NNR: 16th November 2010

Hi everyone! Welcome to a new Nintendo News Report! :3 This week we'll be reviewing a quite particular game that came out a while ago in Europe but will reach USA just in 2011 :3 it's right after the news X3 not so much to report about news this time given how last week I posted the report in the middle of it X3 anyway, enjoy!

VC RELEASES OF THE WEEK

USA
no releases this week

EU
-Spinmaster (Neo Geo)

WIIWARE RELEASES OF THE WEEK

USA
-Gods VS Humans (Strategy)
-Mix Superstar (Music creation tool)

EU
-Cruise Party (Gambling games)
-Enjoy your massage! (o.O;)

DSIWARE RELEASES OF THE WEEK

USA
-Discolight (Application)
-GO series: Pinball attack (Arcade)
-Adventure in Vegas: Slot Machine (slot machine )

EU
-Robot Rescue (Puzzle game)
-Legendary wars: T-rex Rumble! (Strategy)

GAME RELEASES OF THE WEEK

USA
14th November:
-uDraw studio (WII)
-Mario VS Donkey Kong: Miniland Mayhem (DS)

15th November:
-The Sims 3 (WII)

16th November:
-Sonic Colors (WII/DS)
-Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (WII)
-Ghost Recon (WII)
-Pacman Party (WII)
-Create (WII)
-Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (DS)

19th November:
-PES2011 (WII)

EU
19th November:
-Flingsmash (WII)
-Worms: Battle Islands (WII)

NEWS OF THE WEEK

DS

999: 9 HOURS, 9 PERSONS, 9 DOORS: new trailer
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/launch-trailer-999/707437


3DS

MADDEN NFL 2011: first screens
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/55125/


WII

THE LAST STORY: new scan, online mode revealed
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/55116/

-Raid Lobby in the game
-Use the Raid Lobby to form parties
-6 player support
-Free for all or deathmatch challenge
-Co-op challenges also available (raid bosses)
-Customization system for equipment
-All equipment visible
-Can customize your equipment by changing the color parts of armor and weapons


MARIO SPORTS MIX: new video, final fantasy characters revealed, new screens, details
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/55203/
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/55241/

Shiroma (White Mage): Technique
Ninja: All Around, blink through enemies in basketball + slam dunk with a mirage shot
Kuroma (Black Mage): Tricky, fries players with lightning bolts in hockey
Moogle: Tricky
Cactuar: Tricky
Mii: All Around, can use a super spike special attack in volleyball


DE BLOB 2: new trailer, screens
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/55214/
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/55216/


SONIC COLORS: new trailer
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/55290/


CREATE: new screens
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/55425/


DONKEY KONG COUNTRY RETURNS: new trailer
http://www.nintendoeverything.com/55433/


GAME OF THE WEEK: Lost in Shadow (USA) Shadow's tale (EU)
Genre: 2d platform/puzzle
Developer: Hudson (Bomberman series, Calling...)
Publisher: Hudson
Time spent on the game: around 15 hours



Like I said, the game I'm gonna review this week is quite particular. The concept is of a game all based around shadows. You'll play as the shadow of a boy that was ripped off his body and should now scale a high, misterious tower to get it back.

The shadow of the boy is able to interact just with the shadows of his surroundings, so that every level becomes a deadly maze of shadows, traps and cliffs to go through.

The graphic look of the game could be described with just one word: ethereal. The game bases itself on a heavy atmosphere, where the only world that matters to you is the world of shadows. The “normal” surroundings just act as a secondary thing, it's quite interesting how at a certain point you'll be focusing just on the shades, having to look beyond them just when you'll need to modify the surroundings.

The game has a filter that makes everything look quite gloomy and mystical. The effect is similar as what is seen in the Twilight world of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight princess, with a creepy bloom effect pervading the atmosphere of the levels. There will be some sequences wich will invert the colours of the level too, giving quite the interesting atmosphere to the level. The problem with those filters is that, for some, it may be annoying to the eyes after a while, without counting that the game suffers of a bad aliasing problem. Beside this the final product doesn't look bad at all and I quite liked how the authors played with the lights, especially in certain levels, like the residence section of the tower. The enemy shadows have quite the particular designs too, enough to make them look creepy and unique despite them being just shadows.

