[REVIEW] Legend of Zelda extravaganza!

While we sit and patiently twiddle our thumbs waiting for the next installment in the Legend of Zelda saga, Nintendo decided that it would be a superb idea to re-release the old N64 classic, Ocarina of Time, for the 3DS. Originally released at the arse end of 1998, it's been tarted up and given the 3D treatment, but at the same time feels fresh and exciting. Graphically, the game seems superior to the original, in fact, I'm fairly sure that if you go and plug your N64 into your 42 inch high definition telly and expect things to go back to the way they were when you were a teen, then you're very much kidding yourself. (Seriously, I tried it with my SNES, and it's not as pretty as it used to be. Knew I should have kept my old portable TV!)

The controls are nice and responsive, but you can see the metaphorical scars behind the ears where this old dear has had her facelift - the player has bugger all control over the camera, except to be able to centre it behind Link's head while in targeting mode. In these luxurious days of two analog sticks on PS3 and 360, and a kind of second analog in the form of the Wii remote, it's very easy to forget that THAT'S HOW IT USED TO BE DONE. Since the 3DS only has one analog stick, the revolutionary Z-targeting (as it was then) system translates perfectly.

All in all, as a slice of nostalgia, Ocarina of Time is perfect. The spectacles are perfectly rose-tinted, and the game seems to have been polished in all the right places. However, if we were to view this as a new game, (and I'm happy to, as I never finished the original!) I would be quite convinced that this is a good test of the 3DS's capabilities. The game looks beautiful, and is fairly easy to get sucked into. A fairly obvious 5/5 from me!

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The other Zelda game I have had a brief look at this week is Link's Awakening, released on the eShop for the 3DS. First released in 1993, this was probably the second Nintendo game I ever played. (The first being Tetris - I was a late starter, I didn't even get my SNES until about '97!) I was a member of a small nerdy clique at school, (I was the fat ginger one) and we used to enjoy playing on our GameBoys at lunchtime, partially to avoid eye contact with the bullies. My GameBoy was also a handy form of mental self-defence on the bus home as well. Kids can be so cruel.

Anyway, enough of my personal demons, onto the review! Link's Awakening is a little diversion from the usual Hyrulian power struggle between Ganon and the forces of good. Link is washed ashore on Koholint Island, and is told that he cannot leave until he wakes the Wind Fish with a song. To play this song, he needs to retrieve eight instruments, which give rise to eight dungeons in the traditional Zelda manner. The 3DS Virtual Console version is vividly coloured, which took me by surprise, and seems to be every bit as engrossing as I remember it, except without having to pick chewing gum out of my pigtails when I get home this time around. Another 5/5, if only for the memories!

 

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The apparent success of these two games makes me wonder, what else could work on the 3DS? Will we see other titles in the Legend of Zelda series become available? I'd certainly love to see A Link To The Past, as well as some of the other titles in the series that I haven't had a chance to play. While we're at it, what else would you like to see, either on the 3DS Virtual Console or reimagined and re-released on a cartridge? (Donkey Kong Country series plz!) Let me know in the comments!

[EVENT] E3, or not, as was the case.

An awful lot of press coverage has been given to E3 already, and I was desperate to give you my take on things, but a week has passed and a lot has happened to dampen my enthusiasm. For me, E3 couldn't have come at a worse time, in the week where I was seemingly working all the overtime in the world, and had a uni assignment due in at the end of it. The only announcements I got to see live were the EA ones which I saw whilst half asleep with a headache, and to write a story based on those would make for angry reading! Nonetheless, here are the main points I have derived from the conference, mostly from gossiping around the water cooler.

Need For Speed: Run With Us - Or whatever it's called. I shan't lie. I'm not a massive fan of the N4S series, but boy, do I sell a lot of them at my day job. The premise is simple. Drive around, often avoiding the cops, sometimes being the cops, sometimes just racing for the hell of it. The point is, this is a purebred driving game, which is why I recoiled in ABSOLUTE HORROR when it was revealed that in the new game, at certain points your character (your what now? There's never been an actual character before, surely!) gets OUT of the car and RUNS OFF! You must then perform a series of quicktime events to ensure that your character does the right jumps and rolls to be able to get to another car, which in the demo they showed happened to be a POLICE CAR. Well done that chap. Cue facepalm, and much shouting at the TV.

The Wii U - Just as when the MotionPlus was released and everyone started bashing Nintendo for not having the technology to put it in the Wii Remote in the first place, I have a similar feeling in the pit of my stomach about the Wii U. It looks near identical, but with rounded corners, uses the same controllers but is in full HD. Obviously, this is just my first impression, and a lot more lies beneath the surface. It's just what they actually DO with it that I'm dreading. The original Wii cornered the casual market so effectively that hardcore gamers were left feeling that their Wii had become a bit of a novelty, the slighly retarded, standard definition cousin that everyone said they were fond of but no-one invited to parties in case it got drunk and ran around with no pants on. Hopefully this time around Nintendo can get a few more developers on board if they don't have to release watered down versions of 360 and PS3 titles anymore.

