Another year is over for me. From this day on, I'm 19 years old. But why does it have to be a monday? At least there were no exams waiting for me...

Anyway, my actual party is on Saturday, so the only presents I got this far were from my parents and my brother. The latter one gave me Shadow Hearts: From the New World - which reminded me that I still haven't finished Shadow Hearts: Covenant. I just played it for a few hours so far and have to say that this is definetly one of the weirdest RPGs I've ever played. In a positive way, of course. I mean, come on! A ninja named Frank who carries a giant saw with a hilt attached to it as a weapon (or even better: a cactus)? That is just awesome.

The other game is Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials and Tribulations, which finally came out here in Europe last month. I merely finished the first episode but it's good to see the old characters again (especially after Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney).



Oh, and do you see these giant squares on the boxes? These are the current age rating symbols here in Germany. While I think I can get used to them on DVD boxes, on DS covers they just take up too much space.

Since some politicians are complete morons over here in Germany (drinking beer: perfectly fine - playing videogames: biggest sin of all), I think it's time for a little change. How about, say, a crazy rabbid taking over the lead position? Over in Canada, they seem to have a candidate already. Let us watch and listen what the little guy has to say...

I could tell you all day how much I enjoyed playing Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party at Games Convention in Leipzig this year... But that would probably bore you to death so I just present you this new video.

But to be honest: The latest Rabbids clips were not as funny as usual if you ask me. This one, as Gametrailers says, is some kind of a Heroes parody. Well, I don't watch this series but this new movie about a Rabbid who tries to use telekinesis is kind of funny. But what's missing? Maybe a little more DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!?

We all know that when it comes to publish games, Nintendo of Europe has the habit of being kind of slow. And by "kind of slow" I mean seriously slow. Metroid Prime Pinball is an excellent example since this game came out in 2007 here. As far as I remember, the American version was released in 2005. But now I stumbled across this:

Naruto: Ninja Council 2 - European Version is coming out on October 2nd over here.

Now don't make the mistake and mix it up with the American Ninja Council 2. That was a GBA game. This one here is for the DS. The first title of the series we got here was the US version of Ninja Council 3. Confusing? Maybe a little. But it gets even better: The second European installment ist actually the third Naruto: Saikyo Ninja Daikesshu (=Ninja Council) in Japan. Keeping in mind that Ninja Council 3/Ninja Council Europe was an edited version of the Japanese Saikyo Ninja Daikesshu 4, the announcement of the European Ninja Council 2 is actually a step back.

(Quick question: Who is confused by now? Yeah, they really messed up the numbering...)

And on top of that: I already own that game.



I got it in December 2005 thanks to a friend who bought it in Japan. It was originally released in April 2005, I think. So, Nintendo, you are about THREE YEARS too late with this game. Not only this but it's also actually not worth owning. Just seven levels short and sometimes downright frustrating because of the fact that you fall back every time you get hit. If you try to climb a high building in the game (and you have to at least once) and get hit, you fall down the entire building without being able to steer your character.

My guess is that most of you don't care about the Naruto games for DS anyway. But I was seriously surprised when I saw that Nintendo is actually going to release a title in Europe that A) has been released in another country for such a long time and B) is actually the predecessor of a game that they already have released here.

Oh, wait...



False alarm, guys. It's not so much of a surprise.

It has been a while since the last Rabbids video. But apparently, they're back. While I'm enjoying Sonic The Hedgehog on my 360 (Yes, the one with the awful loadtimes. AND I LIKE IT!) and The World Ends with You on the DS, the Rabbids got a copy of WiiFit. But do they know how to use the Balance Board? Let's find out!

For me, this was a very expensive January. Many games found their way to my shelves, some games I just borrowed from friend. These are the games that I experienced this month.

