Crooty's Games > Game reviews by Crooty

Such a letdown.

Posted : 3 years, 1 month ago on 4 October 2006 05:03 (A review of Myst V: End of Ages)

This is almost insulting. I'm outraged.

I've been a fan of the Myst series since Riven, always eager to immerse in the stunning, utterly beautiful sceneries, and there to push switches and pull levers, to tackle the mind-boggling puzzles that would lead me to more dream-like places.

And I was a bit disappointed when Uru came out, with its real-time, third-person interface, because it wasn't exactly was I was expecting, graphically. But then, it was advertised as a side-quest, so I didn't mind too much, especially when Myst IV: Revelation came out with its good ol' QuickTime VR and video-overlaid characters.

So when I heard that Myst V: End of Ages was coming out, and that it'd be the last episode, I really expected the series to end with a flourish. Admittedly, I was slightly surprised by the rather short, one-year gap since the previous instalment, but I trustfully put it down to technical progress.

Well I was wrong.

Visually, Myst V: End of Ages is closer to Uru. Again they traded the QuickTime VR for a first-person navigation that allows you to look around as you walk from point to point. As you might deduce, this real-time rendering implies models with a lower polygon count, and lightmaps. What is gained in movement fluidity (which, by the way, is not required to solve puzzles  la Myst) is lost in image quality, putting the whole trademark atmosphere in jeopardy.

Same story for the characters you meet throughout the game, who are now CG with a video mapped on their face. It's ugly. The Motion Capture hasn't been corrected, or not enough, and the characters' feet are either sliding or entering the ground. They also tried to impress us with cloth movements, but with such a low polygon count you can often see it go through the characters' legs. Really, what were they thinking?

As for the puzzles, even though a couple of them were a bit tricky (but mostly because the symbol I drew on the tablet wasn't quite accurate), they were for the most part repetitive and unchallenging. Proof is, I finished the game in one day.

This is such a letdown.

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Absolutely fantastic... and frustrating!

Posted : 3 years, 1 month ago on 4 October 2006 04:56 (A review of Legend of Zelda, The: The Wind Waker)

I've just finished The Wind Waker, the latest installment in Nintendo's famous series The Legend of Zelda, and even though I'm a Zelda fanatic, I can't help but have mixed feelings about this game.

On the one hand, the cute toon-shaded graphics are stunning. The gameplay, with its inven tive battle system where the hero and his enemies can pick up weapons dropped by other enemies, is irreproachable. The sounds, moods and music are captivating, even though there's no voice acting... but who'd want to hear Link talk?

On the other hand, it's not even that the game is too short, because actually the world is huge and the side quests numerous (although some might be a tad repetitive), nor that it lacks the traditional time/space warp (such as Overworld/Underworld, Young Link/Adult Link or Deku/Zora/Goron Link). It's that there are only five and a half dungeons! This can only leave you begging for more.

And this is what is so frustrating! The Wind Waker could have been one the greatest game ever made, but sadly it's not quite it, and I have no choice but to face the fact that it lacks the dimension of an Ocarina of Time, to name but one... So Mr. Miyamoto, when's the next one coming out?

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Stunningly myterious and poetic.

Posted : 3 years, 1 month ago on 4 October 2006 04:55 (A review of Ico)

In this game, you play as Ico, a young boy emprisoned because he has horns. Soon the shell-like cell where he's held captive breaks and Ico manages to get free. That's where you take up the reins.

Upon visiting your prison, you stumble across the girl Yorda and save her from a bunch of shadow-like monsters. Taking her by the hand, you can now escape together. You'll have to help her, and she'll sometimes help you in return. Don't leave her alone for too long or more shadow wraiths will try to drag her back to their holes.

In short, the game is series of puzzles where you have push crates, light torches, climb up chains and ladders, activate switches or throw bombs to open your way further, with a kind of "mix between Zelda and Myst" feel to it. But summing it up to this isn't doing Ico justice. Granted, it is rather short, with only about eight to ten hours of gameplay. However, it's set in a world so fascinating, so poetic and mysterious, the whole game taking place in one huge, breathtakingly beautiful fortress of sun-bathed sand-coloured stone with patches of bright green grass, that it's definitely worth a try.

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Nice but somewhat boring.

Posted : 3 years, 1 month ago on 4 October 2006 04:52 (A review of Luigi's Mansion)

The background story: Luigi has just won a house and Mario has gone to visit it. But the house is haunted, and Mario hasn't returned yet. Luigi has to overcome his fears and go and look for his missing brother.

The game: armed with a torch and a vacuum cleaner, Luigi has to suck in the ghosts who lurk in the furniture, in the approximately three dozen chambers of the mansion.

My opinion: I found this game particularly short and, aside from the final battle, not very challenging (my boy-friend and I finished it over the weekend). It is also rather linear and repetitive, as you have to solve it room after single room. The only thing that isn't linear is the tedious collecting of the 50 Boos but, like the money you can gather, it doesn't lead to any special reward. As for the graphics, and the technological progress such as particle effects, they're nice ok, but sadly the result didn't turn out as stunningly different from that of the N64 as I tought it would.

Having bought the Gamecube on Friday, the day it came out in Europe, and Luigi's Mansion being the only game, in the genre I like, available at the moment, I must admit I feel a bit disappointed so far. Let's hope Mario Sunshine and Zelda will live up to my expectations (I'm sure they will)!

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Slightly (only slightly) disappointing.

Posted : 3 years, 1 month ago on 4 October 2006 04:51 (A review of Myst III: Exile)

OK, the graphics are absolutely stunning, but that they were already in Riven. The only real apparent technical progress (and not the least, mind you) is the 360 degree view, which lets you immerse into the breathtaking sceneries of six (or more acurately, five and a half) different ages.

The puzzles are in the same logical vein as usual, but sadly I didn't find them very challenging and I was able to finish the game in approximately 12 hours, which is much less than what I was expecting from the creators of the Myst series.

As a whole, Exile is a wonderful game, mysterious and beautiful, and the music sends you directly into another, totally magical dimension, but if you've already played its prequels, no doubt you'll be left begging for more. My guess is that people with less experience in the Myst universe will enjoy it much more. I can only recommend they play Myst and Riven (in this order) too.

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Stressful but as Great as ever!

Posted : 3 years, 1 month ago on 4 October 2006 04:47 (A review of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask)

I just started playing this game yesterday (when it came out in Europe). After playing for 7 hours, my first impressions are that this game is stressful: you only have 3 "days" (in fact approximately 72 minutes) to run on various errands, solve castle puzzles, etc. If you can't finish in time, you have to start almost all over again... And when I have only 10 real minutes left to find the big key, switch off crystals, jump from various platforms, find the temple boss and kill him, I start playing worse and worse, hehe.

However, the graphics and musics are as beautiful as ever, and it has all the typical Zelda sounds that make Zelda the best games ever! It just made my hair stand on end to see and hear all these things again! I just can't wait to play some more... and try to finally solve my first temple!

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