Why the DKC trilogy is platforming bliss, and how Retro missed the point...

I feel bad that I blog for the first time in over a year and a half to say something partially negative. When it comes to games, I try to look for the good first... some game designer thought their feature/mechanic/whatever was a good idea, so I try to look at games from that perspective. Sometimes, a game's appeal is completely lost on me, but I'm one of the rare people that like nearly every single Final Fantasy game, so I can handle it when games throw different ideas my way. People are too quick to classify well-made games as "garbage," never trying to adjust their expectations or wonder why the game is designed the way that it is. This is why I feel bad that, try as I might, I couldn't enjoy playing Donkey Kong Country Returns, a technically sound platformer from a development studio that I have tremendous respect for.

I say that this post is only "partially negative" because it is also a celebration of just why the Donkey Kong Country trilogy is so dang great. When DKCR was announced at E3, I was happy to not be the only person overwhelmed with excitement. I had been under the impression that no one else really liked DKC anymore... that everyone looked back and said, "Oh those games were just about the graphics," and forgot that they were really great games too. In my opinion, they are actually more than great... they come as close to perfection as any games ever have.

In 1994, the original Donkey Kong Country grabbed attention with its innovative use of pre-rendered graphics, using advanced technology to scale down more impressive graphics for use on the Super Nintendo. Beyond that, DKC was also far more atmospheric than other games of the era, partially thanks to a hauntingly memorable soundtrack (also quite unlike game music of the time). These things were DKC's outward aesthetic, but you could change all of them and the game could still be Donkey Kong of the country variety. Awed as I was by all of these things at the time, it was still gameplay that made Donkey Kong Country (and its sequels) stand tall among my favorite games, from 1994 to today.

Thinking on it, I identified three elements that define Donkey Kong Country's gameplay: control mechanics, level layout with a strong emphasis on deliberate item and enemy placement, and level gimmicks. When Retro Studios did their research for Donkey Kong Country Returns, they either completely missed these points, or believed they were not important, because if DKCR is supposed to be a true sequel, it utterly fails at implementing these elements.

First, control mechanics. Donkey Kong Country is much like Mario... you run and jump on enemies, for the most part. It's not a complicated game to learn. There is also a roll, which can seem less useful than jump attacks at first, but its brilliance comes from its unique mechanic of gaining perpetual speed with each enemy that is plowed through. A good player can take advantage of this to blast through levels at lightning speed. The roll also has another unique property, which is that after rolling off a ledge, you can perform a mid-air jump. This latter point, DKCR does implement. The former, it does not. DKCR's roll is a quick burst of speed that isn't very useful for plowing through lines of enemies, because the roll will stop, and you'll get hurt. As the roll starts off quickly, it also makes using it frustrating because it always creates an extremely long jump, making it much less precise and versatile than the classic variable speed roll-jump. It certainly doesn't help that DKCR forces the roll onto waggle controls, but even if it were on a button, it's just a quick dash rather than the deceptively useful classic roll. The roll is DKCR's greatest control misstep, but in general, Donkey Kong's mechanics are just very different. Don't get me wrong... the controls are not bad by their very nature, but I don't see why the fanbase has to be alienated. To most people, it would probably seem like just another new game to adjust to, but I couldn't shake off my expectations for how DK should move. When games like New Super Mario Bros. emphasize making sure their predecessors' perfect controls are kept in tact (while still implementing new moves), I think it's inexcusable that DKC has not been preserved in the same manner. The game kept trying to tell me that it was something wonderfully nostalgic and familiar, but the controls made it feel like it was just another game... not Donkey Kong Country.

The second key element is Donkey Kong Country's brand of level design. I never realized the formula was so fragile, because Rare consistently delivered a high level of excellent action with each entry in the classic trilogy. I believed that Retro had done their research and would do fresh things with the DKC style of level design, but it seems to me that they didn't pay too much attention. Rare had enemy and item placement down to a science. If you relied on your instincts and trusted the designers, you could do amazing things. If you throw a reinforced barrel from here, you can plow through this huge string of enemies. If you time your first jump right, you can bounce all the way up to here. If you roll through these guys, you can leap all the way over this platform. Players who get into the DKC rhythm are rewarded by discovering bonus rooms. There is usually a perfect difficulty curve through each level. The level teaches you its tricks early on, and then you have to deal with the mounting challenge through to the end. Many games do this, or at least attempt to do so, but I truly believe that the original DKC trilogy has more precise level design than any other platforming series. As for DKCR? Yeah, it's got good level design. It's good. But what a wasted opportunity, when Retro had a chance to follow master level design and made just another platformer with enemies to bop here and stuff to dodge there.

