Second Impressions: VVVVVV (3DS)

I say "Second" because Dr. Potts had already created a First Impressions about a year and-a-half ago, but I found it on sale through Nintendo's eShop a few weeks back for a price I couldn't refuse.  I have also been wanting to play it on my 3DS for a good long while after only being able to play it on my PC for a measly 25 minutes.  I enjoyed the game enough during the first stage in the ship, but once I left the ship I felt overwhelmed by the minimalist aspect of the game combined with the apparent size of the map as well as playing an Atari/NES era styled game on the PC.  I also felt demoralized upon finding out that the game kept track of how often I died.  

My death count was upwards of 80+ after not even 30 minutes.

I don't remember when I last played VVVVVV on the PC since Steam for some reason doesn't have that information available (maybe there's it loses track after a year of inactivity?), but when I saw it on sale in the eShop last month, I quickly picked it up.  There's just something about the 3DS handheld platform that made the game seem like it would be more approachable and somehow less intimidating.  Additionally, the 3D effect in the stills through the eShop looked good and I feel that VVVVVV lends itself very well to being converted to 3D.

While there are some differences between the 3DS port and the PC version,  such as altering the graininess of the screen, the biggest difference is that you cannot create custom levels; you can, however play other player (from where?) created levels.  It is not clear if these levels are pre installed or if you can acquire them throughout the game or if the game is updated with new user levels to play.  So far, I haven't found these differences to be detrimental to my feelings about the game or how it plays.

So far I have been having as much fun as I wanted to have in the PC version.  The controls are about as basic as it gets and the response is perfect without any lag.  The 3D effect also looks great with the backgrounds being pulled back from the Captain and the platforms in the foreground.  The music too is identical to that of the PC game and absolutely not loss in sound quality so Souleye's work can be enjoyed unhindered with the rest of the game.  I have nothing negative about this game in this format.

Enjoying VVVVVV as much as I have on the 3DS has made me wonder if I would like Super Meat Boy more than I have if I were to also have access to it on the 3DS platform.  Somehow I do not see the goriness of that game getting by Nintendo's eShop custodians, but I guess stranger things have happened, so we will just have to wait and see.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

Full Review: Witch and Hero (3DS)

First off, apologies that this article is coming out a few days late.  Things happened in the later half of the week that I hadn't anticipated (nothing bad) and I wasn't able to complete this article on time, or even in a form that I could post on Saturday, which is something that I've done in the past.  So now, here is Friday's post today, on Monday.

Witch and Hero is a game that I first saw back in January when the demo became available in Nintendo's eShop, despite the game having been released since April 2013.  The demo was pretty short, coming in at only 19 minutes, but it did everything a demo is supposed to do.  I was introduced to the concepts of the game and played through the first couple of levels.  I was immediately taken with the "retro" visual and musical style, enough so that a week or two later, I bought the game via Nintendo's eShop.  FK Digital, the company behind Witch and Hero have made a game that's charming, fun and can be played in short bursts when you know you'll only have a few minutes while the Top Ramen noodles boil to perfection.

STORY
You probably shouldn't be expecting much in the way of story from this game, as it is attempting to emulate the JRPGs of the late 1980s (Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, Ultima: Exodus).  The story is something that you find out before the gameplay begins and it's about as bare bones as an RPG story can be, but it's all done with a sense of humor.  You're told in the intro that the Witch and the Hero go off to kill Medusa, but the witch is turned to stone and the Hero is beaten to a pulp.  The Hero manages to escape with the Witch, but he seeks revenge and must kill Medusa to release the curse on the Witch.  How much more of a story do you need?

GAMEPLAY
The game is pretty basic.  You move the Hero with the joystick.  Your mission/goal is to kill of the hordes of enemies that come at you from all over the screen.  You are to protect the Witch who is sitting stationary in the middle of the screen.  You both have your own health meters and while you regenerate health after you reach 0 HP by lying prone, if the Witch loses all her HP, she crumbles.  You attack enemies by running into them and you damage to each other.  If you attack from behind, you are awarded with a different attack sound, you do more and take less damage than from frontal assaults.

