Firstly, my original blog post was going to be about Controversy in Gaming. But as I started typing it, I realized usually when I talk about these things, I tend to have someone to debate and discuss against. It's a little hard trying to simply type on my own. So maybe one day I'll come back to the idea, but I can't do it just yet (perhaps as my first video post?)
Secondly, I got both of these games on Black Friday, and have been playing them non-stop, so I figured it might be a good idea to review them while they're fresh in my mind.
So lets start with Donkey Kong Country Returns!
Visuals:
This game is visually impressive, to say the VERY least. At times, this game is absolutely beautiful at times.
(This, of course, is one of those times)
Team Retro, as you know, are the people that took Metroid into the 3D, first person perspective, so you already know if anyone can handle bringing back the Donkey Kong Country series, its them. They pay attention to every visual detail in this game. The caves are dark, damp, and murky, while the forest is lush and mysterious. Simply put, I don't have any complaints about the way this game looks at all. It captures the very feel of the original Donkey Kong Country, while giving it a fresh, new outlook.
Audio:
Normally I would include voice acting in this portion, though, since there's very little actual voice acting in this game, there isn't much to say.
That being said, the music in this game is just as impressive as the visuals. You might find that a good portion of the soundtrack are updated, newer versions of songs heard in the original Donkey Kong Country Returns, although a few newer songs are added to the list, including the incredibly catchy theme that plays any time and of the Tikis make an appearance. But this is okay. I promise you, if you're either a fan of good video game music, and/or the soundtrack of the original Donkey Kong Country, you'll have little to no problems with the music in this game.
Gameplay:
Here is where we come to the bulk of the game. Gameplay, of course!
Now our Simion friend is very seldom given credit for this, but as far as platforming goes, Donkey Kong is often put in titles that can stand toe-to-toe with some of fellow rival and Nintendo teammate, Mario. It really depends on your playstyle however. While Mario features more fine-tuned, finess, while Donkey Kong's hulking frame causes him to lumber around a little more. However, while Mario remains the king of platforming (especialy since Mario's had a far better career in both 2D and 3D platforming), whether or not you decide to play New Super Mario Bros. Wii, or Donkey Kong Country returns, is simply a matter of preference (though, I would definitely reccomend both).
Speaking of the original game, you'll find that a few of the things in the original game have been removed. Firstly, there's no more swimming levels. (I know how utterly disappointed all of you are). They've also gotten rid of every animal that wasn't Rambi the Rhino. Which doesn't really make the any worse, just, if you were looking forward to any of these things, or maybe the swimming levels are your favorite part (which, if it was, you have an odd sense of fun), this might not be the game for you.
What sets Donkey Kong Country Returns apart from pretty much any Super Mario game is difficulty. Long story short, DKC Returns will KICK. YOUR. ASS. Im not even kidding. No matter who you are, you will die several times in this game. Which, if you remember, the original Donkey Kong Country was difficult as well. But this game takes that difficulty to a brand new level. It starts out easy enough, as any game should, but by the time you make it to the cave world, you will want to rip your hair out.
Now if you watch that video you'll see, what was (for me at least), probably the single most frustrating level in this stage. Now this person does a pretty good job, but keep in mind that this person doesnt try to collect anything, save for the puzzle piece at the begining. But imagine me, who's personal goal was to try and collect all the K-O-N-G letters, and Puzzle pieces when I can find them. This level was sheer hell.
Momentary Diversion: As a general rule of thumb, the Puzzle Pieces typically aren't very hard to get to, just not in obvious spots. The letters are usually put right out there for you, but you'll have to use all of your platforming prowess to get to them.
And this is only an example of how hard this game gets. But this game is also that sadistic sort of difficulty, as in you NEVER GET GAME OVER. Extra lives are in abundance, as are the bannana medals, which you can use to buy more extra lives. I currently have 80+ lives and nearly 300 bananna medals. But this just means you have no excuse to quit, no excuse to give up. If you quit, you revoke your gamer card. So if your friend is suddenly bald next time you see them, I wouldn't be surprised if this game was the culprit.
But is this a bad thing? Not at all. As a matter of fact, this to me is what real hardcore gaming is. And this brings up another point. Never have I played a game this difficult, and with this many challenges in it (ranging from the time trial challenges, the collection challenges, on top of simply clearing each level) on any other system. So to say the Wii isn't for hardcore gamers is absolute bullsh*t. Just because a game doesn't feature adult themes, doesnt make it hardcore.
