Tetris, back when it first dropped, was an instant success. The uncomplicated block-clearing mechanic was fun and addictive. Recently, SlapDash Games dropped a puzzle game of its own: TiQal. The game effectively builds upon the simple yet enjoyable designs of other games from the puzzle genre while taking you on an adventure as an Aztec commoner searching for solutions to his tribe’s problems.
The story is broken up into block-clearing levels. Like in Tetris, you are given single-colored blocks of varying shapes and sizes to drop on an ever-rising wall of muddled material. The blocks you drop of the same color can be combined to form a square cluster of four or more units that will subsequently explode, similar to Lumines. Additional blocks can be combined with already-clustered sequences to expand the single-colored formations into monoliths of epic proportions. This creates a delicate balance between growing your cluster of bricks and not letting the block levels get so high that you incur a foul and lose a life. Once your stack of pseudo-clay squares is sufficiently large, you can clear it by not attaching anything else to it for a few seconds. After the requisite time expires, the blocks break in a very satisfying shower of shards and an explosion of audio effects. When you clear more and more block combinations, the destroyed squares will fill a meter that yields a wide array of power-ups.
TiQal incorporates the best parts of many puzzlers to create a fun experience.
You must move your block-dropping apparatus across the top of the screen to capture the power-ups that bubble up from the bottom of the screen. Some common power-ups slow the wall’s rate of ascension, blow a dart horizontally through the wall, allow disparate colors of blocks to be combined into a larger group, and more. The power-ups never get old and are themed in a way that accentuates the stylized Mesoamerican art direction. The Jaguar Strike yields a fearsome feline growl while highlighting and detonating all blocks on the wall of a particular color. When you grab the Spears of Mixcoatl, three ancient pikes will erupt out of the ground to clear columns of bricks. The Gift of Tohili causes your queued block to be replaced by a thrumming orb of fire. You can then drop this mass of incandescent gas upon a cluster of blocks to devastating effect. In every instance, the power-ups are just as useful as they are impressive in their execution. Early on, you may wonder why you are collecting Hearts of Ix Chel, but as the levels progress and the difficulty ramps up, you will be grateful the hearts are automatically combined in sets of 20 to yield extra lives.
The levels are constructed in the same mechanical way, with a fair amount of variation. The number of blocks you start with and the speed at which more arrive increase as your adventure continues. Early levels create an easy introduction to the game’s mechanics. Initially, block levels rise with a tide of destructible blocks, but in later levels, a durable stone dais makes clearing certain sections difficult. Completing levels unlocks new power-ups, important quest items, additional block shapes, and new locations to visit. The three colors of the bricks also change with the varying mood and flavor of each level. Fire levels mix burning red and vibrant yellow blocks, while water-based settings enjoy more cool blue and deep purple pieces. The art direction in TiQal is immersive, and it really shines.
From the tribal vocal tracks that loop, to the call of spider monkeys, the thunder of drums, and the roar of jaguars, every element of the sound design harks back to a land of ziggurats, lost civilizations, and the lush Yucatan. The clattering of broken stone punctuates the destruction of every brick. The rolling of stone daises and carved menus feels weighty. For such a little game, it carries a lot of audio might. The music also seamlessly changes from a lilting tune of mystery and wonder to a score full of urgency and tension as the brick levels get perilously close to the top of the puzzle area. It’s a feature you may take for granted in other games, but it’s executed beautifully in TiQal.
Some may find the repetitious task of clearing bricks to be shallow, and anyone looking to download the game may be left without an opportunity to experience the multiplayer, since very few people appear to be online. You and a friend can play together in co-op Adventure mode either online or offline. Co-op play offers the same levels and the same puzzles as individual play–both of you drop pieces into the same wall of bricks. Sometimes it can get a bit confusing or frustrating as the wall gets higher and the space for placement becomes scarcer.
Meow won’t cut it. This is a Jaguar Strike! Rawwwrrrrrr!
For 800 Microsoft points, TiQal gives you a taste of adventure and a lot of exciting brick-based action if you have the determination to play through each of the dangerous levels. TiQal has a lot of pick-up-and-play value and even though the gameplay is repetitious, the experience is rich and the locations are diverse. You can bet your pulque that puzzle fans will find a lot of familiar features and just as much fun in this exotic, elegantly simple game.
