The Legend of Zelda series is one of the oldest and most recognized video game series in existence, and for a good reason. While Zelda has always been among Nintendo’s strongest console titles, there have been a whole lot of handheld Zelda games as well. Starting 17 years ago, with “Link’s Awakening” on the original gameboy, Zelda has had a strong handheld presence to supplement it’s monolithic console titles through the years. In 2007 the series made it onto the outrageously popular Nintendo DS with “Phantom Hourglass”, sporting a fully stylus controlled world bearing a striking similarity to the cel shaded world of the Wind Waker. It was a very enjoyable game, but one couldn’t help but notice that the world felt rather small, even compared to previous handheld Zeldas. Turn the clock ahead a few years, and now we have the DS’ encore performance in the form of “Spirit Tracks”. My one line review of this game: Take Phantom Hourglass, switch the boat for a train and add the occasional controllable sidekick, and Spirit Tracks is what you have.
Dragon Quest V is kind of a big deal, in more ways than one. This fifth installment into Japan’s master series marks the series’ transition to the 16 bit realm of the SNES. Or perhaps I should say Super Famicon, as it was also the first Dragon Quest game to remain inside Japan. The fact that it was excluded from exterior countries is actually fairly ironic, because Dragon Quest V is typically considered to be one of the stronger games in the series. Of course being released in 1992 the game is still a fairly old one, and came about while the Super Famicon was still young; that is to say that it could have been a much better game than it is. However despite this, I would say Dragon Quest V is the most fun game I have played in this Marathon thus far. If you had asked me two days ago I would not have said that though. My one-line review of this game: “It’s a little slow to start, but by the time it’s over you’re going to wish there was a whole lot more of Dragon Quest V”.
The final Dragon Quest game on the NES, Dragon Quest IV was also the last of the series we would see outside of Japan for almost a whole decade. Coming to North America a full year after the SNES had already been released, Dragon Quest IV saw very little success this side of the Pacific. However even in Japan the fourth installment of the series is not considered to be one of the series’ best, ranking in the bottom half of the pile for units sold. That isn’t to say the game is at all bad or unpopular, but it isn’t one of the shining gems that epitomize the series. What sets this installment apart from the others is that it takes a unique approach in multiple aspects of the game. While taking a chance pays off in some ways, it definitely is not a bed of roses. Or maybe it is? That’s a weird phrase, I mean roses are thorny, a rose bed would be painful. My one-line review of this game: While Dragon Quest IV takes some chances and improves on it’s predecessors in some areas, ultimately it just can’t live up to the series’ spectacular third game.
It’s Christmas time! Well technically Christmas is past now, but everyone knows it technically lasts until New Years. So instead of posting actually interesting content, heres a summary of my Christmas haul. Just to make it at least slightly interesting, I’ll say a bit about my thoughts thus far for each game.
As with every Christmas season, there are a whole lot of games out there to buy right now. All the more so now that I own 2 systems I did not own last Christmas. Games can be very expensive, especially now that I own a PS3. For a few years now my money has mostly been spent on Nintendo DS games, which are fairly cheap, and World of Warcraft game time. Now looking at building a library for PS3 and PSP, the potential cost is somewhat daunting. I’ve never had all the games I want. Just the other day I filled out the “My Games” and “Wishlist” lists on my Playstation Network account, and the wishlist was bigger than the games list. So how do you decide what to buy when you can’t get them all? Some people will go about it different ways, but this got me thinking. How do you actually measure a game’s worth? Logically the best investment would be the game that gives you the most enjoyment for your dollars, but how do you measure that value?
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