On Drummania...

My newest wacky controller acquisition arrived today: Topway's Drummania controller for PSX and PS2.

As I've mentioned before, I love music games. You get the satisfaction of playing music in a short attention span-friendly format. These games still take time to master, but not nearly as much as conquering a real instrument.

Similar to Konami's other Bemani titles, the object in Drummania is to monitor a series of scrolling drum indicators. When an indicator reaches the line at the bottom of the screen, the player must hit the corresponding drum pad (or foot pedal). The game can even be combined with Guitar Freaks into "Session Play" with up to three players. (One on drums, two on guitar.)

The Drummania series isn't biggest hit in North American arcades, but if you have a Japanese PS2 or a mod chip, you can import the game for some great drumming fun at home. (Game: about USD$50, Third-party controller: about USD$30)

Title Screen

Both Guitar Freaks 4th and Drummania 3rd on one disc

Yes, that's Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know"... Do you think she knows that she's in this game?

Drumming to Anarchy In UK

My new Topway drum set (Pic stolen from eBay)

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Mega Man meets RPGs

If you haven't played the Mega Man Battle Network series on your GBA, then you're missing out on a lot of fun.

The games take place in the near future where everyone has advanced PDAs called PETs with AI Navis (like Mega Man) inside. In the real world, you control Mega Man's owner "Lan", a normal school-kid who finds himself caught up in international conspiracies and terrorist plots. When it comes time to enter cyberspace, control switches to Mega Man who runs around in a futuristic isometric landscape. (In the early games, the cyberworld was somewhat maze-like, so you might find the maps on GameFAQs to be helpful.)

When it's time to do battle, the game shifts into a timer-influenced turn-based mode with real-time movement. So... You can move around the board at will but can't do your special attacks willy-nilly. The great part is that defeating enemies can potentially earn you a battle chip containing their attacks, which you then use against others, etc. (If you've ever played a Mega Man game of any kind, you know how that works.)

The battle system allows for some interesting strategies. You have only so many slots for battle chips and only so much RAM to hold powerful attacks. Later games even expand on customization, enabling the reprogramming of Mega Man with Tetris piece-shaped blocks that one must squeeze into the available space.

Just like the original Mega Man series, the sequels offer more of the same with a few upgrades here and there. Some people give Capcom a hard time over this behaviour (especially when it comes to Street Fighter versions), but I have no problem with playing incrementally better versions of something I like. If I wanted a totally new gameplay experience I would play a different series.

Personally, my fave is the second game. But, there is an incentive to complete the games in order: starting with MMBN 2, one can link with the previous game and transfer over a powerful favourite battle chip.

There are currently 4 Mega Man Battle Network games, along with one side game "Battle Chip Challenge". MMBN 5 is expected this December in Japan.

Starting with MMBN 3, each game has two versions with slightly different battle chips

Lan's room

A radioactive server

Running around cyberspace

Choosing battle chips

Double delete!

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Puzzling over Mario

What is it that makes a good puzzle game?

It's two core values: simplicity and presentation. A great puzzle game needs gameplay so refined that even the most basic graphics will not detract from the fun. (Note the distinction between "basic" graphics and "bad" graphics - the former will service the game but have limited bells/whistles, while the latter will distract a user to annoyance.)

Presentation represents the whole audio/video package. Compelling visuals combined with catchy music and distinct sound effects can make a serviceable game experience great. Imagine if Puzzle Bobble (aka Bust-A-Move) had monochrome stick people and square pegs instead of colourful dinosaurs and bubbles... The gameplay would be unchanged but the fun factor would be severely diminished.

So how does Nintendo's recent GBA action puzzler Mario vs. Donkey Kong stack up?

Well, the gameplay is solid. At its most basic, players must use the right moves to navigate the levels and pick up bonus items along the way. Nintendo games traditionally feature very gentle learning curves, so the early levels will not tax most players. But, as the game progresses, Mario needs to use more and more tricks to get by an increasing variety of enemies.

The presentation is a little bit uneven. The sounds are excellent (often featuring nostalgic musical cues from the original Donkey Kong), but I think that the visuals are ugly in parts. The sprites are all pre-rendered 3D, so while the animation is very fluid, the actual image quality is a little muddy. The small size of the sprites contributes to this problem.

In the end, Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a fun game, if a little short. I recommend borrowing it from a friend first or maybe picking up a used copy.

