Umihara Kawase Picture the swinging-arm action of Super Metroid or Castlevania IV or Bionic Commando. Got it? Okay, now make it real bouncy-like. Your fishing line is made out of rubber, allowing you to swing and propel yourself in crazy directions. Don't question why she has it or how it works. The play control in this game is the true reason why everyone shows it so much love (it's spring-pendulum physics for you Lagrangians out there). You can attach to nearly any surface and solve each level in your own way. There are a lot of different tricks that evolve out of this: hooking ground for momentum, scaling a straight surface, hooking around ledges, balancing your weight against a giant fish, the list goes on. Some people call it a rubbering action game and it fits.
It's also draconian in difficulty. Enemies randomly spawn at the worst times, everything kills you in one hit, bottomless pits haunt your existence, and the game demands incredibly crazy stunts just to barely survive. And yet it's all very possible with some practice; veterans can make this game look really easy (which seems a bit unfair to the rest of us amateurs.)
The surreal landscape, backgrounds aside, is also quite charming. You're a cute schoolgirl surrounded by gigantic vegetables and school supplies as you look for doors and dodge flying fish, oversized eels, walking salmon, and who knows what else. It's the very essence of Cute on LSD.
Link's Awakening In this game, Link (although I'm not sure which of the many Links) is out at sea when his ship is destroyed in a storm. He is later found amidst the wreckage by a young woman named Marin. He has found himself shipwrecked on a mysterious island with a giant egg resting at the top of a mountain called Coholint Island. Link eventually learns that the egg belongs to a being called The Wind Fish, and that the only way off the island is to awaken said Wind Fish. So, Link must travel all across the island in search of the different instruments-not surprisingly cleverly hidden in dungeons riddled with puzzles and creatures-with which he shall use to awaken The Wind Fish. Hmm... You mean Link isn't out to rescue a kidnapped maiden? What!?!?! Yes kids, it seemed inevitable. Eventually, Nintendo would have to have Link do something other than rescue women all the time, and since saving Hyrule from Space Aliens or competing in a fighting tournament to determine the world's greatest fighter seemed a bit out of place, this was the final result.
If you've played Link to the Past or the first Zelda game, you'll basically have the gameplay on this one down. You run around through the island, hacking up enemies. Throughout the game, you can obtain many different items either through finding them in special places, by doing certain events, or by buying them. Of these items, you can find seashells. After you gain a certain amount of seashells, you can take them down to a place called Seashell Manor. I'm not saying what happens there, you'll have to find out. By this time, the usual 2D battle system hadn't yet overstayed its welcome. By the time the Oracles games came out, I was screaming for a little innovation to the battle system and engine. It's odd how something so painfully simplistic can work so well, though. I mean, there really is no learning curve to this game if you've played the previous ones, plus it maintains the classic feel of any other Zelda game.
Mount & Blade: Warband One man alone cannot fell the gigantic armies of your enemies. It’s up to you to amass a force to be reckoned with. You can ride your horse from town to town and ask for strong armed men to join your cause. Some towns will be able to offer a few men to help out. Once a soldier is in your party, you’re in charge of their weekly monetary allowances, their training, their health, and their food supply. From there, your army will follow you into hell itself if you’re a strong enough leader. Maintaining an army isn’t easy… or cheap. To keep your army fat and happy, you need cash. Raising money is difficult at first, therefore raising an army is equally difficult. But good things come to those who wait.
Income can come about several ways. You can always find a king or a lord or a duke who is in need of a favor or two. Doing missions for kings and lords grants you increased fame in those parts of the world. While gopher missions can get a little boring, sometimes you’re asked to retrieve someone’s head, or many people’s heads. Or if you want to live the live of a brigand, you can always pillage a village or two.
Then… it’s time for war.
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup adds many new twists to dungeon crawling, removing some of the tedium of other roguelikes without removing the challenge. Inventory management has a clean and easy-to-use interface. Skills auto-improve as you use them. "Trap Doors" provide one-way access up or down levels, whereas stairs can be used in both directions. There's an option to have the program automatically explore the level for you, moving your character in a pattern of exploration, and stopping if you draw near to a trap, monster, or other item of interest. Likewise, there's an automated process to retrace your steps back to an earlier level--no more wondering where you saw the stairs. You must still battle any monsters you encounter, of course.
In addition to the purely random levels, DCSS has "hand crafted" levels or areas that hold special challenges, opportunities, or rewards. Finding these unusual zones is one of the great joys of this type of game.