Under the Island (Multi) Review

Our first review of March takes us all over the island, atop the island, and yes, under the island in... Under the Island, a Zelda-inspired title from Slime King Games that launched last month on most current platforms. Let's take our hockey stick in tow, raise it over our head, and proceed to take to the island with this SuperPhillip Central review.

A strong Zelda-like that won't grind your mystical gears.

Indies are exceptional for their creating unique gameplay ideas and mechanic concepts, and so many times we see such off-the-wall experiences that would be deemed too risky for larger devs. Sometimes, however, it's also awesome to see indies take previously built, tried and true concepts and expand upon them in their own, unique way. This is what developer Slime King Games has done with its game, Under the Island. Taking the formula and foundation that Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda franchise created, Slime King Games offers a charming and enjoyable adventure that was for me, quite reminiscent of Link's Awakening.

Under the Island follows a teenager named Nia who begrudgingly relocates with her archaeologist parents to Seashell Island for a one-year research expedition. Quite quickly, she meets a girl named Avocado, and the pair unexpectedly stumble into some ancient ruins under the main town of the game. There, they encounter a bipedal bird who informs them that Seashell Island will sink deep into the ocean if four mythical gears are not collected and reassembled. Thus, Nia has her mission, the MacGuffins to go after in the form of the gears, and an entire island to explore, one area at a time.

Time to get our rears in gear, it seems! We've got an adventure to embark on!

The narrative of Under the Island is one that engages in plenty of verbose cutscenes. These weren't annoying to me, offering some further personality to flesh out characters, but I do imagine that a fair number of players will prefer a "less is more" experience. This is especially so because a lot of the conversations between characters are rather long-winded and don't provide too much on offer to say. Furthermore, some typos and dialogue issues are present in the game, and a notable puzzle in the final dungeon of the game confuses "its" and "it's", the contraction, which is somewhat immersion breaking.

Don't mind me. Just passin' through!

Regardless, that niggling nonsense aside, Under the Island is a rather lovely Zelda-like experience. It offers an expansive map to explore, opening up little by little as Nia obtains new items--generally the more robust set of tools offering the most utility are discovered in the game's dungeons. The items range from a flower that spits out flames, which gets plenty of use throughout the adventure--from lighting torches, to burning faraway bushes, for example--to chow that can lure animals on top of buttons to weigh them down, for instance.

This plant, for our purposes, has one welcomed case of heartburn!

Nia herself sports a hockey stick as her main weapon. I say, "main weapon" because while you can unleash that previously mentioned fireball-shooting plant at foes, it's much too slow and weak to actually be useful in the heat of battle. The hockey stick allows for a three-hit combo, though I must admit that this weapon takes a bit of getting used to. It's rather clunky to use at best, and it's also not very powerful at the beginning of the game. Fortunately, there is a tent in the central town of the game, which provides upgrades for a price of money and dropped materials from enemies. 

Thankfully, penalties involving "high-sticking" don't happen off the ice!

Thus, combat is not the best part of Under the Island, though it also doesn't ruin the experience either. Instead, I would say the most entertaining portion of Under the Island comes from its exceptional environmental, world, and dungeon design. The island is both entertaining and enjoyable to explore, offering dozens upon dozens of dense areas--many of which are optional but reward players for careful investigating and going off the beaten path. Areas are interconnected in ways that make logical sense, with it always being a pleasure to figure out the path forward or how to reach a certain, seemingly inaccessible doorway or cavern. 

Fortunately, if you're not feeling like hotfooting it across the island, fast travel is an option, and even this brings some clever ideas and requires some exploration to unlock as well. For each fast travel location, there is a hidden nearby, block-pushing puzzle room, necessitating Nia to solve. Once solved, these open up the means to fast travel to that given destination. 

These block-pushing puzzles can certainly be brain-busters, but the fast travel reward's more than worth the effort.

Of course, Nia won't always be out-of-doors despite being on an island, as there are dungeons to delve into. These aren't always your typical dungeon fare, offering such locales like a greenhouse and even a cereal factory. These dungeons are home to various puzzles to solve, treasure chests to open (many of which containing Zelda-specific dungeon items like maps and compasses), and baddies to beat.

These baddies include bosses, which, too, take a different, unique approach to your traditional Zelda game. Circling back to the greenhouse, the first major dungeon within the game, the boss here is less a major enemy and more a set piece. It features Nia making sure a stage production goes off without a hitch, requiring her to adjust the lighting and culminating with her needing to fend off overzealous fans backstage from ruining said production. 