Title screen

An amusing intro has DK falling in love with Mini Mario toys

Each level has a tutorial introducing new moves

Hit the switch to drop the barrels to carry the key over

Boss levels pit Mario against DK directly

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Fast and Lethal

Racing games don't usually catch my eye. Need For Speed: Underground was fun, but the last one that I really got into was Rage Racer back on the PSX. I like having a sense of speed and action, rather than worrying about Gran Turismo-style realism.

Enter Burnout 3: Takedown. I have no idea if the earlier entries in the series are as good, but if they are then I've been missing out. This game is fast!
You and your rivals are out racing with no regard for public safety. Players are encouraged to take down their opponents with ruthless driving moves, earning points and increasing the boost gauge. Using the boost makes you go even faster and increases car smashing efficiency.

The controls are simple and effective. A button for going faster, a button for going slower, and a button for activating the boost. Easy! There are some fancier tricks, like activating bullet-time during a crash to cause extra carnage and recover, but that's just gravy.

Since there are points to earn, there are also things to be unlocked. New cars and courses increase the longevity of the game. (But to be honest I'm nowhere near finishing it yet!)

So, if you're into arcade style racing with lots of speed and destruction, there's really nothing to dislike about Burnout 3. Don't play it before bed or the adrenaline will make it more difficult for you to sleep. I'm not kidding.

Go!

The sense of speed is incredible

Ooh, sparks

Spectacular rolling crashes of doom

Hit the wrong wall and go flying

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Bongo Madness

Two weeks ago I picked up a Gamecube for one game: Donkey Konga.

It's no secret that I love music games. Konami's Guitar Freaks series in particular has held my attention for several years. So when Nintendo finally brought DK to North America, (the sequel has been out for months in Japan) it just had to be a match made in heaven... Mostly.
The game goes like this: coloured icons scroll left on a music bar. When an icon reaches the play spot, it's your job to perform the appropriate action. There are four actions in all - left drum, right drum, both drums, and clapping. Yes, clapping. The DK bongos have a built-in microphone that detects if you are clapping in the right spots.

In general, the game is fun. Everyone likes music, and it's difficult not to enjoy playing it with a novelty controller. The problem is the song selection. Nintendo provides a low number of tunes (about 30) with varying levels of fun. This is a big deal in single player mode where you may not want to play the Pokémon theme or "Diddy's Campfire Medley" too often.

However, even using only one set of drums, the fun factor goes way up when playing with friends. Clapping along to the kids song "Bingo" or Devo's "Whip It" is wonderfully ridiculous and provides a lot of laughs.

When a song is successfully completed, players earn coins to spend in DK Town. Soundfonts are the main unlockable - these change the drums sounds to space lasers, dogs, cars, etc. A few minigames can also be bought with coins, but they're not much fun.

I know I sound a little down on game, but it really is fun... No matter your age, there are probably at least 10 songs that you'd enjoy playing. I just wouldn't recommend buying a whole Gamecube for it until some new bongo games come out.

Title screen

These drums need more lasers

Clap, Left, Clap, Right!

Let's see if this song sounds better with cows

No, it really doesn't

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A Clump of Fun

Namco brings its quirky Japanese roll-em-up game (a new genre!) Katamari Damacy to North American PS2s at a budget price!

Your father, the King Of All Cosmos has destroyed all of the stars in the sky. It's up to you to roll your katamari (or "clump") around the Earth, picking up progressively larger bits of stuff to amass material for new stars.

This game is all about scale: as a 5cm-tall prince you start the game with a very small perspective. But as your katamari grows, the bits it can accumulate get bigger and bigger, until you realize that you're accumulating cats, frightened people, cars, telephone poles, and so forth.

Pushing the katamari around is simple: the analog sticks function as tank tread-style controls. For example, if you press up on the left stick and down on the right stick, you'll rotate clockwise. (Okay, that doesn't sound simple, but it's intuitive when playing.)

There aren't a lot of extras to speak of... There's a two-player mode that feels like an afterthought, and a wearable present hidden in each stage that can change the Prince's appearance. One of the presents, a camera, can be used to take pictures in-game for later viewing.

Katamari Damacy isn't a very long game, but given its genuinely new gameplay experience, you can't go wrong with a USD$19.99 (CAD$29.99) price tag. Highly recommended!

You start small, picking up thumbtacks

Everyone is very square-ish

People are starting to notice cars missing

Traveling back to space by Royal Rainbow

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