Day 40 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Final Fantasy Theatrhythm

Final Fantasy Theatrhythm is, to my knowledge, one of the more trickier 3DS games to find for a reasonable price. Luckily I came across a copy in a pawn shop yesterday so I certainly wasn't going to leave it.

Theatrhythm celebrates the wonderful music of the Final Fantasy series, and while I'm not a fan of Squeenix's flagship franchise, I regard their soundtracks as some of the most influential video game compositions of all time.




Theatrhythm is a rhythm based game, with a levelling up system that I'm struggling to understand, and it sees you tapping your stylus in time with the music while scenes from the Final Fantasy series play in the background. There's no shortage of goodies to unlock with a virtual card collection depicting characters and monsters from the series, trophies for clearing certain requirements and naturally unlockable tracks that can be played in Theatrhythm's music player.

Final Fantasy: Theatrhythm is a certainly worth picking up whether you're a Final Fantasy fan, or simply a music lover, and it's definitely one of the better games I've found for 3DS. The sequel 'Curtain Call' will be arriving in September 2014 and it's going to be exciting to see (and hear), where the series takes us next. Here's hoping that Square Enix might even consider expanding Theatrhythm into their other franchises (e.g. Chrono Trigger or the Mana series), but we'll just have to wait and see.

Day 39 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Silent Hill

I finally picked up a copy of Silent Hill, and about time too considering I've played all of the others (except Book of Memories on PS Vita but who cares about that). 

Silent Hill follows the story of Harry Mason, a writer who takes his 7 year old daughter, Cheryl, to Silent Hill for a holiday. While driving to their destination Harry suddenly loses control of his car and crashes just outside of town. When he regains consciousness his daughter is nowhere to be found, so Harry journey's to the infamous town to find her (I bet he was wishing he went to Blackpool).

I'm about 2 hours into the game and I'm starting to prefer this one over Silent Hill 2. Despite the fact it hasn't aged well graphically, Silent Hill has retained its chilling atmosphere and will certainly have you sleeping with one eye open after a late night gaming session.

Where Resident Evil tried to harness your fear with all-out gore, Silent Hill went for a more unnerving psychological experience thanks to the disturbing creatures and characters that inhabit the world. There's some nice use of Dutch camera angles in Silent Hill (I don't recall them being used in the sequel), following the character and twisting around while not compromising the controls was an impressive feat. A lot of attention went into the sound production as well, the slightest noise in this game can literally have you jump right out of your skin.

Any developer working on the latest installments of Silent Hill should really learn from the series origins. In the likes of Homecoming and Downpour for example, the transition from the real world to other world is a loud obnoxious affair, with lots of special effects and it generally isn't frightening. The first game on the other hand provides a much more subtle transformation and hence much more unnerving as you start to question what's going on.

I'm looking forward to playing through the rest of Silent Hill as I've become a huge fan of the franchise after playing through the rest of series, and it's been fantastic seeing how it all began. Like any series Silent Hill has had its highs, and its lows, but we can always revisit (and in this case discover) the games that made Silent Hill famous and have them terrify us all over again.

Day 38 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Mario Sunshine

Summer is in full swing and I'm suffering from violent hayfever, so let's celebrate my having a pollen and mucus filled head by looking at an essential summertime game; Super Mario Sunshine.

Super Mario Sunshine has divided fans and critics in terms of its gameplay and design, but particularly on the FLUDD system that Mario carries on his back. Mario uses this to clean up graffiti, defeat enemies and navigate his way around puzzles and obstacles. Admittedly controlling Mario with the FLUDD can be frustrating at times however, I still consider Super Mario Sunshine to be the last great Mario game to ever be released.

Every Mario game that's followed Super Mario Sunshine has been easier and easier, with Nintendo practically holding your hand every step of the way, which is shame as I miss the challenge a new Mario game usually provides. The Super Mario Galaxy series may have been well developed, but I felt the experience was dull as I didn't need to go to much effort to complete the game. Large open worlds in Mario games have also been replaced with smaller bite-sized levels which lack the sense of exploration and self discovery offered by Super Mario Sunshine (and even Super Mario 64). 