And that's without mentioning the gimmick controller once!

Luigi's Mansion 2 - Nintendo did redeem themselves by announcing this title for 3DS, amongst a few others. I heard the news about this one from my overly excited husband who came rushing in to tell me all about it as I was getting myself settled in bed. My admission that I've never actually played the first one was responded to with a ten minute rundown of the entire game from start to finish. Other old favourites are in the works such as Mario Kart, a new Super Mario (but this time, not called New Super Mario. A bit confusing, I agree.) One thing I REALLY wish I'd seen was Tetris. There are some details on the Nintendo website, and to quote one of my other half's favourite sayings, it looks "wacky as fuck". Just when I thought that every possible game mode had been covered, the new version claims over 20. Just how many ways there are to fit tetraminos together simply boggles the mind!

Right, that's enough blagging blogging for now, I'm off to play some actual games!

On "Holiday"

Hey guys, just a quick apology for my lack of post this week, am currently at E3* taking in the sights and sounds! Will be sure to post a massive update when I get back :)


*This is a massive lie. I have a big uni assignment due in, sorry!

[SNIPPETS] My poor neglected 3DS, and other stories.

This week, I got my first proper serious 3DS headache. I'd had my eye on Puzzle Bobble Universe since it'd come out, but I'd decided that £30 was far too much to pay for a game which has bascially been around since the dawn of time. As soon as the price dropped to 12.99 I grabbed my chance and purchased it, skipping off merrily into the distance. No need for a review here. It's Puzzle Bobble. I've played it before, you've played it before, even your Dad's played it before. Never in 3D though, so as with all 3DS games I try, I flicked the 3D slider up to give it a ten minute blast to see how the gimmick fared with this one.

The thing about Puzzle Bobble is that it's a fair bit addictive, and it was only when I felt a vein throbbing somewhere behind my eye did I realise that I'd not got around to turning the 3D off, yet it took a full two minutes for me to take my fingers off the buttons they were glued to, to be able to move the slider back down. All in all, Puzzle Bobble is highly recommended, but then again, so are two paracetamol and a tall glass of water.

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In other, slightly more positive news, the 3DS eShop should be landing very soon (according to rumours, slap bang in the middle of Sony's presentation at E3 on the 6th of June. Nice one Nintendo.) and according to Nintendo World Report, one of the first apps (are we calling them "apps"?)  to be made available is Pokedex 3D, although this looks to be more of a collecting game using QR codes and Streetpass than a handy reference tool.

Also on my agenda of things to look out for about the eShop - how well will the new prepaid cards work, and will they be available from the Nintendo Stars catalog? This is (sadly enough) a serious concern of mine. For years Nintendo have had little scratchcards inside their games which can be redeemed on the website for Star Points, which can be used to buy useless tat such as bags, statues, frisbees and paper fans, and DSi users can use them to buy Nintendo points, which in turn can be used to buy DSiWare. Fingers crossed a similar system will be implemented for the 3DS, if only for the fact that I'm a stingy bitch.

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Other things I have been doing this month:

• Getting around to watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2, 3 and 4 in preparation for hammering LEGO: Pirates of the Caribbean as soon as I get a bit of free time. (Free time? Yeah right!)
• Watching the Husband playing LA Noire and deciding that yes, it IS technically excellent, but I just don't fancy it myself.
• Having SERIOUS tech envy at aforementioned husband's new phone, the Samsung Galaxy S2. Only two months till my contract renews, and I can give an Android phone a go!
• Getting excited for E3 - especially when one of my colleagues mentioned yesterday how it was about four months away - my response? "No, it's next month. Hang on, that's next week! Squeee!"

 

So that's about it for now. See you next week!

[REVIEW] A quick look back at Borderlands

With the arrival of several high-profile releases such as LA Noire and Brink (at least, you'd think Brink were high profile given the amount of advertising being pumped into it at the last minute, competition from the former much?) you'd think I'd have had my hands full reviewing these to be able to get my opinion out to you all asap. But no! I've been revisiting old games that have lain by the wayside for a while, the first and foremost of these being Borderlands.

Alright, so this was probably triggered by my last post, thinking about dear old Claptrap made me hungry for a bit of a senseless post-apocalyptic Mad Max-inspired shootfest. Yet for a game which (quite shamelessly) picks and chooses its influences and waves them in your face, Borderlands stands alone very well. For the uninitiated, it's a first person shooter with RPG elements - shooting stuff gets you experience, and as you gain experience you level up your personal skills and also your skills with each weapon, leading to bonuses to fire rate and accuracy, and also copious amounts of swearing when you're in the middle of a massive firefight with no SMG ammo and a level 1 shotgun.

