At the event, Nintendo had on hand an actual chef to cook the recipes from Personal Trainer: Cooking. The chef seemed to be well rehearsed in the art of cooking and actually tasted his food for flavor during various steps. When he was finished with the recipe for Sole with Lemon Butter it filled the room with a lovely aroma and tasted divine. While it might not make cooking quite as glamorous as the chef had, this title might be able to help a few in the kitchen.
Personal Trainer: Cooking isn’t so much a cookbook as an interactive cooking guide. It has all the usual items you’d find, recipes from around the world, measurements of what ingredients, and pictures. What you won’t find anywhere else is the usage of your voice to move between instructions on each recipe. The software even reads off each step to you so you don’t have to stay huddled around your DS.
The search options the title features are extremely handy as well. Being able to browse by country, ingredients, and keywords makes it easy to find something worth cooking up. When you find a recipe you want to use, you won’t need to calculate the calories since the game presents this information for each.
Usually when cooking you go through a recipe to ensure you have everything you need and understand the steps. Before you start cooking with the title you can look through all the steps. You’re also able to write yourself small tips about each recipe so if some measurement you feel is off for your tastes you can note that in the area provided. When prepping there are also some ingredients that need to be made beforehand such as a stock. If the recipe contains one of these items, it will also provide a link to instructions on how to make it, being as thorough as the main recipe.
If you’re a real dunce in the kitchen Personal Trainer: Cooking might help to better prepare you for your task. For seasoned veterans of cooking, advice such as which utensils to use may not be as handy however. Bottom line is this will help in the kitchen with the array of features it has. I’m looking forward to cooking with my DS in the kitchen.
Titled Rhythm Tengoku in Japan and originally for the GBA, this head bobbing game heads to the US on the DS. While the game can be greatly satisfying, it also tends to make you frustrated at times with it being unforgiving. Having played other rhythm based games, I thought I’d do decently with this one.
To play the game you hold the DS on its side similar to the way you’d play Brain Age. The game starts with a tutorial of sorts that teaches you to touch and flick in an upwards motion. This skill will be helpful later on a particular level, but not immediately. Afterwards three levels were presented for play, each with a different theme. Being a huge fan of mecha, I decided to sample the Robot Factory.
Each level gives the player a brief introduction on what they’ll be performing and a tutorial phase so they’ll be more comfortable with practice. On the Robot Factory the goal was to tap the touch screen in beat to refill the robots with gas. If you don’t time your tap correctly then you’ll miss the hole on top of the robot’s head for refilling. During filling you’ll need to be paying attention to the beat because they need to be perfectly filled. Too early there won’t be enough gas in the tank, too late and the robot overflows with fuel. I found that during the tutorial phase I was able to land the refilling tool perfectly on the robots, but during actual play the story was much different. Having failed the stage I moved on.
The other two stages seemed a bit more forgiving than the Robot Factory. Second stage is a singing choir which you must match up with the other singers in beat. Although there is action on the screen to watch, it’s much easier to plan your singing by closing your eyes on this stage. Third had players threading nuts and bolts on beat of course. I found this was the easiest out of them all to time properly since the music and visual cues seemed to be on par with my internal metronome.
I am on the fence with this title. It was satisfying to get the timing down on some level but infuriating when I wasn’t 100% perfect on others. The forgiveness factor may keep the casual crowd away, but for those who sampled the original and love things difficult this might be your rhythm game.
Note: The same song writer for the Japanese version worked on this.
While the game was being introduced I was fascinated by the myriad of features being touted. Unfortunately however I never got near any of them, but I did get to enjoy the beginning of the story. Having never played any of the Fire Emblem games it gave me some insight as to why there are many fans of the series.
Those who have played Super Smash Bros. Brawl might be curious where the blue haired Marth comes from. Shadow Dragon sheds light on the beginning of his journeys and begins with the kingdom being trashed. Prince Marth needs to escape from the carnage of the area. This is where you are prompted and shown how to move in the game.
It’s turned based so you can only move a certain amount of squares per turn. There’s a bit of strategy to it that is wise to figure out because if a character dies, they are dead forever with no way to revive them. To advance the story players need to move Marth to the yellow flashing square. Occasionally I observed the top screen displaying hints on the situation, though helpful to me I’m sure will go mostly ignored by veterans.
Though it’s not required, you can stop by houses to listen to towns folk talk about different subjects. At times they can also provide useful advice for upcoming situations on the battle field. Even though it is a bit of an annoyance to have to go to each house and then subsequently wait for the enemy take their turn it seemed worth it in the beginning.
I’m not sure that this is a turn based RPG I can get behind completely yet. Perhaps I was just overwhelmed due to the fact I haven’t played a long RPG in awhile. Still, for the Fire Emblem faithful they’re going to love it along with the online features. I wonder however how long it will take devices such as the Action Replay to make online trading no longer fun.
I’ve only ever played the PC version of Age of Empires and briefly at that. Seeing it on the DS seems to make sense if executed well and it seems the folks behind Mythologies pulled it off to an extent. Using the stylus seems more a burden than anything else however.
When I sat down to play Age of Empires: Mythologies I was able to play a basic skirmish. I was given what appeared to be the Greeks as was apparent from the option to build a Shrine of Zeus. Making units and buildings is simple, but not with the stylus for the game. Each unit can only move a certain amount of squares per day and can perform a task. The task isn’t completed to the next day so planning out everything can be essential to survival.
