Point Blank DS - Review

Light gun games in the arcades are timeless classic. Grasping a plastic rendition of a fire arm and shooting away at on screen targets can help sharpen those hand eye coordination skills and reaction time but really we play them because they’re good entertainment. Unfortunately videogame arcades are dying breed these days but one game I vividly remember pumping heaps of dollar coins into a few years ago was Point Blank. Most likely a game that you won’t see at the few remaining arcades nowadays but back in its prime it was a popular title both as a single player and as a co-op. I discovered this game sitting in the bargain bin at my local EB and I thought I would snap it up and enjoy some nostalgia. So how well did this arcade classic do when it made its transition over to the Nintendo Dual Screen? Read on to find out.

Upon loading up the game you are presented with an option/game selection screen that is represented as island with buildings sprouting from it. Each one of these buildings represents a game option and is selected via touching the lower DS screen.
Free Play mode allows you to select any stage at will and have a play so this is basically a practice mode to allow players to familiarize them selves with the various stages.
Arcade mode allows you take part in the game’s adaption of the arcade original. There are four difficulty levels to choose, practice, beginner, advanced and insane all of which have you aiming for top score across groups of four randomly generated stages which you get to select the in order you wish to play them in. Each group of four stages are separated with a bonus stage where you have a chance to earn extra lives, bonus points or absolutely nothing.
In both free play and arcade mode you are given a rating on how you perform after each stage. Hits, accuracy and quick shot is what you’ll be rated on along with a total score for that stage which will be saved in the games internal memory if you rank high enough.
Game Museum is basically an added bonus where a handful of old arcade classic light gun games can be played in the same manner as the traditional Point Blank stages. Shooting clay targets and crabs are among the few available.
Brain Massage has a bit of brain training feel to it because of how it scores you after completing a set number of stages. A number of stages are grouped together in a categories, eagle eye, mental focus, shoot to survive etc, with even more categories available if you can unlock them. Once you complete a category the game tallies up your score in accuracy, judgement, reaction, precision, attention and overall, then tags you with a name depending on how well you did.
VS mode lets you play against a friend with another DS unit. Unfortunately I never got around to exploring this option so I can’t give you much information on this.
Options doesn’t give you many options as you think it would with the only thing you can do here is to erase save game data.
So that’s basically what the game is constructed of. Your main goal though out the game is to achieve high scores and try to beat them again the next time you play with a few unlockable categories to work for.

When a light game makes the transition from the arcade to another platform usually a gun is supplied or the gamin system’s official gun is compatible but in the DS versions case it’s certainly not practical to be pointing a plastic gun at the screen and shooting targets. So the obvious decision to utilize the DS touch screen interface was used. Tapping the lower screen with the DS stylus is how you shoot at targets. This control system works fine but it takes so much of the game’s original feel away it actually makes the game quite repetitive. Just simply tapping the screen doesn’t have the original excitement factor it had in the arcades and takes away a lot of the hand eye coordination skill that was previously needed to achieve high scores. Add to this the close proximity of the screen and you have your self a pretty easy game. To be fair though I do understand that the only other control system they could have used was to manually move a set of cross hairs around the screen then press a button to eliminate targets and that would have made the game completely frustrating.

Graphically the game wasn’t very impressive when it was in arcades with most targets being represented by a cardboard cut out that moved on rails, or toon like animation that compromised of only the bare minimum of animated frames placed over simplistic backdrops. No textured mapped polygons or special lighting effects here just enough detail for the player to establish what they are shooting at. The DS port is virtually spot on to the original though so full credit given there for that. Same goes for the games audio, all the quirky stage and menu music is all the same affair. The gun sound, exploding targets and the squealing noise of creatures being shot are all the same as the original but they do sound a little weaker mainly due to the low powered speakers built into the DS unit.

I now know why this game was tossed into the bargain bin as there’s not much in the game to keep you playing for extended periods of time or to keep you coming back for more. Point Black was a great game when it was in the arcades and basically it should have stayed there as it looses too much of its original feel when the gun has been taken away. Namco Bandai games did make a good effort in the conversion but wasn’t given the correct tools. Overall the game is a fairly decent time killer and can be easily picked up on the fly for a quick game but it will no doubt be gathering dust not long after purchase.

