Since I'm playing the second one on my PS2, I'm really looking forward to this PS3 (exclusive?) release. I hope it will make it fast to the west...



Nothing much to see yet, but it is similar in style to Ar Tonelico 2. I also love the music of the series, so it is a good thing they are keeping that style. Character designs almost seem a bit too familiar though. Not too much to worry about, I guess. If this is going to be an PS3 exclusive, I would be quite happy, because it justifies my recent purchase of a PS3Slim... I'm quite bored by the games I have up until now. But it could be that my choices weren't the best yet (Resistance 1 and Heavenly Sword). But I digress, enjoy the trailer!

Ah, Germany.
Despite having played an awfull soccer match against Finnland yesterday, you can get one officially signed shirt of their national soccer team, if you come in front of the opera in Stuttgart and destroy some so-called "Killer-Games" (or "Killerspiele" in German). This is an event which is organised by a group consisting of families which have taken damage due to the killing spree in Winnenden, about seven months ago.

While the action itself is totally inappropriate, popularistic and nosensical, just take a look at one of the images that are used in order to promote it:



Just in case you don't recognize it:



Isn't that nice? It's usually an image which is used against the Neo-Nazi movement in Germany.

Living close to Germany myself, I am really worried about some movements there. The rather open hatred against videogames is really terrible. It was awfull years ago, but this is evolving more and more into an insane witch-hunt. The thing that is even worse is the fact that other countries in Europe more and more sympathize which such tendencies.

Source: GoNintendo
Source: Famillien gegen Killerspiele (German)
Source: Gamepolitics

The Conduit has been treated as some kind of Messiah for the Hardcore crowd on the Wii. That was the case, before the game has actually been released and after the first reviews have been written, many peoples hopes have been destroyed. Sale figures weren't that great, not to mention general reactions to the game. Now that some time has passed since the initial release of the game, I wanted to write a little review of this game and show you my personal experience I had with this title.





Let's start of with the Singleplayer experience. If games have Multiplayer modes, I always first head for the Singleplayer mode in order to gain some experience with the game. It also gives me enough time to get familiar with the Story, Setting and feeling of the game. The game starts of slowly: You get a level that is nothing more than a tutorial version of a level that appears later in the game. I generally hate Tutorials, but this one actually helps a lot and gives you enough time to customize your controls. Now, I bet most of you have already read and heard quite a lot about the customization options of this game, so it makes no sense to repeat them again. To make things short, if you don't like a certain aspect of the controls, chances are that you can change that aspect.




The story is nonsensical, stereotypical and unimaginative science fiction based on several different conspiracy theories that are more or less popular. It feels like a very bad X-Files episode, written by drunken apes and produced by Uwe Boll. While the Voice overs are pretty good, the lines that are provided are terrible and lack any depth. There are no real Cut-Scenes, most of the story is told by transmissions and conversations between missions, which was cutting-edge story-telling in videogames back in 1994. The ending is anti-climatic and leaves everything open for a sequel, which is the writers way of laughing into your face and making fun of you. The story is just a terrible, convoluted mess.

So, if you want to play this game, it's certainly not for the story. What about gameplay? Let's just say, the game is fun enough to keep you going for the six hours it actually lasts. You are mostly restricted to corridors, and I have to say, this gives the game a certain Retro-feeling to it. If you take of your retro-goggles for a second though, you will notice how incredible boring the level design becomes after the first two levels. No surprises here!
The weapons feel good, especially the alien ones. They are interesting and original, certainly one of the high-lights this game actually has. The pacing is a little bit off, many of the best moments of this game are in the middle of the levels, and not in the ends of them. The lack of Boss battles is somewhat irritating, since the nonsensical story would actually allow awesome stuff to happen.





The graphics have been in the focus of many when it comes to The Conduit. It has an engine that has been build specifically for the Wii. In its best moments, it is actually able to put out some great effects. The game has a graphical quality, that many other third party games lack. While it is impressive, I feel like there are many possibilities to improve it. The sky-boxes are terrible and blunt. The overall design shares the “qualities” of the story. There certainly is hope that this fine engine will be used for more interesting stuff than corridors in the future games of High Voltage, because you can't really show off its potential in bland corridors.

The Music on the other hand has not been talked about that much. I have to say that I liked what I heard in the game. The score is certainly more memorable than the story and setting of the game. Sound effects are of mixed quality. The aliens sound like your average alien stereotype ripped right out of another game, while the weapon sounds give the armory of the game its own feeling.