The gameplay mixes different elements: The most prominent being platforming elements with quite a lot of jumping to do, spikes to avoid and lots of traps to go through. There are puzzling elements too, as different puzzles are scattered around the levels to block your way. To clear every level you'll have to find three “eyes of judgement” hidden around, wich are needed to destroy the barrier that blocks you off at the end of the current level. Many times the eyes will be guarded behind lots of puzzles and guarding enemies. Said puzzles is where the remote controls take action. Many times the shadows will block your way...so thanks to a shadow pixie following you (represented by the wiimote pointer) you'll be able to interact either with certain elements of the “real world” or with the shadows themselves. By pressing B and moving around the wiimote, scanning your surroundings you may be able to find certain elements that can be interacted with. You can recognize them by a faint glowing spark when you move the pixie over them. Said items can be charged by simply aiming at them and keeping B pressed...then another touch of the B button will move this item, most of the times a mechanical engine that will modify its shadow this way, either moving out of the way for you to pass or helping you to reach higher places, or simply unlocking a bigger engine wich will reveal another road.

Another way to interact with shadows is simply by finding Levers scattered around the levels, wich will, most of the time, open doors for you to go through (those doors will be a nightmare X3). Said levers could also be hidden or guarded behind other puzzles, to add more to the challenge

The last way to interact with the puzzles is to modify the light source. During some parts, here will be a bar with a lightbulb appearing either on the bottom or on the right side of the screen (if not both more forward in the game). By moving the pixie over those lightbulbs you'll be able to move them either up or down, or left and right, modifying the lengh, the width and even the position of shadows doing this way, adding quite clever puzzles to the game.

There's a last way to interact with the light, but it's used just a couple of times during the entire game, wich gives you the chance to make a lamp sway around, so that the shadows will start moving left and right, giving you the chance to jump over a platform wich, before the swayin, was too far for you to reach.

Puzzles will not be the only problems you'll face...Like I said there will be traps. Cliffs, razor blades, spikes, crushing machines...and of course enemies. The combat in this game is quite simple as at a certain point you'll be able to acquire a sword to fight. With this you can unleasha combo of three hits max. Every enemy has a certain attack pattern, you can't just rush into new ones and you still have to be careful around one syou already know, since many times you'll find them in big numbers coming at you. Shadow Spiders, Flying shadow demons, huge armoured shadow machines...the variety of enemies is quite good.

You'll notice that a few of the enemies will have blue eyes instead of red ones. Those enemies can't be defeated with normal weapons, but everytime they're around there will be a way to defeat them with external sources, like traps you can activate or shadows you can modify so that you can squash the things down or simply push them down a cliff.

The game also takes a few RPG elements, as you'll be able to earn experience during the game and also be able to increase your health bar (wich will be very important, since the enemies get stronger and stronger going up the tower).

You can earn experience in two ways: by defeating enemies (wich will also give you Hps to heal yourself) or by going through Shadow Portals. Said portals are levels in the levels. You can find them either hidden or in front of stuff you have to get, like Levers or Eyes. You can get out of them whenever you wanted, but it's recommended to clear them. They're sort of short trials, in wich your only objective is to reach the portal to get out. This is where you'll find an additional way to modify shadows.

Moving platforms: By standing on those platforms you'll be able to make the level “spin” around you, so that the shadows will be modified creating new roads for you to go across. You must be careful not to make any shadow bump into you though or you'll have to try again. You'll start from the same moving platform you were using anyway, so it isn't really anything that is too punishing, unless you bump into spikes, blades or dangerous things, wich, in this case, will take a part of your health.

Clearing those portals will give you a great amount of health and a bit of additional experience. The portals may come as a bit of an annoyance to some, as they're just additional bonus levels in a certain way, but they'll be useful if you want a bit more experience to use.

The health can be increased by finding “memories”. Your shadow lost all of his memories, so getting them back will also increase his health. They are represented by purple aura things scattered around the levels and by picking them up, not only will give you a bit of additional health (or weight, as the health of the shadow is represented by its current weight. The more it gets hurt the more weight it loses, even if this doesn't influence the game physics at all, it's a simple figure of speech :3) but you'll also be able to read said memory, wich will be either something about the tower, the feelings of the boy or it'll be simply too hard to read and will just add health.

Quite forward in the game you'll also be able to get a new sword, wich will give you the ability to use light gates, wich will give you a body of light for a limited time, pretty much going 3d for a bit :3 unluckily there's no combat while you're made of light and those sections of the games are made mostly for solving puzzles or going through roads you couldn't explore before.

