You’ll be able to take cover behind different pieces of the environment and then pop out to take shots at enemies (mostly pirates and mercenaries) or roll to other cover spots similar to what is seen in Gears of War. I’ve played with quite a few cover systems in recent years and I think Uncharted’s is the best. You can shoot from the hip as you run around which decreases your accuracy, but is good for repositioning yourself in the environment. You’ll have a number of weapons at you disposal and can hold one pistol and one larger weapon at one time as well as a few grenades (who’s trajectory is adjusted with the tilt controls). There is a decent selction of weapons including 9mm pistols, revolvers, assault and sniper rifles, shotguns, and grenade launchers. You also have the ability to shoot your pistol or lob some grenades while hanging from a ledge which does a nice job of blending the gunplay and platforming together. To go along with the gunplay there is nice melee component. While it consists of only a few combos, each has a number of different animations and you’ll perform different moves which depend on where the enemy is or how much damage he has taken. Sneak up behind an enemy or soften them up with some gunfire and you can take them out with one hit. Attack someone near a wall and you’ll throw them up against it a beat on them a bit. The Brutal combo which is timing-based will also give you a bonus ammo pick-up. It’s not a huge part of the game, but it’s a lot more than being able to just hit someone with the butt of you gun. It’s also fun to just duke it out with opponents to change things up a bit. Throw in some smart enemies and the combat system comes together really well and it’s a lot of fun to pull off headshots or just run up and dropkick some pirates.

The cover-based gunplay featured in Uncharted is top-notch.

There are a couple other elements to the gameplay to help mix things up. For instance, there are a few puzzles throughout the adventure. For these, you’ll usually have to consult a journal. Unfortunately, while you clearly are meant to use the journal, the puzzles are too easy for the most part with it and too vague without it. I like the idea of the journal, but I wish the clues were a little less obvious. As is, I thought the puzzles were too easy and too infrequent. Uncharted includes a few interesting vehicle sections as well. One plays more like a rail-shooter, but it’s fast and exciting and fits in well with the game. The other has you riding around on a jet ski while another character uses weapons to fend off enemies as you drive around. You have control of both and it retains the stop and pop style of gunplay of the rest of game. Unfortunately, this seems odd when you’re riding on the jet ski because you want to just zoom around on it, but you’re busy taking out explosive barrels and enemies. It was still fun, but I wish they would have added some more opportunities to just zoom around on the jet ski. There are also a few sections of the game where an AI partner will follow around and help in shootouts or work with you to open doors. All these additions help add some variety to the game.

There are a few other things gameplay-wise worth mentioning. For one, there isn’t much in the way of boss fights. It doesn’t necessarily hurt the game, but I would have liked to see more as I enjoy boss fights and think it could have improved the game. Also, the game is linear, but personally I feel like this was fine and that story driven action/adventures work better like this. Though a bit more exploration would have been nice. One other tiny gripe I have is that the game keeps a good balance between platforming, combat, and it’s other elements throughout most of the game. But in the last few chapters it kind of drops the platforming elements and becomes very shooter-focused. I’m not complaining about the shooting elements or the ways they change up how you approach the combat in these chapters, I just wish they would have mixed in more platforming.

The game features plenty of exciting moments where you'll be leaping across large gaps, running on walls, or climb around old structures.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune is in my opinion the best-looking console game on the market now even months after it was released. Whether Nate finds himself in lush green jungles, inside old Spanish buildings, or in dark dank tombs, the environments look gorgeous. The character models are equally impressive as are the pre-rendered (though mostly in-engine) cut scenes. The star of this graphical showcase are probably the animations which are the probably the best in gaming. The way they blended together multiple animations for Nate like running, reloading, and ducking under gunfire at once is impressive. There are a couple of graphical hang-ups though. The game has a bit of screen-tearing and texture pop-in, but I never experienced any slowdown and the game doesn’t load (after the initial one). The combination of great art and the incredible technical side of things I described already makes for a truly stunning game.

