Jools is working on Moon, an upcoming first-person adventure on the DS. The game looks awesome, I’m very excited for it.

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Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King

Console: Wii (WiiWare)

These Crystal Chronicles games just seem to be getting better. Ring of Fates was incredible; and while this game takes a turn down a slightly different path, even a much more risky one for the series, it does not disappoint.

Plot – [10/10] The story of this game takes place shortly after the events of the original Crystal Chronicles game. The miasma created by the Meteor Parasite has been dispelled, and the world has, for the most part, been reduced to nothing. The only remnant of the times before the miasma are the ambiguous crystals that reside in the towns.

Enter the world of the young son of Epitav, the nation’s king – he has been chosen by default to be the new king of the land. The only problem is the lack of citizens, and buildings.

Upon arriving in his old town, along with his father’s chief advisor, Chime, and noble knight, Hugh, the new king must make use of the promised land left for him by his deceased father, and the mysterious power of Architek, to form a new society.

However, soon after the town’s re-creation, disaster strikes, and a terrifying secret from the past resurfaces. Questions about Epitav himself, and his loyalty arise, and the entire kingdom is forced into a battle of good versus evil – but the lines between are blurry, and you are at the reins.

Gameplay- [10/10] Incredibly original. I cannot stress that enough. The style of this game is unlike anything I have ever seen before. Some classify it as a tycoon game, some an RPG, some an adventure – but it truly is everything in between.

Everything you yourself do is within an unlimited amount of short days, within the boundaries of your own town. The purpose of the game is, essentially, to build new structures with Architek, the magic used to build such structures. However, to fuel the Architek, you need a material known as Elementite. This is where your adventurers come in.

You commission adventurers to go out and seek Elementite for you, as well as other things, through royal beheths posted at bulletin boards in the town. While you do not explore the dungeons yourself, you are almost entirely responsible for your adventurer’s jobs, stats, weapons, armor, etc.

Most commands are completed through your advisor, Chime, with a flick of the Wiimote.

All in all, the game runs very smoothly, with basic controls that are easy to get used to.

Graphics- [9/10] Typical Wii graphics – there really is no change from the FFCC title for the Gamecube (which were albeit incredible graphics for the GCN). There is minimal lag, but usually only when buildings are being erected, and you attempt to move, or call Chime once more.

Final Score- [10/10] This game has by far surpassed the other two in the series in addictiveness. An excellent plot, simplistic controls that appeal to more casual audiences and a strategic element that attracts the more sophisticated gamer, and an overall unique experience that is unlike any other, make this game the the best in its series, and one of the best of the year so far. Square Enix walked in uncharted territory, risked the reputation of Crystal Chronicles, and pulled it off. Definitely go out of your way to buy this game. A+

Verdict: Buy it

LostWinds was one of the most anticipated WiiWare launch games. It had a lot of hype, and it deserved it. LostWinds is an ambitious game, its fun, looks good and plays great. It’s another gem to add to the Wii’s library, another must-buy.

The game starts off with a young boy named Toku being awakened from his nap. As he journeys back to his village, he falls into a cave and discovers the wind spirit, Enril. Enril tells young Toku about how she stopped the evil Balasar by imprisoning him in a spirit stone. But in doing so, she accidentally sealed herself in the stone as well. Now Balasar is free and Enril has lost all her power. Thus her and Toku decide to team up and stop Balasar once and for all.

That’s the basis of the games story. It doesn’t really advance much; there is very little plot development. Of course the game only lasts 3 hours, so there isn’t much room for plot. But what there is a lot of is fun.

LostWinds is a simple platformer with a twist. It’s based around using the wind to solve puzzles and reach new areas. Pressing the A button and flicking the remote upward will make Toku jump higher, but that’s just the beginning. You acquire more abilities as go along, and the game balances them all out. Each gets used continually throughout every area, and none are ever forgotten.

