The Weekly Byte for 6/7/2010

New Releases

Prince Of Persia : The Forgotten Sands – 6/8, retailing at $49.99

News Bytes

• Mass Effect Deathmatch? Apparently that’s the newest rumor.  Job listings for Bioware Montreal were looking for ‘programmers  capable of adding multiplayer components to an already rich single player base using the unreal engine’.  Of course, these postings were ripped down, the minute they made headlines, but it would seem the damage is done.  The only Bioware property to use the Unreal engine is Mass Effect, and further rumors have a captured screen of one of the ads, shown here, getting into gross detail about the requirements.  Let us know how you feel about multiplayer in the Mass Effect universe.  I, for one, think it’s completely unnecessary and will divert resources that should be focusing on the awesome single player experience that the previous games brought-but, then again, I never would have predicted some of the things Bioware has pulled off before, so I guess we will see.
• Move over Torchlight, dungeon crawlers are crawling out of everywhere! Those of us who can’t wait for Diablo III, now have Dungeon Siege 3 to look forward to!  And it will simultaneously release on consoles?  Press releases have confirmed the sequel, designed by Obsedian with some Chris Taylor input, and a sprinkling from Square Enix.  Co-op has also been confirmed, but all other details seem to have Town Portaled back to E3 for a more spectacular reveal, so stay tuned!
• You shall pass, without fees! It would seem that Lord of the Rings Online will follow in the footsteps of Dungeons and Dragons online, and become free to play, later this year.  Hold onto Sting and your Lembas bread, players will still have to pay to unlock the content from the expansions, and some other features.  There will be ‘VIP’ access, but those details have not been outlined yet.   If your lucky, maybe you will be able to storm Mordor in the closed Beta, venturing forth on the 16th of this month.
• In other RPG news, Elemental : War of Magic, from Stardock, will be unleashed this September. Stardock’s Brad Wardell posted a lengthy video demoing the game’s opening dozen turns, in the beta engine.  For those unfamiliar with Elemental, think a fantasy-style Total War game with some Magic : The Gathering and Heroes Of Might and Magic elements thrown in.  The game is Stardock’s newest entry into the 4x strategy genre, and has not seen much in the way of details. The trailer is a whopping 12 and a half minutes long, but lacked the grand scale teasers that have come before, opting, instead, to show off the game’s basic mechanics and strategies. UPDATE : Release date confirmed for 8/24 2010!
• Survival horror on Mars? That’s the feeling we have gotten from the newest Red Faction trailer, announcing the new game, Red Faction : Armaggeddon, slated for March 2011 release.  So, the game takes place about 50 years after Red Faction : Guerrilla, and you take the role of the grandson of that game’s character.  Oddly enough, aliens have now been thrown into the mix, begging the question, where were they for the last few games?  Taking a page from Aliens and Dead Space, it will be interesting to see how this new mechanic plays out, as I’m sure we can all admit some new mechanics were needed, for the franchise.  I’m sure our own, Eric Bouchard, will be able to unearth more details at this month’s E3, and let us know if he got any hands-on squashing bugs with the game’s fabled hammer!
• Ready for some more Star Wars MMO action? No, I’m not talking about The Old Rebuplic and please don’t mention Galaxies!  The new, younger audience attracting online game is titled Clone Wars Adventures.  This fall, the free to play online game from Sony will be unleashing it’s clones on us, but don’t think typical MMO!  The game is more a collection of puzzle games, with some overarcing elements-reminding me of Puzzle Pirates, by description.  Early hands-on reports have force pushed nay-sayers aside, and reported that the minigames have tapped into the best addictive flash games and innovated them with a little Lucas magic.  Needless to say, I am intrigued, and my little clones at home will play anything emblazoned with the Star Wars logo, so you can be sure to find plenty of details here, as soon as I can get them!
• OK, I know I’m known as the MMO hater, but I’m all about the FREE! Another, free to play online game, this time sanctioned by Bigpoint and Universal, will take place in The Mummy film universe.  Supposedly, the game will be a browser based, action RPG featuring many of the characters and environments from the film series, in your quest for ancient treasure.  Unfortunately, the only details we have are speculation, but it will be interesting to see if this trend continues as well as to see how well this particular title will turn out.
• Last, but not least, some bittersweet Aperture Labs news. Yes, I know, this story already opened up on our own, ‘Daily Bits’ segment, but it bears repeating for PC fans.  In an oddly worded press release, from Aperture Labs, Valve canceled it’s ‘Portal 2′ event at E3, but said that there would be a surprise-the time and details of which would not be released until it was time for the surprise.  Also, to clear up any accusations, the memo also stated that the cancellation was NOT the surprise in question.  I think we will see that Eric Bouchard’s prediction of Portal 2 releasing with an Orange Box type bundle successor are coming to fruition, but I, admittedly, am not sure what to expect in it!  I think, if a Half-Life game is in the works, Valve will skip Episode 3 and just launch right into the next full game-especially if we are to believe the changes teased in the way of bringing back proper scary games.  I would have to think that a worthy Team Fortress 2 replacement would be in one such collection, but who knows if it’s Counter-Strike related, or a new property.  I can’t imagine Team Fortress 2 needs any work or new iterations right now, it is standing well enough on it’s own feet. Stick around for the emerging details from E3!

Geared Up

Geared Up is taking a hiatus this week, it was a full news week, and we are awaiting some of the E3 goodness heading our way.  In the meantime, if you have any entries, send them to me over at chris@everydaygamers.com!

