Archview #47: Evoland

 'sgood. 'sgood.

 (There was a better cover, but it kinda wet itself with pink pomegrenade, so.... yeah, had to whip up something quickly).
 Anyways, Evoland is an indie game that prides itself on being a homage to games of olde. As such, it's hard to specify it's genre, it's equal parts turn-based RPG, adventure game(A la Zelda) with a stage inspired on Dungeon crawlers like Diablo. On paper, it shouldn't work, but I think that the end result is worth at least one playthrough.
 The game's main gimmick, and the reason of it's name, is the evolution of gaming. At the start of the game, it looks like a Monochrome gameboy game and you can only move to the right, as you open chests, you get to go from 2D to 3D polygons, then textures, etc. It's a gimmick, yes, but each evolution is presented with an achievement and a short, occasionaly funny, description.

 As for the game itself, there's a very light story element(Which you must retrieve from a chest, by the by) about saving a certain town from a dangerous threat. The usual. There's two main gameplay styles, first there's the Zelda-adventure like. When inside dungeons(Which includes forests) the game plays like Zelda, you have 3 heart containers(You lose quarters per hit), and must solve light puzzle elements by using your sword, bow, bombs and sometimes, time crystals. Puzzles are very easy to solve, yet they are engaging, most of the time.
 The other style is a turn-based RPG. This mode is used on the overworld, and it's extremely simple, Clink, and Kaeris(With a name like that, and the clothes she wears, you just know what her fate is) when you get her, have 4 actions: Attack, Magic, Item and Run. Fights are very easy, and you don't even have to deal with MP, although I did find the encounter rate to be a bit too high.

 I found the presentation to be as charming as it was endearing. Characters have a super deformed look, both in 2D and 3D, and it's a very bright world. It's also nice to see how the same character and world goes through the various graphic evolutions. The music is fitting for the game, although hardly memorable.
 As someone once said, a reference is not a joke, so while the descriptions try to be funny, they rarely work. The game is also more of a tribute to games of old than a parody. Names, weapons, characters, places... all resemble stuff from other games, including Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, Mana series, Dungeon Quest and others, there's even a level inspired by Diablo(Full of useless loot!). Frankly? I think it's a fantastic homage, even if sometimes it tries to be funny(On the achievement descriptions) but it falls flat on it's face.

 As a whole, it might be a bit too simple. There's not much to the game, sure, there's a subquest to get a heart container, a hidden dungeon, 30 hidden collectible Stars and 23 hidden cards(To play Double Twins, a minigame), but the gameplay itself is very shallow. As for the lenght, I found it appropiate. It ends just a little bit before it starts growing old.
 7 out of 10. Way better than any of the Xenosaga RPGS, just saying.

Bound in Paper Quickie #5: Avengers VS X-Men vol. 3

 Quite interesting.

 (Includes A vs X 6, 7 and 8)
 Writer(AvX 6): Jonathan Hickman
 Writer(AvX 7): Matt Fraction
 Writer(AvX 8): Brian Michael Bendis
 Artist(AvX 6,7): Olivier Coipel
 Artist(AvX 8): Adam Kubert
 So, when we last left off, Iron Man on behalf of the Avengers, tried to do away with the Phoenix Force, but instead dividied it into five parts which went into Namor, Emma Frost, Illyria, Colossus and Scott Summer, the Phoenix Five. Now they use their powers to bring peace to the earth, although the Avengers don't agree with their ways.
 First off, the story in all three numbers is very interesting, as a matter of fact, I found the whole Phoenix Five story pretty fun, but these issues are focus a bit on the most interesting fights. Namor VS The Avengers is pretty cool and easily the standout moment of this issue.
 The art is very consistent, both artists have a very similar style, so it's there's no jarring change when you get to issue 8. Both artists are very detailed, the fights are pretty well drawn too, there's really no complaints in this area.
 All in all, it was a fun issue, easily deserving of...
 8 Onslaughts out of 10.

Hey, I'm Listening #1: The Connection- Papa Roach

 More Papa Roach is always a good thing. Always.

 Papa Roach is my favorite band, everyone knows it. Am I biased? Maybe. I'm a fan, I love them, and that is why I can be critical of them. I won't ever like their very first songs, I can clearly see that "lovehatetragedy" was a very experimental album, and it didn't pay out very well(even though it has a couple of songs I really like). My point is, am I biased? Possibly, yes, but that doesn't mean that I am a blind idiot that likes anything that carries their name.
 Papa Roach is a Band that keeps changing their style from album to album, most of the time, and this album is no exception. Gone are the harsher, louder sounds from their previous outing, going for a more... electronic sound. It's not bad, it's just different. Also, at least personally, I didn't find some of the lyrics as inspired as previous songs, there are good lyrics, just not as great as some of Papa Roach's finest.
 It seems like the major focus of the album resides in break ups and failing relationships, at least 4-5 songs deal with said issues in various manners. Not that I mind, but it's quite noticeable.
 Funnily enough, seems the lead singer, Jacoby Shaddix, said that this album meant to "connect" the dots from all their previous works, but truth be told, this hardly sounds like anything they've done before, the sound is different, the styles are different... it feels very different.
 Regardless, I enjoyed the album. While Paramour Sessions still hold the number 1 spot for me, this disc is not bad, Before I die and Leader of the Broken Hearts are actually really good, however, they lack a heavy hitter like Scars or To be Loved.

