- Seit
- 24 Nov 2002
- Beiträge
- 201
Erstmal ein preview von Kirby`s Air ride
Warning: Playing Kirby’s Air Ride may cause surging, burning pain in your eyes and soul.
For people who thought that this game looked no better than a third-rate half-done N64 reject . . . sadly you may be right.
After only minutes with this game on the Nintendo show floor I was immediately underwhelmed and disappointed in this long-awaited, but not really yearned-for racing game from the Big N. Graphically, I am sorely saddened that the game looked, to me, like it could have been a first-gen Dreamcast racing game. Boxy textures, boring fire effects, lame water sections and an overall sense of uninspiration plagued my overly long turn with the game, although to be fair, I only tried one level.
Asking a few questions to the Nintendo rep brought strangely vague responses. Here’s what I could gather from the ‘booth babe’ (looking non-babely in a baggy polo shirt and slacks) who was in charge of Kirby’s Air Ride:
“What is this game about?” you may be wondering. Well she didn’t know and neither did I. In fact, even after 5 or 10 minutes of non-intense gameplay, I still had no idea what the goal was. Was I supposed to reach a certain goal? Was I supposed to attack my opponent? Was there a God? Not much is answered here, and after a while, I didn’t really want to ask either.
The game seems to be comprised of Kirby and friends riding a star as he very slowly ‘zooms’ hither to and fro, smashing random giant boxes with his face to get weapons and items he can use later in the game for some reason I’m still not clear on. The game apparently uses only one ‘button’ which allows you to stop and charge up your dashing ability so you can get a running start when using your face to smash the aforementioned boxes and also run into your enemy allowing you to gain the upper hand in the game. A colleague here on GCA told me you can also use the button to suck in different items and characters to retain their power, but I wasn’t privy to that ability.
In quick conclusion, the Nintendo rep didn’t know what was going on and I couldn’t gleam much from the gameplay, so I have to say that my impression of this game is that if you’re looking for fast racing fun, you should definitely look elsewhere – F-Zero, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Gran Turismo 2, or even Excitebike for the NES.
Ok, I kid, this isn’t the worst racing game ever, and I really must put more time into it to make a definitive opinion, but my immediate impression is that this game is a flat tire on Nintendo’s overall strong lineup of new software.
-Adrian DeHerrera
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
The first RPG I ever played was Final Fantasy 7 way back when during the reign of the PSOne and truthfully, I wasn’t a very big fan of fantasy, spell casting or all-around magical dorkery, but after a few hours I was hooked on RPG’s forever – monotonous Guardian Force casting and random battles couldn’t deter me from enjoying the deep storyline and fun gameplay only Square can provide.
So, with that in mind, how does FF:CC compare to the Final Fantasies VII – X? For one, the game is in constant real-time motion – gone are the slower turn-based battles, instead, you and your team are constantly moving from one point to another, following one person’s lead as you make your way into battle – and the best thing here is – no more random fights!
You control who you fight for the most part and even if you want to fight. Playing with three other people was amazingly… satisfying in that you truly need everyone to constantly be on their toes, watching your stats, their own stats, casting when necessary and taking pains to truly be a part of the action, because if you let your buddies all get torn into shreds, there is nobody left to save you.
Graphics
After playing one level of FF:CC, I can say with honesty that I am pleasantly surprised. Graphically the game seems to take character design from the Mana series, with each superdeformed character having a strange chipmunk-on-crack quality that only adds to the insane gameplay that awaits you. The backgrounds are crisp and wonderfully vibrant, the level I played taking place in a deep forest filled with lizard-men and what can only be described as insane jelly blobs with razor teeth that can be killed with magic; and this landscape definitely contrasts the futuristic techno-landscapes featured in FFVII and FFVIII.
The boss designs were what I expected from Squaresoft. Huge, intimidating and not at all against plainly handing your chipmunk-on-crack heinie to you with a bow attached.
Magic
Whereas other FF games either used draw commands to pull out magic from other creatures to use on your enemies or allowed you an MP meter you could recharge with experience, the magic features in this game seem to center around collecting spheres located on your travels that you can store and use, although the amount of uses per sphere weren’t clear, and the only person that can then use the magic is the person who picked it up – which means if your friend picks up a Life spell, you can be sure you should be very nice to them since they may be the only one to save your neck later.
To use the magic, simply switch to the command you want (attack, defend, magic, etc) and press A, and keep it pressed to charge up your powers. The system will then allow you to “spotlight” using a circular targeting system, and you move the target to the character you want to affect, so rather than having arrows to show you which character you’re going to help/attack, you must “aim” the target where you want it to go, which makes the action more intense as you have very little time to charge and aim your attacks.
Still, not much is known about all of the types of magic you can accumulate, but I did see ice spells, fire, life and cure. The intensity and how these spells may or may not affect your weaponry is still in question.
