After spending quite a bit of time on figuring out what to say about each game I decided to tighten things up from this point forward. Each text snippet will be only one paragraph from now on. It just lets me get these blog posts out a bit easier than sticking with my old format.

Looking back it was easy to forget how big the Nintendo DS was at this point in its life. Selling way over 8 million DS’s in only a year appears to be a feat that’ll be hard to recreate now. Releasing both a Pokemon and Zelda game in the same year probably helped attain that feat along with the healthy backlog of games too. The Wii continued down the path it already started last year.

On the other front Microsoft was making up for the high rate of failure of the 360 by extending the warranty and releasing a slicker elite upgrade that included HDMI. Hm, most of what was going on with MS this year seems to have a good and bad side. Halo 3 was their blockbuster moment yet soon after Budgie decided they wanted to be independent.

Meanwhile Sony didn't really do anything this year. Looking at this list of games it was a good thing I bought so many third party games cause the first party output was rather mediocre. Oh well it isn’t possible to always have a good library every year.

2007

The award for best use of amnesia to have a reason to recap a tutorial goes to AA: Justice For All. Although I really don’t know why anyone wouldn’t notice that Phoenix just got hit on the head in the lobby of a court house. Oh well it makes a easy case into a tough one that comes right down to the very last moments for him to pull off a victory. The many twists and turns getting to that conclusion is why everyone enjoys this series.

I'm trying to think why I didn't import 2. Yet I can't remember why I didn't import it. Well Capcom couldn’t go with amnesia again so this time a prequel will be the setting of the first act. 5 years ago when Mia Fey was just a rookie defense attorney one of her first cases was defending Phoenix Wright. So it's a 2 for one origin story. Nothing ever gets brought up for no real reason in these games. So this prequel episode does tie into one of the later cases. Uncovering the truth is never a easy task. Yet all the unique enjoyable characters you’ll meet along the way make it worth the effort.

So this was the feel good story about 3 interns getting together to make a game with a little help from Carbonated Games. I don’t think it lead to anything extra happening on XBL but it was a neat story at the time. As for the game it is a side scrolling shooter with very limited options. But for the short development time and what they were working with the product they produced was a 1000x better than anything I could manage to create.

I didn’t get enough brain training last time so I ended up picking up the sequel as well. Not quite as effective the second time around. I guess we had our fill of sudoku puzzles last time since only 7% were done instead of 100%. The brain training puzzles are more variations on different kinds of number puzzles. Like can you remember all of these numbers or choose the biggest number out of a list. I’m sure this game is great for training my brain and I really should keep using it for a while because my brain is broken.

The one thing Call Of Duty 4 did that no other shooter even tried to do was add RPG elements to the multiplayer. Get rewards for playing a game. Not a new concept but very few developers implemented that idea till now. The bombastic action movie narrative of the single player was just a bonus. Which is the only part I cared about in a CoD up to this point. It didn’t quite turn me into a multiplayer fiend but what I played was enjoyable in the past. Still okay these days too.

Like Aegis Wing before it Carcassonne was another game Microsoft gave away for free. Based on the board game of the same name it is all about building up cities and roads. Then claiming them by walling off the road and placing a settler on that piece. The one who has the most points by the end wins. Even the easy AI can still beat me today although I did end up obtaining two achievements that I didn’t get before. Ha guess I didn’t play that many games.

I think this is one of the best games to show someone to let them see classic Castlevania without it having annoying moments. The additions Konami made to this version of Rondo Of Blood may have made it easier to compete but in this case I think it only makes the game better. Plus the original and SOTN are unlockables if you don’t like what they changed. Whipping enemies while learning their patterns has always been the bread and butter of Castlevania. This shows off that fact while giving the player a ton of unlockables to find keep you coming back for more.

Despite Castlevania being very prominent throughout this entire retrospective. I did not play Symphony Of The Night when it was first released. So my first time playing it was the port on XBLA. Turns out it holds up perfectly. Not that surprising since the portable Castlevania games have all been variations on what they started here. Explore a big castle and beat a bunch of bosses has always been how all these games are set up. It just has more of a focus on collecting power ups that let you explore new areas instead of it being stage based.

