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.

Prince of Persia

Ubisoft's latest non-Rabbids, non-Petz, non-Imagine title is yet another total reboot of the Prince of Persia franchise. The game makes some bold changes, featuring new character designs in an open-ended cel-shaded world. The game also has a controversial death system, in which the Prince's female companion, Elika, saves him from death every single time he makes an impossible jump or nearly has his throat slit. Do the changes pay off, or did we end up with a lesser Prince of Persia?

What I loved...
-Innovative cel-shading style. No game looks quite like Prince of Persia. Even among the great cel-shaded games like The Wind Waker, Dragon Quest VIII, and Okami, Ubisoft has produced a stand-out visual presentation. Every scene looks like it leaped into motion straight from a concept artist's illustration. When I think about it, shouldn't more games look like that?
-Healed lands. The goal of Prince of Persia is to purge the game world of Ahriman's "corruption." Corrupted lands are not appealing to look at. Healed lands are incredibly beautiful. The main difference is a simple contrast between faded and vibrant colors, but what a difference it makes. When the whole world is cleansed, it's easy to got lost in its beauty.
-Simple, effective controls. The control sheme has been streamlined a bit from last gen's Prince of Persia trilogy, and it still works excellently. Sometimes the Prince didn't do what I expected him to do, but for the most part platforming is a smooth process.
-Excellent orchestral soundtrack. Especially in the healed lands. Love that music.

What's alright...
-Combat is pretty good. Too bad there's so little riding on it without death. For all the God of Wars, Devil May Crys, and Ninja Gaidens, my favorite swordplay in all of gaming remains with the Zelda series. That's why Prince of Persia's exclusively one-on-one combat sounded great. And for the most part, it's pretty well-done. Combos are intuitive, and damage stacks ever higher with each hit. Getting into a groove of perfectly deflecting attacks and counter-attacking is fun. The combat system feels totally separated from the acrobatics system, however, and I miss that somewhat from Sands of Time, which allowed you to launch off walls and such. Enemies will recover health when Elika saves you from death, and sometimes this can be over half of an enemy's total health. Combat is fairly infrequent, but I think some people will really get a kick out of it.

What I didn't like so much...
-Collectathon and... Backtrathalon? It sort of boggles my mind that Ubisoft took two of the most criticized elements in game design and put them into a series that previously had neither. When an area is healed, light seeds appear scatted throughout the land. These are more comparable to notes in Banjo-Kazooie than stars or coins in Mario. There are 1001 of them, and they are required for unlocking new areas. Also, due to the fact that light seeds appear in lands that you previously traversed in their corrupted state, you'll backtrack and repeat much of the exact same platforming to collect these seeds. Personally, I can weather these elements better than most gamers are willing to, but neither are preferable, even for me.
-Stripped-down and unchanging. It hardly matters that you have to retread old ground, because all of the platforming challenges are essentially the same anyway. Run along the wall, double-jump with Elika's help, swing on a poll, climb on vines (can't we come up with a new one?), and so on. Nothing really ever changes, and it's dreadfully obvious what you need to do at all times. In addition to this, so much was taken out of last gen's Prince of Persia trilogy. Where are the traps? The puzzles? There are maybe three or so puzzles, and none are very good. The platforming is stripped to Prince of Persia's most basic core and nothing new ever comes of it.
-Power plate abilities are poorly implemented. The reason you collect light seeds is to unlock power plates, which can be used to launch you to new heights and find new lands to heal. There are four power plate abilities, and they all feel like last-minute bits of programming. You only ever have actual control with two of the four abilities, and while one is decent (the green plate), the other is so bad it's almost funny (the yellow plate).
-Elika is just too danged helpful. Sometimes you'll have pretty long bits of platforming, and those can be intense. Elika only brings you to the last solid ground you were on, so sometimes you have to redo a lot. Ultimately, I don't think Elika is as much of a culprit in making Prince of Persia easy and boring as is the exceedingly basic and samey platforming throughout the game, but she certainly doesn't help things.
-I never cared about any of the characters or the story. One of the best parts about Sands of Time was that it had an incredible fairy tale-like story along with Farah and the Prince, both of whom were characters I really cared about. I think they were trying to recreate that magic with the new Prince of Persia (the graphics would lead you to believe they were), but sadly, it just doesn't work out. I've heard people say that caring for Elika was one of the best parts of the new game, but she didn't really seem all that interesting to me. Both characters have dialog straight out of a bad summer movie that thinks it's a great summer movie, and it's completely out of place in the incredible fantasy world they inhabit.