While platforming is the core of the game, the puzzles are its meat. Without them, this game wouldn’t be nearly as good. They are tough and they flow very well. But some of them are simple. They range from blowing fire into a wall of wooden boards, to burning a plant to make a seed, taking it to a new location and replanting it in order to reach a platform higher up.

My complaint would probably that the platforming is a little weak. They need to up the challenge and complexity of those segments. The combat isn’t a major part of the game, but there isn’t much variety in the enemies.

Visually the game excels, the art is really good, and graphical the game is one of Wii’s prettier games. The framerate is solid, not a drop in sight. Overall the presentation is spectacular. If I were to pick at the little things, I’d say the font is a tad too small, but it doesn’t affect the game at all.

The soundtrack is up right boring. The tunes aren’t bad, there just isn’t enough. There is one song that loops continually in the overworld, it’s not annoying, but the variation needs to be there. I’m quite a stickler on music, but considering the 43mb, I can’t get down on Frontier for not creating a full fledged soundtrack.

Most people will complain about the price to length ratio of LostWinds being unbalanced and rendering the game a not buy. At a price tag of 10$ and the game lasting 3 hours, that argument is feasible. But those are 3 very fun hours. I think its worth it.

Final Verdict: Buy it

Yeah, its gonna cost you 10$, but its gonna be worth it. Its the most ambitious launch title, and its better than spending 10$ on Pokemon Farm, which I know hundreds or thousands will download.  So  c’mon, don’t let Pokemon Farm lure you in. Support Lost Winds, download PKMN Farm later (or never).

I finally… got it! Mario Kart Wii!

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Mario Kart Wii – Review

Console: Wii

Since the great disappointment that was Mario Kart: Double Dash for the GameCube, Nintendo stepped up their game with Mario Kart for the DS. So, that left fans wondering – could this series get any better?

That question was answered in April of 2008; and was it ever.

Playability- [8/10] (Replacing “Plot” with this, because there’s really no plot to Mario Kart)

While there is a lot to unlock in Mario Kart Wii, its only downfall is a lack of modes to play on. For me, the single most frustrating point is the lack of a mode that does not involve 12 characters, all racing at once. I personally enjoy a race with just two or three people [i]more[/i] than a gigantic Grand Prix. But that’s just me.

As I said before, there is plenty to unlock – there are a grand total of 15 unlockable characters (I’m partial to King Boo and Rosalina), as well as four hidden Cups with four new courses each, and lots of karts and bikes as well. While it can get repetitive, MK Wii has decent replay value.

Gameplay- [10/10] When you get the game, you will most likely spend a good ten minutes swearing and screaming at your television screen, while you get used to the Wii Wheel. But after that, it’s pure bliss.

The Wii Wheel provides an immerseful, intuitive gameplay experience that has been attempted by other games (Such as Excite Truck) but not truly perfected. Mario Kart Wii has perfected it, and it is smooth in the same way that the controls of Super Mario Galaxy were – completely faultless. The way that the turning of the wheel makes your kart turn on screen is addictive, and leaves you wanting more.

Of course, if the Wii Wheel isn’t what tickles your fancy, you can always use the Wii Remote & Nunchuk, the Classic Controller, or the ever-popular GameCube controller.

Graphics- [10/10] The graphics are just about as good as a Mario game can get. It’s hard to make cartoon people look any more realistic. The game utilizes similar graphics to Super Mario Galaxy, which was incredible, so of course this game will receive the same score.

Final Score- [8/10] While Mario Kart Wii is lots of fun to play, and certainly the best Mario Kart title thus far, it’s not much different in playability than its predecessors, a fact which brings down the score to an 8. Overall, however, Mario Kart Wii is definitely a must-buy if you are a Wii owner. [b]A[/b]

PS2 ports are one of Wii owners’ worst nightmares. But in Okami’s case, it should be considered a dream. A wonderful, lengthy, polished, beautiful dream. Yes, Okami is an absolute gem and easily seats itself at the top of the Wii’s library. From the game’s beautiful presentation, to its masterfully told story. Okami is a piece of art, throughout every aspect of its design, a must own for every Wii owner who calls themselves a hardcore gamer.