Games I bought this month
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-DS games-

Pokémon Diamond: So they finally won… No matter how much I struggled, these little pocket monsters were much stronger than I thought. But I don’t regret buying this game. It is fun, even though the new Pokémon look kinda weird. Flying honeycombs? Coins? And the new names are awful. So awful that I change them as soon as I capture them. For example, I call the leaf starting Pokémon (forgot its name) Bulbaclone since this Pokémon reminds me of Bulbasaur from the very first games. And now excuse me, I have to get to the third gym…

SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS: I didn’t know that this game exist until I found it coincidentally at a local shop. Instead of looking for some reviews on the internet first, I just bought it. It sounded interesting, I like the cover artwork and it could be fun. Luckily (since I paid 40 Euros for this game), I like this game. It is a bit on the easy side and sometimes the CPU literally tries to lose but the game is fast paced enough to make up for it. Graphics could be better, yes (why don’t they use fighting-game-like combat scenes?) but I still enjoy this game. And it has Miles Edgeworth as a fighter in it. AWESOME!

Elite Beat Agents: Borrowed this game several times and now I finally bought it. It rocks. Enough said.

Diddy Kong Racing DS: Why, Rare? The original Diddy Kong Racing on the N64 was, in my opinion, the best racing game on the console. It was fast, it was difficult and it was awesome. Yeah, some of the boss races (against the octopus for example) were just unfair. But I like it. The DS version however… It’s not that great. The game is not as difficult as the original game (which I appreciate), the hovercraft controls are broken and the whole “use DS features for a boost at the beginning of a race” is just awful. And I hardly found anyone to play this game online. Oh well, there’s still hope for a Virtual Console version.

Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle: Now we’re talking! Though it had some difficult and completely illogical parts, Runaway: A road adventure is one of my favourite adventure games. I waited so long for the sequel, only to not buy the PC version afterall. And why that? Because I hate cliffhanger endings. Okay, I still hate them but when I saw the DS version of the game, I somehow couldn’t resist. And as far as I can tell, this is a very nice port of the PC version. The graphics are beautiful, the point and click mechanic works fine and even the cutscenes found their way to the DS card. The only downer is the missing voice acting and the sometimes incredibly high text speed. Still a good game.

-Wii games-

Link’s Crossbow Training: Since I want to buy Ghost Squad, why don’t practise with the Zapper? Okay, Sega’s shooter is a bit expensive here (45 Euros for three levels?) but Nintendo’s Zelda shooter is still interesting. Short? Yes. Fun? Hell, yeah! But I remember Twilight Princess being a bit prettier that this game…

Endless Ocean Oh… My… GOD! WATER!!! HYDROPHOBIA!!! Actually I bought this game as kind of a therapy for my fear of 3D video game water. You can’t die in this game which is perfect. But I haven’t played it much yet. Curse you, Sonic 2!

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure: An adventure game on the Wii? Count me in! This game finally made its way to Europe. Haven’t made it that far yet (only seven or eight parts of Barbaros) but I like it. The puzzles are nice and the humor is great. I hope that more people will buy this game…

NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams: I don’t know the first game on the Saturn but I do know that I wanted Journey of Dreams as soon as Sega announced it. Now I got it and I’m kind of disappointed. The game itself is great, yeah, but it’s a bit too short and the story is not that good. Also, the graphics in the cutscenes remind me of Shadow The Hedgehog. It just looks awful (though in my opinion, Shadow he Hedgehog was still a good game). Fortunately, the graphics in the main game are much better. I don’t know if I would recommend it to anybody but you should at least try the new NiGHTS.

-Xbox 360 game(s)-

LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga: Though I don’t like the Star Wars movies that much (as well as most of the countless games based on this license), I enjoyed playing the first LEGO Star Wars with a friend of mine. Now I got this game and the second one on one single disc for just 35 Euros. Great deal if you ask me. Actually I wanted the Wii version but this one was already sold out. Doesn’t matter, the game is great nevertheless.


These are the games I bought, but there is another game that I played at a Friend’s house. And that is…

No More Heroes: Thanks, Grasshopper Manufacture! Played the Japanese Version for two hours and can’t wait for the European release. For those who want to watch my poor skills, I made a video. 13 parts, about two hours and two German guys (my buddy and me) talking crazy stuff. You can find the videos at YouTube.

That’s my January. The next month is (hopefully) not that expensive but at least No More Heroes will join my collection.