Weave through this boss's bullet hell-like attack.

Outside of the main dungeons and story progression, an immense number of optional side quests are available to take on, granting wonderful rewards to make the extra effort worthwhile. These can be exclusive items that Nia would otherwise never encounter on her adventure, or of course, a Zelda staple, the means to generate additional health. Though, this is performed by visiting a gym freak who in exchange for four Heart Coins will bestow Nia with an extra heart container, for lack of a better term.

Under the Island took me about 13 hours to fully complete. That was with unlocking all achievements, which included clearing the story, maxing out Nia's health, obtaining all cassette tapes, and other optional objectives. Overall, it was a really good time, and I found myself extending my play sessions just because I was enjoying myself so much.

Caves, treasures, and more await skilled explorers.

This extended to the presentation, which I also liked. The chibi sprite art is remarkably cute, the environments and landscapes are outstanding in detail, vibrant, and colorful. I was impressed by the enemy variety as well. Rather than utilize a simple handful of enemies and sprites across the entire game, Under the Island instead opted to change enemies up depending on the locale with matching monsters and sprites that fit each indubitably. The music, too, offers plenty to enjoy, full of tunes that are decidedly nice enough to bop one's head around to and tap one's toes to, as well. 

While its combat is a bit too loose, and its dialogue a bit too much in general, all in all, Under the Island won me over big time. I was able to tolerate those small-to-medium sized quibbles to fully enjoy and complete the game. There's such a wonderfully enjoyable world to explore with Under the Island's... well... island, that tracking down every last Heart Coin, every last item, and making Nia one lean, mean, baddie-defeating machine through upgrades discovered around said world was something I thoroughly loved doing. If you're yearning for a new, highly competent, top-down, traditional Zelda-like experience, Under the Island will fulfill that yearning indeed. It won't rival the highs of exploring The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening's Koholint Island, but then again, what does?

[SPC Says: B] 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (PS2, GCN, XBX) Retro Review

It's been a couple of months since SuperPhillip Central's last retro review, but now we have a new one on the site. It's for the first outing of the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series in video game form. Usually there's a rhyme and reason for a retro review. Perhaps a new entry in a particular game series is coming out, or maybe it's the anniversary. With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Well, there really is no reason other than to just play it in co-op with a fellow reviewer. Here's the SPC retro review of 2003's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Heroes in a halfhearted effort

I grew up like many kids in the late '80s and early '90s, I was hooked to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Everything about the heroes in a half shell had me foaming at the mouth, whether the movies, the hokey cartoon show, the action figures, costumes for Halloween, the video games, and so forth. In 2003, the Turtles returned with a brand-new cartoon series. In the U.S., it aired on the Saturday Morning Fox Box, a collection of cartoons that was formerly known as Fox Kids before it became the all-4Kids TV branded morning of shows.

Like in the late '80s, the powers that be behind the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles went on a merchandising spree. Though the (at the time) new series for the turtles didn't reach the highs and fandom of the late '80s one, it still received plenty of stuff, and yes, that included video games. A multitude of Turtles-branded games released based off of the 2003 cartoon, and the first was a multiplatform game for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Xbox known simply as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you're looking for the magic of the older arcade games, you won't find it here. In fact, you won't find much of value here.

It all goes down to plethora of problems. The first is the nearly brain-dead combat on offer here. You have a light attack, strong attack, and the ability to throw shurikens of various types. There's no real discernible difference between light attacks and strong attacks, so the only real recourse of action here is to spam the light attack button, performing combos in this manner.

Just in case you needed a visual aid, this attack "bash"-ed this Foot Soldier in the face.

Every offense needs a good defense, but Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles doesn't offer much in the way of avoiding enemy attacks. You see, there's no block button whatsoever. This means you can get caught in a multi-hit combo, particularly by bosses who provide the stiffest of challenges over the otherwise easy enemy AI, and find a great deal of your health depleted in the process. Instead, what you're faced with is the need to use the left shoulder button to dash away from enemies before they can wallop you, which is by far more limited a defensive option than a block would otherwise be.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' 2003 offering is split up between six chapters which are divided up between multiple areas. What level design is here is the most basic of the basic with linear corridors and occasional open spaces, all requiring you to move from one horde of enemies to another (the kind that usually appear out of nowhere). There is no real exploration to be found as usually interesting locations in levels are blocked by invisible walls. When you do find a place of interest, it can house the game's sole collectible, a scroll that unlocks some form of concept art in the gallery section of the game.

