Uh oh, I sense a disturbance in the force. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars which as meant to be released on February 15th in the US has been delayed until March 22nd due to unannounced circumstances from LucasArts. While this is a let down to fans of Star Wars, or even fans of Lego in general, it is good to see that this delay may be for better game development. Either that or the delay was done to avoid competition but I digress.
The third installment to the Lego Star Wars franchise will bring together the standard Star Wars characters previously seen in Lego games but also include a variety of characters that fans loved from the actual television series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Which means children who love the show and the adults wanting to take in every bit of the Star Wars universe will be happy to play as their favorite characters.
Secret Of Mana Platform: iPod (Reviewed), iPad, iPod Touch (Super Nintendo Port) Genre: Action/Rpg Publisher: Square Enix Developer: Square Enix Release Date: December 21, 2010 Price:$8.99 – Buy
In 1993 a developer known as Square (now Square Enix) released an action/Rpg game for the Super Nintendo known as Secret of Mana which gained high critical acclaim and still to this day is considered by many as one of the greatest and most memorable games on a Nintendo console of all time. As a kid with a Super Nintendo, I always wanted to play this game, but I never got a chance. I did hear great things however about its unique gameplay, it’s epic soundtrack, its intriguing storyline and impressive graphics. Since 1993 it’s been ported and re-lived on numours consoles including the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console, various Japanese mobile phones, emulated on computers via snes roms and now its been ported to the iPhone. Now, 17 years later I got the chance to experience what I had missed out on, but one powerful question was on my mind which Im sure many fans of the game were thinking as well: “Does Secret of Mana stand the test of time?” Lets find out!
Hey guys, look! Princess Peach makes a cameo, and for once is NOT the damsel in distress!
Presentation
Like most, if not all games by Square Enix, this game is presented beautifully. There isn’t really much to say about it other than it’s done really well and looks great. There are loading screens between sections of the game that are just black screens with a gold ‘now loading’ text that usually last less than 2 seconds, but before the beginning of the game there is an insanely long start-up sequence to load the game which is annoying as hell. It’s a fair trade off though because once that’s out of the way, the longest you’ll ever have to wait is a few seconds which keeps the game fast-paced. The impressive ‘Ring Command’ system is presented and set out well with the selected characters’ face centred in the middle with options surrounding him or her, and a nice iPhone exclusive ability to slide between options. There is a slight, time-consuming annoyance as to get to a certain menu you may have to go through another one or two to access it, but it’s not too bad. Everything about the game itself is presented well and for the most part you’ll feel just like your playing an old-school snes game, which is awesome. It just a shame that they didn’t add any in game tutorials for the iPhone, or clear up a few things for the port to keep things in place, but it’s not that much big of a deal.
Managing and switching between three warriors involves alot of strategic planning and quick judgement, and is really fun to do.
Story
The storyline can make or break an role-playing game as in order to play the role with enjoyment you must actually enjoy the role your playing. It’s with great pleasure to fill the shoes of Randi, Pimm and Popoi or whatever you decide to name them as. As the game begins you see Randi and a few random friends remove the Mana Sword which destroyed a flying evil warship known as The Mana Fortress a long time ago. The removal of this weapon unleashes hordes of monsters which leads to Randi getting banished from his own village. The game begins with the protagonist attempting to re-energise the Mana Sword by visiting the eight Mana Temples to save his village and restore peace. I won’t ruin anything, but the beauty of the games storyline is that it does not stop there, and that this game is pretty damn long. You will NOT finnish this title in one sitting, which is nice to see in a iPhone title, and the whole time this plot is weaving it all together. The storyline is also a little different from the cliché ‘hero with the world on his shoulders, better go save it and fall in love’ plot we always see in games like this, so its nice for something not so obvious. There is alot of background story going on with all three of the main characters and for a game that was on the snes this game gets pretty emotional. The character design is done with some amazing talent and their backstories are intriguing so it is easy to fall in love with these heroes. Dialogue can be a bit rough around the edges at times, but the message does get across.
There is no in-game tutorial but there is a 76 page manual you can find on the opening page, but seriously who has the patience for that when we can be slaying monsters, giant bees and possessed flying chairs? Not me!