Overall Rating 6/10

Mario Kart Wii - Review

No doubt that there’s going to be an influx of Mario Kart Wii reviews and that’s not going to be much of shock as the game has been eagerly anticipated by many Wii owners around the world, the more opinions on this game the better. So if you have the time for another opinion on this top selling game please read on.

So what’s a Nintendo console with out Mario Kart? A Gameboy or NES I guess, at that point in time I’m gathering that Nintendo didn’t conjure up the concept of lumping all their iconic characters together, throwing them into carts and having them duke it out on various tracks. Either that or the older systems didn’t have the processing power to provide the adequate experience, hell! Even the Super Nintendo needed the aid of the DSP chip in order to get the right mix of pseudo 3D graphics, and that’s one aspect of the Mario Kart franchise that makes the games so special, Nintendo pushing their hardware to the limit to give gamers the best experience possible. The Mario Kart series has its own element of flavour that shouldn’t be adjusted too much only tweaked. Having just the right mix of ingredients that makes the games just epic, good graphics that enhance the game play, a nicely matched sound track for each stage accompanied by screaming engines and squealing tyres, crisp handling vehicles that improve as your skill level progresses and action packed multiplayer mayhem. Mario Kart on the Super Nintendo blew everyone away with Mode seven graphics, Mario Kart 64 gave us a true 3D environment, Mario Kart on the Gameboy Advance took the experience portable for the first time, Mario Kart Double Dash on the Game Cube smoothed out the rough edges of the N64 version and Mario Kart DS took all the best bits of the series and added wireless Online gaming. So what has this latest version of Mario Kart brought us? Let’s take a look.



Gameplay

I have to admit that I got pretty nervous when I first saw the above E3 video. When Reggie Fils-Aime announced that a Mario Kart beginner could stay bumper to bumper with a veteran, then continues on, makes a goofy face and introduced the Wii wheel. I thought the classic Mario Kart series was going to get violated in order to accommodate the latest batch of casual gamers the Wii has attracted but there was no need to fret as the latest edition of Mario Kart on the Wii will keep both beginners and veterans happy.

All the things we love about the Mario Kart series are present in the Wii version along with a few added extras. The usual game modes are all here which include Grand Prix, Time Trials, VS race and Battle. Grand Prix mode comprises of 50cc, 100cc, 150cc and the unlockable 150cc Mirror Mode. If 50cc or 100cc mode is selected you now have option to choose what other vehicles you race against, this latest option has been added because of the introduction of motor bikes. From then on you have the choice of 24 tracks, 12 newly designed tracks and 12 remastered classics from the predecessor versions of the series. Playing some of the old Super Nintendo tracks did bring back a little nostalgia it’s a shame they didn’t add more of them.
Character and vehicle selection is good and plentiful, the moment you fire up the game for the first time you already have a good selection to pick from with even more available by completing various aspects of the game. Characters range from the light weights like Baby Peach to the heave hitters like Bowser with each character having good and bad points; the larger characters have the advantage of pushing the smaller characters around, while the lighter characters have the cornering advantage. Each kart and bike has a rating in the following departments; speed, weight, acceleration, handling, drift, off-road and mini turbo, all you need to do is find the one that suits your driving style. We all pretty much know how a Mario Kart game pans out regardless of its platform so I won’t bore you any further with anymore obvious details.
[pic]http://image.mycolours.com.au/medium/943592.jpg[/pic]
What would Mario Kart be with out the items; they have been the ‘in game’ equalizers since the beginning but for the Wii version I do believe that they are handed out a little too loosely this is very apparent during online multiplayer matches. All the classics items are here along with a few new additions like the POW block which originates for the original Mario Brothers game back in 1983. When activated the POW block will knock all other players out causing then to spin out and drop what ever item they may be holding at the time. The Mega Mushroom gives you a short stint of speed and expands your vehicle to gigantic proportions allowing you to smash everyone out of your path. Last but not least the very annoying Thundercloud, this item will appear over your vehicle for a short period of time and if you don’t bounce it off onto another player quick enough you will get hit by a lighting bolt.
The items do crank up the excitement and entertainment but it does get to the point where you’re screaming “ENOUGH ALREADY” when you’re at the front of the pack being bombarded with weapon after weapon after weapon. With the previous Mario Kart games the blue shell and lighting was the holy grail of weapons and they didn’t appear frequently but now if you’re trailing behind you can pretty much bank on getting some decent items to bring you back to the front line. Don’t get me wrong I do think it’s fair for the tail enders to get the good items but I do think Nintendo should have tweaked the balancing system a little more not focussing mainly of making the races beginner friendly.