Instead of the side-scrolling nature found in the more loved arcade games by Konami, 2003's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has 3D arenas and areas that provide different camera positions at various heights and angles that follow along with your turtle. Sometimes it can be to your detriment, however, as the camera can occasionally not keep up with the action or face you with a precarious angle or point of view.

In between some chapters, your turtle of choice enters Splinter's dojo, where they must complete a task to earn a reward. This can be an increase to their offensive or defensive abilities or it can be something as simple as learning how to jump and attack. Yes, you have to learn how to jump and attack in a beat-em-up. The otherwise baffling and impossible-to-know means to jump and then attack is locked behind completing one of Splinter's trials.

Playing solo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is quite the slog as you're fighting the same number of enemies in solo than you would in co-op, many that can overwhelm you in groups. However, things become a bit more enjoyable with a second player. Unfortunately and confusingly so, there is no option to play with four buddies. Only two turtles and players can play at a time. Nevertheless, two players make for a funner experience, though still full of button-mashing and little else.

Co-op makes a horrid Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game much more digestible and dare I say, fun!

The fact that you have to beat the game as all four turtles to face the true final boss and see the true ending (meaning that player one has to control one turtle through the game four times) makes for longevity to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but the gameplay is so vapid and repetitive that this makes for more of a chore than a challenge.

The presentation for 2003's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles isn't too shabby. The cel-shaded style which was popular for the time looks great. Animations are moderately executed, but not all looks great as areas themselves are a bit drab in appearance. Clips from the show look great, though they make for a disjointed story that has little cohesion whatsoever. It's more of an episodic structure, and even then, it won't make much sense contextually to those who haven't seen the show. When not showing clips from the series, the characters just stand around in their 3D model glory with limited animation. Finally when it regards the audio, the voice actors do a nice job, but the music is mostly uninspired butt rock, something that is just background noise.

Shell Cell: The preferred way of keeping in touch with your fellow turtles.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' 2003 offering is a repetitive beat-em-up with little reason to play through it more than once, despite its intention to have you play through it four times just to see the real ending. Yes, it's accessible, but the combat is so basic that there's no real joy from overcoming wave after wave after wave after wave after wave after wave after wa-- oops, better stop myself there-- of enemies. The only real challenge comes from the harder-than-ordinary boss battles, and this is mostly due to the lack of any sort of block button. Alone the game is tedious, with a friend there is more fun to be had, but not much more. The first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles video game based off of the 2003 cartoon series is hardly worth a look unless you're a giant turtles fan. Even then, I feel shafted of my five hours with the game.

[SPC Says: D]

LEGO Marvel's Avengers (PS4, XB1, Wii U, PS3, 360, 3DS, Vita) Review

It's the big Hollywood blockbuster season, so while we take a quick break away from E3, let's delve into one of the most popular forms of Hollywood blockbuster, the superhero movie! LEGO Marvel's Avengers actually is a double dose of Avengers goodness, retelling the plot of both Avengers films. Though the game was originally released earlier in the year, there's no such thing as being too late to this Marvel superhero jamboree. Here's the SuperPhillip Central review of LEGO Marvel's Avengers.

A LEGO game to marvel at?

DC or Marvel. As a child of the 90's, it wasn't as big of a battle with kids my age which one was better as, say, Nintendo or Sega. However, the struggle, as some say, was indeed real. While I loved Batman and still do to this day, the collection of superheroes that Marvel Comics has established over the years always appealed to me more.

LEGO has had multiple successes taking both DC's and Marvel's characters and putting them into game form. Now, LEGO has returned with another chapter in its Marvel line of games with LEGO Marvel's Avengers. As someone who hasn't seen any of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films yet, I was understandably confused by the organization of the plot of the game. LEGO Marvel's Avengers's main source for providing the story elements for the game itself come from the two Avengers movies. The slight bouncing around between Marvel's Avengers and Age of Ultron was a bit perplexing, but now after reading more about the movies, I know that the game starts with the opening of Age of Ultron before delving into a flashback from Captain America: The First Avenger, then goes to a more orderly structure, going from the first Avengers movie to Age of Ultron.

Looks like the gang is all here and ready to rock and roll.

LEGO Marvel's Avengers takes the humor of the LEGO series in the form of various sight gags and overlays them with lines directly from the films the game is based off of. One curious running gag is characters at various points of the game slurping from a strawberry milkshake. While that fell flat for me, other instances provide plenty of comedy, especially for the young ones. The lines used from the movies range from too quiet to too loud. They're imperfectly used and imbalanced. It's nothing overly jarring, but I made sure to have the volume up a little bit to compensate.

