Critical Hit: Nintendo 3DS - More than just a Gimmick

I have to admit that I wasn't all too excited about the Nintendo DS when it was announced six years ago. The whole duel screens and "touching is good" campaign surrounding its touch screen technology didn't intrigue me all that much. I wasn't going goo goo for the Nintendo 64 style graphics that it offered especially when the PSP gave its players beautiful Playstation 2 worthy graphics. (The left image shows the character Cecil from FFIV in DS graphics on top and PSP graphics on bottom) The DS offered up a gimmick and some great games but the whole system just didn't feel complete.

Six years later, Nintendo unveiled the successor to the DS at the 2010 e3 Expo. The title "3DS" alone gave away its three dimensional capabilities but in the coming months, the 3DS would become more than just a gimmicky money grab. It became something that I was excited for.

First of all, the way that the 3DS shows off its three dimensional effect without the use of glasses is definitely a plus. This was a relief to me after hearing how much eye strain people get when watching a 3D tv or wearing glasses when watching a 3D movie. The way it works is that a panel is set between the image screen and outer glass which works the same way as 3D glasses do. So, instead of going through the trouble of looking for the glasses and putting them on, the 3DS is all set and ready for three dimensional action from the get-go! And in case the 3D becomes too bothersome, the 3DS is equipped with a toggle so you can choose how powerful the 3D affect is shown. Now that's thinking of the consumer.

Now that we got the 'gimmick' out of the way, let's get into the meat of the 3DS. The graphics. The graphics are no joke here. Improving on the DS's N64-style graphics, the 3DS offers graphics that give this generation of console gaming a run for its money. Take a look at the remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for the 3DS. It looks as spectacular as it did on the Playstation 2. The below picture is Capcom's Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. When I first saw the

screenshots I thought how close to the 360/PS3 Resident Evil 5 this 3DS game looks. I wasn't sure how far Nintendo would go in the graphics department, seeing as how the Wii is just as powerful as the Gamecube but now I am sure that they are going all out with the 3DS.

Speaking of games, the 3DS doesn't disappoint. It seems that nearly every developer is on board with the new handheld. All of the major developers have their foot in the 3DS's door in some way or another. Games such as Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts 3D, Capcom's Resident Evil Revelations, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Lost Legacy, Tecmo's Dead or Alive: Dimensions, Sega's Super Monkey Ball, are among the many games already planned for the upcoming handheld. And of course, Nintendo brings an onslaught of first party titles at launch and in the future. These include Animal Crossing, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Mario Kart 3DS, Paper Mario 3DS, Pilot Wings Resort, and also the remakes The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, and Star Fox 64 3DS. Yes, it is definitely looking like a healthy line-up for the 3DS.

The Wii's Virtual Console brought games from NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, and other consoles of the past. Recently Nintendo announced that 3DS will have the Virtual Console experience as well. As of now, there is only word of being able to purchase Gameboy and Gameboy Color games from the network but hopefully Nintendo would add more games from more handhelds from the 90's. This feature, however, is in doubt seeing as how Nintendo let the Wii's Virtual Console die due to lack of updates.

The Nintendo 3DS is set to release in the US sometime before March 2011 and priced between $250 and $300 dollars. Yes a high price point, but I think I may sacrifice my wallet to get my hands on the 3DS.

Full Review: Limbo

Full Review:

Limbo

Developed by PlayDead Studios

Published by Microsoft Game Studios

for the Xbox Live Arcade

Released July 21st, 2010

A fantastically eerie journey:

First and foremost, I have to say that no other game has ever given me such an eerie feeling as Limbo has given me. The game is set in black and white with no music. The only story you are given is that of a young boy searching for his sister in a surreal forest home to savage and blood thirsty children. Throughout your entire journey you never learn why or how you got there. In fact, the further you venture into the game the more unanswered questions pop up which are ultimately left to the player’s own interpretation.

Underneath the cosmetics is a finely tuned side-scrolling puzzle/platformer. There’s no exploration of this eerie world, just a bombardment of fatal puzzles that will range from simple to challenging. Throughout Limbo I found myself able to see how to pass most of the obstacles right away while there were a few that left me stumped. The puzzles will come at you one after another. You won’t have much time for celebration before you run into another one that’s even more difficult. I found the pace just right. There were no cutscenes, no story or character development; just pure puzzle solving and linear platforming throughout the entire game.