Bound in Paper Quickie #4: The new X-Men

 Uncanny.

 (Includes: All-New X-Men #6, Uncanny X-Men 2, Uncanny X-Men 3)
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist(All New X-Men): David Marquez
Artist(Uncanny X-Men): Chris Bachalo
 The issue opens up with All-New X-men, with Beast having brought the original X-Men from the past, in order to have 12-year old Cyclops talk with present-day Cyclops. The issue is interesting, showcasing Kitty Pryde trying to train the younglings and Wolverine having to keep track of young Cyclops. The next two issues are Uncanny X-Men, these two follow Cyclops and his rag-tag group, consisting of Magneto, Emma Frost and Illyana trying to add more mutants to their cause. Truth be told, All-New X-men is a tad more interesting.
 As for the art, David Marquez pencils are beautiful, but there are some really odd choices as far as panels go. Sometimes you are to read across both pages, then jump back to the right page and continue on the lower left page. It's a bit jarring and more often than not I found myself reading in the wrong order. Bachalo's art on the other hand, is a bit more cartoony, but it's not bad, and it certainly won't give you reading troubles!
 I give it 7 Cyclops' visors out of 10.

Bound in Paper Quickie #3: Kick-Ass

 It really is kick ass.

 Writer: Mark Millar

 Artist: John Romita Jr.

 Kick-Ass tells the story of Dave, a Highschool nobody who dreams of becoming a Super Hero, but soon he'll find out that it's not all glory. Kick-Ass is a very interesting read, with engaging characters and a ingenious set-up. Be warned, however, that it's also very vulgar, with cussing thrown left and right among other not to nice thingies, to be fair however, it does feel like a highschool student is narrating.
 As for the art itself, it's simply fantastic. Drawn by John Romita Jr, of Spider-man fame, he has a very distinct style, it's very cartoony, but I like it. Plus, there's loads of little details, like the scar that Dace aquires on his first outing that follows him to the last page of the comic.
 I award it with 10 Hit-Girls out of 10.

Bound in Paper Quickie #2: Deadpool kills the Marvel Universe

 The tagline is a lie.

 Writer: Cullen Bunn

 Artist: Dalibor Talajic

 For starters, I've the Spanish version, and the tagline was translated to "The World's bloodiest magazine". Prior to reading this, I had read Kick-Ass in it's entirety, so I was quiet offended by the tagline, it's barely bloodier than your usual Marvel magazine.
 In this One-Shot, for some reason, Professor X decides to have a certain doctor treat Deadpool. Right here I take issue, I find it a bit out of character for Charles to do this. Next, said doctor turns out to be Psycho-man, who tries to make Deadpool his slave using his Control box, but it goes awry and causes Deadpool to "open his eyes". Honestly? The set-up is a bit dull, but the ending is better. What I found disappointing was how many of the killings are mere foot-notes or overly simplified. Sure, they didn't have enough time or pages to make him fight everyone, but Spiderman gets about 3-4 pages yet Iron-Man dies in an explosion, alongside the avengers. Luckily, the dialogue itself, specially what Deadpool gets to say, is pretty funny.
 As for the art, I'm not a fan. The art is very simple, at times it looks a bit on the ugly side, specially the faces. Also, some panels look funny and not in a nice way, poor Wolverine got the short end of the stick on the latter parts of the comic.
 I grant it 5 Deadpools out of 10.

Bound in Paper Quickie: Joker

 Bound in Paper Quickie: Joker

 Writter: Bryan Azzarello

 Artist: Lee Bermejo

 Joker is a one-shot centered upon the eponymous villain and Jonny Frost, an aspiring criminal that serves as the narrator. After Joker gets released from the Asylum, Jonny volunteers to pick him up, he soon becomes fascinated with the Joker and begins serving him faithfully as the Joker gets his territories back.

 The comic presents a more realistic portrayal of characters, this is probably the most human Croc has ever looked, and it has some very interesting redesigns, notably the Ledger inspired Joker. Interestingly, there are two different ink styles throught the comic, most of the time, it uses solid colors, but occasionally, mosly on close ups or important scenes, it uses a softer style, it's an interesting mix.