I never played a Crash Bandicoot game till they put these games onto psplus one month. My impression back then is the same one I have now. A well made platformer with annoying run at the screen levels inserted throughout the entire game. This series never really caught my eye even with the multitude of demo discs I ended up playing with one of the CB games on it. Neat to experience just to see where Naughty Dog was before they became the company they are today.

Disgaea returns again in a portable UMD format. This is the same story of the first game with a new subtitle and the same grid based battle system. NIS are good at including new content like a new story mode staring Etna in a what if scenario where she kills Laharl and takes over as overlord. Looks like this included some type of multiplayer This was the first game that convinced me that this kind of gameplay worked better on a portable device. I ended up finishing the story unlike the last time I tried to play it on PS2.

I have strong memories of Koei putting this out half baked. Yet that memory is of this sequel since Koei put some time into recreating a few notable story arcs and an original story with this one. They seem to have brought a lot of the english cast in to reprise their roles too. Beating up a 1000 mobile suits is satisfying and it has a dash that can lead to a big combo on beefier enemies. Taken as a DW game this is better than average.

Oblivion on ps3 may not be the best version but it is not that bad for a Bethesda game. This is when this series got a bit easier to play on a controller. Plus this is the only Elder Scrolls I actually ended up beating. After all competing the main quest in a Bethesda game is a rare occurrence with all the random stuff you can get into. To much time was spend just leveling up by sneaking up on people or jumping. Pretty silly what people are willing to do if it ends up leveling up a character easier.

Everyday Shooter is kinda PSN’s version of Geometry Wars. But instead of fighting geometry you're fighting the power of music. The soundtrack is your time limit and the goal is to survive. Even though the player is just one little dot on the screen it isn’t an easy task to dodge every attack. I managed to make it to the 3rd level where robots try to kill me and then a bunch of eyes try to take me down after the robots form a giant eye. So the game is kind trippy I guess. Simple premise that works really well even today. I’m not surprised at all that this developer went on to create Sound Shapes.

Like the E-Reader on some level this augmented card game could have worked. Yet Sony didn’t really put much support behind it and it quickly faded from our memories. The eyetoy wasn’t the best camera either making the few times I tried to play this annoying unless I had sunlight shining through my window. Placing a card and seeing a monster pop out on the tv is still really cool. If only I actually liked playing it.

Vice City Stories is a good example of why revisiting an environment again may be a bad idea. I can’t tell if it is just this version that is bad or that GTA in general doesn’t hold up well. The mission design is boring and the characters they reintroduce just don’t seem that impressive twice. Plus Vic Vance doesn’t seem like a protagonist that would be doing all this shooting and drug smuggling from the very first mission. Checking this out again reaffirms my stance of checking out Vice City again one day to see if it holds up.

So this is a 2D real time strategy game with gorgeous artwork. A stable of every Vanillaware produced game. Getting back into this and mainly trying out the first trial left me confused on what I should be doing. Enemies just seemed to kill me so fast but maybe I needed to compete more of the story to unlock more units. My fairy army didn’t seem very effective. As for the story it looked to be anime Harry Potter. If I had time to do it I would play through this just to see all the artwork.

Hotel Dusk has plenty of fleshed out characters to meet and a big mystery to solve. The protagonist Kyle Hyde has a likeable jerk persona if you end up going in that direction. Getting info from other characters lets you get one step closer to the overall mystery of why this hotel seems to be connected to his past. No way I couldn’t mention the unique art style they went with for this game. Everyone looks like they are penciled in sketches. Gives the game a unique look and a ton of personality. If you like adventure games this is a good game to check out.

This is the second time a Zelda game has connected directly to the previous one. This picks up right after the end of Wind Waker. A new adventure awaits as Tetra gets captured by a ghost ship and Link must roam around the islands again to free her. The controls are where this game is the most different. With it requiring the player to use only touch controls. It is still a Zelda game through and through with all the usual items. It just takes a bit longer to use them and less finesse with this kind of control scheme. I didn’t like it at first but it did grow on me after a while.