I found the consequences of failing a puzzle rather unsettling. Most of the puzzles, if not solved in time or done right, will result in the poor boy brutally and gruesomely killed by that obstacle. One of the first obstacles consists of you jumping on rocks high above a pit of thorns. If you fall, you will ultimately be impaled. However, what caught me off guard was that one of the rocks would topple over making you use the momentum of the fall to jump onto the next rock. However, I failed to do so and I found myself impaled head first through a thorn sticking out of the side of a cliff. Limbo is full of decapitations and disembowelments. Be prepared to see the boy's body ripped to shreds at various points in the game.

The graphics are fantastic. Although it is a 2D side-scroller in black and white there is depth to it. As you run through the course of the game you can see objects in both the back and foregrounds. Whatever is in the playable ground is will

appear as either solid black or pure white. While the objects that cannot be accessed in the back and foregrounds appear hazy and shaded in gray. The environments are visually eerie as are the character models however some of the animations of the boy made it seem as if he was a ragdoll. At times it made me laugh but overall I felt it gave the boy a feel that he is indeed emotionless.

As stated before there is no music. However, the sound effects are amplified. From the moment I started running along the wet grass and heard the rustling I felt chills. The sudden crash of a falling neon sign will definitely make you jump in your seat. Of course, there is no voice acting either which only adds to the character’s overall creepiness.

The controls in Limbo are simple. Run, jump and interact. The only problem I had was jumping onto vines or ropes. If you’re in a hurry, as I was at times, you won’t let go of the joystick in the direction you are moving. This will cause you to make another swift jump instead of staying on the same vine and swinging. I died plenty of times because of this. But this is far from intolerable and the core gameplay flows well as a platformer should.

Another problem I had with Limbo was its length. It was too short and ended abruptly. I felt there should have been a few more puzzles and maybe a little more closure to the game or at least somewhat of a segway to the final scene. But then again, the beauty of it is how you fill in the blanks that the developers leave.

If you feel like a good puzzle game and one that will simply freak you right out, Limbo is for you. The gameplay is simple enough for you to get the hang of quickly so you can go right into the core of it all sooner. I enjoyed the overall atmosphere. You’ll never know whether a giant spider or killer children will be waiting for you around the corner.

Details -

Genre: Side-Scroller, Puzzle, Survival Horror

ESRB Rating: T for Teen (Animated Blood, Mild Violence)

Player Options: 1-Player

Difficulty: Easy

Learning Curve: Pick-Up-And-Go

Stats -

Graphics: 4/5

Sound: 4/5

Controls: 5/5

Lasting Appeal: 3/5

Fun: 4/5

30 Hit-Combo!!

Superb!

Review Descriptions

Critical Hit: Happy 25th Anniversary Mario Bros!

September 13th was a very special day. No, it's not just the eve of the release of Halo: Reach. 25 years ago that day Super Mario Bros. was released for the NES! Nintendo of America celebrated on Twitter by having themselves and their followers put a Mario emblem as their profile picture. While Nintendo of Japan decided to give its devoted Japanese fans something a little more desirable.

Any self-respecting gamer has at least one fond memory of the Mario Bros. and in honor of such an occasion I felt I should express mine.

Being born in 1991, I unfortunately missed the NES days of Mario. However, the Super Nintendo would give me the chance to relive them all and then some in one shot.

Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario World [1993, Super Nintendo]

This mega collection gave die hard fans what they needed. It came packaged with Super Mario Bros. 1,2,3, Japan's Lost Levels, and Super Mario World. I was introduced to platforming greatness. Well, given the fact that I was 3 when I got my hands on the controller, the pretty colors were more than enough to keep me entertained.

Super Mario Bros. is a simple classic that stands the test of time and will forever be one my favorite games for its user-friendly controls and difficult gameplay. Super Mario Bros. 2, on the other hand, I can't say the same. It just was too different for me. (Given that it was once an entirely different game.) The music, the enemies, and the atmosphere just didn't feel right to me. Lost Levels (Japan's Super Mario Bros. 2) is a more difficult version of the first game. My two favorite games of the bunch are Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. Super Mario Bros. 3 took everything great about the original and made it so much better. There was an overworld map to traverse each level as you wished. They introduced usable items (other than a fireflower) that you can bring up at any time before entering a level. The minigames gave a fun break between levels. Each world was unique and characteristic such as the Giant World in which all the enemies are gargantuan size. Finding the princess at the end never felt so satisfying after going through the hell that is known as level 8. It was just the game that summed up the 2D Mario experience perfectly. Super Mario World I loved as well. It left a lot of room for mastery and took the Mario franchise to a whole new level. Just see for yourself.