Gameplay
The easiest way to describe the gameplay of Secret of Mana is that it plays like an old school Zelda game, with a few RPG twists. It’s a top down view with a run button (which is pretty much useless unless your trying not to fight enemies) and an attack button. Unlike Zelda however, you have an attack bar at the bottom that needs to be constantly refilled. Everytime you use your weapon, it empties and begins to recover. While you can constantly attack your enemies, the game rewards the player for their patience by dealing maximum damage once the bar is filled, so often waiting those extra few seconds is helpful. This can lead to a few on-the-spot, quick judgement call strategies which make the game more fun. There are many flavours like this which make this real-time RPG feel like a turn based one. For example, hit points gained or lost for each character appear above the player or NPC, as well as information such as missed attacks and poisoned players. This can really intensify combat, and is alot of fun. Also all three members of the party are constantly always on the screen, and the player can switch between controlling each one with a simple touch of the screen. This is required as the AI is pretty much terrible, and they will often do the most stupidest things you can think off, alot of the time it will seem as if your team mates may have a death wish. However you can program their style of combat which would’ve been awesome if they actually did what you want them to do half the time. It isn’t always the case, but in some areas such as dungeons it can be a nightmare. Also the difficulty is unforgiving, so in order to advance and play the game, you will be required to train up your party alot, and that’s where most of your hours will be spent-fighting the same losers over and over again to level up so you can have a chance of making through an area or to defeat the boss. This unfortunately can take away from the storyline’s intensity. On the plus side though, as it is all real time you can easily avoid opponents by walking around them and leaving an area to avoid combat is easy, so at least you have that option of incase you just want to hurry up and get to the next level. The ring command system is a unique delight to use, with the pause function allowing players to select items and status in an easy-to-use menu via touch screen that is just presented with great elegance.
17 years ago, one of Secret of Mana’s biggest selling points was its amazing graphics due to scenes like this one. We’ve come along way since this.
While the combat is a pleasure however, there are just one to many faults with the exploration aspect of the game. These are ruined by two main factors-one is the dialogue of many locals in villages who will simply say random, useless things that are plain and uncreative, eg: “This village is called x” or “My dad owns the x shop” and thats it. While this is a normal thing for RPGS, there are some really pointless lines here. Most importantly though, is just walking. Walking around towns is not very fun at all. The control stick is very unresponsive and very awkward. Often animations will show for example your character walking sideways while he or she will walk upwards. It just feels wrong. It can sometimes even interfere in combat, which can ruin the game’s awesome fighting system at times. To make things worse there are many collision issues in the game, in the sense you are able to move NPC’s around and it just feels unnatural. I understand this was in the original game, but this could’ve easily been improved on. This also wouldn’t be a proper Secret of Mana review without the mention of the awesome multiplayer. Wait! Oops! I meant lack of multiplayer. This is truly a major disappointment. The major selling point of the original game besides its unique (at the time) combat system was its multiplayer. Yeah that’s right! A multiplayer real-time RPG similar to Zelda made by the dudes who made Final Fantasy from 1993. Recipe for a perfect game much? But thats gone. So the adventure must be shared alone with the terribly stupid, suicidal AI. No Game Centre or Bluetooth options, nothing. This doesn’t ruin the game, its just major disappointment for anyone who was a fan like this. This could’ve easily been done for the iPhone, and it would’ve been amazing, its such a shame this feature didn’t make the final product.
The Monsters you fight in this game are evil, but none are as evil as the control stick! You will suffer under it’s demonic wrath!
Graphics
Back in the day, one of the many reasons to love Secret of Mana was its graphics, and its easy to see why. There are so many different, impressive aspects to admire about it. Backgrounds are incredibly detailed for a 16-bit console. Textures are sharp and a pleasure to observe. Character design is always an important aspect in games like these as it helps players to fall in love with them, and in this title they are done very nicely. It’s very anime, and done in a very stylish and impressive manner. Colours are sharp and work well together, and animation is smooth for the most part. Occasionally there will be a few issues when multiple characters appear on the screen and the frame rate may seem to drop and animation may appear slightly choppy, but it is most likely to do with the porting rather than the actual game itself. The graphics arn’t always as clear as the original and unfortunately can be a little fuzzy, but its really not that bad. The main highlight of the graphics in the original however was how Square took advantage of the Mode 7 graphics code which helped create depth via rotating backgrounds, creating a 3D effect in some cases. While it doesn’t look terribly out dated on the iPhone when used, some certain moments of the game will feel like it’s almost 20 years old, but it won’t ruin the experience. If anything, you’ll feel a retro vibe coming along. The graphics really look untouched since the original game, which is a double-edged sword. On one hand its great they have stayed true to the original, but on the other hand it would’ve been nice to see a few new things added as the iPhone is capable of much more the Super Nintendo was able to. Even small things like updated high definition graphics or even small things like reflections, or footprints or day/night cycles. It’s not terrible these ideas arn’t there, but it would’ve been nice for a little bit of an update to compete with current games.