 As for the story, it's a very interesting read, witty dialogues and book ends. It provides a closer look to Joker's attitude and mentality via Jonny, our willing narrator. The more down-to-earth universe the comic takes place also makes for an interesting setting.

 I give it 9 Nightwings out of 10.

"First" Archimpressions: Way of the Samurau

 Oh... Umm, right. Blog, update I should, I guess?

 So, I used to like this game quite a bit. Getting reaquinted with it? Umm, it's good but slow and boring?
Yeah, sorry, new computer, busy playing games. And League of Legends. I'ma try to still update this thing. I hope.

Archview #46: Kengo: Master of Bushido

 'tis pretty decent, but not much more.

 There's no genre that completely adapts to what Kengo is, the closest you can get is, probably, a fighting game, but it's so much more than that. You have life bars, you have combos, you have an energy bar(Ki) and you even have a super move that requires said bar! However, it's far from it, I'd like to call it a "Sword Fighting Simulator", now stay with me, since while the fighting is a big focus of the game, it's not it's biggest.
 For starters, the first mode that's highlighted when you start the game is "Story Mode". Instead of being an arcade ladder of sorts, you are to choose from one of three different characters, and while their initial stats favor different actions, you eventually get to build them up however you like. After choosing a character, you choose an initial style, and then you are to take on the 7 different Sword fighting dojos. For each Dojo you have to use a wooden sword to defeat 10 opponents in a row, with little healing in between and then challenge their master, who you may kill(And earn the ire of his students, having to face them in combat with real swords) or make them surrender and earn their swords. Eventually you are to go into official tournaments and finally earn the mastership of your Dojo.

 Fighting students also reward you, sometimes, with moves from their style. You can use these moves to customize up to four different three hit combos, which you can alternate by hitting the four shoulder buttons. In Story mode you also raise your stats by defeating opponents, up to a certain maximum. Said maximum can actually be increased by performing various minigames. These get old and boring after a while, and you will need to increase your stats if you plan on tackling the harder fights.
 As for the gameplay itself, you have a attack button, pressing it alone executes your three-hit combo, while combining it with directions produce different single slashes. There's also a block/dodge button, a parry button and the triangle that executes your special move, after a very long wind up. There's also a Ki bar, it raises when you shout from afar, successfully hit your oponent or dodge his slashes, and it decreases by blocking or missing. If your Ki decreases to the minimum, you'll get slower and deal less damage. The most interesting feature of the game, is that you fight with either wooden swords or real swords, fighting with real swords can actually produce wounds that make the opponent bleed to his death!.

 The presentation is very minimalist and ugly. The character models look really bad and haven't aged all that well, and some animations look weird. Heck, characters don't even move their mouths when they talk. On the flip side, characters actually get bloodied up when they recieve damage. The enviroments are very simple, some walls actually look textureless, but they are interesting, to say the least. There's barely any music in the game, altough the ending theme is pretty neat. To be fair, the lack of music actually lends itself to the game, so in a way, it's a plus. The sound effects are actually very satisfying, so there's that.
 Besides Story Mode, you have Tournament(Survival) and VS. You can unlock a dozen or so characters by playing Story Mode, and they do have different movesets and stats, you can also import your Story Mode character if you feel like overpowering your opposition.
 Is Kengo a hidden gem? Nope, not at all, but if you are looking for a very japanese swordplay game, you can do no wrong with Kengo, specially if you want more after playing the superior, in my opinion, Bushido Blade.
 5 out of 10

"First" Archimpressions: Kengo: Master of Bushido

 These are some ugly Samurai.

 So I didn't even read the manual, nor anything and rushed towards tournament mode, so that I could give my very first impressions. Well, "First", since I have played it before. For starters, this was an early PS2 game and it shows, characters are SO ugly, animation is pretty smooth thankfully.
 As for the gameplay? I kinda like-ish? There's a guard and an attack button, also an special attack but it takes ages to go off. L1 and R1 seem to change the posture? I will find out later. My only gripe is with the movement, once you close in, the analog stick behaves oddly.... I will have to play more and discover the why and hows I guess.
So first impressions? It's... decent? Feels a bit clunky, but it's serviceable. Now I'ma read the instruction booklet and play a bit more, cheers.

Archview #45: Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition

 Can I have the port of Real Bout 3 for PS1 please? You can keep this one in Japan.

 Lo and behold, one of SNK's earlier 3D fighters! The victim to the 3D treatment this time is Fatal Fury, and while it's not great, it could've been much, much worse.
 The game retains the Punch, Kick, Strong and Evade buttons from the 2D installments, however, the evade button instead of throwing you to the back plane, produces a side step of sorts, more like a roll really. The game has 2D roots so, naturally, it has an energy gauge that allows for special attacks. At the beginning of each match, the gauge starts at 50%, taking damage reduces it and dealing it increases it, however, the gauge will always try to stay at 50%, which means that if it falls below, it will raise slowly, and if it's above, it will decrease slowly, untill you max it out that is. Reaching 0% leaves you dizzy, while having it at "MAX" allows for Super and Overdrive moves. Overdrive moves consume much more gauge, but in turn deal massive damage. By using a bit of gauge, you can also use a counterattack, executed while blocking, and a "Fierce" attack that leaves the opponent dizzy.

