The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass Review

Belum lama ini Nintendo (akhirnya) mengeluarkan Zelda pertama nya untuk handheld Nintendo DS setelah sekian lama berada di tahap development dengan maraknya rumor dan info yang beredar di-internet. Dikembangkan berdasarkan dunia Windwaker, dunia Zelda DS ini memang dibuat dengan nuansa yang lebih ringan dan cerah dibandingkan dengan seri Zelda sebelumnya yang dirilis untuk Wii dan Gamecube.
Awalnya saya adalah salah satu orang yang skeptis dengan game ini, terutama setelah mengetahui bahwa game ini akan sepenuhnya dikontrol menggunakan stylus (kapok dengan Metroid Prime Hunters yang walaupun bagus tapi benar-benar melelahkan kontrolnya). Selain itu dengan faktor replayability yang kurang, dengan soknya saya melewatkan game ini (yang pada akhirnya saya sesalkan)…

Story (8/10)
Game dibuka dengan artwork yang luar biasa, mengisahkan sekilas cerita dari Windwaker (Zelda kali ini dimulai tepat setelah Windwaker selesai), dan bagaimana petualangan untuk game ini dimulai.
Pada Zelda kali ini, kita bertualang bersama Link dan Linebeck untuk membebaskan Tetra (as always) dengan mengarungi lautan luas menggunakan kapal uap SS Linebeck. Seperti biasa tipikal game Nintendo lainnya, storynya tidak begitu dalam, tepatnya hanya sebagai pengantar kita dalam menjelajah dunia Zelda. Selain cerita utama di game kali ini juga disisipkan beberapa cerita pendek mengenai beberapa karakter pendukung.

Graphics (10/10)
Seluruh game dibuat dengan style cel-shading sesuai dengan pendahulunya, Windwaker. Untuk ukuran Nintendo DS sepertinya grafiknya bisa dibilang benar-benar luar biasa, dengan dunia yang cerah dan detil. Pulau-pulau yang ada apabila diperhatikan juga mempunyai bentuk yang unik. Dengan grafik seperti ini Zelda Phantom Hourglass berjalan dengan lancar tanpa adanya penurunan framerate.

Sound (10/10)
Well, it’s Zelda ! dan apalagi yang dinanti dari Zelda selain musik khasnya. Zelda kali ini sudah pasti masih menggunakan melodi yang sama yang mengingatkan kita pada game-game Zelda sebelumnya. Untuk suara karakter tidak banyak yang dijumpai selain suara Link pada saat menebas pedangnya.

Presentation (10/10)
Menurut saya faktor inilah yang membuat Zelda merupakan suatu masterpiece. Semua menu dan in-game scene nya ditampilkan dengan sempurna dan menarik. Dengan kemampuan dual screen kali ini jarang sekali kita harus membuka menu untuk mengganti tools yang kita perlukan, karena semuanya dapat diakses secara langsung. Kontrol dengan styluspun sangat mudah dan tidak perlu waktu lama untuk beradaptasi.
Dunia Zelda kali ini dilengkapi dengan berbagai macam pernak pernik yang selama ini memang sudah ada dari game Zelda yang sebelumnya, seperti monster chuchu dan suku Goron. Apabila diperhatikan lebih jelas selama mengarungi lautan, akan dijumpai pulau-pulau yang berbentuk unik. Banyak sekali jokes yang disisipkan baik dalam dialog dan tampilan dunianya
Dungeon dan puzzle adalah dua elemen yang penting dalam setiap Zelda dan untuk Zelda kali ini semuanya diciptakan dengan desain level yang menarik dan luar biasa. Satu hal yang tidak dilupakan tentunya Boss Battle yang unik. Setiap pertempuran Boss dipresentasikan dengan gaya yang berbeda dengan gameplay umumnya sehingga benar-benar berkesan.
Untuk replayability Zelda kali ini dilengkapi dengan koleksi ship part dan mode yang baru yakni Battle mode yang dapat dimainkan melalui wifi dan Nintendo WFC. Battle mode dimainkan secara bergantian dimana salah satu player akan menggerakan Link untuk mengkoleksi Triforce dan player lain akan menggerakkan Phantom Guard untuk mencegah Link mendapatkan Triforce. Selain itu di dalam adventure modenya sendiri juga disisipkan beberapa mini game dan fitur untuk trading ship part dengan player lain.