Watch little blob creatures jump around and enjoy life. That is pretty much the entire game. Collecting 200 blobs to get through all the gates to successfully reach the end. Plenty of upbeat music to go along with the general merriment of each level. A delightful experience even if it is a bit short.

Medievil doesn’t have much going for it gameplay wise. It didn’t get me interested in it back when it was first released but my curiosity knowns no bounds and I’m willing to try anything so I picked this up when it released on PSN. Although swinging a sword around may not feel great the setting along with the humor is on point. Now that I’ve seen this again I’m more interested to see if they improved the gameplay with the sequel.

Boy I really suck at playing Mortal Kombat II. Sure I never owned it originally till the release on PSN but I can barely even beat the first opponent with Sub Zero. Was the AI always this good at predicting what moves the player would do? I’m sure if I knew how the AI worked it would be easy to exploit it. But taken as someone who just booting this game up again. It tries really hard to stop me from getting any enjoyment out of it. Plus the online is horrible and no one is playing it anymore.

How did I not know about this fighting game till I randomly saw it in a pawn shop a few weeks ago. Randomly putting Marco from Metal Slug or even the monkey mech from King Of All Monsters into a fighting game is a great idea. If not a very practical one since I doubt they ever got to use the sprites again. I must say this game can easily be added on a the really long list of fighting games with annoying final bosses. Who doesn’t like getting their life bar drained and watching the boss regain his a second after you punch him once. The rest of the game is fun so I wish it was balanced a bit better.

Nights Journey Into Dreams is set up similarly to its Saturn roots. As one of the visitors you must work together with a joker named Nights to save the dream world from nightmarians. Flying circles around enemies to beat them while flying around a track is what you’ll be doing primarily. With each stage ending with a boss that requires you to use those skills to beat him. This just seems like a well produced sequel that never seemed like a very interesting game to play. I kinda think the first game just does it better which will come up a bit later when it is ported to the PS3.

I very much enjoy Persona 3 the most compared to the rest of the series so far. It set up a lot of stuff that lend to its unique appeal. The focus on building a relationship with the different cast members gives each character more personality than you would notice in a normal RPG. At the same time that social link is giving you new Personas to create via fusion. Meanwhile the combat may remain the same but the focus on learning weak points to defeat enemies is a unique mechanic. Plus the weak point system can be in your enemies favor too. A bit of challenge to the battles lets them feel good while the social side keeps you interested in seeing what happens next. Having a extra campaign after the end of the main game is cool too. Overall a good mix that makes this a memorable game.

Every portable Pokemon game begins the same way. You would think Nintendo would change it up a little bit. I will say that stealing someone else's Pokemon isn’t the best life lessons for a new trainer. Even if the kooky Professor is okay with it afterwards. The that touch screen is once again the main addition to the gameplay. It does let you see more of the action on the top screen. This wasn’t that long ago yet I remember nothing about this generation. At some point they just all blend together.

The original Prince Of Persia was kinda the first game that I know of that forced a player to speed run. Or at least have a time limit that makes you want to hurry up. Which is not what you should do because everything wants to kill you in this action/platformer. So many long falls and spike pits and traps await all who attempt this remake. For good or bad everything that made the original PoP work has been remade faithfully by Gameloft. Which probably makes this game feel super dated.

It seems fitting that Professor Layton’s first adventure has him going to a city that is crazy about puzzles. After all he is all about solving them and by the end you’ll have around figured out at least 80. The mysteries that keep popping up may keep me interested in seeing more of the game yet the puzzles are good too.

Ratchet and Clank Future tools of destruction

I have to tip my hat to Insomniac because the R&C games from this point forward withstand the test of time visually. The third person combat is still fun today too. Blasting stuff with one of the many different weapons continues to be enjoyable. Primary thanks to being about dodging attacks instead of hiding behind cover. Makes it stand out in a time where most TPS rely on cover.