Okami’s most advertised trait is its visual style. The combination of Japanese art with wonderful paper filter is delivered perfectly. Added to the Wii version is 480p widescreen, but besides that, the game’s visuals have remained the same. The game looks spectacular nonetheless. One of the Wii’s most beautiful titles.

One problem to note is the frame rate drops. They aren’t plentiful, but they are there. Hopefully Ready At Dawn’s next Wii effort will have it locked down. Keep it mind the game does look spectacular.

The game is laid out similar to The Legend of Zelda. You’ve got a huge overworld to explore, which leads to dungeons and towns. Okami does a lot of things better than Zelda; the overworld is only one of them. In Zelda, there are secret areas to be discovered throughout the overworld, but Okami takes that aspect to the next level. There is so much to be discovered, so many treasures to be unearthed, you can spend a lot of time just running about, looking for spoils.

Also, if you were to ask me how many dungeons Okami contained, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. That’s not to say there are so many, they’re uncountable, but it’s just less obvious you’re in a dungeon than in a Zelda title. You can got through an entire area, and not tell if it’s a dungeon or not. One thing I must rag on is the difficulty level. It’s not hard, but I guess that’s no surprise, most games in this era aren’t. There are some really clever puzzles, but you’ll find that you’ll rarely have trouble dispatching enemies and bosses.

The boss designs are similar to Zelda’s. Using an item or ability that you found in the area before the boss, you’ll uncover its weak point. Then you exploit it and bash the boss until it dies. It’s simple and easy, and needs to change. The Metroid Prime trilogy has boss fights down. They’re big, hard and epic. Everybody has to take a page from Retro’s book.

Okami has a lot of fantastic aspects, but two exceed the rest. The story and the soundtrack. The score is incredible, every track fits with the situation, and they’re all beautiful. Go download or buy the OST, even if you haven’t played the game yet, just do it.

As for the story, this is the place where Okami pulls itself past so many games. There are so many twists and turns, and I guarantee that at the 10 hour mark, it will look like the game will end, but you’ll be saying to yourself: ‘What’s gonna happen? The game can’t end here.’ At least that’s what I was thinking.

Character development is great. You’ll really feel the connection to the characters and you’ll love them all. The game’s ending will tear you up, you won’t want to say goodbye to all the friends you made throughout this massive quest. As the game ends, you’ll look back and say: ‘Please Capcom, make a sequel.’

Okami is amazing. Straight up. It’s a must have, one of the best Wii games and one of the best games of the year. It exceeds in all categories, story, sound, presentation. Every aspect is polished and perfect. This game is awesome.

♦♦♦♦♦

5 out of 5

The 4^th installment in the Ace Attorney series sees a change that not many looked forward too, or enjoyed once they got the game. Phoenix Wright, the former protagonist, has left the spotlight, and Apollo Justice has entered it.

Non-fans will probably ask why this is such a big deal. Well, save four characters, the entire cast has retired, which means the designers now have a new universe to work with and develop. This is not a bad thing, it’s the gameplay features the developers went with that are the games flaw.

Now, the game plays almost exactly like the other three. It’s a point-and-click text adventure game, a visual novel. The big change, which isn’t exactly big per se, is the new investigation features.

The weakest point in the games is the investigation segments. They get tedious quite fast, and can last upward of an hour. To remedy this complaint, Capcom added Psyche-Locks to the second and third game. They were like mini-cross examinations that did liven the investigations quite a bit.

In Apollo Justice, Psyche-Locks have been removed in favor of minigame-esque investigations that make use of the DS features. Such as dusting for fingerprints (tap the screen to apply a powder, which you blow off to reveal prints). In the first game, there was a special case which used these features as well. The differences between that case and Apollo Justice, is that the special case used them like they grew on trees, and AJ uses them like they’re polar bears.