 As for modes, there's only: Arcade, VS, Team Battle and Training, not a whole lot to do. For what it's worth, there's a couple of cutscenes during Arcade Mode, reminicent of the original Fatal Fury, plus, each character has an ending... that lasts 5-10 seconds and makes absolutely no sense, most of them anyways. As for the roster, there are 12 default characters and two unlockable ones, of these 14, 2 are new comers to the Fatal Fury Universe(3 if you include Mr.Karate(Ryo)). It's a bit disappointing, since Fatal Fury has a nice cast of characters that skipped this installment, where the hell is Blue Mary or Cheng?
 The game looks very decent, stages are the usual, for the PS1, endless 3D stages with 2D backdrops, at least they look quite nice, albeit a bit boring. Characters look really good, if a bit simple, but some animations feel a bit awkward. Then there's the official art for the game that actuall looks quite cool and unique, specially the loading screens. The music is very dull, and sound effects lack oomph, to top it off, voice samples are really low quality. All in all, the game itself feels as if it lacks... something.

 All in all, it's not a terrible game, and on the flipside, considering other 3D fighters from SNK and the 90s, the game could've been much, much worse.
 5 outta 10.

Archview #44: Dynasty Warriors 6

 Not as bad as they make it out to be, for real!

 Dynasty Warriors 6 is often times considered the black sheep of the series. For this entry Koei decided to change a lot of stuff, and while not all of it was for the best, some ideas were actually kinda good, yet never to be seen again. As per usual, before DW 7, you are to take control of one general and follow their story throught the "Three Kingdoms" era of ancient China, albeit all stories end with a "What if" ending.
 For starters, there are three different modes: Musou Mode(The story mode, only 17 out of the 41 characters get one), Free Mode(Replay any stage with any character) and Challenge mode. Challenge mode is more of a novelty, in which you can take one out of six challenges(Beat enemies without getting hit, collect items while avoiding horses, break stuff, etc) and compare your scores online. Truth be told, this mode is pretty sucky and no wonder it was never revisited again.

 As with every entry in the franchise, each stage is a battle of two armies(Rarely three), and you are a general on one of these armies. Your goal is, usually, to wipe out the main general of the other army before they kill yours, these usually means mowing down hundreds of units. Gone are the charge moves of previous games, here the Renbu system is introduced. You have two independant attack strings, a Square combo string and a more powerful, and shorter, Triangle string. Hitting enemies rises a gauge on the bottom left corner of the screen, and every time it gets full, you go up a level, which makes both strings longer. If you take damage, or don't hit anything for a while, the Renbu level drops. A lot of people made a big deal out the Renbu system, and while I'd take a traditional Warriors game any day, the Renbu sytem is not as bad as they make it out to be. Interestingly, generals now have "Grapple attacks", and by grabbing Tomes(Random enemy drops) you can use special attacks, these two features were, sadly, dropped in later installments. Finally, characters can also evade, Samurai Warriors style, but once again, this was dropped by DW 7.
 As for the stages themselves, now there is an emphasis on Sieging! Basically it boils down to defeating certain enemies, so that engineers can begin building ramming weapons, to bring down heavy gates, and ladders, so that you may climb up the wals and take down ballistas and archers. It's a lot more fun than it sounds, really, although it may wear out it's welcome after a while. Spread throughout the stages there are enemy bases, which spawn lesser enemies, that you can conquer, by bringing down their doors(You can break these by simply attacking them) and then defeating a ser amount of enemies. It's usually a good idea to do so, since inside these healing items spawn regularily and you just might need them.

 Graphically, the game is a bit of a let down. It might've seemed prettier at launch, but DW 7 completely blew it out of the water, regardless, most characters look alright, heck, these might be some of my favorite redesigns, and the models do them justice. Stages on the other hand look kinda cool, until you look closely at some of the textures... also, some of the special effects, like water, are just laughable. On the flip side, I'm pretty sure there are more units on screen than even DW7, but there tends to be heavy slowdown when it gets hectic. Music is, as per usual, fantastic and voice acting, as per usual, is spotty. There are some decent voice acting, but some of it is just awful(In a so bad it's good kind of way).
 There are plenty of characters to unlock, albeit most of them are clones and some of the unlock conditions can be a bit obscure, most of the time it consists on succeeding on some of the targets each stage has(3 targets per stage), but the game won't aid you. While some characters may be clones, their skill trees are unique, thankfully, but raising them to level 50 will take some time, though there are no real rewards for doing so, besides an alternate color pallette awarded at level 25.