Building isn’t a huge part of the game as you might think. Sure you’ll want to build resource gathering buildings of some sort and a barracks to create fighting types, but since you can only train one unit per day you’ll either want to create many buildings or start out making as many in the beginning. As each unit is ready it stays where it is created and you’ll need to move it out of the way to make room for another. This can get annoying if you’re not the micro-managing type at times.
As you build your army you’ll notice your area coming under attack by the enemy. Pure numbers generally win the day in battles, but in this game each unit has a strength and a weakness to others. Calvary types fair poorly against soldier types with pikes for example. If one of your units has been beat down to near death, you can choose to combine it with another of the same type.
After hearing a few vague complaints about controls with the first game, I’m wondering if they’ll still be there when people use the stylus control. If you steer clear of that and use the D-pad it’s a fun strategy game that takes thinking for victory. For those on the go it might be a good one for traveling situations due to the turn-based nature.
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Generally when women are lead characters it seems to me their forms are exploited for sales of the game. This however isn’t needed for the latest Castlevania game to hit the DS. Although the lead is female and is quite attractive, I’m not getting the same sense about how Konami is choosing to market the game as others might. she seems strong and sure of herself which is a far cry from many of the beauties in games in this day and age.
I will confess to never playing any Castlevania including previous versions on the DS. This didn’t stop me from enjoying the heck out of Order of Ecclesia. From the beginning the art is wondrous in the game, from the opening to the actual sprites, it all feels polished.
To begin you’re shown how to absorb glyphs which can give you different abilities. The first you’ll have access to allows you to equip a weapon to both hands for faster attacks. As you go through there will be more glyphs that can be used in combinations for powerful moves. During my run through of the first level I was introduced to a magnet type of glyph that is essential in getting to and defeating the first boss.
The first boss isn’t a picnic either, you’ll need to use the magnet power to avoid touching the boss and fling yourself from side to side to avoid attacks. It also proved to be somewhat of a challenge, taking me 3 lives in order to down the foe. Although I didn’t get to play after the first boss since time ran out, I’m told the game will not just take place in a castle, but other scenery as you’re chasing one of the characters around.
Playing through the first level of Order of Ecclesia made me pick up my husband’s copy of Portrait of Ruin until the day the game is released. I can see why there are many fans of the Castlevania series since the action is solid and the story is interesting. This was already a buy for the household, but it’s looking like I might be the one using it first.
Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure
This was by far one of the best games at the Media Summit. A mixture of platforming and puzzling action made it an addicting delight. As I sat there not aware of the time and enjoying the game, an hour went by before I realized I’d need to pull myself away.
In the game you play as Henry Hatsworth, a well off gentlemen looking to increase his wealth. Trying to take what you’re after and use it for no good is your nemesis Weasleby. Although it seems to be rather straight forward the game in reality doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously.
Starting out you’re presented with an over world map of sorts that shows which levels you’ve completed and the next. When you enter a level, the top screen is where the platforming action takes place and down below on the touch screen is where the puzzle is played. The platforming is straight forward with Hatsworth using his cane to attack until an enemy is dead. He also can use a blunderbuss to fire at enemies from a distance. When an enemy dies the spirit falls below to the puzzle area.
This puzzle portion is similar to Tetris Attack in the way it plays, but with a few exceptions. You first need to activate dropping down to do the puzzle level and you can only be there for a limited time. Generally you’ll have enough time to eliminate the spirits, but be warned if you don’t that they’ll come back to the platforming level and haunt Hatsworth for a bit. Power ups in the puzzle area help in the platforming section as well. One common power is the ability to make him youthful which provides faster attacks and a bit more agility. You’ll notice bars on the side in the puzzle realm.
When the bar on the right gets full it’s Tea Time. When Tea Time is invoked you get a short cut scene and then Hatsworth busts out with the metal and hops into a giant robot to squash enemies all around. You’re invincible when you’re doing Tea Time, but it is a limited duration so it’s best to use it wisely.
I think this is a game you’ll have to play to really understand my personal hype. It has amusing gags such as the Tea Time attack and rewards like Golden Pantaloons after defeating the first boss that give it quite the charm. With thirty levels and five worlds at the moment according to EA, this game is near the top of my DS games I must have list.
I remember back in the days of the NES where I’d go over to a friends who was always addicted to playing Tecmo Bowl. We’d occasionally be allowed in to play but when we weren’t and he didn’t come out, he was tagged a "vidiot" by all of us due to his obsession. During the times we did play however were filled with fun and frustration as each side would march down the field. Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff is banking on your nostalgia of past Tecmo Bowl games for this version on the DS.
Much of what you might remember is back for Kickoff. From the simple play selection to the short animations during certain events. What’s new in this game are customizable teams and a difficulty level to match. I didn’t have time to make my own team, but I played a quick game and had my posterior handed to me with ease. It wasn’t for lack of trying as I mixed up the plays from a running game to putting the ball in the air. Most of the time I had better luck with rushing and only for short gains.
You can choose to use the stylus, but this is another case of the D-pad proving to be the best route to take. Although it was convenient when I first started to choose plays with the stylus, that charm went away quickly as I continued through.
For those wanting the days of simpler football games to return will be pleased with Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff. It feels like previous incarnations of the series but with a bit of graphical polish. Also the difficulty will give those who mastered the other games a new target. Personally for me however in order to play it again I’d have to look at it through rose-tinted glasses to enjoy it fully.