Riviera feels like the JRPG that wanted to take out exploring a dungeon in the normal way. Instead of running around a area map it has you going from one room to the next like you're playing a dungeon crawler. Thus it is all about the combat which appears to be the standard JPRG formula but now you have EX power bars. Those bars let the enemy and player characters use their special skills once it fills up. The additional fact you can only bring 4 weapons also forces you to focus on certain tactics to succeed. The story which takes a lot of elements from Norse mythology which could be interesting with the main focus early on seems to be about stopping a new Ragnarok from happening.

Origins was the first Silent Hill game to be created outside of Konami. Although development was rocky they did a great job of replicating why people enjoy this style of game. The creepy atmosphere is intact along with the haunting soundtrack to go along with it. Even the combat remains the same other than the fact melee weapons can break. Which might be a big issue if running past enemies wasn’t still the main focus of most combat scenarios. With this being an origin story you get to see why Silent Hill turns into a foggy monster filled town.

Well I didn’t need to own this game but I felt like I needed to experience the horror of Sonic The Hedgehog. I don’t need to regale you all with the many issues of this game. It is quite known how badly Sega bungled this release. What pushed them to release this with the frame rate running like garbage? It wasn’t like Sega was in dire straits at this point so they could have delayed it. Instead this was apart of Sonic’s downward trend.

Zelda managed to have a high seas adventure so why not Sonic? At least that is what I assume Sega was thinking when they created this sequel to Sonic Rush. This is a island hopping adventure and while the player is on the ocean they must dodge a bunch of attacks on the touch screen. This continues till you reach the destination then it swaps over to a 2D perspective. This is similar to old style Sonic except now you can have a boost that can slam through enemies and obstacles. Pretty much the peak of the go fast mentality the portable Sonic games were around this time.

Super Mario Galaxy as a whole does a lot of things that make it stand out from other games in this series. For one it has a well produced intro to set up why everything takes place on different small planetoids. The new princess named Rosalina has a heartfelt backstory that gets told via a picture book the closer you get to the end of the game. Giving the game some sort of narrative other than yo Mario you gotta save the princess. The platforming gameplay is still the best in class with the addition of the spin attack making it easier to deal with certain enemies. Even the style of the game holds up very well and all of this makes it one of the best Super Mario games of all time.

So many dual stick shooters came out this year. I never picked up on the fact this was a remake of a amiga game till much later. At least in the case of this game the background actually makes it tough to keep track of everything. I died quite a few times by accident because I didn’t see the asteroid or enemy that ran into me. Other than that it seems like a well made dual stick shooter. That tries to vary up how you take out asteroids and enemies by forcing you to use the right colored weapon on them. Yet I didn’t really enjoy my time with it now or in the past.

Stand alone without me having a direct competitions to the sequel this still looks alright. The gameplay that remains throughout the series started here. Shoot a bunch of evil pirates and then climb around a area to solve a puzzle. With cool set piece moments inserted between the moment to moment gameplay. With it being the first attempt Naughty Dog didn’t quite get everything right. That fact will change as this series continues.

The PS1 had so many JRPG’s that it isn’t surprising that I missed out on Wild Arms until it was released on PSN. One of the unique things it has up its sleeve was the theme. It has a western setting and it even starts with 3 different playable characters. I’m sure a few hours in they all meet to join together to stop some great evil from destroying the world. Because it really looks like a generic JRPG in every way other than the visual presentation.

Conclusion

Playing older games way past their release date is the norm for me. Especially if I didn’t get to play them when they were first released. Nostalgia may be a big reason gamers tend to enjoy older games. Yet it is still possible to enjoy them without reminding yourself of all the good moments you enjoyed in the past. At least for me it seems like the PS1 can still stand the test of time although it can be tough to look past some of the early polygonal graphics. Over time it is apparent how much developers are willing to resell older games again and I feel like the digital age made that even more obvious. Tune in next time to see Capcom remake more of their old games and to visit liberty city one more time.