Wi-Philes

Muramasa swords had the stigma in feudal Edo-era Japan of bringing death and destruction, often on their own bearer, so much that shogun Tokugawa famously banned his most faithful samuraï from ever wearing them.

This new Wii Action/RPG by VanillaWare takes place during the Genroku era, under the fifth Tokugawa shogun. Chaos is spreading over Honshu when the powerful Muramasa blades summon evil spirits from the netherworld. You play as either a young amnesic ninja or a cursed kunoichi, and you travel through the land, fighting foes and collecting souls and blades.

The game plays as a traditional horizontal scrolling action game, having the player run through beautiful hand drawn environments and jump around on tree branches or roofs. When enemies are close, your character automatically draws his sword, and you can then use the A button to slash, or use B for special attacks (depending on the sword you have equipped). You must clear the area out of bad guys before you can proceed to the next screen. I have only tried Shura Mode, which focuses more on action, but there is also a Muso Mode which gives precedence to Role Playing and leveling up over slashing living things. I have encountered no motion controls so far, which to me is a slight disappointment. I'll have to try the different gameplay modes and control options to see if that resolves this gripe of mine.

Progress is pretty linear so far, though I've just played through the first level, and I hear the path branches out more starting with the second. The game uses a Metroid-like automap should things start getting confusing. Muramasa being an adventure game, there is some emphasis on exploration, and you'll encounter many NPCs on your way, some humans and some not so (you'll particularly appreciate meeting the kitsune creature after your first boss fight, her assets barely contained into her tight kimono). All cutscenes are rendered in-engine, often with a slightly zoomed-in view of your character, à la Warioland Shake. Just like Nintendo's platformer, this is a good thing as the game truly shines by its visuals.

Muramasa is drop-dead gorgeous; all graphics are in finely detailed, beautifully hand-drawn 2D. Unlike the developer's previous title, Odin Sphere, animation is smooth as a baby's bottom, probably thanks to a mix of a matured engine and the Wii's power. Sound design was handled by Basiscape, who once again did a fantastic job with the game's soundtrack. Every character is fully voiced, including NPCs and the Japanese music adds tremendously to transporting the player to this mystical feudal world.

Oboro Muramasa is not exactly import-friendly, as all menus and onscreen text are in kanji with very little katakana and no trace of English. Thankfully the game is coming to the west through XSEED Games in the US (later this year) and Rising Star Games in Europe (Spring 2010, sadly). Let's just hope that unlike the previously mentioned Warioland Shake, Muramasa: The Demon Blade as it going to be called over here doesn't suffer from being an anachronistic 2D title, even in a sea of 3D mediocrity.

Resident Evil: Degeneration is the new RE movie produced by Sony Pictures and Capcom. Unlike its embarrassing live-action predecessors, this 97 minute long CG movie is a direct continuation of the events from Shinji Mikami's famous game series. Set seven years after the Raccoon City Incident that started it all, the movie stars returning Resident Evil 2 survivors Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield.

The pretext of a story at work here is a bit flimsy; Bio-terrorists, pharmaceutical corporations (Umbrella, WilPharma and the mysterious TriCell) and the US government are all tied together in a conspiracy imbroglio. Claire is now part of some NGO and conveniently happens to be on the premises of another T-Virus outbreak, and Leon is again sent by Washington to do his thing, encountering on his way a rather... well, uninteresting love interest.

Still, even as a "a 90-minute-long videogame cut scene" (unflatteringly quoted from Wired's Chris Kohler), RE: D easily kicks the ass of the three Milla Jovovich starring abominations, as an enjoyable, canonical Bio Hazard zombie flick. From its very first act, the movie grabs the user into a ballet of slow-motion shootings, explosions and choreographic undead tail-kicking. As a RE story would not be complete without a super mutated zombie boss, WilPharma's ultra high-tech research facility fortunately happens to host a G-Virus sample, the same stain that infected William Birkin in RE2. A good part of the movie is then spent running away from, then fighting the creature, classically culminating in an underground showdown and escaping self destruct sequences. No, that wasn't really a spoiler and you know it, stop whining.

Both the motion capture and voice acting is about what you'd expect from the series, so fans will be in familiar territory, and haters won't have their opinions changed. The producers somehow managed to make Leon into a real badass, so you won't see us complaining.

The facial animation is more of a mixed bag, as protagonists have the unfortunate tendency to look like expressionless dolls. Hair physics are also a little off on some characters. On the other hand, the camera work and special effects (especially fire) are all very dynamic and convincing, sometimes bordering on impressive.

RE: D ties into Resident Evil 5 by succinctly introducing TriCell Pharmaceutical Company. It's not very subtle nor clever, but we'll take what we can in anticipation of the series' fifth opus. Resident Evil: Degeneration will be available on DVD on December 27th in the US.

