Yeah. I said I'd do it, so here we go. New blog stuff, just video games, really just what I'm playing now, what I think of it, and maybe some musings on news and stuff. Let's go!
Kirby Mass Attack - DS
I love the little pink puffball. Always have. Kirby's Dreamland 2 on the original Gameboy was always one of my all time favorite portable titles. The newest title in the Kirby series is Kirby Mass Attack on DS, not 3DS, just DS.
The premise of the game is an evil sorcerer invades the planet PopStar where Kirby is just chillin. The Sorcerer uses his magic to divide Kirby, and his power, into 10 mini-Kirbys, so they can be easily defeated. However, one mini-Kirby escapes and through the power of his "true heart" and some apparently magic fruit, begins a quest to recollect the other 9 mini-Kirbys and defeat the sorcerer.
Gameplay wise, this game is a very refreshing, if sometimes a little clunky, take on 2-d platforming. First of all, this game is 99% stylus controlled. Tapping on the screen makes your Kirbys scramble to that mark, or attack whatever enemy or device you pointed to. Think 2-D Pikmin. Touching and flicking a Kirby sends him flying in that direction, and holding the stylus down makes all the Kirbys gather and float along a drawn line, similar to Kirby Canvas Curse. The input style, and play control open up many interesting puzzles and strategies, from knowing when to divide your Kirby to attack large groups, send all 10 of them to pound a big enemy, or leave a few behind to heal others if they get damaged (they do this by basically hugging the floating ghost of a "KO'D" pal). Unfortunately, the controls can also be a bit clunky, especially when trying to direct your team to run to the far side of the screen, I continually find myself accidentally gathering them all or leaving one behind that is stuck behind a piece of the environment.
Overall, I'm am 100% satisfied with what Mass Attack has to offer. Ton's of content, ton's of cuteness, and an actual challenge, that keeps me wanting to open the DS and play. Highly recommended.
Final Fantasy 3/6
I won't go on too much about this game, since most everyone has played it and experienced it's wonder and badassitude (if you haven't...why are we friends again?) I picked this up on Virtual Console after listening to the guys on my favorite podcast, RadioFreeNintendo, talking about it. It had been many years since I played this game last, and it was on the almost unplayable PS1 collection (with the horridly long load times). So for only $8 I bought what I've always said is one of the top 3 games of all time. Replaying it now is every bit as fun as the first times, and also a real challenge, as I'm trying a few things differently this time. First, I'm going by memory, no FAQs. Second is I'm trying to use some characters I used to skip out on a lot more. Gau was always confusing to me, his rage's always seemed random and underpowered....man was I stupid. Easily my new favorite character, you really just have to spend time with him, and learn which rage to use in which situation. In his first trip on the Veldt, you can learn the Templar rage, which almost always casts Fire 2, long before anyone else can get it, and for no MP cost. Very cool. I've also been trying to use Locke's stealing more, to find some items and use some tricks I'd always heard about, but never had the patience to deal with. I just got Setzer (and the airship), so I'll be adding him to my little group, along with Terra. we'll see how it plays out. I feel weird not just spamming Chainsaw and Fire Dance in every battle like I used to, but it also makes this play-through almost feel like a whole new game.
Well I guess that's it. Zelda 4-Sword Anniversary comes out tomorrow (FREE!) on 3DS/DSi E-shop, so expect some impressions of that, especially if I can get together with Heath and hit up some multilayer this week. Thanks for reading (or attempting to).
