Looks like the good guys over at Nintendoeverything are at it again… Below is a summary of a recent Nintendo podcast for your viewing pleasure. Check out some cool stuff on the new Zelda as well as some other promising info:
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
- Bozon will be reviewing the game
- Sam likes it
- Also believes it’s one of the more difficult Zelda titles
- Again, don’t need to play previously cleared areas in the Spirit Tower
- Bozon has completed 3 dungeons and is in the third tower of the master dungeon (9-10 hours), so sidequests yet
- Sam says the tower becomes a difficult challenge towards the end of the game
- Seems Nintendo worked hard on the game to make it more complex
- Still have all the intro “tutorial” stuff
- A lot of déjà vu moments
- After the first hour or so, there’s a lot of interesting stuff
- New items
- Still find keys to treasure chests, lighting torches, but you’ll be stumped a lot because previous Zelda knowledge won’t help you
- Many times Bozon didn’t know what to do
- Game teaches you new conventions and are cool
- There are times where you’ll need to go back into rooms
- Whirlwind item can get annoying
- Sam was struggling with the Spirit Pipes since he was using the original DS
- Bozon thinks the Spirit Pipes are better implemented/used than the ocarina in Ocarina of Time
- Can’t change sensitivity of the mic
- Craig received a wooden treasure chest from Nintendo
- Comes out on Monday
- Game opens up in different areas to take the train, not the things you expect on the map
- The more Bozon plays it, the more he likes it
- Dungeons are better than Phantom Hourglass, other things are better as well
- Sam feels the train is more boring than the ship because you can’t draw your own path
- Bozon’s review should be up on Monday
- Definitely a buy game
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
- Matt has been playing it
- Completed the game once
- Playing it again
- It’s a fun game
- Review is up
- No marketing, advertising for the game, people are getting a vibe that’s it’s a junk game because of that – But it’s not
- It’s a well-made game for Wii
- Climax Studios created the game
- Re-imagining of the original game
- Play as Harry Mason, crashes in the middle of a blizzard in Silent Hill, daughter has gone missing
- Different in how it plays/pacing than the original
- Has some bold/fresh design choices
- Wiimote controls flashlight
- Matt says the flashlight is the best flashlight he has ever seen in any game, PS3/360 games included
- Awesome lighting for the flashlight
- Grainy filter is in the game, has been a trademark in Silent Hill games
- Meticulously designed world, lots of cool details
- Two gameplay types: Exploration with flashlight and puzzle-solving
- Cell-phone used for many of the puzzles
- Also run for your life throughout – scared Matt a lot
- Press down on the d-pad to see behind you while running
- Matt’s thinks the game is too short (5 hours if you play straight-through)
- Replay value comes from psych profile (different appearances from characters, dialogue trees, etc.)
- Matt’s other gripe is that you’ll always be fine when there is no ice around
- Still a good game
- No weapons (helps to make the game scary)
- You won’t be scared if you don’t get scared by Resident Evil or Dead Space
- A lot of new gameplay types which break up monotony (ex: You’ll be inside a car as it falls into a lake, water will flood it, need to get out)
- Releasing on Tuesday
DSi LL
- Definitely made for the older crowd
- Can’t imagine how big it is until you hold it in your hands
- It really is big
- Coming out in North America next year
- Pay a little more for the LL in Japan
- Brain Age games built in
- Doesn’t stretch the image, just a bigger picture
- Pixel count exactly the same
- Picture looks sharper
- Shouldn’t import it because of region restrictions
- Just a bigger DSi
Glory of Heracles
- Very popular in Japan
- Nintendo bringing it to North America in January
- Nintendo’s first first-party game for 2010
Intellivision Lives!
- Makes sense for the DS
- Uses touch scree as d-pad
- Can’t say who the publisher is
- Doesn’t have licensed games
- Probably will be around $20
- Tried to shop it on DSiWare first
Top 25 Wii games
- They do it every year
- 2 games from this year made it into the top 10
- Will talk about it more next year
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition
- Bozon played a lot of Call of Duty 4
- Was rating Reflex on a Wii scale
- Bozon had a lot of problems (crash bug, control issues)
- Bozon thinks Reflex controls the worst out of all the Wii Call of Duty titles
- Shakes a lot like Red Steel
- There will be people who like it
- Overall, Bozon feels it’s a 7.0 game
- 2 year-old game, could be played way better on systems intended for originally
- Cool game, has a lot to it
- Other shooters done better on Wii
- Needs to run at 60 FPS
- Matt heard Red Steel 2 team was upping the shooting in the game
Reader questions
- HeartGold/SoulSilver has some changes that gives it a more Japanese feel
- Pay 2 Play has been included in numerous games, has been out for awhile
- Cursed Mountain isn’t bad, but compared to Silent Hill, shouldn’t bother – Matt recommends Cursed Mountain for $19.99
- Ideas for Zelda: Craig would like online functionality to download dungeons, Bozon’s crazy idea would be to see the pedometer in the game, Matt would like a narrative that doesn’t feel like it’s carried over from past games, Bozon also says MotionPlus should be used for Z-targeting
- After Contra 4, Konami checked to see if WayForward would like to make Contra 5…Nothing announced, up to Konami for another Contra game, WayForward would probably like to make a sequel, but Konami has to pull the trigger
- Bozon says Shantae games for DSiWare are looking good, first video will probably be on IGN
- Red Steel 2 should be releasing sometime around February
- Avatar doesn’t use MotionPlus for swordplay
- Nintendo didn’t really start with the old school remakes strategy – Konami was really the first along with a few other companies