Most LEGO games released in the past few years have taken on a fully explore-able hub, filled with usually simple environmental puzzles (e.g. have Thor use his lightning to charge a panel which then opens a chest revealing your prize) or a series of environmental puzzles that unlock Gold Bricks. LEGO Marvel's Avengers has more than a handful of these instead of just one overworld hub. However, while there are different vistas and locales to visit, such as Asgard, Tony Stark's mansion in Malibu, Washington D.C., and more, Manhattan still remains the largest hub with the most things to do.

A relief to me was that the flight controls for characters like Iron Man are vastly improved over the last LEGO Marvel game. Makes jetting around this game's hubs much more enjoyable.

These hub areas are a lot of fun to explore. When you're not looking for Gold Bricks from doing various puzzling tasks, you can participate in races, initiated by pressing the confirm button whilst in near the starting line in the form of a ring (there are both ground and sky races to partake in, with the sky races being much improved over past games due to better handling with the flight controls); help fulfill various Marvel superhero and villain requests, which reward that character for use in Free Play; find various vehicle and character tokens; and help out famed comic book artist and storyteller Stan Lee out of some problematic predicaments. Everything is connected between a map-- that includes other hubs as well as the various fifteen levels of the game.

The aforementioned fifteen levels that LEGO Marvel's Avengers possesses are nothing new to anyone who has played a post-2005 LEGO game. You move around contained stages, essentially destroying every object in the area with your Marvel character's fists or other form of weaponry, using specific broken LEGO pieces to form new structures to solve environmentally based puzzles. In the first run of a level, you won't be able to collect everything it has to offer. This encourages replaying levels through Free Play, which allows you to call in any unlocked Marvel superhero, villain, or other character to interact with level elements that your original characters weren't able to do on your first run of the level.

Careful, Iron Man, this ain't no jolly green giant you're dealing with.

Each character in LEGO Marvel's Avengers follows the established LEGO formula, containing a specific power or ability. Some characters have multiple powers and abilities. For instance, Iron Man's red hot laser beam can destroy gold brick objects while Black Widow can use her cloaking ability to slip past security cameras and beams without being detected. It can be annoying switching between characters as much as you need to in Free Play, but thankfully, you have two characters in a level at the same time-- one you control and one the AI controls.

Not one to run from a fight, Captain America simply lost his sense of direction here.

However, you need not stick with an AI teammate if you do not wish to. LEGO Marvel's Avengers brings the well loved cooperative gameplay to the LEGO series once again, offering local play for two players in one form of split-screen or another (the Wii U version offers the ability for one players to use the GamePad screen while the other uses the TV). Unfortunately, with the Wii U, PS3, and Xbox 360 versions, co-op results in some occasionally very sluggish frame-rate issues that are quite noticeable.

Perform two-character combat moves to slightly alleviate the otherwise boring fighting in this game.

The design of levels tries to keep players engaged, but it's a bit of a problem whenever the game throws in multiple enemies for you to dispatch. The combat in all LEGO games are extremely basic to the point of being effortless. Being a game for the family, particular young children, a character losing all their hearts just results in a loss of some LEGO studs, the currency of the LEGO series, an incredibly minor inconvenience at that. This means when you have segments of the game where you have to take on a boss or defeat upwards of 30 enemies in a row, the ennui definitely kicks in.

There are 250 Gold Bricks to find-- many gained from discovering them through solving simple puzzles around the various hubs of LEGO Marvel's Avengers, while others come from completing the story missions, collecting enough LEGO studs in a given level, finding all 10 mini-kits in a level, and helping to rescue Stan Lee from some sort of perilous and compromising position. Then, there are the Red Bricks to find, 15 of them, that unlock bonus cheats, as well as all of the characters and vehicles you can unlock. If you're a fan of collecting stuff, and doing so in a fun way, you'll find a lot to love and enjoy with LEGO Marvel's Avengers-- just like any other LEGO game, really.

LEGO Marvel's Avengers might seem a step back compared to the innovative and fresh new things the developer's own LEGO Dimensions is doing, but if you're looking for the gaming equivalent of comfort food which is good for the whole family, then take out a controller and have a healthy helping of LEGO goodness.

[SPC Says: B-]

SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs - A Wonderful Way to Begin Your Week Edition

I don't know about you, but SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs is my favorite way to start the week! There's nothing like a good dose of video game music to get one prepped and primed for the week ahead!