Control

Thankfully the control system hasn’t differed too much from the Game Cube and DS versions. Turbo launches and drafting are the same affair with only the drifting element being tampered with. The old art of snaking (linking multiple drift boosts to gather more speed) has been nullified. No longer can you manually pump up the drift boosts, with the Wii version drift boost happens over the duration of your drift. The karts have two levels and the bikes have the one. This has disappointed many fans of the DS versions as this technique used to separate the pros from the amateurs this is another example of Nintendo moulding the game to suit a broader audience. If drifting isn’t your forte then there’s a newly added option called ‘Automatic mode’ that automatically puts your can into a drift without having to jump into it manually. Nintendo were kind enough to give us a little back in return for messing with the drift boosting controls and that has come in the form of tricks. Now when you launch your vehicle off a ramp you can pull off one of four different tricks and once you’ve hit solid ground again you get rewarded with a small boost of speed. Overall the vehicle control is smooth and crisp, a Mario Kart veteran and easily adjust their technique to suite while a beginner can jump straight in and have a blast.

When it comes to controller options we now have four different types to choose from; the Wii Wheel, Wii Remote + Nun Chuck, Game Cube controller and the Classic Controller. The Wii wheel is great for beginners as they can simply select the Automatic Mode then twist and shake away. For someone that’s been playing Mario Kart though out the series probably wont like this option as it doesn’t have the accuracy of a digital or analogue controller. At times I found myself almost dislocating my shoulder followed by a ninja roll across the lounge room trying to get my vehicle pointed in the direction I wanted it to go. As for the Wii Wheel accessory it’s self it basically is a wad of plastic moulded into the shape of a steering wheel but compared to the plethora of crappy pieces of plastic posing as Wii accessories the Wii Wheel has to be the best design. The Wii Remote sides easily into the Wii Wheel and wheel it self has its own trigger button that is larger than the actual Wii Remote trigger. Nintendo were smart enough to add a hole in the side of the Wii wheel so you can still use the IR sensor, it’s such a simple idea that does wonders for convenience and I’m surprised none of the third party manufactures thought of it earlier. In the same manner as what they did with the Wii Zapper Nintendo have showed third party accessory manufactures how to do things properly.
If you’re still fixated on Double Dash and want to retain that feel, plug your old comfy Game Cube controller in and enjoy. All the buttons are the same as Double Dash, the new tricks are performed using the D-Pad and you have rumble feedback. The only draw back is that you’re hard wired into the console and by this point in time I’m sure most of us are spoiled by wireless controllers but if you have Wave Bird wireless Game Cube controller in your possession you’ll have the best of both worlds. Option three is to use the Wii remote and Nun Chuck combination, it is functional but to me it just feels to clumsy and unnatural to be used for racing game. Last but not least is the Classic Controller which is my personal favourite. Its wireless (sort of), having most of the SNES and N64 controller features it gives you that old school feel when playing and it’s accurate. My only gripe about it is the lack of rumble feed back and the way you have to juggle between the Classic Controller and the Wii Remote when navigating though the options. Apart from that the classic Controller is my weapon of choice with only a Wireless Game Cube controller being the one to top that.


