Resident Evil 0 (Wii edition)

As you might have guessed, I'm having my usual Resident Evil enthusiasm period. This happens about once every two months and I get all giddy for anything Resident Evil. Right now I'm praying that the Wii edition of RE Zero (originally brought out to mixed reviews on the Gamecube) becomes a European release as well as a Japanese one.

The Wii edition of RE4 made a great game even better. If this title gets a PAL release, I'd snap it up in a heartbeat. If not, I'm already determined to secure it's Gamecube edition. Anyone out there played it? My only experience of it is the RE Zero section of Umbrella Chronicles and I liked it pretty well!

Billy Cohen? Your Wii destiny awaits!

Resident Evil Remake (GameCube)

Having just about run out of steam on Half Life (I'm about 4/7 of the way through), I needed a break. I do intend to come back to it at some point and will keep a Dreamcast VMU dedicated to it, but sheesh! it's become a grind!

Looking through my "bought but not played" pile of games (not an unsubstantial horde, you understand...) I found the RE remake for the Gamecube. On popping it into the Wii, I was stunned by it's gorgeous graphical representation of environments I'd only ever experienced on the DS - a direct port of the Saturn/PSX version.

Now this could have been partly due to the fact, that for all it's innovation and originality, Half Life on the Dreamcast is no looker! Resident Evil GC on the other and is sumptuous. Now I've played through the DS version this year (my best ever handheld experience) so I know the plot inside out. But there are a lot of twists, variations and expansions to keep those who played the original, more than satisfied. The main variation is that zombies you have dispatched will come back later in the game, twice as fast and fucking scary, unless you blow their heads off or set them on fire! (nice!)

Now, I'm not garanteeing I'll finish this, Resident Evil games have a habit of making me cry, and I'm still stuck on the last boss in UmbrellaChronicles. But for now I'm loving it!

BTW it's really interesting to see how much of RE:GC has been recycled (very sucessfully) in Umbrella Chronicles - character models, environments etc.

I'll let you know how I get on!

Metroid Prime 2 Echoes: First Thoughts...

Well, I finally plugged my Wii back into the TV on Friday night after a prolonged absence from gaming. The recent trip to Wales and the subsequent grim realisation that the vacation period was coming to an end, had left me in something of a gaming limbo...

Added to this was the fact that my game collection has been randomly scattered throughout the house, stuffed into bin bags, shoe boxes, in cupboards, under beds, obscured by shoes and so on... The Dreamcast, Saturn, DS, PS2, Master System and Wii had remained unplayed (even when Mrs. K was out at work.)

Added to these facts were the factors of extended periods of drunkeness, visitors to the Krishna household and also the start of the English Premiership (that's football folks....)

I also got rather into watching movies (the affore mentioned Departed, This Is England, Bourne Supremacy, Kicking It Old School, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, Pirates Of The Carribbean and so on...)

The above circumstances led me to something of a gaming torpor, nay impotence, that got me rather worried for a bit... A knock on effect was me then losing the will to blog... Or even to post on my favurite blogs - Gnome's Lair, GGOTG, The Elderly Gamer, J's Corner, The Dreamcast Junkyard or even *choke* The Saturn Junkyard...

Still words of kindness and encouragement from Gnome, Elderly and NebachadnezzaR, beagn to thaw out my steely resolve... I've been galvanised into action! I've started to gather together my disparate games collection, and in doing so have found a couple of gems I'd forgotten about - my Neo Geo emulator for Dreamcast, my Dream Key discs, Marvel vs. Capcom for the PS2, some great PS2 demo. discs, Soul Blade, The One, Pandemonium and Phantom Menace for PS1 - and various other little bits and bobs... I've cleared a big space in a cupboard in my son's room, so if not on display, at least they'll be centralised... I'm gonna sort through them all and anally catalogue them. If you're (un)lucky I might even share those lists with you...

So the Wii was now plugged in, but for what? What could I play? Then whilst perusing the Corner, The Elderly and The Lair, one game seemed to be receiving a lot of attention, and stirring up a lot of excitement... the up and coming Metroid Prime 3 for Wii.

Now I know nothing about the Metroid world, a relatively recent convert to the world of Nintendo, I'd not grown up on the franchise. In fact the only thing I did know about the game was that the heroine was named Samus, and that the game was a FPS... not my usual thing...

I'd picked up MP2 for the Gamecube a couple of months earlier, after a guy called N1NT3ND007, from the Planet Dreamcast Forum had been raving about it... But I had simply put it next to my computer and forgotten about it. But I lifetd up a bunch of stuff on Friday night, and there it was... So in it went!

Opening sequence? Meh... I've seen better opening sequences on The Saturn! But by the time it got to the ship landing and Samus popping out, I was intrigued... For some reason I expected spectacular graphics... They were OK, but not stunning... (bare in mind the only other GC game I'd seen was the Resident Evil re-make). But then I stopped and 'caught myself on'... If this had been a Dreamcast game, I'd have been creaming over the graphics... And then it struck me... There was something a bit 'Dreamcast' about the whole feel of the game, and at that point, my defenses dropped and I started to get into it!

First of all, I loved the abilities of Samus' suit. I loved the scanning visor, the information gained, and perspective seen through it. I loved the firepower of the blaster and its ability to 'charge and blast'. I loved the 'lock on' feature, the environments and Samus' ability to morph into the little bomb dropping sphere that can roll through nooks and crannies. I loved the arachnid type aliens, somewhat reminiscent of the movie "Starship Troopers". Hell, even the convoluted storyline began to make some sense...

The only downside to the whole experience was when I got to the Temple Assembly Site, I died and got thrown right back to the start of the game... I had preumed that the Wii would have saved my progress at the save points, but alas no! So, my learned friends, what's the deal? Is it possible to save progress on Gamecube games played on a Wii without purchasing a GC or Wii memory card? I'm not touching it agin till some kind soul can enlighten me... Plus it seems like a game that requires an intense amount of gameplay, and I'm not sure I'm in the zone for that right now... If you want to know more look here... for a walkthrough (and I'll be using this if I play it) look here...

Red Steel: first Thoughts...

Wow! I played through the first two levels of Red Steel today! It's quite something! I have to say however, that the Wii so far hasn't grabbed me completely yet! I'm still dividing my time equally between all my older systems... It's significant that I've bought the Wii classic controller and Resident Evil for the Gamecube to play on my Wii.

I would suggest that (like Samba De Amigo), the motion sensor element of the Wii is better utilised with friends than on your own. The games such as Wii Play, Wii Sports or Warioware Smooth Moves will be great and "revolutionary" in terms of gaming. It will bring in non-gamers who like to play charades at parties etc. through the element of it being a silly physical experience that we can laugh at.

But Red Steel would be an equally good experience with a standard controller! (I'm going to whisper the next bit...)
I'd be equally happy with a PS3 or 360. I might change my mind as I get more familiar with the control system, but for now I'm happy with my Wii, but not blown away by it.

Having said that, it took me a long time to get into my DS.Originally I plumped for the PSP. Now I would as soon have a PSP as herpes... I'm a massive advocate of the DS, I think that it is indeed a truly revolutionary piece of kit...
Maybe I'll feel the same about the Wii in a few months time...