 To be completely honest, Dynasty Warriors 6 is not a bad game, and while I can see why people consider it the black sheep of the series, I also believe that it did a lot of awesome things that were never revisited again, like sieging. Worth mentioning, this is the fastest I've been done with a Warriors game, there's not a whole lot to do. Casual Dynasty Warriors fans and haters will want to stay away, but fans should at least give it a try, the Renbu system is not as bad as people make it out to be. The game is not as bad as people make it out to be.
 6 out of 10.

"First" Archimpressions: Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition

 It ain't that bad.

 SNK never had much luck with their 3D adaptations, specially when it came to fighting games. Their worst victim was, probably, the Samurai Shodown series, however, unlike SS, Fatal Fury seems like a better fit since they've always toyed with foreground and background fighting, and the end result is quite serviceable.
 The closest thing to this game would be the King of Fighters: Maximum Impact series on PS2, it has endless stages, string combos and dodging, like a 3D fighter, but it also keeps the jumping physics, command moves and simpler "mash that button" combos from 2D fighters. All in all, it feels good, which is what matters the most, and the gameplay is not bad. Animations feel a bit weird, but nothing too major.
 Basically: I like it. The CPU is a bit of a bastard, specially Geese, even on easy. I wish myself luck unlocking Mr.Karate, but I reckon I will be able to outcheese Geese.

Month Overview: Game of July

Games completed in July:
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword                                            8
Star Fox 64 3D                                            7
Tekken Prime 3D Edition                                            6
Samurai Warriors 3                                            7
Kid Icarus Uprising                                            7.5
Kirby's Epic Yarn                                            5

 Decent month. The really "big" thing was me getting a 3DS, the console itself is pretty nice, but the three games I played are nothing special. Kid Icarus is almost completely amazing... except in the controls department, it makes it drop from a 9(It's THAT good) to a 7.5, I'd have gone lower but I really enjoyed it, whenever I wasn't wrestling with the controls that is. Also: Samurai Warrios 3, that was the biggest time sink of the month, 30 story modes, each one taking at least an hour to complete, and I tried to rush through the latter ones, since most of the cut-scenes and stages were repeats from other story modes...

 Game of the Month:

 I consider the Zelda series to be the most overrated videogame series ever. But for some reason, Skyward Sword trailers really hyped me up, luckily, the end result was almost as good. This could've been my favorite Zelda, but Nintendo overdid the motion controls. For starters, it will take a while before you get comfortable with them, and even then, they tried to shoe-horn it everywhere they could: Swimming, Rope-walking, Free-falling, flying.... it was obscene and unneeded. Despite that, I've never enjoyed a Zelda setting more, the NPCs were all unique(!!) and interesting, the art style was fantastic(Not as overly grim as Twilight Princess, not as Cartoony as Wind Waker, it mixed the best of both worlds!).... So yeah, it's tied up with Twilight Princess as my favorite Zelda. Twilight Princess has the controls, Skyward Sword everything else.

 Runner-up:

 One of the lowest rated games on this month, second only to Kirby's Epic Yarn, it's the most content-starved Tekken I've ever played.... and I can't stop playing it. With a portable Tekken 6, now I can play Tekken in short burts whenever I'm bored. It's much faster than going through console menus and loading times, and while modes are lacking, every single moveset is complete for each character featured in Tekken 6. So yeah, a bad Tekken game is still a great game, fancy how that works, eh!

First Archimpressions: Dynasty Warriors 6

 AKA "What the EFF is goin' on?!"

 So, I pick Lu Xun and go into his Musou Mode, my first reaction? "What the eff is going on?!". This game starts off quite confusing, with loads of units popping up out of nowhere, eventually you get used to it, but the first impression is quite disorienting.
 Graphics are all over the place. The models are not too pretty, but they get the job done, however, some of the special effects are quite laughable. Surprisingly, I've a feeling there are more soldiers on-screen than on DW 7, although it comes with heavy slowdown... but when slowdown is NOT present, it actually moves quite faster than DW 7!. The animations for the attacks are fantastic though, and speaking of animations, I like how cut-scenes are presented in-engine, they look silky smooth!
 Now onto the gameplay.... Renbu doesn't deserve as much hate as it gets. Don't get me wrong, I prefer vanilla DW system, with the different charge attacks, but Renbu is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Sure, it's annoying how it's constantly dropping, but it's not such a huge deal. I'm enjoying the "capture the base" approach quite a lot, wonder why they took it out on 7, hmm....
 On summation: It's decent, Samurai Warriors 3 or DW 7 seem, at the moment, better choices, but who knows, I might end up liking this a bit more.

First Archimpressions: Donkey Kong Country Returns

 'tis good. Really good.