Online

Mario Kart was a smash hit on all the Nintendo platforms but when it made its début on the DS it was a phenomenon. Apart from its super crisp game play and smooth graphics the added online feature just made the DS version totally addictive and even to this day people around the world are still playing WiFi matches. Nintendo also added online multiplayer with the Wii version, which was a no brainer on their behalf but this time they built up on the DS version by including some extras. Naturally that ‘DEFCOM 3 missile activation code’ AKA Nintendo friend code still has to be entered by both parties in order to play one of your mates but you now have the ability to send an invite to friends previously added to your Wii console via the Mario Kart channel which takes a little pain out of hammering in all those digits. With the new Mario Kart channel you can now check out if your friends are online, compete against ghost data, check out world wide rankings or participate in competitions. If online multiplayer is accessed through the actual game you have the choice of playing against random people in your country or around the world. Up to 12 competitors will automatically be grouped together, if you all start the game at the same time you get to see each others Mii characters give you a friendly wave from their position on the globe. If you jump into a group that has already commenced racing you have to kick back and wait until the next race but during this time you can watch the other competitors finish off their race from a replay style view. You begin your online experience with 5000 points which may increase or decrease depending on who you win or loose against in a race, if you decide to use the option to bring a guest with you when you go online that guest will remain neutral with no points to gain or loose. The online multiplayer has to be one of the games most appealing features, with the only draw backs being the choppy frame rate and resolution drop when the number of players increases and the stupid amount of weapons you get bombarded with when you’re in first place.


Graphics and sound

Obviously I expected the Wii version to out shine the DS version graphically by a long shot but when compared to the previous Game Cube version there isn’t much of a leap. Yes we now have a higher resolution when running though component cables and the new batch of Wii specific stages are bright, colourful and run smoothly, I was expecting more though. I understand that the remastered retro stages would look a little bland compared to the rest considering what they are originally based on. I really wanted to get blown away with the new stages and expected Nintendo to do some of their classic programming trickery to squeeze every last polygon out of the Wii’s GPU but unfortunately I didn’t and I’m afraid I’m going to have to put the Wii version’s graphics a small notch above what we got when playing Double Dash. There’s also the issue of the frame dropping when playing against a large number of opponents online. Luckily there’s more than enough quality game play to offset this so it hasn’t crippled the game at all.
The audio of this game is actually quite impressive, each track has their own theme music although some of them may be a little on the cutesy side they all pretty much suite the stages that they are assigned to. The vehicle and item sound effects are clearly presented and easily identifiable as well. The impressive aspect of the audio of this game is the actual quality; I ran the game through a surround sound receiver with great results. You could here what or who was coming up beside you through the correct speaker which is quite a valiant effort from Nintendo considering that the Wii is limited to the standard red and white audio cables.



Overall Rating 8/10

Mario Kart Wii is a good quality game with solid game play both single and multiplayer. Nintendo have tweaked with the classic Mario Kart formula to make the game friendlier for beginners and as much as I disapprove of this I have to admit it hasn’t affected the fun factor of game that much. Although I was expecting more from this latest instalment I have to bear in mind the hardware limitations and enjoy it for what it is. So if you’ve never played Mario Kart before just grab a hold of the Wii Wheel get straight into it and enjoy. If you’re Mario Kart veteran plug in the Classic Controller or Game Cube Controller and simply adjust your self to the new drifting system. Definitely worth a purchase and recommended for everyone.

Thank you for reading

-Guyv3r

Darth Wii the Black Case replacement project.

For sometime now the hospital grade white colour of the Wii’s casing has bothered me, as it stood out like a Storm Trooper at Goth party when sitting next a slew of black and silver components that make up my entertainment system. I was also very disappointed when there was no alternate colour options when purchasing the Wii on launch day even though many images circled the internet indicating that various colour options were available, so my only solution was either apply a vinyl skin or completely replacing the outer casing. There’s a humungous amount vinyl skin designs available with some of them having really nice looking designs but after some careful thought I decided not to take the easy way out, plus I knew once the skin is applied the surrounds of the white buttons would still be visible. I ended up enlisting the services of Ozmodchips and purchasing a Wii evolve Black Kitana replacement case, there are other brands and colour options available if you search around but for what I wanted the Kitana case will do the job.