Now, I say DKCR feels like "just another platformer" to me, but it does do something pretty cool that I see a lot of talk about. The levels are very dynamic. Donkey Kong leaves a swath of destruction in his wake. Ancient ruins better not be in the way between him and his missing bananas. It's all scripted, but the levels crumble and change as you move forward, and it's pretty neat. I'd have enjoyed it a lot more if I could have shaken "this doesn't feel like Donkey Kong Country" out of my mind. This is where Retro put the majority of its effort, and I can't deny that care was put into the spectacle of almost every level. Over the course of a game with 8 worlds, however, all of this destruction feels a bit like a one-trick pony... which brings me to the third point.

Almost every level in the original DKC trilogy has a hook... a gimmick. That's a word that can be used to devalue, but in this case it makes the games very memorable. In the second world of the original DKC, there's a level called "Stop & Go Station," a dark mine where these insanely fast red-eyed kremlings chase after you if you don't keep switches turned throughout the level. I'll never forget how freaked out I was when I first got there, the first kremling scaring me so badly that I turned and ran back to the entrance... only to discover that doing so is actually a secret shortcut to the end of the level. Knowing that, it was years before I mustered the courage to play through the level without the shortcut, being pretty much the most frightening thing I'd ever seen in a game at the time. Whether it's minecarts, ropes that slide you up or down, moving platforms that need fuel, blinding blizzards... there's no lazy level, and most levels have something unique that was designed specifically for that level, and defines the level. The sequels do this to greater effect, with updraft-powered balloon rides, gusty mines, sticky giant beehives, dangerous parrot-assisted descents, a tower filling with toxic waste, avoiding a gunman's sights, and dodging a thunderstorm. It goes on and on. I don't wish to imply that DKCR's level designers weren't clever, or were lazy. The dynamic environments are proof enough of their efforts. All the same, the levels rarely felt memorable to me in the same way that the original trilogy's are.

Only a few levels in DKCR had the sort of hooks that made me think, "Yes, this is a DKC level." There's one level where you have to stand behind cover to avoid tidal waves stands out in my mind. A level in world 7 called Switcheroo plays some really need tricks with background switches that alternate between red and blue platforms... sometimes you must avoid passing the switches to keep the ground below you, which reminded me of the challenge of passing through narrow gaps in lines of Zingers in the old games. These levels, along with woefully few others, were straight-up DKC creativity, a glimpse into the game that I was all hyped up to play. Again, there's nothing really wrong with the level design of DKCR as a whole, but it fails to stand up to the classics.

So, there. That's why I feel Retro Studios has done a disservice to a game that is supposed to be Donkey Kong Country. They had the music. They didn't have to. The remixes are great, but they didn't have to use them. I prefer the more realistic style of the SNES games, but if Retro wants to make a more cartoony DKC, that's their call. I knew the style was different, and I was interested to see what they'd done with it. I like kremlings, but I was up for some new enemies. They may have put Donkey Kong in a platformer, but they missed the point. Honestly, I'm shocked, because I have so much respect for Retro Studios. When it was discovered that Metroid Prime would be in first person, so many fans cried that they didn't know what Metroid was all about. They were going to make it a shooter, but Metroid isn't about shooting! Fortunately, that turned out to be dead wrong. Retro may have changed the perspective, but they couldn't have made a truer Metroid game, giving it incredible atmosphere and level design that could hardly be more perfect for the series. Alongside Ocarina of Time, I consider Metroid Prime to be the best conversion of a classic series' gameplay into 3D. They retain the important elements that make those games what they are, while being fresh within the series, and innovative for gaming in general. With DKCR, the opposite has happened. The perspective remains the same, the gameplay claims to be a throwback, but either they didn't understand what DKC's gameplay was all about, or they didn't care about the originals.

