christmas plunder

Holidays technically started for me back on the 24th; alas, the week has flown by due to the necessary Christmas family gatherings, my best friend's wedding which has taken me two days to recuperate from, and a visit from the mother-in-law. In terms of presents, the pile you see before you* might be considered a definite surplus.

The better part of Christmas morning and this week was spent exploring the world of Sword of Mana. I was a little disappointed at first by the initial lack of depth, but after putting in the extra time this RPG is just complex enough to make it interesting to play. The story is more than adequate even though it's technically a remake. And for character development there are multiclass options; that is to say that you don't necessarily have to level up as a tank to get through the game's many quests. However there is no multiplay where you can link up and adventure with a friend, but you can download their character stats as an "Amigo": a spirit that can be summoned if you are in dire need during solo play. A nice option to have, but it's no Four Swords.

I put down the hack and slash action of SoM long enough to install the enormous Knights of the Old Republic (at four CDs and a 4 GB install - it's god damned colossal). Could it be that Bioware will be marked forever in history as the one that returned the magic of Star Wars to gamers everywhere? I think I would have it this way, and after barely scratching this superbly crafted RPG's surface I can easily bestow Game of the Year upon its mantle. When first hearing of the game I immediately thought of the excellent Tales of the Jedi comic book series, and as I'd hoped Bioware has flawlessly brought this previously untouched universe to life. In one breath I feel I am playing a well-made mod for Neverwinter Nights, in another I am playing one of the greatest RPGs ever constructed. Let us not speak of the interface; my fears have been assauged.

I noticed that a teaser video for the upcoming Star Wars: Republic Commando was included on one of the KotOR discs. Identified by LucasArts as a "dark and intense first person shooter," where players "perform precision operations deep behind enemy lines in this brutally realistic Star Wars combat experience" while dressed in beefed up clonetrooper armour. Is this LucasArts paying attention to the success of Elite Force and the tactics of the Rainbow Six series, or a throwback to the days of Dark Forces? Sadly, I think I'm looking towards StarCraft: Ghost with greater anticipation, regardless of Blizzard's transgression against PC gamers.

Mario Party 5 has also been keeping us busy during the evenings - with our Gamecube now equipped with four controllers we expect this one to be dragged out for some New Year's Eve shenanigans. The play options and enourmous variety of minigames make this a title that will provide many fun-filled hours of smack-talking and button mashing. Most importantly though, it qualifies me for the Zelda Bonus Disc, which my good friends at Nintendo have informed me is en route.

Luckily the games industry has slowed to a steady hum over the past week, so it was rather easy to get caught up on all the goings-on. The most delicious piece of news I came across was the rumour that the N5 will be backwards compatible (thanks evil). This is where Sony has won over the hordes; being able to go back and play Final Fantasy Tactics on your PS2 is a nice option to have. In an interview at the official Playstation site a November 2004 launch date has been hinted at for the Playstation Portable. I'm expecting a photo of the final design and flurry of developers to jump on board any day now. Any day now...

We also finally saw Pirates of the Caribbean, Gore Verbinski's take on the famed Disney ride. Granted the effects were quite good, I wasn't too impressed with any of the acting. Well, except for Depp's over-the-top pirate, which definitely stole the show. It was hard for me to accept a plot contrivance that was stretched over two hours, and action scenes that were less than inspired. Still, I'm not sorry I saw it. You can thank Uncle Jerry for the sequel that was announced before the original even left theatres.

As noted my full review of Return of the King is in progress. It's been over a week since I've seen the damn thing, and I believe my thoughts on the matter have congealed enough so that I can finally post it. We'll get to that next.

*Blame nowak for the quasi-arty representation of said bounty.

surrendering to the gravity and the unknown