Games Revue

New Megaten game on the DS (Devil Survivor – you see what they did there and you liked it, yes?) is good. A far cry from the other games released so far, unless you’re one of those freakish obsessives who have played every game in the series (hello!) and recall a largely forgotten/ignored sub-series called Majin Tensei. First things first, despite what you’ve probably heard, it is NOT like The World Ends With You: yes it’s set in and around Shinjuku, yes it features a ‘You must complete this task in X days or you die’ mechanic, but that’s about it. The battles are turn-based strategy RPG-style, there’s about 6 or 7 different paths/storylines/endings with different characters on each one and, sadly, the music really isn’t as good. I know, not much of a surprise considering the WEWY OST was phenominal (it could’ve been 30 remixes of Twister alone and I would’ve been happy) but even compared to the other games in the SMT series it’s not that interesting. I haven’t checked, but I’m pretty sure neither Shoji Meguro not Kazuma Kanneko were involved in this one. Well worth checking out though, especially since we’re in for another drought on the DS front. Unless you like Let’s Imagine Our Pet Baby Farm Boutique-type games, in which case… well, in which case you probably couldn’t care less anyway, since you’re too busy irritating everyone within earshot with the most irritating mutant baby noises imaginable. They’re called headphones, invest in a fucking pair!

After having finally had the opportunity to play Clive Barker Presents: Clive Barker’s Jericho (By Clive Barker – obligatory link to the review I stole that joke from here) I have to say, it’s actually not all that bad. Granted, I’ve always had a soft spot for Clive Barker (Cabal, the book Nightbreed was based on was a favourite of mine as a kid, and the second Hellraiser movie is one of the finest horror films around, no ifs, buts or maybes) and I could devour any kind of horror-themed game the way Cthulhu devours player characters (1d4 per round if you don’t already know), so my opinion’s probably kinda biased. But I’m about a third of the way through and – shock horror – having fun! Okay, so some bits are needlessly obtuse, like the astral projection/making things explode parts you’re forced to do every so often. And the quicktime events happen in the middle of combat, with the markers being on the edge of the screen (rather than, say, blocking off easier paths – developers, use them to screw us out of goodies, not the last 20 minutes’ hard work!), but all in all, it’s really better than everyone else seems to think it is.

Kinda helps if you take the game a little less seriously than intended – not a problem when you bear some of the dreadful dialogue in mind (exactly how much input did Barker have beyond the basic storyline?). That, and one of the characters you can play as, Cole: a techy girl who can ‘hack’ reality? A fondness for explosive pyrotechnics? Sounds remarkably like Ty Lee? Have her boxed up and sent to my room, if you don’t mind.

After having finally had the opportunity to play Clive Barker Presents: Clive Barker’s Jericho (By Clive Barker – obligatory link to the review I stole that joke from here) I have to say, it’s actually not all that bad. Granted, I’ve always had a soft spot for Clive Barker (Cabal, the book Nightbreed was based on was a favourite of mine as a kid, and the second Hellraiser movie is one of the finest horror films around, no ifs, buts or maybes) and I could devour any kind of horror-themed game the way Cthulhu devours player characters (1d4 per round if you don’t already know), so my opinion’s probably kinda biased. But I’m about a third of the way through and – shock horror – having fun! Okay, so some bits are needlessly obtuse, like the astral projection/making things explode parts you’re forced to do every so often. And the quicktime events happen in the middle of combat, with the markers being on the edge of the screen (rather than, say, blocking off easier paths – developers, use them to screw us out of goodies, not the last 20 minutes’ hard work!), but all in all, it’s really better than everyone else seems to think it is.

Kinda helps if you take the game a little less seriously than intended – not a problem when you bear some of the dreadful dialogue in mind (exactly how much input did Barker have beyond the basic storyline?). That, and one of the characters you can play as, Cole: a techy girl who can ‘hack’ reality? A fondness for explosive pyrotechnics? Sounds remarkably like Ty Lee? Have her boxed up and sent to my room, if you don’t mind.