Link’s Awakening on the Nintendo Game Boy was one of the fruits of the success of Link to the Past on the Super Nintendo. A portable episode of Nintendo’s adventure had been a long time coming, and after wading through the SNES game, I lined up the handheld Legend of Zelda for a purchase.

Beforehand, I heard of a way to get an expensive item from a shop without having to pay for it. I believe I watched an episode of Gamesmaster, and it showed the familiar green/yellow tint of the Game Boy screen. Link ran in circles around the shopkeeper to the point that he was looking the other way, leaving Link to run out of the shop with the item. When I had the game myself, I found that if you tried to nip out the shop without paying for something, you’d be stopped from leaving by the alert owner.

That revealed, I decided to have a go at the shoplifting. Around I went several times, and I rushed out the door, prize in hand. However, I was then reminded of the fact that I was not to return to the shop. This warning would lead to the downfall of Link and my positive gaming experience.

I had left the shop, but the reminder not to return was, in theory, only tempting me to go back and check out what would happen. Whether I played a bit of the game afterwards or foolishly had a peek straight away, it didn’t matter; my curiosity was aroused. Like a child that had seen something that looked nice and edible, I took the opportunity regardless of the approaching cost.

I opened the door, stepped into the shop…and this happened….



He killed me. But worse was to come. When I continued through the game, I would walk up to characters to have a chat to them, mainly for information regarding the continuation of the adventure, but always for the entertainment. Sadly, the penny dropped as to how wide-reaching my Winona Ryder-style antics had become.

My name wasn’t Link anymore, or even my own real name, but Thief. ‘Hello Thief, how ya doing?’ ‘Hi Thief, you’re not looking so good. What’s up?’ ‘Thief! The weather is nice today, yeah?’ The name I was now lumbered with felt like an albatross around my neck. The amount of pain that shot through my heart altered depending on the situation. Initially I was humiliated greatly, and as I went along I got used to others calling me Thief. Then, just as I was getting used to it, I’d have an important conversation with a female character, and I’d get hurt and confused again.



In real life, whenever I did something I knew wasn’t right, I’d get some kind of punishment, and I really felt the pain. I wasn’t a goody-goody; I was just trying to go through life without having to have another heavy burden to add to the shoulders, heart or mind. Whichever part of me was afflicted, I just learnt to make sure I wouldn’t have to go around like someone who had their soul ripped out, someone who would do anything for a bit of respite.

Link’s Awakening was a minor example of my suffering after ‘doing the wrong thing’ I easily dropped the matter and got on with my life, since I didn’t get that emotionally involved with it, despite what I felt above. It was interesting, though, that it was one of the first moments of feeling the consequences of doing something illegal in the game world, and getting called out for it.

The problem of guilt was much deeper than the game had reached. I had Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and whilst it made me keep on the right side of the tracks, I was suffering badly in later years, getting panic attacks, intrusive images and the constant need to check whether I locked doors. Whenever I felt or did something that made me feel bad, I would react badly, as if the consequence of my action would resonate. At the time, I didn’t know what was wrong with me or why I was feeling this way, but thank goodness I knew what I did in the game was fiction, and that it wouldn’t have ramifications in the real world.

Knowing this now (and having the appropriate medication), I wonder if I would have felt better if I tried that same manoeuvre for the first time now. I’m sure that I would, but to be honest, that just isn’t my gaming style. I try to do the right thing, no matter whether it is Virtua Cop or Grand Theft Auto IV I’m playing. I try to make an effort at cornering in a race car without intending to use the opponent as a brake.

Once again, don’t get me wrong. Just because I’m not a born thief, vandal or killer, it doesn’t mean I’m immune from mistakes, lies or acts of vengeance, verbal or otherwise. I just get hurt if I do them. And the last thing I want to do is to walk down the street with my reputation in pieces. Thank goodness for videogames, eh?

I love RPGs. There is nothing I love more piling hours of my time into them, slowly generating a character, evolving them through battles and then watching with glee at seeing them pummel a powerful enemy into the ground. Unlocking new skills is like unwrapping a present; for me it is Christmas every couple of hours. To celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, I learnt how to set multiple enemies on fire rather than just the single (insert smile-symbol here)!

And what could be more interesting than having a game that combines an RPG mechanic within another genre? It sounds sweet, that’s what! In the case of Deus Ex, there are RPG-style upgrades within the confines of an adventure FPS. I played most of the game (my copy for the PC strangely disappeared on me), and I loved it to pieces.

There was only one problem…the way you started out didn’t make sense.

