The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Putting my prejudice for nostalgia behind me, I sucked it up and played The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds.  This game hit all the right notes for me.  It reminded me of all the things I loved from the original game without cramming them down my throat.  The music, enemies, surroundings, everything was just right and kept me aware that I was playing a classic Zelda game.

Additionally, the developers made sure to advance the game forward, making it relevant today.  The graphics were hugely improved.  The learning curve and difficulty were much more balanced that previous titles.  There were more quests and collectibles which helped to make the game as short or long as you wanted it to be.

All too often, our generation clings to their childhood so hard that we all end up stuck with sub-par products.  I know people want to play a classic 8-bit game with terrible music and no save files, but some players want to see developers stretch the current technology and blow minds.  While A Link Between Worlds didn't break the mold as far as game design goes, it shows how easy it can be to make a game that serves to both old school and new school players.

Just Spit It Out Already!

Here's the breakdown of gaming at my house lately: I've been playing Defiance, my husband has been playing Sid Meier's Civilization: Revolution, and my daughters are obsessed with Animal Crossing: New Leaf.  We're kind of all over the board.  But do you know what the combination of listening to these three games has taught me?

Voice overs are totally important.

All three games have a different way to handle voice overs.  Defiance has inane, repetitive chatter, but it's completely voiced and in English (or whatever language, I'm guessing??)  Civilization has constant, interruptive voice overs, but the characters just jabber.  Kind of like Sims.  And Animal Crossing is completely voiced, but it's just bleeps and bloops, not really word sounds at all, except when you type it says the letters you hit in a majorly robotic voice.

So different, and what do they all have in common?  SO ANNOYING.

Of the three, I would say Animal Crossing is the least offensive.  I am not crazy about the fact that every time a character talks to you it makes a steady stream of noise not unlike a dial-up modem in the 90's, but it's easily tuned out.  Civilization might be the worst.  You have advisors helping build your civilization, and they are constantly popping up to talk at you.  It stops game play to have you read their blurb and make a decision. But the whole time they're up they are just jabbering away in nonsense.  Why?  Why did they even spend the time recording this inane blabbering?  If you're going to record someone talking away, just have them actually speak the words.  It's super annoying to me.  I wish they were just silent.  My husband stands up for the game by saying this way it could be shipped worldwide without recording multiple languages.  It still grates on me.

And Defiance voice overs are annoying in a category all their own.  There is tons of voiced dialogue during quest hand-outs and cut-scenes, all voice acted and well done.  But during actual game play you have your very own Navi-like computer chick, who talks incessantly but repeats the same lines over and over and over.  Everyone who plays can recite EGO's lines.  And everyone hates her.  I'm not generalizing.

I love the work programmers and designers put into games...but how about going that extra mile, or going a mile less, and just not annoying the gamer?

A Shocking Revelation

Are you standing up?  You might want to sit down.  Are you sitting down?  You might want to stand up.  Do a few stretches, maybe a jumping jack.  (A few calisthenics never hurt anyone.)  Ok, sit back down: I'm about to drop a big reveal on you ---

I got a 3DS for Christmas.  You may recall Debbie's take on the 3DS being a money suck, and my opinion that, although Nintendo is my soul mate, I wasn't behind the 3D thing.  At all.  And that leads us to the next big reveal ---

The 3DS hasn't sold me on it one bit.

It's pretty, but there's not much behind the looks.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not hating.  I am glad to be a 3DS owner.  In fact, there are a lot of things that I really like (I'll get to those in a moment) - but the fact of the matter is the "draw" is supposed to be the 3D aspect, and it kind of sucks.  If it is on you have to be holding the DS at the perfect angle to see it, blah blah, all the things you have already heard.  It's a total pain.  And if anyone else is playing and the 3D is on and you try to peek over their shoulder and see what's up, prepare yourself for some vertigo, my friend.

Of course, stacked on to those issues is the fact that physiologically I can't see 3D.  When I first got it, charged it up, and turned it on I tested out the 3D capabilities.  I couldn't tell a difference.  My hubby and brother-in-law could see it though, so if you are not dimensionally-challenged it'll be a better experience for you.  That said, my 3D dial is firmly in the "off" position.  I went into parental controls and blocked it, but then every time you want to load a game you have to enter the pin number and that is a total pain, so whatever.  I think my kids only turn it on by accident every now and then.

On other bummer before I get on to the things I like: I didn't get any games with the system, so I've depended on the downloadables and, finally, got Nintendogs & Cats (full review to come later).  I wanted a game to really see the 3D effects but, as I stated, it doesn't change much for me.  I suppose there are a few more shadows?  Idk.  I have been scouring stores to get Super Mario 3D Land but it's sold out everywhere.  If you have a copy, give it to me.

Face Raiders - shooting your friends is fun!

Ok - things I like:  The browser is convenient, especially if you're familiar with the Wii.  The one thing I don't like is the loss of the little slider so you actively have to scroll through each page to go through the icons.  Whatever.  And I love the games it came with.  The AR Cards are neat to play around with and having a game or your favorite characters come to life in your living space is so fun.  Face Raiders is also enjoyable, and comes to life in the space around you, although it can be a little dizzying to play.  But can I just say that I lost the system to my children the minute they found out it had Netflix capabilities?  So cool.  I think my littlest is under the impression I bought it so that she could watch Tangled over and over.

I originally planned to talk more about Nintendogs in this blog, but like I said, the full review will just have to come later.  My thoughts on the 3DS have overtaken me.  I like the system, am glad to have upgraded, and can't wait to get my hands on upcoming titles like Paper Mario and Luigi's Mansion 2.  Hell, I can't wait to get my hands on current titles.  Super Mario 3D Land you will be mine.