GameJotter

As gamers, we’ve developed a comfort zone for the games we play. We are occupied and more than satisfied with our shooters, platformers, and RPGs that take up the majority of our game collection. However, there comes a time when a developer takes a big risk by crafting a game that bends a genre or meshes a couple genres together. Ouantic Dream’s Heavy Rain had a strict narrative of choice-making and emotional moments within the gameplay. LA Noire reenacted the life of a police career with investigation and interrogation, as well as the shootout scenes. Titles like these lack the level of respect that they deserve, as they are overshadowed by massive hits like Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, and Gears of War. I am in no way against these great games, but when a developer gets a quirky new idea for a game, it almost never ceases to face neglect, regardless of the amount of praise it receives from critics. Next up in this lineup of quirky new games is Catherine, a tale of friendship, love triangles, and sheep.

In Catherine, you take the role of a man named Vincent. Vincent is in a relationship with a girl named Katherine. He is constantly being pressured by Katherine about marriage, and is very hesitant to take that step. Meanwhile, a beautiful blonde girl named Catherine comes into his life, resulting in a diabolical love triangle between Vincent, Katherine, and Catherine. In between, you’re having nightmares from guilt, pressure, and overall stress from the two ladies in his life. This leads to a strange, yet satisfying gameplay style, where Vincent must climb to a goal by pushing blocks to scale to the top. With all that, there’s also an enormous and deadly enemy pursuing you, that varies at every stage.

I was skeptical about such a concept, as anyone should be when trying out a strange new game. Fortunately, the folks at Atlus put a demo out to the PSN not so long ago. This is a smart move, considering that with a game like Catherine, gamers will enter cautiously. Without further ado, I downloaded the demo. It’s just a demo, so if it sucks, I just click ‘delete’. Right from the beginning, the demo educates you on the block-pushing puzzles (or let’s call them “nightmare sequences”) that take place in Vincent’s nightmares. There were a couple of these stages, separated by an engrossing story scene where Vincent is with his pals or with Katherine. The demo ends after a final nightmare sequence after meeting the beautiful blonde Catherine.

My verdict? Well, surprisingly, Atlus turns a simple puzzle concept into a romantic thriller that keeps me at the edge of my seat! The puzzle sequences are satisfying and I am always eager to see how things turn out next in Vincent’s struggles, so that’s even more motivation to get through them. In the full game, you’ll go through scenes where you must make choices that will always have one character hurt and the other character happy. Additionally, Vincent can play arcade games and chill out at the bar with his friends. Most importantly, you’ll be able to continue on with Vincent’s struggles and see a conclusion to the plot when the game releases on the 26th. If you haven’t played the demo, try it now. Open-minded gamers will hopefully enjoy this new experience.

1998’s Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was a landmark accomplishment in video game history, and is still, by some, crowned as the greatest game ever made. As gamers, we know that the greatest titles of this current generation get a repackaging, celebrating its technological accomplishment, like Valve’s Orange Box, or the Oblivion Game of the Year Edition. With that in mind, a remake of Ocarina should come as no surprise. It’s been more than a decade since the original masterpiece hit the Nintendo 64. Nintendo and Grezzo have adopted the classic, making several small tweaks to the gameplay, while entirely renovating the graphics and topping it with a glasses-free stereoscopic effect. Both companies hope to create an experience that attracts newcomers and preserving the nostalgic factor for veteran Zelda fans. How well does it translate to a handheld?

Ocarina of Time is a touching story of friendship, perseverance, courage, and greed. Our hero Link must plunder ancient temples, scale mountains, and even shift through time itself to thwart the evil Ganondorf from conquering the land of Hyrule. You’ll meet a cast of friendly townsfolk, bizarre creatures, and even complete lunatics during your perilous journey. The story as a whole has more predictable pieces, especially towards the conclusion, but it’s a tale that’s not to be missed. It’s sweet, bitter, and satisfying from beginning to finish, as any fantasy narrative should be.

Our wonderful story is drawn vividly with colorful new visuals and redone models that look true to the gorgeous original concept at back from 1998, which couldn’t quite replicate on the Nintendo 64. They could have done a lot more with the detail of the graphics for the new technology, but for nostalgia’s sake they didn’t go down that road. Additionally, the slightly-tweaked animations are for the better, and the 3D effect renders OOT3D exponentially more engrossing than the original. There are a few notable framerate hiccups and instances where Link animates funny, and also, I wouldn’t have minded waiting a few more months for a new orchestrated soundtrack. However, none of this will detract from your enjoyment of the game for new and veteran Zelda enthusiasts.