DKCR is not a throwback to DKC. If anything, it's just a throwback to difficult 2D platformers, with a little added destructive flair. I can't say it's a bad game. It's actually really solid... but I found it impossible to reconcile with it not being what I expected it to be. Drum has unintentionally given me the best term to describe it with. You see, for whatever reason, he's somehow not a fan of the original DKC games (he's barely played the sequels). He calls the original DKC "a solid platformer, but vanilla to me in every way." A plain platformer. Obviously, I very strongly disagree, but stripped of the key gameplay elements that make DKC what it is... I agree. That's what DKCR is to me. Vanilla.

Vanilla that let me down so hard. :/

Resident Evil 5

Taking its core gameplay directly from Resident Evil 4, Capcom's latest big-budget Resident Evil fits my tastes perfectly. I know a lot of people have given up on "stop and pop" and moved on exclusively to "run and gun," but for my money, Resident Evil 4 and 5 feature the most purely entertaining gunplay in all of gaming. So obviously I love it, but how much?

What I loved
It's a new adventure with RE4 gameplay. I have a lot of love for the old-style Resident Evil games. Resident Evil 4 was an ambitious reinvention of the series, and while most people loved it, some resented it for leaving much of the old gameplay behind. Either way, Resident Evil 4 is surely one of my top 5 games of all time (I say that about a lot of games, but I really mean it about RE4!). Thankfully, Capcom has resisted the temptation to imitate other popular shooters and kept RE5 true to RE4's foundation. RE4-like enemies, weapon customization, meticulously designed levels, and so much more. In the end, they created exactly the shooter I wanted to play, and for RE4 fanatics like me, it feels so right.
Unrivaled visuals. Resident Evil 5 does the graphics right in every way. Technically and artistically, through flawless animation and cinematics, Capcom has created the absolute most mind-blowing visual experience imaginable. I expected RE5 to look amazing, but it has absolutely exceeded even my highest expectations.
RE5 is the story that neatly ties up everything. Well, almost everything. I have a few questions about a character or two who appeared in earlier Resident Evil games, but Resident Evil 5 delves into almost all unanswered questions and motives, leaving me very satisfied with the story. If Capcom wanted to end the series with 5, they could easily do so.
Co-op, of course! I had the rare opportunity to play Resident Evil 5 with Drumble, who borrowed a PS3 just for this occasion. Both of us are pretty crazy about the Resident Evil series, especially RE4, and that just made the co-op experience all the more entertaining. Aside from a number of disconnects that were entirely the fault of my own Internet hicupping (it's been doing that for a week or two), the experience was flawless. I've not played a whole lot of PS3 games online, but this was a very positive experience. Except when my Internet was dropping out, I never saw any strange character movements or oddities. I can't comment on the in-game voice chat, however, since we used Skype to communicate (which, I don't know why you wouldn't, anyway).
Lack of ridiculous puzzles. RE4 toned down the random emblem-hunting quite a bit, but there were still some random things that had to be acquired to open doors. This has less of a place in the new style of RE games than it did in the old style. Thankfully, the RE5 team realized this, and while there are a few seals/emblems/slabs/whathaveyou to collect, such instances are few and far between, and fit in decently well in their context.