The Wii evolve Black Kitana replacement case kit comes neatly packaged with the following items:
- A complete replacement Black Wii casing
- A pre assembled DVD entry
- 3 colour options for DVD drive entry light
- Detailed assembly instructions
- Black replacement rubber feet and stickers to mask screws
- A tri-wing screwdriver
- A Philips screwdriver
- Tweezers
- Styrofoam work block


Disassembly and reassembly of the casing
As daunting as it may look stripping apart your Wii isn’t that difficult as it seems anyone with a very basic knowledge of electronics and some patients can complete this task. This all can be completed by using the supplied instructions but if they’re not detailed enough for you there’s a plethora of tutorials on the Internet some with step by step video instructions. I completed the case change over using what was supplied in the kit with the only addition being a flat head screw driver to assist in removing some stubborn plugs.
There’s no point in me taking you through each step, as mentioned above instructions on doing this are littered around the Internet To give you a basic idea of what’s involved I suggest you do a quick search on Youtube or Google to make certain you’re up to the task before purchasing a replacement case kit.
In short once you have removed top part of the casing and the internal components of the Wii are exposed, the instructions will ask you to slowly strip apart one layer of Wii’s components at a time. All you have to is take your time and be patient as some parts of the Wii components are quite fragile, also to help streamline the reassembly process I suggest you group the components with their screws with each step, this way there’s no hunting around for which screw goes where later on, but if you do manage to mix up some of the screws a supplied screw guide that corresponds with the main instructions comes with the kit that indicates what screw goes where and how many of each you should have.
The only fiddly parts of the process is removing and replacing the screws that hold the DVD drive in place, as these screws a sunken deep into the unit and require the use of tweezers to fish them out (it’s a bit like that old board game, Operation). Another thing that may have you taking a few steps backwards after going forwards is some cables need to folded neatly out of the way for everything to fit flush. I’m no tech guru and I’ve never pulled apart a current generation video games console before so if can do I’m sure everyone else can.

Overall Verdict
All I really wanted out of this endeavour was to change my Wii from white to black and the Wii evolve Black Kitana replacement case kit did the job and came with all I needed to get the job done. The Black Kitana kit is not entirely perfect as there are some negative points to go with the positives.

The good points
The ease of assemble and disassembly was a bonus and by adding a completely assembled black disc drive front saves heaps of time fiddling around. Also including a three disc drive illumination colours was a nice touch allowing you a little more customization, I decided to go for a red light as I haven’t seen many Wii’s with a red disc drive light and it seemed fitting to add the red drive light to a black Wii.
All the external connections from the power cord right down to memory card slots for the Game Cube all function like they did in their previous standard guise. The power button, reset button and disc eject button all click and function as they previously did. Take a few small steps back and the Kitana case looks like it belongs there with its shiny gloss back finish, and blends in nicely with the majority of today’s home entertainment appliances and components. From doing a simple touch test it feels as though the gloss back casing has done nothing to hinder the Wii’s heat dissipation.

The bad points
Over all the supplied instructions were detailed and comprehendible, except for a one thing.... they printed instructions of how to fit a black Wii case on black paper, that has to be one of the most stupid things you could do when desiging a layout for a set of instructions. Once you reach the point of reassembly you find your self wasting time squinting at the instructions trying to figure out which way the Wii is facing, now seriously it wouldn’t matter what colour the diagrams were as long as they aren’t the same colour of the background.
One thing that was left out of the kit was a black Wii stand, the originally supplied Nintendo item has to be reused and doesn’t seem to contrast to well with the new colour, I was surprised that this wasn’t included because the majority of its market competitors have included a matching colour stand.
I did mention in the good points that the Kitana case looks nice once you have taken a few steps back, but faults begin apparent when closely inspected. Some of the things I’m about to mention may not bother some people and it may seem I’m being a little picky. The logos that indicate what each button is for on the front of the Wii have been replaced with their own designs, the Wii logo below the disc drive has been chopped in half to run with the whole ‘Kitana theme’ all of this gives a slight look of cheapness to the completed case. To further add to the cheapness look, production moulding marks are still visible on the dead centre of each side of the case, the dark colour does help to mask this though.
The SD card slot cover and the Game Cube controller/memory card covers don’t snap lock like the original Nintendo ones did which just screams ‘aftermarket’ and as much as I like the new coloured disc drive options I do have to complain about the lack of vibrant illumination when compared to the original Nintendo version.


