New Soulcalibur IV Imagery

Solomon Lee — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:27:51 -0600

Namco Bandai has published new screenshots of Soulcalibur IV for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The game is scheduled for a Summer 2008 release.

Hit the jump or visit the link to view more images.

Wii Review Bonanza, or: Your Wii is Sick - Must be Something you Played

Eric Jonathan Smith — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 20:25:13 -0600

Kneel. Place hands on either side of the ceramic-like object. Wait. A sudden urge takes you, spewing the remains of a previous ingestion. You glance at what was just created; between the remains of what were once good ideas you see those extra things you tacked on that seemed like a quick fix at the time but ultimately caused their own regurgitation. You lament at the pain you caused yourself, but deep down you can feel that the pain is still there.

So what have you been eating? Or in this case, what have various developers been feeding the ceramic bowl in question, the Wii? Their own regurgitation, that's what - and a little bit of Nintendo's own leftovers for good measure. The Wii is the one that's sick, suffering from delirious spells of minigame collections, shoddy ports, forced motion control schemes, and God knows what else.

A little examination is in order. Five case studies have been prepared, each a different opinion of how Wii software appears. Some of it isn't too pretty but fear not, we might even discover a cure. So lean back, relax, and try not to throw that Wii remote into the tv.

CASE STUDY #1: AUTO MINIGAME SUFFICIENCY SYNDROME

Subject: Namco Museum Remix

PROGNOSIS: Sudden ingestion of too many minigame collections causes repetition, boredom, and possible suicide in large doses.

A certain kind of bug that especially has a tendency to bite the older and wiser is nostalgia. It can be a pretty nasty little sucker, causing previously sane and logical men and women to do foolish things like pine for dated graphics and simpler gameplay styles. As the years have gone by, once bustling arcades have forever shut their doors and the game consoles of yesteryear require a type of mouth-to-cartridge action bordering on fellatio to get the games working.

Namco's Museum series of arcade home conversions are some of the first treatments that should come to mind when considering ubiquitous, readily available classical cures. After all, every system under the sun absolutely needs multiple versions of Pac-Man on it, right? Namco has now made sure that the Wii is no exception and has released Namco Museum Remix, the Museum containing the nostalgic classics and you guessed it the Remix consisting of Wii-specific minigames.

However, it's not a good sign when a classic compilation makes you wax nostalgia for older compilations. That's not to say that Namco Museum Remix has any large, glaring faults: it is by all means a competent product, even if you have to roll around Pac-Man in lieu of a standard menu interface, which can be slightly annoying. But no, as with any other compilation, its success or failure hinges on its selection of games, and Namco Museum Remix drops the ball a bit. Sure, it has standard classics in Xevious, Mappy, Dig Dug, and Pac-Mania (you know, that are available on most of the other collections) but trades in Galaga for its inferior predecessor Galaxian (dear God, why?) In the games that no one ever wanted to play section, there's Cutie-Q (a poor Breakout clone) and Super Pac-Man and Pac & Pal, two rather poor sequels to the original. At least it offers Gaplus (Galagas sequel) as a sort of cruel consolation prize.

If this somewhat mediocre selection of its past was all Namco offered in Museum Remix, this collection would be DOA. Luckily, they put a slight bit of effort in its resuscitation: the titular Wii-specific "remixes" of other classic titles. Unfortunately, they aren't enough to keep this one alive for too long. However, they did get the nostalgic feel down pat! Feel like playing the rollercoaster minigame from Final Fantasy VII? Play Galaga Remix! How about Whack-A-Mole? Then Gator Panic Remix is for you. Granted, Rally X Remix is a rather fair version, as are Pac Motos (a Pac-infused version of the original bumping off the edge game Motos) and Pac 'n Roll. But the problem is that these suffer the same shallow fate as other Wii minigame collections, and in the few minutes that you'll be done with them you're then left with merely the arcade collection.

Diagnosis? The entire weight of Namco Museum Remix will rest on how much you like the classic arcade games included. Considering the selection isn't all that great to begin with, the weight will likely fatigue the classics in a relatively short amount of time.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

She'll eat the monkey.

CASE STUDY #2: PORTROENTERITIS

Subject: The Sims 2: Castaway

PROGNOSIS: Patients suffering from contact to shoddy, careless ports from other systems suffer from: shattered belief in console's viability, fatigue, and indigestion.

One of the oldest epidemics in videogamedom is that of the port. Whether it was arcade to console, PC to console, or vice versa, the word port has connotations of mediocrity and for good reason: many ports are sloppy, rushed, stripped down versions of the original. Even in more modern times, ports retain that sloppy, rushed feel when they stray from the hardware they were built on. Unfortunately, this has been a lazy way for developers to cash on the Wii's success.

One such wave that has plagued nearly every piece of gaming hardware to ever exist, past, present, and future is The Sims. Popular with 15-year-old girls of all ages, The Sims is an omnipresent choice with casual gamers, and logic would successfully conclude that it should end up on the Wii.