 I'm about to start level 2! It's good. Really, really good. Also, I had more than a bit on trouble on just level 1, which means that it's challenging, specially trying to collect everything. It's fun, really fun.

 Y'know what's not fun? Motion controls for the sake of motion controls. There's not a single control option that allows you to play without them, and they are annoying. Ground pounding with them is fine, uneeded, but fine. Rolling(Attacking) by shaking the remote is not. This late in the Wii's lifespan it should be clear that things that demand precision, like say... ATTACKING, should not be relegated to motion controls.

 Ah well, it's looking quite promising.

Archview #43: Kirby's Epic Yarn

 I'd rather play Wario.

 Kirby's Epic Yarn is yet another Nintendo experiment that had Kirby attached to it, and to be fair, Kirby was probably the best fit for it. In this instance, Nintendo decided to make everything look made out of yarn, while giving it a very children's story-book feel. The end result is a gorgeous game, that may be a little too boring for most people.
 As with most Kirby games, Kirby is hungry and eats more than he should have, finding himself victim to Yin Yarn's anger, who turns him into yarn and sends him into a world made out of yarn. Here he befriends Prince Fluff, and together they venture forth to unite the land and save Dream Land from Yin Yarn. The story is told via some cut scenes, while a narrator, who sounds like he came from a children's show, explains what's going on and reads the lines that characters say. As for the children story-book feeling, they nailed it.

 Unlike other Kirby games, Kirby no longer inhales them, instead he uses thread to either unmake them(They are made out of yarn) or roll'em up into a throwable projectile. Gone too is the flying, instead he can slow his descent by turning into a parachute of sorts. Yeah, transformations are now part of Kirby's default moveset, Dashing makes him turn into a car, ground pounding sees Kirby turned into a weight and swimming turns him into a miniature sub. There are more transformations, but these are achieved by grabbing certain icons, these turn him into anything from a Dolphin, a Firetruck, a Spaceship to a giant tank.
 The biggest change is the fact that you cannot die, instead, Kirby will lose beads(Currency that doubles as stage score) when hit, just like older Wario Land games. You may think that it makes the game easier, and it does, but in order to unlock the secret levels, you must finish the bosses with a certain score. Hidden throughout the levels are 3 collectibles(two stickers and a piece of music), and these may offer a bigger challenge than the game itself. There's also a lot of "Sidequests", Minigames or what have you, that task you with reaching collecting a certain amout of beads, finding characters, bringing to characters to a particular place or beating a certain amount of enemies under a time limit. These can get quite hard, and you need to beat them all if you aim for 100% completition.

 All the beads that you collect are added up to your total bead count after each stage, and these are used to buy "furniture" and "wall papers". Stickers(Found in each level), furniture and wallpapers are used to decorate Kirby's room in Patch Land. There's no real purpose to it, but I'spose younger children may enjoy it.
 Probably the coolest feature of the game: It can be played in Co-op, in which the second player takes control of Prince Fluff. Fluff and Kirby play the same, and the only real difference between them(Besides colors) is the little crown that Fluff sports. Interestingly, Co-op opens up a couple of possibilities, and certain collectibles that you may have missed, and would have to otherwise restart the level to grab, can be reached by using Fluff or Kirby as a plataform and thus reach even higher places. Or treat your partner as a projectile to open up roads that needed you to carry an enemy-turned-projectile in order to break them! Co-op breaks the game, but it makes it much more fun.

 The graphics in the game are something to behold. Everything is made out of yarn and patchwork, with little things like buttons and zippers. It's very cool, specially the first time you pull a thread and affect the enviroment, but to be fair, some of these get old after a while, doesn't help that you have probably seen these moments in the trailers before, so it loses it's charm after a while. The music... I didn't really like it. It's good, but it's too... boring and... relaxing, I'd prefer something with a bit more oomph. The sounds are on the chirpy side, it IS Kirby after all. The Narrator also pulls an awesome performance, completely selling you on the idea that this is a story being told to little children.
 As for me... I didn't really enjoy the game. The art-style is really commendable, and it's always fun when Nintendo pulls off these experiments with styles(Yoshi's Story anyone?), but graphics alone cannot carry a game. I found the gameplay to be very boring, and this comes from someone who enjoyed the Invincible Wario games, the slow-paced music doesn't help at all. It's hard to recommend this game, but I guess there's no harm in trying it, at least.
 5 out of 10.

Archview #42: Kid Icarus Uprising

 At least, it makes for a great showpiece.