I absolutely loved Warioland 4 and consider it to be one of the best games in the prolific handheld-exclusive series. After spending a little over one hour of playtime on Warioland Shake It! for the Wii, I am pleased to say it's more of the same, really.

This full-length disc-based (not WiiWare) high-resolution 2D platformer shares its basic mechanics with Nintendo R&D1's GBA opus: Wario is tipped by old rival Syrup on the existence within the Shake Dimension of the Bottomless Sack, which as its name implies provides endless supplies of coins to its owner. Wario then goes exploring the five worlds that compose this dimension, to claim back five major treasures and save the local queen from the evil Shake King.

Each world is divided into four stages (with at least one more hidden) plus a boss fight. The progression is linear, but Wario can buy maps from Syrup to access new worlds if his financial situation allows it. I only got to beat the first world, but each stage so far has been refreshingly different from both a graphical and gameplay perspective. Similarly to Warioland 4, after reaching the goal of the level, here a cage imprisoning a Merfle, (a sort of tiny flying creature that apparently inhabits the land) the player has to backtrack to the beginning of the stage within a strict time limit.

The gameplay consists of traditional platforming, exploration and puzzle solving. In addition to his old dash and butt-stomp moves, Wario can now shake grabbed items and enemies for coins and items to loot, or just throw them away in a mechanic reminiscent of Yoshi's egg tossing. He can also pound the ground and cause an impressive earthquake to various effects. The player holds the Wii Remote sideways and navigates the level using the D-Pad and face buttons. The Wii's accelerometers control Wario's new shake abilities, as well as various environmental puzzles like mine carts and moving cannons.

The 2D graphics are extremely impressive. Warioland Shake It! probably boasts the best high resolution sprites I have ever seen in any game to date. Wario and the other characters all move with perfect fluidity thanks to the animators at Production IG. The backdrops are colorful and well detailed, with very little impression of repeating tiles, and some subtle lighting effects help the sprites blend into the environments (sprites get darker in dark corridors and lighter in the sun).

My impressions after this quick session are mostly favorable. Developer Good Feel has got the recipe down for a quality traditional platformer. I am not loving the level design and gameplay as much as Warioland 4's so far, and I found the audio side, while competently composed, not sounding as good either (and that's compared to a Gameboy Advance game!). Fans of Wario and puzzle/exploration oriented platformers should love this title, and just like its handheld predecessor the replay value seems quite good, with tons of secrets and hidden treasures to go back to gather. Overall I would advise any self-respecting so-called hardcore gamer to give this title an honest try come September 29th (26th if you live in Europe). After all this is exactly the kind of meaty experience fans have been clamoring for Nintendo to go back to making.

I'm always pumped each time a new Mario Kart game comes out. Ever since the Super Nintendo days, Miyamoto's wacky racing franchise has spanned some of my favorite multiplayer games, and each iteration brings its share of even more craziness.

Mario Kart Wii was no exception. Sure, the game was kind of a stealth announcement; some short early footage at E3, a couple screenshots and art here and there unveiling the new type of vehicle, and then a surprise release on the heels of the highly successful Smash Bros. Brawl behemoth.

Still, the game managed to grab my attention. Maybe not from day one, but after a while it started growing its own personality, and slowly overshadowed Brawl's anticipation in my eyes. See, I was a huge fan of the Gamecube console opus, Mario Kart Double Dash!! (with the patented exclamation marks). I loved the driving model in that game, with each kart having for the first time its distinct feel on the road. I was also a fan of the tag team mechanic, which had you control two characters per vehicle, adding more complex strategy to power-up management. The new tracks were a lot of fun, and the battle mode, while sporting less interesting arenas than say Mario Kart 64, was enhanced with the addition of new modes.

But enough recalling the past! (OK not really) Mario Kart Wii as it is named, lets go of the two per kart mechanic, which makes for a seemingly more traditional take on the illustrious franchise. Wii oblige, the main appeal of the game is the control scheme. Now I have only tried the remote-only method, out of many others. The game controls a lot like Nintendo's own Wii launch title (not in Europe) Excite Trucks. The twist is that it comes with a plastic wheel shell to slip your remote in and pretend you're actually steering. I did not get to try the wheel, but I can tell you the remote controls are very good and actually quite sensitive. Powersliding (initiated after a quick hop using either the 2 or B button) gains in precision from the motion control, even vs. an analog stick.

