super! metroid!

i’ve developed a habit of starting a few games (most recently paper mario: the thousand-year door, which two chapters into it is just a bit too slow for me so far) and then choosing which one i want to finish. after finishing eternal darkness i’ve come back to a game i had previously just sampled (although i had def. enjoyed the taster i had), metroid prime. in a word: wow. this is a beautiful, beautiful game. this is the first really modern game i’ve played that has completely floored me. the design, the graphics, the music, everything is just top notch. every part i’ve seen so far has been just gorgeous. the controls took a bit of getting used to, but by the time i got the morph ball i was pretty much set. i’m still prob. less than 10% of the way through, and even if the rest of the game turns out to be a bore (which i highly doubt will be the case) the joy of just inhabiting the world of this video game would be enough to keep me satisfied. i’m reserving my final judgement for the end, but already this is the first game that has made me feel it actually wasn’t overhyped for once. am def. looking forward to continuing this one.

super mario shampoo??

i think i got this from an issue of new warriors. “we smell so fruity fresh!” awesome. (click on pic for larger.)

darkness vanquished!

the other night i finished eternal darkness. the game had an odd trajectory for me, and i’m guessing other people had similar feelings. the beginning is slow b/c you don’t have any magic power, but then the middle picks up because you get some cool spells. but then by the end the game gets too repetitive and i just found myself dragging my feet to finish. and i know i won’t be the first person to point out that the main appeal of the game isn’t the gameplay per se. most of the game consists of a paint-by-numbers, connect-the-dots kind of running around. the ambience is the main draw, which despite the gore is fairly well executed, and it has some somewhat interesting elements like the sanity meter and the magic spells. the main drawback for me, esp. near the end, is that while the majority of the game is completely straightforward there are a few moments that are just completely random. they’re not “hard”, they’re just obtuse, and the game design at these places is clumsy and oftentimes leads you away from the correct solution. all in all if i can recall the middle section i’d say it’s a pretty fun game (although i found it to be overrated; but then i haven’t played anything else of this genre). not a top recommendation though. and even though there’s a special ending if you beat it 3 times i def. won’t be replaying it any time soon, but i liked it enough to prob. run through it once more … eventually. in any case it’ll be interesting to see what the company (silicon knights) puts out next.

link awakened

finished link’s awakening (orig. version) a couple of days ago. def. a great game. i haven’t played the big zelda favorites, ocarina of time and a link to the past, but this game really impressed me and was definitely better than the wind waker (which i still haven’t managed to bring myself to sit down and finish). this is the first game boy game that really made me forget any limitations of the system (although the pokemon game came close).

it’s funny how these zelda games use so many of the same elements but still manage to be engaging. even though you know you’re going to be getting bombs, boomerang, shields, health-restoring potions, grappling hook, etc. somehow you still get a rush when you finally do get them. i’m finding the same looks like it will be holding true for the metroid series (recently bought all the game boy metroid games), but i suppose that’s less true for the mario games. what would it be like to have a zelda game really break the mold? i’ll have to see if any of the games i haven’t played yet do that (although the first sequel, the adventure of link, was pretty different at least in gameplay if not the game elements).

once again i’m surprised at how much i’m looking forward to replaying this game. for a lot of this game i wasn’t sure if i wasn’t able to get something b/c i just wasn’t supposed to be in that area yet or not, but now i know exactly what’s available in this game and when so that’ll make a difference. i didn’t get the 2nd sword and didn’t find out about the boomerang until i read about it afterwards, nor did i have the last two heart containers. may look into some of those things before i put the game aside. and once again nintendo has provided an updated version of the game (“DX”) to further entice me into playing it again.

also once more wikipedia provides a nice article about the game w/ plenty of trivia. the walkthrough at zelda.com wasn’t that thorough, but i’m sure ign is a good source.