Don’t let my minor complaints throw you because Wii evolve Black Kitana replacement case is still value for money and I am pleased with the end result. If black isn’t your colour of choice Talismoon do offer a good variety of solid and transparent colours and there’s many other companies out there making cases like this.

Overall Rating 8/10

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare PS3 - Review

Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare is not the kind of game I would normally run out and buy, but after many solid recommendations from friends saying it’s a must have game on any platform I decided to give it try, and it’s a decision I’m glad I made.

Call of Duty 4 is a first person shooter and has been released on multiple platforms including PC, 360, PS3 and even the DS and has won countless awards for its quality, even the box art is covered in quotes from noted gaming websites stating how good it is.

Story

There’s no real story or end goal in this game, there’s obviously an ending but you take on the role of soldiers so where ever there’s war you still have a job to do. As the title suggest this is Modern Warfare set in present time with real weapons. You take on multiple roles on different missions; switching between a member of the US Special Forces or British special ops, with both rolls eventually coming together in a joint operation fighting against terrorists and separatists in various hotspot location around the world.

Game play

With a game that has such a high quality in visuals and sound you wouldn’t expect the game play to be so dam addictive. The single player game starts you off with the standard issue training mission then pretty much throws you straight into the deep end of combat.
Before each mission you get a briefing on what’s involved, this is presented to you in a satellite image of the mission location with news reports and or military instructions, these briefings add extra depth to the game making you feel more involved in the game, and is a cleaver way to hide the level loading.
The majority of the missions will place as part of a small team, you can choose to cower behind some cover hoping your team will eliminate most adversaries for you or get right in there and get your hands dirty, but some sections of a mission you are directly asked to do specific tasks and the level wont progress with out that completed.
You wont last long in this game if attempt to be a hero and barge straight into the action shooting at anything that moves, depending on what the scenario is patients, tactics and cleaver use of available weapons might be all that gets you through the stage.
The stages are laid out nicely but there is a on the rails feel to it with limited exploration involved, at some points you can choose to have a look around trying to find laptops with intel on them, locating these laptops is not necessary for the completion of the mission, they just unlock some cheat options that allow some limited manipulation of the game.
As you progress through the game you find your self compelled to finish each mission and itching for the next, this addictive feel to the game adds immense excitement to the single player experience but can be referred to as the games only down fall because you’ll have found that you’ve just ripped through the game in no time.
Finding the laptops hidden through the game and cranking up the difficulty level is all that’s left to do once you have completed all the missions, luckily the multiplayer experience will keep you coming back for more, with a truck load of options available, some of which require you rack up some experience points to unlock, add to that a downloadable patch that isn’t to far away as well.

Control

The control system is what you would expect form the PS3 controller, using the analogue control sticks to move and aim with each button assigned a task, personally I’ve never been a huge fan moving cross hairs around a screen to aim, luckily I racked up some hours playing Resistance earlier to familiarise my self better with that system.
Activision has chosen a good logical button layout, with the actions you need in a hurry to survive in good locations, for example when in close combat and you need to do a melee attack, just press down on the control stick which make perfect sense because you thumb is already on there.
To people that aren’t used to aiming with the analogue control it may take some time to develop those pin point accurate shots but this can be overcome with the obvious practice make perfect approach, and you’ll need to develop these skills if you wan to survive online.

Graphics

Graphics don’t make a good game, but they sure make the experience a hell of a lot more enjoyable especially when the game is set in the real world with real people.
For game like this and with the hardware available Activision had no excuse to not make this game look fantastic, and they didn’t disappoint, the photo realistic graphics that run smooth and clean at 60fps and look incredible at hi resolution. Nothing has been over looked with realistic detail added to every aspect of the game, the lushes back grounds, weapon detail, and every physical entity in the game looks stunning, and even the small things impress like the reflection in your sniper scope and the heat vapour emitting from the tanks exhaust, all of this just enhances the gaming experience even further.