Overall (9.5/10)
Sepertinya game ini memang sudah tidak diragukan lagi salah satu kandidat kuat (mungkin satu-satunya) yang patut memegang gelar Nintendo DS game of the year. Dengan grafik yang luar biasa untuk ukuran Nintendo DS, gameplay yang tidak sulit serta boss battle yang benar-benar memorable, tidak percuma Nintendo sekian lama mengembangkan game yang satu ini. Saran: BUY IT!

review by kohee

MySims DS review

incredibly simple it seemed. Watching people trying to describe it in reviews was always amusing; it's nearly impossible to explain how a game in which all there is to actually do is fish and run errands could possibly be anything other than boring and pointless, and even harder to pinpoint that something that makes it so much more than the sum of its parts. After all, it's a game in which you do nothing much for a few hours a day, over the course of months and years. It makes absolutely no sense.

It's only when you play something like this that you realise how complicated Animal Crossing actually is. MySims could be called a simplified version; it's got the town, the flowers and fishing, the item collecting, clothing customisation and mad inhabitants, but no mortgage, no time sensitivity and, sadly, no Magic Something. Playing it made me appreciate Wild World's depth all the more. I think its secret was that altogether, there actually was an absolute ton of things to do and see; it's just at any given moment in time, only a tiny portion of them were possible.

read more

Forever Blue Review

Japan Import: Swim lazily over coral reefs, admiring the fish and listening to the soothing/annoying sounds of Hayley Westenra, the Kiwi Charlotte Church. If that's your idea of a good time, then welcome to your New Best Game Ever. If not, have a word with yourself and come back with an attitude readjustment, because you need to forget any preconceptions you may have had. Forever Blue is console psychotherapy, and it's totally brilliant.

It's also a proper game, believe it or not, with missions and objectives. That there's a complete lack of challenge in any of it only adds to its supremely relaxing nature, but you do get a feeling of accomplishment after acing another task or finding a particularly pretty sort of fish.

The old woman of the sea
You play a diver with a massive boat and a chunk of ocean to explore. We picked a female because we didn't really want to get a close-up view of neoprene-clad manbits in the event of a camera malfunction, but the choice is entirely yours. Give her a name (ours is called Nemo) and a hairdo, then jump off the boat and witness an underwater scene that will take your breath away.

read more

Worms: Open Warfare 2 Review

Over the years, Team 17's Worms franchise has really grown into a work all its own, a strategy series that relies just as much on silliness as it does smarts. It may have gotten a little lackluster over the last few releases, thanks its less-than-favorable debut on the Nintendo DS and a few lame-duck 3-D entries. Fortunately, Worms: Open Warfare 2 is one of the best—if not the best—in the series.

The gameplay remains mostly the same as other 2-D entries, as players move around a limited set of playfields and blast enemy worms to kingdom come by whatever means necessary. Various favorite weapons return, including the exploding sheep and the awesome-beyond-words ninja rope. The raging buffalo blowing up everything in its path is a must-use and the new boomerang works wonders for clearing out a field of worms ahead of you.

read more

DK Jungle Climber

DK Jungle Climber is the sequel to Paon’s first Donkey Kong game, DK King of Swing for Game Boy Advance. Like its predecessor, the game’s mechanics are reminiscent of Clu Clu Land, and control primarily involves use of the shoulder buttons. Unlike its predecessor, the game features Donkey Kong Country-style graphics rather than a cartoon style. In general, Jungle Climber improves upon the unique control of the first game.

The plot of the game is a little odder than most. DK and crew are vacationing on Sun Sun Island. A massive banana is sighted at the top of the island, and a hungry DK goes to retrieve it. It turns out that the giant banana is actually a banana-shaped spaceship piloted by a banana-shaped alien named Xananab. The Kongs learn that King K. Rool is up to no good again and agree to help Xananab defeat the reptilian leader.

Jungle Climber’s key feature is its unique control mechanism. While on the ground, DK can walk much like in a normal platformer, except using L and R to move left and right, but once he leaves the firmament, control is turned on its head. The jungle environments are covered in pegs and peg boards. As DK passes over a peg, pressing L or R will cause him to latch on and begin rotating either left or right. Releasing the button will let DK swing from peg to peg. Grabbing pegs with both hands will let DK charge up for a powerful boost. Once you get the rhythm down, you can make DK swing across the stage from peg to peg quite fast. While its predecessor was played almost entirely with the shoulder buttons, Jungle Climber also introduces the A button into regular play. This button allows DK to perform an attack lunge.

read more

Drawn To Life Review

Been looking for a little bit different way to play God, maybe using a little more of your artistic talent?

