BK strikes back! (with DS games)

Wow.
It's been quite a time since I have seen the "new post" page of this blog. It's almost been a whole month since the last post. The summer break has been a bit chaotic. Sorry to all the people who actually take interest in our blog.

What's been new? Some damn good DS games. Interested? Read on.

Animal Crossing: Wild World

I'm pretty sure all the DS owners have heard of this game. It's been out for awhile and it is still a very popular game. For those of you who have no idea what this game is about, you should definitely take some time to check it out.

I know the game may seem very....., let's say naive/childish. It has small cartoon look-a-like characters with all these other animals, colorful houses, trees, and more. Just from the first impression, a lot of you will get the feeling, "I'm too old for this," or more like, "WTF? C'mon Nintendo, grow up already." Hey, don't be afraid to admit it because I definitely had the same impression. I only bought the game because I was pretty damn bored and I happened to stop by a mall with a friend of mine.

This game has so many possible things that a player can take advantage of. I think the most unique thing about Animal Crossing is the fact that it follows the real life time. In other words, the stores in the game are opened from 8:00am to 11:oopm and if your watch reads anything outside of those given times, then the stores are closed. Game time follows the real time.

The basic purpose of this game is to grow your town, but I see it more as raising a community. It's a lot like harvest moon, but it's not so focused on the whole farming crap with cows and chicken. Let me go in a circle which will cover the basics of the game. So you have a fishing rod (one of the equipments you have including a net, axe, shovel, slingshot) and you caught a fish. You can take the fish and donate it to your town's museum (if it hasn't been donated) for display. Museum is more for self accomplishment. Or, you can take it to Nook's (a store that basically sells and buys everything) and make some cash from it. With that cash, you can buy more equipments, clothing (to please your stylish needs), house equipments (a lot for decorations like TV, couch, bed, table, lights; carpet; wall paper). As more money flows in and out of Nook's, the store itself expands from a cheap shack to a luxurious Nookington's. Also, Nook does some construction work on your house to make your house bigger. At first, your one room floor gets bigger, but I have seen houses with 4 rooms. Of course, you have to pay for it (nothing's free if you still haven't realized). Also, there are other neighbors that live in your town. It starts off with only 2-3 neighbors, but the number increases. I said it's more of a community because the more you interact with your neighbors, the closer you get with them. A lot of time it's just random talk, but there are occasional presents, trades, or contests. Interesting is, there are certain neighbors move in and out of your town. I'll explain where they come from or where they go later on. You can also interact through mails and even attach presents on it. Another cool thing is, you stay connected with Nintendo and they send you letter with some random words and a present. They even have special events like this month, August, every saturday night 7:00pm - 12:00am was fireworks. Lastly, there are bug or fish catching contests every sunday.

Above is just a small portion of what can be done in the game. I won't go into too much detail because then I'll fill this blog with crazy amount of words that you'll end up killing yourself with boredom.

I know there's animal crossing on the Gamecube, but I'm pretty sure the Wild World version for the DS beats it. Why? WI-FI BABY. You can visit other people's town or vice versa. I know it doesn't seem that great, but it's actually pretty cool. You can take advantage of what the player has (level of Nook's store) or check out his/her house. Of course, you can trade with them or even have fishing/bug catching contest. Also, as I asked before, where do the neighbors go or come from? Basically from certain people's town you visited or to people's town who have visited you through Wi-Fi. Pretty interesting eh? yep.

Check out more on Animal Crossing: Wild World at Gamespot.

Trauma Center: Under The Knife

Let me just start off by saying that this game will blow off your mind. After spending few hours on the game, you can truly realize what the DS is capable of. It is just a perfectly well thoughtout and designed game. I'm pretty sure you'll fall in love with it.

This game is basically like the Operation game, but it's more realistic and interactive. I didn't even understand certain terms the characters were saying. You play as Derek Stiles, a new doctor, who eventually end up saving the world from a world wide biological attack. I won't bother going into the specifics. I'll let you find out on your own.

In the game, you use various tools like the laser, antibioitic gel, drain, forceps, scanner, scalpel, stitches, syringe, and bandages. The first few operations allows you to learn and master the use of the tools. As the game picks up, you'll have to memorize certain steps and how to treat certain problems. For example, you have to cut open the patient in all operations. First, you have to use the antibiotic gel around the area to sanitisize and then cut straight with the scalpel. After the treatment, you have to close up the patient. So you have to use the stitches, then antibiotic gel, and then the bandages. Trust me, this game goes into detail. DETAIL. Plus, it's not an easy game. As the story goes on, each operation becomes harder and harder and then it just gets crazy. You can't just make wrong cuts or work slowly on the patient. The patient's vital signs drop (heartbeat), the limited time is rolling, and limited amount of mistakes go down. You have to use the syringe and give the patient some "juice" to raise the vital signs.

If you don't believe me on the difficulty of the game, then go try it out for yourself. This game is a bit difficult to find. They won't be available at local retail stores. I got mine at gamestop.com when they just got more copies. So go grab a copy of Trauma Center: Under the Knife and have fun for hours hearing Derek yelling "Let's begin the operation!"


Upcoming Games
Just like Trauma Center: Under the Knife, there's another game that's just as good, popular and a bit more difficult to get your hands on. It's been out for awhile and I was able to get a hold of a copy for myself online (Amazon's 2nd shipments of it is sold out already!). When my own copy of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney arrives, I'll let you others know about how the game is. Apparently, you play as Phoenix Wright who is a lawyer and you work out court cases. What the hell kind of game is that you ask? stay tuned.



The forecast for the last quarter of year 2006 is sunny, sunny, sunny, and sunny as hell for the DS. The games that truly stands out for me is Mario Hoops 3-on-3 and Final Fantasy III. Star Fox Command is coming out soon on 8/28 for all your star fox fans. For some reason, it doesn't appeal to me as much so I'm going to wait and see the reviews for it first.

For sure, I am going to get my own copy of Mario Hoops 3-on-3 and Final Fantasy III as soon as it comes out. I already have Mario Hoops pre-ordered at a local EB games in SD and I'll pre-order Final Fantasy III when I get back down to SD in mid-september for school. They're both due on 9/11 and 11/14 respectively.

You can pay a visit to Gamespot for the latest news on all four games - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Mario Hoop 3-on-3, Final Fantasy III, Star Fox Command.

Also, you can check out the Japanese site for Final Fantasy III.

Expect to see reviews for the above the above games as soon as I get my hands on them. Till then, rock on my fellow nerds.