What are you playing today?

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Well, don't expect me to tell you where the diamonds are, now!

Heh, "We'd could". What English teacher passed me?

[Green Gibbon!]

I actually can't find the second patch in I think the fourth space level (Star Highway or whatever it's called). Where in the world is it?

[j-man]

Hang about, go back a page. You guys didn't like Wario Land: Shake It? I thought it looked slick, and I've been aching to pick it up and give it a seeing-to.

[Green Gibbon!]

It's pretty weak. The main gimmick is that you go to the "goal" of the stage, then backtrack dash all the way through it. You do this in every level. It's a pretty weak idea in the first place and the level design is insipid in order (I imagine) to accommodate it. I only got to the second area I think before I tossed it aside.

[j-man]

That's a shame. It's fair to say, though, that I've got a unusual tolerance for repetitive gameplay; I play WoW, for goodness' sake. I'll probably still pick it up on the cheap, but it's seriously difficult finding first-party titles that don't cost over thirty fucking pounds, regardless of how old they are.

[G.Silver]

It's a pretty weak idea in the first place and the level design is insipid in order (I imagine) to accommodate it. I only got to the second area I think before I tossed it aside.

The first few areas in the game are a complete snore fest. It does pick up after a while but doesn't really become challenging until you start unlocking hidden levels, which I think represent at least a third of the game. There is some really good stuff in there (especially for those who must have 100% complete save files) and I personally liked it a lot but I do remember the start of the game was a big disappointment. My main complaint is that it is obviously modeled on WarioLand 4, but is generally inferior in every way--WL4 is more challenging, more complex, and has much more creative levels and themes. But Shake is still pretty good, has a great smooth/fusion jazz soundtrack, and some really lovely areas and some are actually pretty clever (the train levels especially stick out in my memory).

J-man, I think you should try it, though if you haven't played it, I also recommend WL4 over it, especially if you can find it on the cheap. I know having opened that "recommend other Warios" option means a whole flood of WL3-loving posts might end up in here, but they aren't similar enough that I would recommend any other Wario but 4 as a Shake alternative. (Plus it's my favorite so nyeah.)

[Rob-Bert]

How long is that game, just out of curiosity? I think the farthest I ever got was stage 4 and I can't imagine what anyone would hope to gain by playing any further.

It's 60 floors long. There's a hidden item on every floor that's unlocked via completing some arbitrary task that you'd never even know of without finding out beforehand. You need most of these items to even access the final floor. Expect to die. A LOT.

I'll never know why I bothered to do it.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

I had fun figuring out the Shay King missions; learning to master that fight was an awesome feeling, and I don't think I would've of bothered to without 'em.

I hate that fish-in-a-wok boss, though.

[K2J]

It's a pretty weak idea in the first place and the level design is insipid in order (I imagine) to accommodate it. I only got to the second area I think before I tossed it aside.

Most of the later levels have entirely new paths (underground, for example) that bypass the level you just went through. It's not as repetitive as it looks.

J-man, I think you should try it, though if you haven't played it, I also recommend WL4 over it, especially if you can find it on the cheap. I know having opened that "recommend other Warios" option means a whole flood of WL3-loving posts might end up in here, but they aren't similar enough that I would recommend any other Wario but 4 as a Shake alternative. (Plus it's my favorite so nyeah.)

Nah, I'm with you. WL2 and 3, despite being good games, are more puzzle-platformers than the traditional mold. The whole series is pretty good, but it depends on what you're looking to get from it.

[Delphine]

"It gets better later" is not a good defense. It should START good, and then get better as you go along. I'm an adult, I have a job and a social life and a hobby that may actually be lucrative one day. If a game doesn't catch my attention right away, I'm going to send it back to Gamefly and move on. I'm not going to slog through x hours just to get to the good part. The whole thing should be the good part. I'm not an elitist hardxxxcore gamer, either, I mean sometimes I pop in Fable 2 just so I can play catch with the dog.

Actually, more games should have dogs -- make it optional, like Fallout, but make it a possibility. I'd rather have a dog following me around than some insipid side kick, or an AI team who can't shoot straight.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Owning a dog in Nintendogs should be optional. You can make believe you're a lonely child that wants to prove that (s)he's responsible enough to own a pet, but that'll never happen 'cause your mom is allergic. OR, make believe that you're a senior citizen with advanced Alzheimer's who's pet died years ago but you nevertheless refill his water dish and call him for walkies.

[Kogen]

I have a real dog. Arrruff-ruff!

