A Few Demo Impressions

Since I can actually download things, giant things in fact, on my shiny new Vita with no worry, I've finally partaken in something I haven't done in a while in downloading demos and playing them.  I'm kind of impressed and afraid of the fact that there's a LiveArea for the actual demo and on each one there seems to be a big spot that says "Buy now!" because that is -way- too easy, and it makes it entirely too tempting for me, despite not having the funds to buy any of them just yet.  And even when I do throw in a $20 or so, it's instantly spent on PSP games.  Regardless, while there isn't a wide selection of demos currently, there are a few choice ones, so I picked up the two that I was most interested in:  Lumines and Rayman Origins.  Obviously, the above will indicate to you that Lumines is up first which I'm kind of mixed about.

Lumines is...certainly an experience, I'll grant it that.  Everyone who has said "You have to play it to get it" in so many words or more is spot on since I really had no way to anticipate what Lumines had to offer me until I started it.  And I don't think I was quite prepared while I was playing it either, so I'm kind of left with a little confusion here as to how to describe it.  I think my problem, which is a personal one, not one with the game, is that is that I'm trying to play it like Tetris which makes you lose really fast.  I'm kind of not grasping the fact here that you have to really think about it a little more, making squares and rectangles rather than lines, as well as trying to think of how to utilize the few tools they throw your way (randomizer blocks and....something else that sort of takes out all the similar touching blocks) really throws a surprising amount of depth.  An amount of depth that I can't just wrap my head around yet.

I'm not sure if there's an actual end-point to the demo, since it seems to be "Voyage Mode" which....I don't know if that ever ends either, aside from if you lose.  I know that I've only experienced two backgrounds and songs, with the above being the latter, accompanied by this song which is pretty fitting of the mood set by the Glitter Disco setting, as I called it, when I sent Kaseius the above screen through the Group Messaging app.  Which is so goddamn handy, you guys.  The level of multi-tasking the Vita allows for absolutely blows my mind again and again, especially so whenever I remember that I can just take a screenshot and use the Vita browser to upload them to Imgur to post here.  I'm going to use the -hell- out of that, I already know it, and that's so friggin' awesome.

Rayman Origins was a much more wholly pleasing experience, on the other hand.  Lumines wasn't -unpleasant- by any means, so much as it was a bit disorienting for someone who doesn't generally play puzzle games, whereas Rayman was a return to form for Sidescrolling Platformers that I just haven't put too much time into lately.  There's LittleBigPlanet, of course, and the Classic Sonic stages of Sonic Generations, but cases could be made for their extra bits to take them out of 'Pure' Platformer status which might not be too out of line.  Rayman Origins, at least by the demo, has none of that; it is a platformer from side to side, top to bottom and it is glorious for that.  Not only that, but it's an absolute visual treat to look at, not only by the fact that, as you can see above, it's just magnificent looking, but because the framerate is locked down friggin' tight.  Or, at least, the demo's is, which is very much appreciated.

There was a genuine moment of hesitation as I loaded up the LiveArea for the demo again and saw that icon for unlocking the full game.  I don't have the money, but I have the game downloaded, more or less, so it's just....-there-.  Any time I wish and can manage it, I can just flick that, and have access to the entirety of it, which I might just be forced to do if it happens to wind up on sale digitally at some point.  While I like Physical media (I even like the little Vita cases, despite the fact that they more or less always only hold a game cart), I might not be able to help myself if the right price comes around.  Which I hate, since I've pointed out that if I like a game, I should be willing to throw full price at it, but I just can't afford to do that right now, both because funding is a little low, but because I just don't have time.  I haven't even started up Uncharted yet.

Anyways, getting back on topic, there's nothing really negative to be said about Rayman Origins' demo which I find a little surprising.  I hadn't given the game a second look during its development when I heard that it went from Download-only title to full retail, but after playing around with it, I'm not too surprised by that anymore.  It's charming and old-school at heart, slowly easing you into the mechanics of it all, while also presenting interesting layout to enjoy while you learn.  There's no real story because it doesn't need one outside of the fantasticly lovely intro sequence would suggest; the equivalent of having a crotchety old downstairs neighbor causing problems because she thought you were being too loud.  Of course, instead of just yelling at people to try and cause you distress, she sends her dark minions up into the world for you to fend off.  This is all told without words, without a lead-in and it's perfect the way it is.

