Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin feels like desperation. It is Konami’s attempt at reinventing the portable Castlevania series and expand it beyond the walls of Dracula’s castle. Where Dawn of Sorrow was more of a refinement of Aria of Sorrow with the features of the DS clumsily added in, Portrait of Ruin is content to step backwards into what could be considered a more traditional Castlevania experience. For someone who prefers the shift towards the fighter/mage character class that Soma has become, playing Portrait of Ruin is like reverting to Harmony of Dissonance. The Metroidvania formula and item collect-a-thon established by Symphony of the Night is untouched, and the addition of another playable character creates an unnecessary dimension to the game that can mostly be ignored. Instead of creating a fighter/mage character, you use two characters – one for brute force, the other for fireballs. Except that for the most part, this only serves to benefit the player in solving the occasional puzzle or overpowering a boss monster with horribly unbalanced combo attacks. Upon close inspection, Portrait of Ruin turns into a mediocre action game, an unfinished experiment in trying to make this series more interesting.

In the game’s introduction, you learn that the game takes place during World War 2, but aside from the vaguely German-sounding “bad guy” that must be defeated at the end of the game there isn’t much of an indication that you are fighting in this time period. This was also true in the introduction to Aria of Sorrow, which was set some time in the future but contained no evidence to support the statement. Which means that either someone not involved with the game is writing these introductions, or Konami figures we won’t notice. In either case it’s a real shame, because if someone was paying attention during the development of this game they could actually use this information to change the game’s appearance, and stop relying on shameless fanboyism to justify the reuse of the same old level design we’ve been living with for the past five years of 2D Castlevania.

Portrait of Ruin gets its name from the collection of paintings that can be found around the castle, which must be entered to gain the requisite powers to proceed through the remainder of the castle. In theory, this allowed the level designers a hell of a lot more freedom in the way they can present each few area instead of relying on the limited tilesets of creepy dungeon, chapel, disused laboratory, gore-soaked dungeon, sewers, etc. Instead, we simply get stand-alone levels that might as well have been designed around this exact collection of artwork. Sandy Grave is an Egyptian-like setting, but that’s as exotic as it gets. And for some reason, the level artists decided to use 3D elements for the backgrounds in these worlds within the paintings. It looks out of place, and doesn’t add anything to the level’s appearance. So what was the point? The Forest of Doom sounds ominous, but as it stands it’s merely a collection of barren trees before you enter some generic building with a lot of pointless, empty rooms. The most inspired design was the Nation of Fools, which is a Circus-like setting in a kind of gravity-defying pinwheel structure that must be navigated around by jumping on walls that become ceilings that become floors. It comes together nicely, though it is the shortest of all the Painting sub-levels.

With these new avenues available to change the game’s settings, Portrait of Ruin tries to distance itself further from the other Castlevania titles by introducing a second playable character that is set up to be an integral part of the adventure to come. Charlotte, the girl spellcaster, tags along with Jonathan “I Hate My Dad” Morris to explore Dracula’s castle and bring down the vampire Brauner. There are puzzles that require the use of both characters, but they are spread too far apart to make it feel like this mechanic is actually necessary for success. Sure, you gain the ability to jump off of the shoulders of your partner early on, but once you get the double-jump the shoulder-jump becomes completely useless. I spent most of my time using Jonathan in the game, dragging Charlotte out whenever I needed to complete one of these tedious puzzles.

Of course, Portrait of Ruin finds another use for this two-character dynamic: combo attacks. These spells are hidden in the Castle and in the Paintings, and can often be obtained after gaining some new special ability like the double jump or the spell that can change you into a frog to work your way through some tiny passage. With both characters on-screen, casting the combo attack spell results in a flashy animation and massive damage output. This turns out to be really handy in a boss fight. So handy, in fact, that the only tactic you need to beat them is to spam Tonics and wait for your mana to recharge to unleash another combo attack.

Portrait of Ruin also offers some minor variations in the subweapons and spell system from its predecessors, though it feels like a mismanaged jumble of Harmony of Dissonanceand the Sorrow games. Monsters will randomly drop special abilities that can be used by Jonathan as a subweapon, which is similar to the way Souls were collected. Levelling up these abilities is through use instead of collecting more instances of it. Charlotte will collect new spells scattered throughout the castle, but they are often more powerful than the subweapons, so your mana pool will almost always be used for those. There isn’t much of an incentive for Jonathan to actively pursue levelling his subweapons – once they are obtained, that’s good enough to do any required ranged damage. When compared with the spells and even some of the base melee weapons, the secondary attacks don’t add much depth or variety to the overall system. Spells will be given to you as long as you can find them in the castle, so acquiring new subweapons can almost be entirely ignored.