That rant aside, the only negative thing I have to say about this game is that the bosses, in comparison to the the difficulty of the main portion of the game, seem to be rather easy, which was also a problem in the original Donkey Kong. Although, the bosses in this time are much more varied than the original, and feature a few more differently challenges, they're still fairly easy in comparision to the rest of the game, which is a little disappointing at the end of the day.
Overall:
Overall, if you own a wii, you should own this game. It's probably the best, non Mario 2D platformer out there, and right along with with Sin and Punishment: Star Successor, it's probably the hardest Wii game out there. Regardless, it's a really great game, especially for those looking for a challenge that hasn't been present for a long time in gaming. My score: 9.5 out of 10.
Fable 3:
Personally, I have mixed feelings about Fable 3. As a long time Fable fan, I wanted to pick this game up, run home, play it, and give it the perfect 10 it deserves. But some of these "dynamic changes", really drag the game down. So I wanted to hate it. I wanted it to be such an absolute failure that I could vent about it, and rightfully tell people how bad it sucked. But there's enough good here so that it still qualifies as a good game. So I guess we'll dive in and find out what I'm talking about.
Visual:
The game is improved in look over Fable 2, though not by much. The cutscenes do have a particular polish that wasn't present in the previous game, but aside from that, the game looks largely the same. Granted, that isn't necessarily bad, as Fable 2 wasn't a bad looking game by any means, but it would have been nice to see at least a little bit of an increase in visual pleasure, though, sometimes you get the feel that all of the visuals in the game are too much for an X Box 360 to handle, since the game is prone to random slowdowns and, albiet very rare, crashes. But again, thats very rare, at least, due to visuals.
You will find, however, that the typical information on the screen in previous games has been done away with. And this begins number one of the changes I didn't like. They decided instead, that the screen was going to fade to grey as you lost health, which, as you know, is something more recent FPS have done. And this would be okay (though, I don't think it was really necessary), if only there weren't a few problems with it, like the fact that IT BARELY FADES. Granted, if you're like me, you probably go out and purchase a billion potions (though, this game does have a limited stock of items at any given time, yet another change I don't like, abliet a minor one), so you probably won't die, because they do start prompting you to use the potions around the time you hit about halfway dead, but if you don't have any, then you're most likely screwed, since the screen only looks slightly grey before you die. Granted, there is a slightly audible heartbeat noise once you hit about halfway once again, and if you're looking out for it, the corners of the screen begin to look slightly red, so I guess these are minor complaints, but what was the problem with simply leaving the health bar at the top of the screen? It's not like it took up that much space, and I highly doubt anyone was complaining about it's existance.
Audio:
The soundtrack is your typical fantasy score, filled with orchestral, Lord of the Rings style music. In reality, you're probably not going to have a particular song that you like or dislike, unlike a game such as Super Smash Bros Brawl, or even DKC Returns, mostly because all of the music seems to flow together, and isn't really distinguishable. And this isn't really a bad thing, mind you. It means the music is never really annoying, or particularly overpowering, but serves the enhance the emotion experience, like back ground music should. Its comparable to going to a fantasy movie, or something of that sort.
As far as voice acting goes, well, to put in simple terms, it's fantastic. Gone are the days when you simply play as yet another silent hero who simply grunts and groans.
(Dear Video Game developers, THIS should be the only silent hero on the market anymore)
Both the male and female characters now have their own voice actors. Granted, the don't have the most lines in the play, but your character actually speaking adds a lot to the the entire experience. The other voice actors are really good as well, but it should be specifically noted that John Cleese, of Monty Python fame plays your butler, which is a definite plus.
Story:
The story is much improved as well. Rather than starting out as a young weakling, and becoming incredibly powerful by the end of it, becoming powerful is only half the quest.
This time around, you spend the first half of the game finding out you're a hero, and learning your powers so you can overthrow your brother and become king of Albion. But once you become king, you then have to choose how to rule, and attempt to keep the promises you made on your quest for the throne while at the same time preparing for a bigger threat. Reality is, Lionhead Studios actually does a decent job of making this a difficult task, if one wants to do the good guy thing, actually giving a decent idea of what ruling an entire country might be like.