Beyond that, it's not too complex, not throwing new or outlandish things at you, but it doesn't need to.  With the smooth framerate and the wonderful art, all it needs to do is give you a world of that to traverse, and you're more than happy to do so.  Collect the lightning bug things, find relics, don't die.  Simple enough, but extraordinarily pleasing thanks to Rayman's presentation and direction.  I honestly walked away from the game completely surprised, if that wasn't obvious, and while it's obviously a little moreso with Rayman, both games I talked about here are things I will be constantly be revising by choice, which I'm a little surprised about.  If you haven't given them a look, I'd heartily recommend you do so.

This Wait is Killing Me

The wait for the Playstation Vita, of course.  As you might have already seen, Chance got one after paying a small fortune and despite that, I am so jealous.  Every time I get a moment to just sit here and think, I think about how awesome it would be if I had mine and could just....sit here and fiddle with it, changing the backgrounds and stuff.  And then I think about the fact that he's already done all this and I would honestly hate him for this if he weren't so awesome.  My time will come, however and when it does, it will be glorious, and it just can't come fast enough, in all honesty.  But in my waiting, I've decided it's a good idea to take a look at the Vita's early offerings via other people who actually have a Vita and these games - Namely the fine chaps at Giant Bomb who have a whole host of "Quick Looks" for the Vita Launch games.  I figure I might as well share a few of these as well as my impressions of them.

First up is the first one of these I watched, actually.  I've been talking with my buddy Kaseius who has been debating, almost endlessly it seems, between grabbing a 3DS and a couple games, as it seems to be ever-so-conveniently inexpensive at the moment or a Vita.  I'm fairly confident he will own both at some point in time (and in fact already owned a 3DS before, but sold it a week prior to the announcement of the price-cut/free games.  He was not happy.) so it's more a matter of the -now-.  While my purchases have been solidly put in place since the beginning, his are a little more nebulous and, when handed the prospect of a potential Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale at Target for Vita games, he decided it would be prudent to look through the launch games in the event that he went with the Vita.  All this ended up in my confession that I haven't actually played Lumines in any form and, in fact, have no idea what it is.  To which, I was directed to the above video.

After watching it, I'm still not quite sure I know what it is, but I don't believe that's a bad thing.  It seems like it's just meant to be a game that, if you've had a rough day or what-not and have to find something to chill you out over the course of half an hour or so, you just sink that time into Lumines and walk away refreshed.  At least, that's the impression I got from Joystiq's JC Fletcher (who I agree with..maybe 60% of the time lately it seems) who reviewed it, saying, "My time playing Lumines has been the only time in the last week during which I wasn't panicking. I come out of a 45-minute session feeling rested and kind of euphoric.".  'How's that for an endorsement' indeed.  I find that I'm strangely attracted to the idea of buying it now with only this minimal bit of exposure, but I will likely wait a bit, as I'm not quite sure it's my type of game, which is to say that I will likely enjoy it, but not in a way that makes me keep going back to it.  Maybe some day I'll have to eat those words, but we'll see.

Part of my apprehension might come from the fact that I've never been a fan of Tetris and, let's be honest, that seems to be where Lumines has drawn its inspiration from.  In Lumines favor, however, they've clearly carved out their own niche, found a way to make it a different game from Tetris, and that way involves some groovin' tunes and funky visuals, of which I expect I might be a fan of.  All the extra stuff that seems to be new for this version, like the avatars that change how you might think of playing by adding certain bonuses or the like helps with this as well, and while I don't understand it all, it's interesting at the least.  The soundtrack for this version has me a little intrigued as, even though I haven't heard of 90% of the people in it, it still manages to have The Chemical Brothers, Benny Benassi and Amon Tobin whom I've all heard of at minimum.  I'm sure it's absolutely lovely while playing the game.

Now, it's obvious that I'm getting Dynasty Warriors Next because, as I've stated several times before, I am just a whore for Warriors games.  And even though I'm (rightly) pissed at KOEI for the latest announcement that Warriors Orochi 3 is PSN-Only for PS3 (In North America at least for stupid reasons that I am not even about to claim are all Sony's, considering the fact that there have been games for PS3 on disk with no English dub before.  Not even counting Yakuza!  Way of the Samurai 3 didn't have any english vocals.....but to be fair, I don't think it had -any- vocals.  Still.) I'm planning on grabbing this, provided the GameStop I go to has a copy.  And in all honesty, nothing in the video was going to sway me on that purchase.  In fact, a few key things have almost assuredly pushed me more fully into it.