Okay, here’s the deal. You’ve already accustomed yourself to the tutorial level, working out what button does what and how to gain experience to achieve the upgrades, where to put them, etc. You then start off as a fully-trained UNATCO agent, ready for your first mission. Your task; to take down terrorists who have captured the Statue of Liberty. You can take them out how you want, although it’s suggested that you try to keep casualties to a minimum with tranquilizer darts or stun-batons. Oh, and you have a few upgrades to begin with. Handy.

So what I did when I played was to put the upgrades on firearms (for tranquilizer dart fire, natch) and strength (for close combat, or a club to the head). Now, I decided to creep up on a target from a distance behind a group of crates. Okay, videogame staple, I know, but the bad guys need to get supplies in somehow. I decided to fire off a couple of dart rounds just to make sure I could bring the fella down, then duck back behind cover. The fool noticed a stinging dart in his arse, and knew something was wrong. His natural reaction was to try and find the source of what penetrated his backside, and I waited for him to drop unconscious…

….and waited…

….and waited…

….and waited, SH*T, HE FOUND ME.

After about twenty seconds of wondering whether he was prone on the floor or not, he had spotted me behind the crates and starting firing a weapon at me. With damaged pride and a few additional bullet-holes on my cyber-enhanced body, I escaped him. He went back to guarding the area, and I had to form a new plan.



Over the course of trying to take out the various guards to complete the level, more things happened to me that became a little bit nonsensical. I would shoot more tranquilizer darts with careful aiming, only to realise I had missed the target when I had a decent sight of it or hit the object I was being covered by. I got the hang of shooting and running a mile after a while, but maybe I was only doing it more because of my lack of confidence regards the use of blunt objects. My first attempt trying to club someone around the back of the head went like this; creep up behind the target, stand up, club. The terrorist responded by turning around. Seriously, I hammered the mouse-button like mad, trying to strike that arsehole down. By the time I had hit him for the third time, he had yelled out, started running backwards and fired his gun at in my direction. Honestly, this is ‘normal’ difficulty here.

Try upgrading shooting or strength abilities, you might say. Well, that’s a good idea, but there is a problem. For every person you defeat and every objective that is completed, you get experience to spend on your upgrades….but only when you do them successfully. I’d like to be able to have the ability to kick ass straight away, but if you can’t kick ass well and you need to kick ass in order to be kick ass….well, you’re facing an uphill struggle. I could try to resort the upgrades, but I didn’t think the game would let me do that unless I restarted the game from the very beginning. That would be very useful if I could change abilities on the fly, weakening one power to strengthen another, but this, I believe, wasn’t an option.



In narrative, this underpowered individual doesn’t make sense. You are Denton, a UNATCO agent. You should be able to karate chop people on the back of the neck, and they should drop to the floor or at least be incapacitated in some way. You should be trained as a counter-terrorist. You should have had so much training in the shooting range that hitting the target from a distance in some part of the anatomy should be no problem. You’ve been cybernetically-enhanced. You should be able to do more than what your standard rookie soldier can do. There should be more ‘are’ than ‘should’ in this paragraph.

That’s maybe the problem with basing your character on an individual who starts with the need to improve. Get the balance (in who your character is, what he/she can do to begin with, and what they can improve in) right, and you not only have a useful, believable character, but someone who can progress in the game the way you want to. After all, you are given the tools to shape the agent into a stealth, heavy or assault-focused warrior.

That said, there is another, more concerning downside to a weak character in a game like that. This aspect is present when someone is watching you playing.

If you sense that a game with RPG-upgrades makes you look completely and utterly inept, which is probably what happens at the start of a game, maybe it is better you play the first bit alone. Then, once you’ve powered-up your character to become a little proficient in what you want to perform in, allow your friends around to show off how good you are. You don’t want to look like you are playing with all the skills of a Stormtrooper.



A visible case in point would be if you were that Mysteron who tries to shoot Captain Scarlet at the beginning of the show;



You’d take a look at that and say ‘WTF, that guy can’t shoot’ and you’d be right. It doesn’t show off Captain Scarlet’s ‘indestructibility’. It doesn’t make good viewing for anyone who wants to use that for an application for the army or a Counterstrike team. In fact, your fellow Mysterons would probably be laughing their heads off so much, that they wouldn’t be able to give out that scary message threatening to destroy or kill something on Earth to Spectrum Command properly. That’s what you risk after failing on a game that deliberately under-powers your avatar (not Mysterons, but embarrassment and shame).

I don’t know yet if the second Deus Ex game sorted these issues out, because I never got round to playing it yet. My memory of the first game was sketchy enough that I could be wrong on at least one part of the game mechanics. If you want to correct or update me, feel free to comment. Give me an example of a game where the inclusion of RPG-stats done little or took away for the enjoyment of it. Just as long as it isn’t as shameful to me as trying to hit a terrorist on the back of the head with all the power of an 80 year-old riot policeman.

