Metal Torrent

Metal Torrent is a space shooter that is available on the Nintendo eShop. This title is DSi Ware that can be played on either the Nintendo DSi or 3DS handheld platforms. The gameplay for this title is relatively straightforward. Players have an option between two different spacecraft, one with a spreader gun and the other with a more powerful concentrated firing range. The premise of the game is weave and dodge your way through 8 stages all while trying to shoot down as many enemy ships as possible.  The controls are very limited in that you move with the d-pad (or joystick on 3DS) while shooting your main weapon with B or X and special weapon with A or Y.

This game is a quick play, lasting around 15 minutes, with little challenge. Considering that enemy fire very rarely hits you while piloting, it almost feels like a free play mode. Compared to other rival plane shooters such as Raiden Fighters or Sonic Wings, this title isn't a great challenge. While it is entertaining and an interesting way to pass some time, this won't be a title that you rush home for. This title can be purchased using coins from Club Nintendo until the end of April, more or less making it free.

Gunpey DS

 

I have to start by saying that it is great to be back. I have spent the last 5 weeks getting ready for my wedding, so I haven't had a lot of time to watch, let alone review any anime. I just got back into town after my honeymoon this past Friday and I'm going to kick things off with an anime game.

While I was away on my trip, I found it hard to sit and concentrate on a game during my flight. I popped in Gunpey DS, since it is a puzzle game that doesn't require me to remember any back story from previous play. The game has a very simple premise, move lines that drop vertically across the screen to connect them from side-to-side. While this sounds pretty basic and boring on the surface, the game gets some of its WOW factor from the colorful level design, anime style characters, catchy music, and handicaps during gameplay that cause certain functions to become deactivated.

As you progress through the game, characters and levels become unlocked. In terms of single player mode, there isn't a great deal more that players do other than play through the story mode with each of the characters. There is a local multi-player mode which also makes the game interesting for those who enjoy some friendly competition.

This is a fairly inexpensive game and worth picking up if you are looking for something to do to kill time.

Bakugan: Battle Brawlers

I have to open this post by saying that I picked this game up for a steal price. While walking through my local Wal-Mart this weekend I saw in the PS3 section that Bakugan Battle Brawlers on PS3 was sitting in the case with a $1 price tag on it. I know, I thought it was a typo too. I was expecting it to ring in for $10 and figured something went wrong with the printing. Turns out though that it scanned in for $1!!!!!!

Now that I have gotten that part out of my system.....I have had the chance to spend a couple of days playing this game now. My first reactions to it as someone who has not had the time to watch the series yet, great game! There is not too complicated of a learning curve when playing Bakugan Batte Brawlers. In terms of complexity, it is very much reminiscent to Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories on PSX.

Essentially the objective of the game is to win Bakugan battles by throwing your Bakugan into the arena and trying to get it to land on cards placed face down known as Gate Cards. The person who collects three Gate Cards through the battle wins. Gate Cards can be won in one of two ways, either you land two of your Bakugan Cores on the same card, or you and one of your opponents throw a Bakugan Core onto the same card and then the monsters inside the core battle.

An interesting element to this game is the need to use power up cards in order to increase G-Power for battles. This adds a large strategy element to the game and doesn't always play into the favor Bakugan who have higher G-Power base stats. G-Power can be obtained through small mini-game challenges before the battle giving weaker Bakugan an advantage. Mini-games are randomly selected (unless specific game cards are used) between 1) Controller shaking challenge; 2)Timing challenge; and 3) Shooting challenge.

Something that I found helped to keep the game interesting was the ability to have 1 on 1; 2 on 2; and battle royal style battles in this game. This obviously creates the opportunity to play this game with 4 players. When playing these modes with the computer, I dind't find the AI to be ridiculously easy or too hard, although I imaging that once I have had some more time to become better acquainted with this game the AI will start to bore me.

The shop aspect of the game gives some incentive for replay of matches. By winning points your world ranking increases, as does your cash flow. Having more cash allows you to buy Bakugan and cards, increasing the customization options for your deck. Each elemental property has the same Bakugan to choose from. A big part of what makes the game interesting is how you choose to employ elemental combinations. Your character is also customizable in appearance creating another element of personal connectedness to the game for some.

My overall verdict of this game is that for $1 is was definitely worth it. I would have been willing to pay the $18 that it was listed for previously. Bakugan Battle Brawlers has peaked my interest to the anime series as well as to the newer Bakugan Defenders of the Core game.

Ninjatown

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving on this day (probably, Canadians across the globe)!!! Now, Ninjatown sequel? The developer - South Peak has asked fans about making a sequel back in May 9, 2009 and nothing has been announced since. Although, there is still no news on this, I will certainly give it a try if they do make one.