My shoddy techniques aside, this is a beautifully action-packed game that is an absolute pleasure to go back to after a year or more of it sitting in its box. The graphical style is reminiscent of cel shading and gives the game a fairly unique cartoony look that caused some criticism amongst the Call of Duty crowd, and the story revolves around four mercenaries trying to gain access to the mysterious Vault which initially caused me to think it might be trying to rip off some elements from Fallout, but that could not be further from the truth. So since it's so cheap in the shops now, why not treat yourself! I'll see you in the arena!

[THINGS I LOVE] Top Five: Video Game Robots

Throughout the world of video games we often encounter our good old friend, the robot. Whether they are the protagonist, the enemy, or the hired help, the little blighters pop up everywhere, so in tribute to our metallic pals, here is a run down of my top five favourite robots.

5. Big Daddy (Bioshock): These docile behemoths aren't technically robots, but the genetically spliced cyborg chaps inside the huge diving suits are pretty cool. Mild mannered and gentle, they go about their business of protecting the Little Sisters while they go about their messy business of havesting the valuable goop known as ADAM from corpses. Nice. And your job? To either kill or set free the Little Sisters? Be prepared for some angry Big Daddies!

4. The Sackbots (Little Big Planet 2): If Big Daddies are the epitome of quietly lurking doom, then the Sackbots from LBP2 are their polar opposite. Cute, quirky and under Sackboy's vague command, they can be herded around like sheep or attracted with a lady known as Luscious Lucy. (Googling this turns up a selection of, ahem, businesswomen in the centre of London. Add additional search terms!) These robots are a LOT more friendly, but to be honest? A bit useless!

3. Wadsworth (Fallout 3): I often think to myself, how cool would it be to have a robot butler of my very own? That's just what Wadsworth is, a water-dispensing, wisecracking mobile hairdressing unit, and anyone who knows me well knows that I could really do with one. The Mr Handy units, however, were not well renowned for their precision with that circular saw blade, so I'll keep cutting my fringe myself, thank you!

2. Atlas and P-Body (Portal 2): These two robots are a perfect metaphor for my relationship with my darling other half. The one of us is tall and athletic, the other shorter, rounder and blue. My personal insecurities aside, Atlas and P-body's purpose in life is to live together, work together and test together for the rest of their lives. The harmony of their existance is further bolstered by the fact that they don't eat (no arguing about who's cooking tea), they don't sleep (no arguing about who's hogging the quilt) and Atlas has no bum to speak of, therefore by definition it cannot "look big in this". Perfect.

1. Claptrap (Borderlands): While Atlas and P-body both have the option to dance as part of the gestures menu, this fella likes to get down and funky entirely of his own accord. Generally in need of a bit of love and attention when you come across them, once they're up and repaired they'll strut their funky stuff for you quite happily! Go on, check him out in this video! Okay so maybe he's not the most USEFUL robot, maybe he doesn't have the best skills, besides giving you a few extra backpack slots but check out that rhythm! That personality! What a star!

So, who's your favourite robot and why?  

[OPINION] The ongoing PSN saga

No doubt by now you've heard all about the Playstation Network, and how it was attacked by hackers almost a month ago. Xbox users have been gloating, PS3 users have been distraught, scare stories have been circulated in the news about how people's credit cards have been compromised. Who would do such a thing, one wonders? Unfortunately, the days of hackers hackin' for shits and giggles seem to be over, and it seems increasingly likely that criminal gangs, after your vital information to sell on to scammers, may be to blame.

It is a terrible shame that something so dramatic might happen to such a large and high profile organisation as Sony, but we have to look at the facts. This kind of thing is happening all the time to all kinds of different companies. At the start of the year, Lush Cosmetics found their database to be compromised [source] and was forced to suspend all online sales while the security was ramped up. Having bought products from them, I did the only sensible thing, and kept an eye on my bank account for any irregularities. Luckily, there were none. The moral of the story is "be vigilant", I suppose.

PSN is not the only games network to suffer from the fraudsters, however. I have heard a few vague stories about Xbox Live accounts being hacked, and cards being cloned. Whilst all this evidence is purely anecdotal, it raises the same points. Keep an eye on your finances and be smart with your passwords. One poor lady recently told me a story about how unexplained charges had been made to her credit card. After consulting her son, who "knew nothing about it" and Microsoft, who were dismissive and unhelpful, she got in touch with her bank, who in the end looked into the matter and refunded all the charges made by the fraudster. This lady was lucky, but from this I can only make one cynical assumption. Kids lie.

Have you been affected by credit card fraud? Has your Live account been hacked? Are you just miffed about PSN? I'd love to hear from you!