The ability to program attack patterns is pretty cool, it just sucks that they don’t do what you want them too half the time.
Audio
The soundtrack of Secret of Mana was composed by Hiroki Kikuta, and has gained a massive fan base over the years. These tracks have been featured on cds and preformed live numerous times over the years, so it goes without saying there are a few tracks on this game that you’ll most likely dig. Personally I believe some are better than others and it isn’t flawless, but while all arn’t perfect, there are some really nice tunes on here. However don’t expect massive orchestral pieces here, its a snes port remember! Do expect alot of piano and woodwind instruments, but fear not as they are arranged with great excellence. Unfortunately the sound effects arn’t as great as the soundtrack, some are decent and some are terrible, but you’ll easily look past them and loose yourself in Secret of Mana’s beautiful score. Again, like the graphics, these are untouched from the original. So don’t expect voice acting-hope you like to read!
The Ring Command System has been given iPhone touch screen accessibility, so its easy to scroll through and drag items onto characters. It’s not that necessary, but its a neat iPhone exclusive feature to have thrown in.
Conclusion
Alot of fanboys and role-playing lovers will cry and complain over many things in the iPhone port of Secret of Mana. Sure the graphics arn’t at 100% quality as the original, but they are close. Sure there’s no multiplayer, but it doesn’t ruin the single player experience, and the control stick sucks, but….ok they can have that one! But underneath it all the magic of mana is still there. The Super Nintendo version may be an all time classic, but Square Enix have done a decent job emulating its beauty onto the iPhone. It’s not perfect but the plot is still intriguing, the combat system is still awesome, the soundtrack is still epic and Randi, Primm and Popoi are still as loveable as ever. It’s lengthy as hell and while it’s not as perfect the original was, there still arn’t that many RPG’s on the iPhone of this quality, which is a testament to the classic’s legacy. Most importantly though is one solid fact: Secret of Mana is pretty close to being 20 years old, and it is still a delight to play. It still has relevance and enjoyment today and has stood the test of time. A must have for any retro-loving gamer, and must-have for any real-time RPG fan with an iPhone.
Even in the heat of battle, a fight to the death, your party can easily be distracted and ‘spaced out’ by a pretty balloon. But hey, who can blame them? I mean, look at it! It’s red! IT’S SOOO RED!!!
PROS
A classic game that is still a delight to play 17 years after it’s original release
Great soundtrack
Wonderful combat system
No seriously, the combat system is pretty damn good!
Great character design
Good storyline
Interesting ‘touch’ and ‘slide’ movements for menus
CONS
Annoyingly long loading screen at the beginning of the game, but after that loading is quick
The control stick is often unresponsive and just straight-up bad
Some dialogue is a little uncreative
Come on! Where’s the multiplayer?!
Unforgiving difficulty will force you to spend way to long levelling up your party
Who’s that Flying?!, formerly a Playstation Mini exclusive, is now on its way to the Steam network. Releasing on the January 31, 2011, this game will be priced at £5.99. We really liked the game. You can read our review here.
The concept of WTF?! is pretty simple. Fly, shoot lasers out of your engineered arm, and take down the baddies surrounding the cities of Earth. On Steam, the game will feature HD graphics and achievement & leader board support. Lastly, Steam Cloud hosting of player content and Xbox 360 controller support will also be included.
While this may not be very exciting news it is good to hear that one of the most anticipated titles for fans of the Legend of Zelda series is near finish. In a recent investment meeting Nintendo revealed that Skyward Sword is in the final stages of production and will soon be ready for release on shelves sometime this year. Now the exact release date is still a mystery but this is good news regardless.
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword looks to take full advantage of the Wii’s motion controls by using both the nunchuck and the Wiimote as your sword and shield. Also there will be a number of other in game actions that will take advantage of the Wii’s motion sensing ability now that the console sports the Wii Motion Plus. Now who thinks that all of the integrated Wii motion control will actually turn out to be a good thing?