What's alright...
Item management. The item management is almost under the "what I liked" category, but it presents a few bizarre design choices. During gameplay, item management is entirely realtime. This makes the co-op play functional and allows you to trade between your partner and yourself. For the most part, this works well. It keeps gameplay moving quickly, and weapons can be set to up, down, left, and right for quick access via the D-pad. You can only hold 9 items on the 3x3 grid. I warmed up to this limitation, because it's just small enough to make you consider what's really important to take, but not crippling like the 6 slots Chris had in RE1. Also, while only one healing item can be placed in a slot, ammo stacks up in fairly large chunks, and items like grenades stack up to 5 in one slot. As much as I like RE4's super easy item management, I'm also rather fond of this throwback to the limitations of the older games. On the other hand, opening the realtime menu and selecting something like a healing item, a grenade, or other weapon that may not be on a quick-access button can be a pain, especially if your partner is not in a position to cover you while you fumble in the menu. I also greatly miss RE4's option to simply use a healing herb that is lying on the ground, or combine it from outside the case with an herb that is inside the case. Another oddity is that ammo cannot be split. Unless your partner cannot hold all of your bullets, if you hand bullets to your partner, it's all or nothing. One final quirk is that you can only reposition items in your menu between chapters. During gameplay, you may acquire a new weapon that will just fall into the first empty slot in your inventory, which may not be on a quick-access button. After the chapter, you can reposition the items however you like, and also place unneeded items into your off-hand inventory for retrieval at another time. Treasures and keys do not take up inventory slots, thankfully. All in all, the inventory system works, but there are some surprising oversights that I would like to see fixed in the inevitable RE6.

What I didn't like so much...
People who bash RE5 as "outdated." Because the fact of the matter is that there are people who prefer this kind of shooter. Try to see what's enjoyable about it before you just bash its controls. OK, so that's not really about the game, but still. I guess I could pick something I didn't like...
Since when was Chris so dang huge? Seriously.

I gave Resident Evil 5 4/4 stars on my Backloggery for "excellent." Resident Evil nuts will love to see where the story goes and fans of RE4 in particular will be in heaven with the gameplay. Aside from the perfectly-executed co-op and amazing visuals, Resident Evil 5 doesn't improve terribly much upon Resident Evil 4, but I would say the overall game is just as excellent. I had considered it my most-anticipated game for quite some time, but I'll admit I was worried if it could truly meet my expectations. Thankfully, it turned into something really amazing. For a gamer with my tastes, I couldn't recommend it more.

Valkyria Chronicles

Valkyria Chronicles is a turn-based strategy RPG from Sega for the Playstation 3. Featuring a unique blend of strategy and 3D action control, Valkyria Chronicles easily stands out from other games in the genre. As a fantasy take on World War II, Valkyria Chronicles follows the story of Welkin Gunther, a university science student who ends up commanding Squad 7 of the Gallian militia after his neutral country has been invaded by the Empire.

What I liked...
-Simple but deep strategy gameplay. Valkyria Chronicles initially looks a lot like Fire Emblem, but it really does its own thing. The most striking similarity to Fire Emblem is the Player Phase/Enemy Phase setup. Unlike Fire Emblem, you have a certain number of CP (command points) to use per turn. This means you can use CP to move a single unit multiple times, rather than one move per unit. However, some weapons have limited ammo and a unit's movement range is dramatically reduced each time they are moved during a single phase. Aside from tanks, there are 5 basic unit classes: scouts, shocktroopers, lancers, engineers, and snipers. They each serve a variety of purposes, and are all quite valuable. Individual units do not level up, but entire classes level up instead. Enemies also have a few other units, such as stationary gunnery, bunkers, and special tanks. This setup makes the game very easy to learn, but thanks to varied level and mission design, the whole game stays fresh and challenging.
-It's a SRPG with an action twist. When you pick a unit from the map view, the camera zooms down to ground level, and you move the unit just as you would in a third-person action game. Each unit has a set amount of ground they can cover, represented by a meter that reduces with every step taken. Scouts can cover a ton of ground, and snipers can't move very far at all. One of the most interesting things to keep in mind while planning a move is the location of enemies and where you want to position yourself when you are through moving. This is because scouts, shocktroopers, engineers, and tanks will fire at oncoming units if they enter their range, meaning a scout can't just charge through enemy lines and expect to make it to the other side. The same units can also counter-attack. When moving into aiming mode, enemies cannot shoot you, and you can take all the time you want to aim. Unlike Fire Emblem, which gives you a % chance of a successful hit, a shot in Valkyria Chronicles will land somewhere within the weapon's round aiming reticule. Also, due to the real 3D environments (instead of the "representative" environments in other SPRGs), every level plays by fog-of-war rules. If an enemy is not within an ally's line of sight (behind a hill, for example), then they are not visible on the map. Elements like these allow the 3D action elements to add a lot to the SRPG design.
-Cel-shading used to give the graphics a pencil sketch appearance. I love it when games use cel-shading for a very specific appearance rather than just simply "cartoon." The visuals are not necessarily impressive on a technical level, but Sega clearly put a lot of work into making the style possible.