Speaking of enjoyment, I had lots of it when playing OOT on my shiny, yet smudgy 3DS. The controls differ greatly from the N64, but don’t fret; it only takes a little bit of adjustment from the seamless controller interface and it’ll play even more smoothly than what you were used to. Remember having to pause the game, waiting for the inventory screen to load, selecting the iron boots, then resuming the game, just to sink and be able to walk on a surface underwater? That won’t bother you anymore. The new interface reserves these actions to the X and Y buttons and the touch screen, so all you need to do is press a button or tap the screen to use iron boots, quest items, and weapons like the slingshot or bow. With projectiles comes the all-new, but optional motion controls, where you move your 3DS around to look in first-person, as if to aim at something. I didn’t think I’d need this feature but after spending just a few minutes with it, I wondered how I lived without it.

As a bonus, Grezzo implemented a Boss Rush mode, allowing you relive any boss battle for the best completion time. You can face any individual boss that you’ve defeated once before, or take on all of them one-by-one in the Gauntlet mode Once your quest is completed, you unlock the Master Quest option that features trickier enemies, mirrors the world from right to left, and makes the dungeons require a lot more critical thinking than your first playthrough.

In conclusion, Ocarina of Time 3D is a must-buy for any 3DS owner, and I probably won’t go back to the original any time soon. It’s the best 3DS game out there so far, but there’s a lot more 3DS titles to come later this year and early 2012 that will blow this game out of the water.

STORY: 10/10 | PRESENTATION: 9.4/10 | GAMEPLAY: 10/10 | LONGEVITY: 9.5

VERDICT: 9.7

As a filler for the Ocarina of Time 3D review, here’s a few updates from current things going on in the gaming world.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is massively hyped by PS3 owners for good reason. According to footage, Naughty Dog is taking protagonist Nathan Drake to vividly-depicted new dangers, including a shootout in a sinking ferry! Currently, its early multiplayer beta is online, becoming a massive success, already reaching a million players. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from Uncharted 2’s multiplayer, but with a plethora of new and more than welcome features like customization of your appearance and loadout, and “Uncharted TV”, showcasing new footage from single-player, and staff-picked plays of the week. From what I’ve played of the beta, the experience won’t disappoint when the full game releases on November 1st this year.

In other news, former-XBLA-exclusive indie hit Limbo is coming to PS3 and PC. Limbo is a platformer that puts you in the shoes of a nameless boy, on a search to find his sister in a forest of perilous obstacles. It takes on the style of film noir, and gruesome ways to die in the game will ensue. Look for it on July 19th this year.

And…my Sonic fangasm.

Lately, Sega has been making bizarre decisions for the blue hedgehog since the Dreamcast burned out. He’s been on go-karts, hover boards, and just plain bad games. This curse broke recently with the re-release of Sonic Adventure DX on PSN and XBLA (check out my review for that on this blog), followed by Sonic the Hedgehog 4. Since then, the blue blur has been getting back to his side-scrolling roots as it should. Sonic Generations is coming next, and in my opinion, it’s the best idea I’ve seen Sega come up with.

Generations lets you play as BOTH the chubby and cuddly “Classic Sonic” (reminiscent of him in his first games in the 90s) and the aged “Modern Sonic”, depicted in his latest adventures. Playing as either will present a different viewpoint and play-style. For instance, Playing as Modern Sonic features the iconic homing attack and the occasional change in view to behind Sonic, and Classic Sonic will have none of the above, but will play like Sonic back in the day.

The levels in Generations are redesigned after locales from previous games in the franchise. From frolicking in Green Hill Zone, to running away from a giant military truck in City Escape, all Sonic fans will find something familiar.

Sonic Generations releases later this year, and will be a big leap for Sega’s mascot and will probably be one of this year’s biggest games.

I hope you enjoyed my little filler article, and there’s plenty more to come until I get a proper camera for a video review for OOT3D later this month. Stay tuned!