[G.Silver]

"It gets better later" is not a good defense. It should START good, and then get better as you go along.

That wasn't "defense," it was "product description." If I'm going to make a defense to justify playing a game with a poor beginning, then in the current generation where 2D platformers have been so scarce, if there are really good ones out there that start out stupidly easy for casual gamers to get into, I don't think a person who wants to get to the good stuff should let that stand in his way. I might also add that a boring start in a platformer (which might be one evening of playing, depending on where you put the "boring" border at) is completely different from a boring start in a certain notorious RPG (which takes what, 20 hours? And is in a genre with no shortage of contemporary alternatives!)

[Green Gibbon!]

I just want to go on record right now in saying that I hate dogs.

There's a hidden item on every floor that's unlocked via completing some arbitrary task that you'd never even know of without finding out beforehand. You need most of these items to even access the final floor.

I actually never knew this. Though I can't help but think you probably could have used the same time it took you to finish Druaga to learn a second language or something.

I remember reading somewhere that there's some dude who learned to play Crystal Castles with his feet?

[Crisis]

I just want to go on record right now in saying that I hate dogs.

Jesus, I know. When did it become socially acceptable to let an animal shit on the street?

[Green Gibbon!]

What really pisses me off are these old retirees who keep these little fucking imitation dogs like chihuahuas or dachsunds - in the first place, shit like that doesn't happen in nature, it took humans centuries to selectively breed these hapless creatures into their own twisted notions of good taste. These animals are useless for anything, they are tailor made to be parodies of real animals, little four-legged clowns birthed for the amusement of people with too much money and time and no common fucking sense. Then they spend all this money to primp them and pamper them and walk them down the street every goddamn morning and evening like little girls playing with their dolls except these "dolls" are living creatures who are blissfully unaware of the fact that they are a collective laughing stock and the little "girls" are well-off men and women old enough to know better who could be putting their excesses of money and time into more constructive pursuits.


And they're noisy, too.

[Kogen]

I rather like circus midgets.

[G.Silver]

I understand the Dachshund's designers had a lot of weasels and other burrowing animals they needed to get rid of.

As an interesting aside, I once read a study where coyotes (or some other wild dog kin) were selectively bred for tameness, and within only a few generations they had also developed shorter legs, elongated bodies, and other qualities that made them look silly.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Chihuahuas (can't believe I spelled that right on the first try) were bred as a sort of emergency stock animal in case of famine. They don't eat much and are pretty easy to kill and fit in a tortilla.

[Radrappy]

"It gets better later" is not a good defense. It should START good, and then get better as you go along. I'm an adult, I have a job and a social life and a hobby that may actually be lucrative one day. If a game doesn't catch my attention right away, I'm going to send it back to Gamefly and move on. I'm not going to slog through x hours just to get to the good part. The whole thing should be the good part. I'm not an elitist hardxxxcore gamer, either, I mean sometimes I pop in Fable 2 just so I can play catch with the dog.

Actually, more games should have dogs -- make it optional, like Fallout, but make it a possibility. I'd rather have a dog following me around than some insipid side kick, or an AI team who can't shoot straight.

And this is why everyone/anyone that tries to defend the hot mess that is Final Fantasy XIII is wrong. Games shouldn't take 6 hours to get good.

I am currently playing Sin and Punishment 2. It's ok. It really becomes clear while playing that bullet hell games don't quite work as well in the third dimension. It is really difficult at times to judge what is and what isn't about to hit you when a million laser balls are heading towards you in 3d. I just spam the dodge button and end up feeling uncool.

[gr4yJ4Y]

Owning a dog in Nintendogs should be optional.

Isn't this part of Nintendogs & Cats? I haven't really paid much attention to what Nintendo's announced about it.

[Rob-Bert]

Though I can't help but think you probably could have used the same time it took you to finish Druaga to learn a second language or something.

I never once claimed to be good at using my time.

[Dr. BUGMAN]

Isn't this part of Nintendogs & Cats? I haven't really paid much attention to what Nintendo's announced about it.

*Has never actually played Nintendogs; has assumed there's nothing more to it than owning a virtual dog.

[K2J]

There isn't.

[Neo]

Personally, I've been playing WarioWare DIY. If you've ever messed about with The Games Factory, Multimedia Fusion or some some similar game design tool and ran into all the little limitations the piece of software imposes on you, then WarioWare's are even stricter. But of course this is the perfect timewaster for me -- coming up with my own problems and then trying to come up with solutions to them. I've done seven different microgames so far, and I just wish I had somebody to show them to. :(