Despite the obvious blase attitude and snark held by the Giant Bomb cast, as that is the only attitude they are contractually allowed to have about a Warriors game, being games journalists and all, they offered valuable insight into the game to spot a few crucial things.  First off is the apparent inclusion of "Empires Mode" elements, insofar as having the map of China divided into territories that you can invade and conquer, as in the previous Empires games.  It appears to be the 'main' portion of the game, titled as the "Campaign Mode" and is, in fact, the first billing in the menu, but Conquest Mode is there as well which I imagine will be much like its PS3 counterpart.  Especially given that there's Create-a-Warrior in the game, meaning you can, in theory, make your own character that will cut a swath across China and wrest victory from Wei's grasp.  Or, I guess Jin's grasp is more appropriate.  Regardless.

It has to be said that I physically cringed at hearing him try to pronounce the names.  "Cao Cao" as "Cow cow" is understandable as KOEI's localization crew thought that's how you pronounced it for five main games, but "Jee-how dune" is where I draw the line, okay?  And "Jee-how YAHN" isn't any better either.  Play the game, listen to it, and learn to pronounce, alright?  Awesome.  Something else that is greatly appreciated is the inclusion of Item Slots finally finally finally.  As shown in the video, it seems there's a spot for a Mount, an Orb, and five Items/Accessories as in previous games that will no doubt assist in making the game more customizable to your tastes and play style, as well as giving you extra incentive to play, if just to find all these things.  In the past, getting the mounts has been an arduous process, almost in line with being a 'secret unlockable' at times, so here's hoping that tradition comes back as well, as I would like to feel like I have a 'quest' in which the reward is Red Hare, personally.

Something I'm not at all thrilled about with, however, is the duel system as it's shown off in the video.  While I imagine it's a lot easier than he made it look, given that he clearly doesn't care about the game, it still looks clunky and annoying at best.  While I get that they wanted to bring something new to it, I can't imagine it'll be much fun after the first five duels or so, after which it'll just be a chore - especially against better duelists like Lu Bu or Guan Yu.  Still, I'll have to play with it myself before I can really pass judgment on it, and aside from that, it looks just fine.  Given that I haven't played a Warriors game in a while (though I have been tempted to throw in Ken's Rage, oh so tempted), I'll likely be ready to jump right into it when I grab it, and I'm eagerly awaiting that time.

The last game is something I've been on the fence about since it was first announced because while I love me some Ninja Stealth games, Tenchu has taught me that I am, in fact, not good at them.  So Shinobido 2:  Revenge of Zen's mission was basically to convince me that I could get it, play it and not be terrible....but I'm not quite sure it's done that.  Based solely on the fact that, as the Giant Bomb guys were quick to point out, the game looks a lot like Tenchu.  That's understandable, of course, considering it's the same team and/or dev that made the old Tenchu games (or so I'm told), but in that same vein, I know I am bad at Tenchu games, as I said, so I'm wondering about that.  It seems to default back to the "Stealth is so crucial that you're punished for being bad at it" with the less-than-stellar combat system which isn't a good sign.

By that same measure, the guy playing this seems to have been showing just as much thought and care in playing this as in playing Dynasty Warriors Next (read:  not much) so it might be a rewarding game if you play it right and might, in fact, not be too difficult to play correctly.  And in another play to the game's favor, it does look measurably better than it has in promotional materials so far, though that might also be in part to only seeing it through a camera, rather than seeing it on the screen itself.  It doesn't look -amazing-, nor like it's taking advantage of any 'next-gen' graphics or animations, but it's not as 'early-PS2' as it looked before.  To me, at least.  It also looks like there are a few things to the game beyond "Tenchu, but on Vita" as well in the Alchemy portion (which also includes Near functionality which I can't -wait- to mess around with....hoping that it works out in the middle of nowhere where I am) which means that there will be material collecting which always adds -time- to a game, even if it feels like a grind sometimes.

Only a few more days until I can have a Vita in my hands and, with any luck, there'll be some demos for a few of these games so I can try them out.  I'm not too optimistic for this stuff right off the bat, but I can have some lofty hopes for it, at least.