Previous articles from last year stated my anticipation very visibly for Nintendo’s new handheld, and for good reason. The games looked promising and critics everywhere stated that the glasses-free 3D is highly authentic to a theater. That’s all I could ever ask for, as long as the games don’t suck. On the other hand, as the release date for the system was drawing close, disappointment knocked down my expectations like dominos. Many impressive-looking titles didn’t make the launch, and neither Nintendo’s eShop download service. When the system launched, these “dominos” had all collapsed. Not even Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition could hold me over in the uneventful months to come until the E3 2011 coverage.

Fortunately, E3 2011 came along and the footage of upcoming 3DS games looked stunning. More was revealed about Super Mario, Paper Mario, and Animal Crossing, plus a sequel to the hit Gamecube launch title Luigi’s Mansion was unveiled with a trailer. Super Mario’s trailer showed gameplay of the racoon-like Tanooki suit (as first seen in Super Mario Bros. 3 for NES), Kid Icarus Uprising’s 3-on-3 multiplayer mode is an appetizing side dish to the massive single player game, Luigi’s Mansion 2 sucks (sucks GHOSTS, and that’s a good thing), and swimming is on its way to the next Animal Crossing installment. There’s a lot more to see for the 3DS, but that’s just the beginning, as Nintendo’s successor to the Wii is further detailed as the Wii U, and Sony revealed more in their next leap in portable gaming with the PlayStation Vita. Sit tight, readers! I’ll keep a close eye on the Wii U and the Vita in this blog. Stay tuned for that, and a video AND written review for Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D coming in the next month or so.

At this years E3, Nintendo unveiled ambitious plans for the next generation of Nintendo DS. I gathered all the information I could find and compiled it into a large Q&A-style article. Enjoy.

Pit takes flight once again in Kid Icarus: Uprising

What other software can I expect to see on the 3DS?
With 3D-rendered remakes of Resident Evil: Mercenaries and Metal Gear Solid 3, the launch of the Nintendo 3DS looks pretty damn good. Here’s a full list of announced titles including summaries of each one.



FIRST-PARTY (NINTENDO)
     Kid Icarus: Uprising
Pit hasn’t taken flight since his old-school Nintendo days. The trailer begins with Pit saying “sorry to keep you waiting!” He very well should be, but the beautiful visuals, larger-than-life boss battles and fast-paced overall gameplay sure as heck make up for his 24-year hiatus.

     Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
Link is back in a not-so-new, but nostalgic adventure with a mouth-watering graphics update and a touch screen interface to equip items with more ease than before. This is all great, Nintendo, but just make sure I don’t have to blow into the microphone to play the ocarina!

     Steel Diver

Colonel, we got a visual on a a thrilling submarine simulator on our radar. From what I’ve seen in footage, it looks like Nintendo added submarine combat to the mix as well. Mayday!

     Animal Crossing 3D (working title)

Delve and indulge in the magical real-time world of Animal Crossing once again in an edition that doesn’t have much announced for it yet, but I will follow it on this blog, because I am a BIG fan of the AC series. Expect WiFi play and lots of it.

     StarFox 64 3D

Fox McCloud is back in a (again) not-so new, but nostalgic, modernized return to the new platform. Expect to test a lot more of your reflexes in this barrel-roll-filled adventure, and yes, expect to do a barrel roll or two…you saw that coming.

     Mario Kart 3D

Mario and the gang are back with more kart-racing action (duh!) and 3D visuals (mega-DUH) that rival the GameCube outings of MK. Like Animal Crossing, expect a lot of WiFi functionality. I mean lots.

     Paper Mario 3D (probably working title)

Keeping Mario in mind, Mario is flat again in an all-new adventure for the 3D technology. I am psyched to see how Nintendo’s mascot fares in a flat, yet 3D adventure. My thoughts? An epic adventure will ensue and will probably have something to do with a princess being kidnapped.

     Nintendogs (+ Cats)

Those who adored the original Nintendogs are in for a treat, including face-tracking to have the puppies lick your face, and its namesake: the inclusion of virtual kittens. I adored the original, and I plan on this being a big treat for me after a long wait.

     PilotWings: Resort

Take flight above WuHu Island after a long wait following the SNES and N64 title. All I saw in the trailer was flying through rings, but that doesn’t mean I’m expecting another Superman 64. I have a hunch that developers have learned since then.