Echochrome is the upcoming mind-breaking puzzle game from Sony that is like playing an M.C. Escher painting. The unique and stylish puzzle game has been in our sights since we first saw it at last year’s E3 Media & Business Summit. Although we’ve had the chance to try out various demos of the game in the months that have followed, we haven’t had a chance to get our hands on the whole game. Fortunately, hot on the heels of the game’s recent Japanese release, Sony let us try out a work-in-progress version of the US game.
The game’s core concept has you solve puzzles by leading a mannequin-like figure through different areas and collecting items called echos. To do this, you’ll have to manipulate the game camera to cause your viewing angle to create paths or obscure obstacles and let your character through. Your mannequin’s journey is a surprisingly complicated and nuanced one in light of all the crazy perspective changing and careful positioning of your view.
Even the seemingly simple levels can take a while to wrap your head around.
This may all sound pretty simple, but Echochrome’s various modes get a lot of mileage out of the concept. The Freeform mode picks eight puzzles at random and challenges you to get through them. Atellier mode lays out the 56 premade puzzles in the game (the specific puzzles will differ between the PlayStation 3 and PSP) in seven groups of eight puzzles. Each puzzle group is given a letter from A to G that reflects the difficulty, with A representing the easiest puzzles and G representing the ones that will break your mind.
Echochrome will also feature a Canvas mode in which you can design your own levels using a very user-friendly editor that lets you create one from scratch or use one of the 56 premade puzzles as a starting template to trick out. The Portfolio mode houses the various puzzles that you’ve created or traded with friends. Due to the obvious disparities in processing power and memory, the PS3 will allow for larger, more intricate puzzles to be created, whereas the PSP’s puzzles will be a bit smaller. The PS3 will also feature a more robust sharing feature than its portable cousin. On the PS3, you’ll be able to create your own puzzles and send them to friends as well as post them to the Echochrome site, where the development team will review them and handpick the coolest ones to share with fans. The PSP will be able to share maps with other players only via ad hoc sharing.
In spending more time with the game, we have to say that we really like the out-of-the-box thinking that the puzzle-solving requires. The challenge is pretty rugged at first but, if you get into the game’s bizarre yet refreshingly consistent logic, you’ll find it to be very cool. Fans of conventional puzzle games may have a hard time with Echochrome, but we feel that there’s a lot of appeal to be discovered here. The level editor is especially cool because it’s easy to use and lets you make some stuff that’s even crazier than what you played through. The simple control is easy to pick up, and the addition of Sixaxis support on the PS3 is interesting, although we’re not totally sold on it yet. The other bit of good PS3 news? Rumble support for when the Dual Shock 3 hits.
Echochrome isn’t pushing the hardware of either system too hard on the graphics or audio front, but the game offers a cool, consistent experience of sights and sounds. The visuals in the game are clean on both platforms, with the PS3 having a considerable leg up in terms of clarity. The simple art style scales nicely on both systems. There’s a bit of aliasing on the PSP right now, which makes properly lining up elements in the background a little challenging, but aside from the resolution, the games are looking identical. Frame rate is smooth on both versions of the game, which helps when solving puzzles. Audio in the game is mellow and leans toward a whole lot of violins. Odd as that seems, it works well.
Based on what we played, Echochrome looks like it’s living up to its promise and then some on both platforms. The game’s offering of challenging puzzles is meaty, and the ability to create your own and share them with friends should give it some longevity. If you’re looking for a unique puzzle game for your PS3 or PSP, then you’ll want to keep an eye out for Echochrome when it ships in early May for both platforms. Look for more on the game in the coming months.
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters for the PlayStation 2 is a port of the same game that appeared on the PlayStation Portable early in 2007. And though that game was notable for being the first outing for the Lombax-robot duo on the handheld system, this is the fifth time the series has popped up on the PS2. Unfortunately, a woeful camera, poor presentation, and a relatively short runtime all relegate this latest Ratchet & Clank to the bottom of the series pile, which is an unfortunate way to close out the pair’s adventures on the aging PS2.
