Dreamcast Review: Sonic Shuffle (2000)

One of the things that I love about Sega is how innovative it has been, though sometimes it has been ahead of its time. It pioneered technologies that only later became more popular: motion sensor controllers (in the Dreamcast's case used for fishing simulation) playing console games online with other players, or even the technique of cel shading (which started with Jet Set Radio and was quickly followed by Sonic Shuffle). However, innovation can also be achieved through using another's idea as a basis and improving upon it. Indeed, this is how the majority of innovation occurs. I believe this is what Sonic Team tried to achieve here, using the formula that made Mario Party so popular and putting the Sonic brand on it. Largely disappointing is the fact that it failed to impress. One of the big problems is that the time investment required to progress in the game is quite large: one "board game" takes easily an hour to complete and you must win or you are back at square one. This perhaps wouldn't be so bad if the board game itself were more enjoyable. It involves a LOT of waiting while other players make their moves. Not only that, but the mini-games that are the real draw of these party games are few and far in-between. Unlike Mario Party, where mini-games are played after everyone has had a turn, to play a mini-game in Sonic Shuffle, one player has to land on the correct space. Even then, a mini-game is not guaranteed as landing on this space may turn out to be something stupid, such as a "mini-event" where there is a silly story you have to sit through (even during a computer players turn!) and the player will encounter some insignificant beneficial or negative result (such as the loss or gain of some rings). Another often encountered space is the "battle" where you have to fight some insignificant monster (or watch your AI opponents do it). It does not add anything to the game except more waiting. When you finally do get to play mini-games, the experience is less than what it could be because they are often quite hard. This itself wouldn't be so bad, but since these games happen so infrequently, it is difficult to practice them enough to gain any proficiency. An option to practice mini-games outside of actually playing the board game would have been welcome. In the end, you will need to invest several hour-blocks of free time and plenty of patience to get anything out of this game. And I can't guarantee that what you get will not be a headache.

Daniel Craig in... Moonraker?

This may be a week old, but timeliness has never been our main concern. Nevertheless, IGN has the first 007 Legends trailer up, this one showcasing an updated version of the absurd Roger Moore epic, Moonraker. We've kindly embedded the trailer below:

Moonraker is a decent enough choice (one of five classic films to be featured in the upcoming game), but I'm not sold yet on the do-over philosophy of these new Bond games, perhaps because I was not overly fond of the GoldenEye 007 remake. Seems like this one will have levels culled from Bond lore, but inhabited this time by Daniel Craig and his newfangled smart phone gadgets instead of the original actors. This may be unfortunate considering how much fun I had playing the retro-stylings of Sean Connery in the From Russia With Love remake for PS2, which kept all of the atmosphere of the original film but expanded it for a new medium and a new audience.

Luckily, with E3 looming, we're likely to learn more soon.

Wii Review: Quantum of Solace (2008)

The problems with the Quantum of Solace movie were generic: if we weren't told that Daniel Craig was playing James Bond, how could we tell? It was just another action movie, as far as I could tell, and the 007 license (to kill) was incidental. And this problem has been transplanted onto its ancillary products. The Wii version of Quantum of Solace is a solid enough first-person shooter, but as a 007 game, it lacks that distinctive Bond feel. Interestingly, QoS combines the story of the its namesake film with that of the previous (and far superior) entry, Casino Royale. In fact, far more time is devoted to the events of Royale than Solace; the first and last few levels function as bookends, and Royale is sandwiched in between. This is disorienting at first because the initial flashback is poorly indicated (especially, I imagine, for players who may not be familiar with the films), but things pick up fairly quickly. Most of the missions are conducted along traditional first-person shooter lines, although the vantage point switches to third-person once players duck behind cover. This is a neat feature that is tactically useful. However, I must mention that aiming in first-person on the Wii is often wonky. Even if your remote is carefully calibrated, precision aiming is usually difficult. Thankfully, though, precision shooting and stealth are not often called for, and that points us to another problem with this game: too many times the really neat stuff (stealth approaches, acrobatics, car chases) take place either entirely in cutscenes or, worse yet, completely offscreen. Split-screen multiplayer magnifies the same problems with aiming the Wii remote by considerably shrinking aiming area. Online multiplayer is decent enough (including a wonderful recreation of the classic Facility level from GoldenEye) but very few players are online at any given time. You could do worse for Wii, I suppose, but I would recommend sticking with the PS2 Bonds instead.

Wii Review: GoldenEye 007 (2010)

I came of age with a Playstation 1, so I all but missed out on the GoldenEye N64 phenomenon. Unlike many of those so childishly attached to that object of shared adolescence, I'm clearly not a GoldenEye loyalist, and it was with a welcoming attitude that I greeted this Wii remake, not automatic disdain. The story is generally the same: nuclear space weapons are hijacked and Bond must work with the sole survivor of a Russian research facility in order to disarm them, only to discover that the heist was plotted by the former agent 006, Alec Trevelyan, his best buddy. Changes to the story are mostly cosmetic, usually involving the relocation of missions and shifts in characters' appearance and narrative function (in some instances). These shifts bring the story up-to-date, while simultaneously meeting the demands of Daniel Craig's version of Bond; less gadgetry, less stealth, and considerably more to outright brutality. These single-player missions are fundamentally tailored to meet Craig's Bond halfway, and though they play reasonably well, they are far too linear in progression. It is too easy to navigate through these worlds, too obviously marked where players should go next, and there is no room for exploration or multiple approaches to completing mission objectives as there were in the original GoldenEye. Furthermore, stealth is downgraded to a few short segments of silent takedowns, and only (as stipulated by the linear structure of the levels themselves) when the game wants you to be stealthy. In many ways, GoldenEye's single-player is like the last Bond film, Quantum of Solace, in that it doesn't feel like a Bond game without the stealthy portions and the ridiculous gadgets. Instead, it feels (and plays) more like your typical Call of Duty-style shooter. In terms of multiplayer, GoldenEye is solid, if unimpressive. Of course, the lack of computer-controlled bots to fill up the maps is as unsurprising as it frustrating; their MIA status in more recent games continues. Online multiplayer is fun for a while, but becomes tiresome after more than a few go-arounds on the rather bland maps. GoldenEye is a fun rental, especially for those curious to see the changes from the N64 original, but unfortunately it has little replayability to offer.