The sound design in Uncharted is just about as impressive. The game features a fantastic score that can fit the situation whether it be an action scene or a moment of suspense. The voice acting is top-notch and voice-actors did the motion-capture for cutscenes which really helps to improve the acting and the cutscenes. Naughty Dog has done a good job with the sound effects too.

"No one makes fun of my beltbuckle."

One minus for Uncharted in my opinion is it’s length. My first time through it took me a little under eight and a half hours. I think this type of game should be around 12-15 hours to complete. On the plus side, the game has some pretty good replay value. ND has implemented a medal system which is similar to the 360’s achievements. For doing different tasks like getting a certain amount of headshots or melee combos, you earn points which will unlock different bonus content. The medal system has also recently been patched to unlock trophies in the PS3’s new accomplishment system. As I said you can unlock all kinds of bonus features like different skins, a weapon select, concept art, and behind-the-scenes features. There are harder difficulties to tackle plus a chapter select and cutscene gallery, too. I wish they had the cutscene commentaries that the last few Jak games had, but overall there are a plenty of bonus features and reasons to come back to the game.

Summary

Story
An enyoyable, treasure hunting tale with a great mix of excting moments, plot twists, adventure, and humor. Great characters and presentation help bring it to life.
Gameplay
The cover-based gunplay is superb, the platforming is solid, and the game controls like a dream. There are a few bumps in the road (the puzzles could have been harder and more plentiful for one) and it isn't too inovative, but overall it's extremely well done.
Graphics
Great from the technical and artistic sides. There is a bit of screen tearing and texture pop-in, but not too much. A truly stunning game to look at and probably the best looking game on consoles right now.
Sound
An incredible soundtrack. Terrific voice-acting. Both top of the line. Quality sound effects round out the excellent sound design.
Replay Value and Extras
A bit shorter than I'd like it to be, but it's got a lot of replay value. With treasures to find, medals (and trophies with the new patch) to earn, and harder difficulties to tackle, you'll have plenty to do even if you're likely to finish the game in under ten hours the first time through. There are also a ton of extras to unlock like skins, concept art, and behind the scenes features.
Overall
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is my favorite game on the new set of consoles. That may not mean it's the best (seeing as how I haven't played all of the big games that have come out so far it would be hard to say). I mean I wish it were longer and there were a larger focus on puzzles, but what's here is great. Uncharted is an extremely fun action/adventure game with a good story plus great graphics and sound design. I'd recommend it to just about anyone.
Score-9.25/10

Review: Ninja Gaiden II

Back in 2004, Tecmo brought back the Ninja Gaiden series with a new Xbox version of the game named... wait for it... Ninja Gaiden. It became one of the premier action games on the market. Admittedly, I didn't get a chance to play it until the PS3 remake Sigma, but it was still quite impressive. Now, four years since the Xbox reboot, Team Ninja has finally crafted an NG sequel for the Xbox 360. But how did Ninja Gaiden II turn out? Read on to find out.

Ninja Gaiden II again puts you in control of ninja extrodinaire Ryu Hayabusa. It seems someone is trying to resurrect the archfiend and it's Ryu's job as a member of the Dragon Ninja Clan to stop him. The story is really just an excuse to have you hop-scotching around the world killing all types of rival ninjas and fiends. While the story isn't anything to write home about, the cutscenes can be pretty amusing. They'll usually have Ryu engaging in some ridiculous action sequence where he's gliding through the sky like a flying squirrel or telling some enemy he's going to kill them. But in a day when many action/adventure games' stories are quite good, NGII's is pretty dissappointing.

The new Eclipse Scythe is brilliant...

