Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Conventional gaming
I love my Nintendo DS. In the beginning, I couldn't see why Nintendo thought a dual-screen, touch screen system would be a good idea. The early games were awful. Half-assed touch screen elements thrown in simply because developers needed something to separate them from their console brethren. Have you played any of those early games? Feel the Magic was considered the killer-ap for hardcore Nintendo whores. How is this even possible? Using the touch screen was a chore yet there was no alternate control method. A horrible game for, what I thought, was a horrible system.
After playing Kirby and Meteos, though, my mind was forever changed. It was possible to make games controlled only be the touch screen that were not only innovative, but incredibly fun as well. Who knew? Clearly, as one reader of this site has said many times over, Kirby should have been a launch title. There is no question Nintendo pushed the NDS out the door sooner than they wanted to trump Sony and their PSP. Somehow, they survived a horrendous launch; the NDS has become my favorite system on the market.
One question lingered, however: would it be able to handle conventional games? Finally, after getting Castlevania Dawn of Souls a few days ago, I was able to see what a game that used both the digital pad and the buttons was like. My verdict - a decisive meh.
I was worried about playing a conventional game because the system is poorly made. Don't cringe, you know it's true. The buttons are incredibly small. Why are they so darn tiny? My thumb easily covers up all four buttons, with plenty of room left over for angels to dance on. And the angle in which my hand is forced to bend to accurately press those pieces of plastic is horrific. I keep a sheet over my hand while playing in public so as not to scar babies with my contortionists act.
And yet, the game is still amazing. Despite the baby-sized buttons and blocky design, C:DS is still a blast. I'm 9:30 hours into the game yet, thankfully, a mere 44.4% through with my journey. This pleases me immensely. Nick, who finished this game a few weeks ago and was ultimately let down by the experience, completed it in around 8 hours. "8 hours?" I exclaimed, "I guess that means it will take me about 20 since you fly through games." "I took my time," Nick lied.
Meanwhile, in console land, I am about a third of the way through my second play through of Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal. I'm not sure how much more I'll play. When Jak X arrives at my house later in the week I assume I'll turn to that for a while, but R&C could be a constant pull until my PS2 finally burns out. Easily one of the best games I have ever played.
After playing Kirby and Meteos, though, my mind was forever changed. It was possible to make games controlled only be the touch screen that were not only innovative, but incredibly fun as well. Who knew? Clearly, as one reader of this site has said many times over, Kirby should have been a launch title. There is no question Nintendo pushed the NDS out the door sooner than they wanted to trump Sony and their PSP. Somehow, they survived a horrendous launch; the NDS has become my favorite system on the market.
One question lingered, however: would it be able to handle conventional games? Finally, after getting Castlevania Dawn of Souls a few days ago, I was able to see what a game that used both the digital pad and the buttons was like. My verdict - a decisive meh.
I was worried about playing a conventional game because the system is poorly made. Don't cringe, you know it's true. The buttons are incredibly small. Why are they so darn tiny? My thumb easily covers up all four buttons, with plenty of room left over for angels to dance on. And the angle in which my hand is forced to bend to accurately press those pieces of plastic is horrific. I keep a sheet over my hand while playing in public so as not to scar babies with my contortionists act.
And yet, the game is still amazing. Despite the baby-sized buttons and blocky design, C:DS is still a blast. I'm 9:30 hours into the game yet, thankfully, a mere 44.4% through with my journey. This pleases me immensely. Nick, who finished this game a few weeks ago and was ultimately let down by the experience, completed it in around 8 hours. "8 hours?" I exclaimed, "I guess that means it will take me about 20 since you fly through games." "I took my time," Nick lied.
Meanwhile, in console land, I am about a third of the way through my second play through of Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal. I'm not sure how much more I'll play. When Jak X arrives at my house later in the week I assume I'll turn to that for a while, but R&C could be a constant pull until my PS2 finally burns out. Easily one of the best games I have ever played.
// posted by Tom @ 11:24 AM 
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