Ignition Entertainment, publisher of Zoo Keeper as well as the publisher of SNK’s titles in Europe, had two entertaining Nintendo games to show off this year, and they’re fairly different. One of them is an elaborate DS RPG including airships and dungeons, while the other is a straightforward Wii slice-’em-up involving swords and feudal times.
First up was Nostalgia, the aforementioned DS RPG. In this game, you’ll play as Eddie, who departs on an adventure to find his lost father, with the help of his airship. The game takes place in the real world, in the 19th century, as part of an alternate history; you’ll use your airship to explore the large world map, clearing away the fog of war as you go. Ignition described this game as an "epic RPG" with a little bit of throwback to the Final Fantasy series; the team responsible for Nostalgia also ended up bringing Final Fantasy games to the DS.
In the demo, I was chiefly shown the two different kinds of battles. As you explore the world in your airship, you’ll come across flying enemies that you’ll need to take out. Each member of your party controls a different part of the ship, from the cannons to the large sword in front, and you’ll have to attack enemies on all sides of the ship, surrounding it. The other kind of battle is the more traditional, on-foot, turn-based style of RPG fighting, which I got to experience a lot of in the dungeon I was shown. You’ll use attacks, special attacks, magic or items to heal yourself or do away with your enemies; the game grades you on how well you performed, and will reward you with bonus experience if you did the job well enough. Unfortunately, all my hands-on time with the game was spent in one dungeon, so I don’t really feel like I got enough playtime with the game; the battles work well enough, but RPG fans know that other factors, such as customization and storyline, can be just as important. Keep an eye on this title nonetheless, as what I’ve played holds up under scrutiny, and I had fun plowing through the dungeon and defeating the boss.
The other game I got to play was Muramasa: the Demon Blade, an upcoming Wii title that’s pretty straightforward in its gameplay style, but it has a layer of depth to it that can be rather addicting. You play as a young female samurai/ninja/I’m not sure, questing on her quest to do something else I’m not sure about; I didn’t have a rep on hand at the time, so I just jumped right into the gameplay, which was fine with me.
If anyone of you ever played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4 on the SNES, that’s immediately what the gameplay reminded me of; you’ll explore some very simple level designs looking for bonuses and powerups, and the rest of the time you’ll enter a Battle Time where you’ve got to beat up a number of enemies. The control are actually rather intricate, and you’ll learn a large number of strikes, guards, hidden strikes, special moves, etc. that you need to master. At the same time, you’ll have to keep an eye on the amount of stress your blade has taken, your strength gauge, and other things like that. The controls can be hard to wrap your head around even after the tutorials, though that may be just me, but once you do have them down it’s rather satisfying to go about your business, switching up attacks and dispatching enemies. There’s really not much to say about this game, it’s sort of "what you see is what you get". I can say, though, that it plays well, without control or gameplay issues, and if you’re looking for a simple fun time cutting people up, this game should do you just fine.
Keep an eye out for more impressions from NintendoGal.com.