Yes, it is official. The Super Star Wars games are getting a Wii Virtual Console release over the next few weeks. According to Videogamer.com, this is being accompanied by special events over the Wii channels, as well as 'additional classic Lucasarts games...will be announced in the future.' I'm guessing this news applies to North America and Europe, except at different dates...

And to think Chad on Retroforce Go was fretting about Nintendo focusing more on WiiWare titles.

Batthink out.

Okay, this is a fairly short topic, so I'll beef it up slightly by explaining how I happened upon this little article.

I was coming back from a music gig in Norwich on the train. Happy and satisfied to catch another great performance from Emiliana Torrini, I chose not to look at my copies of manga I purchased, but instead reached for some of the free publications that usually litter the train.

Imagine my amusement when I find, on a review of Wii Sports Resort, a familiar-looking font on the inset image...



Yep, that's right, it is a copy of this;



My thoughts? Well, you're up before dawn, you're working to a deadline, and you need a picture to fit your review. Strange that you pick ours (one with a word in it), but still. This could mean two things; either the reviewer or person responsible for editing that page are readers of the website, or they took it off a search engine. I tried to locate the image on Google to see if it was on the first few pages (after typing 'Wii Sports Resort', without the 'Destructoid' part), but couldn't find it, so there is a little possiblitiy that someone, somewhere on Thelondonpaper (that's what they type on the top of every page) watches us. Maybe you could give a little credit regarding your image source, like you did with the statistic you posted from another site, that I also visit, on the top-right of the page.

At least the article writer Andy Lowe knows enough about videogames to offer a little critical view. His knowledge of the existence of Pilotwings and the fact Nintendo hasn't taken advantage of that IP yet shows he isn't completely in the dark about these matters.

But SOD THAT, there's a kitten on the right! And it drinks! Ron Workman would love this.

Batthink out.

I received my copy of UK magazine GamesTM through the door on Saturday. A good thing too; I needed something to take my mind off the dwindling bank account I have.

As this was the one which covered E3, there was plenty of news that you have most likely heard on Destructoid; Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Heavy Rain, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Uncharted 2, Forza 3 and FF XIV among other games had previews. Left 4 Dead 2 had a six page spread.

However, what I want to bring your attention to a few games that got a little mention in the previews round-up. Usually GamesTM have two pages of these, but they have four thanks to the extra games featured at E3. The first of these is Glory of Heracles, an RPG for the DS...



...and then a game that I don't think even received so much as a peep. Invizimals intends the use of the PSP's Go!Cam to get you to grab at invisible monsters around your house. So far, so Eye-Toy, but the fact you can keep the monsters you find, then use them to fight against others sounds a lot deeper than an active mini-game, and so has a lot of potential.

In comparision, Monado, the Wii RPG that Ben PerLee covered at the show, doesn't seem to be in favour with whoever in the staff looked at it. Scans below;



Now, hopefully these scans are actually sharp enough that people don't require glasses. Also, forgive any images that pop off the edge of the screen; Destructoid's uploader seems to prefer advertising the benefits of linking from other places recently.

Batthink out.

Every so often I peruse the magazine shelf of the supermarket I work at. Ever since I managed to get a shedload of comments for posting top 100/50/25/10 lists from one, I thought it would be imperative to at least get your opinion on any particular one if I spot it.

Published in Stuff magazine, this list has the following tag to explain what the list is about...

"The future is stuck in traffic and the past has been discontinued. Now is where it's at, and these are the 50 best games fighting for your current currency."

Yeah, that may be what the list is about, but nothing except the quotes under each game to explain 'how' these are chosen. Also, some of these games must be within the last two years, so I wouldn't really say they are all 'now'. And the Korg DS-10 isn't a game, so unless you are Dale North, you may already think this list is fail.

Anyway, the scans;













The interesting inclusions to me begin with Rolando, a game that Destructoid had a review a while ago, with its sequel coming soon. This came in at number 37.

At number 19 is a game I reckon most of you will believe shouldn't be there; Alone In The Dark. Yes, it is the new one. There is nothing to see here. No rioting please.

Dead Space is one place ahead of Resident Evil 5 at 16, and I believe that was one of the parts of the list Stuff got right; on the other hand, people still think FIFA 09 edged out the latest Pro Evolution Soccer, yet the magazine put them 13th and 12th respectively.

X-Plane was something I heard of on the PC, yet X-Plane Airliner not only got a release for iPhone and iPod Touch, but got to 15th on the list. Has anybody played the flight-sim, and agreed with it? And would you also agree with Up There at number 10 on the same formats?

Two of the top five had their question marks as well; Eve Online is a game you can play now, but is it a game of now? And Wii Fit? Is this just to infuriate all those who have had to endure Wii Sports in every other damn list?

Once again, I bet mostly call fail on this. Your call.

Batthink out.