Nothing new here over the PSP version.
When Size Matters first appeared on the PSP last year, studio High Impact Games was lauded for bringing all of the charm and action of the console series intact to the portable arena. The PS2 version is an exact copy of that game in terms of gameplay and storyline, so if you’ve already played the PSP version, there’s no reason to pick this one up.
Size Matters begins with the titular characters taking some time off on a beach planet, where they meet a young girl named Luna who’s apparently a big fan of the duo. Before the introductory level is finished, Luna gets kidnapped by an almost forgotten race known as the Technomites, a bunch of microsize inventors with a grudge against the galaxy. This launches Ratchet and Clank on another planet-hopping quest that once again provides plenty of gameplay variety. In addition to platforming and shooting, you’ll get to take part in skyboard racing (think hoverboards from Back to the Future II), engage in vehicular deathmatches, pilot a giant-size Clank through some on-rails space shooting, grind along rails to unlock doors, and more.
Ratchet and Clank control much as they have in previous games in the series, and are armed with their usual repertoire of double jumps, helicopter-assisted glides, and wrench-bashing moves. But the weapons have always been the highlights of previous games, and Size Matters is no different. During the course of their adventure, Ratchet and Clank gain access to a wide variety of weapons, ranging from the functional to the mostly useless. Weapons such as the plasma pistol-like Lacerator and the Shock Rocket (a rocket launcher, naturally) will become standards in your arsenal, whereas others such as the Bee Mine Glove and the Suck Cannon are cute rather than worthwhile. Others, such as the Concussion Gun (Size Matters’ version of a shotgun), are out-and-out duds no matter how they’re powered up. And speaking of power-ups, just as in other Ratchet & Clank games, each weapon here can be upgraded through repeated use, although other modifications such as a targeting lock can be bought at special stores throughout the levels.
The controls for both Ratchet and Clank are tight and responsive for the most part, and series veterans should have no problem picking up the Dual Shock and getting into the game’s run-and-gun style of play straightaway. Strafing is still handled via the L2 and R2 buttons, whereas pressing the triangle button will bring up a radial menu for quick selection of weapons or gadgets. The game’s light platforming elements still won’t bother most experienced gamers, because most of the challenge in the game comes from the steady stream of robotic enemies being thrown in Ratchet and Clank’s path. Size Matters is weakest when it strays from its strong shooting/platforming base. Skyboard racing controls quite poorly, and giant Clank’s space shooting levels are uninvolving for the most part.
Although the core gameplay in Size Matters is solid, it’s completely undermined by a wonky camera system that refuses to give you a clear view of the action. You constantly have to micromanage the camera’s view, which can be shifted via the right analog stick. The camera can also get snagged sometimes on the environment, and it’s even worse in enclosed spaces. If you walk too close to a wall while strafing away from an enemy, your view rapidly shifts to face said wall, which leaves you scrambling to see what’s happening and probably losing some health. It makes the game much more frustrating than it should be.
The single-player action is over all too quickly, with the main campaign done and dusted in roughly seven hours. But like in previous games, there are plenty of hidden items (such as giant bolts) to collect, which will probably add a fair amount of replay value for completists. When single-player is exhausted, the game also offers a multiplayer option, although this is a rather light addition when you consider that only two players can play split-screen (either cooperatively or competitively). With only a handful of standard multiplayer modes and maps provided, this feature gets stale rather quickly.
The PS2 may be on the verge of console retirement, but it’s still capable of churning out pretty graphics. Nonetheless, Size Matters is not a great indicator of what the PS2 can do. Textures are uniformly bland, and character models have looked sharper in previous Ratchet & Clank games. It looks like what it is: a straight port of a PSP game, which means it fares rather poorly on a larger screen. Sound fares similarly: The music is bland and nondescript, and the weapon effects don’t quite have the oomph that ridiculously overpowered weapons are supposed to have. Size Matters can also be buggy at times; we encountered several game freezes during our review testing, and puzzles would reset incorrectly upon a second or third try.
The game looks frankly average on the PS2.
Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters wasn’t a perfect PSP game by any means, but it was received well because its main faults could be forgiven due to the system’s limitations rather than the game itself. But those limitations–such as poor camera control and average presentation–are simply magnified when brought to a home console. Compared to the previous Ratchet & Clank games that have appeared during the PS2’s illustrious history, Size Matters ranks at the bottom.
The ebb and flow of petty in-fighting is one of the primary characteristics of any good World Wrestling Entertainment story arc. The same can be said for the gaming franchise based off of the popular pastime, as its history has taken more than a few cues from its fantasized counterpart.
In the three-way cage match that is the WWE-THQ-Jakks alliance, the game publisher has come out on top the most in recent months, with a United States District Court judge dismissing a WWE racketeering lawsuit brought against the two gamemakers in December, and THQ touting a court decision against Jakks over royalty rates earlier this month.
Luckily for fans of burly men grappling with one another, the entertainment label along with its game-making partners still manage to put aside their differences long enough to produce a game every year, and THQ today announced WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2009 will take to the ring this fall. As with last year, THQ will be releasing editions of the game on nearly every current platform, including the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Wii, and mobile.
As is customary of annualized franchises, Jakks has performed a number of adjustments under the hood of its latest game. On the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and PSP, Jakks will be revisiting tag-team play, revising mechanics, and implementing a number of new ways to eliminate opponents. The franchise’s character customization will be further expanded with a new Create-A-Finisher option, and the Road to WrestleMania career mode will feature co-op storylines. THQ also promises downloadable content to be available in the future.
With the Wii version of SmackDown! vs. RAW debuting last year, Jakks will be amping up the game’s offerings with an expanded suite of modes, including online play. On the DS, SmackDown! vs. RAW 2009 offers a number of alterations to the formula, including a redesigned Season mode that takes more of a role-playing tack. The roster of superstars has also been expanded, with the Create-a-Superstar mode now added to the DS edition.
Reuters - A national competition, a selection of real super cars and a mocked up “pit lane” in London greeted the European preview of Sony PlayStation’s newest version of race driving videogame Gran Turismo this week.
ORLANDO–There was a time, just a few years back in fact, where it seems like you could barely find a working tag team in the WWE. For whatever reason, the two-man team had fallen out of favor with fans (or at least, it seems, with WWE management). As a result, tag teams were practically nowhere to be found. That’s changed recently and, if the upcoming SmackDown! vs. Raw 2009 is any indicator, tag team wrestling looks to be a big part of the future of the series going forward. As we discovered today during a THQ press event in Orlando announcing SVR 09, working as a team in the ring is one of the central focuses of this year’s game.
That focus on tag team wrestling will emerge in a number of different ways. Key to the “new” tag team approach is a number of different ways to interact with your partner in the ring. This can be things like “illegal” partner actions (you know, choking an opponent while the ref’s back is turned, holding the rope down while your partner tosses your opponent against the ring, thus tossing him out of the ring, and so on).
In addition, the developers are working to ensure that even if you aren’t in the ring, you’ll still have plenty of opportunities to interact with the game. For instance, you’ll be able to rally the crowd or distract the referee. Then there’s the always-popular “hot tag”–used to describe those moments in a match when a wrestler who’s spent a good deal of time getting his butt kicked manages to tag in his partner, who runs into the ring like a wild man, destroying anyone who gets in his path. Of course, not all tag teams are smooth patnerships; and SVR 09 will also let you mimic that aspect of the real thing; be it “blind tagging” your partner when he’s not looking so you can hog some of the glory, or flat out turning your back on your team mate and launch an attack on him.
The team aspect in SVR 09 will be more than just dramatic swerves, however. As a tandem, both members of a tag team will share the same momentum meter; meaning if your partner is sucking it up in the ring and tags you in, you’ll need to fight back to regain the momentum. There will also be plenty of team-specific moves and attacks you’ll be able to pull off on opponents; during the presentation, THQ showed footage of the Hardy Boys roughing up Randy Orton will tandem moves like double slams and dual drop kicks, as well as more elaborate tag team finishing moves.