Eeeewww…Thankfully this abomination (above) is NOT the end result of Pilotwings on 3DS (below)

THIRD PARTY (Other impressive titles)
     Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D / Resident Evil: Revelations
Speaking of tight visuals, the crowd was wowed with a mysterious trailer for the new portable outings of Resident Evil, showing off what looks like a variation of the same engine used to develop Resident Evil 5 and Lost Planet 2. No matter what, the game looks absolutely stunning.

     Metal Gear Solid 3D: The Naked Sample
The hero of Japanese espionage games (that we all know as Snake) is back with a remake of Snake Eater along with a trailer that Hideo Kojima promised to add nail-biting suspense to. He sure did keep his promise. Check out the 7-minute trailer below! Did I mention that my mind = BLOWN?


See Snake sneak in this sweet trailer.

     Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition (working title)
Join Ryu, Ken and more (I know little about SF) in this, er…super 3D street fighting game! Ignoring my pathetic knowledge of the highly-acclaimed series, I can’t wait to pick this one up. As shown in a features trailer, it appears that you can turn on a tag mode, allowing for fighting even when you’re just walking past another person in a mode exclusive to the 3DS. This doesn’t go without saying there’s some great visuals for the real-time fights.



Other titles with little to no info yet include…
Dead or Alive: Dimensions (tentative title) [Video]
DJ Hero 3D
The Sims 3
Ridge Racer (tentative title)
A Ninja Gaiden game
A Batman game
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Samurai Warriors 3D
An untitled Kingdom Hearts game (Sweet!)
Professor Layton & the Mask of Miracle (tentative title)
Hollywood 61 (tentative title)
Assassin’s Creed: Lost Legacy
Untitled Madden NFL and FIFA Soccer Games (If you’re REALLY into that)

What are the technical features aside from the specifications?
On the top of the system are dual cameras for taking 3D images and generating a Mii character from a photo. Inside is one camera, boasting facial recognition (used best in Nintendogs + Cats) and possible video chat functionality. Also inside, you will see an analog slide pad for more tight control over the classic plus-shaped control pad. More interestingly, the depth of the 3D will be fully adjustable from “off” to “on and up in your grill”. Also, the DS’ dream of being more like the Wii have finally come true with a motion and gyro sensor. Lastly, The bottom screen is smaller, but the top screen is a lot bigger, as it is the screen for displaying 3D images (nobody wants grubby hands ruining a 3D movie or game).

Further explanation of the hardware features

MOVIE or game? Does this mean you can watch movies on the platform?
Indeed it does. Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata unveiled that Warner Bros, Disney and Dreamworks are using their 3D expertise to show on the platform and already announced that How to Train Your Dragon 3D will be available at launch.

What are the current plans/rumors of the 3DS launch plans? (Price, date, etc.)
In Japan, the system is set to release on February 26th, 2011 for 25,000 yen which leads some believing that the system in the US could be up to $300, due to a direct price conversion. No word yet on if this is official or not, however the system will release in the US and Europe sometime in March. Plus, Zelda fans, rejoice and keep your fingers crossed because in Japan, Ocarina of Time is set as a Japanese launch title. This could mean (not confirming anything) the same for US and Europe.

On a final note, the 3D games will cost developers a lot to make for a small platform. However, this doesn’t automatically mean that games will cost a dime more than they did on original DS hardware. For more on this, click here.

I hesitated on posting this…I wasn’t terribly happy with it…

I am one of the millions of people who got into World of Warcraft…back in 2006…This is a story I wrote for a message board back in April. This is probably why GameJotter won’t follow updates on World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

2006 - A Bittersweet Welcome
As much as I can remember, 2006 was when Blizzard tossed countless opportunities of getting into World of Warcraft. I apparently found the best way and time to jump in. According to my payment history, I had a free week from FilePlanet and a free month plus a free day for some reason. Upon finally getting to play, I proceeded on creating a human warrior (really not sure what his name was). Once I made it to Goldshire, a well-geared player came up to me and found what looked like a great opportunity to impress a bunch of female Night Elf characters. He promptly clogged my screen with annoying-as-hell duel requests and swearing at me and calling me “noob” (looking back, I don’t know how it would impress anyone). It finally came to me that level 1 human warriors were disrespected and apparently not tolerated by veteran players. I logged out and experimented with different classes and races until I found that I favored Rogues. I then made a human Rogue named Pegwymor. That was about the end of my free game time. I was more than happy to start paying my allowance with my Dad’s help.