I gave Prince of Persia a 2/4 stars rating for "decent" on my Backloggery. I thought it sounded like a game for me. An open world platformer with one-on-one combat and incredible cel-shading? Sign me up! Unfortunately, things didn't work out. Despite its very heavy shortcomings, I found myself strangely enamored with the beautiful world once almost all areas were completely healed. I acknowledge that this is a pretty lame reason to continue on toward completing a game with such dull gameplay, but it has compelled me enough. A player's love for this new Prince of Persia will probably be related almost entirely to the visual presentation, especially for those who know that better platforming exists elsewhere. I'll keep my eye open for the next game in the series to see if there are any advancements in gameplay. Stay away, unless you just have to see the graphics, or stale, exceedingly forgiving platforming is your thing for some reason.

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

I figured I'd give a go at these short, simple "what I liked" and "what I didn't like" reviews, what seem to be popular with the kids these days 'n all. It's a good format, it suits my tastes, and I often have a lot to say after beating a game. I just beat the DS remake of Dragon Quest IV, so let's see how it works out.

Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, originally known in North America as Dragon Warrior IV for the NES, was the last game in the series to be released in the US until Dragon Warrior VII for the Playstation. A Japanese-only port was released on Playstation, and this is largely the basis for the DS version. Dragon Quest IV is notable for its chapter system in which you play four chapters as rising heroes who will meet up with the main character in Chapter 5 (which comprises the majority of the game). I suppose it's worth noting that I never played the NES original.

What I loved:
-Using buffs, debuffs, and other magic in random encounters. Seriously, name one other RPG series where you bother to do anything like taking a turn to increase your attack strength, or heck, even put a group of enemies asleep or use a variety of attack spells... all in run-of-the-mill battles. Well, it's worth it in Dragon Quest IV, and it keeps things much more interesting.
-Excellent balance of linear and non-linear gameplay. You're rarely ever told, "Go here," or "Get this." Early in the game, when it is mostly linear, you still piece together your objectives, in a manner of speaking. You might talk to NPCs who mention something to the north, or something to the west, and it's up to you to investigate and decide what needs doing first. Later on, the game becomes even more open, though it's obvious that some areas are meant to be tackled later, due to the difficulty of the monsters.
-I was never at a loss for something to do. If I came across something that I couldn't access, or the monsters were too difficult for me, I didn't have to think very hard to come up with another destination. There was always something to do, and I never felt stuck.
-Brisk pacing. I was able to feel like I had accomplished a lot even if I only played for a short period of time. Early in the game, I may have needed to fight a few monsters to earn some gold, but even that took very little time. I've heard accusations of "grindfest," but honestly, nothing could be further from the truth. I practically never grinded through the whole game.
-Save system. The Dragon Quest series may feature my favorite save system in all of gaming. Anymore, it seems like everyone wants the most forgiving system possible, checkpoints everywhere, and the ability to save anywhere. No one wants to be punished or redo what they've already done. Well, sure, who does? But if there's no threat of that, then where's the tension? Dragon Quest strikes a happy balance, actually being more forgiving than it appears to be. You can only save at churches, which means there is no save point before bosses. But if you die, you keep your experience points and all treasures you've gathered. After death, you appear in the church, but you lose half your gold. Losing half your gold can really sting, actually, and satisfies my need for a threat against dying. Also, it requires that you be able to navigate through a dungeon and reach the boss without being worn out. It's the perfect system for my tastes.
-Character balance. Early on, it seems like the characters are so weak and you wonder how any of them will ever amount to anything. Once they begin to set themselves apart from one another with distinctive stats and spells, you'd be surprised who is useful in battle... in truth, everyone is worth using at least sometimes (well, maybe not one guy, but he's cool outside of battle).
-Character design. The main characters who join your party, "The Chosen," have very distinctive designs, and I enjoy them all... well, not so much the Hero, and I'm also not a fan of the NPCs, but that's for the next section...
-Battle animation. Dragon Quest VII had already set a high standard for attack animations, and the DS remakes are taking things a step further by having idle animations as well. The Dragon Quest monster animators really know their stuff. Dragon Quest IV may even rival the sprite work in the GBA Fire Emblems.
-Music and sound quality. Aside from having the usual distinctive style of Koichi Sugiyama, the DS remake of Dragon Quest IV features some of the best sound quality I've heard on DS, if not the absolute best. The main title theme sounds so good it's unreal.
-Perfect length. I beat the game in only a little over 25 hours. Over that time, I never felt like I just wanted it to be over with, but I also felt like I saw everything that the world had to offer. It certainly didn't overstay its welcome, and the game's climax was just when it felt right.

