The story is incredibly light in Shifting World, and clearly not the focus of the game. At the beginning you are trapped in the bizarre black and white dimension by the mysterious Duke and must find your way out–that’s all there really is to the plot. A few simple text scenes describe what is happening, but the narrative itself is incredibly basic and doesn’t affect anything about the gameplay. Which is fine: this is a gameplay-centric game anyway.

It is vital to find keys in order to progress; seemingly out of reach areas may be accessible by shifting.

The core gameplay mechanics strike a great balance of simplicity and mutability–as seen in the game, the idea of shifting the world from black to white can create a wide variety of challenging situations. The gameplay never grows stale thanks to a number of additional concepts that are peppered into the game, including portals that allow you to shift horizontally as opposed to vertically and the ability to flatten the perspective from 3D to 2D which opens up new paths. The puzzles themselves are generally quite linear–early levels are easily solved by just moving forward or toward the goal–but as the game progresses the challenge rises significantly, culminating in some devilish puzzles that are suitably satisfying to solve.

Shifting World is not without its problems, though. Your view is limited to the area immediately around you, so it can be difficult to foresee what change your actions will have or plan out your route carefully. Early on there’s no real penalty for this kind of experimentation, but when spikes are added to the mix it becomes increasingly annoying to have to replay levels when you land on unforeseen spike pits. The levels may be fairly short, but retreading a puzzle over and over is rarely fun. The map on the bottom screen provides only a general view of the level–it’s not detailed enough to be helpful with figuring out what to do next. You can find your general bearings with the map, but it won’t show you the results of that long drop in front of you.

While shifted, white blocks are safe ground and black areas are empty pits.

The other main problem comes from the controls. Jumping feels quite stiff and awkward in Shifting World, leading to plenty of unfortunate deaths. For a game that only has around three actions, it’s a little surprising and extremely frustrating that one of them feels so clunky and unresponsive. There are few things more annoying that walking straight into a spike pit just because the jump action lacks the quick response that is necessary in any platformer situation. And again, replaying a puzzle repeatedly because of errors like this is neither satisfying nor entertaining.

Visually, the game is presented with a sleek minimalist style. Everything is black and white, and this simple contrast is pretty sharp, especially when shifting. Granted, there are few complex shapes in the scenery–everything is essentially blocks or occasionally spikes–but the effect looks good nevertheless. However, the animation is not as smooth as it really should be, given the relative simplicity of the visual style; the animation can be noticeably jagged at times, which the black/white scenery only seems to exacerbate. Furthermore, the 3D effect looks nice but doesn’t add anything to the gameplay since the entire game is side-scrolling and the environments are purposefully simple. The soundtrack, on the other hand, has some great jazzy tunes that provide fun background music to puzzle solving. The soundtrack is unfortunately small and rather repetitive, but it’s a nice touch nevertheless.

Later levels rely on more than just shifting to challenge you.

The game seems fairly short initially, but Adventure Mode only takes you through half of the game. Time Attack features a whole array of new, unique puzzles that challenge you to work as quickly as possible, generally under one minute. It’s quite a challenge to finish all of them, especially with a good time. The main adventure should last seven or eight hours, but Time Attack mode adds on a few more hours of original gameplay.

Filled with good ideas but a few too many problems in the execution, it’s hard to say whether or not Shifting World is worth your time. The puzzle concept is put to great use in a variety of situations, but stiff controls and limited visibility as you explore can lead to tired, repetitive levels. Puzzle fans may appreciate the mechanics put forth by Shifting World, but the overall package could have used more polish.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars

Though M&S2012 is essentially a mini-game collection, there is a story mode of sorts that has Mario, Sonic, and a variety of their friends and allies teaming up to stop the nefarious plot of Dr. Eggman and Bowser. Across every corner of London, the story mode adds a pretty basic narrative to tie together the various Olympic events you’ll be competing in. It’s kind of a cute and silly story that is clearly not meant to be anything special, but at least it gives you the opportunity to sample nearly every event in the game. The downside is that the cutscenes are not only silly but extremely long and slow, at least compared to the length of each event. There’s no way to speed it up but you can skip them altogether and just get to the mini-games, though this essentially defeats the entire purpose of a story mode.

Speed and accuracy is needed when drawing circles on the touch screen.

Each mini-game in M&S2012 is based on an Olympic event; there are standard events such as the 100m dash as well as more esoteric mini-games such as ribbon gymnastics. Whether you’re playing a single event or an entire medley, there are plenty of options before you. The catch in M&S2012 is that each event uses the 3DS’ features in a variety of ways. In one event you may sprint by mashing the A button, or a swimming race may use the touch screen to alternate strokes. There are some neat ideas put to use here, but just as many fall flat. There are few things more annoying than having bizarre controls thrust upon you in awkward situations, and that’s exactly what happens in this game.