This week, we're kicking things off at the starting line with Mario Kart: Super Circuit. We then take on the role of Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story 2 for the PS1. Moving on from there, we engage in battle with the Z fighters in Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden. Wrapping things up, we continue the trend of battle with a special arranged battle track from Sword of Mana and the battle theme of Xenoblade Chronicles X.

As always, past VGM volumes covered on this weekly segment can be found at the VGM Database, so be sure to give it a look!

v1056. Mario Kart: Super Circuit (GBA) - Circuit

The first VGM volume of this edition of SuperPhillip Central's Favorite VGMs comes from the first handheld entry in the Mario Kart franchise, the Game Boy Advance's Super Circuit. This theme plays during all three circuit tracks: Peach Circuit, Mario Circuit, and the rainy Luigi Circuit. While the sound quality of the Game Boy Advance hardware wasn't the best, you gotta really dig the bass on this theme.

v1057. Toy Story 2 (PS1) - Andy's House

A bright and bouncy theme for the level that takes place in Andy's House, Toy Story 2's PlayStation One soundtrack is an orchestrated delight, really showing the PS1's sound chip prowess over its competition, the Nintendo 64. The CD-based system allowed for a grander range of sounds, and with Toy Story 2, it really shows.

v1058. Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden (3DS) - Tenkaichi Budokai

The theme heard on the World Tournament stage of the underrated and overlooked Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden for the Nintendo 3DS (maybe it'll appear on an edition of Most Overlooked Nintendo 3DS games... maybe later this week?). The game itself is sprite-based, using really beautifully done and well animated spritework. The music in each stage, particularly this one, gets you prepped, energized, and ready for battle!

v1059. Sword of Mana (GBA) - Battle 2 ~ Touched by Courage and Pride (Arranged)

Let's double dip in Game Boy Advance soundtracks this edition, but this time around, let's listen to an orchestrated version of a Sword of Mana battle theme. Touched by Courage and Pride features a soothing violin leading the charge, backed by piano and percussion. It really sounds like something from an Ys game, and any song that sounds like something from Ys is a winner in my book.

v1060. Xenoblade Chronicles X (Wii U) - Black tar

Hiroyuki Sawano is a polarizing composer. His work on the anime Attack on Titan is loved and disliked by many, and his soundtrack to Xenoblade Chronicles X features music that also has split the fan base. I'm of the opinion that while the lyrics themselves are goofy, they don't hurt the actual songs, and dare I say, a lot of them sound really good. Black tar is the battle theme of Xenoblade Chronicles X, featuring some cheesy rap, but the rhythm and groove are quite nice.

Canvaleon (Wii U eShop) Review

Welcome to the weekend at SuperPhillip Central! It's time for a new review for a Wii U eShop game that released this past Thursday for a good number of Wii U owners, Canvaleon. Is this stealth platformer a good one, or is it something I'd rather stick my long, thin tongue out at?

Color Me Frustrated

The Wii U eShop might not be the most bustling marketplace for a home console. However, the quality and variety of many of the games are quite amazing. While there are definitely games to stay away from like any marketplace, there are some bright shiny gems in the Wii U's digital library. Canvaleon is a 2D platformer, which admittedly the Wii U has enough of, but it's one that tries something different, using a wide array of camouflages to blend the protagonist into the background, narrowly avoiding the advance of enemies. Is the mechanic executed brilliantly, or does Canvaleon "blend in" too much with the other less than desirable Wii U eShop games?

Canvaleon starts out with an adorable hand drawn scene that tells the story of a newborn chameleon who is ousted by his family and fellow villagers due to lacking the ability to change colors like any ordinary part of his species. Rejected, the chameleon grows up and meets an artist named Doodle has the ability to paint the pure white chameleon with his special paintbrush. Thus, Doodle gives the chameleon a name, Canvas!

This is where the main gameplay mechanic of Canvaleon comes in. Levels don't require you to speed through them as if you were playing Super Mario Bros. or something like that. Well, you CAN take levels that way, but you'll very much find yourself dying constantly. No, Canvaleon is more of a cerebral 2D platformer that requires stealth, patience, and strategy.

I quickly found out that simply trying to rush
through levels like my tail was on fire was a bad plan.

It just takes one hit to have to redo a stage, and because there are no checkpoints to be found (unfortunately-- having checkpoints would make Canvaleon more enjoyable and less frustrating to play), it makes it so you have to play smart. Levels are also fairly long, so one death near the end means you have to restart the whole blasted thing.