What's alright...
-Decent story for its time. Elements are eerily similar to what I already saw in Dragon Quests VII and VIII, but it works.
-Regional dialects. I like the concept of different parts of the world speaking in different dialects, but in practice, it's pretty iffy. The most difficult accent to read, the Scottish accent, is the one you encounter at the very beginning of the game. I got used to it, though, and each region sort of repeats some of the same words and phrases over and over enough to where it started to make sense.

What I didn't like so much...
-Limited magic early in the game. In three of the four opening chapters, the main characters do not possess any battle magic. In the second chapter, there are two other characters who use magic, but so early in their level growth, there is not much they can do. Uncontrollable support characters can offer their services, however. Despite the limited battle strategies available in such scenarios, the early chapters remained compelling.
-Graphics and perspective. Aside from the impressive battle animations, main party sprites, and character portraits, Dragon Quest IV isn't a terribly pretty game. It inherits Dragon Quest VII's charming but ugly graphics. Fortunately, the DS's take on this graphical style is more technically sound than the Playstation versions, smoothing out the sprite scaling that was so hideous in Dragon Quest VII. The textures and polygons that make up the world leave a lot to be desired. The perspective can be problematic because from the default angle, it can be difficult to see where doors are. On the plus side, the rotatable camera didn't irritate me as much in this game as it did in VII.
-NPC character design. Akira Toriyama certainly can make a wide variety of distinctive character and monster designs, but it occurred to me that it is for this reason that he may not be suited to run-of-the-mill NPC design. It's one thing for RPGs to have repetitive bland characters wearing bland clothes with bland hairstyles, but another to have the bald guy with the goatee... and the king... and the old guy... and the old lady... and the shirtless guy with the horned helmet... and that guy who wears that green suit and that green hat... and to see these same characters all over the dang place. They're too distinctive. Not to mention these are the same character designs that I saw all over the dang place in Dragon Quest VII... every single one of them! For some reason this didn't jump out at me in Dragon Quest VIII, but I won't deny that it had its share of repeating characters.
-Hero character design. Spoilers here? Not really, it's pretty obvious... anyway, something about the main character just bothered me. The way he smirks at you on the box art, arms crossed, looking all, "Rally behind me, let us vanquish evil!" Him and his green hair and weird headgear with dragon wings or whatever. Why the crap is he wearing the weird headgear with dragon wings? He's being raised in a village by foster parents, and he has no idea that he has unusual ancestry or that he is the Chosen Hero who will save the world. Your foster dad is the bald guy with the goatee that I see a couple times in every other town... no need to look like a hero if you don't know you're a hero! The female version doesn't look much different, but at least she doesn't wear the dragon wing hat.

And that, as they say, is that...
I gave Dragon Quest IV a 4/4-stars rating for "Excellent." This isn't quite as strong of a 4-star rating as Dragon Quest VIII, and the game is certainly not without flaws, but its polished take on tried-and-true gameplay is a triumphant achievement in my book. I expect that anyone who enjoys very old school RPG design will have a heck of a good time.