What's alright...
-Potentials. These are kinda like abilities from any other game, except they may activate or they may not. They probably won't. Potentials are innate to each character or unit class, and are usually positive, but sometimes negative. Certain types of environments, for example, may slightly boost or decrease a particular unit's stats. Since you can't rely on these abilities (and their effect is often so minimal even if they do activate), they are really a surperflous element. They don't exactly hurt the game, but they also make me wish I could have reliable awesome abilities that were always active, as in some of the Fire Emblem games.
-Story, voices, and story presentation. Odd as it may sound, I would prefer the unvoiced character art story scenes found in Fire Emblem, even if Sega tried to step it up in Valkyria Chronicles. The voice delivery is generally soft, slow, and flat. Most story developments are presented with a background, with barely-animated character faces appearing within boxed frames. Obviously, this method kept the budget down, but it's not very engaging, especially with the yawn-inducing voice acting. Some story scenes are fully animated with the in-game engine, but most of them aren't particularly impressive. What IS impressive, however, are the rendered cinematics, which retain the pencil sketch style. As opposed to the scenes I just described, these are certainly some of the best scenes I've seen in an RPG in recent times. The story itself took a long time for me to become interested, and at first, I didn't really care about any of the characters. However, the story does become much better as the game progresses, and I did come to care about the characters, if only out of familiarity.
-Pretty good soundtrack. But seeing as how it's from Hitoshi Sakimoto, I was hoping for something a bit more. He's the guy behind Final Fantasy XII, all of the Final Fantasy Tactics games, and Odin Sphere. His style is very distinctive, and it's unmistakable in Valkyria Chronicles. Unfortunately, while the soundtrack is fitting and serviceable, it's not nearly as memorable as his earlier work.

What I didn't like so much...
-Slow start. The first several chapters in the game aren't very interesting. Once you have more control over deployment and engage in longer, larger-scale battles, Valkyria Chronicles suddenly switches over to being all fun, all awesome, all the time. But the first 4 or 5 hours sure are boring. At least they do a good job of conveying how to play the game during this time. Stick with it if you're starting out. It's very much worth it.
-Lack of terrain information on the overhead map. When switching between 3D action and the overhead map, the camera does a slick zoom-out to the map, where you can select your next unit. Unfortunately, during the process of zooming out, everything becomes very desaturated and low-contrast, making it difficult to discern terrain features. This can sometimes make it difficult to plan moves unless you already know what the view at ground level looks like. Cel-shaded outlines remain on the map view, so buildings, trees, and walls are usually very visible, but until you've seen the ground view for yourself, it's difficult to imagine what will happen.
-Occasional conflicts between SRPG and action gameplay. Valkyria Chronicles is undeniably an experimental game. It's definitely one of those "what if" designs that anyone could dream up... blending SRPG and 3D action. Thankfully, Sega has done a brilliant job of executing this, but it's not totally perfect. For example, when you hit R1 to enter the aiming view, if a nearby enemy has begun shooting you, then they may still hit you a few times as you switch to aiming mode. Also, I often found myself tapping the circle button while shooting so that I could immediately end the character's turn and ensure that they aren't shot at anymore. Mostly, the idea of having enemies shoot at oncoming units works, but this is where strategy conflicts a bit with action. The 3D action mode is not as robust as it would be in a proper action game, but it works well in this context. In the long run, these are minor quibbles, but worth noting.

I gave Valkyria Chronicles a 4/4 on my Backloggery for "excellent." It's far from a perfect game, but it's also among the most fun games I've played recently. The gameplay was very smartly designed and executed. The few flaws are far outweighed by the sheer level of fun. Sega has put together a brilliant and unique game that they should be very proud of. I absolutely recommend Valkyria Chronicles to everyone who enjoys strategy RPGs.