Luckily, the gameplay makes playing through this game worthwhile. The brilliant combat system from the original remains the focus of the gameplay and it’s just as deep and fast as ever and a bit bloodier too. What you’d expect is back: light, strong, and ranged attacks; charged Ultimate Techniques and aerial attacks; Ninpo magic; long combo strings; counterattacks; upgradeable weapons (which unlocks more combos and moves), ninpo and lifeline upgrades. All that works well and they added some new elements to the mix though to freshen things up. For one, they’ve added some new weapons like a giant scythe and a pair of claws with blades for your feet. These along with a few others join some old favorites like the Dragon Sword (which is as awesome as ever) and the lunar staff. Overall, the weapon set is much faster than the first game’s. One major addition to the combat is the Obliteration Technique which ties in with the new bloodier combat. Basically, while in combat you’ll lop off all kinds of limbs. These enemies will continue to try and hurt you though (even resorting to killing themselves in order to deal you a lot of damage). To finish these enemies off, you just tap Y next to them which will launch a cinematic finisher. The move will be dependant on the enemy, missing limb, and weapon. They’re pretty cool, add a new wrinkle of strategy to the frantic action, and can even be used against bosses. Another addition to the combat is the ability to charge up your ranged weapons like your bow and arrows. They’ve added enemies and even bosses designed to take advantage of this new skill.

... the Tonfas, not so much.

Some other changes have been made that affect the combat as well. Your life will now fill back up (at least partially) when no enemies are around and can be filled back up completely when you first use a save statue. On the Path of the Warrior difficulty (which is basically the original's normal, they also added an "easy" mode which I didn't play), this regenerating health meter makes normal encounters a bit easier than in the first game, though the bosses as a group are just as plentiful and about as difficult. Having said that, the bosses altogether aren't as strong in quality as the first game's and there were a few I could have done without (not because of difficulty, but because of design). There’s also a mix of new and familiar enemies. Just like before there are a good variety of enemies from ninjas to demons with all types of weapons like claws, magic, and rocket launchers. All the different enemies take different strategies and techniques. As a whole, the combat is about as good as before which means it’s still one of the best combat systems in gaming and the new elements are welcome.

There are also some platforming and puzzle elements to break up the action. The platforming will have you running on walls and swinging on poles. It's not all that compelling though some of the wall-running techniques are pretty cool. Running on water is also cool, but I think they missed some opportunities to flesh that out more. Controls while moving along and swinging on poles are kind of clunky as well. Puzzles are for the most part of the completely archaic “find a key to open some door” variety and even more simple than the first game's. These portions of the game are pretty meh, but the focus is on the action so it doesn’t really matter too much.

The level design has changed a bit in the sequel. The game has become much more linear, but has more diverse environments as you'll be going all around the world from a futuristic Tokyo to a rebuilt Hayabusa village to New York and many other cool places. I like the added variety of levels, but I actually preferred the original's capitol Tairon with it's outlying areas and it's less linear design. Overall, the level design is okay though some sections made me scatch my head in what the were thinking when the came up with them.

Slicing up fiends is great fun and the combat is still really sweet.

One of the big issues with the gameplay is the camera. For my money, it's maybe a bit worse than in Sigma, but not too much. Basically, it's gets caught in bad places sometimes and makes it possible to get hit by an off-screen enemy. And on the occasion that you must fight two bosses at once, it becomes a complete mess as neither the "focus on the boss" option or the free option is ideal. There is a set-behind button, but the camera is pretty bad (I got used to it, but that doesn‘t make it alright).

Ninja Gaiden on Xbox was probably the best looking console game when it came out and maybe the best looking game of last generation. Ninja Gaiden II doesn’t have the same impact as the original. It’s still quite the looker. The game hosts some nice animations with blood and limbs flying everywhere as Ryu swiftly takes out his foes. The art is kind of a mixed bag though. Ryu, some of the enemies, and most of the levels look really nice. On the other hand some of the character designs are pretty bad (Genshin I’m looking in your direction). The game runs fairly well, but there are some framerate drops and mid-level loads. When these happen during a fight, they can negatively affect your play which is annoying. Overall, the game is a good-looking game, but I expected more from Team Ninja and some art and performance issues drag down the look of the game.

The game has a pretty good soundtrack. It fits the action well switching between ambient pieces and more rock inspired ones for the fights. The English voiceovers have gotten beaten up pretty bad by players, but I don’t believe they are that bad. I mean average at best I suppose, but they wouldn’t sound so bad if the writing (particularly for the fiends) wasn’t so terrible. The sound effects are what you'd expect and well-done.

This is the first chapter's boss. After a while you'll just be fighting him as if he was a normal enemy. Awesome.