Our hero chameleon is a literal blank Canvas. Through collecting multicolored butterflies throughout stages, you can buy and create different camouflages for Canvas to equip. You can have up to four different camouflage patterns equipped at once, having you cycle through them with the shoulder buttons. Buying pre-made camouflages seems pretty useless, as they rarely seem applicable to the levels in the game. Thus, the option to create your own camouflage is highly important.

Depending on the enemy, your camouflage may
work better or worse.

Unfortunately, the game doesn't really explain well what goes into making a proper camouflage that will actually work. Furthermore, you pretty much have to remember the level's backgrounds to make the right colored camouflage, so if the level has a brick pattern, you best do your darndest to draw a pattern that is close to it from memory. Then there's the issue of not having enough butterflies to create said camo. You better not mind having to replay levels over and over to get the required amount of butterflies for the type of camouflage you desire.

Levels also suffer from the inability to fully gauge what is an actual platform and what isn't. Many times I'd leap to something that looked like a solid platform, only to discover it was just background scenery that couldn't be interacted with. Not the best if you're discovered by the enemy and have to make a mad dash to get to a safe platform away from the dangerous foe.

Thankfully, if one level is giving your problems, the world map of Canvaleon allows you to go to a different one to try out. There are a myriad of levels in the game taking place in various different locales requiring various different camouflages. There are forests, mountains, deserts, cities, and so many more interesting areas to explore.

Hmm. Something tells me this enemy is aware of my location.

They are so interesting because of how well the art design holds up. Canvaleon is a beautifully devised game artistically, offering detailed backgrounds and environments, nice enemy design, and nice visual effects. The music is pretty much background noise, but it's by no means grating, unlike the sound that plays when an enemy has been alerted of your presence.

Even still with its many issues, Canvaleon is by no means an awful game. It's just definitely one that requires patience and a bit of stubbornness to complete. Some better explanation towards designing your own camouflages would have been greatly appreciated, and a checkpoint or two in the longer levels would make for a far less frustrating and "nope. I'm done" moments. Still, if you have the resolve and perseverance to take on the challenge that Canvaleon holds, then by all means, check this innovative title out.

[SPC Says: C-]

Review copy provided by OXiAB Game Studio.

KAMI (3DS eShop) Review

While I focused on the bad earlier with Bad Levels in Gaming History, let's focus on the good with this next game. It's definitely a Zen-like experience that decidedly isn't for everyone. However, if you like a relaxing puzzler with some origami roots, then KAMI might just be an affordable downloadable title for you on the Nintendo 3DS eShop.

Zen is in.

At its birth, KAMI was a mobile game designed by State of Play. Now, their title has been ported over to the Nintendo 3DS with the help of CIRCLE Entertainment and Flyhigh Works. Offering the same amount of simplicity, and intentionally so to give its players a feeling of achieving Zen, KAMI isn't a game for everyone. However, for those that step into the fold, they will find a relaxing paper-based puzzle game to enjoy.

KAMI's focus is on puzzles that are identically displayed on the top and bottom screens, made up of different colors and patterns of origami paper. The goal is to use the three or four colors of paper provided to you on the bottom of the screen to fill in the puzzle so that at the conclusion of your work you have a screen full of just one color. This is performed by tapping the bottom screen for the piece of colored paper you desire and then tapping a space on the puzzle itself to fill it with color.

However, it isn't as simple as all that. Not only must you decide which color will completely take over the screen at the end of the puzzle, but you have only a finite number of moves to solve each papercraft conundrum. It behooves you to plan carefully. While the puzzles won't have you slamming your fists in frustration, they will have your fingers slowly stroking your chin as you ponder the solutions to each puzzle. Even if you make a mistake, you can tap the undo button to resolve it in an instant.

Despite what might be perceived as a modest collection of puzzles, KAMI will last players a good while, especially if they try to beat each puzzle while fulfilling the gold requirement (i.e. beating a puzzle in the least amount of moves). You unlock new sets of nine puzzles after clearing each one that proceeds it. There are 45 puzzles in the Classic Puzzles category to complete, and when those are taken care of, KAMI throws at you challenges meant solely for experts at the game. As you finish off puzzles of one type, different patterned pieces of paper and colored pieces of paper are introduced to keep the experience fresh and challenging. 

KAMI itself is a very relaxing puzzle game, and that stretches out into its presentation. The menus are simple in presentation. There is but one track in the entire game that plays throughout the menus and as you progress through the puzzles. It might seem like the developers forgot to make KAMI exciting to all players, but instead, the developers achieved a truly Zen experience. That's definitely something to applaud, even if it isn't wholly appreciated by everyone. 