Looking for your next Playstation Portable fix? Ubisoft may be bringing you the next PSP hit in the form of Lord of Arcana. You will will be able to battle a giant monster made of magma. But why must you do such a thing? You want the powerful Stone of Arcana, don’t you?! It is said that the Stone is the source of all order in the universe. Only by destroying everything in your path in many environments, like deserts, caves and marshes, will you be able to obtain this power. Plus, the battles look good. But don’t take my word for it. Watch the great trailer below to find out more.
Nintendo’s president Satoru Iwata shared another new announcement for the Nintendo Wii during a financial briefing today, it’s Pandora’s Tower.
A teaser site is already open, but the details are pretty vague. It looks like a rpg, but could be anything as we don’t have any real information about it yet. The site opens with a girl saying “Dying and becoming beautiful, or living though ugly. Which will make you happier?”. There’s some random phrases too, check it out:
The game’s full name is Pandora no Tou: Kimi no Moto e Kaeru Made, which translates into Pandora’s Tower: Until I Return To Your Side.
Pandora’s Tower will be released (in Japan) in the next months. Until now there was no talk about a localization.
As a huge Kirby fan, I am very excited about this piece of news. Nintendo of Japan has some coming attractions on their website, and out of nowhere a new Kirby title for the Wii has been shown. Instead of being made of yarn this time though, Kirby is going back to his roots of sucking up enemies in standard fashion. There is no title and very little information other than a very short clip on the website, but it also does mention an upcoming film for the pink hero that will be releasing later this year.
I have a good feeling Nintendo will be at least giving this title a mention at E3 this year as the clip seems to come from a very polished looking game (with many new powers in tow) that is drawing back some nostalgia of Kirby 64 from myself. It is also mentioned for 2011 release at least in Japan, so this one may be a lot closer than we think.
Click Here to check out the clip yourself and we will be following this title more as Nintendo releases more information on it.
Over the past couple of days, we have reported the announcement of Platinum Games’ new project, Max Anarchy here and we also brought you the news the following day that the title had now been given its Western name, and that Max Anarchy was the game’s Japanese title, which can be found here
And now to match these announcements, Anarchy Reigns has been given its first trailer, a teaser trailer to promote the reveal. As it is still very early days, with Platinum Games planning a late 2011 release for the game, the trailer doesn’t give much away. It does show Madworld’s Jack for anyone who played that on the Wii, although his inclusion was something that had already been confirmed.
Razer, specialists in top quality gaming peripherals, have announced that they are pleased to welcome Ed Fries to its Board of Advisors. Ed brings 28 years of gaming industry expertise to the company which should prove invaluable in helping Razer stay on top of its game in delivering professional products to gamers across the world.
Ed Fries created his first videogames for the Atari 800 in the early 80s and from here, he moved to Microsoft where he played a key role in the creation of Excel and Word. He then went on to pursue his passion for videogames, leaving to form Microsoft Game Studios. Over the next 8 years the team grew and published over 100 games, as the rest, as they say, is history. In 2004, Ed Reins retired his position as Microsoft Vice President and went on to fill a range of roles among the games industry making use of his experience: from board member and advisor, to consultant.
Ed Fries has this to say about his new position at Razer: “Razer is a company developing some of the most advanced gaming technologies in the industry right now. I look forward to working with the team and providing guidance to continue their successful line of gaming products and developing new growth opportunities.”
Hopefully gaining this industry veteran will help Razer to deliver even better products in the future.
Modern Combat: Domination Publisher & Developer: Gameloft Platform: PlayStation 3 (Reviewed) Genre: Online FPS Release Date: January 18th 2011 Price: $7.99 (USA), £6.29 (UK)
Overview:
Take a minute and pause that expensive FPS and take a quick look here as we have another FPS entering the gaming world. Now don’t walk away quite yet, sure there are plenty of different FPS out there to take a look at, and it’s definitely hard to make a splash in the current market but this game here, Modern Combat: Domination only costs $8 and also has Move support. Gameloft has made two Modern Combat games before except those were only available on cell phones. Will Gameloft’s Modern Combat survive the jump to consoles?
Story:
Modern Combat: Domination has absolutely zero story to stand behind the action that is going on, especially considering the fact that the game was designed primarily for online multiplayer. There is a mode that can be played offline but this mode does not change the actual gameplay at all other than have the player face off against bots, with bots on their team as well. The teams played by the players are named generically, such as Mercenaries vs Special Forces, and the objective of every match is of course, to win.
