61 FPS Farewell Review: Rune Factory Frontier (Wii)

It’s a bit odd that my final post for 61 FPS is a game review rather than my farewell post, but I had already committed myself to doing this review and I’ll be dipped if I’m going to let it slide.

Rune Factory Frontier is the third installment in the Rune Factory series, which itself is a spin-off of the Harvest Moon series. Don’t let that skew your impression of what these games offer though. The Rune Factory titles each have decently robust action adventure elements to them along with the usual farming, crafting, and courting. However, where Rune Factory 1 and 2 feel like games with lots of unrelated stuff to do in them, Frontier ties all of those elements together into a very satisfying cohesive whole.

Rune Factory Frontier is a massive game packed to the gills with content. It’s a game that will keep you busy every moment you play while also setting up long term goals and big payoffs. It is a game that wears many hats: dungeon exploring action adventure, time and resource management, climbing social ladders, but ties every last bit together. This is an adventure game where the hero must truly be self sufficient. Think you can just waltz into the Adventurer’s Store and buy some magic potions, anti-dragon armor and a sword of troll slaying? Or go out and kill a few goblins and wolves for the money they drop to pay your way? Not so here.

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Watcha’ Playing: Marble Saga Kororinpa (Wii)

I have finally shelved Rune Factory Frontier and moved on. After spending so long on that game I decided I needed a total change of pace so I popped in Marble Saga, the second game in the Kororinpa series of tilt maze games. I loved the first and was looking forward to this one. Thankfully, it hasn’t let me down.

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The 61FPS Review: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time

Echoes of Time, Square-Enix’s latest entry into their Crystal Chronicles franchise, continues the unique multiplayer route pioneered by the 2004 GameCube game; but this time around, the focus is on a wireless cross-platform experience between the Wii and the DS instead of multiple Game Boy Advances tethered to a console by link cables. 61FPS bloggers Amber Ahlborn and Bob Mackey took a stab at playing this action RPG online together for the purposes of this review, and found that the Wii’s online capabilities (or lack thereof) hampered what would have been an otherwise great experience.

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Is the Wii Stagnating Next to the DS?

When I was young, I received a curious dual-screen Game and Watch knockoff for Christmas. It was a vertical platforming game set on a pirate ship. Conditions for victory involved the finding and collecting of treasure: if the player slipped up and the pirate fell into the water, sharks would strip off the scurvy dog’s clothes. This particular death animation included a glimpse of the dead pirate’s cartoon testicles, bristling with stubble.

When Nintendo first revealed the DS, all I could think about was a naked pirate being eaten by sharks. I was not enthusiastic about the future of handheld gaming.

History proved me wrong. Once developers stopped feeling obligated to turn every game into Pointless Adventures in Stylus Scribbling (thanks for raising my blood pressure forever, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow), we received our Elite Beat Agents and our Hotel Dusk and other gems that went above and beyond the call of Fun thanks to clever implementation of the Nintendo DS’ stylus.

When Nintendo announced the DSi, people scoffed at the built-in camera. It looks like the DSi’s little cyclops eye might already have a place in gameplay, though: A Different Game in Sweden has begun an “augmented” version of Ghostwire, an acclaimed cellphone game that lets players use their built-in cameras to find and talk to “ghosts.” By communicating with the dead and solving their riddles, you can bring them peace.

This could be the first of many original games to make use of the DSi’s hardware. It’s an exciting prospect, but it’s also made me wonder why the DS and DSi have successfully inspired developers, while innovation on the Wii remains stagnant.

