This week’s comic is brought to you by Creedweiser. Creedweiser, the King of Beers. Remember, when you say Creedweiser, you’ve said it all. Creedweiser. True.
Looks like Nintendo finally got around to putting up demos of WiiWare games on the Wii Shop channel. I downloaded all five games available and gave them a whirl. In typical Nintendo fashion, not only are they late getting the demos to the party, but then you still have to manually cycle through each one and download them one at a time. Although I never use the feature, Xbox Live allows players to download demos while asleep or away from the system. Both Live and PSN allow for multiple background downloads. Again, is it so hard to emulate what the competition has already done? Yeesh. Back to the demos.
First up was the World of Goo. Honestly, I don’t know why I even bothered with the demo and didn’t rather download it straight away. The reviews have been superb across the board, but better safe than sorry - I guess. Goo certainly is different and plays like a dream. Stretching goo balls into a large and wobbly tower was the central focus of the game, at least from what time I spent with the demo. I’ll wait until after the holidays are over before downloading this one.
Next was Bit.Trip. This one didn’t work for me at all. Part rhythm game and part Pong, something about this game didn’t sit right with me. Probably because I suck at rhythm games and Pong. I’ll probably pass.
Third was the Pokemon Battle Arena game. I was wondering why a Pokemon game like this had not appeared sooner. The RPG elements of the normal series are fine, but directly controlling the Pokemon and blasting your enemies away is very satisfying. The game ends up being a top-down, beat-em-up action title that is light on strategy and heavy on combat. Definitely not a bad choice for younger fans that can’t catch on to the handheld games.
I then moved on to NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits, a side-scrolling platformer with an emphasis on puzzle solving over action. About midway through the demo, you earn the ability to control objects with the cursor. Once this happens, the game opens up a lot more. You can manipulate towers, dropping their parts lower to make otherwise impossible jumps possible or to grab ahold of stone slabs to help Nyx ride safely over spikes. This one looks right up my alley and will be a definite purchase.
Finally, I downloaded the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A Dark Lord demo, but didn’t get a chance to play it. I know that Dexter downloaded it awhile back and had a blast, tower defense fiend that he is. I’ll probably get around to trying it out over the weekend.
One last thing before I go; if you’ve picked up Left 4 Dead 2, be sure to play in a local server lobby. The dedicated servers are getting pounded and the result is a horrifically laggy experience. Derek, SlaughterMinx, Irving, and I tried it out with lamentable results. Afterwards, I switched over to the local server setting and everything was great. Hopefully Valve is just dealing with the inevitable new game server bombardment and things will get better soon.
- Dover
