Kirby Super Star Ultra Review

Maybe its just age speaking, but I remember Kirby Super Star on the Super Nintendo as being a glorious game. Packed to the brim with fun little half-games it really made a name for itself and among Kirby fans it is often considered to be one of the peaks of Kirby’s game career (despite the lack of attention it actually received). So when one hears of a game with such a history is being bought to the DS, one would assume it would be a great idea. And whilst it isn’t a complete failure it does feel as though the game didn’t get enough interesting new content to fully warrant the price and a shiny new word being added onto the title.

Basically Super Star Ultra allows old-school Kirby fans to reminisce about how good this game was the first time around, and to attempt to impress new gamers that this pink puffball has still got some run in him yet. In some respects the game is a success; it maintains the fun style of classic Kirby. Relieving the Kirby Super Star games was a lot of fun. But sadly I could not say the same for the new ones that were added in there. A couple of new games involve the revenge of King Dedede and even Meta Nightmare Ultra (where you finally get to play as the swift, stylish blue Kirby himself).

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Apparently Heroes Are Done For.

So recently I acquired a friends Wiimote so that I could sit down and give No More Heroes a play through, now its only early days (as in I’m working up the money to challenge Rank VIII) but so far I’m not impressed.

Obviously its too early to be judging the plot, so I’ll reserve my judgement there and hope that it picks me up and carries me to the end of the game. The fights are getting very repetitive already, I almost find it a chore to slice my way through hordes of enemies mostly because it generally involves going “A, A, A, A, swing Wiimote” and then rinse and repeat. Occasionally I can mix it up with a grab if I really want to… but why bother? However, the bosses seem like they could get interesting. I’m assuming there will be a trend with a clip before and after the fight. So I’m hoping there are some interseting bosses lined up, however I won’t get my hopes up for any Kojima-quality bosses (<3 you Metal Gear Solid).

Visually the game doesn’t impress me, I know its stylistic and cel-shaded for a reason. But even taking that on board I wonder if the game could have been prettier in the cel-shaded department. Wind Waker is far more stylistic and prettier than this game thus far… and NMH is a Wii game. And I’ll say it now: The black smoke really harms the gameplay. I hear people from America saying how fun it is cutting down foes and seeing blood fly everywhere, well you’d be surprised how much less fun it is when there is just black crap shooting everywhere. Makes me feel like what I’m killing isn’t even human. So yawn at that detail, hopefully NMH2 will actually get a bloodier release here.

I like the retro style of the game’s menu’s and such though and think its very cool, as a retro gamer I am a very big fan of it. Travis’ character is one that will either have me laughing or irritated, depending on the dialogue.

Oh, and Santa Destroy is a wasteland. It’s definitely a chore going from one side to another when I can’t really do anything of any interest to the people or cars around the streets. Sounds sadistic I know, but that’s half the reason sandbox games are so much fun. I hope there is a warp feature in the future so I can skip riding my hog from one side of the city to another.

But despite the negative outlook posted here, the game isn’t half bad. There are just a lot of areas it could improve in, more when I finish it next week sometime.

Suda51, impress me.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia Review

Before this game, we had been the receivers of two brilliant Castlevania DS games. Both were brilliant for their own reasons; however when this particular installment was revealed a large amount of interest was directed towards it. Not just because the main protagonist is a female, but because the game just looked really damn good for a DS game. And so we waited, savoring each trailer and wondering where this new game would take us. We saw many environments and what looked like a new weapon system. Some parts turned out great, others turned out lazy, but this game is something that DS owners should cherish. It is brilliant despite its flaws.

To begin we must observe the past, both Dawn of Sorrows and Portrait of Ruin are spectacular games. What exactly could this new one be doing that makes it so much better? The answer is it combines what made both games interesting and unbelievably fun. And plus, like the previous installments, maintains its Metroid styled layout and RPG elements. So really, combining two great games with new features on top of old gems really allows only one result: brilliance. And Order of Ecclesia is nothing short of being brilliant, while still having minor flaws this is to be expected of any game really. The fact that it is now out on shelves means gamers should have a copy of it by now if they are self-respecting hardcore DS gamers.

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