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Watcha’ Playing: Klonoa Remake (Wii)

Back during the 32/64 bit era I picked up a Playstation 1 game from Namco titled Klonoa: Door To Phantomile and became a fan for life. This beautifully made 2.5-D platformer, using sprites for the characters and 3-D models for the environment, was a joy to play. It was a gorgeous looking game for the Playstation, sported a wonderful sound track, and showcased some of the best, most creative run and jump platforming this side of Mario. What’s more, the jumping mechanics required not only precision skill, but puzzle solving intelligence as well. Klonoa didn’t simply pounce on enemies, he inflated them with a short range wind attack that turned them into harmless balloons that he could toss at other enemies and objects or use to execute a double jump. The environments were cleverly built around this enemy-as-tool mechanic and become wonderfully challenging towards the end of the game. Toss in a ferociously difficult bonus level to complete the package and Klonoa was one of the best games to be found on the original Playstation.

Since that time Klonoa has seen a sequel on the Playstation 2 and a cache of games on various handhelds signifying at least some moderate success for this series. Now, over ten years later, the original has been visually updated and released for the Nintendo Wii, and what an eye-popping homage it is.

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It’s the Game that Never Ends, It Just Goes On and On My Friends…

So, what’s the longest period of time you’ve ever spent on any individual single player game? I ask because over a month later, I’m still playing Rune Factory Frontier. Technically I’ve completed it and am in the process of writing a review for it. Also technically, Rune Factory is the type of game that’s never really finished. I have no idea if my stint with this game is a personal record, but it’s gotta’ be up there. Frontier is hardly alone in its marathon status, however.

Typically, when I play through a game and reach the end of its main objective, I stop playing. If there’s bonus content, I promise myself to come back to it later. Then there are the games that strike a chord of interest in me, maybe even obsession, that call me back to play again and again. If I could figure out what that magic formula was I’d bottle it and sell it to the industry for a tidy profit.

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Nintendo Celebrates their 300th Virtual Console Release with Majora’s Mask

We do our share of bitching about Nintendo’s Virtual Console releases, because sometimes it seems like the company just doesn’t care about its old-school audience. But Nintendo’s lack of enthusiasm over said digital download service is nothing but a ruse; you see, they have us conditioned to expect lousy Monday releases, so when something both first-party and long-awaited finally shows up on the Wii’s Shopping Channel, it almost seems like the end of the world.

I guess it’s only fitting that The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is today’s 300th Virtual Console release.

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Noooo!: Cave Story Wii Delayed

The Bad News: Cave Storyfor WiiWare has been delayed until “sometime after E3.”

The Good News: Everything else.

In my heart, I knew that the Cave Story remake wouldn’t make its initial release date for the end of May. In addition to a graphical overhaul and a new soundtrack (both of which you can forgo—and even mix and match), Pixel’s revamped masterpiece will include “DLC, time attacks, new weapons and enemies.” I wouldn’t regret the opportunity to throw money at a straight port of the game, but I really have to appreciate the care Nicalis is taking with this.

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Spyborgs: You Know, For Kids!

It was almost a year ago when Nintendo and Capcom fanboys all across the internet cried out in protest against the announcement of Spyborgs, a Wii exclusive multiplayer action brawler with an emphasis on cartoon humor. I acknowledged the unfairness of the fans’ complaints while making them myself. Generally, people were not vibing with the artistic direction and narrative voice in the announcement trailer, and it was clear that Capcom were reacting to those concerns as the game disappeared for the better part of a year.

Earlier this week I sat down with Daryl Allison, a senior producer at Capcom, to play a bit of the most recent build and talk about the various changes it’s been through. Continue reading »

WTFriday: The Punch-Out Rap

There’s nothing like an early start to a Friday. The Wii remake of Punch-Out!! will be making its long-awaited debut (return?) next week, and I figured a fan rap might help ease you into the mood. Or scare you off entirely.

Personally, I am looking very forward to the game, rap or no rap. It just seems like a lot of familiar, goofy fun, and I’m always up for familiar, goofy fun. I spent an entire summer working on the original Punch-Out!!, though I never did reach Mike Tyson. I thought, “I guess I’m just not good enough,” but I realise now that I was just too scared to meet him. I’m doing okay considering how few members of the human race have winked at me and flexed their biceps, and I think I will endure without seeing Mike Tyson’s failure taunt.

Video after the jump.

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