While the Singleplayer experience certainly does not live up to the hype that surrounded the game, it actually is fun, if not a bit short. The highlights consist of a great selection of weapons and the “okay” pacing of the game. While the game is not too difficult, you will die several times because of the respawn heavy level design. Even though there is a harder difficulty setting available I doubt you will return to the singleplayer section of the game. The game tries to pull you back in with an achievement system, but let me tell you something: Achievements, that are tied to a game and can not be viewed by other people, are useless. I really doubt that anybody is really interested in it. Same goes for the hidden disks and messages you can find in every level. While they are a nice addition, you won't come back for them.

I almost forgot to mention the ASE. Oh well, on second thought, it's not really worth mentioning: It is a glorified key/flashlight/underused Puzzle Device. It bleeps if you actually have to use it, which is great and you can use it in order to uncover the before mentioned secret messages and Rooms with special weapons. Since you don't get ammo for these special weapons, their use is pretty limited.

The multiplayer experience on the other hand probably is the best you can find on the Wii so far. I would go so far to say that you can buy the game without even bothering with the singleplayer game. While the Map selection is not that great (only seven Maps), the multiplayer matches are really frantic and there are many options. Game types are varied enough, especially ASE Football is interesting, while not being entirely new to the genre. There is a ranking system that is based on XP, which keeps the motivation up. You can also do Team Matches or Matches with your friends, if you like passing around your friend code. As I do.

Up until now, I did not have too many problems with lags or hackers. In fact, in my seven hours of playing the game online, I encountered both only once. Same goes for the respawn glitch, which seems to have been patched with the last Wii System Update (Version 4.2). Can't confirm that yet since I haven't played the game online since that update. You will come back for this online experience again and again, so if playing FPS online is your thing, you should get this game. Unless of course, you have other systems, then you have better alternatives.

I would give this game a 7 out of 10, mostly due to the multiplayer mode, customisation options and interesting Weapons. Singleplayer is meh.

I present to you the first version of the Destructoid Community Videogame Canon. It took us 19 weeks and a lot of discussions to build a more complete version of the videogame canon. I want to thank everyone who has participated this far.

While this version of the videogame canon is a clear step forward, there are still some things left to be done. First of all, the canon can still be discussed and still is open to new suggestions. It is essential that we keep this process going. The other thing that I want to achieve are a series of blog-posts going more in depth with some games. These articles should provide more informations and opinions on particular games of the videogame canon. If you want to help out, just name your article „Destructoid Community Videogame Canon: *Name of the Game*“ and write about a game on the list. If the article is good enough, I will link to it in the weekly updates.

Remember to check out the Topic in the Forum and participate in the ongoing discussions. The list is still open for suggestions!

Destructoid Community Videogame Canon V. 1.0

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Jump 'n Runs

Super Mario Bros (NES) : This was the first platformer to have scrolling. (Count_Zero) (alternate reason would be required)

Super Mario 64: The concept of a 3d platformer was relatively alien at the time yet this worked so well first time out. (garrfunkel)
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First Person Shooter

Half Life Series: Since the very beginning the people at Valve have been pushing the boundaries of interactive narrative with the Half Life series. On top of that the controls are perfect and the graphics have always been cutting edge. (DaedHead8)

Castle Wolfenstein 3D: it opened the eyes of the gaming community as to the possibilities of the FPS-genre... there were a few games before it, but it was wolf3d.exe that convinced everybody that this was a great new style of gaming. (mistic)

Deus Ex: Most of its gameplay elements are drawn from other genres and not groundbreaking in themselves, but the degree of freedom and player control were unprecedented. (...) Also probably the only game where the "moral choice" mechanic felt like a true choice and not a tacked-on gameplay decision. (Shinryu)

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Action/Adventure

Metroid: Extremely good combination of action gameplay, both in terms of platforming and shooting, in an action framework (massive world to explore). (Count_Zero)

The Legend of Zelda: Similar reason, a fairly simple - at first glance - quest game, with a massive world (for the NES) to explore, but with fairly simple and accessible gameplay. (Count_Zero)

Metal Gear series: All of them really but most importantly the first Metal Gear game and Metal Gear Solid. Both of which were responsible for creating and popularising stealth gameplay. (dmgi)

Ocarina of Time: One of the few retro series to jump into 3d so well and adapt so quickly. (garrfunkel)

Tomb Raider: this was the break through game in the mid-90s. I can't think of any other video game character that was on the cover of non-videogame magazines. (Ali D)

Silent Hill: revitalized the horror genre by going in an entirely different direction from what the mainstream was at the time (i.e. Resident Evil) and putting you in the shoes of an "average Joe" character with no particular combat/survival skills. (Shinryu)