Which prompts the essential question: is having the control of two characters really necessary in this game? Both characters share a health and mana pool, and hearts replenish mana – mana does not automaically regenerate. There is no separate heart pool like the Sorrow games. This forces you to conserve spells and combo attacks for boss encounters, because there’s really no point in using Charlotte for melee. So, in effect, you are summoning Charlotte simply to cast a spell or a combo attack, then putting her back in your pocket for future use. In boss fights, Charlotte was often used as a distraction while I pummelled them from behind. If both characters are on screen during a fight, and one of them “dies”, they will simply disappear and can be summoned again. There is no penalty, which makes the disposable nature of this secondary character all the more apparent. Charlotte becomes Jonathan’s special attack.

Castlevania: Bloodlines is a curiosity in the Castlevania canon. It starred two characters that had no immediate relationship to the Belmont family, yet one of them wielded Vampire Killer. How was this possible? Portrait of Ruin‘s storyline explains this anomaly. At the beginning of the game Jonathan has Vampire Killer in his possession but can’t use it’s “full power” right away. Different whips in the game are obtained, but this is no better than the whip add-ons that were available in Harmony of Dissonance. Why not level up Vampire Killer like the subweapons, through use? The “potential” of the whip isn’t actually unlocked until a seemingly arbitrary battle with Richter Belmont at the end of the game. But by then, you will have picked your favorite weapon, and the extra effort hardly seems worth it.

Portrait of Ruin is criminally short, but tries to make up for it by adding in a new Quest system to provide some additional incentive to backtrack through the castle and the Painting worlds. Except you don’t really get to see the game world, because there are enough portal stones scattered around the castle that make it so easy to get around, you won’t want to backtrack. Completed quests will unlock some new ability, but they aren’t needed to finish the game. I completed maybe five of the 1st tier quests, because after that the locations became too vague and there was no indication of the reward I would receive. I doubt any of them could have made the game any easier than it already was. Gold is readily available, so building up a stockpile of health and mana tonics is extremely easy to do. This makes beating the game’s bosses easier than past Castlevania games, which actually took a bit of skill. There is also a surplus of save points. When there’s no worry of dying after acquiring that exciting new ability, it takes away the feeling of urgency in exploration.

Though the ultimate indignity in this game’s design is the endgame sequence. After getting past Brauner’s vampire daughters you enter a room with five paintings – four of them must be completed to unlock the final painting to face Brauner. However, these four paintings simply re-use previous worlds and give them a different color scheme or bad weather. When taken alongside the overall shortness of the game, it just feels incredibly lazy and uninspired. The endgame is hastily compiled, like the designers didn’t know what to do with it. The final boss is some mutant Death/Dracula creature that puts a face to the designer’s lack of creativity in creating something new. It all makes the castle itself – the buildup to this encounter – seem all the more inadequate, as if the designers thought these Portraits to new worlds were perfectly sufficient in making the game world larger than it really is. But they aren’t.

Portrait of Ruin shows no evidence of wasted potential, because in most respects it falls in line with the rest of the portable Castlevania series up to this point: reproductions of past successes decorated in some new gimmick to apparent blind praise from the gaming media. There is just too much going on this game with no real direction and no incentive for the player to continue to play this game apart from some obsessive need to collect everything in sight. The story is laughable, the artwork shows a marked decrease in quality, and the sprite design is suprisingly bad for the fifth game in this portable series. Once you take out all of the unnecessary complications behind the two-player system and inconsequential item acquisition, Portrait of Ruin is actually pretty dull. There is nothing in this game that hasn’t been done before – and better – by its predecessors. For some fans of the series, this may be enough. However, the shortcomings of this game allow the shortcomings of the current state of the series to be readily apparent, and hearken the time for Castlevania to head in a new direction.

Afterword

Even though I’ve had almost two years (!) to write this review, I made sure I was not influenced by my impressions of the recent Order of Ecclesia. Believe me, it was hard – Ecclesia is exactly the new direction I was hoping for, and is shaping up to be one of my favorite releases of 2008.

On a general DS note, I wouldn’t advise changing the Gameboy/Gameboy Advance display screen on the DS while a game cartridge is in the slot. I lost all of my progress in Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (including my recent replay) when I switched from the upper to the lower screen, though I haven’t read of this happening to anyone else. It wasn’t a big deal; I already know how it ends and my opinion of the game hasn’t changed two years later.

Now it’s time for the long answer.

Accessibility is important for anything to be popular, and therefore profitable. That’s why games have been on a downward spiral since the Playstation (mass generalization of course). Developers and publishers trying to capitalize on proven designs, sequels, and generally lowbrow gameplay have been steadily growing the games industry for the last 10 years. And yet a game like New Super Mario Bros. comes along as a fitting reminder of what got me into games, and why accessibility really is important – but also that it does not mean it results in a game of lesser quality.

A game like this could have easily found its way onto the Gameboy Advance. There are still games being released for the platform, after all, and aside from the multiplayer minigames that were repeated from Super Mario 64 DS, New Super Mario Bros. doesn’t go out of its way to use the DS’s features. But it was important to release New Super Mario Bros. on the DS because it will sell units. This is a game that is immediately recognizable to anyone who’s even touched a video game console. It will lure in the people that have long been considering the DS as a distraction. This game was made for them.