The other key problem is that many of the events are grossly simplified into short, ten second mini-games. It may make sense for footraces, but events like boxing or basketball would have benefited from at least slightly more involving and complex gameplay. Essentially the gameplay is more comparable to WarioWare than to Mario Party; the mini-games are over nearly as soon as they begin and often involve one or two simple commands. The WW formula just doesn’t work well in this setting: it takes too long to set up a game while the game itself is too short, and you aren’t given any practice or warning. It makes sense to have quick events for a portable game, but that concept is taken to an extreme here.

Use the 3DS gyroscope to maintain balance during this race.

Otherwise the game settings, particularly in multiplayer, are very similar to Mario Party. There may not be a board, but you compete in a variety of mini-games for points, and there’s still an element of dumb luck to the proceedings. It’s a little disappointing that multiplayer is limited to local games, but you can connect online to compare your records against worldwide scores. In fact, if you enjoy pursuing better and better records, M&S2012 would be perfect for you. Assuming you don’t get tired of the sometimes strange controls.

As already stated the game uses nearly every function on the 3DS to control these mini-games. Circle pad, buttons, stylus, and even the microphone are put to use, sometimes to great effect and sometimes terribly shoe-horned in. The controls often come off as gimmicky and can lead to some awkward gameplay actions, but at the very least they are easy to pick up and learn.

Timing is everything to win this rhythm-based race.

The presentation in the game leaves something to be desired. The graphics are pretty sharp but in typical Nintendo fashion lack any particularly remarkable visuals. The 3D effect is nice when it’s working, but there’s some noticeable ghosting and the 3D seems more dramatic in the menus than during actual events. Similarly, the music is mediocre at best and doesn’t exactly leave a lasting impression.

Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games has some clever ideas, but there are also plenty of weak points. The controls are a little overambitious and the overly simplified events are disappointing. The variety of events keeps the game from being too tiresome, but unless you are really eager to have a mini-game collection on your 3DS, you can easily skip this one without missing out on anything special.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars

Storylines aren’t usually Sonic’s strong point, and Generations isn’t much different. In fact, there’s hardly a story at all. Tails is throwing Sonic a surprise birthday party when a monster called the Time Eater disrupts the festivities and sends Sonic and Tails on an adventure through their own past. Brief dialogue scenes between zones show Sonic and Tails chatting with each other and their past selves, but there isn’t an elaborate plot or any dramatic scenes. That’s probably for the best, though–you can easily focus on the gameplay here.

It wouldn't be a Sonic game without loops and other speed-based stage items.

Generations is something of a “greatest hits” collection for Sonic, revisiting and remixing familiar levels from the series’ history. It’s a cute concept but the reality is that there isn’t much content that is strictly new–even remixed levels carry the same general tone of the originals. Still, it’s hard to go wrong with classic design as your basis, and Generations uses the cream of the crop for every stage. The other stand-out feature here is the ability to play as both Classic and Modern Sonic; each version gets one act in each zone which caters to their different styles. It’s a subtle change in gameplay but it can be fun to see a side by side comparison of the old and the new. Unfortunately, Modern Sonic doesn’t make use of many 3D gameplay areas–it would have been nice to see a more distinctive difference between the two Sonics, if only occasionally. As it is, Modern Sonic draws primarily from Sonic Rush and Sonic Rush Adventures, both of which are already inspired by traditional Sonic gameplay. In essence all of the gameplay here focuses on 2D side-scrolling–fun side-scrolling, but a bit repetitive nonetheless.

The major disappointment in Generations is how short it is. With only two acts per zone and seven zones, the game is extremely light on unique stages. Even completing all special stages, collecting the chaos emeralds and defeating the final boss can easily be completed in under two hours. Furthermore, the bosses that you do face are pretty bland; being drawn from older games, the combat in these boss fights is a little slow and lacking in dramatic urgency. The special stages look nice in 3D, but that doesn’t change the fact that the game goes by fast, even for Sonic standards.

Modern Sonic stages aren't in 3D, but occasionally the perspective will shift anyway to show off the scenery.

However, the game makes up for its short length with tons of replay value. In addition to the usual branching paths in each level, you can work on achieving high scores and high grades by replaying any level. Additionally, a time attack mode puts your Sonic skills to the test, and you can even post your best times online to compete with other players worldwide. You can also directly compete with local friends or online in a versus mode, pitting you in–obviously–a direct race. Sure you’ll be replaying the same handful of levels over and over, but at the very least the game gives you cause to do so.