Create a wrestler modes have been standard fare for wrestling games for years and the SmackDown! series has had create-an-entrance tools in the series for a while now too. With SVR 09, you can add one more create mode to that–create a finisher. Here, you’ll be able to string up to 10 moves together to create finishing moves from scratch from a pool of more than 500 animations. The tool shown during the presentation looked similar to that found in the assign move set tools found in previous SmackDown! games; which is to say it wasn’t exactly pretty to look at, but looks to get the job done. The most important aspect of this feature, beyond its apparently flexibility, is that you’ll be able to use any created finisher anywhere in the game, be it in the single player game or online.
We’d like to be able to tell you about all of the new online features in SVR 09 but THQ is keeping most of the details under wraps for now. What we do know is that there will be new match types to play and that online play will be available on the Wii versionof the game for the first time. There will also be downloadable content for the game available–though just what that will be we don’t know. What we did manage to wrangle out of THQ producers was the hint that the DLC would “extend the life of the game”; whether that means an extended storyline, new match modes, roster updates (our odds-on favorite), or some combination remains to be seen.
The story mode–dubbed Road to WrestleMania in SVR 09–will see some changes. Instead of running through a generic “catch-all” storyline designed for any character, the stories in Road to WrestleMania mode will be specific to a handful of WWE Superstars and will feature a storyline that will take your character from the Royal Rumble all the way to his or her big match at WrestleMania. There will also be a cooperative tag team storyline that producers are promising will have plenty of twists and turns, including the ability to decide whether you and your tag team partner remain as a team along the way.
While new features are always important for keeping any game fresh, one could argue that THQ has a lot to do in improving some aspects of the previous years’ games that have become extremely tired; namely, long load times, crummy collision detection, and sub-par animations. It seems that THQ is listening on all of those points and is promising improvements to each of these aspects of the game–as well as an improved AI that will see the virtual Undertaker acting in the ring as he would in real life. We’re most curious to see how the hit detection and load times improve–producers claim the game already has fifty percent shorter load times than last year’s game with the overall goal of reducing load times completely (which sounds optimistic, if not necessarily realistic, to us).
In addition to the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game, we’ll also see a Wii and Nintendo DS version of SVR 09 this year. The Wii version will have the aforementioned online play, and will also let you manually control your wrestler (to an extent) during his or her ring entrance and after their victory in the squared circle. The interaction is pretty basic–mainly just lifting your arms to acknowledge the crowd but we got a kick out of the Yuke’s developers who showed off the feature, including one guy who managed to do a pretty good Jeff Hardy arm-swinging stage dance with the Wii Remote and nunchuck. The DS version has taken a step away from the rock-paper-scissors screen-tapping fest that was last year’s game; with a new developer on board, THQ is promising an experience that’s closer to the console games, including a create-a-wrestler mode, an RPG-style season mode, and more than 30 wrestlers on the roster.
SmackDown! vs. Raw 2009 will be the tenth version of the SmackDown! series (which sort of makes us feel old). As the series prepares to head into its second decade, it looks to be focusing on both the new features and modes that will keep fans coming back, while addressing the important issues that SmackDown! vets have been clamoring for. We’ll be tracking the game’s progress all summer and fall as we lead up to its release later this year and will be bringing you much more in the near future.
The arrival of three games to the virtual console means the will service will hit 200 games. Two Commodore 64 Titles have been added for 500 points each, they are Uridium and International Karate. Also, Nintendo 64 game Cruis’n has been added for 1000 points.
Talismoon has revealed that it is to bring its fan cooling technology to the Wii. The new product called the Wiisper boasts a few unique selling points as follows - 1) Keeps your Wii CPU cooler 2) Reduces temperature spikes, 3) Fans run during updates and there is lastly a backlighting effect for a unique color ambiance.
Like its plucky eponymous hero, Ultimate Ninja 3 gets by on sheer charm. Unlike the boy ninja, its ninjutsu is weaker than watered-down ramen. No, it isn’t much of a fighting game. But it’s so faithful to its source material, it should nevertheless provide hours of good entertainment to fans of the series. It has two short single-player modes, pitch-perfect writing, flawless voice acting, spit-shined graphics, and a surprisingly entertaining dating system. All of this is stuffed with the usual long list of unlockable characters, item collection, several terrible minigames, and of course, the wimpy combat. If you’re looking for a good fighter, look elsewhere. But if you’re looking for an interactive and sweet-tempered trip to Hidden Leaf Village, this is the game for you.