Comix Zone

Comix Zone is a late-generation Sega Genesis game that's got plenty of style to spare. Yet it is perhaps more known for its infamous difficulty than its spot-on comic book presentation. It features comic book artist Sketch Turner falling into his own work, forcing him to fight his way through the villain's plot. So, just how fun was it? Well...

What I liked...
-Amazing comic book graphics. Comix Zone has a style that I've never seen in any other game. Some games attempt to recreate comic book illustrations with cel shading, but Comix Zone accomplishes it not only with comic-style sprites, but also actual panels that our hero Sketch Turner must swing between as if they were 3D walls. Enemies fall apart into shreds of paper. Text, bubbles, onomatopoeia (POW, etc.), and the like all look straight out of a comic book.

-What's alright...
-Simple fighting mechanics. The developers accomplished a lot with just one button for attacking. There are a lot of ways to punch and kick by using the control pad and jump button in conjunction with the attack button. Unfortunately, the fighting is still not particuarly deep, despite all the animation that goes along with it. Enemies block a lot, but I never felt like I learned anything about breaking their blocks, other than getting into a lucky groove.
-Unforgiving continue system. I'm all for a game being brutal and sending you back to the beginning of the game, but I can't help but wonder if Comix Zone goes too far. The game is very short (6 comic book "pages," two pages per level), so it's only right that a game over sends you back to the beginning. On the first level, you have no extra lives. On the second level, you get one more chance. After beating the second level, you have one more life added. In other words, you have only two chances to die before it's all over. I love the challenge, but the method borders on unfair.

What I didn't like so much...
-Control failure and other quirks. Mostly, the game controls well, but certain actions are awkward. Rolling, for example, requires you to crouch and then hit diagonally downward. It sort of works, but not always. Grabbing levers was often difficult for no apparant reason, and sometimes as I pushed a box to destroy a trap, Sketch would continue moving straight into the trap even after I stopped pushing the control pad. In one particular place in level 2, sometimes enemies would cause me to lose my grip on a rope and fall to my death, but other times they would not... and I couldn't figure out why. And on level 2, that means if it happens twice in a row, then it's back to the start. Jumping controls aren't well suited to dodging projectile attacks, but it works with practice.

I gave Comix Zone 2/4 stars on my Backloggery for "decent." It's not a bad brawler, and I'm pretty sure brawler die-hards would get a big kick out of it. It's short, but very challenging. It's not perfect, but it's a decent game with an amazing visual style that must be seen to be believed. Check it out if you're into brawlers and can weather the unforgiving lack of extra lives.

Resident Evil: Degeneration

Though not a game, I wanted to write up a few thoughts after watching Resident Evil: Degeneration. If you don't know, Degeneration is a full-length CG animated movie produced internally at Capcom, featuring Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. This is finally a Resident Evil movie that can be taken into canon. Apparently taking place not too long after RE4, it also serves to bridge the Raccoon City games with the newer games by giving a broad view of the workings of the worldwide bio terror situation and the people and organizations that may or may not carry on the Umbrella legacy. In particular, I know from viewing an RE5 trailer that at least one company in Degeneration is relevant to the upcoming game. There's a lot of material in Degeneration that Capcom could draw upon for future games.

I went into Degeneration with very low expectations and came away pleasantly surprised. No, it's not a top-notch story... and the models and animations aren't up to Pixar or Square-Enix standards. But the best thing that I can say about Degeneration is that Capcom didn't bite off more than they could chew. They made a movie that was not more ambitious than their abilities, and as such, none of the quirks seem out of place in that context. By which I mean, the quality of the animation, the story, and the acting is more or less on the same level, so it was very consistent overall, with no particular moment seeming particuarly poorly animated or acted within the context of this movie. It's a far cry from high art, but it should be inoffensive to Resident Evil fans.

The biggest complaint I have about the story is that there are some connections that are just too coincidental without a good explanation. For example, Leon and Claire both have a good reason to be at the airport where the first half of the movie takes place, but it's still a bit much of a coincidence for them to meet up unplanned. There's another coincidence concerning two new characters that I found a bit hard to swallow. The story can also be a bit much to take in, with lots of people, companies, organizations, with convoluted connections and double-crossing. The best thing about this is that it helps set up the game series for a future without Umbrella, but in the context of a hour-and-a-half movie, it's easy to miss some details. There aren't any notable scares, but the story does its job for expanding the foundation of the Resident Evil universe and providing some context for zombie shooting and lab explosions.