If you’re not interested in going online you can work on completing the one hundred missions the game provides. These missions give you unique challenges such as collect 100 rings in under a minute in Green Hill Act II, and by completing these you’ll unlock bonuses including music, artwork, and character models. It’s nice to have a specific goal when replaying levels, but it’s a lot of work to go through all missions, particularly because you have to first unlock each mission first by either progressing through the game or using play coins. Play coins get expensive fast, and the game doesn’t tell you exactly how to unlock missions naturally, so tackling these challenges is mostly for the most die-hard players willing to retread each act ad nauseum–a prospect that will most likely not be too appealing to most players.

The gameplay lends itself easily to either the circle pad or D-pad–either control method works well given the classic side-scrolling set-up here. The rest of the controls are fairly typical of Sonic games, simple and stream-lined for the speed based action. You have to build up momentum to hit good speeds and making small, tight movements is a little tricky. The few times you need precise, controlled jumps this can be a little frustrating, but it’s a rare occurrence and doesn’t do much to detract from the game overall.

The stylish visuals of Casino Zone, a classic area from Sonic 2, are revived in Sonic Generations.

Visually, Generations has the kind of bombastic graphics that you would expect from Sonic. Even with its low level count the game is packed with tons of beautiful scenery and it’s nice to see more detailed versions of classic levels. However, when you slow down to look at it there are a lot of jagged edges for some reason–as sharp as the graphics are they aren’t very smooth. The soundtrack, though, is fantastic. The music perfectly complements Sonic’s fast-paced gameplay with upbeat, energetic tunes, again drawing upon the best of past Sonic games to make one top notch soundtrack. Even if you don’t get to drink in all the scenery when you’re zipping through levels, the music always keeps you entertained.

Sonic Generations is a nice stroll down memory lane for Sonic fans, but unfortunately it doesn’t try to be anything more than that. Though the game boasts good graphics, an excellent soundtrack, and fun stage design, there’s a little too much reliance on the old and not enough new, unique content. Replaying the same handful of levels over and over might be appealing to some, but most will likely grow tired of this repetitive format. The best way to enjoy this title may be as a rental.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Nintendo’s most recent Nintendo Direct released a lot of news (as usual) about various upcoming games and updates.  While there was no North America specific version this time around (unlike the previous Nintendo Direct hosted by Reggie Fils-Aime), there was still plenty for North America to look forward to.  (If you want to see the full, original Japanese video of the events, you can watch them at http://www.ustream.tv/user/Nintendo_Direct )  Just a few highlights of what North America can look forward to in the near future:

• A Kirby 20th Anniversary Collection disc will be released for the Wii.  Further details have yet to be announced.
• A sequel to New Super Mario Bros. will be released for the Nintendo 3DS, currently titled New Super Mario Bros. 2.  And no, it’s not based off of Super Mario Bros. 2 USA.  If anything, it will be closer to Super Mario Bros. 3 with the return of Racoon Mario.  Currently expected date of North American release is this August.
• Speaking of the 3DS, a new system update will allow you to organize your HOME menu.  Now you can put all your ambassador games in one place!  Even better, this one should be available in just a matter of days.
• There is also promising progress of upcoming games such as Animal Crossing 3DS, and Pokemon Black & White 2.  B&W2 will be getting 3DS AR features, where you will be able to catch Pokemon in an AR environment in similar fashion to Face Raiders, and then transfer them into the game.

Interested in some of the other announcements?  This article from GoNintendo sums up a good amount of it.

What are you looking forward to the most?

Right from the start XC shirks conventions with a wildly unique setting. The entire world is composed of the corpses of two giant gods, the Bionis and the Mechonis, killed in a duel with one another and now playing host to various life forms. Though you start in a colony at the foot of the Bionis, you’ll eventually find you way all the way up the dead god’s body, seeing all manner of environments along the way. As far as video game lore is concerned, it’s hard to get more original than this, and it’s a fascinating journey to see the environment fleshed out. The real impetus of the narrative, though, is the Monado, a mystical sword said to have been the blade used by Bionis to destroy Mechonis, and Shulk, a young boy able to control the Monado’s power. Shulk’s efforts to unravel the mysteries of the sword soon takes on a personal tone, leading to a quest of revenge and discovery. Packed full of twists and revelations, the story is a gripping narrative from beginning to end, with the benefit of both interesting characters and a wonderful setting.

Against deadly Mechons, only the power of the Monado offers hope to the inhabitants of Bionis.

The real crux of the gameplay is exploration. The Bionis is huge and you get to explore vast reaches of it, from sweeping plains to foggy marshlands. XC manages to make the simple act of walking around an environment an absolute pleasure with a wide variety in scenery and numerous secrets to be discovered at every turn. The game even teases you with sights just out of reach or powerful monsters that you have no hope of defeating when you first enter an area, but nevertheless call out to you with a siren song to challenge them later. This also helps to make the Bionis seem like a more genuine ecosystem; weak and strong monsters aren’t so segregated and make the land seem a little more alive, diverse, and changeable.

