Retro Game Friday: Star Fox Command

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a game I frequently forget exists. It’s Star Fox Command!

Plot Synopsis: The planet Venom’s forces were all but destroyed, and there is thought to be peace. This is not to be, however, as a race of beings known as the Anglar rise from the acidic oceans of Venom, thought to be unable to support life. The leader of the Anglar plans on destroying the Lylat system, which Fox McCloud and crew set out to save. The Star Fox team has broken up, but re-assembles to fight the threat…

Plot: The plot was not that great, and even more frustrating is that there is no true ending to the plot despite there being nine different endings. Unfortunately for Command the gameplay wasn’t enough to save it.

Gameplay: The gameplay was okay, but what would have been okay with just standard Star Fox gameplay was mired by the fact that you had to plot your flight path using the touchscreen of the DS. This feature was supposed to add strategy, but to me it was all pointless gimmicks made to a perfectly okay game in order to highlight the DS’s touch screen technology.

Characters: What was unusual for this game was the fact that it allowed the player to play as 14 different characters, ranging from Fox to Panther from Star Wolf.

Overall: A less than spectacular game marred by the unnecessary focus on the touch screen.

For those who like: Star Fox, Gimmicks.

Not for those who don’t like: Either of the above.

Video Game Tuesday: Nintendo Switch or Ditch?

This week for Video Game Tuesday I’m talking about the news regarding the upcoming Nintendo “console”. It’s all about whether you should Switch or Ditch Nintendo!

Switch?: In case you didn’t hear the news last week for whatever reason, Nintendo revealed their latest “console”, what we called NX up till now, is the Nintendo Switch and will be a home console that you can pick up and play on the go. That’s about all we know about it’s functionality in general although we know that it will have a touchscreen, that won’t be in use when in console mode, and two types of controllers, the basic which is sort of goofy looking and probably way too small for adult hands, and a pro controller that takes after the Xbox 360 controller. We don’t much else about the system, although they showed off Skyrim on the system and announced a whole bunch of developers who will be making games for the system, we’ll have to see how it pans out as that really doesn’t mean anything.

Ditch?: Because this is yet another gimmicky console, the PlayStation 4 is boring compared to the Switch, but it gets the job done and does it with flying colors. The switch looked like it had a hard time playing the upcoming Zelda game. That doesn’t bode well for the system considering that usually Nintendo’s first party games have always run amazingly well on their systems. In addition we have no clue how we’ll be able to play on the go. Will it be off Wi-Fi only? Will we have to buy a data plan like any other tablet? What about the battery life? Will it last an hour? Five? 50? We don’t know any of the answers to those questions yet, and frankly that’s unacceptable. It will release sometime next year and we won’t learn of the release date and price until January 2017. Again unacceptable in this day and age. I loved playing Nintendo games growing up, and I love their IPs. But I won’t be buying a Nintendo Switch for myself with my own money if it can’t prove to me that it can match the PlayStation 4 Pro in power while it’s working in console mode at bare minimum.  So for now my answer to the question of “Switch or Ditch?” is a definite Ditch.

That’s it for this week’s Video Game Tuesday!

Retro Game Friday: Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword

I’m back and for this week’s Retro Game Friday I’m covering a game for the Nintendo DS. It’s Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword!

Plot Synopsis: Six months after the events of Ninja Gaiden (chronicled as the Dark Dragon Blade Incident), Ryu Hayabusa has rebuilt the Hayabusa Village.

Plot: Having never played a Ninja Gaiden game prior to this entry in the series, I have to say the plot was overly complex and not that great. I think I got this because I heard it had a Japanese voice track and I was taking Japanese at the time of it’s release.

Characters: Ryu was a decent enough main lead, but I was disappointed that Momiji was reduced to the Damsel in Distress trope. Than again the team behind this game has been known for always going for the typical stereotypes in the past. The rest of the cast was disappointing as well.

Gameplay: I can stand playing it, but because it’s a touch screen game I felt that it took away plenty of potential for actual gameplay and focused on gimmicks. That isn’t to say it was bad, but it’s only decent and not amazing. Have I mentioned that I hate gimmick control schemes? Because this game had you hold the Nintendo DS vertically and it was highly uncomfortable to do so.

Art: Dated and not super amazing even for the Nintendo DS in it’s prime. Again the gimmicky control schemes are probably to blame.

Music: Nothing more than mediocre.

Overall: Skip this game as it’s pretty much an abomination and should never have been made.

For those who like: Gimmicks, Ninja Gaiden.

Not for those who don’t like: Either of the above.

Retro Game Friday: GameBoy Camera

This week for Retro Game Friday I’m covering a piece of hardware, that happened to have some games. It’s the GameBoy Camera!

Gameplay: You could take photos, print if you had the printer accessory, and play a few games. The bullet hell game Space Fever II was my favorite of them. Did this mean I spent way too long playing with this piece of gimmicky hardware? Probably, but I was a kid so I had poor taste.

Art: It was bad back then, it hasn’t improved.

Music: Don’t remember it, probably never listened to it like I never listened to any other portable game music.

Overall: This is skippable, it’s more a gimmick than a game.

For those who like: Gimmicks

Not for those who don’t like: Gimmicks