 Kid Icarus Uprising is the third entry in the Kid Icarus series, which have starred Pit since the NES era. This is also the first time that the series has made the jump to the third dimension, Smash Bros not withstanding. Deviating from previous games, which were 2D adventure games, Uprising is half railway shooter half third person shooter, with only a couple of rewards for exploration.
 In this installment, Medusa returns from the dead, and it's up to Pit, guided by the goddess Palutena to stop her. Most stages start off with the on-rails segment, in which you move around to dodge bullets and obstacles, while shooting at your agressors. These are, arguably, the most fun segments of the game, controls for this "mode" feel fantastic and responsive... then comes the on-foot segment. These segments are longer, and on paper, should be more engaging, but the controls just don't work. Aiming is done with the touch screen and shooting with the L button, and it feels fine, but moving is the stuff of nightmares.

 The issue is that they mapped too many actions to the analog nub. Walking, Dashing and Dodging are all done with the nub, and more often than not, you will dash when you want to walk or dodge. The plataforming sections in particular, can get quite annoying, specially when botomless pits lie below. Also, be prepared for hand cramps unless you are using the stand(Included with the game). Sadly, these segments tend to go on longer than the impressive on-rails shooting segments.
 Moving on, the games does something very interesting regarding the difficulty. The currency used in the game, to buy weapons, are hearts. Before each stage you can either spend hearts to make the stage Easier or bet hearts to make the stage harder, and in turn, earn more hearts. The game rewards the player for playing in harder difficulties by placing doors in certain levels that can only be opened when playing on a specific difficulty. If you die, however, not only will you lose hearts, but the difficulty will go down by one grade(It goes from 1.0 to 9.0).

 Rather surprisingly, there are many weapon types that Pit can equip(Going from Bladeguns, Bows, Cannons and Maces to Staves, Claws or Orbitars) and they all behave and look differently, even weapons of the same type have different charge shots. Weapons can be found inside chests on the on-foot segments or bought at the store in between levels, and you can even fuse them to make better weapons that inherit skills from the weapons fused. It's not too complex, and it can be interesting to fuse powerful weapons. Pit can also equip skills, equipped in a grid before each level, that can be used by touch their icons in the touch screen, and range from adding effects to Pit's attack to healing him or makin him jump.
 The game looks very pretty and colorful. While enemies are a bit on the simple side, the stages look very interesting and attractive. It goes from great to spectacular when playing in 3D, it really does make make a difference. The music is also great, as expected from a game made by Nintendo, but the real treat is the voice acting. Every stage has back and forth banter between Pit, Palutena and the boss of the level, it's incredibly funny and full of references to other games and breaking the fourth wall. Later levels even add Hades and Viridi to the conversations. Hades deserves a special mention, pulling off a very charismatic and smarmy villain.

 Finally, there's a lot to do in the game. There are hundreds of "Idols", figurines of sorts, to collect. And there's also 450 "challenges" of sorts, that reward you with songs, idols, powers or weapons. There's also a Multiplayer mode, of which I played only a little, it's a fun diversion, if you can stand the on-foot controls.
 Kid Icarus is a great package, it looks great, it's funny and has a lot of content, but it's a bit hard to recomend due to the on-foot segments. Movement there can and will get annoying. Still, if you can get over them, there's a really fun game beneath. And if you can't, you can still marvel at the on-rails segments in 3D, they make a great showcase of the system!
 7.5 out of 10.

Archview #41: Samurai Warriors 3

 There are better Musou games out there, just sayin'.

 Samurai Warriors 3 is yet another entry in the long-running "Musou/Warriors" games and holds the distinction of being a Wii exclusive. Outside Japan anyways. In Samurai Warriors 3, you take the role of one of 37(And a hidden extra) different generals as you lay waste to hundreds of enemy soldiers, while re-enacting(In a very loose sense) battles of the warring states period of Japan History. Except they couldn't produce flames out of their swords, but that's a whole 'nother story.
 Gameplay is very simple, pick a character of your choice, pick an item preset( There are three preset with 6 different items per stage), mash the attack button and clear hundreds of enemies. Most enemies are just fodder, being quite content at taking a beating, enemy officer however(They have their names over their heads, so you just know that they are special) will put up a battle. Most of the time, you have to slay a certain general in order to finish the battle, and more often than not, a battle is lost if either you die or a certain general of your army dies.

 Characters have two branches of attack strings, one performed by pressing the attack button many times( From 8-10 depending on the characters) and another one by pressing Charge Attack during the nortmal attack string, which produces many different attacks. There are three types of characters: Power, Skill and Normal, and they have little nuances to their charge attacks, some get multiple charge attacks in a row, some get a single one per string but have more charge attacks to choose from. There's also a Musou Attack, which consumes an energy gauge, that you rise by attacking and recieving damage. Unique to the "Samurai" spin offs, characters get an Evade button and an exclusive Skill, different to each general(Though some are suspiciously similar...).
 There are four modes, most of the playable in co-op: Story Mode, in which you tackle 5 stages that follow the story of a certain general(Only 30 out of the 38 characters have a story mode), Free Mode, in which you can replay any stage as any general, Historic Mode, in which you take your created(More on this later) character through 15 battles that follow the story of Japan and Murasame Castle, a stage-based mode that follows a original story, featuring demons and the like. Needless to say, there are lots of things to do in the game, and luckily, character levels carry throughout the modes, so you can level them up in Free Mode before tackling the harder Murasame Castle Mode.