The long list of side quests goes hand in hand with the exploration element. You can take on dozens of side quests at any time, and the game makes it super convenient for you to sort through them and complete them as quickly and easily as possible. Oftentimes you don’t have to return to the quest giver, and even when you do it’s not too difficult to keep track of where to find them. These optional tasks also give you a great impetus to explore more thoroughly, to search out every variety of monster and collect every scattered item the game has to offer. Just completing side quests becomes incredibly addictive yet never feels as though it gets in the way of the main game. Rather, the option only enhances the game by giving even further personality to the inhabitants of Bionis and offering you the chance to explore the environment with a fun and satisfying goal in mind.

Easily avoid or engage monsters while exploring; just be sure they don't attack you first.

Of course, one of the most crucial aspects of an RPG is the battle system, and XC boasts one that is both interesting and engaging every time you fight a monster. You can easily engage or avoid enemies while exploring–which is a huge help when backtracking through old areas–and when you do fight it’s right there in the scenery without a separate battle screen. The combat is not turn-based but it’s not completely free action either; you automatically attack when close enough to the monster and you don’t have control over dodging or defending. Instead you have a selection of special attacks called arts at your command, each of which has special effects or bonus damage based on your position. For example, one attack does extra damage from behind while another attack can stun the enemy. What makes the combat so engaging is the challenge of setting up combos with your AI controlled party members. The friendly AI is actually quite smart and capable of dishing up damage with only modest direction on your part, so setting up enemies to be dazed or toppled works well and makes battle system much more satisfying. Furthermore, you aren’t limited to controlling Shulk; you can choose to control any party member, and each one plays quite differently. Even if the enemy is particularly weak, experimenting with party members can spice up the action.

The rest of the gameplay has all the bells and whistles typical of an RPG, but XC manages to keep them fresh and interesting. As always you’ll be managing weapons and armor, but the addition of gems–which boost your stats or add special effects like bonus lightning damage–makes the normally dry process of choosing equipment a little more intriguing. You can equip something with raw strength, or choose something with open gem slots so you can customize it. Furthermore, party members can build relationships with one another which makes them fight better and allows them to borrow skills from one another, granting further bonuses and boosts. This game is simply packed with content and various little avenues to walk down, and each one is a delight to explore.

The game supports a Wii remote/nunchuk control scheme as well as the Classic Controller Pro. This is rare occasion where the default Wii remote/nunchuk controls work as well as the CCPro; you may find the camera a little easier on the CCPro if you’re used to dual joystick set-ups, but you certainly won’t be at a disadvantage if you don’t have this accessory. The game never requires such precise or complicated controls that the default scheme would be problematic.

Even the wide variety of arts and skills in the game won't help you face monsters sixty levels higher than your own.

The fantastic exploration elements in XC are complemented with some of the most amazing visuals on the Wii. The scenery is simply stunning: just seeing the dense jungles with monumental waterfalls in the distance is impressive, but being able to walk across any cliff edge and swim down any river makes the environments all the more impressive. Each new area manages to outdo the last, building even more original, gorgeous scenery complete with multi-colored flora and shimmering mists. The art direction itself is wonderful as well. The villages and colonies you visit have distinct personalities with tons of interesting, believable details in the scenery. The game even has distinctive graphics for each piece of armor you equip, showing the amount of care and detail put into the game. That said, the details don’t always hold up under close scrutiny. Cutscenes reveal just how flat some of the textures are–faces can be particularly odd looking up close. All this means, though, is that the visuals are best appreciated at a distance, like a Monet painting, and given the scale of the scenery and of the game itself, it’s not hard to take a step back and look at the whole picture..

The phenomenal presentation doesn’t end with the graphics. The soundtrack is fantastic as well, featuring tunes as broad and varied as the environments, and every bit as lively. There are few moments more thrilling than that moment when you first step out on a new adventure, watching the scenery unfold before you and hearing the music swell around you. Majestic, earthy, and imbued with the emotions of each area, the music is a brilliant complement to the joy and wonder of exploration. In addition, the game is fully voiced, though it is actually all by British voice actors (in fact all the writing uses British English spelling as well and it can be fun to spot the differences). Nevertheless the voice work is excellent and brings out the characters perfectly, from muscle-head Reyn to the wearied warrior Dunban.

Screenshots don't do this game justice: the scale and detail of the scenery is phemonmenal.

In case it hasn’t sunk in yet, this game is huge. Just finishing the story with little regard to side quests or exploration could take fifty hours; completing everything the game has to offer can take three, four, even five times that length. This is the type of game where you’ll settle down with it over several weeks and gradually chip away at its rich depths of content. And yet, the game rarely drags. It’s easy to fast-track to the next objective if you grow weary of side quests, and a convenient map system lets you immediately jump to virtually any point on the Bionis. Fans of long games will be well satisfied with this one.