One good thing about Ninja Gaiden II is that while most action games are lasting less than ten hours to complete these days, this game clocks in between 15 and 20 hours long. Sure, some of that is due to dying and restarting, but I was happy with game’s length. As far as reasons to come back, that really depends on how hardcore a player you are. Big NG fans will eat up the harder difficulties and tougher to get achievements. There are also leader boards and the ability to take videos of your play that add some replay to the game. One new addition I enjoyed was the ability to carry your weapons over to a second play through on the same difficulty. There are also some hidden skulls to find and a series of special fights within the game to beat if you haven’t in your first run-through. I’m a bit disappointed that Mission Mode wasn’t in the game (it was released as DLC), but the game has a pretty decent play value for a single-player game. There isn’t a ton of extras to unlock, but you do get some alternate costumes when you finish the game.

Summary

Story

Don't come here for the story. While some of Ryu's antics in cutscenes are amusing, the game's story is pretty bad.

Gameplay

This game is all about the combat which is deep, fast, fun, and challenging. New elements like the scythe, claws and obliteration techniques among others are good additions. The games platforming and puzzles are unsatisfying, the camera is pretty bad, and I think the more linear level design is a step backward, but if you are looking for great action and combat, it doesn't get too much better than this.

Graphics

I expect more from a Team Ninja game, but it's still a good looking game. Some art and performance issues do hold it back a bit.

Sound

The soundtrack is pretty good and the sound effects are well-done. The American voice-acting isn't too good, but the bad writing makes it seem worse than it is in my opinion.

Replay Value and Extras

The game is a pretty good length (15-20 hours on Path of the Warrior) and longer than your average single-player action games these days. Secrets within the game, achievements, and leaderboards also add some longevity to the game. The lack of Mission Mode on the disc is a bit dissappointing, but the game has some good value. Unlockable extras are minimal and in the form of some different costumes.

Overall

Ninja Gaiden II is a very good action game. It's not quite as great as the first game (even if just comparing the combat), but it's still a solid game. The combat is still awesome, but the other gameplay elements and story are kind of dissappointing. But if you're looking for good challenging combat with smart enemies and cool boss fights, Ninja Gaiden II is a good choice.

Score-8.5/10

LittleBigPlanet Pre-Order Bonus Details and the Thoughts That Followed

First things first, I'm not a fan of pre-ordering games (especially when Gamestop is involved, but I'll leave my feelings about them out of this). But when you can get some kind of sweet bonus item for pre-ordering, sometimes you have to do it. This brings us to LittleBigPlanet. The game looks incredible, but that's a discussion for another post. The Playstation Blog brings us news of what you can get for pre-ordering LBP. Depending on which retailer you go to you can get a number of different bonus items: mini-strategy guide (meh), sticker book (eh), pouch (eh), and then there are the two exclusive downloadable costumes (oh heck yes). Here they are:

Kratos Sackboy Costume

Nariko Sackgirl Costume

Those are great. I mean really great. While I realize that Kratos has the better games, Nariko's sackgirl is just so awesome. But it seems Sony wants to make me choose between them which I think is stupid. I mean I'm fine with that as long as you let me download the one I don't get. But of course, I want more. I'm hoping they'll have a bunch of outfits in a downloadable pack or something. How about a Jak with Daxter on his shoulder sackboy. How about a Ratchet with Clank backpack sackboy. How about Nathan Drake with the half-tuck sackboy. Solid Snake sackboys, Sly Cooper sackboys, Ico or Wander sackboys, and I could continue, but you get the idea. Plus, one look at those pictures above and you have to think about the idea of actual sackboy and girl figures (or toys or dolls, whatever you want to call them). Well hopefully LBP does well and Sony sees the opportunity for some of these things to come to fruition. I can see a Kratos sackboy climbing his way out of a 2D Hades in my head as I write this. Now, let me have the same opportunity with a Jak sackboy (not in Hades of course, you know Haven City, the Monk Temple, or something like that). Make it happen Sony (I'm always saying this, but really Sony make it happen).

(Thanks to the Playstation Blog for the info and pics. You can find the original info at the following link: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/08/05/littlebigplanet-pre-order-goodness/)