Rock Lee will stop at nothing to make bushy eyebrows mandatory.
The meatiest single-player mode is called Ultimate Contest, and it tells the story of a festival thrown together by Tsunade for the sake of visitors from the hidden village of Sand. The main event is a battle royal in which each contestant gets a crystal. When contestants fight, the winner gets the loser’s crystals. The two who finish with the most crystals get to battle for the right to create a new Hidden Leaf Village regulation. Rock Lee wants to force everyone to grow bushy eyebrows. Kiba wants to mandate regular medical examinations for the village canines. Sakura wants to create a lovey-dovey Sasuke rule. And Naruto, of course, wants to be Hokage.
If that sounds just like an episode, it also feels like one. From the way Naruto says, “I’m hittin’ you, and you’re hittin’ the ground!” to Hinata’s shy mumbling, every character is perfectly represented here, and they all get their chances to shine. This is immaculate fan service. The story unfolds in three stages: a qualifying round in which you have to get 60 crystals, a semifinal round in which you try to get as many as possible, and a final fight with another ninja. By the way, Jounin are also allowed to compete, so your opponent could be anybody. (If you don’t know what a Jounin is, look at it this way: If Naruto is as tough as a nail, your average Jounin is as tough as a hammer.)
The way this all plays out is simple: You run around Hidden Leaf Village completing simple quests and challenging other characters to fights. For instance, at one point you happen upon Hinata, who has been badly beaten, so you go find her some medicine. As you travel around the village you can destroy pots and crates to find money, and collect scrolls that spawn after each completed quest. Money buys all sorts of things, and scrolls by the items you’ll need to unlock new jutsus.
There are also a handful of minigames you’ll be asked to compete in, nearly all of which are really, really bad. The shuriken-tossing game misses its mark the worst: Targets pop up in a field with button symbols on their chests, and you have to hit the corresponding button faster than your opponent. It seems simple, until they start appearing in numbers larger than three at a time. There’s a penalty associated with hitting a wrong button, and in your scramble to throw shuriken at five different targets, it’s easy to somehow completely lose all of your points. Right when you think all hope is lost, giant dummies spring up that can absorb dozens of shuriken, letting you make up all your lost points just hitting the button faster than your competitor. In short, this minigame kicks your butt and then lets you win.
Most of the minigames, including this one, are disappointing.
The other minigames are just as bad, but in less interesting ways. To give you an idea of this without describing them all, the best one is Orochimaru’s Whack-A-Snake. But the best thing about it isn’t repeatedly bopping snakes with a hammer, but rather all the money you get for doing so (since Whack-A-Snake is a casino game). And you’ll want all the money you can muster in order to buy high-priced gifts for all the characters you encounter. Why? So you can go out on dates with them, of course!
In the third round of the competition, when the only thing left for you to do is challenge your rival, you can walk around talking to people. Or, if you have gifts they might like, you can give it to them. This will cause them to show up later, and ask you out on a date. These are generally a lot of fun, though you can go on only two dates per character. Some are sweet (Hinata’s dates are very cute), some are sassy (when you go out with Temari, you basically call her fat), and others are downright weird (Kurenai wants to watch you eat vegetables. Lots and lots of vegetables.)
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DBZ Budokai Tenkaichi 3
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 brings you over 150 characters from the DBZ universe to pit against each other.
Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi lets you play as more than 60 characters from the Dragon Ball Z TV series. You can battle using authentic special attacks of each character as you run, fly, and swim through fully destructible and free-roaming levels.
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
The action is so fast-paced and viscerally satisfying that it can genuinely appeal even to those otherwise uninterested in Dragon Ball Z.
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 (PS2)
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja 2 is a 3D fighting game based on the Naruto television series and features 40 playable characters and 16 unique stages.
Score: 7.2
Naruto: Ninja Destiny (DS)
Naruto and Co. battle it out on the DS in this 3D fighter that features powerful jutsu attacks and touch-activated power-ups.
Score: 5.0
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (X360)
Guide Naruto from the series’ beginning along his ninja training and rise to power.
Score: 7.5
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