Xenoblade Chronicles is truly an epic game. Staggering in its scale, breath-taking in its presentation, and with enough engaging content to last for weeks if not months, this game offers an adventure unlike any other. The simple joy of exploration is trumped only by the fascinating story and lore surrounding the unique setting, and unraveling both makes for one amazing RPG experience. Here in the dying days of the Wii, with only a few more notable titles set for release before Nintendo’s next console, Xenoblade Chronicles offers up one more hurrah with one of the best games to grace the system.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars

The winner of the NSider2 Official March 2012 Sig Contest is Nitro, with the following entry:

Congratulations to Nitro for winning this month!

This game isn’t exactly story intensive, but the basic plot is Danny, a teenage boy, is assisting his friend Dr. Reuben in testing his invention the Cognitive Regression Utilizing pSychiatric Heuristics, or C.R.U.S.H. During a few innocent tests things go haywire and Danny will have to navigate various portions of his mind to escape the virtual landscape. The game keeps the narrative goofy and light-hearted–Danny and Dr. Reuben’s relationship is very much like Marty McFly and Doc Brown in the Back to the Future movies–so it’s not that surprising that the plot zips by in a handful of cutscenes that only loosely hold the scenery changes together.

Objects may seem boxed in from one perspective, but a change of view brings with it new opportunties.

The meat of the game is in the gameplay. Switching the perspective from 3D to 2D is a delightfully simple concept that is rife with possibility. The best puzzle games are able to take one core concept and twist it into all manner of scenarios and shapes, and that’s exactly what Crush 3D does. The later puzzles require a lot more thought than you might initially expect–you really have to wrap your mind around space, platforms, and how these change when you crush or uncrush the environment. Add in the handful of objects and enemies you can interact with, and the game offers up a wonderfully intriguing and diverse set of puzzles. Furthermore, the integrated hint system is a huge help if you’re ever stuck. For the most part the game is great at identifying exactly what you need to do next, so you aren’t stuck with broad, vague hints. Playing without hints may be the greater challenge, but they can be immensely helpful when you need them.

The only downside is that the game isn’t longer. Forty levels (plus a handful of tutorial levels) is the whole run of the game; tricky though the puzzles may be, you can easily finish the game in six hours or so, and this is the type of puzzle game that is a little boring to replay when you already know the answers. Still, there are a few ways to draw out the experience. You are required to collect a certain number of marbles in each stage to progress, but you can aim for collecting all of them as well as the hidden trophy and album which unlock extras. Trophies unlock a special speed-run mode for that level which put the pressure on you with a time limit and a limited number of crush actions. If you feel like replaying levels to the point where you can complete them inside out and backwards, trophy mode offers good replay incentive, though this can easily be repetitive and a little dull for other players. There’s also tons of concept art to unlock, and Streetpass lets you exchange gifts with other players to unlock more art and clothing options for Danny. It’s not exactly the best reason to use Streetpass but the option is there.

The controls are pretty simple for this game: you can easily move, jump, crush, and view the level in camera mode to scope out your next move. Everything works well with the 3DS’ control set-up, even when you are exploring the level from every angle with the camera.

From a "crushed" perspective, platforms line up nicely and allow you to traverse otherwise distant paths with ease.

The graphics are incredibly basic in Crush 3D. There isn’t anything particularly wrong with the look of the game, it’s just that the scenery and detail on the levels are quite underwhelming. There is essentially nothing that stands out visually, and the art style feels a little bland and repetitive throughout the game. The stereoscopic 3D effect looks good in the game, except for the fact that you’ll be playing half the game in 2D when you crush anyway. The music is similarly dull and most of the time entirely too quiet. The audio only swells occasionally to the point where you can hear it without the volume maxed out, and even then the tunes are uninspired.

Crush 3D is a surprisingly clever puzzle game. It may lack bells and whistles to make it standout against other games, but the gameplay itself is nevertheless unique and challenging and used to great effect in the game’s short forty levels. The game might have had more fame as a digital download, but its current retail price of $20 is actually perfect for the experience here. Puzzle fans shouldn’t let this one fly under the radar.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

The Tales series has enjoyed acclaim from RPG fans worldwide, but only a few have landed on Nintendo platforms. Tales of the Abyss marks the latest in that short line of games, bringing the 2005 PS2 game to the 3DS, adding 3D visuals and portability. The Tales games are known for their deep storylines and active battles that challenge players with fast paced combat, and this game is no different. Tales of the Abyss may be a port of a seven-year-old game, but it is an enthralling RPG experience nonetheless.