The object of the game is to find out who's framing Mario for vandalising an island resort and to retrieve 120 Shine Sprites (the island's power source), with alternate endings depending on whether you find them all or not. Super Mario Sunshine had huge tropical themed worlds to explore, from coastal towns and industrial districts to fun fairs and volcanoes, and the graphical quality was absolutely stunning. Yoshi even made an appearance with a new ability; allowing him to vanquish enemies by spraying them with fruit juice.   

I've only completed Super Mario Sunshine the once but I didn't collect all 120 Shine Sprites.  I did set myself the challenge of finding the remaining Sprites, but unfortunately my memory card crashed and wiped my save file...it's going to be a long summer.

Super Mario Sunshine was on my Top Ten Games I Still Have to Finish, click the link to see the rest of list.

Day 37 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S

Okay, I swear my wife picked this game, but surprisingly it turned out to be a pretty solid beat em up and a great multiplayer title. Please keep in mind my knowledge of Sailor Moon is fairly limited, so if anything that I write here turns out to be incorrect please let me know in the comments (like I'm sure my wife is going to do).

Sailor Moon S is a blatant Street Fighter 2 clone, and while it's certainly not in the same league as SF2, it's a very good beat em up. The controls are responsive and special moves are simple to execute, but there's also some big finishing moves that require a little more effort. The effort is certainly rewarded however, as not only do you deal immense damage to your opponent, but Sailor Moon S is superbly animated and worthy of the franchise.

There are 9 characters to choose from but they're all Sailor Scouts, so no Tuxedo Mask or any antagonists from the series (apparently Sailor Saturn is also missing). It feels like a wasted opportunity with the amount of characters being very limited and I must brush up on my Japanese, as I'm wondering what on earth happens to make 9 protagonists beat the hell out of each other.



There's also a unique attribute customisation screen that allows you tweak certain aspects of your chosen character, for example increasing the amount of health you will start with. This has some drawbacks because opponents can become more difficult to defeat, meaning most fights will end on a 'Time Out' depriving you of that satisfying KO finish. I also felt the levels could be a bit more dynamic, a majority of them are just still images of locations from the show, it would be better if there was some breakable objects or animated backgrounds.

Sailor Moon S may have it's faults, but it has enough fan service to satisfy the most ardent Sailor Moon fan (hearing the theme song on the SNES is awesome). The game is also bloody difficult as I've been playing for about an hour and had my arse handed to me. Plus my wife is also taking great pleasure at defeating me, so I think I'll put on some Silent Hill before we go to bed. ^_^

NERG, Pickups and Being Sick

I've been quiet for the last week as I've been especially run-down and I even had to take a sick day from work for the first time in three years. Now that I'm feeling better I'll fill you in on what's been happening.

NERG and Pickups

Last Saturday I went to the NERG (North East Retro Games) show at Gateshead Stadium. It was their second annual show and this year provided more arcade cabinets, more pinball machines, and more consoles. There was also 28 vendors selling an abundance of retro games, with plenty of Japanese import titles up for grabs, alongside clothing, consoles and various arts & crafts.

Unfortunately I didn't get much of an opportunity to play on many arcade cabinets or consoles as the venue was full to bursting, but I must admit a lot of my energy was focused on expanding my collection and being a nerd. Myself and the Missus did manage to find some absolutely fantastic games to add to our over-burdened shelves, here's a little list of what we got.

• Silent Hill- PS1 
• Theme Hospital- PS1
• Final Fantasy VII (NTSC-J)- PS1
• Parasite Eve- PS1
• Bomberman Fantasy Race- PS1
• Tenchi Muyo (NTSC-J)- Saturn
• Project Zero II: Crimson Butterfly Directors Cut- Xbox
• Kirby 2 (NTSC-J)- GB
• Goof Troop- SNES
• Kid Klown in Krazy Chase- SNES
• Hamtaro Ham-Ham Heartbreak- GBA 
• Sailor Moon- SNES

Sick Day


Tuesday was an absolute nightmare as I fell ill and had to take the day off work, but in-between all of the sleeping, fever and mucus I did manage to play some games. I went back to GTA Online for the first time in weeks and is it just me or have the servers gotten worse? The game disconnected at least 3 times, and occasionally wouldn't connect at all, but this was the least of my problems.

While waiting for a Deathmatch to start I was treated to the musings of a 12-13 year old, which involved claims that he was going to rape and murder our families. Unsurprisingly he was kicked before too long, but if I ever hear a kid of mine talking like that while playing games I'll hollow out their console to make a litter tray for my cats. I'll be playing the SNES on sick days in future.