Late 2006 - In Flames
I was eleven years old when I began my paid subscription. At eleven I was naive and clueless when it comes to what and what not to do and say in a social online world. I was immature and easy-to-flame. People deceived me as some kind of troll, but I didn’t know better at my young age and little experience combined. Others even said and done objectionable things to me that sadly, I had no idea how to report. I just took matters into my own hands and everything escalated. Later that year I cancelled my subscription, over-encumbered by the insults and smack-talk. I was in flames from being flamed and flaming back. I didn’t even know what flaming meant at the time and much less did I know the consequences.

Mid 2007 - Back in the game world
Burning Crusade was already released, I already turned 12, lesson learned with manners along. It seemed like a great time to venture back to Azeroth. I bought the expansion and renewed my subscription. I was stoked to see my character still there. Our hero was then level 17 when he figured it would be funny to piss off low-level characters by going to the Fargodeep Mine and taking the treasures in store there. There was little to no risk in meddling with the ultrastupid Kobolds that infest the mine due to how weak they were compared to the (so I thought) mighty Pegwymor. Angering low leveled characters in such a fashion was fun but it was also quite profitable, and farming low level areas was not trolling. It was something people had to live with as they knew it. Suddenly, I then had a cumbersome new enemy. Random crashes and disconnections. This drove me insane to an almost literal extent. Nothing I tried fixed the problem. Go on, guess what I did. I cancelled my subscription yet again.

Mid 2009 - New MMOs Catch My Eye
“Um…Peg? Is that really you?” Said a fellow Deadmines party member. “I remember you from, like, 2 years ago”. My immediate thought was “Wow, I’m that memorable?” This made my day, in fact. I not only had a computer that worked great, but I was remembered while I didn’t! Then…it happened. Constant news articles came up across the internet about a “potential Warcraft killer of an MMORPG” It was called Aion. Like Warcraft, but you could grow wings at level 10 and the environments were stunning! When I tried the beta, it was phenomenal. When the game came out, I was sold. It wasn’t long until Warcrack got me back and the story of Pegwymor proceeded, but no longer than a few days.

The Last Few Days - The Hook Brings You Back But the Spike Takes You Away
I once again installed World of Warcraft and Pegwymor’s tale is nearly at a close. A tragic end, to say more.

—->Day One
I am back in the world and my server is extremely unpopulated. Frustrated, I make haste to the worst purchase of my life thus far. A paid character transfer from Twisting Nether to Aerie Peak. It seemed worth it once the transaction was made and the move was approved. Afterwards I looked for a group with the new LFG interface. I found a group and I was amazed on how much stuff had changed. You get teleported to the freaking dungeon and back. It made things a lot less monotonous. I went on and on and even pulled off an all-nighter!

—->Day Two
I continued going strong and gained up 5 levels. My friends on Facebook started to scold me when they found out that I play WoW again. I went on the app store on my Droid phone and found the Battle.net authenticator that randomly generates a code that has to be entered along with your email and password. I got it and set it up to my account and logged in. I then met a special new friend. I got a companion pet in my mailbox called a Core Hound Pup and I immediately fell in love with it. I showed it off constantly in yet another all-nighter of dungeon grouping. Please note I took constant and long breaks during the day

—->Day Three
I began to grow weary from my obsessive play. To this point I grew to level 41. That’s 10 levels from when I renewed my subscription. It was time to pick up the pace. I joined a group of players in a dungeon that was completely unfamiliar and I still was going strong until BAM. All the players left me to die by leaving the party. As a ghost I frantically searched for the dungeon entrance so I could safely teleport back to Alliance territory. I was nowhere to be found. I then gave up and searched for a Spirit Healer. Nowhere to be found. I came to my senses and exited the game and I said to myself “whet the hell am I doing to myself?” Two all nighters? 10 levels in 3 days? A strong affection with an ingame pet? It was time to stop. I rushed to cancel my subscription while I was still frustrated with trying to resurrect. So angry that I wrote otherworldly vulgar things on the “say more about your cancellation” field.

That, my friends, is how the story of Pegwymor ended. The game is out of my system but Pegwymor will always have a place in my heart.