The story in Tales of the Abyss starts out simple enough, particularly for an RPG. Growing tension between countries, mysterious circumstances, and the appearance of a strange girl on an assassination mission set the scene for a game that, though tiresome at times, does a fantastic job of creating interesting characters. You may not always like them–particularly the whiny hero of the tale, Luke, who is woefully ignorant of even basic details of the world–but over the course of the adventure the characters are developed surprisingly well, and their relationships with one another and other characters weave an engaging tale. The one major fault in the story, though, is how poorly things are explained early on in the game. Even as other characters explain things to Luke who is as lost as the player, the excessive jargon is brushed over so casually that you’ll think you missed an entire portion of the game that describes Fonons, Yulia, and the power of hymns. For a game so replete with cutscenes, it’s surprising that they couldn’t add one or two more at the beginning to explain these terms.

It wouldn't be an RPG without plenty of villages and towns to explore, each ripe with side quests.

Tales of the Abyss uses the same active battle system as the other Tales games which gives you full control of one character in an enclosed battle space where you can move, attack, use special attacks, and direct allies via menu options. These active battles offer a more personal, dramatic, and intense way of fighting as opposed to turn-based battles; you’re forced to think on your feet, especially if you want to organize combos and attacks with allies. The friendly AI works incredibly well, but if you truly want to deal some damage it helps to be able to coordinate all allies. Finding the balance between manipulating your main character and guiding the others adds yet another layer of thoughtful complexity to this frenetic combat system.

Another unique aspect of Tales games is the arte system. What might be called magic or skills in other games are called artes, and managing them is a little different here. Artes cost technical points as you might expect, but TP recovers rapidly–at the end of each fight you recover a portion, and just attacking normally provides a small boost to your TP. This rapid recovery makes arte use much more flippant–it’s easy to recover so you can use artes all the time–yet there is also a tactical consideration to this. Managing your TP, much like managing your allies, requires a close watch to ensure characters aren’t empty during crucial moments of the battle. It’s not always a major consideration during typical fights, but during drawn-out boss fights it can be a vital. Combined with the already active combat system, these features challenge the player with plenty of details during every battle.

Touch screen commands let you direct allies quickly and easily.

Much of the gameplay in Tales of the Abyss is typical of an RPG, with all the basic accoutrements of weapons and equipment accounted for, but the amount of detail is what makes the game so engaging. There is plenty to keep track of both in and out of battle, from capacity cores that boost character stats to finding food recipes to recover health and TP outside of battle. There’s always something that requires your attention, making this truly an RPG for RPG fans. Although the developers did not add any significant changes to this 3DS version, the game is still a lengthy, entertaining adventure.

And when I say lengthy, I mean lengthy. The game can easily last nearly fifty hours, even if you ignore the vast amount of side quests and other little details that the game offers up. From optional dungeons to hunting down every arte and recipe in the game, Tales of the Abyss provides tons of optional material that is actually quite a treat to explore. The only problem is that those fifty hours aren’t always at top performance; around the middle of the game the pacing drags heavily as you go from one city to another only to talk to someone then leave again. Granted, it’s hard to keep up the energy of a fifty hour game, particularly when there is so much story-telling to get through, but it becomes a noticeable dip in the pacing of the game, and the player can’t help but grow anxious for another dungeon to explore.

There’s not much to say about the controls; they work well whether you’re scrolling through menus outside of battle or slashing apart monsters with basic attacks and artes. The one interesting aspect is the touch screen control in battle. You can assign four artes to the touch screen, either from the character you’re controlling or anyone else in the battle, giving you quick access to commands that let you set up combos or rapidly heal allies. This little feature ends up being quite useful in the long run.

Moving freely around battlefields lets you dodge and attack strategically.

The distinctive visual style in Tales games is always an impressive mix of massive, sprawling environments and a soft, muted color palette that gives off a sense of mist or dust, showing the age of the environment whether it’s a bustling bazaar or a decrepit dungeon. The graphics rarely jump out with anything flashy, but if you take the time to appreciate the scenery, the visuals show their worth. Stereoscopic 3D adds a nice little touch, again not flashy but still impressive when you notice it. The soundtrack also exhibits this subdued style–you may not particularly take note of the background music, but the quality is undeniable, as is the wide variety of tunes. The game also features tons of voice acting to accompany the large amounts of dialogue and cutscenes. Some of it is a bit overacted, but the voice work helps bring out the personality of these characters and the range of emotions they experience over the course of the game, from arrogance to humility, joy to sorrow.

Tales of the Abyss offers one of the few RPG experiences on the 3DS at the moment, but even if it had hundreds of competitors it would be an RPG worthy of your time. Over the course of the lengthy adventure, the story and characters prove themselves captivating and with a lot of heart, while the action-packed battle system makes each encounter exciting and engaging. Outside of a few minor annoyances with the exposition and pacing, RPG fans will most certainly not be disappointed with this lengthy, addictive game.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Twenty-five years after the original’s release, Pit and Palutena are back in one hell of a franchise revival. Kid Icarus: Uprising draws upon the basic concepts of the NES original but updates the gameplay into a fast-paced action-adventure rife with frenetic shooting and melee combat, balanced with goofy and charming writing. Featuring a healthy sized single-player mode, an addictive multiplayer mode, and hundreds of weapon and special power options, Uprising is hard to put down without want to play just a little more. Though the control scheme is the game’s blatant Achilles’ heel, the game is nevertheless an absolute delight.