The premise is simple: after constructing your Sim on a yacht, something bad happens and he or she washes ashore on a mysterious, deserted island with nary a volleyball around to keep as company. Obviously a tropical island is a terrible place to be lost, so it's up to you to guide your Sim to his/her ultimate goal of getting off the island alive. And to be perfectly honest, the interface in which you'll be accomplishing this works fairly well; with the Wii Remote acting superbly as a pointer in lieu of a mouse, navigating menus isn't all that hard.

Too bad the menus themselves looked like they were ported from a higher resolution without the proper tweaking. The entire game really looks very simple and to be frank, boring. You could choose to stay on the island for as long as you wanted, but when it looks that dull, why would you? Jagged edges are more reminiscent of the graphical hell that was the 32/64-bit era more than a tropical Eden.

But, this is a simulation at heart, and that gameplay still works. The Sim will have to collect resources to survive with the help of monkeys (of course) and eventually should have a decent little living space set up. There are also various goals that you can find scattered across the island that will give you some objectives amidst the rather open-ended (if not mundane) tasks.

Diagnosis? Not as bad as it could have been. Wii Pointer functionality works well amidst the poor resolution and the gameplay experience isn't a complete throwaway. More hardcore gamers, stay away (if the name wouldn't make them do so already).

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

My, Soulcalibur. You look as beautiful as you play.

CASE STUDY #3: MOTION SICKNESS

Subject: Soulcalibur Legends

PROGNOSIS: Prolonged exposure to poorly implemented Wii waggle controls can lead to: madness, frustration, and nausea.

Having new ways to control games means that there will be new ways for developers to screw up their implementation. Even after decades with a pretty standard diagonal pad and any number of supporting buttons, some still couldn't get it right. Poor control is absolutely killer to a game's success and probably the worst blight it could have.

Enter Soulcalibur Legends. A spin-off of Namco's eternal (also, a mere shadow of its former self) fighter, Legends tells the story of Teutonic Knight Siegfried Schtauffen and his dealings with Soul Edge, the evil blade. Yeah, it's a fighting game story. What the hell do you want from me?

Though it may have been built ground-up for Wii, it plays nothing like it. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it was built ground-up to be a cheap cash-in. Siegfried and the other Soulcalibur heroes you command all control by swinging the Wii Remote as you would their weapons. It's a good enough idea in concept. In execution, it's abysmal. Controlling attacks in this manner is ungodly unresponsive and makes you question whether simple button presses would have been better. Considering this is a central gameplay mechanic, this is inexcusable. There is no way that Legends could be an adequate action title due to this flaw alone.

The game is also cringe-worthy in the visual department. In some aspects, especially the environments, it looks like a launch title for the PlayStation 2. That might be forgivable, but the level designs are as monotonous as the enemies you fight. Character models fair a bit better, because they are based around the designs from Soulcalibur II, if not taken wholesale from it. Legends also suffers from the tired design choice of "defeat every monster in the room before you can move on". Please.

I found myself looking more at the menus and the art in the story sequences because, well, they are actually rather decent, and not just in comparison to the game itself. I'd be tempted to say that the menus are the best part of the game. When all is said and done then, the most hardcore of Soulcalibur fanatics will be able to eke something out of this game though I wouldn't go so far as to call it enjoyment. The controls are just too poorly implemented for anyone with more than a merely casual interest in the franchise.

Diagnosis? Highly contagious, and not in the good way. Contagious in that it will creep up on your brain and soul and make you regret every penny and second spent on it. Unless, of course, you're just a hardcore and gullible fighting game fan - those people are crazy.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

Okay, so it's not the sexiest thing on earth. Maybe you can dig it.

CASE STUDY #4: THE MYSTERY BUG

Subject: Smarty Pants

PROGNOSIS: ???

Sometimes even the best doctors can get baffled. True to that, every once in a while a game will come up that makes you question why it was necessary to be in videogame form. Was it really easier to play Monopoly on a TV than on a board (Hint: no)? Much of the experience of such a famous and standard board game rests on handling those gaudy bills and tapping your piece of choice past go. In other words, the actual game could sometimes be boring, but having it physically in front of you kept you from falling asleep.

EA's Smarty Pants dares to go into this territory. It is a trivia game, not unlike the old board game pursuits of old. Each of its cavalcades of questions ranging from pop-culture to history has a multiple choice selection. There are a few different modes, including ones for both single remote and multiple remote setups, suitably nudging itself into party game territory.

So. That's it. That's Smarty Pants in a nutshell. Sure, there's some sort of dancing thing you have to do with the Wii Remote, but we'll not mention that any more for its own sake.

Is there a benefit to having a trivia game on a home videogame console? From my own experience, I'd have to say yes. Smarty Pants is actually fairly well presented, with voiceovers and decent sound effects that make it seem more like a game show than just a trivia game. The group mode, which requires multiple Wii Remotes, each acting like a buzzer, manifests this presentation style. As with anything trivial, in a group setting you'll likely find yourself shouting out the answers, as much as you may regret this in your memory later on. The fact that Smarty Pants is capable of this is something positive in and of itself.

