Thread: VG stuff

Swords&Soldiers~!

What a wondrous WiiWare game~! Side-scrolling RTS at its best.
Simple, fun, and efficient.

I could see why it went to WiiWare. A game like this works best with pointer-controls (mouser/Wiimote). And did I mention that it's fun?

Hmmm... how do I put this?
I guess I'll just explain it:
In the game, there's three "modes"- Story, Skirmish, and Multiplayer.
In Story, you follow the same rules as any other RTS: Only one team is open for campaign and you only unlock the other campaigns by beating each campaign.
Three campaigns, one for each group - Vikings, Aztecs, and Chinese.
All of you aim for the same thing: The Chili Pepper.

Y'see, the Aztecs have made a giant Chili Pepper of which they need to win the contest - and it's also their pride. The Vikings want this Chili Pepper for their Ultimate Barbeque. And the Chinese just want to beat it since they're also entered in the contest / also want to own it for themselves.
^^; ...I haven't gotten to the Chinese Campaign, so I can't say that's exactly what they want, but that's all I could gather for where I'm at.

So yeah, the giant Chili Pepper~!

Next mode is Skirmish. You pick one of the three teams for yourself, and one of the three teams for you to face. You then choose the AI difficulty. If you want you can also adjust the speed of the game, the amount of money you start off with, the number of workers you start off with, the handicap level, and the amount of mana you start off with. You then pick one of three sizes for a map: small, medium, or large. You then pick one of three maps for each map size: one being simple and straightforward, the second being a bit more complicated, and the last being the most "complicated" (as complicated as straight line can be. ).
And then the game starts. Whoever destroys the other's base first wins.

Did I mention the Challenge mode and Achievements? Challenge mode is basically 3 minigames in which you try to beat the highscore. There's Survival, Berserker Run, and Boulder. I haven't earned Survival yet, so I have no idea what it is. In Berserker Run, you have a single Viking, and he has to cross a vast area full of enemies. You must keep him alive as long as you can through support with magic. Spend your mana wisely and choose your paths wisely. Your score is based on how far he got. And in Boulder, you're given a giant rolling boulder (the special attack of the Aztecs), and it rolls through a map where your soldiers and enemy soldiers are placed. Your objective is to crush all the enemies and dodge all your soldiers (by pressing A)... (and yes, this is how the power worked in the normal battles as well). Your score is based on how many enemies you've killed minus the amount of your own soldiers you've killed.
And Achievements? .......well....... they're achievements. Like what Microsoft has.

Just bragging rights I suppose. I would like the "Son of Norris" Achievement though, it's awesome.

And Multiplayer?
It's like Skirmish, except you face a 2nd player.
The only difference is that you can change the color of your army + it's a split-screen now (which doesn't hinder the fun at all).

Each team has its strengths and weaknesses. In general:

• The Vikings are overall tough, but very straight-forward. They're not as tactical as the other teams and their main strength is their offensive-powers and offensive-tactics. Their main "aces up the sleeve" are Rage (a Mana buff that makes soldiers run at full speed ahead, collecting your soldiers into the frenzy and ramming into the first enemy ahead of them... it's useful for forming a large wall of soldiers to attack the enemy), Lightning (a basic Mana attack that deals extreme damage against individual enemies, good for taking out main threats), and Snowstorm (an advanced Mana attack that freezes enemies in place).
• The Aztecs are a lot more strategic as their main tactic is slowing down the enemy (through poison) and killing them before they become a threat. Their main "aces up the sleeve" are Cage Trap (a Mana trap, traps a single enemy in place, making them vulnerable to attack until someone frees them), the Necromancer (though unable to attack, they can turn corpses into skeletons... either your troops or the enemy's), and Boulder (a giant boulder that rolls through the screen, crushing EVERYTHING in its path unless you press "A" for it to jump. It'll stop once it hits a tower or rolls off the screen).
• The Chinese are highly tactical, sacrificing power and direct effects for tactical strength. They do have some powerful troops but they're fairly weak individually. Their main "aces up the sleeve" are Ninja Monkeys (a quick squad that gets in and out quickly. They don't do much damage, but they stun the enemy and teleport behind them - constantly inching forward and stunning until they reach the enemy base), Terracotta Warriors (a group of 3 terracotta soldiers summoned through Mana, they're powerful and nearly invincible, but they eventually break after a certain amount of time), and Yin and Yang (a Mana spell that makes a copy of a selected ally unit. It also copies their HP. This is useful for forming an army before even reaching the enemy).

So yeah. Pretty awesome, no?
You've gotta' play it to fully realize the fun of it.