Degeneration's visuals aren't of the quality that you would see in a theatrically-released movie, but they are commendable for a straight-to-DVD/BluRay release. The technical quality is flawed, but consistent. My biggest gripe is that the lip syncing is completely off. I assumed this was because it was dubbed from Japanese, but after watching the special features, I found that there was only English voice acting from the beginning. Capcom actually used motion capture to get the animation for facial expressions, which was a fine idea in theory, but no effort was made to match the voice actors' performances with the motion capture data. I find this to be disapointing because when I watch RE5 trailers, I see that Capcom had no trouble syncing up mouth movements for the game.

Some fans may be sad to see that the second half of the movie has almost no zombies, but there's plenty of boss monster action to suffice. Since I went in with such low expectations, I'm not sure that I knew what I was looking for. If anything, I was hoping for some more classic "so bad they're good" lines from Leon, but I didn't really get that.

I would definitely recommend that fans of Resident Evil see Degeneration to get a better view of how the world of Resident Evil works without Umbrella. It may make you roll your eyes once or twice, but it's a commendable effort from Capcom and I would very much like to see some more projects like this, so long as they save the best scenarios for the games themselves.

We Love Golf!

Developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by Capcom, We Love Golf is a cartoony golf game for the Wii that should look familiar to fans of Hot Shots Golf, Super Swing Golf, and Mario Golf. Camelot is, in fact, the company responsible for the original Hot Shots Golf on Playstation, as well as the Mario Golf and Tennis series, not to mention Golden Sun and Shining Force. Did they draw on their past experience to produce a ground-breaking golf game for the Wii, or is it (painful pun incoming) par for the course?

What I liked...
-Excellent online gameplay. One of the main selling points to me was the online element. For whatever reason, I'm not interested in golf games with realistic graphics, and this is the only cartoonish golf game on Wii with an online component... and it does its job quite well! Unlike Nintendo's online efforts, there is no "connecting to Nintendo WFC" phase in the process. The online selection is available on the main menu, and you set up a room seamlessly. Actual online play performs very well, but with the game simply being golf, what else would you expect? Of course, there are friend codes. And there is no way to chat, unfortunately, so keep Skype or instant messaging on hand. For online on a Nintendo console, however, this is good stuff.
-Unlockable Capcom costumes. Every character in the game (and there are quite a few) have alternate costumes that allow them to dress up as familiar Capcom characters. These include cameos from Resident Evil, Ace Attorney, Street Fighter, Zack & Wiki, and more. These characters are so much fun to play as, I doubt I'll ever play as the admittedly generic cast in their regular costumes.

What's alright...
-Controls. At first, the camera controls threw me off, but they are actually quite intuitive. Pointing the Wiimote horizontally draws the camera to a shot of the area where the ball will land, pointing to the ceiling gives an overhead view, and pointing downward prepares your shot. You can also adjust how closely zoomed in you are, and the angle. Actual swing controls are on the iffy side. After pointing the Wiimote downward, you hold the A button and pull back, just like a real golf club. This sets the power, but you must set it quickly, because once you've started this process, it must be executed in a second or two. Sometimes it can be very difficult to place the power in just the right spot, but most of the time I found that I did fairly well. Then, a swish of the Wiimote will finalize the shot once the meter reaches the sweet spot. This can be performed with a "real" golf swing or any way you wish to do it, really. Unlike other Wii golf games, the actual angle and accuracy of your swing is irrelevant. This makes the gameplay a little less deep, but also a bit less suceptible to Wiimote confusion.
-Shot trajectory display. We Love Golf has no happy medium between spelling out almost exactly how the ball will roll and giving you no information at all. With beginner rules, you are shown where the ball will land and how it will roll, minus the effects of wind and of course your own inaccuracies while swinging. This is much more detail than other golf games I've played. On the other hand, master rules essentially tell you nothing, not even showing a grid where the ball may land. I feel like beginner rules make the game too easy and that master rules make it unfair.
-Course design. We Love Golf has fine courses, but they aren't very bold. I miss some of the really crazy stuff that I've seen in Mario Golf and Super Swing Golf, but "normal" courses are always fine too. Of course, golfing in jungles and desert ruins is still pretty crazy by Tiger Woods standards, I'm sure.