Aerial combat sends Pit hurtling into the depth of the screen.

There are two main aspects to the gameplay in Uprising: aerial scenes that have you flying into the distance while shooting down enemies, and ground portions that give you free reign to move around a 3D environment before facing down a boss. The aerial scenes are just like bullet-hell shooters, with a little less hell. It’s on-rails so all you have to focus on is shooting enemies and dodging incoming attacks. The action is hectic nonetheless; enemies simply swarm over you during flight, and it’s all you can do to keep control of simultaneously attacking and dodging. Like Star Fox games, it’s incredibly addictive to replay and work at higher scores, and Uprising gives you plenty of replay incentives already, particularly with the difficulty system. On a scale from 0-9, you can change the difficulty on each stage to increase the challenge as well as the rewards. With 2 as the “normal” difficulty, there is plenty of room to grow and progress as you become more accustomed to the game, making quick replays incredibly convenient and enticing.

Once the aerial scene ends, you begin a ground portion which offers more freedom and exploration. The action is no less frantic here, but you are able to move at your own pace and search out hidden treasure chests throughout the environment. However, free movement comes with the frustration of awkward camera control. The default controls have you moving with the circle pad and aiming with the stylus on the touch screen, which is proven to work well in games like Metroid Prime: Hunters on the DS, but in Uprising the gameplay is just too hectic and fast-paced to make this set-up work smoothly. You need to be able to move quickly and rapidly examine your surroundings which just isn’t easy with the stylus, and centering the camera behind Pit is not exactly useful either. Eventually you’ll become accustomed to these controls to an extent, but early on it makes some parts feel completely frustrating, and even by the time you finish the game it still feels awkward.

From bows to cannons, your choice of weapon can drastically change the way you play.

If there’s one area where Uprising truly shines, it’s in content variety. The game features nine different weapon types for you to choose from: some are rapid fire, some are slow, some are better for melee attacks, some having good homing shots, etc. Although each weapon has the same basic attacks–continuous fire, charged shot, and a few varieties depending on how you’re moving–the difference between, for example, staffs and clubs is massive. On top of that, each weapon type has several different individual types, such as wolf claws or beam claws, each of which has its own unique properties, plus each weapon can have additional attributes such as a boost to defense or the ability to poison enemies. And finally, there are dozens and dozens of powers that you can activate to augment your abilities, from basic things like healing to tricky powers such as invisibility.

It’s almost mind-boggling to think of how many options this game offers you; every single time you play can be a wildly different experience when you fiddle with your weapon, powers, and difficulty level. Eventually you’ll find a set-up that you prefer, but you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not tasting every option you can, each of which can make even mundane battles fresh and exciting. If you enjoy experimenting with how you play, Uprising offers nigh infinite possibilities, and it is simply a pleasure to explore all of them.

Uprising isn’t just a solo adventure, though. With local and online multiplayer, you can take your combat skills to the test against human opponents in free-for-all or team based battles. It goes without saying that fighting human players is wildly different than fighting AI monsters, making multiplayer an ideal area to experiment and test out new weapons and powers. And if you thought the single-player gameplay was hectic, multiplayer turns it up to 11. Powers are flashing all across the playing field as players dash and charge at one another–it’s an insane experience when you start. And yet, there’s a logic and rhythm to the gameplay that takes time to learn and master; again experimentation with weapons/powers can make a huge difference, but there is also plenty of strategy and thought put into it rather than being a wild mash-up of opponents. Similar to the Smash Bros. series, there’s an underlying level of skill for you to learn, masked by the fast-paced action. In addition, the online connection is excellent; it’s easy to join games with random players or friends, and there is basically no noticeable lag. Your mileage may vary, but in general the connection works extremely well for this type of frantic game.

On ground, you can shoot monsters from afar or get up close and personal with melee attacks.

Even amidst the frantic action and constant barrage of enemies, it’s hard not to notice the absolutely gorgeous graphics in Uprising. The scenery in aerial portions where the ground is whipping past you and floating objects threaten to smash into the screen looks amazing. Not only do the graphics show off what the 3DS can do, they do so with a fantastic variety of styles and environments, some awash with color and detail while others abound with explosions and special effects. The 3D effect just makes everything even more impressive by giving the various projectiles and charging enemies more weight and depth. It looks good in the ground portions, but the aerial portions are made for this type of 3D look, and the graphics are nothing less than fantastic during these stages. Even if the gameplay wasn’t highly addictive, you’d want to replay this game multiple times just to soak in the beautiful visuals.