One little thing they did is that, when you die, the game will say “the Shadow number “putnumberhere” passed out for the fatigue at floor “putnumberhere””, pretty much implying that everytime you die you don't play as the same shadow of before. Kind of creepy if you think about it o.o

The story of the game is pretty much subtle, told through memories and by small cutscenes between some of the areas. I'll just say that it talks about an evil entity infesting the tower, eating the shadows of the dead and that the barriers you're breaking are the ones keeping the entity from going up the tower. While the concept is interesting don't expect any deep plot or anything more than a heavy atmosphere X3

The music is atmospheric like the rest of the game...rather than a music, most of the time it's a sort of atmospheric sound accompanying you through the levels, becoming a creepy screech everytime you get close to an enemy. Unluckily the music will stay the same during most of the game, changing just during certain sequences and levels. It's a shame becuase I'd really have liked to see what else they could've done with this kind of soudntrack, wich really helps making the atmosphere ethereal and kind of creepy at times. The feeling of lonelyness will be heavy in this game also thanks to the soundtrack, so, despite being a bit repetitive, the music fits the game and does its work.

The game is quite long for a 2D platformer, as I finished the story in 15 hours and still didn't get to find all the memories. At a certain point the game will force you to do some backtracking to find certain items, but with the more experience and powers you gained it isn't hard and the backtracking is made a lot easier due to an elevator that will bring you to the main floors of the tower, making the search of those items and the hunt for remaining memories quite easier.

The graphic look is suggestive even if eye-hurting after a while to some (not me, blah XP), the puzzles are various and the challenge is just around the right amount, not too easy and not too hard (unless you rush on enemies without thinking :3). The final boss fight is quite epic especially after all the amount of work you did to reach it, it made me go like “ok buddy, you made me work my ass off, now I'm gonna kick yours! >:3”

The game clearly isn't for everyone. But if you're looking for a different experience, a different kind of platformer and a game to enjoy in small amounts that will last enough I'd suggest you this little gem that, despite its flaws, proves to be quite the unique experience, characterized by a heavy atmosphere of lonelyness and isolation.

The game already came out in Europe and it'll reach USA just in 2011, so keep an eye on it if it interests you :3

here are a few screens:
http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/80111520100821_024925_13_big.jpg
http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/80111520100914_190308_1_big.jpg
http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/80111520101005_170004_1_big.jpg
http://www.gamekyo.com/Webmasters/Images/80111520101005_170005_7_big.jpg

and a video:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/journey-trailer-lost-in/706736

that's all for this week! Have a good nintendo gaming time! ^^

Mario Sports: oh? its like Mario Hoops all over again! in HD! and with more sports! it's looking pretty cool so far! X3
I thought cactuar was speed...that's what it was in the DS... o.o

Sonic Colors: gotta admit, it's looking pretty good. I'm digging the 2D-3D switching mechanic, just hoping it doesnt have bugs. the wisp power ups made me think "mario" for some reason, especially the drill wisp.
I'm actually pretty exited about the fact that sonic can touch water again! in recent 3D games, water meant instant death.

DKCR: amazing as ever. I'm loving the magma/factory level design, but not so much it's music. I hope this game will have an epic soundtrack, just like its previous counterparts.

Lost in Shadow: wow... that looks like an amazing game. it reminded me a lot of Limbo, as its world was also creepy and was solely in black and white, the characters looking a lot like shadows. shadow-manipulating seems like an amazing concept, since they easily change form when the light source moves. I'll be sure to try this one out. X3

Zephyrnereus wrote:Mario Sports: oh? its like Mario Hoops all over again! in HD! and with more sports! it's looking pretty cool so far! X3
I thought cactuar was speed...that's what it was in the DS... o.o

Sonic Colors: gotta admit, it's looking pretty good. I'm digging the 2D-3D switching mechanic, just hoping it doesnt have bugs. the wisp power ups made me think "mario" for some reason, especially the drill wisp.
I'm actually pretty exited about the fact that sonic can touch water again! in recent 3D games, water meant instant death.

DKCR: amazing as ever. I'm loving the magma/factory level design, but not so much it's music. I hope this game will have an epic soundtrack, just like its previous counterparts.

Lost in Shadow: wow... that looks like an amazing game. it reminded me a lot of Limbo, as its world was also creepy and was solely in black and white, the characters looking a lot like shadows. shadow-manipulating seems like an amazing concept, since they easily change form when the light source moves. I'll be sure to try this one out. X3

yep mario sports looks like something I'd defenitely get X3 and it haves online too soo yeah, time to challenge a zephy! >:3
I'm playing Sonic Colours now as we talk and it'll be the next game I review n.n so far it's great and it comes from someone who disliked unleashed, both day and night levels X3
I don't have any doubts that DKCR will be great, retro studios is a good developer :3
Lost is shadow was defenitely an interesting experience, so if you like stuff like that I'd suggest it X3