At this point the game overall feels like a slightly refined Mario Kart with new tracks. Until you get familiarized with the other main appeal, that is: Bikes! This time around, the Grand Prix are divided in three leagues that go like this: 50cc with karts only, 100cc with motorcycles only, and 150cc with both. The bikes handle quite differently than their four wheeled counterparts. The steering is more nervous and so is the drifting. Different motorcycles also greatly differ in handling to the point that some might take some time to adjust to. You can now perform stunts on both karts and bikes, with a simple remote motion while suspended in mid-air. If timed well this technique is sure to give you a nice quick boost on landing, but nothing decisive for sure. Most of the regular items are making a comeback, like the rotating turtle shells, the banana peels and the Bullet Bills. I can't say much in terms of new power-ups, but I've already encountered a couple interesting ones, like that big mushroom from New Super Mario Bros. that makes you huge, or a stormy could that strikes you with lighting... or whatever bad stuff that thing does.

Some of the early tracks I've played were all fun and pretty well designed. There's a shopping mall, a new Moo Moo farm variant, a giant mushroom filled cave, and your regular Mario and Luigi racing circuits. As usual those stages are filled with tons of hidden shortcuts, and make you sweat to get them. Thankfully the new handling method is well suited to the tight turns and you're pretty much guaranteed some glorious powersliding moments.

Multiplayer I have only tried online. You can race in up to 12 players jousts (which I think is really a maximum of 6 Wiis with 2 people on each). I've had a few 6 player races and all ran perfectly smooth, and there was not much to note on that. Or maybe one thing: The game installs an optional Mario Kart channel to your Wii menu, from which you can access and manage your Nintendo WiFi Connection stats and friendlists, as well as download ghosts from the top Time Trial players in the world. There is also a very cool option to message people on your Wii directory with friend code invites, an option I have abused quite a lot to enrage a select few poor American forum members who I know won't get their hands on the game for some time.

Now for the the obligatory impressions of graphics: The game looks very nice and runs at some super smooth framerate. Nothing transcending in the technical department, as I'm sure you've seen from screens and videos. Some character models could've used some more polish (Bowser is blocky as Hell), but that mostly shows during the character select screen and replays. The tracks themselves are easy on the eyes and well textured and lit, but nothing will blow you away Mario Galaxy style.

Overall I'm quite pleased with the new Mario Kart grand cru, and I already know I'll be playing this game for a long time (longer than I did the DS game before losing interest). The real test of time for me will be local multiplayer, and I'll make sure to get back to you on that as soon as I can fit balloon popping session into my busy businessman schedule.

1987~2007.The Street Fighter martial arts simulation franchise has its roots back some twenty years ago, deep in the late 80's arcade industry on which Capcom partly founded its early success. This blogger recalls dabbling in the first game, between two quarter consuming sessions of After Burner or Rolling Thunder, hitting the buttons as hard as he could in a desperate effort to beat that bald, unibrow sporting Japanese dork who wouldn't stop calling him 'Kiddo'.

But no one remembers nor cares about the first game (and for good reason too), for the series' popularity only reached its apogee with the advent of the universally acclaimed second opus. Capcom ditched the pressure sensitive input found in the first game in favor of the now standard and friendlier six buttons system. Coupled with eight unique playable characters -an impressive number for the time- each with their own set of special moves for the player to master, Street Fighter II attained a level of depth never seen before in a fighting game.

The success was fulgurating. All over the world arcade goers challenged each other, and the CPU controlled AI, in Hadoken and Sonic Boom jousts. From there the franchise spawned everything from calendars to bubble gums, action figures, stickers, manga/anime series, an infamous Jean-Claude Van-Damme starring movie (tak zat baysson!) and occasionally some videogames too.

Indeed, Capcom produced many adaptations and spinoffs of varied quality over the years, and of particular interest to the reader in the context of this (hopefully ongoing) weblog series, are the multiple appearances of the Street Fighter saga on various Nintendo consoles during the last two decades.

Fast forward to late 2007: Twenty years and a third episode -appearing on nearly every videogame platform but Nintendo's- later, Capcom has just announced a fourth episode of Street Fighter was in the works. According to early reports, the game openly takes Street Fighter II as its reference, meaning we can expect many characters from the second installment to return. Dhalsim, Blanka, Guile, Chun Li and many others were already confirmed, in addition to the eternal Ken and Ryu.

Maybe this time there is a slim possibility of Street Fighter IV hitting (pun intended) the Nintendo Wii, allowing us to settle once and for all the Shotokan duo's virile rivalry about who has the biggest (fire)balls.

Asphyxia awaits those holding their breath, you have been warned...

Street Trivia: The Shunning Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers was the last game to appear on a Nintendo home console, back in 1994. One could of course argue that thanks to the Wii Virtual Console, Street Fighter games are again playable on your Nintendo setup in the comfort of your living room. But again, One also better shut his trap or he will no doubt get shoryukened in the face.