Sound

With such detail in the graphics it would only be fitting to inject the same amount of effort into the sound to complete the overall package of the game.
The authentically sounding weapons fire, communication from your team mates, and yelling of abusive fraises in other languages from your enemies (I’m assuming their abusive, you are shooting at them right?) all sound top notch in Dolby Digital and compliment the graphics perfectly.
Music is added to sections of stages at the perfect time, it’s not completely in your face and can be easily over looked while you’re busy trying to stay alive, the game adds epic movie type music when it seems the odds are against you. It’s good that they didn’t add a thumping sound track to this game as it would have reduced the realistic sensation.
To truly appreciate the sound quality I strongly suggest that you turn up your home theatre set up nice and loud, who cares if your neighbours think your house is a war zone, it’s worth it, nothing sounds better than hearing a chopper crashing behind you in 5.1.

Value

For what we pay for games these days you want to get some serious replay value, you want to be hanging out to play the game after work/school Call of Duty 4’s single player game will give you that feeling for a few of days, depends on how long it takes you to finish it. The only replay value the single player game has is searching for the laptops and increasing the difficulty and using this to sharpen you skills for multiplayer game.
The online multiplayer is where the replay value lies, choosing to battle your mates or just jump into random matches hosted by others; it’s all up to you either way you’ll have that hunt or be hunted online experience, and as mentioned earlier there’s heaps of online options to keep things mixed up enough to prolong the enjoyment
In closing I recommend to add this to your PS3 collection of games, you wont be disappointed.
This review is also posted on MyPS3.com.au
-Guyv3r

Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition - Review

To get you started here’s one of the Resident Evil 4 trailers below:


So you have an idea of where I’m at when it comes to this review I thought I would share my opinion on the Resident Evil series, I think the series it self is a good successful franchise with many sequels appearing across a large variety of platforms, and even made it’s way to the big screen with three movie releases. The last Resident Evil I played was Resident Evil Code Veronica on the Sega Dream Cast, which I really got into the story even though I disliked the control system, I really didn’t like the way you controlled the main character but I persisted to play because I wanted to know what happened, and enjoyed the excitement of jumping out of my seat when a zombie would come out of nowhere...is that the appeal of an Resident Evil game or is that just me?
I did give other versions a try on the PS2 and DS but just couldn’t get back into it until now.

The Story

In short you play as Leon S Kennedy who is now an US agent with a top secret mission to rescue the Presidents daughter Ashley who has been kidnapped by a secret organisation named Los Illuminados, and pretty much everything and anything is trying to stop you from completing that task. I suggest you collect and read all the notes that you find as progress through the game, not only will they give you a better understanding of the story they come in handy; I won’t give to much away so you can enjoy discovering it on your own.

I guess I enjoyed the story more because I never played Resident Evil 4 on any other platform and all of this was new to me, so this is one remake I’m not going to scream about wanting original games not old ones with better graphics/sound and a new control system.

Game play

This game is fun to play and after firing it up the first time and creating a game file I couldn’t put it down, even when I wasn’t playing I was thinking about playing it, and not since Zelda Twilight Princess I haven’t had a game hook me in like that on the Wii.

It basically is a solid 3rd person shooter with a few puzzle thrown in, it progresses as if it’s on rails(wide rails I might add) but you have the ability to back track and explore some what, it’s not hard to get lost, your travelling direction is nicely mapped out for you, not sure if this is for or against the game, I’ll let you decide that one, but having a basic path of travel does make the game a bit easier and takes some of the confusion of ”where the hell do I go now” situations.

There are treasures to be found that are hidden through out the game, having the treasure map does make finding them a lot easier, these treasures can be sold for money to fund the purchase of weapons and supplies, which are available from a seedy looking merchant.

I have to say that this game is packed with action, with what seems to be an endless supply of mind controlled entities coming for you one after another, you heart starts to beat faster when your energy level is flashing red and you’re left with more enemies than bullets, toped off with the [i]”your going to die”[/i] theme music playing in the background as the action intensifies.

At certain points in the game you will come across a puzzle that will just rip the hand break on your little adrenalin rush, because you’ll be sitting there flipping painting around to match, rotating switches or sliding tiles around a board to make an image, I guess Capcom wanted us to take a break from all the killing and put some thought into a puzzle, personally I didn’t like it, but I guess others might like the brief change in game play styles.