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars [1996, Super Nintendo]

This game was a definite change of pace for me. Nintendo and SquareSoft joined forces to create a one of a kind experience. I had no idea what to think of this game when it first came out. It didn't seem like a Mario game at all. I mean you could actually team up with Bowser and at this point, a Mario game where you didn't fight Bowser at the end wasn't a Mario game at all. At least Super Mario Bros. 2 was a side-scroller like its other 8-bit counterparts. I described it as part Mario, part Final Fantasy, and part wacky. I didn't really appreciate its place in the franchise's history until it was released on the Wii in 2008. I realized that this was the beginning of what would be the series' branching off into almost every other genre in gaming there is (fighting, racing, RPG, horror).Playing it again 15 years later, man, did I enjoy it. Even though Mario did seem a little more pudgy than usual. Here's some Super Mario Fantasy for you.

Super Mario 64 [1996, Nintendo 64]

If I had to choose my favorite video game system of all time, it had to be the Nintendo 64. This was the system that I grew up on. My most fondest memory is waking up Christmas morning and opening up my biggest present to find a NINTENDO SIXTY FOOUUURR!! One of the first games I played for it was Super Mario 64. Although, it came out a few months before Super Mario RPG, I consider it Mario's first true venture in the realm of 3D. Running, jumping and sliding around a 3D plane was not something that was common before the release of the 5th generation consoles. It really felt special the first time you grabbed Bowser, swung him around by his tail and threw him into a spiked mine and see him explode. "So long Big Bowser!" And of coursed they talked. It was incredible to hear the characters speak in entire coherent sentences. Charles Martinet, the current and most famous voice actor for Mario, gave his talent to the company that would cement himself as THE voice for not only Mario but for Luigi and many other characters in the franchise. Super Mario 64 was an incredible experience.

Super Mario Sunshine [2002, Gamecube]

Super Mario Sunshine was a game that had fans split. Some loved it while some could do without it. I, for one, am one of those people who loved it. I believe that it took what was given to you in Super Mario 64 and made it bigger. The graphics were much sharper and brighter and still look great even today. A few tweaks to the jumping and moving I found welcoming. I suppose people just found the use of water and having to play with a waterpack throughout the whole game very un-Mario like. I give it that the scenery was very different. You weren't in the rememberable Mushroom Kingdom or Peach's Castle. You were in a strange and foreign place called Delfino Island. To me I didn't care. This new land was bright, looked gorgeous and had enough interesting characters that it didn't bother me at all. I found that the use of the waterpack was more necessary than gimmicky. I believe if it was just Mario, it would have felt too much like an updated version of Super Mario 64. That is what I liked about Sunshine. It was a game all to itself. Sure, the Gamecube will probably go down as the least remembered of Nintendo's systems, but that doesn't mean it didn't have its own library of remarkable games. It was definitely a great game in my book even though people will argue about it for years to come.

Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 [2007/2010, Wii]

Regarding the Galaxy games, I would go as far as to say they are the most spectacular of any of the Mario games. The graphics were beautiful. The gameplay physics made you feel as if you were directing Mario in low-gravity worlds. The orchestrated soundtrack sounded amazing as you played through the many different and unique planets. There isn't much I can say that can describe the game without actually playing it. The story was the same as all the rest. Bowser kidnaps Peach. Mario goes on an adventure to save her and ultimately defeating Bowser. But as Nintendo has stated, the story isn't their focus. The focus is improving gameplay and making a Mario experience that fans will find new, fresh, and enjoyable. And of course, they did. In my personal opinion I cannot imagine how Nintendo can improve on the series more than they have with Galaxy. Here's a little taste of Galaxy.

There you have it. My thoughts on the major Mario games. (I know there's plenty of other Mario games out there but these are the most important ones.) Mario has had a great run in his 25 years and here's to many more!