30 Reviews in 30 Days, Day 9: The World Ends With You

I’m about to admit something here that may surprise many of you, especially with my penchant for enjoying Role Playing games: I am not a big Square Enix fan.

Sure, they made one of my favorite games of all time with Chrono Trigger, but I personally think the company has had a tendancy to make the same game over and again with the Final Fantasy series. I will even run the risk of upsetting several fans of gaming, one writer on this site in particular, by saying I think Final Fantasy VII is over rated. It is a good game, but I do not think it deserves the adoration it often receives.

That all being said, every now and then the company does something different, creating a game that is both interesting and unique. Few games have fit that description more than one I listed among the most overlooked games of 2008, The World Ends With You for the Nintendo DS.

Our World, Our time

If you have played many games by Square Enix, you know they tend to follow the same formula: a kingdom in some other universe is in moral danger, and you and your team are the only ones who can save it. The World Ends With You breaks that trend completely, however. You play Neku, an angst ridden teen (I didn’t say it was all new) who somehow ends up stuck in a spirit world that runs parallel to modern day Shibuya. You are forced to team up with various characters in the game, competing against the Reapers for the chance at a second life. Neku really does not want to participate in this week long trial at first, but as the game goes on, he starts to find something worth fighting for: the friends he though he would never have.

The characters may be typical Square Enix, but the modern setting is not.

Having modern Shibuya the backdrop for the game really sets The World Ends With You apart from Square Enix’s normal fare of RPGs. Shibuya is one of the fashion centers of Japan, and that sensibility effects the game; your characters can gain attack and defensive bonuses by wearing the hot tends of the area, and you can even influence the trends by what pins you battle with.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Before I start talking too much about pins, I need to give you a basic idea of just how you play this game.

Now this is how you use the DS

Anyone who owns a Nintendo DS knows that many games do not really take advantage of the dual screens. Honestly, most of the games Square Enix makes for the system don’t take full advantage of the touch screen. In the company’s defense, many of them are ports of older games. The World Ends With You breaks that trend. At the start of the game, you are forced to team up with Shiki, a girl who is not what she appears to be. When the two of you enter combat, Shiki is on the top screen, and Neku is on the bottom. You have to control both at the same time.

That’s right: I said you have to control both characters at the same time. You control Neku with the stylus on the touch screen, moving him around the battle area and doing different attack motions to battle the creatures on the bottom screen. You control Shiki on the top screen via the D-Pad (or the x y b a buttons if you are left handed), pressing in the direction you want her to attack and jumping in the air to do combos. The better you are at coordinating these two characters attacks, the more experience bonuses you will get and the faster you will build your special attack meter, which allows you to attack everything on the screen at once.

Sound difficult? That’s only the half of it. Neku can learn different kinds of attacks based on what pins you equip him with. You pick up these pins through combat, in stores and through completing quests throughout the game. As you use these pins in combat, they become more powerful, doing more damage and sometimes evolving into more powerful forms of attack. The issue is each pin has a different gesture on the touch screen you use to activate it, and you need to keep these different motions straight in combat.

That’s not all. You rank up throughout the game as in any RPG, but you can actually drop your effective level in battle in order to gain more XP (you gain more if you are more on an even keel with the enemies you are fighting). The only issue with that is not realizing you are about to enter a boss battle and not getting to raise your level back up beforehand. Take it from me; that can be frustrating.

A great story and innovative combat make The World Ends With You a game worth playing, even if it does become a bit repetative by making you relive the same week three times.

Sound like too much to handle? Well, you can set the game to take some or even complete control of the top screen character, though as you start to get used to it, you will find that is really not necessary.

Oh, and then there is Tin Pin Slamer, a mini game within the game where you use different pins in a kind of strange arena battle. Imagine Pogs with power ups, and you will kind of get the picture. Kind of.

Sounds like an interesting game? It is. You could almost say it is an ideal game, expect for one major issue: the game repeats.

Wait, didn’t I just go through this?

The point of the game is to last out the week as the last pairing of players in the games. When you do this, you win the chance to go back to the real world. One problem, however: only one of you can return. The Composer, the unseen entity running the games, decides that Shiki has come to grips with what lead her to this world and allows her to return. Neku, however, is forced to play through another week, this time teamed up with the enigmatic Joshua.

As if that was not bad enough, once you beat that week, you are forced to play through one more. Basically, you do the same thing 3 times. Even though the designers try to vary up the storyline and gameplay in these other weeks, it still starts to get repetitive. I had to put the game down for a while just to deal with it.

Oh, and you do not get to really understand the ending unless you do the secret missions you unlock after beating it. Thanks a lot, Square Enix.

One thing that never gets old: the music

There is one part of this game, however, that can never get old. It is a little hard to describe just what the music is like in this game. So hard, in fact, I’m not even going to try. Instead, I’m going to post the YouTube link to the best song in the game: “Calling.”

Yes, I will be adding The World Ends With You to my video game soundtrack list.

If you liked that, just look up The World Ends With You on YouTube. Several of the of the songs are there. Oh, you can also buy the songs throughout the game, so you can play your favorites as you make your way around Shibuya.

It’s not often that Square Enix tries something radically different. If this game is an example of what happens when it does, we can only hope the game company decides to give more innovations a try. The World Ends With You gets a 5 out of 5.