It is good to reach the end of a productive couple of weeks. A good way to unwind at the end of a busy day was video games. I have been playing, reading about and listening to podcasts about video games and have a few things to write about them.
Since the last blog update I finished The Legend Of Zeld: Windwaker. It took me a lot longer than it should have to finish the game and I really did not need to consult the walkthrough most of the time. I was very impressed with the whole game, especially feeling like I was taking part in the telling of a story. I am definately looking forward to the Zelda game for DS, which seems like a sequel to Wind Waker due to the same art style.
For the GameCube I have Killer 7 to play in the next couple of months. The gameplay is in third and first person points of view and the player controls different personalities of the same character. Ultimately all these characters shoot things and the enemies in the story are hellish looking ghosts that explode on impact. Everything from the look of this game to its controls and soundtrack is consistent. Madness can be identified in everything, from the cell shading of the graphics engine to the curious sounding dialogue. Games like this prove that good games for mature players were available for the GameCube.
On the DS I finally got my hands on Metroid: Hunters. It is everything I wanted it to be, including moderately easy to control and graphically impressive. I have yet to kill an opponent online but I have completed 20% of the adventure. The control is only "moderately easy" because although the button layout is perfect, the DS needs to be on a flat surface in order for me to be comfortable and a long stylus is recommended. Two features of this game really impressed me: first, the videos play back very well and are edited to perfection. I think most players will be very impressed with the introduction movie. Second, during the videos and in-game, the rumble cartridge produces very entertaining vibrations. The rumble cartridge is included with Metroid: Pinball which is ultimately a better game for the DS than Metroid: Hunters. Pinball is simpler, more comfortable, does not take as long to play and when it does, delivers more thrills per second.
Trauma Centre was the next game I got for my DS. This is a manga-styled surgery game. The gameplay is all touch-screen based with the player given tools and advice to perform various surgeries on patients. There are many problems with the presentation of this game but the sense of playing a surgeon is strong. The problems mentioned are mostly due to the game's story and the way it is told. It is very annoying to skip lines of dialogue in the middle of a complicated surgical procedure. I am playing the game in the hope that when finished, a mode will be unlocked to make the nurse character disappear.
Finally, the DS Lite was released in Australia and I have seen it in person. If all you wanted is a thinner, lighter, smaller, brighter and sleeker version of the DS with a longer stylus then your dream has come true. I will not buy one because my current DS is still working and it has the ruggedness I demand. The DS Lite looks a relatively fragile and I have read that stuck pixels have been showing up on some screens. Besides, the black DS Lite and shorter rumble cartridge have not been released here yet.
As you can read, the video games have kept me busy for the past couple of weeks. It has not been all games though; some movies, books and music also got my attention and I will write about those in the future.