Not sure if I mentioned before but I am not a big gamer. With friends and a brother who are, I naturally go with their recommendations when I do play. This one was recommended by my brother.


Ninjatown is a simple strategy game that gets the player to control the town's ninja to fight off Mr. Demon and his minions! It doesn't require much time and each "mission" is fairly short and simple. If you travel with a DS, this is one that will help get by time fast.

There are plenty and enough features in this game and I'm not going to go through them. It's no wonder why it was nominated as one of the best DS game back in 2008. With the Starcraft craze a few months back, sometime it is just fun to play something that is still strategy based but different.

I still haven't had a chance to play multiplayer with anyone yet so if anyone has tried this and would like to tell us about it, leave us a comment. I think Master Ninja is calling for me. 'Til next time.

Hoshigami: Ruining Blue Earth Remix

Hoshigami Ruining Blue Earth: Remix is a remake of the Sony PSX classic for Nintendo DS. With the plethora of titles being re-released on a number of consoles, there hasn't been much to expect in the way of new features from these kind of games. Hoshigami is no exception. I remember getting the PSX version of this game a number of years ago when it came out. The only real improvement is that now I can take this game in my hands on the road rather than sit in my living room and playing it.

For those who haven't played this title before, it is a turn-based tactics game. Moves are determined by factors such as character speed, weight, number of attacks taken during a turn, and number of moves made. I know this sounds like a lot to take in. In a nutshell, the fewer spaces you move and the fewer attacks you take in a turn, the quicker your character can mount their next turn. With regards to weapons, the heavier weapons tend to have higher attack power, meaning that you can attack with them fewer times in a turn. Attacks can also be made using magic in the form of coin feigms (CF). You can upgrade the coins by merging them with elemental properties to increase their range, attack power, and reduce use cost.

Character selection in this game is very much like Final Fantasy Tactics. You hire mercenaries to join your team. There are different avatars for various to choose from and they have different religions that they follow. The religions determine which weapons have an optimized attack pattern. Each religion also allows the character to acquire skills to play on their strengths as they collect devotion points from each attack they launch. Along with the fully customizable mercenaries, there are also characters that join your party through the quests undertaken in the story. There characters do tend to be stronger when you acquire them than the mercenaries, so you may find yourself using more of them in your party than the recruitable characters.

The maps in the game are nothing special to cry about. They are very much in line with what you would see in pretty much any turn-based strategy game. The maps are all developed on a 3D framework with rotation angles to get the best movement pattern as you progress through the game.

The artwork in the game is also very much the same as Final Fantasy Tactics. The same character sprite design is implemented in Hoshigami Ruining Blue Earth: Remix. The music is also fairly bland in the game. The same songs just repeat over and over as you play through the maps.

Truth be told, this game didn't receive amazing reviews. Even though this is the case, I still found myself loving the DS version just as much as the PSX version. As of the time of this writing, the game has been discontinued on DS, and is pretty much only available second hand on eBay. Perhaps part of the appeal in having this game is the fact that it is now so rare. Although Hoshigami is not what I would consider the "best" of it's genre, it is still a very entertaining game to play and highly recommended.

Front Mission

I remember playing this game for the first time about 7 years ago on a Super NES emulator. At that time, it was translated by a fan group who were doing a lot of the Squaresoft translations that never made it to North America for SNES. Front Mission is a really addictive tactic based game. Rather than roam around like a standard Final Fantasy style RPG, they decided to make this game very much like the Final Fantasy Tactics game for Playstation. The game is developed looking at a war from both sides involved. Rather than having foot soldiers running and shooting at each other, soldiers pilot mech suits called Wanzers. Throughout the course of the game, players earn money and weapons in order to purchase better parts for their Wanzer units. Pilots also begin to join your party as you progress through the game making your own unit much larger. Pilots match their skill sets to the type of equipment that their Wanzer unit is outfitted with. This adds some diversity to the types of attacks you can launch as well as what tactics will be employed.

One of the strongest points in this game was the fact that it actually had a story line. Unlike many tactics based games that I have played in the past where its just map after map with no rhyme or reason, this game actually takes you through a whole plot and story that is well drawn out. Every character that you recruit ties well into the story, making it easy to spend hours playing like a standard RPG.

The artwork in the game is also very well done. The Squaresoft style of drawing their characters as being very serious and powerful looking is present in this series as well. The music is not the greatest but still fits with the game quite well.

Overall, if you are into mecha, war, and tactics based games, this is definitely a title that you should pick up for the Nintendo DS. For those who are not too big on the DS or want to go a cheaper route, you can always pick up the translated ROM for the SNES from various sites (Google is your friend).