Well then, let's get your hero Drawn to Life and save that Raposa village! Rapo? Yes, the adorable little rabbit people down there! They need you, the Creator, to save their village from evil Wilfre and the encroaching darkness by filling the Book of Life with awesome drawings.
Be Who You Were Meant to Be

Drawn features a character creation scheme that is pure brillance. You get up to three emissaries and they can be anything you like: a giant robot, a werewolf, a dude with blue skin. You use these hand-drawn emissaries to collect pages of the Book from worlds connected to the village via big gates. Once the fragments of a page are assembled, you can usually clear some of the darkness that is clouding the world by tapping the eternal torch. It may sounds trivial, but it's quite satisfying.

The platforming stages are reminiscent of SNES games like Super Mario World and Aladdin, with plenty of moving platforms, bouncy launch pads, and bonus coin areas. The major difference, of course, is that most of those environmental elements are either drawn completely from scratch or colored in by the player. The instructions might say to draw a boulder, but no one will stop you from making a pizza or a big smiley face instead. Some players may also be reminded of Magical Quest starring Mickey Mouse, since your hero has a couple different tool sets to use depending on which world you're in.

read more

Carnival Games

It does work sometimes. The underhanded toss of the Skee-Ball game perfectly replicates the actual machine. Those games are fun, but there just isn’t much to them and you’ll feel like you’ve seen everything Carnival Games has to offer after just a few play sessions. Save your money and go to the real fair instead.

read more

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Review

Inilah game pertama dari The Big 3 persembahan Nintendo untuk console Wii pada tahun 2007 ini. Bagi pemilik Wii, game ini sangat wajib untuk dimainkan dan alangkah baiknya apabila membeli orinya sekalian untuk koleksi juga.

Five years ago, the first-person adventure Metroid Prime re-invented Nintendo's famous science-fiction franchise about a space-traveling female bounty hunter. Now, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption has re-invented the way the series is played, unarguably for the better. If you were on board Samus Aran's Hunter-Class Gunship for the critically acclaimed first outing and its sequel, you will be ready for the third and final act in the trilogy because, at least from a design standpoint, there haven't been too many major changes. The heroine still explores exotic alien terrain and fights fearsome alien creatures, and the re-traversal backbone that has powered Metroid projects since the NES classic that started it all remains completely and thankfully intact. So if you've never liked these titles, Corruption probably isn't going to make you a believer, even with its enhanced graphics and spectacular new controls. If, on the other hand, you'd rather play with Samus than, say, Master Chief, Retro's Wii-overhauled new addition to the Prime family is going to take you on a great, satisfying ride that you won't soon forget. Indeed, as far as we're concerned, the Texas-based studio has made Wii's best game.

more MP3 IGN Review

Brain Age 2 Review

Ayo latihan otak lagi jangan main melulu, sekali kali main untuk melatih otak agar tetap aktif. Better writing, voice recognition and more creative puzzle designs.

IGN Brain Age 2 Review
Buy It Now!

Boogie Review

Game karaoke plus dansa besutan EA ini dirilis eksklusif hanya untuk konsol Wii saja. Ini yang membuat gue cukup tertarik pada game yang satu ini pada saat EA mengumumkannya, apalagi si Catz nafsu banget ama game ini sampai sudah preorder dari sebulan sebelumnya.

Gue sendiri lebih memilih nunggu review nya bermunculan terlebih dahulu sebelum memutuskan untuk membeli atau tidak.

Setelah baca baca reviewnya, kesimpulan gue Boggie adalah game karaoke plus dansa yang sederhana, tidak ada sesuatu yang benar benar istimewa darinya. Jadi gue memutuskan untuk tidak membelinya, sayang bo harganya US$59.90

IGN Boogie Review

Escape from Bug Island

Pertama kali gua lihat cuplikan game ini adalah saat menonton video E3 tahun 2006 yang lalu yang masih menggunakan judul Necro Nesia (nama judul di Jepang), kesan pertama saat itu adalah seperti game survival horror yang cukup menarik.

Sejak dirilis pertama kali di Jepang 2 Desember 2006, gue mulai baca reviewnya... oh ternyata benar benar mengecewakan sekali. Ngak percaya? silakan baca sendiri review dari IGN.

Escape from Bug Island IGN Review