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WE BUILT THIS CITY
Thoughts on Animal Crossing

By Shaun Hatton - November 19th, 2008

I spent hours upon hours with the GameCube Animal Crossing when it was released in 2002. Part of the reason I bought it was because it came with a memory card and was cheaper than most games. A game plus a memory card for less than the price of one game seemed like a great deal at the time.

Upon playing it for the first time I was greeted by the strange but compelling characters who inhabited my town, Broktoon. A game with no clear goals nor ending was a new concept for me and the bright and colourful world of Animal Crossing took me in like no other game before it. I’d spend my time planting flowers, digging up fossils, and writing letters to the townspeople. I’d even write mean letters to the cranky cat of the town, telling her I hated and wished death upon her. Imagine my surprise when she flaunted it in front me, saying how dare I write such mean things to her!

My real life at the time consisted of going to work, coming home and eating, and playing Animal Crossing to pass the time till the evening, where I would call my long-distance girlfriend (whom I’m now married to). When we’d talk on the phone, I’d quickly tell her about all the goofy things that happened in Broktoon that night. “Tom Nook painted my roof purple!”

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Posted in DS, Editorial, GameCube, Wii | 4 Comments »

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
It’s Coming to Wii

By Shaun Hatton - November 17th, 2008

Nintendo news channels have been reporting that Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, one of the GameCube’s most underrated and fun games, is making its way to the Wii in the near future.

If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s a side-scrolling platformer with three-dimensional graphics. Oh, and it’s controlled by bongos. JUST bongos. You hit the right bongo and Donkey Kong moves right. You hit the left one and he moves left. Hit both at the same time and he’ll jump with the momentum of whatever direction you’ve had him running in. Clapping makes Kong clap, which is a useful move for stunning enemies and grabbing bananas.

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Posted in Awesome, Editorial, GameCube, Wii | No Comments »

REVIEW: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

By Jorge Figueiredo - February 18th, 2008

Developed and published by Nintendo for DS.

My introduction to The Legend of Zelda series was through The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker for GameCube. I can’t tell you why I had never been interested in the series before. Given the number of hours I poured into Wind Waker, you’d think I was a devoted fan of the series since the beginning (you can ask Shaun how obsessed I was with finishing this game).

So you can imagine my glee when Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass debuted for the Nintendo DS. Go ahead. Imagine!

Are you done imagining? Good.

Phantom Hourglass picks up where Wind Waker left off. Link has just finished saving Hyrule (once again), when suddenly he comes into contact with the legendary Ghost Ship. His captain, Tetra, leaps aboard in search of booty, but is essentially kidnapped. In an attempt to save her, Link leaps aboard the Ghost Ship, only to be hurled overboard and lose consciousness.

When he is revived, he finds himself on an island he doesn’t recognize. From here, you’re in control of Link and you must help him find the Ghost Ship and rescue Tetra.

Gameplay essentially switches between transit mode and dungeon-crawling mode. You will either find yourself sailing one of the four seas (on the S.S. Linebeck steam-powered paddle boat), or running around on islands exploring dungeons, solving puzzles, and talking to people.

Like Wind Waker, the production quality of Phantom Hourglass is very high. It’s what we’ve all come to expect from this series. The cel-shaded graphics are tight, and due to the simplistic nature of the design, the animation quality is incredible. It’s a bright, cartoony game. But that doesn’t take anything away from it, in my opinion. In fact, I would say it is very effective at drawing players into the fairy-tale nature of the story. The dual screens are used very effectively, too, allowing a new visual twist to play that wasn’t present in Wind Waker. It’s nice to have access to maps on the top screen.

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Posted in DS, GameCube, Nintendo, Reviews, Virtual Console, Wii | No Comments »

SIMILARITIES: Professor Layton & Leon Kennedy

By Shaun Hatton - February 16th, 2008

“We’re not so different, you and I,” Leon said to Professor Layton.

This week, Nintendo released Professor Layton and the Curious Village for Nintendo DS. I’ve been playing the game for the last few days and could not help but notice that despite its seemingly innocent exterior, the game shares many parallels with another awesome game: Resident Evil 4.

It’s something you may have not considered. But hear me out. Both games involve the main character being sent to a mysterious and strange village to investigate an out-of-the-ordinary case. In Resident Evil 4, Leon Kennedy is sent to a small, unnamed European village to look into the disappearance of the President’s daughter, who was taken by a cult led by a man who controlled the whole village. In Curious Village, Professor Layton is called to a strange, remote village (we learn early on that there are no roads connecting it to other towns) to solve a mystery dealing with the estate of a man who seemingly owned the whole town.

In both games, things are not as they first appear. Soon into his adventure, Leon discovers that the villagers aren’t quite human, and that they’re all out to get him. Similarly, Layton finds out that everyone he comes across is really strange in that they try to get in his way by making him solve somewhat trivial puzzles. Also in both games, it sometimes takes a lot more than skill to get by these villagers. Sometimes, you see, it takes a tonne of luck.

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Posted in DS, Editorial, GameCube, Humour, PlayStation 2, Wii | 2 Comments »