Gameplay
Awesome, awesome AWESOME. THANK YOU Square for breaking out of the mold and finally adding some variety to the fighting system. Using four different Gameboy SP’s (which you don’t NEED to play but can make it more fun), three other strangers and I started the game not really interested in what the other was doing, but it was quite apparent that if you’re quiet, or if you can’t use teamwork, your team is DOOMED. Luckily I had three pretty vocal players, and in the heat of battle, people were yelling at me to quickly bring them back to life or cure them while I was busy pleading for someone to attack the aforementioned jelly-creatures with a fire spell before it efficiently chewed my face off.
Since the crystal you are carrying holds off the deadly gasses that have overtaken your planet, the team must stay within the boundaries of the cleansing power of the crystal. So if your teammates decide to take a sidequest while you’ve stayed behind to get your arm chewed off by a giant caterpillar, they will lose energy since they can’t survive without the power of the crystal to keep the poisonous myst at bay – so it is PARAMOUNT that the entire crew pull together to work as a team.
Also, the HP system seems to be gone and has been replaced with a Legend of Zelda-like heart meter that falls up and down as you get attacked, which I think can only aide you since you only have seconds to glance at the stats of your friends to see if they need help, so it is easier to recognize instantaneously whose hearts need replenishing rather than having to quickly figure HP numbers to estimate which character needs support.
If this game doesn’t help you bond with your buddies, nothing will. But if for some reason you can’t find friends – maybe you live in a volcano or you just hate humanity – the Nintendo rep said you can certainly play a one-person adventure. I’m a solo gamer most of the time, but I can definitely say that I am going to recruit as many people as possible to help me in my quest, because bottom line, this game looks FUN.
Features:
Magic system based on crystal gathering rather than a draw system, although details are sketchy
No more random battles, instead, characters run around the area in real-time and only fight who they want to fight.
Teamwork is absolutely necessary if you are going to get to the next level, although it is possible to play alone, again, if you live in a volcano.
Tingle is nowhere to be seen, thank GOD.
Casting spells is now changed to a targeting system that only has a certain radius, so in order to efficiently use your spells, you must be close enough to a character/boss to use it.
Bosses seem tougher than expected, and nobody I watched could beat them quickly and teamwork was absolutely necessary to get further in your quest.
Strangely, no dialogue yet – whereas other Square FF’s were dripping with dialogue, I haven’t seen any of the characters communicate or describe the story.
Square is back, Square is back, Square is back
More details to come as we get back onto the Nintendo booth floor!
-Adrian DeHerrera
Kirby ist wie erwartet nicht der Bringer aber dafür hält FF alles was verspricht
Quelle: gamecube advanced
Warning: Playing Kirby’s Air Ride may cause surging, burning pain in your eyes and soul.
For people who thought that this game looked no better than a third-rate half-done N64 reject . . . sadly you may be right.
After only minutes with this game on the Nintendo show floor I was immediately underwhelmed and disappointed in this long-awaited, but not really yearned-for racing game from the Big N. Graphically, I am sorely saddened that the game looked, to me, like it could have been a first-gen Dreamcast racing game. Boxy textures, boring fire effects, lame water sections and an overall sense of uninspiration plagued my overly long turn with the game, although to be fair, I only tried one level.
Asking a few questions to the Nintendo rep brought strangely vague responses. Here’s what I could gather from the ‘booth babe’ (looking non-babely in a baggy polo shirt and slacks) who was in charge of Kirby’s Air Ride:
“What is this game about?” you may be wondering. Well she didn’t know and neither did I. In fact, even after 5 or 10 minutes of non-intense gameplay, I still had no idea what the goal was. Was I supposed to reach a certain goal? Was I supposed to attack my opponent? Was there a God? Not much is answered here, and after a while, I didn’t really want to ask either.
The game seems to be comprised of Kirby and friends riding a star as he very slowly ‘zooms’ hither to and fro, smashing random giant boxes with his face to get weapons and items he can use later in the game for some reason I’m still not clear on. The game apparently uses only one ‘button’ which allows you to stop and charge up your dashing ability so you can get a running start when using your face to smash the aforementioned boxes and also run into your enemy allowing you to gain the upper hand in the game. A colleague here on GCA told me you can also use the button to suck in different items and characters to retain their power, but I wasn’t privy to that ability.
In quick conclusion, the Nintendo rep didn’t know what was going on and I couldn’t gleam much from the gameplay, so I have to say that my impression of this game is that if you’re looking for fast racing fun, you should definitely look elsewhere – F-Zero, Mario Kart: Double Dash, Gran Turismo 2, or even Excitebike for the NES.
Ok, I kid, this isn’t the worst racing game ever, and I really must put more time into it to make a definitive opinion, but my immediate impression is that this game is a flat tire on Nintendo’s overall strong lineup of new software.
-Adrian DeHerrera
Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
The first RPG I ever played was Final Fantasy 7 way back when during the reign of the PSOne and truthfully, I wasn’t a very big fan of fantasy, spell casting or all-around magical dorkery, but after a few hours I was hooked on RPG’s forever – monotonous Guardian Force casting and random battles couldn’t deter me from enjoying the deep storyline and fun gameplay only Square can provide.
So, with that in mind, how does FF:CC compare to the Final Fantasies VII – X? For one, the game is in constant real-time motion – gone are the slower turn-based battles, instead, you and your team are constantly moving from one point to another, following one person’s lead as you make your way into battle – and the best thing here is – no more random fights!
You control who you fight for the most part and even if you want to fight. Playing with three other people was amazingly… satisfying in that you truly need everyone to constantly be on their toes, watching your stats, their own stats, casting when necessary and taking pains to truly be a part of the action, because if you let your buddies all get torn into shreds, there is nobody left to save you.
Graphics
After playing one level of FF:CC, I can say with honesty that I am pleasantly surprised. Graphically the game seems to take character design from the Mana series, with each superdeformed character having a strange chipmunk-on-crack quality that only adds to the insane gameplay that awaits you. The backgrounds are crisp and wonderfully vibrant, the level I played taking place in a deep forest filled with lizard-men and what can only be described as insane jelly blobs with razor teeth that can be killed with magic; and this landscape definitely contrasts the futuristic techno-landscapes featured in FFVII and FFVIII.
The boss designs were what I expected from Squaresoft. Huge, intimidating and not at all against plainly handing your chipmunk-on-crack heinie to you with a bow attached.
One of the final bosses seems to be somewhat of a stone tiki god who pulls his body parts together with magic forming into a giant. . . THING that takes immense pleasure from smashing your party into hairy blobs of meat and teeth. The magic effects look wonderful as well, not too flashy and not too subtle, although the one element that has defined FF in recent memory, Guardian Forces/Summons, are not anywhere to be seen. Is that a bad thing? Perhaps, but the entire feel of this game seems to want to pull out from the pack and make its own stamp on the Final Fantasy legacy.
Magic
Whereas other FF games either used draw commands to pull out magic from other creatures to use on your enemies or allowed you an MP meter you could recharge with experience, the magic features in this game seem to center around collecting spheres located on your travels that you can store and use, although the amount of uses per sphere weren’t clear, and the only person that can then use the magic is the person who picked it up – which means if your friend picks up a Life spell, you can be sure you should be very nice to them since they may be the only one to save your neck later.
To use the magic, simply switch to the command you want (attack, defend, magic, etc) and press A, and keep it pressed to charge up your powers. The system will then allow you to “spotlight” using a circular targeting system, and you move the target to the character you want to affect, so rather than having arrows to show you which character you’re going to help/attack, you must “aim” the target where you want it to go, which makes the action more intense as you have very little time to charge and aim your attacks.
Still, not much is known about all of the types of magic you can accumulate, but I did see ice spells, fire, life and cure. The intensity and how these spells may or may not affect your weaponry is still in question.
Gameplay
Awesome, awesome AWESOME. THANK YOU Square for breaking out of the mold and finally adding some variety to the fighting system. Using four different Gameboy SP’s (which you don’t NEED to play but can make it more fun), three other strangers and I started the game not really interested in what the other was doing, but it was quite apparent that if you’re quiet, or if you can’t use teamwork, your team is DOOMED. Luckily I had three pretty vocal players, and in the heat of battle, people were yelling at me to quickly bring them back to life or cure them while I was busy pleading for someone to attack the aforementioned jelly-creatures with a fire spell before it efficiently chewed my face off.
Since the crystal you are carrying holds off the deadly gasses that have overtaken your planet, the team must stay within the boundaries of the cleansing power of the crystal. So if your teammates decide to take a sidequest while you’ve stayed behind to get your arm chewed off by a giant caterpillar, they will lose energy since they can’t survive without the power of the crystal to keep the poisonous myst at bay – so it is PARAMOUNT that the entire crew pull together to work as a team.
Also, the HP system seems to be gone and has been replaced with a Legend of Zelda-like heart meter that falls up and down as you get attacked, which I think can only aide you since you only have seconds to glance at the stats of your friends to see if they need help, so it is easier to recognize instantaneously whose hearts need replenishing rather than having to quickly figure HP numbers to estimate which character needs support.
If this game doesn’t help you bond with your buddies, nothing will. But if for some reason you can’t find friends – maybe you live in a volcano or you just hate humanity – the Nintendo rep said you can certainly play a one-person adventure. I’m a solo gamer most of the time, but I can definitely say that I am going to recruit as many people as possible to help me in my quest, because bottom line, this game looks FUN.
Features:
Magic system based on crystal gathering rather than a draw system, although details are sketchy
No more random battles, instead, characters run around the area in real-time and only fight who they want to fight.
Teamwork is absolutely necessary if you are going to get to the next level, although it is possible to play alone, again, if you live in a volcano.
Tingle is nowhere to be seen, thank GOD.
Casting spells is now changed to a targeting system that only has a certain radius, so in order to efficiently use your spells, you must be close enough to a character/boss to use it.
Bosses seem tougher than expected, and nobody I watched could beat them quickly and teamwork was absolutely necessary to get further in your quest.
Strangely, no dialogue yet – whereas other Square FF’s were dripping with dialogue, I haven’t seen any of the characters communicate or describe the story.
Square is back, Square is back, Square is back
More details to come as we get back onto the Nintendo booth floor!
-Adrian DeHerrera
Kirby ist wie erwartet nicht der Bringer aber dafür hält FF alles was verspricht
Quelle: gamecube advanced