While it's no game for adrenaline junkies, KAMI is a fantastic game to relax to that never gets annoying to play. Sure, you'll come to spots where you'll be murmuring to yourself in confusion as to how to turn every piece of patterned paper into the same color, but you'll never be cursing the origami gods. It's a short experience, but for the price, KAMI is an artful papercraft puzzler to get your Zen on to. 

[SPC Says: C+]

Review copy provided by CIRCLE Entertainment.

Top Five Most Anticipated Digital-Only Games

Gaming is heading towards digital more and more as each year passes by. It's fantastic that developers are able to create mid-tier games that last generation were all but endangered in the retail space. Now, we have genres that wouldn't fit into the AAA-line of thinking that this industry continues to lean towards readily available on many digital marketplaces. The titles that I'm most excited for this year are but some of the incredibly hype-worthy games coming from developers both small and large.

I passionately encourage you to please recommend to me other digital games that are coming out that I may not even know about. It would be with great thanks from me for you guys to do that. Also, after you're done reading my picks, let's chat about digital games in the comments section!

5) '90s Arcade Racer - Developed by Antonis Pelekanos and Nicalis

A lot of the games on this list are inspired by retro classics. This next indie title, '90s Arcade Racer is one that can thank Daytona USA for its inspiration. I have been wanting a modern racer that is less simulation and more about crazy drifts for the longest time. It's gotten so bad for me that I was honest to goodness willing to pull the proverbial trigger on Ridge Racer... for the Vita. Let that sink in how deep my desperation goes. However, '90s Arcade Racer is a game that seems to scratch my itch for thrills, chills, and drifting goodness. Of course, since the game is being published by Nicalis, we will probably have to wait until 2020 to see the game released. Perhaps I'm being hard on Nicalis, but the publisher does not have a good "track" record on releasing games in a timely fashion. Still, I'm sure the wait will be definitely worth it!

4) Midora - Developed by Epic Minds

Midora has an art style highly reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, and in addition to the art, the gameplay is similar to the legendary franchise its inspired by. Currently, the team at Epic Minds is planning 12 unique dungeons full of insane traps, enemies, and obstacles. Furthermore, we're bound to get a high number of secondary items aside from Midora's main means to attack to open up the possibilities for different combat strategies and puzzle concepts. Midora may seem too heavily inspired by The Minish Cap, but I think that is what draws me to this game. It's an ode to 16-bit Zelda, and despite not being overly innovative, I still feel the need to play this game.

3) Mekazoo - Developed by The Good Mood Creators

If you see a theme on my five selections for downloadable games that I have the most excitement for, it's probably that all of the games here are in genres that are my favorites or games inspired by favorite franchises and games of mine. Mekazoo is a 2.5D platformer which has you switching between one of a handful of different animals, such as an armadillo, a frog, and a kangaroo, and platforming with great acrobatics through multiple tiered levels. It's an exciting prospect and the trailer for the game shows this action beautifully. With a release period for late this year, I cannot wait to see more footage and imagination shown from The Good Mood Creators and their greatly interesting game.

2) Mighty No. 9 - Developed by Comcept 

A project led by the driving force behind the Mega Man series, Keiji Inafune, Mighty No. 9 definitely has its roots greatly inspired by the Blue Bomber's games. With a formula just like the Mega Man games, eight bosses that strike a resemblance to Robot Masters, and similar gameplay, Mighty No. 9 might as well be considered an all-new Mega Man game. While the Kickstarter campaign is a bit dubious in how much money it continually wants and how the mock-up for the project is nothing close to what the actual work-in-progress looks like, I am still drooling over the prospect of playing a Mega Man-like game from the man most closely tied to the franchise.

1) A Hat in Time - Developed by Gears for Breakfast

A Hat in Time satiates my hunger and thirst for a traditional 3D collect-a-thon style platformer akin to classic games like Super Mario 64 and my favorite of the bunch, Banjo-Kazooie. The game is set to feature fully explorable worlds; the ability to battle enemies and bosses with either Hat Kid's umbrella or an ode to Mario, a jump to the noggin; collectibles aplenty like badges that can be equipped to change the player's play style; cooperative gameplay; and an art style similar to what was seen in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. A Hat in Time is such an exciting project to me, someone who is a huge fan of Nintendo 64 era 3D platformers, and I am chomping at the bit to see this game released to the public.