In case you didn’t get that little joke, I’ll recap. AJ uses its selling point less in the whole game, than the special case in the first game. It’s quite disappointing and I hope to see AJ2 use them a lot more.

Another new feature is the ‘Perceive’ system. With Apollo’s special bracelet, he is able to perceive the nervous habits of witnesses. Similar to the special investigations, this features isn’t used a whole lot either, but unlike them, I don’t want to see the ‘Perceive’ system whored out. It is generally used to overturn cases, thus, when it comes up you know it’s a special moment. As such it’s infrequency doesn’t bother me.

Good news, though. The game stays true to everything that AA is, so if you hate the games, you’ll hate this one, and vice-versa. But it’s also a good starting point for someone who has never played the games. Plot-wise it has no ties to the previous games, and they’ve simplified the game by taking out a couple gameplay features.

The game’s difficulty has been lowered also, not to the point of ‘casual’ but it’s definitely not as tough as the other games. The characters are much cleaner and the backgrounds are smoother and look nicer, showing that the graphics have improved.

It’s definitely not a revolution, but its good old AA. Fans will like it and it’s a healthy place for a newcomer to start.

♦♦♦♦

Console: Nintendo DS

In all honesty, who doesn’t love Final Fantasy? Quite possibly one of the most popular video game series of all time, the incredible masters of RPG have done it again, and they certainly lived up to expecations.

I personally have been anticipating this game for ages, and seeing as I loved Crystal Chronicles for the GCN, I had high expectations. I was not disappointed.

Plot- [10/10] One of the most intelligent and interesting plot designs ever, in my opinion. In complete contrast to the many somewhat pointless subplots that were the downfall of the original game, Ring of Fates delivers an incredible storyline that will leave you wondering what is going to happen next. Along with this is the customizable aspect of Multiplay mode, which is similar to the original game, giving you the choice of either option.

In RoF, twins Yuri and Chelinka live with their father, Sir Latov, in a small village on the outskirts of Rebena Te Ra, the region’s capital (points if you know where the name is from). Their mother is long deceased, and the children miss her dearly.

Suddenly, monsters begin to appear in many places, controlled by mysterious red crystals embedded in their body. These crystals are somehow related to the Crystal Temple in Rebena Te Ra, and are viciously powerful and evil in comparison to the light crystals that the Yukes use for magic.

After a day at Mount Vaal, picking Moogle Plants with family friend Alhanalem, the children are looking forward to a quiet night alone with their father – one that will never come. Their village is invaded by the Blackguards of the Temple, and a strange wizard called Chaspel murders Yuri and Chelinka’s father, asking for “a replacement”. Yuri and Chelinka ward him off using magic, but at a terrible price; Chelinka can no longer speak.

Along with Alhanalem, Meeth the Lilty, and Gnash the Forest Selkie, the twins must get to the bottom of the terrible prophecy they are, unknowingly, a part of, and stop the demonic power of the crimson moon – before it is too late.

Gameplay- [8/10] After Crystal Chronicles, it takes some getting used to to play this game, and especially interchanging between the touch screen and the buttons while in combat. However, having a damage meter in place of the original game’s “heart system” is much easier.

Switching party members is also an issue. You need to touch their logo on the touch screen, but this happens while you are still being attacked – A fact that makes it nearly impossible to not take damage while you are doing it.

Graphics- [6/10] With all that is good about this game, the graphics are truly a disappointment. The short, animated “baby people” are annoying to watch on my DS screen, and they could have done much better, in my opinion.

Final Score- [9/10] An excellent, excellent game, and probably my favorite DS game thus far. Definitely a must-have, even if you didn’t like the original – It is less like a Crystal Chronicles and more like a true Final Fantasy title, which is still great. A+

-Brett, Cafe Editor