Adventures with GameFly

We've had GameFly for several months now, and I've had the chance to play through some great games that I probably wouldn't have purchased otherwise. 



First up:  Epic Mickey.  I blogged a little about this one already, but the general verdict was- wonky controls, frustrating physics at times, but in general an adorable little nostalgia-bomb with endearing characters and a captivating dark side.

Next, since I only play things with the word "Epic" in the title, we got Kirby's Epic Yarn.  I absolutely loved this game.  First off:  the art style was just incredibly charming.  I mean, how can you not enjoy a relaxing time controlling a little dude that your grandmother knitted for you?

I really like the art direction a lot of wii games have been taking.  I chalk this up completely to consumer's expectations now that everything is in HD, 1080p, Blue Ray, Big Screen, yadda yadda yadda.  So while game developers for XBox and Playstation 3 are continually working towards more realistic and higher res imagery, Nintendo is forced to get creative because of the Wii's lack of high definition capabilities.  (Of course, that isn't always the case-  Zelda: Twilight Princess went the realistic route.  And while I love Zelda, I have to admit- parts of it didn't look so hot. 

So with obvious exceptions, it is exciting to see when a Wii game is designed within the Wii's graphic capabilities (read: lack of graphic capabilities) and the developers get creative to make something look really really good.  I mean, how cute and adorable and soft and cuddly can you get?

The other obvious point I want to go over about Kirby is the fact that YOU CAN NOT DIE.  It is fabulous.  As a person who gets frustrated pretty easily at videogames, I loved the fact that this game didn't punish you... at... all.  I mean, why would it?  It's a cute little fuzzy piece of yarn?  How ridiculous would it be if you fell off a ledge and little Kirby wailed in pain and died and you had to start over?  While I won't say that it's something that all games should have, the lack of major consequences in this game was a breath of fresh air, and fit the character of the game perfectly.  (For perfectionists, you can work towards getting through a level with enough of these candy bead coin things to get a gold star, and each time you get hit by an enemy you lose some of them.  In my mind- that is enough of an incentive for gamers who need consequences, but not so unforgiving as to make it a frustrating game for those who don't.)  All in all, I totally recommend Kirby's Epic Yarn for gamers of all kinds, and especially for people new to gaming, or who have only played casual games like Wii Sports. 



The next game that the little GameFly fairy brought me was a game for DS called Ghost Trick.  I didn't know anything about this game- this was one Patrick suggested for me.  Wow.  Japan is crazy.  But I kind of love it.



GIFSoup

The story was fun, the concept was cool.  But better than all of those was the crazy awesome animation.

There was an exciting twist to the end, and I had a great time manipulating objects as a dead person...  Did I say Japan was crazy awesome?  Who comes up with this stuff?  This game I wouldn't recommend to just anyone, but any person who likes the Professor Layton series (this is very similar), likes adventure games, and thinks Japan is rad- check this game out.

Now, for the latest game that I just finished...

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Holy wow.  That game was punishing.  Unforgiving.  Relentless.  But it was really really rewarding too.  I can't believe I beat the final boss.  It looks great, but the best thing about this game is the creative level design.

I was expecting what everyone expects out of a side-scrolling platformer:  your standard jumping challenges, annoying little enemies to mess you up, and the boss that the end of each world that you have to hit three times.  While, at its most basic level, that was what I got- I was very pleasantly surprised with the ingenious ways that the game kept it fresh and new.  There were neat rocket-barrel levels where you had to control a rocket... made out of a barrel... like you do...  all while avoiding obstacles (that are one-hit kills... but I will get into that part later).

There were also mine-cart levels where you are flying along at break-neck speeds, only to have to jump at the precise moment that allows you to hop up to another track while the one you are on crumbles and falls into a pit of death.

Even more creative than levels like that though, were the ones that played with the art design and the ones that played with my spatial expectations of a 2D platformer.

Refreshing levels with creative art design:

While the art style of the regular levels was really great- colorful and exciting- I loved it when a level surprised you with a completely different look.  The silhouette level was one such level- the art direction this level took ended  up adding an interesting game mechanic as well, for example: when fog comes in and shrouds parts of the screen so that you have to be even more strategic with your movements.

Speaking of intriguing game mechanics, I have to mention the "wave" level.  This one frustrated me to no end, and I grudgingly ended up letting the cocky bastard Super Kong beat the level for me (a necessary component of this game due to the difficulty, but with no less resentment for it.)

what a douche

In this level, you are trying to avoid an ocean wave that continually oscillates from the background to the foreground.  The wave comes crashing in, and your only protection is a rock that you can hide behind, which immediately gets washed away to sea after the wave comes in, depraving you of shelter until you are able to run to the next rock.  If you are unfortunate enough, as I was on many many many occasions, to not make it to the next rock, you are hit and killed in one go by the incoming wave.  Oh, one-hit kills.  This game is full of them.  In fact, most of this game is one-hit kills, and even when it's not- you only have two hearts (unless you have Diddy Kong with you), so it's not far from it when a minor enemy, a pest really, depletes half of your health.  (Diddy Kong doubles your health AND ADDS ROCKET POWER, so he's pretty much your lifesaver when you're able to hold on to him). 

So that's about it.  Donkey Kong Country Returns was an amazing game that I would not wish on my worst enemy.  Though, for the number of times that I was yelling out in frustration, causing Patrick to ask me if I was Ok on multiple occasion, I really enjoyed playing it, and have a huge sense of accomplishment now that I have finished it.  The fact that I beat the final boss (although I have to admit- if it were an option to let Super Kong finish it for you, I probably would have submitted about 30 minutes earlier than it took me to beat that boss...)  No joke, I died a ton.  Sure was a good thing that I enjoy collecting shit in games, and that leads directly to earning more lives...  Excepting for the countless times that I ended up accidentally dying while trying to obtain said collectibles...

Next up on the GameFly adventure:  Konami!  Patrick suggested it, and the review looked cool.  We were also thinking I'd like Sonic Colors next, but after watching Arthur Gies's review on IGN... where he talked about it being an unforgiving and difficult game...  I don't think I'm quite ready to tackle another one of those games right off the bat.