Controls

This is where the Wii version comes into its element, I bet many times you’ve heard people say “gimmicky controls” when talking about games on the Wii, well this time you can tell them that the Wii unique control system made this game so much more playable, as I mentioned above I never liked the original control system on Resident Evil games, but using the Wii remote as your gun and the joystick on the nun chuck to move your character around is brilliant. All the buttons you need to access quickly in the heat of battle are at your finger tips, along with the integration of Wii remote gestures; it does give you that immersed feeling through interaction. Now I have to admit the Wii-Mote gestures aren’t anything creative, it’s basically a shake and you get your action, it’s the timing that makes it good if you don’t get it right you’re gone. I think it was good they didn’t try and get you doing a break dance move just to dodge a bolder. Using the Wii remote as your gun is very accurate and the Wii remote doesn’t have to be pointed at the screen the entire time for your character to travel, I can’t be the only one that gets annoyed with games that go crazy when you’re not pointing at the screen.
Now the one think I didn’t like was moving the character around quickly, travelling along is fine it’s just when you need to change directions in a hurry it can become frustration trying to rotate you character around in a hurry, at some point it feels as if you cop hits because your character doesn’t respond in direction change quick enough, apart from that I have to say Wii controls make this game awesome to play.

Graphics

A comparison video of the Game Cube version vs the Wii version:


Although the Youtube video it’s self isn’t of good quality you can still see that there isn’t a great deal of difference between the two versions, with this game being a remake I thought I would mention that, but depending on what TV your playing it on, I would have to say the Wii version would look much clearer in 480p.

Now I have mentioned that I haven’t played the Game Cube version before so these graphics are all new to me, I did enjoy them especially in 480p, the backgrounds and characters are rendered nicely and move at very smooth frame rate. There’s enough blood and exploding heads to keep most people happy with out being over the top in violence, it still received a MA15 rating, but compared to what’s out there at the moment it’s pretty tame.

Sound

Don’t expect a bass thumping sound track compiled of today’s top artists with this game, it’s all mood music that changes according to what’s happening on screen, at some points it goes dead silent with just the sound of your foot steps and background sounds, but it’s this combination that adds atmosphere to this game, my suggestion is if you have a audio system the supports Dolby Prologic 2, select it in the sound menu of the game and crank it right up, the sudden sound of Ganado/monsters attacking out of nowhere will make you jump out of your seat, the sounds of the various weapons do sound authentic as well. The only down side to this is that your neighbours will be wonder what the hell is going on at your house and might call the cops.

Value for money

This game is long and fun with heaps of treasures to find, there’s a huge variety of weapons to find and purchase which all (apart from the rocket launcher) can be upgraded, so there’s more than one way to kill your enemies.

Just because you have completed the game doesn’t mean it’s over, by completing the game first time round you are rewarded with more weapons and game modes, it’s been a long time since I have played a game that I finished and wanted to go through it again.
To get you motivated to complete the game here’s what gets unlocked when you do:

• A new professional mode


• Bonus costumes


• New weapons


• Ability to roll over items to your second round of play


• A movie browser, to view the event movies from the game

New game modes

• Separate ways – Play as Ada, the mysterious woman who appears in the main adventure


• Assignment Ada – Play as Ada and collect 5 parasite samples to escape from the desolate island


• The Mercanaries – Kill as many Ganado as you can before the time is up, get 4 stars in these stages unlocks another character


• Complete all of these to unlock more bonus material.

As you can tell you get more than just the main game, so it’s well worth your money, and being a title that has been around for a while you should be able to pick it up pretty cheap if you shop around.

Conclusion

If you haven’t played the Game Cube version of this game and you like your shooters I would highly recommend this game to be added to your collection, but if you already have played it you might want have a think about it, the new control system is great and 480p with Dolby Prologic 2 is an added bonus to the original, so it’s up to you if you want do through it again.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game and it has given me some hope for the up and coming release of Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles and now I’m anticipating its release.
Even though I have finished this game and had a quick explore though the after completion bonuses I still have desire to come back and play it.

Extra Information

Resident Evil Releases

Chart taken from wikipedia

Thank you for reading
Guyv3r