Time for a new gaming segment where I’m not restricted by syllable count and I get to go a little more in depth. I think it’s better to reflect on a game after you give yourself some time to sit on the experience rather than talking about it while you’re still hyped. These wont be thorough reviews but just what I’m left thinking about the game after I’ve moved on.
Before I beat No More Heroes 2 and Mass Effect 2 I actually completed Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Mario & Luigi: Bower’s Inside Story and The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks so here are some thoughts on these three first.
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
Now that I’m playing Alan Wake, it really brings me back to this game. I can’t judge this game as part of the franchise since it’s the only Silent Hill I’ve ever played. My first impression with this game was that I hated it since I failed numerous times at one of the first nightmare sequences. Considering I have a poor sense of direction, I wasn’t really feeling it and the map system in the game is pretty weak. I gave it another shot the next day, got through it no problem and I began to really love this game. I was driven by the narrative, presentation and even the puzzles. I really enjoyed the psychological profiling aspect before each chapter as well. What made this feature even more interesting, better than replaying the game, I made my girlfriend play it and we’d discuss our choices. She actually had the same problem with the game initially due to the nightmare sequences but when she gave it another shot she was able to tackle it all for herself save for one painful sequence at the mall.
Because this game was so concise, we could really absorb everything while it was still fresh. I usually end up playing games over a span of a very long time so it was refreshing to have something that didn’t just pad its length with filler content. I loved the final chapter of this game and the ending, I found it very intense. It was one of the few endings that really left me with something and I really enjoyed the music during the end of this game. As it spiraled into madness, I found it to be a flawed masterpiece as a whole.
Mario & Luigi: Bower’s Inside Story
Not a whole lot to say here since a game like this is pretty self explanatory. It’s simple fun and breaks up the tedium of most RPGs with its interactive combat and platformer/puzzle gameplay. My favorite DS RPG would still be The World Ends With You but M&L is definitely a nice time killer.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
If it didn’t shock you enough that Shattered Memories was my first Silent Hill, I never beat a Legend of Zelda game until pretty recently with Twilight Princess and Phantom Hourglass. What did I do during my childhood, right? Probably rode my bike during the majority of it I guess. I enjoyed TP though I thought it dragged on during the end and I’m probably one of the few people that enjoyed PH despite the Temple of the Ocean King. I’m pretty much at the final dungeon in Wind Waker thanks to importing save files but the fetch quest at the end really derailed my adventure so I don’t know when I’ll ever actually finish the game.
On to the game itself. I love this game even more than PH for simple inclusion of Princess Zelda’s addition to the puzzles. It’s a robust handheld title that really takes advantage of all the capabilities of the platform. Another neat feature is how the game even makes you close the system and reopen it at parts. Easily one of the best killer apps on the Nintendo DS.