Later in the game when you are able to temporarily bring the Witch back to life (with the blood of your enemies), you can change between two spells she continuously casts with "X" and have her face whichever direction you want her to cast her spells in with the "L & R" shoulder buttons.  Even later, after you find the Holy Sword (of course there has to be a holy sword), you can become super charged and do a lot of damage by charging up a meter that fills as you kill enemies in the stage.

As you go through the stages, you earn both experience points and money.  The experience points raise your level (this is an RPG after all), while the money you use to upgrade your Sword, Shield, Boots (speed) or the Witches Fireball or Storm spell.  I do not know if there is a level cap for experience (I reached level 48), but the equipment and spells max out at level 20.

A lot of the reviews online bring up the repetitive gameplay that makes up the majority of Witch and Hero and I cannot argue at all with this observation.  The game is exceedingly repetitive.  You will often find yourself grinding at the last stage you were able to complete so that you can purchase enough upgrades to get you through the next stage.  If you never played any of the late 80s / early 90s RPGs and were used to grinding levels, then this game probably will become very boring to you very quickly.  What I liked was that I could pick the game up, go through a stage which would take no more than two minutes, maybe raise a level and make enough gold to buy an upgrade or two then put the game back down.

VISUALS

As you can tell, the art style is very similar to something that you would find in the early Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy games.  This is something that really drew me into the game.  Just looking at the world map, I knew what it was that F K Digital was trying to get across to the player.  While there is no exploration of the world and each stage is only a single screen with a graphical style that represents the geographical region/area that you are in, I feel that anything more would have felt out of place.

Even the monsters look like they could be found in Dragon Warrior, although as the game progresses, they look more like early SNES era monsters.  And yes, in classic RPG style, a lot of the monster sprites are reused but given a different pallet, meaning they are stronger.  Little touches like this that harken back to established rules for RPGs are very welcome.


SOUND & MUSIC
I was very pleased with the sound effects in the game.  There was a different tone when you struck an enemy and when you hit them from behind.  It's like the difference between a high five, and one that connects with a satisfying SMACK!  When the Hero gets knocked unconscious, there's a very stereotypical "Wee-wee-wee-woo-woo" sound as you spin away from your last hit and then fall to the ground.  There's even a separate heart crushing sound when the Witch takes too much damage and she crumbles into pieces.  It's a simple sound bite that would be missed if it had not been included.

The music in the game continues to fit with the style set forth by visuals.  During the credits, Sound is credited to PANICPUMPKIN while "Background Chip" is credited to REFMAP.  After some preliminary searching, it appears that PANICPUMPKIN might very well be the composer, but whomever it is that composed the music did a fantastic job.  The overworld and shop themes all sound appropriate for what they are while the battle music is very catchy in the same way that the battle music from Final Fantasy I & II is memorable.  I only wish that I would be able to purchase/acquire the soundtrack.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Witch and Hero is not going to be a game for every person out there.  It is a short game, taking me 5 hours 24 minutes to complete; I reached level 43 and maxed out everything except the Fireball spell.  On one side, I would say that the game is marketed towards those who grew up playing NES era RPGs, but on the other side, it could be aimed at people who are looking for a pick up and play RPG-type game that doesoften  require you to grind for a while just through the next stage.

The only thing that I felt the game lacked was any 3Dness, despite being sold/marketed for the 3DS market.  While any 3D effects would have potentially conflicted with the visual theme, I feel that I would have been a simple endeavor and would have only added to the "charm" factor.  That being said, not have any 3D effects did not in any way detract from the game or my overall feelings towards my enjoyment.

Normally retailing at $3.99, Witch and Hero is currently on sale via the Nintendo eShop for only $2.79 until May 1st (2014).  I find the price to be about right for what the game is, which a single screen combat game stylized after NES era RPGs, and if that's your thing, you will have fun.


~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
With Action Overcomes Death

Full Review: The Starship Damrey (3DS)

I saw The Starship Damrey sitting all by itself a while ago in the Nintendo eShop.  The title by itself sounded interesting, but it was the description of the game that caught my attention.  I was told that The Starship Damrey was essentially a point-and-click game, but you are given no introduction. “With no tutorials, explanations, or hints provided, the game was created with the intent that self-discovery and experimentation be an integral part of the experience.”  How to do things is all learned by "doing" in this game.  As the disclaimer for the game says:

There are no explanations as to what button does what, the game is all trial and error.  I realize that can be a turn off to some gamers, but to me it was a selling point.  That's what I like, that the developers, Level 5 (Professor Layton series, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch), have faith that the player will know what to do and if they don't that they will not be afraid to experiment.  Now, with all that in mind, let's get down to our review.

Gameplay

The Starship Damrey is basically an old fashioned point-and-click game, like Shadowgate or Deja-vu,  with the main difference is that you play in a three dimensional environment.  The majority of the game is spent controlling a robot via remote with audio/video capabilities.  You are able to "point-and-click" various objects around the ship although where you're going and what your mission is, is pretty much unknown for most of the game.  One major departure from other point-and-click games is that the robot you control is only able to hold one item at a time.  This might seem like a hinderance, but the issue only comes up once or twice in the game where you wish you could just learn to hold three things with your mechanized arm/hand.

There was one point in the game where I couldn't figure out how to "click" something that I knew I needed to click and had to look it up on gamefaqs, but I don't see it any differently than if I had asked a friend, "Hey, how do I do this one thing that I can't seem to do?"

Story

I'm going to leave this section almost blank as finding out the story is part of the game and the experience.  I will say that the story is pretty well done for a short-ish three hour game.  I will say though that the story was pretty engaging and everything that I initially had questions about while playing the game were answered by the end.  Like, why the hell are you stuck in a box for the whole game?

There were only two instances during the whole game that I was forgetting about the story because I couldn't figure out what to do.  It did take me out of the game as I started thinking about the mechanics of the game and tried to think like a game designer, such as "Now what would be the purpose of having a robot carry around a cookie tin filled with oil?  If I were a game designer, where would I want the player to put this?"  I'm not going to cite the game for that as it's supposed to be difficult and there were times when I went around to every room I could access and looking at every screen/view I could, trying to figure out what to do with that damned oil.  Eventually I did figure it out (on my own) and felt very accomplished once I located, um, what it was that I was supposed to locate.

Graphics

I thought the graphics in the game looked great.  I was very impressed, considering it was an $8 download game, albeit from a reputed developer like Level 5.

I don't know really what else to add about how the graphics were/looked.  I was impressed; I thought they looked good; I felt the art fit the world and didn't seem out of place.  It was a good looking game.

3D Effectiveness

The 3D effects in the game never felt overdone, blurry or even out of place.  There wasn't anything that was flying out of the screen at you and I felt having the 3D slider at 50-75% helped to add depth (pun not intended) to the visuals.  The game could be played just fine without the 3D effect turned on.

Most of the effect was in the visual screen of the robot in the foreground with the environment pushed out in the background.

Music/Sound

There is a very distinct lack of music in The Starship Damrey, which works very well.  With the exception of one or two musical cues, all the sound in the game is ambient background noise and practical sounds.  Everything that makes noise in the game sounds how I imagine a robot aboard a space vessel would sound.  It was a pretty minimalist score.

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed The Starship Damrey.  It was a fun game that updated a style of gameplay that isn't made too much anymore.  Because games of the early '80s had many limitations, point-and-click were pretty common, so to find that type of game today and not only looks great and plays great, but also expects a lot from the player and doesn't treat them like a novice, that's something that I really like both about the game and Level 5.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental

What Do We Mean By "First Impressions"?

I was thinking about this a couple of days ago, I won't say where I was at or where I was doing, but I was thinking not only what our idea is but what a readers idea of what a "First Impression" might be.  In the Nintendo eShop, you can't submit a review (albeit a pretty short review that's limited to if you think the game is casual/intense, if it's for everyone/gamers and the number of stars out of five you would award it) until you've played the game for at least an hour.  Granted if you hate a game after the first five minutes, you could just leave the game on for the next 55 minutes then give it a scathing review.

For me, it really depends on the game.  For Cogs, after about 10 minutes, I knew that it would be a game that I wouldn't either be able to or want to finish due to my pseudo-dislike and frustration with sliding puzzles.  Presently I've put in 56 minutes in Cogs and I probably won't play it again unless we have people over who happen to really like sliding puzzles.  After those 56 minutes though, I felt like I could write a First Impression about Cogs (which I did) and feel that I had a good feel for the general purpose of the game.  At the moment, I'm currently playing The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and 27 hours in, I feel like I'm almost at the point to where I could write a First Impression.

So why the huge disparity from one game to another?  

I'll give another example for both Grand Theft Auto and Grand Theft Auto 2.  I've spent 25 minutes with GTA and 44 minutes on GTA2.  I feel like I could do an article for the first game, again because I feel like I know what is expected of me in the game.  I won't presume to know everything about the game or to be an expert, but I have the general gist of what's going on.  In GTA2, I feel like I need to put in at least another hour or two before I could write something that sounds like I know what I'm talking about, which I will probably do in the next few weeks, but don't hold me to it as I recently put Mario Kart 7 (I know, I'm late with the games again) in my 3DS and Steam always seems to have 50-75% off sales on games that look like they're too much fun to pass up.

I feel it all comes down a fraction of the amount of time it would take in order to complete that game.  What is that multiplier?  I don't know and I don't think that it could be whittled down to a simple percentage.  So I just invalidated the first sentence of this paragraph, which any high school English teacher is a bad way to write a paper.  Thank goodness my sister, who is a high school English teacher (and our mother who was an English major in college) aren't frequent readers or I'd frequently be hearing from them about improper syntax or using multiple tenses of verbs in the same sentence.  But this is all beside the point.

Now, I can't speak for the Good Doctor (English major) on how he determines when is a good time to write up a review or an impression, but I feel that we're at least reading the same book, if not the same chapter.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Stage 1 of the Process

Musings on Nintendo's eShop

I've been a little busy in the Nintendo eShop, although "busy" for me is that I've downloaded four games (Gunman Clive, Castlevania: The Adventure, Art of Balance: Touch, and Mega Man II) and three demos (Art of Balance: Touch, Brain Age Concentration Training,and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate) since the beginning of the year.  The only curmudgeon I currently have, is that I started using my 3DS with the 2 Gigabyte card that came with the system.  If I had been thinking I would have used a separate higher memory card, say an 8 or 16 Gig card.  The card isn't just used for saved games and I found this out when I tried putting in a higher capacity card and upon booting up the system, all the games, applications and demos I had downloaded were missing.

The point then, is that while I do download a lot of games through Steam on my computer, I haven't purchased any game that is normally available for retail.  There are a number of games that are available  in the eShop (Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate, Scribblenauts Unlimited, Fire Emblem Awakening, Brain Age Concentration Training, Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask, Resident Evil The Mercenaries 3D, Code of Princess, Mario Kart 7, BIT.TRIP.SAGA, Star Fox 64 3D, et cetera) that I won't buy, mainly because I don't want to have three or four memory cards with varying amounts of games and applications.  

Another issue, for me at least, is that the prices in the eShop are pretty static, especially with the retail games compared to the Virtual Console games.  And the fact that the eShop retail games are sold at retail prices.  eShop Mario Kart 7 is priced the same as Gamestop Mario Kart 7: $39.99.  For some reason, I'm not about to spend $40 on an eShop purchase.  I don't know what it is, maybe it's the multiple stages of acquiring money to purchase: buy set amount with my credit card, then using the "credits" to purchase a game.  Plus you can only purchase one of four set amounts, $10, $20, $50 or $100.  If there were different amounts or if you could set your own amount, I would find that to be a slightly better system.  I always seem to have little bits left over from previous transactions where I have to buy another $10 and then I can buy another game or two and end up with another $1.67 left.

Lastly, I'd like to say that Nintendo needs to have an MP3 application in the eShop.  That was the second thing I looked for when I first started fiddling with my 3DS almost a year ago and I'm surprised that I haven't seen anything about one out yet.  I take my 3DS with me when I go up to the clubhouse gym and run on the treadmill so that I can earn 1 Play Coin for every 100 steps for a maximum of 10 coins in one day.  While running with the 3DS in my pocket, I would love it to be able to listen to music (while the system is closed, maybe that's a problem/issue?) while earning mah Play Coins.  So, someone needs to have Nintendo do this so I don't have to have my phone in my other pocket to listen to music.

Overall, and using the information from the "Activity Log's" Software Library, I've used the eShop 45 times, spending an average of 8 minutes each time I visit the store culminating in 6h21m since June 2012.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

It's Always High Quality

Full Review: Gunman Clive

After 1 hour 57 minutes and dying 76 times, I was able to finish Gunman Clive, playing as Clive.  I could spend another hour playing as Ms. Johnson and probably another hour and-a-half playing as The Duck (you read that correctly) and write a full comprehensive review, but that word is not part of our title.  So I'll begin this review of Hörberg Productions' Gunman Clive with just having played as Clive.

Until I learn how to take screen caps on my 3DS, you'll have to settle with this.

Graphics

The graphics for Gunman Clive are pretty simple, in that their line drawn and have a constant "sketching" appearance.  It reminds me a lot of the FMV used in the updated Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions.  Initially you might think it would be distracting to have everything around the character looking like it's constantly being sketched, but I didn't notice any distraction.

3D Effectiveness

The 3D effect in this game was subtle and while it looked cool while it was on, I didn't feel like. . . ok wait.  With the exception of the glitch during the second boss battle, I had the 3D effect at about 75% on the rest of the time.  There wasn't a whole lot that made me feel like it needed to be on, but when it was, it pushed the background back and added a subtle cool factor that the game didn't have when playing in 2D.  Is the game playable in 2D?  Yes, very much so, but at certain times, like on the train stage, it was cool having the things. . . I don't know what their called, I'm not up on my train car anatomy, the things that hold logs and such, but having those on both sides of the train car in 3D, it looked pretty cool.

Game Play

The game plays like your standard platformer.  There's stuff to jump on that moves while enemies and automations shoot at you.  there are ducks, wolves and horses to avoid while said jumping.  Pretty standard stuff and not breaking any new ground.  BUT!, that's perfectly fine and not a fault I find with the game.  It was a refreshing short platformer that was quite difficult at times.

Some of the gameplay differences though lies with the different characters.  Clive is a straightforward character.  He runs, jumps, ducks and shoots.  Ms. Johnson can hover, similar to Princess Toadstool (before she became Princess Peach), but she'll only hover as long as the B button is depressed.  I did notice with Ms. Johnson that bullets will pass through her hair, which sticks up even when she ducks  The Duck can fly/hover for 5-6 flaps of its wings.  That's it.  The Duck can't attack so your approach to the game is run and dodge.  It's a pretty clever way to play through a standard action platformer.

Story

Depending on who you're playing as (Clive, Ms. Johnson, The Duck), the story is pretty straight forward.  Either Ms. Johnson or Clive are kidnapped and you have to rescue them.  As The Duck, um. . ., I don't really know.

Music

I commented on my own post about Gunman Clive after it's initial posting that the soundtrack was available to buy from the composer, Arne Hörberg.  I also noticed that the music runs continuously through the stages.  When you die, the music doesn't abruptly stop, but continues indefinitely until you complete the stage and the next stage begins with either a new music cue or the same music.

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of games that try to recreate both the platforming glory days of the 1980s and 90s, as well as the difficulty level of games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mega Man, or Ninja Gaiden.  Gunman Clive manages to create some of the difficulty, but also the fun at being able to kill a boss that has killed you a half dozen (or even a baker's dozen) times and still not be frustrating to the point that you don't want to play anymore.

Gunman Clive is a short game, comprised of four leves, each having five stagesl including a boss fight.  Sure it's short by most game standards, but it's an independently created game that's selling for only $1.99, a price probably created by Nintendo, possibly because of the shortness of the game.  I would have been happy even if I had paid $5 for the game.  

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
"Shut Up and Take My Money!" Very Much Applies Here

Perusing The Electronic Gaming Store

Before I started today, I was a little stuck as to what to talk about.  Then I went to the bathroom and it came to me.  I really want to play Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.  I can't say why this thought popped in my head while I was standing above the toilet, but it did and that got me thinking.  Not only thinking about the Castlevania franchise, but about Nintendo's eShop on the 3DS and all the games that I would like to see in the shop that just aren't there.

My most recent eShop purchase was The Castlevania Adventure and I'll be doing a First Impression with it soon.  Those born after 1989 may not remember this Gameboy release, but when I saw it crop up in the eShop, I got really excited and purchased it.  I never played it in its original Gameboy release and this gave me the opportunity to put it with all the other Castlevania games that I have and can't beat; although that list isn't very long.  Right now I'm hoping that Nintendo and Konami will release the rest of the the Gameboy Castlevania's, of which there are a total of three: The Castlevania Adventure, Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge and Castlevania Legends.  The point is, Nintendo and Konami really should consider releasing not only these three Gameboy games, but also the three NES Castlevania games as well. I was really excited back in 2004 when the first game was released on Gameboy Advance and sad when they didn't continue to release the other two.  I am aware that all the NES Castlevanias were released via Wii's Virtual Console, but I don't have a Wii.  And besides, these games are perfectly suited for a 3DS eShop release.  Especially with Castlevania: Lord of Shadows: Mirror of Fate being released on the 3DS in early March.

Castlevania aside, there're a couple other games that are available via the eShop, one of them being Night Sky, which is somewhat of a simplistic puzzle game visually akin to LIMBO, but with a different color palette.  I've played Night Sky on my PC with keyboard controls but playing on the 3DS with a touch screen would be perfect.  In the game you're moving an orb through a level fraught with. . . well, pits.  It's a game that I'd really like to play on the 3DS, but since I'm cheap, I'm not ready to spend the $9.99 for a game that I already own on another platform.

On the other side of the price spectrum, is a game I just saw called Gunman Clive which is priced at a paltry $1.99.  Now, you could just look at the pictures from the game and be "meh'd," or you can watch the video and be "awe'd" and greatly amused:

What immediatly comes to my mind, is Elevator Action and Contra, and those two games together, sound like they'd be awesome.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Starring Clive Owen

Emulator Hour: 3D Classics - Kid Icarus (3DS)

I previously mentioned (somewhere) that I played Kid Icarus a bit on the NES but that I apparently really sucked.  I had said that Eggplant Wizard was really annoying when he turned you into a walking/floating eggplant, but now that I'm going through the game again, I don't think I even made it so far as to go up against such a necromantic angiosperm.  Which brings me to the point of today's ramblings: I recently purchased 3D Classics - Kid Icarus through Nintendo's eShop on my 3DS.  

In short 3D Classics - Kid Icarus is an updated port of the Kid Icarus that was released on the NES 26 years ago, in 1986.  "Updated" in that the backgrounds are now matte paintings with some motion that are used to help create a layering 3D effect while nearly everything in the foreground are the original 8-bit NES level-era sprites.  Even the music is the same as the 8-bit original soundtrack, but without the silencing of one of the three audio tracks to make way for random sound effects like jumping, shooting your arrows, collecting hearts or enemies dying.

From what I remembered of Kid Icarus, it was a combination of Metroid and Super Mario Bros.  This has held true as I went through the first level.  And promptly died three times while trying to figure out what the hell I was doing.  I would've hoped/liked it if with the purchase of games from Nintendo's eShop, a virtual instruction book was also included.  In the meantime, the internet will have to do to know what the Donkey Kong Hammer and Barrel are used for.