Abu plays with me. ...she prefers the Aztecs and loves creating a giant skeleton army with the Necromancers. She affectionately refers to her skeleton army as "Bone Thugs".

I prefer the Chinese. I love my Terra Cotta Warriors and Zen Masters. Much fun.

We both agree that the Ninja Monkeys are beyond adorable.


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And last but not least.
MySims Racing!!!!

I'm not new to Mario Kart clones, heck I actually really liked "Chocobo Racing"! And Lego Racers was pretty cool too.
I was quite happy that MySims was following the old tradition of Mario Kart cloning.

Let me first say that the two differences all Mario Kart clones have that makes most of them worth playing is: Different Power-Ups + Different Stages.
Different courses and power-ups make all the difference.

And so, MySims Racing is like a copy of Mario Kart Wii.
But does it do it justice?
At first glance: No.
Y'see, the Wii Wheel controls are rather clunky, there's no online mode, the graphics look like it could've been worked on more, and the stages sometimes look like exact copy of Mario Kart Wii stages.

But like I said, that's at first glance.

Eventually as I played the game more (story mode), I realized its charms more and more.
Y'see, the Wii Wheel controls aren't as sensitive as the Mario Kart Wii version - but that's a + for a lot of people! What a lot of people didn't like in Mario Kart Wii is that when they twitched their Wii Wheel, their car sometimes just full-blown swerved to the right or left. Without a stand, the Wii Wheel felt too awkward for them. I personally like the Wii Wheel in Mario Kart Wii, so I was a bit disappointed on how clunky MySims Racing felt.
But I eventually got used to it, and the biggest charm out there - Abu is using the Wii Wheel!!!

Abu was one of the many that didn't like the Wii Wheel in Mario Kart Wii. Wayyy too sensitive to her. But these are just right for her!

And obviously no online mode kind of sucked, but as I said earlier in this post, the MySims franchise is a sort of cult classic. There wouldn't be enough players to match the size of the Mario Kart community. And we're not sure how well funded MySims has kept EA to make them want to work hard on the online mode (which I doubt would compare to MKWii's online mode). So playing split-screen was fun with me.
Only problem is, it gets kinda' hard to see things in split-screen. ^^;
They should do what other games do in split screen: Zoom the camera in.
But hey, it still works, and we still have fun.

And the reason why I think the graphics could've been worked on more, is that not only is Mario Kart Wii much more impressive, but so was MySims Kingdom. It seems that after MySims Kingdom, the graphics kinda' went down in MySims games.
But then I realized something: MySims Agents is getting A LOT OF PUBLICITY (at least a lot more than the other games).
It seems that MySims Party and MySims Racing were kind of side-projects compared to MySims Agents. Sort of a way to please the MySims fans until the next big one came out.
And hey, once you get faster at racing, the graphics actually look pretty good. When you're slow it kinda' looks like it needs more work.

And though many of the stages almost looked exactly like or exactly themed or exactly challenged as MKWii stages: They're very different in their own regards.
These stages had their own shortcuts, their own challenges, and their own imagined-themes.
For instance: Remember Toad's Factory in MKWii?
Yeah, they have a stage just like that in MySims Racing, except instead of a Factory: It's a giant pinball raceway. Pretty coo, eh?
It's damn annoying to run into the bumpers, I have to say.

It's overall a good game. The kart-customizing may not be the best thing ever (you earn parts through storymode challenges and finding hidden blueprints on each track), but at least it's satisfying for those who still want to make their own character and themed-kart. Definitely not as customizing as Lego Racers (once I made a dragon-shaped lego kart... another time, I just put a chair, and nothing else). But still good.

The stages get actually quite lovable, and the power-ups definitely are different~!
Some similarities in powers:

• Soccerballs act like green shells, but much bouncier, and move faster.
• Melon Accelerator acts exactly like a red shell, but... it's a melon with sunglasses.
• UFO acts like Bullet Bill, but it doesn't run into anyone and only drops you once it finds a safe landing (meaning it can take you A LOT further than Bullet Bill can if the area is littered with items).
• Beehive Trail and Bubble Dropper acts like bananas... except Beehive Trail slows you down, and Bubble Dropper stops you in place. You can destroy Bubbles with projectiles, and you can hop over Beehive Trails.
• Bunny Luv acts like Blooper, except it surrounds your entire screen with hearts which you need to shake your Wiimote to get rid of.
• Pumpkin Catapult acts like a single banana, except it makes your car slip excessively (it can spin you out of control or speed you ahead... risky).
• Forcefield is just a forcefield. Blocks projectiles, kinda' like what a triple-green/red-shell does.
• F-Energy Zap acts like Lightning, except instead of shrinking everyone, it only zaps the person ahead of you and makes their car "shut down", slowing them down and making it impossible for them to boost.
• F-Energy Storm acts like a Super Mushroom or just a regular Mushroom, except it just maxes out your Boost-bar, making you either Super Boost or make several boosts accordingly.

Ah yes, and drifting is in this game, but it doesn't boost you. All it does is increase your "boost bar".

Ah right, the boost bar... yeah, all cars have a boost bar, the boost bar is increased by collecting essences (floating gems located all over the race track), drifting, drift-combos, bumping, bump-combos, jumping ramps, and lightning starts.

So yeah, you may not think it, but it's a pretty solid racing game!
Just try to ignore the utter-cuteness if you can.
........ or not.


AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnddd.......... yep. That's all.

Ah... and I forgot to mention one of my favorite power ups in MySims Racing:

Seed Thrower!

You literally throw a seed and it plants a tree! Insta-grow tree that becomes an obstacle! Many racers could run into and wipeout completely. It eventually disappears, but quite the funny powerup.

... I love it when I get a perfect shot in front of a boost-lane!
The racers just SLAM right into it once it appears in front of them! There was quite a pile-up of confused racers in front of the boost-lane.



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EDIT:

Speaking of video games:
The Wii Sports Resort Site has finally put in all the videos for every activity in WSR Island!

First go here:
Wii Sports Resort

Then click this:


Then click on any of the buttons that look like this to view the page on the sport/activity:


Then click on a button that looks like this in order to watch the video:


Click Play To Start The Video (It doesn't start automatically). You can pause it and wait if it gets choppy.

And then click on this button at the bottom of the screen to return to the island menu:


Got it? Good. :3 Wheee~!!!!




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One more edit:

Ah yes, and another news!

Trauma Team~!!! WHOOOOOOO!!!!

Feast your eyes on the premiere video of Trauma Team, the evolution of the medical entertainment game!

The makers of the acclaimed medical action series Trauma Center blow the genre wide open with Trauma Team for Wii™, bringing not one, but six exciting and creative gameplay modes! Play as a general surgeon, diagnostician, EMT, orthopedic surgeon, endoscope technician, or medical examiner. With improved game balance and a completely original approach to story cutscenes, Trauma Team delivers the thrills and drama of the best medical entertainment.

Available Spring 2010.

YouTube - Atlus USA Sizzle Video: Trauma Team



If you guys haven't played the Trauma Center series yet, you totally should!
I seriously thought the Trauma Center games would be just kinda' "Hmm... okay", but it was actually really... really... well, exhilarating!
The DS games are masterpieces and the Wii ones are fun too!
TOTALLY GET INTO THE SERIES!

I know I dids.

\(^o^)/ love the novel, Darling! haha!

them Ninja Monkeys are adorable~

and i'm really looking forward to WiiSportsResort!
i dunno exactly why...

it kind feels like WiiSports, where you have all these great games, but at the end of the day...

you just want to play baseball with Snake and Creepy MJ~

I'm looking forward to it for several reasons:

1. Like you said, it's going to be like Wii Sports, where though it's fun and great - it's much more satisfying to be playing with all your Miis that you humorously made.
2. It'll be fun with the family. Once I've "gotten my fill" with you, I'm thinking of playing it out in the living room and letting everyone else play. + we totally have to ask Ileen to come over and play.
3. The graphics are clean-pretty. They don't need to be high def, they just need to be good - and for this WSR matches the Wii's look: Clean and pretty. Smooth and simple. That's what I loved about Wii Sports and Wii Fit and Wii Music.
4. I REALLY. REALLY. REALLY. Want to do the sword thing. Gun-lovers have had their fill of FPS games with their namco-branded light guns. ...I want a legitimate sword game now! And we're finally getting one!
5. Aaaaaand I'm really looking forward to the plane-thing! I hope there's a casual flying mode, where you can fly wherever you want to and just chill! Because seriously, I just want a game where I can chill and click on the screen... I thought Wii Music would be like that, but it was actually complicated. ...seriously the only game that's been that chill was Pop. And popping bubbles gets a tad boring after a while - I need something else to compliment it. A smooth flying mode would be fine by me!

You know what i'm looking forward to? Scribblenauts and Muramasa: the Demon Blade...

thems the good stuff!

Yeah. Scribblenauts? Both of us gotta' get a copy.
Share levels like madmen.

We'll have totally different level designs, won't we?


...and Muramasa? Ish coo. But ever since your love of Odin Sphere far exceeded mine, I've considered Vanillaware games to be your games.
I will definitely purchase it for ya', though. And I'll play as the characters you don't want to play as/suck as.

... there a few more games I'm lookin' forward to, but I totally forgot. o_o