Cave Story (Dōkutsu Monogatari): For the simple fact, it has not only one of the best stories, and some of the best gameplay and music of any Indie title, but of any game period. For the work of a one man dev team to be placed up upon the same high pedestal as those done by entire full studios is a remarkable feat, and a true shining opus for Indie developers and fans to look to. (Scary Womanizing Pig Mask)

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Adventure

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: (DS 2005) The first non-Eroge Visual Novel to gain Western popularity and significance; proving to many that the genre could craft a quality gameplay and narrative experience, and paving the way for other such games, like Professor Layton, Hotel Dusk and the other Ace Attorney titles. (Scary Womanizing Pig Mask)

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Casual

Wii Sports: Like it or not it is something that completely defines what the Wii is and will always be remembered. (garrfunkel)
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Puzzle

Tetris: It pretty much single-handedly popularized the Game Boy (and more importantly, portable gaming in general). (Clyde and Badstar)

Braid: A masterpiece in every sense of the word. (DaedHead8)

Bubble Bobble: For pioneering the „puzzle platformers“. (BulletMagnet)

Puyo Puyo: Sets the standard for every "ochi" puzzler to come after it. (BulletMagnet)

Puzzle Bobble: It popularized the "shoot stuff upwards" puzzle subgenre. (BulletMagnet)

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RPG

Fallout: It was different and innovative for its time, doing brand new things that heavily, heavily influenced the RPG genre. (Angra)

Final Fantasy IX: It presents the basic structure of Final Fantasy (classes, magic rules, linear world spanning quest, high quality cutscenes to move the story) but its also, perhaps, more immediately palletable than the entries on either side of it. (Tubatic)

Final Fantasy VI: It's just an incredibly realised story. (Aurain)

Final Fantasy I: For being the first to popularize RPGs in the gaming niche. (Scary Womanizing Pig Mask)

Final Fantasy VII: Cultural impact, effect on the genre and popularized/familiarized those outside of the niche with RPGs. (Scary Womanizing Pig Mask)

Tactics Ogre: It truly set the bar for grid-based "move/attack" strategy titles. (BulletMagnet)
Pokémon Red/Blue: The standard-setters. (BulletMagnet)

Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne: For their unique and evocative settings and themes, as well as their robust challenge. (BulletMagnet)

Dragon Quest V: A great story of the journey of life and love. A great coming of age story too. (TurboKill)

Persona 3:FES: The definitive version of the game that has put SMT on the gaming radar for many websites/critics/gamers in the last couple of years, and introduced many new people to the SMT series as a whole. Not to mention it's moving story and addicting soundtrack. (Aurain)

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Fighting Games

Street Fighter 2: fighting games came of age here. (Ali D)

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Possibly the greatest fighting game ever made. It's not a game whose depth comes from five different meters to keep track of, but it's amazing depth comes from it's actual mechanics. (LK404).

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Music and Rhytm Games

Otocky: This game is widely regarded a precursor to Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Rez (2002). It was also the first game by Toshio Iwai of Electroplankton fame. (nintendoll)

PaRappa the Rapper: Parappa the Rapper is arguably the first sight-reading game; boasting quirky characters and plot integrated with original music and art. The mainstream success of this game opened up music video games as a viable source of success and income for developers. (nintendoll)

FreQuency: It was the first music game to give you control of all of the musical instruments in the track. It was also one of the first games to implement a progress bar on the right side of the screen that showed you how far through the song you were. (nintendoll)

Dance Dance Revolution: Without DDR, some games like Guitar Hero and Rock band might not exist. At least not as we know them anyways. Also it is a great game that even brings casual players to the arcade... If all the machines aren't crowded. (TurboKill)

Samba De Amigo
DDR is intimidating; Samba De Amigo is welcoming. Shaking maracas is so charming that even people who play on easy are smiling while they play. Instead of weird, high-speed techno music, Samba De Amigo had cheesy, upbeat songs like Ricky Martin's "Cup of Life." (LK404)

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RTS

Total Annihilation: the first RTS with 3D units, and so great and well balanced that people are still playing it nowadays (was released in 1990), some fans even built a full free version of it (taSpring) (mistic)

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Strategy

Master of Magic: a 4X game very similar to Civ II, but the battles were tactics-like battles instead of being computed automatically. This game was a shining beacon in the fantasy strategy/4X genres and was an incredibly deep game for its day. (zgerhard)
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MMORPG

World of Warcraft - When someone mentions MMO, The first thought is always WoW.
When a new MMO comes out, It tries to copy WoW's style and Gameplay. (Aurain)

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Simulation

Elite: the first successful space simulator. Everything from Wing Commander, to Freespace, to X3, to Eve Online comes from Elite. (Count_Zero)

Grant Tourismo (Series): for popularising the simulation-racing genre. (Mistic)