Later on in the day I opened Facebook to find a new advert for the highly anticipated Destiny from Bungie/Activision, revealing 2 expansion packs offering 'new' missions...but the game itself isn't even out until September. It didn't take more than a brief look at the comments section to show that consumers weren't too happy about content being cut from Destiny and repackaged as DLC, with some even considering cancelling their pre-orders.

Sadly this seems to be the way things are going with new releases as publishers attempt to squeeze every last penny from our wallets. I enjoy getting new content for my favourite games but shameful cash-grabs like these really put me off buying the latest games.

Still, at least there's a new 100 Happy Gaming Days post coming tomorrow and luckily I have a bunch of new games to choose from. Which one is it going to be?

Day 36 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Grand Theft Auto Vice City

I remember just before GTA: Vice City was released in the UK, there was a teachers strike planned meaning schools, colleges and universities were going to be shut for a few days. I like to think the whole thing was an elaborate plot by the Department for Education so everybody could stay home and play GTA.

There was a buzz of excitement as fans were ogling the dedicated Vice City website for details on the upcoming release. Rockstar had made stacks of improvements since GTA 3 with the inclusion of motorbikes, apache helicopters, the ability to wield power tools, multiple outfits and that's only scratching the surface. I must admit I've missed the power tools from later instalments to the series, it was always fun climbing onto someone's car and slicing through the roof with a chainsaw.

I didn't even get to play Vice City when it arrived as I didn't have a PS2. I had to wait until the Xbox version emerged over a year later in a bundle with GTA 3, but the wait was worth it. Rockstar had improved the overall graphics, the car models were overhauled and they included the ability to have your uploaded songs play on the car radios.

In my opinion GTA: Vice City was the best game in the series (pre-GTA V, of course). Vice City was well scripted, the map design was excellent and the stylish 80's setting simply oozed class. 

Sadly, now that GTA V is on its way to next-gen consoles Vice City is starting to look like a bit of a relic due to it's clunky targeting system and ugly character models. It's been great however, to see the series evolve from its humble beginnings as a top-down 2D crime simulator, to a massive open-world action/adventure game and an indisputable gaming phenomenon. 

Hopefully when GTA makes it's valiant return with its sixth installment, we'll be returning to Vice City for more sun, sand and psychopathy that only GTA and Rockstar can provide.

Day 35 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Pokemon Red and Blue

Like many other 10-12 year olds in the late 90's I was sucked into the Pokemon craze that pretty much dominated the gaming landscape. The marketing campaign was extremely aggressive with dedicated magazines being published long before the game arrived, TV adverts were playing constantly throughout children's viewing hours and not to mention the cartoon series itself. Nintendo spared no expense to make sure that every kid knew Pokemon was on the way, and with the UK release in time for Christmas, Pokemon Red/Blue was guaranteed to be beneath most trees on Christmas morning.

I remember picking up the magazines before the game had hit the shelves, looking at all the monsters I could collect and it seemed so awesome. Assemble a squad of monsters, train them up and then trade and do battle with your friends. No matter where you turned there were kids glued to their Gameboy screens, unaware they were also walking billboards advertising Nintendo's cash cow.

I got Pokemon Blue (my sister got Red), in Christmas 1999 and I had beaten the Elite Four by New Year and collected every Pokemon by August 2000. My starting Pokemon was Squirtle and the last Pokemon I had to catch was Tauros and it was a pain in the arse, I must have spent months trying to capture one before I succeeded.

A friend of ours went to a Pokemon event to receive Mew, the special 151st Pokemon that could only be obtained by attending a dedicated event, but my sister had figured out the Pokemon duplication glitch so we made a Mew army. I still remember the looks of disbelief when showing up to battle and having 6 Mew's in my squad.

Do I still play Pokemon? Not really.

I have picked up the other games in the series, including Pokemon X, but due to the sheer number of Pokemon to catch I think it's just become insane. 151 Pokemon seemed manageable but I haven't got the time to be hunting over 700 of the bloody things. And personally I don't think there's been much innovation to the series as it's progressed, Pokemon X is the first in the series to be in true 3D, but it wasn't as much of a game changer as I hoped it would be.

Who knows, maybe I'm just getting older, but I still have the fond memories of being a victim of the most ruthless advertising campaign in gaming history. ^_^