 There's a Create-a-Character feature, but it's pretty basic, with few pieces to pick from, at least you can equip characters with any moveset from the other generals. Speaking of Movesets, there's not a single clone in the game, and each general has 4 different types of their weapons to be found. Each Weapon, regardless of type, comes with random skills, so you might have to grind before finding just the kind of weapon you want, and you can power up those skills at the Blacksmith, for a price. While there are no alternate costumes, you can edit the color pallette of every general.
 The game looks pretty good actually, while the in-game models don't move their mouths when they speak, they have a lot of detail. Stages can look a bit drab, but they have their defining features and props. Most impressive, there's almost no slowdown, despite the huge amount of enemies on screen, plus the special effects of your attacks. The music I found to be a tad boring, it's fitting for such a Japanese game, but I didn't feel it. Voice acting is... there are some really good voice actors, and some bad ones, not as bad as Dynasty Warriors, but still bad. There's dual audio, if you are into it, but Warriors games are meant to be played in English.

 Samurai Warriors 3 is not a bad game, but it feels a bit boring when compared to the other Warriors games, however, this is the only Warriors game on the Wii, so if you are a fan, there's no reason not to get it. In summation, it's a very good looking game, it's pretty solid and there is a lot of content, however, it can be a bit boring at times.
 7 out of 10.
 

Archview #40: Tekken 3D Prime Edition

 Most disappointing Tekken game ever? Probably( Hey, I didn't expect much of Advance Edition)

 Tekken Prime can  be summed up as a very barebones Tekken 6 port. Y'see, this game is very much based on Tekken 6, from the character roster and their movesets, to the stages and music. It also has the same balancing, although not the same modes...
 As soon as you pop up the game, you'll come up with the first flaw of this game: The menus are boring. It's very minor, yes, but when you add it up to other shortcomings(More on this later), it just shows that the game was rushed. Then the next flaw hits you: There's not much to do. You have Survival, which would be the main "Single Player" mode, Versus, Quick Battle and Practice. The first mode, Survival, comes in many varieties: 5-man survival, 10-man survival, 20-man survival, 40-man survival(With two EX variations) and 100-man survival. Clearing this mode grants the player Tekken Cards and Card Points.

 Versus Mode is, as it implies, multiplayer, it can be played either localy or online. Quick Battle has you battling 10 oponents and rewards you with Card Points, it's also the only Single Player Mode in which you can raise your rank, although mostly cosmetic, is the only way to unlock colors(There is no customization mode). As for the Practice Mode, it's pretty standard stuff. One of the most disappointing things you'll notice is that there are no endings. They probably meant to make up for it with the Tekken Cards, but they are a pretty sad excuse, even if the art is really good and there's over 700 of them.
 The game plays just like any other Tekken game, and while the buttons response is spot-on, neither analog nor digital pad are suited for Tekken. You can set up 4 short cuts in the Touch Screen, eight if you use the L and/or R button as "modifier". Call me a purist, but I just deactivated L and R buttons and comepletely ignored the touchscreen.

 The graphics are pretty good, if jaggy. Models look like downgraded Tekken 6 models, and I don't mean that in a bad way. The animation is as smooth as you would expect of Tekken, and all the pretty sparks made it in. Playing in 3D is just a gimmick, it neither enhances nor hinders the experience. Most Stages from Tekken 6 are in, plus a bunch of new ones. As for the characters, all 40 characters from Tekken 6 are in, altough Heihachi has his Tekken Tag 2 moveset and looks, and for a while, it was, for fans like me, the best selling point of the game: A sneak peak at Heihachi from TTT2. Just like Tekken 6, most characters speak in their native languages, although coming from TTT2, where every characters speaks his own language, is a bit of a downer. The music is your usual Techno stuff, and even if you are not a fan, it's pretty nice.
 Sadly, there's not much else to say about the game. There are no notable unlockables, unless colors are your thing, and it takes a long time to unlock every color for each character. Tekken Cards are barely rewarding, but if you want, there's like 700 of them. Tekken Prime also comes bundled with Tekken: Blood Vengeance, as a movie it's pretty bad(But the fight scenes are amazing, specially the Heihachi-Jin-Kazuya threeway) but it's probably the best Tekken movie.
 There's something odd about Tekken Prime, it lacks content and it's probably the most barebones Tekken game out there... however, Tekken gameplay is pretty excellent, so I found myself playing it. A lot. So all in all, as a Tekken game, it's a let down. As a game itself, it's passable.
 6 out of 10.