I compared the game to a better one that I've actually played before. It's kind of hard to recommend something that I've never played, a fact I made crystal clear in my opening paragraph.
"Although the Bust-A-Move series has been around for seventeen years, I had never played a single game until yesterday, with the release of Bust-A-Move Universe. "
What I learned from playing through Dragon's Lair Trilogy: Don Bluth really liked drawing women with REALLY pointy nipples.
*wipes away tears of joy*
I say we host a charity PlayBit to raise money for the project.
*hands over piggy bank to Tim Schaffer*
After playing the game thoroughly myself, I can agree that the controls work just fine, they simply require some time and patience in order to become accustomed to them. The only times I ran into problems with Zip not responding to my inputted commands were when I waved the controller around like mad. In these situations the game even tells you something to the effect of "you don't have it to wave it that fast" encouraging you to make precise timed decisions.
As Nick stated in his review, the 1-1 commands may be throwing a lot of people off too. Initially I had a hard time trying to fling Zip in the direction I swore I was swinging in, until I paid attention to the on-screen display that shows exactly which direction I was pointing the wii remote. By looking at that and then watching the way I swung my hand, I realized that I actually wasn't pointing exactly up, down, left, or right. I liken it to a real game of bowling for the unexperienced; even though you think you threw the ball exactly straight, considering it's rolling crookedly down the lane, you actually didn't.
Best Introductory Post Ever!
I was quite literally enraged when I read this article on Kotaku. Not because I care even a little bit about A2M changing their name, but because I've now been sentenced to playing another round of Naughty Bear...blech.
I had the opportunity to play Lost in Shadow at E3 and was anything but impressed. The level was comprised of an intricate weave of pipes, with few other objects existing in the background. Not only was the level visually boring, but the color scheme was atrocious, comprised of blues, greys, and blacks that easily blended together. On top of that, the character, as well as background objects and shadows, were in great need of anti-aliasing. The level itself was far from easy, containing complicated puzzles and enemies that weren't conducive to introducing a beginner to the gameplay concept.
Fortunately, the recent demo sent to us has completely changed my opinion of the game, and truly goes to show how a bad demo can reflect so poorly on a title. While being eased into the gameplay and understanding how to manipulate the environment and collect certain objects enhances the gameplay experience, the visual complaints I originally had seem to be fixed.
I no longer notice the choppy pixelated look to the character or environments; though I'm completely unsure whether this is because the problem was actively fixed, or whether the original issue can simply be blamed on video connections at the expo. Either way, after playing the demo I'm once again excited for the release of this game.
As a side note, I wanted to comment on a strange issue Nick and I encountered while playing the game. There are several official cheat codes that players can enter in order to do things such as, in our case, let two players choose the same character. While the code seemingly worked fine initially, much to my dismay, I later discovered that by using it and being logged in as two different users, my original character tied to my account had been erased and replaced by Nick's character from his account. While this may only have been a one-time, random occurrence, I find it frustrating and a bit disappointing to have an official code overwrite a player's profile.
I'm not sure if they deliberately tossed those specific elements out, or if they just completely underestimated their significance to fans of the series. Either way, it's hard not to feel a sting of disappointment when encountering both of the situations you quoted from my review.
As for enemies, they aren't present in every single room. Some rooms are more like connecting corridors and are completely void of any conflict.
I honestly didn't pay very close attention to the specific moments when previously explored areas became blocked off, but they don't lock immediately. It isn't as though you walk into a new room and the door behind you immediately locks. I think the areas with power-ups just get blocked off gradually, and since there is no backtracking needed for the main quest, players won't even notice unless they intentionally try to go back and get the power-ups.
Besides the new ability to charge and restore health/missiles I can't think of any power-ups that haven't been seen in a Metroid title before. There is the super high jump from Super Metroid, and a version of the long jump as well, and the familiar Screw Attack makes a return.
In Other M, players aren't able to switch between the different beams acquired. Unlike other Metroid games, Samus doesn't find any of her different beams or morph ball abilities. Instead, players are given permission by Captain Adam Malkovich (who directs Samus where to go and what to do throughout the game) to use these abilities when the need arises. Unlike the morph ball powers, as the beams unlock the newest one stacks upon the last.
As for the name Other M, I honestly can't explain that without giving up plot details. In fact, I'm not even sure my theory is correct, but we can argue that point at a later time.
Finally, her mole does not play a part in the plot, even though her face is rarely turned so players cannot see it. Individuals with a mole fetish will not be disappointed.
Even in the email sent by the publisher along with the DS images they referred to the Wii version as an exclusive.
Considering the DS version is its own entity I'd assume that it would become Goldeneye 007:(insert name here) at some point.