The beginning of Kid Icarus starts out with the main character Pit (is that short for Icarus, or is "Kid Icarus" a given title?) somewhere that's reminiscent of Hades as there's rivers of fire in the background and flying one eyed demon things, which is never a good thing.  Oh, and snakes too.  It plays like a vertical scroller (like side-scrolling, but going up and not being able to go back down into a bottomless pit) although I assume once you exit the Underworld that you'll be able to go through traditional side-scrolling levels.  And your wings, yeah, they're currently just for looks.  You can "buy" the single use ability to save yourself from falling into a pit, which is like Princess Toadstool's hover ability in Super Mario Bros. 2.  But again, it's a single use only item, kind of like an insurance policy against falling.

Moving onto the game itself.  I died quite a number of times at first, which means I had to start over from the beginning each time.  Turns out you only have one life to give for your goddess Palutena.  After death, you have to start the stage from the beginning, or wherever your last save point was, which are at the end of each level.  It wasn't until after I had died at least twice that I realized you can shoot your arrows up instead of just right and left.  So all this was somewhat of a minor shock, but not at all hampering in my liking of the game.  It basically lets you go through levels until you're proficient at killing enemies without dying.  At the same time, it can be really frustrating getting through a rough patch, then into a new area of the same level and then dying, only to have to go through the level again to figure out what went wrong.

The music is about the same as I remember it.  But as I'm still in the first stage (1-3 currently), the background music has yet to change, so it's been the same catchy song for the 54 minutes I've been playing. Even though I have the soundtrack, I'm going to make it a point to not listen to the music so that I can be pleasantly surprised when I get to new stages and thus, new music.  That's just how I am.

All-in-all though, the difficulty of the game (not Ninja Gaiden difficulty mind you) is not going to deter me from completing the game.  Or at least doing my damnedest to complete it.  Stupid Eggplant Wizard.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

"Look at me father, I'm flying!  I'm like a bird!  A true king of the air."

First Impressions: Mutant Mudds (3DS)

I first heard about Mutant Mudds quite a while back when it was still in development from Renegade Kid.  You know, the people who brought us Moon,  Dementium: The Ward and Dementium II.  I like to support developers who are somewhat small that create great games.  I'm looking at you too Silicon Knights (Eternal Darkness, Too Human).  Anyway, back to Mutant Mudds.

With the recent acquisition of a 3DS system, I purchased Mutant Mudds from Nintendo's eShop.  The game runs as a simple and basic platformer.  You have your character, platforms and enemies.  You're armed with a water gun that shoots more-or-less the width of the screen.  Your life meter is 3 hearts and so far, there has been nothing in the game to replenish your life meter.  If you land on spikes, you die (a la Mega Man) and have to start the level over from the beginning.  You have one life, but infinite continues.  The level length is really well constructed as well, with levels never seeming too long.  The first time through though, I sometimes wondered how much longer I could go with only 1 heart left, but on subsequent playthroughs, the levels almost seemed short, but that was because I knew what to do.

You also have a hydro-jet pack that lets you pretty much hover for a short time (Think Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros. 2).  On specific tiles, you can jump to the foreground or the back-back-ground.  Things in the other "grounds" don't get in your way and cannot affect you, you just know they're there.  In each level there're 100 "coins" that you can only collect once, even when replaying the level; you are able to pick up coins you missed though.  I don't know how many levels there are, but I think there're around 40.

Renegade Kidd, in my opinion has nailed a great 16-bit style platformer.  Even the music is simple and somewhat reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario Bros. 2.  It makes perfect use of the 3D effect and even if you don't have the 3D effect turned all the way up or even if it's off, it still looks great and plays the was it's supposed to be played.

At the moment, I've only played four of the levels, but it's still a blast and well worth the $8 I spent to tell a smallish game developer, "Hey, I really like what you do.  Keep at it."