Ultimate Spider-Man (PS2, GCN, XBX, PC) Retro Review

Ultimate Spider-Man was a great comic book series. The game of the same name was also quite good. Mentioned many times on SuperPhillip Central as one of the best Spider-Man games ever devised, you might be wondering why we say that continually. Here's the review of the game for our answer.

Go for the Ultimate Spin

From 2000 to 2009, Ultimate Spider-Man existed as part of a new universe of Ultimate comics from Marvel. During the midpoint of its original run, Activision and Treyarch brought forth a video game based on the comic book series. Using an art style that was reminiscent of the comic books the game was modeled after, Ultimate Spider-Man released in 2005 to great success. Was there good reason for this success, or you should you neglect to fall into Spider-Man's web?

The story of Ultimate Spider-Man the video game begins with the Venom saga of the comic book of the same name. Peter Parker and Eddie Brock's fathers were working on a special Venom suit that would heal the wearer, particularly to cure cancer. Peter, as Spider-Man takes the suit out for a spin. While it gives him a boost to his superhuman powers, the suit tries to consume him, leaving him in a weakened state. When Eddie finds this out, he wants to see the power of the suit for himself, thus becoming the creature known as Venom. The writing in the game and witticisms by Spider-Man are as good as what is found in the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book, both written by all-star Brian Michael Bendis.

This is how Spider-Man goes
on a leisurely stroll.

Ultimate Spider-Man's short campaign (approximately 5-6 hours long) has you switching between the old webhead and Venom, occasionally having the two cross paths in the story. Story missions contain things like chase sequences, rescuing civilians, and boss battles with Ultimate versions of familiar foes like Rhino, Electro, the Green Goblin and more. While the campaign is short, there is plenty outside of the story to do. In fact, in order to progress to the next part of the story, Spidey will need to complete City Goals. These are tasks like collecting certain objects, saving denizens from danger and attacking gangs committing crimes.

I'm guessing you're not here for
a Mini Cooper.

Speaking of collecting, there is plenty to nab. There are loads of secret tokens to be found within the open world confines of Queens and Manhattan, there are icons that unlock comic book covers from the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book series, there's combat tours, where Spider-Man must go from point to point, taking out enemies, and there's waypoint races to be completed. Completing these unlocks new abilities for Spider-Man as well as unlockable costumes.

Chasing Electro through the city streets
of Manhattan certainly lights up the joint.

As stated, Ultimate Spider-Man mixes things up by having you take on the roles of Spider-Man and Venom. Spider-Man has a more streamlined approach to his web swinging than what was seen in Spider-Man 2. However, like Spider-Man 2, Spidey must be near a building to web swing by it. He can perform a Web Rush by having you press the shoulder buttons to cross over long distances much faster than normal, as well as climb the walls of buildings. Taking down foes is no problem with Spider-Man's spider sense. When the prompt is displayed over his head, that's your cue to jump out of danger's way.

What, were you expecting Tarzan?

On the other hand, Venom is a completely different beast-- literally. He does not have any web-swinging abilities. Instead, he can leap large distances with a press of the right shoulder button. The suit Eddie Brock wears is constantly feeding on him, wishing to consume his very essence. In order to avoid this, Brock must use the Venom suit to feed on enemies in addition to unlucky, innocent New Yorkers. Otherwise his health will continue to deplete.

Feed me, Seymour. Feed me!

It's a shame that a game like Ultimate Spider-Man didn't show up on a system on this generation, as not only would the cel-shaded comic book art style look even more fantastic than it already does, but a lot of the technical issues that haunt the game would probably be gone or at least remedied a bit. For instance, the draw distance isn't the most impressive and there is a consistent amount of objects popping up into the environment out of nowhere, especially with regard to vehicles. None of this really affects the gameplay, but they are without a doubt noticeable and could bring down the experience to some players.

The cutscenes are really well done in Ultimate Spider-Man. They are made to look just like comic book panels, but with some pizzazz. Seeing Venom leap out from one panel with the camera panning with him into another panel is an awesome sight. The voice acting is really good, adding to each event that happens in the story.

These comic book panel-styled
cutscenes are brilliant.

Overall, Ultimate Spider-Man is not the perfect Spider-Man game, but it is the closest 3D entry to approach that benchmark. From its gorgeous cel-shaded art style to its myriad of side tasks that make the short campaign not seem so bad, Ultimate Spider-Man delivers the web-slinging charm that fans of the webhead will no doubt enjoy.

[SPC Says: 8.75/10]