By the games we play

As I said before, I received an Onyx Nintendo DS for Christmas. Since then I have gotten a few cartridges for it. In fact that’s one of the reasons I’ve been taking longer than usual to finish that Jefferson biography. Well hopefully I’ve gotten a handle on that and will be back to my book devouring self before too long. Anyway it occurred to me that I should write up a little something about the games I’ve been playing. I’ll ramble on about them following the link.

When I got the DS I also got a copy of Brain Age. It has a bunch of exercises designed to exercise different functional areas of the brain. I found that I was rusty on some of the tests. Well rusty may not the best description since I hadn’t performed some of the exercises before. Many of the tests I’ve gotten better at, but I still have a problem with the rote memorization of words. I’m going to try forming sentences or stories with them next to help memorization. I’ve been having a good time with it. It’s a really interesting product, but I wouldn’t call it a game. It does inspire competitiveness and drive though. I think exploration into areas of unique game play are going to be a big boon to Nintendo and help draw in a much wider group of consumers. I’m sure that played a big role in the design and marketing of the Wii as well.

The next game I got was Lego Star Wars II. A friend had played the first one on the Game Cube, and I co-played II with a friend on the XBox. I enjoyed the game the short time I played it , and it got good reviews. It’s a really fun game. It’s an interesting combination of game types. It’s easy enough for children to play, but also offers complexity for adults. I haven’t come close to doing everything yet. There are lots of extras that can keep you coming back for a long time. It’s fun to go through the stories we all know, but they also took a little poetic license with the stories. It’s just too much fun to watch the Lego characters wink at the camera or sashay around. The only complaint I really had is that the game seems a little buggy. I’ve had it freeze up a couple of times, but mostly I’ve had textures disappear. That means my ship, enemy ships, walls, etcetera would vanish. Also, sometimes the camera would get stuck in certain locations. It’s these problems that keep this game from being a total joy to play.

I went to Best Buy to buy a game for my brother; he got a DS for Christmas as well. While there I found that Age of Empires: The Age of Kings was there for $20. I had heard good things about the game, and I loved the PC version, so I bought it. I have to say they did a great job with this game. They turned a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game for the PC into a Turn Based Strategy (TBS) game for a mobile system. The graphics and animations are great. In fact I’m surprised at what they could do with the processing power of the DS. This game is entirely as addicting at the PC game was originally. I’m really optimistic for group play, but it requires everyone to have a copy of the game. In case you didn’t know some games can be played by multiple DS with only one needing to have a card. At $20 this game is a fantastic steal. It’s probably the best game I’ve gotten so far. The only caveat I have is that in some complex games the game may lock up after playing for a while. I recommend saving every 5 days in the game. But other than that the game is fantastic.

The last game I got, and have devoted the least time to, is Final Fantasy III. I’m really impressed with the graphics on this game as well. It’s hard to believe it’s a remake of a console game. If this speaks of the future of games on the DS, the system will dominate for quite some time. It’s a turn based Role Playing Game (RPG) like everyone expects of the FF series. It offers all the treasure of the FF series in a easily portable system. So far, I’m loving it, and I think I’m coming closer to convincing some friends to invest in a DS.