Pokémon X: breezing through the gyms

Still playing this, but I feel my pokémon may be too powered up now since I’ve taken the last two gyms with one-hit-kills, and I struggle to capture any wild pokémon without making them faint. I may need to try to rush through the story a bit.

Pokémon X: I may have the Rumble Badge

There was a bit of mucking about in Shalour City, running back and forth to the Tower of Mastery and the gym.  I was anticipating a long slog up the tower, similar to the ghost towers of other games, but after winning the gym badge and being told to go back up the tower, in fact it was a simple slope to the top.  There I was given a Lucario with mega evolution.  Mega evolution seems to make your pokémon change colour a bit and become stupidly overpowered.

Lucario in hand, I left the city and started to travel East, but in real life I got off the train and some time over night my 3DS ran out of battery.   I can’t remember when I saved.  I hope I don’t have to repeat the gym, although beating the fighting trainers only required one of my pokémon – Vivillon, who could one-hit-kill with a Psybeam.

Alleyway: completed

I remember always wanting to buy Alleyway, as it had an exciting cover evoking memories of Super Breakout, but at the time I didn’t have a Game Boy.  By the time I got a handheld of my own (excluding my Mum’s Game Gear, that would be the Game Boy Colour I bought on launch day from WH Smith in Bristol, just before I caught the coach back to London for the weekend) Alleyway was old news, a relic from a simpler time.

Simple it is.  I finally got a copy for free through the Club Nintendo stars catalogue last month, and I’ve been playing through it since.  Being able to suspend and resume play is a luxury that the original didn’t have, but even with that it’s disturbing how easy it is.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies: Turnabout Reclaimed: completed!

Let’s just deconstruct that headline.  I’ve completed the game!  The game in question is the additional case for the 3DS Phoenix Wright game; this additional downloadable case was called ‘Turnabout Reclaimed’.  It involved two court cases, in fact, first defending an orca from a murder charge, and then defending her trainer.  In that second court case, I called the orca as a witness.

Yes, an orca.

Having the case split into two worked quite well, as otherwise it could have become a little excessive in length. Towards the end of the second case there were a number of clever twists which referred right back to the initial investigations, and the cast of characters was exactly the right size to avoid confusion. The only story-related point which did seem a little off was the marginalisation of Prosecutor Blackquill, whose role seemed to only consist of taunting Phoenix from time to time.

As ever, there were some excellent bits of writing in the game, spoilt only by the occasional typo.  The judge in particular was well written, with his amazement over the orca (and distraction by the penguins) well thought out.  His constant mistake over hip-hop music was the most amusing though.

The case-specific characters were a mixed bunch.  Initially I couldn’t stand Dr Crab, but I warmed to him towards the end of the game, although I’m annoyed by the way that characters flat-out lie with quite flimsy reasoning at times.  Some of the later parts of the case revolved around the system he ran (which was “illegal” – I think there was a bit of an error in translation here, I think it was probably meant to simply say unapproved), which had one of the most awkward abbreviations ever.

Sasha, on the other hand, I immediately liked as a character, but she very quickly revealed herself to just be a bit shallow and whiny. Her constant fish puns tailed off in the middle of the game, only to see a resurgence at the end. Finally, Marlon Rimes … amusing and unlikable, and an obvious villain from the start. He made me laugh many a time, particularly when his solid evidence revolves around him rapping that he didn’t do it.

No more Phoenix Wright for a while – this makes me sad.

Gunman Clive: completed!

It didn’t get dull; each level introduced new ideas, and then it finished.  The last levels were set in space, with changing gravity and directions.  The last boss took a couple of attempts to kill.  And then “duck mode” opened. If you want to find out about duck mode yourself, read no further …

Gunman Clive: pew pew

When asked to name a cowboy, I’d probably go for Hank, Clint, or Joe.  You’d have to get pretty far down the list before you got to ‘Clive’.

Gunman Clive is a charming 2D platform shooter, with the graphics looking as if they’ve been pencil drawn although they’re actually 3D models.  The gameplay is pretty simple, jumping and shooting in straight lines, which is particularly annoying when your character can only shoot horizontally but enemies can shoot diagonally.  At times there’s a puzzle aspect, working out how to get to a location you can shoot from without being killed.

I’ve completed the first set of five levels and killed the first boss.  I hope there are new ideas introduced in the next levels; while the game is fun it is in danger of getting a little repetitive.

New Super Mario Bros 2: completed!

Completed as much as the first game, at least, maybe more so.  I’ve unlocked every world and completed them.  There are a few exits I’ve missed meaning that a couple of the extra levels remain unlinked, and I’ve hardly touched the coin rush mode – and I find that a bit frustrating given the short timescales and one life and random levels.

A great game, and I’ll continue to play bits of it, but it may need to take a rest now.

Dream Trigger 3D: ouch, my hands

Dream Trigger 3D caught my attention due it being touted as a imagining of Rez. It’s not an imagining of Rez, unless it’s in the imagination of someone who’s a little hard of understanding and thinks that you can fundamentally change something and it still stays the same.

The basic premise is the same – you target things, avoid bullets, shoot them. It’s set to music, and it’s even the same kind of trippy dance music which manages to not be entirely unpleasant. That’s where similarities end, however, and where Dream Trigger 3D starts to lose out.

The targeting system in Rez was simple – you moved your target over enemies, and released it with the music, hoping to destroy several at once. On the top screen here, you also have to target enemies, but it’s not that simple. Enemies don’t show on the top screen until you’ve revealed then on the lower screen. You do that by laying sonar pings with the stylus, which are activated as the beat line sweeps across them. If there is an enemy by the solar ping as it goes off, it shows up on the top screen and you can destroy it.

Simple enough. But the enemies move, so you need to anticipate where they’ll be when the beat line hits, and all the time avoid their shots – yes, they can shoot at you even when not revealed – and collect powerups and try not to get distracted by the pretty 3D backgrounds behind your target/butterfly/ship/whatever icon they’ve given you this time. There’s a lot going on in the game. And tied to this, you have to control the stylus with your right hand, while holding the 3DS with your left hand, while using the circle pad and the L trigger. The stylus sets sonar pings on the bottom screen, the circle pad moves the target on the top screen, and the left trigger shoots the enemies under the target. You can’t just keep firing constantly since you have a limited shot gauge, which is refilled by shooting things or the beat sweeping across.

It’s this multitude of controls that leads to the title for this blog post.  I’ve completed five stages of the story mode now, and I’m starting to get used to looking at the top screen and feeling my way around the bottom. The console is just a little too awkward to hold, particularly since the headphone socket is where I’d naturally put my left little finger. I’d like to play more – it’s actually a really good game – but I dread to think what sort of claw hands I’d end up with. Maybe tomorrow.