Gameplay:
Firstly, I'm going to throw something out there, that I want you to meditate on until we get to that point. You ready?
Your character, by default, is Bisexual.
Now holding that thought in the back of your mind, lets start with the root gameplay. Combat, isn't largely the same, but rather exactly the same. You still do Melee damage with one button, ranged with another, and then magic with another. And there's nothing wrong with this remaining the same. In fact, I'm rather glad that this remains the same. But within gameplay, we have the most of our problems. Firstly, are the glitches fixed? Not entirely. You'll find it does feel like a less glitchy experience, but at the same time, still glitchier than a game should be.
But here is where we find a lot of gameplay has been changed. So lets look and see what changes were for the better, and which ones werent.
One thing that definitely works for the better is the new pause menu. It feels a million times more seamless than previous pause menus. The sanctuary is far less tedious than simply surfing through different menus to accomplish basic tasks. This however, pulls you into everything, making it feel like a much more personal affair.
Another really good change is X Box live play. No longer are you forced to be some nameless henchmen, no. You can now actually take your hero into another hero's world, and earn gold that way. I tell you, this is much much improved over the last game. You can also join a random game, allowing you to find new friends that way. You can even marry and have children with other players. Of course, it's still not perfect. You can't pause individually, meaning if one player pauses, then it pauses for the other player. You also have to be in the same city as the other player, in fact, if you're the host player, the other player has to be near you if you want to wrap up a quest. I was paused for at least 5 minutes trying to finish my quest, while some random player decided to wander around Brightwood. It isn't the MMO experience that we wanted, but it is a step in the right direction.
Now for the bad. Remember that idea I told you to keep in the back of your mind? Well time to discuss it. I suppose it is a bit of an extreme statement, and I'm not saying being bisexual is a bad thing, but it's awfully frustrating when you no longer have control over what gender your character flirts with. This game completely butchered the social system. Now, to get someone to fall in love with you, or even like you, you have to cycle through the same few positive expressions to increase their standing from Neutral, to Friend, to Love. It's bad enough that the citizens of Albion are selfish enough to send you on some sort of quest before they'll allow you to be friends, but to even get to that point, you'll be chatting with, erotic dancing, hugging, and possibly even kissing anyone of any given gender. And while it is nice that there finally is physical contact between people and even ones spouses, it really takes you out of the experience when you can't even control how you interact with other people.
The other really negative statement, gameplay wise, I have to say about this game is weaponry. The only two Melee weapons are swords and hammers, and the only two ranged weapons are pistols and rifles. Now I understand that in the original Fable, the only two ranged weapons were Bows and Crossbows. But in Fable 2, you had Crossbows, Pistols, and Rifles, not to mention several sub catagories within these, such as Blunderbusses, Flintlock Pistols, and special types of crossbows. Fable 2 also featured a wide myriad of Melee weapons. So why take those choices away? I mean, I understand the developer wanted to make a game were everyone wasn't chasing after one weapon, so he created this weapon evolution system, which changes your weapons based on the way you play the game. And don't get me wrong, this is a cool idea, but did that really only apply to hammers, swords, pistols, and rifles? And if you really wanted this game to be unique, why not just include a standard weapon customization system that many other games have? I mean, Neverwinter Nights, rather than overcomplicating things, gives you several different premade options for your armor. Some games would even expand on this, and make the color customizable, much like your dye system. So why complicate this? I was really excited to have my own customizable weapons, until you created this overdone system. Not to mention... YOU ONLY HAVE HAMMERS AND SWORDS!
Overall:
Fable 3 is a victim. Fable 3 is the victim of having a creator that wanted to create a revolutionary RPG that was unlike any other. However, he took the idea of making it "unlike any other" to an extreme, and changing almost everything about the game. Some of these changes work, some of them are so bad, that they're almost game breakers for me. For the most part, this game actually feels like an experiment. IGN was right when they said that this game feels like what Fable 2 should have been, and Fable 3 should have been the improvement. That being said, this is by no means a bad game, and not all of the changes are bad. Hopefully, if/when Fable 4 is made, the negatives will be thrown out, and the positives will be kept, allowing it to become the perfect Fable game. My score: 7 out of 10.
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