Dream

I could have called this post “Movie Review: Top Hat” or something like that, but it is not so much a review as heavy fangirling that will come out of my mouth if I speak about it. ZOMG I LUVS IT11!!1!!1!!!1! I adore Fred Astaire and his chemistry with Ginger Rogers in the movie is just a wonderful thing to watch. The film also has some great hilarious moments that make it even more worth watching. A definite must-watch for musicals fans.

Overview

Game Type: adventure, novel-type, law
Creator: Capcom
Console: Nintendo DS (portable), GameBoy Advance (Japan original release)
Rating: T (Teens), all games
Overall opinion: extremely awesome

Review

As said in the title, this is a spoiler-free review because, if one thing is sure about those series, it’s that there are plenty of spoilers to share! I might eventually post another review with spoilers.

Where to begin? Should I start with “these games roxors my soxors”, “those games are absolutely awesome” or “those games are some of the best I have ever played in this life and all past and future ones”? I think I will start with “I love those games!!1!!1!!11!!!!!1!one!”

You might know nothing of those games, in which case I will explain the basic concept. You are an attorney—pardon me, an ace attorney. You must defend people accused of a certain crime (almost always murder). You must conduct investigations, question people, cross-examine witnesses and prove your point with evidence. It’s all very fun and often challenging for your brain.

The game’s awesomeness lies in several points. First, the game play is unique and actually fun. I never found the study of law to be particularly interesting, but the games had me hooked on “big time”, as they say. You must use your memory and sense of observation a lot.

Second, the characters are awesome. The game has a lot of humor into it, which is great because, after all, you are investigating murders!

Third, the game has some very excellent plot twists. Revealing the secret behind a mystery will only bring on more questions, until the very end of the game.

There would be much more praise to do of the game, but I would only sink into fangirlish exclamations. So, if you had never heard of the games or were afraid of them because of their lawyerness, well fear no longer and jump on the nearest copy you can find!

I strongly advise to begin with the very first game, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney and continue on in the order they were released, because every game can contain spoilers from the previous games.

Overview

Game Type: action / puzzle
Creator: Namco
Console: Nintendo DS (portable)
Rating: E (everyone)
Overall opinion: good, quick and repetitive

Review

Mr. Driller: Drill Spirits is part of the Mr. Driller series by Namco. The purpose of the game is pretty simple. As one of a few characters you can choose (most of which are unlocked by completing some stages), you must drill your way to a certain depths, among blocks of various colors (a bit like Tetris blocks). The difficulty comes from three facts: 1, you can get crushed under blocks from above if you drill beneath them; 2, you can run out of air if you do not refill it and 3, you cannot climb more than 1 block (2 if you use a certain character).

If you read the overview, you might wonder why I say the game is good if I call it repetitive also. It is pretty simple: a part of the game’s success relies on its repetitiveness. Let me explain. Think of some games like Tetris or Arkanoid: change the colors, change the music, increase or decrease the speed, place it in a different “context”, it still remains the same basic concept. Yet those games are classics. New versions are still released, some for free on the web, others being sold for consoles (there exists, for example, a Tetris DS).

If you want some long challenge, the game is certainly not for you. But if you just want something to play on your way to work or school, or when you’re exhausted after a long day, it’s a perfect choice. You don’t need to think too hard and you don’t fall asleep waiting for something to happen.

Plus, the game is cute (even if you can get crushed under blocks!) and kids-friendly. A bit of a downside, some noises can be pretty annoying for people like me, with sensitive ears, such as the sound made by certain characters when they start lacking air.

Brief, the game is a good choice for relaxing, a bit mindless and not too challenging fun.

Remember my movie challenge? Well, the month of February turned out to be quite a failure there. It appears that choosing specific movies was a rather bad idea.

I watched only two of the movies listed, plus a few more.

• 2010: The Year We Made Contact: a good sequel, less cryptic than the original. It leaves unanswered questions, but there is nothing frustrating in it.
• Cutie Honey by Hideaki Anno: a very good movie, quite entertaining and not too “heavy”.
• The Dark Crystal by Jim Henson and Frank Oz: an excellent movie, with great usage of puppets.
• Ghostbusters by Ivan Reitman: very funny, as expected. Some memorable quotes and moments. I’m in love with Bill Murray (and the giant marshmallow, of course).
• Rob-B-Hood by Benny Chan: while there were some painfully boring melodramatic moments and montages, the movie still had some stunning fights and great comedic moments.
• Zoolander by Ben Stiller: I had no particular expectations regarding this movie, and watched it with someone else, sort of “on the spur of the moment”. It was a good choice, a funny movie with some great moments. I like a movie that can laugh at itself.

And I’m pretty sure that’s it. That makes up fewer movies than I hoped to watch, but various events have been hitting me across the face and I did not always have the occasion of watching a movie. I hope to “do better” in March. As I said, a pre-made list is a bad idea, but I know I can very well watch more than 5 movies in a month without a problem.

During the weekend, I subscribed to the game Adventure Quest. This is a pretty quick review of what I’ve seen up to now.

The graphics range from horrible to great. As the game is on an ongoing development, I assume they sometimes stick in new monsters that haven’t received much work, and sometimes rework on existing monsters. Some things like the dragons are absolutely beautiful, but I’ve seen monsters that looked like I made them in MS Paint when I was 8.

The actual characters (i.e. the one you control, for example) are well designed, with a few exception once again.

Contrary to some reviews I’ve read, I really don’t find advertising to be annoying at all. When I log in, and whenever I feel like it during game play, I can view an advertisement from a sponsor. By doing so, I receive a price (usually gold). That might seem to be quite a put off but, up to now, the advertisements were either for movies or for video games, so it didn’t bother me at all.

The game in itself has some interesting points. As in every RPG I can think of, you must level up, get money, find new items, etc. I find it odd, though, that leveling up doesn’t influence your statistics at all. To increase them, you must go through training against one of three characters. The process can get a bit repetitive. It would be good if leveling up also increased your statistics.

What’s the point of leveling up, then? Items can only be bought starting from a certain level. When you start off, there are very few items you can buy and you gradually gain access to more and more. You will also meet new enemies and unlock new areas by leveling up.

I find battles are a bit long. You generally tend to be of a quite equal force with your enemy. If you take, for example, Final Fantasy, you will fight enemies with low statistics and very high HP, while you have low HP and high statistics. In Adventure Quest, your HP is pretty much the same as that of enemies of the same level as you, and so are your stats. You only need to hope that your attacks deal more damage than theirs, so that you can win the fight.

I like how they handle elements. Every enemy and item is assigned one element (wind, fire, etc.). They then have weaknesses and strengths depending on that element. Water enemies are generally weak against lightning, ice enemies against fire, etc. Since the game is played in your browser, you only need to hover over the enemy’s name to see its statistics, including element-related ones.

Brief, I’d give the game perhaps three stars and a half. It has great potential, it already has something in it, but it does lack a bit more work, which I hope to see coming.