• 4Apr 13

  Kid Icarus...why?!

  I am afraid I must admit defeat, Nintendo. Never have I encountered a game with such dreadfully thought out controls. Unfortunately I am going to have to give in at the meagre distance of chapter 10, and trade the game in, which is a great shame, I simply cannot play it anymore.

  

  Kid Icarus, in my opinion, is one of the most frustrating games I have ever played. There has clearly been a lot of love put into it; the throwbacks to the original, (which whilst I don't quite understand as I never played the original), are charming...the dialogue is witty, the characters loveable (even the villains!). Furthermore, the on-rails flying portions of the game are great, the customisation is vast, the replayability is very high, the 3D effects are wonderful, the humour is genuinely funny without being crude...basically, there is a whole lot to love about the game.

  The problem for me is the controls. Now I know that others have merely seen the controls as teething problems, and will probably say that the controls are my problem, not the game's, but I would have to disagree. In my experience, being 10 chapters in and still finding them cumbersome is a problem. I scoffed at seeing the stand included with the game, but suddenly realised how essential it is, and how inconvenient that is for a portable game. I have been unable to play Kid Icarus on-the-go, simply because I need to be sitting at home on an even work-surface, with the stand, for me to truly play the game properly and without strain.
  As many of you know, the stylus controls the reticle on screen and the direction Pits faces; this is a problem, as I have found holding the system with one hand for extensive periods of time to be a strain on the hand. I am aware of the alternative controls, but they did not work for me either. It is a real shame that the CCP, which I did buy, didn't support the second analog stick for movment of the camera, like the second analog stick is used for on the Vita, and on any sensible home console.

  It is with great regret I give up on this game, it truly feels like a great game that would have benefitted from the Wii/Wii-U treatment, and I hope there is an installment on either, but the controls have killed it for me, it feels almost unplayable on the ground portions, and that is a real shame.

  • Posted Apr 4, 2013 2:49 am GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 2Apr 13

  Difficult times, as ever.

  I have never been good at dealing with breakdowns in friendships, and I can't say I am getting any better at it. About four-ish years ago, I was arguably at the height of my life in terms of day-to-day enjoyment; I surrounded myself with loads of friends and we all did things often. Things were much more simple when I was 17. However, in the final year of sixth-form, before we all came to University, things turned unsavoury. People drifted apart, it happens, but more or less everybody drifted from me. I went from being this social animal, to social abjection. 

  The first year of University was difficult for me. I lived away from home, in flats with some pretty awful people, and for the first time in my life, felt truly alone. I had never had no friends to turn to. it was a pretty low moment in my life; I took anti-depressants (which didn't work) and attempted suicide a couple of times. But of course other than my girlfriend, who to be fair is wonderful, ( but was in my home city, a couple of hours away), nobody knew and nobody was there for me.

  It's probably a major reason I stick with being here, I'm sure there are a few in the same boat and I do find the community here to be a comforting bunch, not that I have shared this with people before. The community is great, but unfortunately with nobody on GS living anywhere near me, it isn't quite a substitute for meeting up with people and doing stuff together. 

  I am graduating this summer, and I look back on my three years and notice a major problem; I virtually have no friends anymore. I have made one or two friends at University, but they only really talk to me when I make first contact. I have a friend in another city, who I never talk to, but when he's home, we're okay. There is just the one friend who I would say I have regular contact with, but that is on the phone.

  The thing is, I am not the social man I used to be. Social situations distress me, I just shut down. I don't want people to desert me again, yet I crave the feeling of friendship and the major plusses that come with it. The disappointing thing is, it isn't a simple case of 'moving on'; people have of course moved on and made new friends, but they have also kept their old ones. Mine would appear to have just moved on without me. Sure, I could be emotional baggage at times...sure, I was a little cynical...sure, I was insecure. But these things stem from social dissilutionment, and it would be in people's best interests to help me out, rather than shirk me. I now look back through my Facebook photos at this happy kid from four years ago, photos with all my friends having fun, but they aren't there any more.

  There's also the some pretty painful family issues going on at the moment, but unless you're willing to tolerate more, I shall spare the reader for now! This has been rather difficult to air. Apologies if it comes across as a whiny, self-deprecating part of growing up, but it's something I feel strongly about, and I don't think it is a problem I should be having at 21.

   

  Needless to say, in my 'IRL' friends' absence, I really appreciate the community here, and though we cannot neccessarily do 'friend' things together, I do truly see the select few here as friends. So thanks for making me feel welcome.

   

  • Posted Apr 2, 2013 5:30 pm GMT
  • Category: Rant
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• 21Jan 13

  The Last Story so far...

  So far, I'm about 8 or 9 chapters into The Last Story and I am thoroughly impressed.

  Do you remember those JRPGs of old, the ones you would pour hours into and they would possess the charm that would keep you playing, and remind you thatthis is one of the games you will hold in your heart forever? Well, this is one of them.Granted, from what I have gathered, the story is a mere 20 hours long which is a shame...however, it would appear that this is a JRPG without all the fluff. Sometimes fluff is good, but often fetching water for grandma can get tedious.

  So far, the game has done away with the tedium and instead focusses on the building of its characters, who due to a fantastic localisation, really come to life. I can't help but feel that perhaps a US audience won't 'get' the nuances of some of the characters, as they constantly use colloquialisms from various areas in the UK, but luckily for me, I am from the UK so this isn't a problem. If anything, it makes the game so much more endearing.Sure, there is your standard JRPG fare of 'motley bunch of oddly clothed young people', some sort of Princess, doors that don't open e.t.c, but it is handled in such a charming way that you can't help but love it.

  I will have to inform further once I have finished it, but it's a wonderful title so far.

  • Posted Jan 21, 2013 4:23 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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