Valkyria Chronicles

I got Valkyria Chronicles as a gift this holiday season, and have very much been enjoying it. I really liked the Advance Wars series, and as I've said to others, Valkyria Chronicles is a little like a third-person Advance Wars RPG. Add into that a great art style and a very PG game experience, and you get a very accessible strategy game.

From a gameplay standpoint, Valkyria Chronicles is a turn-based action game. You choose a squad of teammates from a pool of up to twenty characters at a time that consist of five different classes -- Scout (a quick recon unit), Shocktrooper (a machine-gun soldier), Lancer (with bazooka anti-vehicle Lance weapon), Sniper (self-explanatory), and Engineer (the repair and ammo guy). Each plays a role and each has its strengths. In an encounter, it makes sense to bring some of each class, because you're going to see lots of different enemies at any one time, requiring you to have adequate responses. It is possible to both retreat your units and call up reserves should any of your squad fall down on the job.

Outside of the core gamplay are a host of RPG elements that add depth and complexity. You can mix and match the members of your team anytime outside of a mission. Different characters have different abilities, dependant on their background. For example, one of the main story characters was studying to be a biologist, and is thus at home in a natural terrain, gaining a status boost from being in a forest. Similar bonuses -- and negatives -- exist for other characters for other terrains. Additionally, some characters have friendships with other characters, giving them bonuses for working with one another, making you want to obtain and locate certain characters closer to one another within a mission.

Of course it wouldn't be a RPG without levels and items. Valkyria Chronicles has mechnics for both. As part of completing missions and skirmishs you gain experience and credits. You can spend experience on the training field levelling up a certain class of character (each character of that class levels simultaneously). Levelling up adds ability scores as well as the potential for other bonus characteristics. Similarly, you can spend credits on researching new armor and weaponry. These may take the form of weapons with greater accuracy, damage, or status-dealing effects. You can choose where to invest your credits, and how the research tree is managed.

The story in the game is adequate. The characters are likeable if a bit predictable and cliched, but at least you know the roles that each plays. But it's an appropriate message for this game about characters, in that the story illustrates the human cost of war, and the loss of home and friends as a result of a greater, and frequently misunderstood, conflict.

The game has just been a ton of fun, and proves to me again that the PS3 has been a place for incredible games this year. Starting with Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, moving on to Metal Gear Solid 4, LittleBigPlanet, and now Valkyria Chronicles, the PS3 has finally established a great stable of exclusive games. If you enjoy strategy games and have a PS3, you have to look at Valkyria Chronicles.

Prince of Persia Early Looks

The new Prince of Persia title comes out tomorrow, and early looks seem to indicate that my hopes may indeed be fulfilled with this new title: it's stellar. I'll wait to see if holiday season gifts may ship the game my way before playing, but there's really only one question to answer: on PS3 or PC? Have to see if there any appreciable differences. I've always liked the control schemes on PC, where I've played the past three titles. But the reviews have been positive, if not glowing, about most aspects of the game, including references to this game as almost an experience rather than a test of skill, a world full of wonder, but not actually danger. Some players may be unhappy about this, especially given the fact that you actually can't die in the game; your constant companion Elika will always pull you from harm's way. But it's actually something I'm looking forward to.

Increasingly, games for me have been so much more than a test of skill or timing. Two games that I've been playing recently really illustrate the skill vs. experience factor of gaming: Guitar Hero World Tour and Metal Gear Solid 4. GH is clearly a simple game of skill. You must match a pattern of keypresses in representation of guitar playing. And it's fun for what it is, but definately not anything more than a test of pattern recognition and hand-eye coordination set to popular music.

Metal Gear Solid 4, on the other hand, presents a player with an epic tale of love and loss, duty and sacrifice. MGS4 evokes emotional responses, tells a story in its cinematic style, and draws you into a fictional world with very human performances. Beyond being a test of hand-eye speed, reaction time, and critical thinking, Metal Gear is an experience. It attempts to say something profound. I, for one, have been touched time and again by the all-too-human failings of fictional characters in this video game.

Prince of Persia is a game that I hope will continue in this tradition of games that I have enjoyed, games that have stayed with me, games like Deus Ex, Max Payne, The Legend of Zelda, Mass Effect, and others. These aren't just twitchy tests of trigger finger action, they're entertainment, and even art. They stick with a gamer and change them. Those games create a myth all of their own. Ultimately those experiences become part of us and we are a richer person for playing them.

Not that twitchy tests of trigger finger action games aren't fun. Off to play some Guitar Hero!

Pumpkin Pie and Apple Cider!

Yes it's that time again... For treats in Guild Wars! The holidays are the best days for consumable item drops within Guild Wars, and the Thanksgiving holiday is one of the best. Baddies drop pumkin pie and hard apple cider. While I like the Guild Wars version of apple cider less than the actual cider, the pumkpin pie is definately better in Tyria!