At first inspection the game reminds me of what Donkey Kong Country did for 2D platforming, but the rendered sprites on subtle 3D backgrounds of New Super Mario Bros. gives the series a more rejuvenated look. In fact, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if this approach to 3D backgrounds is what we can expect in the upcoming Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. Having this adventure in two dimensions was as important as making it a Mario adventure. Asking a player to struggle with a camera while trying to jump on things that aren’t visible are grounds for any beginner to put the game down permanently. The difficulty in this case hinges on the available technology – not the game itself. As a result the player feels stupid. Not for lack of skill, but because they have allowed themselves to be led along by a camera system that gives the impression that it operates separately from the action on screen. The 2D plane is more managable.

There are some new additions to the Mario canon – but nothing especially world-changing. New power-ups include Mega Mario, which lets you destroy everything in your path – though it doesn’t do much good in lava levels where you often break the bricks you’re supposed to be running across. Mini Mario fits into smaller places and has a longer lasting “floating” jump. Shell Mario can be as powerful as Invincibility in levels where there are a lot of ramps and slides. You can ground pound and wall jump, opening up some avenues that in the past would have only been accessible through a well-kicked shell. Though there isn’t any flying in the New Super Mario Bros. – triple jumping is the closest you’ll get. With this game’s focus on finding secrets and harder to reach Star Coins, it’s an unfortunate shortfall in the game’s design.

And so New Super Mario Bros. feels conventional. But that sounds too negative. I’d settle for “classic”. Every experienced gamer has seen these worlds before, just maybe not as vibrantly colored. The core set of power-ups and their behaviors are the same. There are the basic concepts for the player to master: jump, dodge and don’t fall off the screen. And yet they are still challenging in the way that a shoot ‘em up is challenging: the way it forces you to learn through repetition and pattern recognition. The frustrations return. Timing is everything: no matter how much you scream at the screen for losing Super Mario right after you got it because you swear that Koopa wasn’t walking there before, the game is never to blame. Player skill is back at the forefront of gaming, where it belongs.

This isn’t a game that has health meters or multiple weapons or combo attacks. It gives you a single serving enhancement, and when you lose Fireball Mario or Super Mario, it really feels like you’ve lost something. There are levels when everything depends on having fireballs to clear off floating platforms. One slip of the d-pad and you’ve lost it, and then there’s the feeling of hopelessness – there is no point in continuing forward. But you can and do and triumphantly raise your fist upon jumping on the flag at the level’s exit. That is the reward for playing Super Mario Bros. Not experience points or shiny new weapons. To say that you’ve actually beaten the game.

Though the prospect of beating the game isn’t as hard as it sounds – it practically throws 1Ups at you at every turn. The game is based around an overhead map, similar to that seen in Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World. There are a total of 8 worlds, but you really only have to play through five of them to finish the game. That’s because at the end of each World there are alternate exits from the Boss castle. There are also alternate pathways through each world, which can be accessed by opening them up with Star coins on the world map, or finding the secret exit to one of the levels. This does a fine job of adding replayability to the game, because of the apparent lack of difficulty that shortens its overall length.

There’s nothing new about New Super Mario Bros. It’s actually a game that feels very, very old. Yet if it was any other game, I’m sure this would be one of its biggest criticisms. But nostalgia plays a large part in the reviews that this observation is strangely absent from. Aside from the game’s length, the only real complaint that I have is the lack of flight – it makes the worlds of New Super Mario Bros. seem a little smaller, and almost a step backwards from what we’ve already seen as being possible. It’s a tough feeling to describe, but when you’re running across the bottom of the screen, and all of a sudden you’re not running – you’re flying beyond what you thought were the limits of the game world and shedding the constraints of having to find a higher block to leap to. It feels like you’ve reached some uncharted territory where you’re not supposed to be, but it was put there for you, for a reason – to explore. And yet somehow New Super Mario Bros. limits its exploration to things you see on the screen, whether it’s small pipes or obvious gaps in walls. But this game wasn’t made with me in mind, because I’ve done it all before. To the average person, this game will pose a challenge, and there will be enough new material to explore and for it to seem fresh and exciting. And that’s why it works. Because when I stop thinking about the past and enjoy the game for what it is, the details don’t matter. I just try to make it through with Fireball Mario.

Dawn of Sorrow‘s “Julius Mode” is unlocked by completing the ending where Soma (the character in the main game) assumes the mantle of Dracula. As Julius Belmont, you must go through the same castle to fulfill the destiny of the Belmonts. Subtracting the details of spell and inventory management, what remains is a veritable tribute to the Castlevania games of old. In fact, this same premise was used for Julius Mode in 2003′s Aria of Sorrow. Only this time you have friends.

Dawn of Sorrow’s Julius Mode gives you a team of three characters. Aside from the whip, Julius comes with a solid collection of traditional Castlevania powers like holy water, axes, and a cross boomerang. Yoko Belnades, who was a character from the main game, adds fire, ice and lightning spells into your repertoire of powers. Last, but certainly not least, as Julius you run into Genya Arikado (a returning character from Aria of Sorrow), who reveals himself to be none other than Alucard. While not having as many powers as the other two, he can change into a bat which allows entrance into some of the castle’s otherwise inaccessible areas. The current character is switched at the press of the “X” button.