Graphics:
Gameloft surprisingly handles the jump to full size televisions surprisingly well considering they are used to working on screens smaller than a dollar bill. Of course that doesn’t mean that things don’t look a bit drab either. While the game does look good enough for the price tag attached to Modern Combat: Domination, the visuals are clearly not the best you can find out there. The five different maps are designed well enough but unfortunately the horrible spawning system only makes matters worse when it is combined with the fact that level design leaves much to be desired, meaning many players will spawn only to die quickly once again.
Audio:
The guns actually sound pretty good when they are fired and explosive grenades sound just as good as if they were in a fully priced retail game. It also seems that every gun carries a decent enough kick so that players actually will be able to hear and see their gun acting as it would in a real life situation. The music however is easily forgettable and more often than not I found myself not even realizing that there was music playing due to the fact that it is not memorable, or noticeable, in the slightest.
Gameplay:
Now Modern Combat: Domination provides players six different game modes to play on five different maps and also allow them to use thirteen different weapons to kill one another. Put this together with the fact that players will always be placed within a 16 player battle and it definitely asks for a closer look.
Modern Combat: Domination takes the whole weapon system and puts a different spin on things. First of all there are no killstreaks to be had. Rather the more kills a player gets in a row the more money they will make. The reason players receive money for kills, headshots, melees, etc. is that players must use money to buy their equipment every time that they die and unless they do so, they will only spawn with a pistol to use. This feature actually makes it quite balanced for new players to shoot at one another, and even if a level 1 faces off against a level 72 they will find themselves with just as much of a chance to take the level 72 down.
Now the fact that money is used to buy guns is also a setback. The reason that this is a setback is because of the spawning system within the game. The spawn system is absolutely terrible within MC:D. Countless times during nearly every match that I experienced there was a time that my player spawned, only to be shot from behind by either a camper, or an enemy player who spawned a few feet away just out of screenview. The reason that the spawn system makes the money system so terrible is the fact that once the player dies, all of the equipment purchased that they had on is lost immediately. The fact that many of the advanced guns and gear costs upwards of $3,000 at least for a moderate set, that dying cheaply as soon as you spawn is a very big letdown.
Now where exactly where all of this shooting be going down? Well GameLoft’s five different maps are called: Sandstorm, The Hideouts, Souks, Headquarters and Factory. Now any of these maps can be used to play Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Domination and each of these game types are so familiar that it isn’t worth mentioning. Boom and Bust is a new gametype where players will have to escort bomb carriers to blow up a specific target, but this game mode is only available to be played on maps Sandstorm and The Hideouts. Another game mode, called Extraction, sees players capturing a brief case on the map before the enemies do. Finally there is Escort mode which randomly selects a player that the rest of the team must escort to a certain point on the map alive, if the selected player dies then the enemy team wins and the match switches sides.
Perhaps the most interesting game mode is the Escort mode as it requires lots of team work. Going off in random directions will only result in allowing the player you are supposed to be escorting, die in a corner somewhere. On the opposite end of the spectrum players on the enemy team must work together or fall to the stream of bullets that a well-organized escort group can produce.
Now MC:D may be mainly an online game, players do have the option to face off against bots in single player mode. All of the different game modes are available but players will not be able to level up and unlock better weaponry for purchase. Another thing worthy of mention is the fact that, no matter what, every match that you play will have 16 players in it. If there is not enough players for an 8 vs. 8 match then bots will fill the online slots instead. The bots AI is relatively smart and does not hurt the teams score often in my experience. There were a few hiccups regarding teammate bots simply standing in one place and being shot repeatedly by the enemy but this is rare in occurrence.
Now earlier I mentioned that MC:D is Move compatible, but this option is not forced on players. The Move support is able to be selected in the option menu and if used, will see players using the navigational stick to move around, while aiming on the screen using the Move itself.
Another thing worth taking notice of, and you will in spades, is the fact that Modern Combat: Domination takes quite a bit of time to load. There are long load times, half a minute or more, in simply starting the game up from the PlayStation 3, which then transfer into long load times inside of the game itself, whether it be loading up a match online or offline.
Overall:
Modern Combat: Domination proves that Gameloft can actually make the jump to consoles without losing the fun in translation. MC:D isn’t without its flaws; primarily the spawning system, the fact that some AI bots stutter and become a drag on the team and very long load times. But regardless of that fact there is plenty of enjoyment to be had and battling against your friends and random people online for only an $8 price tag easily places Modern Combat: Domination as a great budget online FPS.