Ninjatown!

I just came back from lunch with the new DS game Ninjatown in my hand. Man it's adorable and great fun. A bit of a twist on the classic Tower Defense-style gameplay, you take the role of the Ol' Master Ninja, the leader of the defense of Ninjatown. You must defend Ninjatown's cookies against the hordes of Mr. Demon who wishes to take then Ninja-Cakes for himself!

I already love the audio of this game, the music is really fun and upbeat, and the combat noises are spot-on, punch and kick styles that bring you back to kung fu movies. The art style is great too, a very cheery cartoon style with little creeps versus little ninjas. The gameplay itself is solid, nothing really new about it from any WCIII style TD map, but it's definately simple and quick, you can zoom all over the map placing buildings on the touch screen while the overworld map appears on the top screen. It seems to find a home on the DS where you can tap on the map to place or upgrade your buildings which spawn different types of ninjas with which to defend your confectionaries.

There's a single-player campaign and a multiplay mode that supports two players in a head-to-head match of last man standing! I can't wait to try out the multiplayer. The single-player campaign seems beefy. I've tried the first mission that took me about ten minutes and my campaign is now 2% done. If 1 mission is 2%, that means there are 49 more to go! And all promise to be much more complicated that the very simple first learning mission I went through.

Ninjatown got me interested again in the DS! It's over 9000!!!!

Let Down and Undercover

Well I'm slightly bummed. I was really looking forward to Need For Speed Undercover. Last year's ProStreet was a poor showing, and I miss the days of Carbon. Turns out, I may as well just go back and play Carbon again, because this new edition is buggy, broken, and missing the plot. Missing the plot literally and figuratively, because the story is terrible and the game is terrible. Boooo.

Well there's always Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. Half a good game is still better than a full bad game.

Guild Wars Reputation Titles Revamp

I haven't had much to say about Guild Wars lately. I spent a great deal of the past three years playing the game, and I guess I needed a break. I may be wandering back to it soon (and guilt-free, thanks to no wasted subscription fees during my break!) due to the newest tuning update.

This latest update is a big change to the way one gains points within the reputation series of titles and what those titles mean. In most of the newest content within Guild Wars (anything after the first release of Guild Wars: Prophecies) many areas have related titles within which a character can gain points. Each of these titles have benefits, such as skills related to the levels of those titles, unlockables, and other rewards. Up until the rebalancing, progressing in these titles have been relatively difficult from one to another. In three years, I've maxed out two of the eight, and those were by far the easiest.

So, the update. The biggest change is that all the titles are much easier to progress in. Quest and mission rewards have increased and there are many more ways to gather those points through other activities. Additionally, there is one more interesting new way to gather points and rewards introduced in the update. Those are storybooks.

Those with Guild Wars: Eye of the North will know the Hero's Handbook and Master Dungeon Guide (yes those are not-so-subtle winks to D&D's PHB and DM Guide). New books have been introduced for each other of the previous three game campaigns. Players can now chronicle their missions within the books and turn them in for rewards of experience, gold, and yes, faction points! Additional icing on the cake for playing the game.

Definately a lot to check out. If rumors are true, we should see a GW2 beta in the next quarter. With the new game being a true sequel and allowing some measure of character transition through the Hall of Monuments, investing in portions of GW, such as titles and the Hall, could promise to give devoted players a running start in GW2.

What a Week of Games

I'm just about exhausted with anticipation over the games dropping this week. Top of my list are Need for Speed Undercover, the latest in my favorite street-racing series, and Sonic Unleashed, the new reboot of the Sonic platformer genre. Definately getting NFSU on the PC, where the graphics are best and the price is lowest. Sonic released this week on the Wii, comes out next week on the 360, and the second week of December on the PS3. Kind of an interesting release schedule... It may be best on the Wii, if they take care of the control scheme, the Wiimote + Nunchuck could be a blast bouncing Sonic all over the new wild world Sega has created.

Also out this week is a game Tracy is likely to lose the next week over, Animal Crossing: City Folk. Only, he has to figure out some way to get Mart's Wii away from him... I had a passing fancy with the Animal Crossing genre, but never quite understood it. Others, I heard, fell head-over-heels for the community connections of the this hard-to-define collector-RPG.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Left 4 Dead. Moving on.

The new Laura Croft adventure drops this week as well, called Tomb Raider Underworld. The titles have always been hit or miss; the heroine everyone loves once again cavorts around ruined tombs, and early buzz is that this is one of the quality titles.

So, at least two titles that I deeply desire, one that I will avoid like a zombie menace, and a couple meh. I don't know how long I can keep this up!