As such, balancing the use of these three characters becomes an entirely new game that focuses on the straight ahead side-scrolling action of Castlevania before it had been fused with Metroid. The game even allows you to level up the characters. Aria’s Julius mode simply gave a full powered static character to plow through the game with, which was no easy feat during the last third of the game. My only criticism for this experience system is that the levelled-up life and mana pools are shared among the three characters, so the weaker Yoko will tend to drain the health pool faster than say, Alucard. Yoko’s mana will recharge a lot faster, though. With regard to castle exploration, there are quite a few dead ends such as the “Ice Blocks” area that is extremely time consuming to clear with the whip, only to find that there’s nothing at the other end worth pursuing. Though I’d hardly fault Konami for these shortcomings – they’ve essentially turned a bonus for completing the main game into a completely separate adventure.

The premise behind Metroid Prime: Hunters is that you’re one of seven bounty hunters searching the Alimbic Cluster for ancient artifacts called “octoliths”. Staying true to the Metroid theme, your missions take place amongst the ruins of ancient civilizations and wayward space stations which are accessible by your ship. The engine appears to have improved tremendously since I played the “First Hunt” demo that came with my DS, and is amazingly fluid and detailed. It makes it hard to believe that you’re experiencing it on a handheld.

The Metroid series has always been about exploration. However, what is immediately noticable is the way Hunters is set up to direct you along a prescribed path towards a) facing an opposing hunter b) beating a boss monster and c) getting an Octolith. The action becomes predictable, and the linearity is obvious after the first two missions. Though completing the second mission opens up the field by allowing you to fly to more than one planet, but this ability to travel to different planets comes across as a feature that is intended to make the game seem larger than it really is. The missions on each planet seem small and confined, not at all reflecting what has been done previously on the Gamecube or even the classic 2D Metroid adventures. The linearity is further exaggerated by the goals that the game sets for you. It’s obvious that the Octoliths are important to the story. But they don’t do anything once you collect them, and the relics found on each planet only serve to unlock a few doors. The only new powers you can look forward to obtaining are new beam weapons – which are great in their own right – but this hems very close to the traditional FPS that is centralized around the acquisition of bigger weapons, not “powers” or special items that are needed to further explore your surroundings.

There are no save points in the game, which isn’t a total loss because the levels are basically “split” in half by portals leading back to your ship (where you can save) and on to the final boss battle. What is easily the most frustrating aspect of each mission are the timed sequences that begin after you kill the boss monster on each planet. You have a set time period to return to your ship and leave the planet’s surface. Though the game doesn’t make it easy – aside from remembering the correct pathway through the all but indistinguishable hallways, there are often enemies in your way that must be killed in order to proceed. Timed sequences are lazy ways of making the game hard. There is a checkpoint after you killed the boss if you fail, but there aren’t save points – if you have to quit you’ll be starting the boss battle again.

I think it’s an interesting move to introduce a bunch of new characters into the Metroid universe – it’s become quite tiresome to be fighting the same enemies in every installment, like Ripley and his space pirate cronies. It also makes Samus Aran seem a little less important in the game’s universe, which is good, because it leaves room to develop some original storylines. Each of your adversaries has their own special attacks, including their own “small forms” that allow them to get into otherwise inaccessible areas. Even their HUDs are different when you choose to play as one of them in multiplayer.

When I first connected to Nintendo Wi-Fi, I was notified that my DS and Metroid Prime: Hunters game card would be considered a “set”; that is, only my Nintendo DS and my copy of Hunters would be able to play multiplayer via Nintendo Wi-Fi. While this eliminates the possibility of piracy, what about people I lend my copy of the game to? No information is stored locally about the game – it’s all saved on the game’s cartridge. Furthermore, what about the people that want to replace their Grey Brick with the sleek and sexy DS Lite? I’d be curious to see how this is handled. I was also a bit annoyed at the limitations in setting up multiplayer games. There are no provisions to allow you to set up your own game and effectively “host” a match (you can only do this in local multiplayer); instead you’re dumped into a default lobby with a few other people where you can select your Hunter and vote for the map you want to play on. You can’t change any settings like time or frag limits, or what weapons can be used. There is an exponential improvement over Mario Kart DS for the amount of player data collected, however – everything from your favorite weapon to the number of kills is recorded. You can also add people you’ve played through a random match to your rivals list by selecting them in the game summary after the match. This is a great feature to make those random match-ups seem less anonymous.

It’s hard not to be distracted by the way Metroid Prime capitalizes on the DS’s many strengths. It’s obviously well-polished, and tried its hardest to convince me that it would be one of the best games I would play all year. However, I can’t help but feel that this was simply a showcase for the technology rather than a full realization of the game’s potential. Hunters is a great introduction to what can be done with FPS on the DS – I just expected there would be a lot more to see.