Diagnosis? Smarty Pants is hardly a wonderful title, but it's not necessarily a throwaway. If you really want to play a trivia game on the Wii, it's a decent enough choice. But, uh, you know, you could buy a copy of Trivial Pursuit for less.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

I can't even tell what's bleeding.

CASE STUDY #5: NO MORE TEARS

Subject: No More Heroes

PROGNOSIS: Exposure to games designed for Wii from the ground up may cause: enjoyment, fun, laughter, and world peace.

"Will you do it with me?"

If any of the above games had asked you such a question, I hope by now youd have learned to at the very least understand the risk factors involved; simple precautions will keep your Wii from being subjugated to possible infection.

However, another game asks this favor, a game so dirty yet so clean, some would say downright filthy in content yet nearly spotless in design. "Will you do it with me?" If you're privy enough to hear those words uttered by Travis Touchdown, by all means, accept. Travis is the star of No More Heroes, a game with the distinction of being the near opposite of the Wii flu - it is a coherent, focused, original title using the Wii Remote in a startlingly effective manner.

The premise is straightforward but with spry delivery that never takes itself too seriously. Travis is essentially both a dork and a loser and while drowning his sorrows at a bar he runs into a mysterious woman named Sylvia who promises him he can be the world's top assassin all he has to do is off the rest of the world's top-ranked assassins. Naïve Travis of course accepts the offer, with his prime motivation being to sleep with Sylvia. Your prime motivation to play the game will likely be to see what outrageous and foul-mouthed things will come out of the mouths of Travis and his co-stars.

The game's structure is built around going after each of the 10 assassins. To get to each, Travis must pay Sylvia a fee, which he can earn by doing sidejobs like lawn mowing (seriously) and minor assassination gigs all within the façade of an open-ended environment and setting for the game, Santa Destroy. This environment is one of the game's faults because jobs and assassination gigs must be selected at specific locations before they can start, thus the free-roaming world really serves no other purpose than to add the filler of travel. Still, it is ultimately a minor issue.

How the story and gameplay unfold within each of the 10 main assassination missions is, in a way, underwhelming yet satisfying. Combat may appear simple at first, as pressing A controls Travis's attack, but Wii-specific moves come in the forms of finishers and grabs. If an enemy is near death, an arrow will appear on-screen, prompting you to move the Wii Remote in its direction for a super-violent finisher. Travis cuts his enemies into pieces, with blood and guts as exaggerated as his own persona. Later it is not uncommon to dismember entire groups of enemies at once, causing the entire game to slow down, ludicrous in its fulfillment. Travis also has a number of wrestling moves that are controlled by moving both the Remote and Nunchuk and do add a bit of variety. After every successful finisher, Travis also has a small slot wheel that can serve to make him even more powerful than he already is, providing temporary invincibility and the like.

No More Heroes is by no means a cure for the Wii's blues the game is not perfect. The aforementioned faux open-ended structure along with somewhat repetitive combat (the finishers never get old, however) and the fact that the assassin bosses take from dozens of hits to hundreds to defeat can sometimes sometimes leave a foul taste. But it lasts for but an instant in the presence of the rest of the game as a whole. Its language and bloody style may put some off, but if you're into that sort of thing, your Wii could really deserve the pleasure of doing it with Travis.

Diagnosis? While not a panacea, No More Heroes is certainly the type of original, short term treatment that the Wii needs in larger doses. A must-buy for anyone who needs a good action title for any system.

Click here for an explanation of our review and scoring format.

New Soulcalibur IV Screenshots

Solomon Lee — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 01:00:54 -0600

Namco Bandai has released new screenshots of Soulcalibur IV for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. The screens reveal an intense battle taking place between Sophitia and Astaroth. Soulcalibur IV is scheduled for a 2008 release.

Check the link to view the images.

Soulcalibur Legends Slashes Onto The Wii

Tim Grube — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 09:20:00 -0600

NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. informed GameBump today that Soulcalibur Legends has shipped to retailers throughout North America for the Nintendo Wii.

Soulcalibur Legends boasts the following features:

Wii Exclusive - Designed specifically for the Nintendo Wii, use the Wii remote and Nunchuk to master a characters suite of attacks in order to unify the pieces of Soul Edge
Unique Ally System - Switch between the various characters encountered throughout the quest to gain more versatility in every situation
Classic Soulcalibur Roster - Play and level up as one of several renowned Soulcalibur characters as you follow their path within history and level up through the ranking system
New Enemies and Bosses - Sword fighting capabilities are pushed to the limit as players encounter a lineup of new enemies and large scale bosses
Weapon progression Weapons evolve with your experience, giving you added control and more powerful attacks

The game carries a $49.99 price tag.

New Screenshots of Soulcalibur IV for 360, PS3

Shiva Stella — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 13:34:01 -0600

New images of Namco Bandai's Soulcalibur IV for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are in and viewable at the link. The title is set for a 2008 release.

| GameBump |

New Soulcalibur IV Imagery

Wii Review Bonanza, or: Your Wii is Sick - Must be Something you Played

New Soulcalibur IV Screenshots

Soulcalibur Legends Slashes Onto The Wii

New Screenshots of Soulcalibur IV for 360, PS3