What I didn't like so much...
-Too easy. There are unlockable versions of tournaments and CPU players that are more challenging, but having played all normal tournaments and most CPU characters, my opponents simply can't stack up, considering I end up with birdies on most holes. This is disapointing, but online play was the main appeal for me.
-You'll never find anyone online. If I want to play with a friend, we can choose to play a friends match or a worldwide match... it doesn't matter, it's not like anyone else will be searching.

I gave We Love Golf 2/4 stars for "decent" on my Backloggery. I've certainly played better-made golf games, and unfortunately this one is just not quite up to Camelot's own standards. The swinging mechanics work most of the time, but aren't particuarly praise-worthy. An excessively detailed shot trajectory makes the game too easy, or almost no information makes it less fun. Aside from the appeal of the Capcom costumes, the game is visually too generic for its own good, losing the appeal of Mario Golf and even the Hot Shots and Super Swing franchaises, which offer similar designs. On the other hand, if you know someone else with the game, or agree to buy it together, I think Wii owners will have a good time with We Love Golf online. I got it for $10 and it is certainly worth at least that much. It's worth a look for fans of cartoony golf games, Capcom, or Camelot's earlier work, but don't expect anything to be top-notch.

World of Goo

World of Goo is a physics-based puzzle game created by 2D Boy, a development team consisting of only two primary members. Available on WiiWare and PC, World of Goo is somewhat comparable to classic PC puzzlers such as Lemmings or The Incredible Machine, but is very much its own thing. Players use a cursor to pick up different varieties of goo balls to build an unstable structure of goo and reach a pipe at the end of the level, where unused goo balls that are climbing on the structure can exit the level.

What I loved...
-Sharp and creative graphics. World of Goo is a beautiful game. Developer 2D Boy has proven itself to be a master of its namesake. Backgrounds are awe-inspiring and take you to a different world. Goo balls are simple, but have a lot of personality, and the way everything animates is captivating and convincing in terms of the fantasy world, if unrealistic.
-Surreal story and presentation. The story has a bit of dark humor, 4th-wall-breaking, and well, it's a bit confusing. You wouldn't expect a game like this to have a story, but what initially appear to be simple helpful signs written by an eccentric "Sign Painter" end up revealing a lot about the power source for the world, the workings of an evil(?) corporation, and an abandoned Internet... it's all kind of weird and disjointed, but it's charming and presented in a way that would only work in a video game (something I always like to see).
-Epic soundtrack. 2D Boy's art, story, and music all comes from one member of the small team, and he's certainly very talented. The music is epic and mostly orchestral in nature... just my style. Exactly the sort of stuff I love to hear in a video game.
-Physics add a new dimension to 2D puzzle design. What's the best way to word this? Most puzzle games are more rigid in their solutions. World of Goo, no pun intended, is a bit more flexible. The main challenge of the game is to build wobbly structures of goo without the whole thing toppling over or leaning into some sort of deathtrap. Most levels will indeed require fairly specific solutions, but World of Goo is much more... um... organic... in design.

What's alright...
... nothing comes to mind.

What I didn't like so much...
... nothing comes to mind here, neither.

There is nothing that World of Goo attempts to do that it doesn't pull off with flying colors. I can't think of a single bad thing to say about it, and that's certainly something I bet any game developer would love to hear. Yet I gave World of Goo 3/4 stars on my Backloggery for "good." For whatever reason, it just didn't feel like a 4-star game to me. Am I being too stingy? Was I not in the right frame of mind? Was it overhyped? Either way, I wholeheartedly recommend World of Goo to anyone who has enjoyed old school puzzle games like the ones mentioned in this review's introduction. It seems to be one of the best games in a long time for many people, and it is unquestionably a triumph for indie developers. Buy it, I say. There's pretty much no way you wouldn't like it.