The list is shorter this year, because frankly I felt 2005 was a weak year for gaming. There were a lot of very good releases, but there was no game that stood above the rest, immediately recognized for its strengths or unique contribution to the medium. World of Warcraft made great strides in capturing audiences worldwide in 2005 – what is it, five million concurrent subscribers now? The XBox 360 launched with one of the worst lineups since the Saturn, with an engineered product shortage that somehow convinced people they actually needed one. But in terms of a singular victory on any platform, I am hard pressed to name one. I also could have easily padded a list with the other games that I played last year that left me satisfied, but to do that would lessen the meaning of the other selections. These are, after all, the best games I played from last year, and as such should come across as titles actually worth playing, not just looking into.

The list is not in any way intended to be comprehensive, and I encourage the discussion of 2005′s other releases – I would have loved to have checked out Guitar Hero or Battlefield 2 if I had the means. And so:

8. F.E.A.R.

Like Battlefield 2, F.E.A.R. was one of those releases that made PC gamers realize their computers were teetering dangerously close to the line that divides “decent gaming rig ” and “fan-cooled slag heap”. With some careful tweaking I managed to get the game running well, and was extremely pleased with what I experienced. Unlike Doom 3 that insists we’re still in 1993, F.E.A.R. relies on pacing and the paranoid thoughts of the player. The effective use of lighting and many “did I just see that?” moments placed the game’s atmosphere firmly into more sophisticated territory. Though the game is no stranger to cliché; the requisite inclusion of the “scary little girl” and blood soaked corridors occasionally kill the mood. With short bursts of realistic firefights broken up by periods of wondering what could possibly happen next, F.E.A.R. contends with Half Life 2 in the way it presents the game world. I’ve convinced myself F.E.A.R. is the excuse I need to upgrade my computer.

7. Advance Wars: Dual Strike

This is the stuff I was talking about when I reviewed Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. Turn-based strategy is only better served on the DS, where you are able to use the the stylus as if it were a mouse. It’s the most natural god damned arrangement I’ve ever been subjected to away from the PC. While proficient Advance Wars players may breeze through the initial half of the campaign fairly quickly, the additional units and the ability to combine the powers of two C.O.s within a map add a significant amount to the game’s strategy. And once again Intelligent Systems has included a map editor, which begs the question: when are other console games going to start offering this?

6. Freedom Force vs. The Third Reich

The original Freedom Force basically came out of nowhere, and helped gamers realize that they really did want a game with superheroes. Not the bulging chest or angst-filled/tortured-soul antiheroes that were foisted onto the scene in the late 80s and early 90s, but the ones from the golden age of comics. A time when being a superhero meant wearing a stupid looking costume and right and wrong were clearly delineated. Upon first playing, I was laughing at it, wondering what I was doing listening to the completely over the top dialogue, stereotypical characters and plot, and subjecting myself to the flamboyant costumes. Then I was laughing with it. Afterwards the laughing became something else – appreciation – for a unique approach to party-based RPGs. Irrational was on to something when they made Freedom Force. Let’s hope they continue to stick to their vision.

5. Mario Kart DS

I partially retract what I said about puzzlers being the key to a portable platform’s success, because a game like Mario Kart DS is just as capable of capturing the interest of the casual gamer. Using the universal appeal of this title to introduce Nintendo’s Wifi service was an ingeneous move, convincing DS owners of the platform’s multiplayer capabilities. There are no mental investments required; Mario Kart DS provides the conventions of kart racing in one deftly designed, comprehensive package. [Read the full review]

4. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Just when, exactly, did 2D games become unfashionable? Is it through some need of the game developoment industry to justify the hardware arms race? I can’t stomach the thought of having to suffer through another bad port on a portable instead of seeing the preservation of a genre through a dwindling number of developers who deem it worth pursuing. Annoying seals system aside, Dawn of Sorrow chooses to refine the formula instead of building upon it. Put simply, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow was the best game for the DS released last year. [Read the full review]

3. Brothers in Arms: The Road to Hill 30 / Earned in Blood

Finally, somebody gets it. I’m actually quite annoyed at the outright hostility shown towards the WW2 FPS genre. Aside from an interest in how the games adapt history, I relish experiencing the weapons and technology at a point where they are modern enough to be powerful, but not to the point where you can put a bullet directly into someone’s nostril. Where Brothers in Arms differs is in its relentless application of suppress-and-flank tactics, but implemented in a hands on way so you can actually take charge on the battlefield, instead of playing the part of omnipotent field commander. Health meters, first aid kits and an aiming reticle are nowhere to be found; part of the game’s learning curve is figuring out how to shoot a gun using the ironsight while compensating for recoil. Like every other WW2FPS, Brothers in Arms tries to be heavy on story and culls many cinematic references, but it’s completely natural in a game where you actually learn about your squad mates, and are expected to care if they die.

And then Gearbox releases a sequel in the same year, which essentially improves enemy AI and increases the difficulty approximately 1,000,000 times. There is a 3,500 word review of Brothers in Arms sitting on my computer. I swear I will post it someday, because the gaming climate in the early part of 2005 did not do the game justice. Or perhaps FPS gamers just weren’t ready for this level of realism. It doesn’t matter. I was. And I want more.

2. Civilization IV

When Pirates! was released in 2004, it received heavy accolades despite it essentially being a remake of a ten year old game. I agreed – it was certainly the most fun I had playing a game that year. Similarly, Civilization IV is considered mostly a graphical upgrade to 2001′s Civilization III, yet it somehow manages to succeed as an outstanding game in its own right. Its endless replayability and immediately engaging gameplay assures a long-term stay on my computer. Civilization IV is a superb balancing of gameplay for both veteran and novice players that still manages to convey what made the original concept so great. [Read the full review]

And who will be number one? Who? Due to my unbridled affection for the game in question, I have decided to go into great detail about why it’s deserving of such praise. Honestly, my comments simply cannot be contained in a single paragraph, so expect a full length review.

I find Castlevania in its current form irresistible.

As much as I love to complain about a lack of exciting new concepts in games, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow continues to refine the formula that makes the portable version of this series so appealing. When you aren’t mentally replacing the main character with one that wears bionic armour, the gameplay remains gripping. The need to collect better armour, weapons and more powerful spells (the souls that first appeared in Aria of Sorrow) drives the game forward. Ever since Symphony of the Night, Castlevania has turned into a kind of “Castleroid”, adopting the exploration to acquire new power to unlock new areas methodology. Though what Castlevania adds is experience points. It gives purpose to repeatedly visiting the same rooms during those long sessions of trying to figure out where to go next. Except this is not really an RPG, because the player has no control over the main character’s stat progression. And yet somehow the entire system manages to work.

Though we are now on the DS, and Dawn of Sorrow upsets the balance by adding some features that are intended to take advantage of the DS’ touch screen. Frankly, these additions are weak and do more to soil the purity of the experience than actually enhance the gameplay. I am of the mindset that if the stylus must be used, it should be directly integrated with the game’s mechanics and not used intermittently – Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Meteos and even Metroid Prime: Hunters do this well.

The first instance of this breach in gameplay are the ice blocks. After killing the second boss in the game, you gain the ability to break these blocks that are either preventing entrance into rooms or require modification to ascend a height before getting the double-jump. Something that I thought would be a lynchpin of the gameworld – this manipulation of the game’s environment using the touch screen – amounts to little more than a parlour trick, as these obstacles are rarely encountered. By the time I reached the endgame sequence, I wondered if it was necessary to include it at all.

The next offender is the Seal system. These are patterns that must be traced on screen in a single stroke once a boss monster has been defeated to banish them forever. With only five seals to learn and roughly 14 bosses over the course of the game, the difficulty ramps up gradually. They can be practiced at any time, but after experiencing this system first-hand I can only describe it as self-sabotage waiting to happen. As if boss battles weren’t already hard enough, they can be undone by a slip of the stylus or simply forgetting part of a stroke. Furthermore, fumbling for the stylus after I’ve just worked my thumbs raw and have only 30 health points to spare tends to build a kind of insurmountable pressure to perform. You will fight bosses multiple times, but not because they are difficult. No. It will be because of these invasive seals, brutally justifying the stylus’ use with this game.

However these intermissions and the brief emotional outbursts that followed seemed to fade into the background of Dawn of Sorrow’s main purpose: to provide a two-dimensional platformer. In this regard the game excels; everything about the gameplay exudes familiarity, and yet the DS’ capabilities for rendering my adventures as Soma Cruz surprised me at every turn, proving once again that a third dimension is not always necessary. Furthermore, what has been impressive about the Castlevania series for Nintendo’s portable platforms is that there has been a noticeable evolution in the game’s visuals. I thought Aria of Sorrow was an incredible advance over Harmony of Dissonance – but l look back now and see a game that looks a lot older than it actually is. Dawn of Sorrow makes me want to see more 2D games on the DS.

Aside from the obvious concessions made for the touch screen, some additions were made to improve on the Castlevania experience last seen in Aria of Sorrow. The Doppelganger ability allows the creation of two sets of armour, weapons and souls to be equipped by Soma, switchable by the press of a single button. This is unbelievably convenient during boss battles, where a heavy weapon and quick weapon would often be required. Also included is a kind of weapon customization feature, which was created with the best of intentions I’m sure. You can fuse souls with weapons, removing them from your inventory of equippable souls. However, this is all limited by the weapons and souls you happen to have – you can only fuse a prescribed soul to a weapon, leaving these “customization” options not very customizable at all.

In a an homage to classic Castlevania, completing one of the three possible endings where Soma becomes Dracula unlocks “Julius Mode”, which allows you to play through the game as Julius Belmont and ultimately take on Soma. There are no souls, no magic seals, weapons or special powers – just Vampire Killer and an amazing remix of the original Castlevania soundtrack.

After finishing the fourth portable iteration of Castlevania The Quasi-RPG, it became clear that the games are directly tapping into the Pokémon subconscious. They are games for the completist: obtain the perfect set of gear, complete 100% of the map, get every soul in the game. I always found it amazing that absolutely every enemy I fought had the potential to give an ability once, or many times over through levelling up an existing soul in my repertoire. It meant when I passed through that corridor for the 20th time, I might get something in return. Killing a lowly skeleton does not encourage an automated response; instead, it maintains interest. I wouldn’t call it infinite replayability, but it comes close. Even after beating the game you can go back to your save game and explore the castle for secret areas and a full set of souls. In the realm of 2D adventures, I get the feeling that Samus Aran has just been overtaken.

i saw them all inside a sheet of flame

The race begins, your foot is on the gas, and your mind on getting a red shell. What you don’t expect is to take the lead only to be offered an endless supply of banana peels. This is part of MKDS’ attempt at balancing the action. At the start, each character gets two Karts, a Kart unique to the character and a standard Kart, but unlike Double Dash you can’t drive another character’s Kart. I liked being able to match the performance of a vehicle with the special attacks of another character in Double Dash. In Mario Kart DS, there are no special attacks, making your choice of character your choice of vehicle. What matters now is the balance of your Kart’s performance to the quality of item drops associated with the Kart – both visible from the character selection screen. Even then, if you take the lead and manage to keep it, the quality of your drops will remain poor. If you’re in last, however, you’re more likely to get the more devastating items.

Jumping has not only returned, it has been reworked to start a powerslide. Further to powersliding is the ability to draft your oponents: using their speed to accelerate your own Kart by driving up behind them. But as always, you can make racing as technical or as hamfisted as you like, because it is often not even necessary to do anything except hold down that ‘A’ button.

Nintendo has provided a Mario Kart “Greatest Hits” of sorts with the Retro Grand Prix. Aside from the four entirely new cups available, Mario Kart DS has four additional cups that are made up of tracks from previous Mario Kart incarnations on the SNES, N64, GBA and Gamecube. All of the tracks are as I remember them, though it quickly becomes obvious where advancements in technology have almost made the old tracks look bad.

The most valuable addition MKDS makes to the Mario Kart franchise is wireless multiplayer through the internet. Launching a worldwide Wi-Fi service on a portable platform was ingenious for Nintendo. It shows their commitment to online play. It also lays the groundwork for the Revolution, proving that these guys actually do have a strategy for bringing their games into the next generation.

To engage other players online requires access to a wireless internet connection, of which I had none. Having no other wireless devices, with hardwire drops in every room I needed them, there was really never a requirement. What Nintendo offers for people in this situation is the USB Wireless adapter specifically designed for the DS (it says so on the box!). This essentially forms a wireless bridge between the DS and your PC, which is already connected to the internet. This is a fine solution if you don’t mind dropping half the cost of a wireless router on an accessory that can only be used with one device, ever. Furthermore, I had visions of having to sit near a PC if I wanted to ever access the online service. This was not a reasonable option for me, so I bought a wireless router.

The WiFi matching service is easy enough to navigate, and is probably too simple for its own good. It’s not like the server browsers you’d see in a FPS – the game simply looks for other people who are looking for a match and throws you all into a race. Not to mention it takes forever for this process to complete, as there are no doubt impatient types that simply quit and force the game to look for additional players to fill the empty spots. Or worse yet, drop out half way through a race when victory is absolutely certain.There is also no way to avoid these types in the future. Then there are the Friend Codes¹, which could have been used more effectively. Entering a Friend Code is only part of the process. See, your “friend” must enter your code as well in order for you to see any information about them or match up with them. Even then, the information available is limited to Wins, Losses and last time online, and the “matching” is simply a menu option called “Friends” (you can’t start a race with a specific friend). What would have been more useful is an email notifying you that someone has added your friend code, or wants to start a game. Nintendo allows you to link your DS WiFi ID (different than the friend code) to your MyNintendo account, but after doing that I didn’t notice any added functionality. This would have been a perfect way to allow these notifications. In the end, Friend Codes are really only useful when you’re all online at the same time. Not exactly a picture of convenience.

I usually go out of my way to mock reviewers that consider online play on a console “new and exciting”. As someone who regularly takes advantage of this feature on PCs, it shouldn’t seem like a big deal. The first time I joined a race, though – it was pretty exciting. Who knew where these players were located? They behaved like humans. There was no lag. It seemed like an even match-up. Until they quit the race, of course.

There are no pretenses about Mario Kart DS. It is a Kart racing game and there is nothing in it that you haven’t experienced before. The controls are easily grasped and there is enough single-player gameplay embedded within its menus to provide hours of fun for someone who doesn’t even have a wireless internet connection. Nintendo has shown us what it can do with the Internet, with a game that allows any type of gamer entrance into the fold. I think that’s brilliant. They have also produced one of the strongest games to be released for the Nintendo DS.

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1. For anyone interested in a race, my friend code is 545522 / 934077.

oktober nineteen eighty-three

With hints of the Tamagotchi craze of the mid 90s, Nintendogs takes the features of DS and creates an entirely new interactive experience with a virtual pet. From a technology perspective, seeing how the voice and touch screen elements of the DS come together makes Nintendogs sound like a genuine accomplishment. Reading through some of the reviews, it seems that the underlying simulation is lost amid the praises for using the DS’s capabilities to their fullest. Let’s take away the fact that there is a cute puppy on screen waiting to be played with. What is the ultimate goal?