There are plenty of nods to the original Kid Icarus, including a few bosses.

Kid Icarus: Uprising truly is a surprise gem. While the original Kid Icarus was novel for its time, Uprising bursts past the original game’s formula with a compelling story mode, hundreds of weapons, powers, and options, an addictive, smooth multiplayer mode, and some of the best visuals and audio on the 3DS to date. It’s unfortunate that the controls are such a problem initially, but the gameplay is well worth the effort of adapting to the control set-up; writing off the game due to the controls would be an offense to the amazingly varied gameplay and beautiful presentation. After this fantastic revival, hopefully Pit is here to stay.

Since its N64 debut, the Mario Party series has brought friends together around the console to compete in a variety of mini-game trials and board game festivities before ultimately succumbing to chance to decide the winner. Mario Party 9 is much the same, for better, (but mostly) for worse. A few minor changes are not the fresh coat of paint that the franchise needs, and the relatively small variety of mini-games detracts from the original unique hook of the series.

Like the previous games in the series, MP9 is a multiplayer-focused party game; it takes place in a board game setting where each player or AI character rolls a die to move. While earlier Mario Party games focused on earning stars, MP9 focuses on collecting mini-stars which are more like coins in that you can rack up a ton of them in one game. Fundamentally it’s not a huge change; the only truly significant update here is in how you move around the board. Previous games would have each character moving individually, but in MP9 all characters move in a group and when it’s your turn you are the “captain.” The boards are also linear now as opposed to circular, so they have a definite goal as well as a handful of event spaces that you can only catch once. This new movement system opens up strategic options–you can try to speed to valuable spaces before other players or leave them in poor places where they might lose mini-stars, for example–and it has the added benefit of helping to move along the usually slow game. It’s not a huge change, but it’s basically the only thing that distinguishes MP9 from its predecessors.

The board provides far more mini-stars than winning mini-games does.

Usually the key aspect of Mario Party games is the selection of mini-games. MP9 introduces a variety of new games, but they are quite a mixed bag of quality. Some rely only upon luck while others are a little bland or draw too heavily from old Mario Party mini-games. Most surprising, though, is that you generally don’t play many mini-games in a typical game. You no longer play a mini-game after every round of dice rolls, so it’s up to chance and the board’s layout to determine how many mini-games you actually play. MP9 seems to pull away from what was once the emphasis of the series and focuses more on the luck-based gameplay on the board itself. And really, that’s the biggest annoyance of MP9: luck.

Mini-games used to be not only the action-y part of the game but the part ruled by skill where the player who performs best wins. With only a handful of mini-games in a typical match, MP9 skews heavily toward luck and chance. A player can succeed at nothing more than rolling the right numbers on the die and win the entire game. Granted, MP9 isn’t supposed to be a hardcore multiplayer competition but rather a light-hearted, somewhat goofy game that all manner of players can enjoy. That said, this aspect of pure luck is incredibly frustrating, particularly when you’re playing against the computer. The luck-based gameplay goes just a little too far; instead of leveling the playing field, the field becomes a chaotic mess where anything can happen, particularly in the last moments of a match.

With lady luck on your side you can earn easy mini-stars.

Along the same vein as being friendly to all manner of players, the controls are quite basic. You only need the Wii remote alone whether it’s vertical or horizontal depending on the mini-game, and the game really only uses a couple of buttons to roll the die or select an item. It’s a little surprising that there is very little motion control, even in mini-games, but even when it does come up it’s an easy system to learn.

The visuals and audio are basically what one expects from a Nintendo title; colorful, simple graphics with bubbly songs that are otherwise forgettable. There’s nothing really remarkable about the presentation here, but it has a friendly, colorful, clean style that, while it may not offer a visual feast, can be appreciated for its simple appeal.

Some mini-games are a lot of fun, but low rewards mean they don't impact the game very much.

In addition to the general party mode which has nigh infinite replay value, MP9 features a solo mode that takes you through all boards of the game to compete against the AI and stop Bowser’s devious plots. It may not be the most compelling single-player mode but it gives you some goals to strive for and adds a bit of replay value to the game. Additionally you can replay any mini-game at any time and there are a handful of mini-game specific modes that basically eliminate the board aspect of the game. This is a convenient way of playing through mini-games without the drawn out chance of party mode, but the small selection of mini-games means you’ll burn through all of them quickly.

Mario Party 9 is the latest in a long line of Nintendo multiplayer games that attempt to level the playing field between advanced and novice players by emphasizing luck over skill. This certainly isn’t a new development for the Mario Party series, but the lack of other significant innovations makes this game yet another retread of the tired party/board game formula rather than a fresh new entry in the franchise. For some players that may be enough, but you won’t be missing out on anything special by skipping this one.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars