I'll be damned if Vader and Iga are the only ones who are going to have their own vanity posts.  I'm jumping on board and I have damn good reason to.  Between picking the DSi and the Dingoo (portable emulator thingy) I've sort of shifted away from the Wii and am now hitting all sorts of handheld games.

The first round up is Hotel Dusk, The World Ends With You, and the Minish Cap.  Hotel Dusk has taken up most of my time and since I beat it last night that'll get my first review.

Overall it was a good adventure game, but it left me a little disappointed.  I sort of anticipated something a little more grim and gritty.  Between being a mystery game and it's art style I guess I was expecting something a little more noir, and that really wasn't the case.  Lots of happy endings and again, that wasn't what I expecting.  

Themes and moods aside it was still a very solid game.  For the most part it didn't fall into the trappings of a lot of adventure games where you're forced to stop playing and open up a guide or FAQ because you didn't do one very minor thing.  It did happen a few times, but it was very rare (twice in my case) and unfortunately that's just one of the flaws of point and click adventures.  For the most part everything was very logical and made sense so long as you were willing to think for a moment or two.  

So it gets my stamp of approval provided you're a fan of adventure/mystery games.  Check it out if you missed it.

Iga_Bobovic said:

SteelAttack said:

Damn. I need to get Hotel Dusk and TWEWY as well.
The Minish Cap doesn't interest me in the slightest.

How many Zelda's and Metroids have you actually played?

Metroid games? Zero. As in, nada.

Zelda games? I played a bit of the first NES one, a bit more of the second one, another bit of a LTTP and that's it. No 3D Zelda for me.

bugsonglass said:

SteelAttack said:

The Minish Cap doesn't interest me in the slightest.

why?  what good reason could you possibly have not to be interested such a good game?

How come you guys always manage to make me feel like a freak in a room full of them?

I guess I'm not too keen on Zelda games.

bugsonglass said:

those three games are all killer.  i understand your complaints about hotel dusk.  and you may have some minor annoyances about the world ends with you though i trust what you get from the game will far outweigh those (plus it is something of a god of trendy for games )  minish cap is more than a great game, it's a great zelda.

The more I play the World Ends With You, the more I like it (lord help me I'm even starting to like the music).   The game has a much steeper learning curve than I'm used to so that's kind of put a damper on it at first. I mean for god's sake there's even a learning curve when it comes to how you earn your money from battles!!!  But I'm just starting Chapter 4 now, and it was pretty hard to put down.

robio said:

bugsonglass said:

those three games are all killer.  i understand your complaints about hotel dusk.  and you may have some minor annoyances about the world ends with you though i trust what you get from the game will far outweigh those (plus it is something of a god of trendy for games )  minish cap is more than a great game, it's a great zelda.

The more I play the World Ends With You, the more I like it (lord help me I'm even starting to like the music).   The game has a much steeper learning curve than I'm used to so that's kind of put a damper on it at first. I mean for god's sake there's even a learning curve when it comes to how you earn your money from battles!!!  But I'm just starting Chapter 4 now, and it was pretty hard to put down.

yep, i hope you listened to my advice the first time when i told you to lower your level to nothing more than what is absolutely necessary to survive 4 battles in a row at any given time, otherwise you won't be getting any decent drops.  also take care of the clothes you wear.  as the king of trendy it should come natural to you but do make sure you don't wear (or use pins of) the unpopular brands at any given area as that puts you at a disadvantage

gamingeek said:

robio said:

I'll be damned if Vader and Iga are the only ones who are going to have their own vanity posts.  I'm jumping on board and I have damn good reason to.  Between picking the DSi and the Dingoo (portable emulator thingy) I've sort of shifted away from the Wii and am now hitting all sorts of handheld games.

The first round up is Hotel Dusk, The World Ends With You, and the Minish Cap.  Hotel Dusk has taken up most of my time and since I beat it last night that'll get my first review.

Overall it was a good adventure game, but it left me a little disappointed.  I sort of anticipated something a little more grim and gritty.  Between being a mystery game and it's art style I guess I was expecting something a little more noir, and that really wasn't the case.  Lots of happy endings and again, that wasn't what I expecting.  

Themes and moods aside it was still a very solid game.  For the most part it didn't fall into the trappings of a lot of adventure games where you're forced to stop playing and open up a guide or FAQ because you didn't do one very minor thing.  It did happen a few times, but it was very rare (twice in my case) and unfortunately that's just one of the flaws of point and click adventures.  For the most part everything was very logical and made sense so long as you were willing to think for a moment or two.  

So it gets my stamp of approval provided you're a fan of adventure/mystery games.  Check it out if you missed it.

Uh, I wouldn't class Hotel Dusk as having happy endings. I suppose it depends on what ending you saw. I would say the ending was more melancholic and reflective. I also thought it was quite brilliant the way the writing brought all the characters into relevancy.

Every character came into that hotel with a problem. They all weren't solved, but by the end of the game they all were at least given hope that things were going to work out.  I'd say that's happpy enough.  At the end, everyone is feeling better, at least in the version that I saw.  

Also worth mentioning is Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini's March Again.  It's. . .  ehhhhh.  Nothing special.  I didn't have to pay for it, as I got 1000 free DSi points when I registered it with Club Nintendo, but I probably wouldn't have been happy if I had to drop $8 for it.  

It's a very basic game. You set the minis out to go from Point A to Point B and there's obstacles in between them. You need to pick up coins, cards, and other stuff in between to get a Gold Star ranking.  Problem is, even in the advanced levels it all seems very basic.  It never gets that hard.  For the most part all you do is move blocks with the stylus so that they have platforms in spots where they need one.  As long as you're quick enough there's not much challenge.  

So serious puzzle fans will be disappointed.  My 3 year old on the other hand seems to like it, so I guess maybe that's the target.

robio said:

gamingeek said:

robio said:

I'll be damned if Vader and Iga are the only ones who are going to have their own vanity posts.  I'm jumping on board and I have damn good reason to.  Between picking the DSi and the Dingoo (portable emulator thingy) I've sort of shifted away from the Wii and am now hitting all sorts of handheld games.

The first round up is Hotel Dusk, The World Ends With You, and the Minish Cap.  Hotel Dusk has taken up most of my time and since I beat it last night that'll get my first review.

Overall it was a good adventure game, but it left me a little disappointed.  I sort of anticipated something a little more grim and gritty.  Between being a mystery game and it's art style I guess I was expecting something a little more noir, and that really wasn't the case.  Lots of happy endings and again, that wasn't what I expecting.  

Themes and moods aside it was still a very solid game.  For the most part it didn't fall into the trappings of a lot of adventure games where you're forced to stop playing and open up a guide or FAQ because you didn't do one very minor thing.  It did happen a few times, but it was very rare (twice in my case) and unfortunately that's just one of the flaws of point and click adventures.  For the most part everything was very logical and made sense so long as you were willing to think for a moment or two.  

So it gets my stamp of approval provided you're a fan of adventure/mystery games.  Check it out if you missed it.

Uh, I wouldn't class Hotel Dusk as having happy endings. I suppose it depends on what ending you saw. I would say the ending was more melancholic and reflective. I also thought it was quite brilliant the way the writing brought all the characters into relevancy.

Every character came into that hotel with a problem. They all weren't solved, but by the end of the game they all were at least given hope that things were going to work out.  I'd say that's happpy enough.  At the end, everyone is feeling better, at least in the version that I saw.  

I see what you mean. They weren't happy HAPPY endings and most of the characters were pretty tragic. I think having a resolution, a journey for them from start to end was quite brilliant, the way the game was written. It has a few coincidences but the way the story is done, for a game is exceedingly good.