Nintendogs can hardly be considered a “game” in the traditional sense, as it takes elements from what we have come to expect from a “virtual” pet with that of a simulation of sorts. You can record yourself saying “sit”, and your dog will eventually learn to do it on command. After three or four tries. You can “walk” your pup around the neighborhood where you might find accessories for your new dog, like a new…hat. You can enter your dog into obedience and frisbee catching competitions and win awards to buy more stuff for your dog. You can feed your pup to keep him happy, but he will never grow. It all might seem very appealing to some people, and it’s entirely possible that Nintendogs’ undeniable cute factor will prompt new sales of the DS. Though what I’d be more curious about is whether this game causes someone to go out and actually buy a dog. They’ll be in for a surprise.

Where I thought this game would excel is in player-to-player interaction. A proper component of raising a dog is socialization, so what better way to exploit the DS’s wireless connectivity? Through something called “Bark Mode”, Nintendogs players can meet each other’s pups in a generic-looking play room. However, all you’ll be seeing is a “local” version of the other player’s puppy; none of the activity is happening in real time. That means the other player can’t call his dog back to him, or throw a frisbee and the both of you watch your dogs go after it. With the inclusion of dog competitions in the single-player game, it’s all the more unfortunate that players can’t compete with each other in obedience trials or even something simple like a race.

The most notable aspect of multiplayer interaction is that the game assumes the dogs will get along. You don’t need me to tell you that every dog behaves differently, regardless of breed. Walking your dog through a park with other dogs usually results in friendly play, but you will occasionally go through the harrowing experience of having to put up with an aggressive dog and an owner that can’t control it. Nintendo obviously chose a selection of lovable, cuddly breeds to include in Nintendogs, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be – or become – aggressive. It’s obvious this game was made for kids, but is there any kind of reaction for poking your dog repeatedly with the stylus? Or neglecting it for long periods? Something tells me the experience is intended to be short term, with the results of this negative parenting never affecting the development of your virtual puppy.

I enjoy gaming because it’s an escape from reality. This is main reason why I avoid sports games: as much as I can appreciate the “fantasy” aspect of controlling one’s favorite team, I’d sooner go outside and play the real thing (which rarely happens anyway). The same can be said of Nintendogs. Where’s the fun of actually walking with your dog? How empty would you feel yelling into a machine, only to have the insolent collection of pixels disobey the command? Would you show this virtual pet to your friends and expect some kind of reaction? This process of thought made me question where games in general are going. To simulate real-life physics to put a player in the middle of a compelling fictional setting is certainly an admirable goal; simulating the triviality of real life seems wasteful and indulgent. I’m sure a direct relationship can be found between obsessing over virtual lives with the popularity of reality TV.

While the thought of spending $40 plus the cost of a DS for a “dog” is probably appealing to some parents, the fact of the matter is you can still turn off the game. Your dog will never die of starvation or neglect, it will never run away, and will remain a puppy forever. I’d hardly call that a simulation, and it simply reinforces a fundamental flaw in game design: the lack of any real consequence.

it’s a perfect day to lock yourself inside

Strategy First followed this up with news that turn based franchises Disciples and Jagged Alliance would be available for the DS as well. Along with Age of Wonders, Disciples helped re-galvanize the weakened state of turn-based fantasy epics and secured a position in my catalogue of PC favorites.

On a similar note, Paradox announced last month that their turn-based Europa Universalis II would be available for the DS sometime in 2006, with seemingly little visual modifications.

Nintendo has always been known to capitalize on past successes, as any Gamecube or Gameboy Advance owner can tell you. Instead of simply re-releasing old games, however, developers will be taking advantage of the DS’s interface. The buttons coupled with a stylus will attempt to mimic the mouse and keyboard, the PC gamer’s requisite control scheme. With two screens at a player’s disposal to display information, I can see these titles succeeding in concept, though what remains of the gameplay will be the ultimate deciding factor.

The trend continues in homespun ports, with agile programmers utilizing a growing number of DS development tools to get SCUMMVM running on the DS. I’ve only seen photos of The Secret of Monkey Island running – but that’s enough to get the gears turning. I’ve said before that Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis is easily one of my favorite games of all time; to think that I would be able to play it on the DS has me considering the purchase of a wireless network card to interface with my DS.

Based on my experiences with Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, the first person shooter is another genre that has the potential to broaden the DS’s library. Case in point: Heretic DS. Forget for a moment that Heretic was a feeble attempt to recapture the success of Doom. The programmer responsible for the port has not only managed to get the game to run with both screens in operation, it appears that he has essentially copied the design concept of Metroid Prime Hunters. Do not think for a moment that the lack of an analog control stick somehow cripples the DS. When you realize that the touchscreen is an extension of the control pad the potential for this platform becomes perfectly clear.

he hands the drill to his son