Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip
Some people think that a vacation ought to be about getting away from the things we do every day at home, like playing video games.
Pshaw.
Whenever I travel I always have a bag full of portable devices loaded up with games. I can think of no better way to lull myself to sleep during a jetlagged evening or make time fly while stuck on an airport bench than to lose myself in, say, some delightful dungeon crawling.
As I packed my bags to get ready for a little trip to visit my family in Saskatchewan, it occurred to me that I ought to put up a list of the games that I'll be taking with me. I already mentioned in a previous post that one of those games is Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies, so I won't discuss it here. However, I've listed five others below and provided impressions based on the brief time I've spent with each leading up to liftoff.
Puzzle Quest 2
Puzzle Quest redefined what puzzle games could be by weaving in a traditional role-playing game narrative and turning standard match-three puzzle action into an analog for fantastical monster fights. The changes created a sense of tension unique among puzzle games and created a new reason to keep playing.
I'm not very far into this sequel, but it seems much like the original. We still take turns at the grid with computer controlled enemies, and we still need to match like-coloured gems to earn mana (which is necessary to unleash spells) while keeping an eye out for skulls capable of dealing immediate damage.
But there are new elements, too. I've already encountered a handful of mini-game puzzles that need to be completed to break down doors, pick locks, and loot treasure chests. And instead of simply roaming a world map we can now explore actual towns and dungeons, chatting with characters and looking for side missions.
I've got a good feeling about it already. Aside from Dragon Quest IX, I suspect this game more than any other will consume my idle vacation hours.
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable
I've no idea what to expect from this eastern RPG, a remake of 2007's Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 for PlayStation 2. The Shin Megami Tensei franchise has an excellent track record, receiving high praise from players and critics around the world, but for reasons I don't fully understand I've never played a single game in the series.
Persona 3 Portable arrived on my desk a couple of weeks ago, but I've yet to really dive into it. I've worked through the first half hour or so, which is comprised of a series of dramatic scenes in a modern school that show, among other things, a pupil deliberating suicide by handgun. It was captivating.
And if the intriguing opening isn't enough to pique your curiosity, consider this: Metacritic is currently tracking Persona 3 Portable at 94 per cent, making it the best reviewed PSP game of all time (though, granted, only about 20 critics have weighed in so far). I feel the need to continue exploring and find out for myself what all the fuss is about.
Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip
Sony's Hot Shots golf and tennis games aren't taken nearly as seriously as they deserve to be by North American gamers. Their graphics may be cartoon-ish and their cast of characters goofy, but the core play-both online and off-is often terrific; a refreshing antidote to some of the hardcore sports simulators on the market.
I've put in a few hours with Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip and, as with most of the previous Hot Shots games, I am happily and pleasantly hooked.
The tennis action is familiar but strong. Players have a full arsenal of shot types at their disposal and can vary shot placement via a combination of nimble directional pad taps and good swing timing.
What's more, a fun little story mode sees us enhancing the natural abilities of our characters through a loyalty system and earning special items, costumes, and equipment, resulting in a subtle but agreeable sports RPG vibe.
100 Classic Books
The name of this Nintendo/Harper Collins collaboration says it all. The cartridge is packed with five score classic, free-license literary masterpieces, such as The Call of the Wild, Jane Eyre, and The Secret Garden.
Users hold the DS on its end like a book and flip pages by sliding the stylus-or, more likely, their fingers-across the touch screen. It works very well. My wife, a confirmed Sony eBook Reader addict, loves the interface.
A quiz designed to evaluate your tastes and recommend suitable books is interesting only insofar as it's fun to see which titles the software chooses, but other features-like a sliding bar that lets you flip through books to the exact page you're looking for in seconds-are highly useful and don't even exist on many modern readers.
Sadly, the DS' screens are so small that there's room for no more than five or six words per line and two or three sentences per page. Speed readers will find that their flipping fingers never stop moving.
Still, these limitations haven't kept me from getting into Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, which I hope to finish before returning home.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
If you read the reviews for this highly anticipated PSP tactical espionage action game you'll notice a consistent theme. Most critics admit that the interface isn't great, but it doesn't matter because this is, like, the best PSP game ever.
Problem is, controls can make or break a game for many players. The PSP's lack of a second analog nub has kept me from enjoying the vast majority of the system's first- and third-person games; genres best experienced with one thumb controlling the camera and another controlling movement.
I spent a few hours with Peace Walker in early June and the interface just killed the experience for me. I didn't want to damn a game based on the flaws of the hardware for which it was designed, but I just couldn't continue to play. I moved Snake with zero grace, found it impossible to efficiently employ any sort of stealth, and routinely had my butt handed to me when the action turned into a firefight.
Enough time has passed for me to want to give it another chance-from what I saw during my initial foray Konami has pushed Sony's aging handheld to its very limits in terms of graphics and presentation-but I'm ready to walk away again if the controls continue to drive me nuts. I'm not taking games with me on vacation to be frustrated by them.
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