Nintendo's E3 Press Conference Leaves Us Wanting More and Not In a Good Way

Nintendo is in a little bit of a pickle. Clearly from the Nintendo Direct Video and the E3 Press Conference there is many forms of entertainment the Wii U is going to offer. How all this fits together is the puzzling challenge for us to figure out. Consoles today need to do a lot more than just gaming in today's techy world. The Regginator Fils-Aime even stated that there is way more to Wii U than what they could fit into their one hour presentation. The conference was dedicated to games as it should be. This is where some of my concerns about Wii U rise from their grave.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy. My impressions and/or review... whatever.

Update Dec 10 2011: The price for Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy has dropped to $29.99.

I've always been a sucker for air combat games. Ever since playing Top Gun on the NES, it's been a love affair for me. When Namco Bandai announced an Ace Combat game for the 3DS, I was on board faster than Maverick on a MIG-29. After six hours of crashing into mountains and shooting down bogeys here is my thoughts to help you decide if this is a game for you.

Assault Horizon Legacy may have a similar name to the console Assault Horizon game, but the 3DS version is a much more traditional Ace Combat game. Your going to get a large choice of fighter jets, weapons, customizable parts, replays, rocking soundtrack, and a lot of dog fighting. Assault Horizon Legacy doesn't skimp on content by any means and after a 6 hours campaign you will still have to unlock and purchase a ton stuff if you want to get everything in the game. So you're going to have to go back and replay missions for higher scores or check out the extra missions for fun. But even with all that the game still felt a little light and not quite a full experience. The games story about the USEA vs the Rebels pretty much boiled down to a us vs them argument with no real gut wrenching plot point to drive the action. When I blow up hundreds of fighter pilots, I like to feel like I'm taking out the bad guys. I won't spoil the games ending for you, but the first thought that popped in my mind was "Wow they phoned in this one". Overall the missions were pretty standard fair and the game is rather easy, so any sense of tension felt lost compared to other Ace Combat games.

Killzone 3 Open Beta Impressions

On Thursday morning PS3 owners received access to the Killzone 3 Mulitplayer Beta. Luckily I was at home sick and for hours dived right into what Guerrilla games has to offer for its next installment to its PS3 exclusive. I'm a pretty big fan of the series and really enjoy the Killzone world, design and single player campaign. I still however have had mixed feeling about Killzone 2's multiplayer.

So lets see if things have changed a bit shall we?

Donkey Kong Country Returns impressions

The developer Retro studios has once again cradled one of Nintendo's biggest franchises in its bosom and raised a fantastic game. The last year has been a banner year for platformers on the Wii and the 2D platformer genre in general. Games like New Super Mario Bros, Super Meat Boy and Donkey Kong help prove that its still one the best game designs around and with the right team, can compete with anything 3D games have to offer. I wanted to give you guys a quick roundup of my thoughts so far about the game and what you can expect if this game is on your radar.

It's just a 2D platformer why should you care?
Retro Studios seems to be Nintendo's ace in the hole and boy they don't disappoint. Granted this game doesn't have the same 3D rendered graphics like the originals, but it does have beautifully animated colorful characters and environments. Donkey Kong Country Returns level design is fantastic and offers tons of secrets to find, challenging platforming, and creative uses of the levels environments to effect gameplay. Each level in the game seems to be always asking you to do something a little different and each level feels fresh. Your also going to be in for a challenge; in the first world alone I died at least 10 times and didn't even come close to finding all the KONG letters and puzzle pieces in each level. Oh yeah, did I mention that each level also has a time attack mode as well? In case you looking for more of a challenge. The game can be difficult at times, but the game does offer you lots of ways to make it easier on yourself by adding checkpoints and banana coins. With the banana coins you go to old Kranky Kongs shack and purchase extra balloons, a puzzle revealing parrot, and invincibility juice. Much like Mario Bros 3, you access them on the main map and use them before you enter levels.