Games of the Week: Week 8

February 22-28

NINTENDO DS

Legacy of Ys: Book I&II
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix
Peggle Dual Shot



I've always been anamored with the Ys series. Maybe it's because of its odd name or the fact that you don't wind into too many people who are versed in the series. More than likely its because I could never get my parents to burn the money for a TurboGrafx-16 and the series became sort of this unobtainable object put on a pedastool. I finally got ahold of Ys III thanks to the SNES port and played it through several times....despite the fact that now Ys 3 probably is my least favorite in the series that I've played.

Legacy of Ys gives you the first two games (Vanished Omens and The Final Chapter, which was far from final) on one cart and a nice little soundtrack CD, which by itself is worth the price. But if you're looking for a short action RPG to take on the road and don't mind throwing retro-googles on you'll find a pretty charming classic.

Puzzle Quest was one of the bigger surprises two years ago and it went from an obscure DS and PSP title to released on everything. The sequel combines Bejeweled with RPG elements with a sci-fi setting (unlike the medievel setting from the original) and adds a slight twist to making the game board a circle rather than a box. Except the sequel to suck up 100+ hours of your life....like the original.



PLAYSTATION PORTABLE

Uhm nothing this week. Moving on.

PLAYSTATION 2

Ski & Shoot

Moving on again.

PLAYSTATION 3

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard
Killzone 2





Blood on the Sand...yeah. Apparently its fun but repetitive. I'm just going to stay away for the most part.

According to Sony fanboys Killzone 2 will be the last game you'll ever have to buy. The Beta has been fun and its a very, very good FPS but it doesn't really reinvent the wheel or do anything out of the ordinary. But it does it all very well, outstanding even. I don't think it will be changing anyone's lives, but its the start of a lot of good PS3 exclusives this year.

NINTENDO WII

Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop

Dead Rising was a great little game on the 360, and it still is but now its coming to the Wii and I don't know what to think. Killing zombies is always fun but so much has been made of the Wii's lack of graphical horsepower. I already have Dead Rising, why spend money to get the game again but with worse graphics and even worse control scheme? I'm sure if you're just a Wii owner then it's a game that you need to pick up but Dead Rising can be found for in and around $20, there's little excuse to not own the game if you have a 360.

XBOX 360

Star Ocean: The Last Hope
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand
Stoked
Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard



I may have to wait and see on it but Eat Lead seems to be a neat little idea of a 'sequel' to a series of games that never actually existed. You play Matt Hazard, a washed up video game character who's popularity is years behind him, now he's been given another shot to prove he's the king of shooters as a publisher has decided to make him the star of their next game. Looks to be filled with all sort of meta-humor and such. But will it be a good enough game to slap down $60 on remains to be seen.

I can't really tell you much about Stoked but maybe TCO can (if he ever reads the damn thing) because snowboarding games are his bread and butter. From the way he talks about it Stoked may be a pleasant surprise for the rest of us.

I'm still playing through the first two Star Ocean thanks to the PSP rereleases of both. Last Hope looks amazing but the thought of (supposed) 30-40 minute cut scenes, a cliched, corny story and bad voice acting has me a bit worried. And the 300+ hours to collect every single Battle Trophy. Still Star Ocean's battle system is one of the finest (and most fun) around making it very easy to overlook the bad stuff.