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Shmup

Radiant Silvergun: The most "epic" shooter ever released. (BulletMagnet)

DoDonPachi: remains the benchmark for "bullet hell" shooters. (BulletMagnet)

Touhou 6 ~ The Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil: (PC 2002) A fantastic Danmaku/Bullet Hell shooter, and a huge revitalization for the 4 year MIA Touhou series, introducing some of the most important series mechanics, like auto-item collection and counter-bombing, and some of the series most beloved charecters. More importantly though, it was the first of the series to be developed for Windows, allowing the West much easier access to the series, and thus, introducing a large number to the hugely multi-faceted world of Touhou. (Scary Womanizing Pig Mask)

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Racing

GRID: for implementing the time-back-feature that racing-gamers have been praying for since the very first racing game where you could crash your car. (mistic)

Motocross Madness (2): for the insane sandbox that they gave us. (mistic)
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Special

Passage: It was the first title to put Indie games on the map of quite a lot of people, and tells one of the deepest and most evocative narratives in all of gaming in only ~5 minutes. Most importantly, it helped show that games didn't need to be traditional, or even fun, to be worthy additions to the medium.(Scary Womanizing Pig Mask)

Disaster: Day of Crisis is a game that hardly anybody seems to notice or even care about. At least that is the impression I get from hanging around on American videogame sites, so maybe my view is a bit flawed since the game came only out in Japan and the PAL territories.
Anyway, I found this game two weeks ago in the used games section of my local videogame shop and bought it right away for 20€. I heard many different things about this game, also read some reviews that gave it scores that varied strongly. Some reviews really trashed the game, other reviews tended to be more forgiving and focused more on the strong points of the game. It took me only one week to complete the game and I waited for another one before writing this review.





Let's start off with the story. Disaster seems to be trying to emulate the experience you have with a summer blockbuster movie. The story is pure insanity! In 24 hours, one city gets in the middle of three different natural disasters plus an invasion by terrorists who stole three nukes. The protagonist Raymond Bryce is a former member of a rescue team, who lost his partner in a mission (which is at the same time the tutorial level of the game). He is looking for the sister of his former team member in order to fulfil his last promise to him. Turns out the terrorists also kidnapped a professor and ,of course, the sister of his former partner.
The cut-scenes are long and there are plenty of them. Sometimes the dialogue is good, at other times it is quite cheesy, but altogether, you will enjoy the story, even though there is nothing truly remarkably or memorable about it. The pacing is all right and will keep you interested. The characters are a bit two-dimensional, but interesting enough, if they actually manage to live longer than 20 minutes. The protagonist is hit and miss: At one time he seems like a total bad-ass, at other times he is naive, dumb and weak.





The graphics are on medium Playstation 2 level. The realistic style of the game does not work at all for the Wii, even though some effects, like collapsing buildings, work well. Textures are very often a mess and the characters have a low poly-count. It is still bearable if you compare it to other Wii games, but you certainly have seen better stuff on this console. It is really strange that a game that has been in development for such a long time is not even on par with Gamecube games. On the other hand, this seems to be the norm for Wii games. At least, the graphics don't get in the way of the gameplay too much. Sound effects are also really lacking. The music on the other hand is memorable and fits the mood of the game.





The gameplay is kind of hard to explain. This is mostly due to the fact that the game tries to do way too many things: You have QTE's, On-Rail Shooter passages, Exploration mixed with Trauma Center-esque rescuing bits and driving sequences. The Exploration part is interesting enough to keep you on track, but there is nothing mind-blowing here. Driving sequences are often very frustrating and you will have to repeat them several times, because, even though (or because?) the game sports the Havoc physics engine, your car will be turned over by even the smallest rock or stone on the road. Somewhat sloppy motion controls in this part only make things worse. A different Control option would have been nice!
The On-Rail Shooter passages are easily the best parts in the game. In the best moments it is almost as fun as Time Crisis. It is also a very easy segment of the game and I never died in those fights. The game tells you when your enemy is going to shoot, so it is quite easy to get back into cover, reload your weapon and then pop out again in order to shoot those guys. Motion Control is also used for the countless QTE sections in the game, and they are quite a pain in the ass, since sometimes the game just refuses to acknowledge your movements. The Trauma Center moments of the game work well, but they are not very deep.





Between the missions, you will get the opportunity to upgrade your weapons and the skills of youre protagonist. The upgrade are not really important, and most of the times it is hard to notice the more subtle changes. Other upgrades, like the ones that let you carry more ammo or give your weapons bigger clips, are really great and enhance your experience. There is also a shooting range accessible in between the missions, where you can unlock new weapons. This is, of course, completely mandatory since the three main weapons, pistol, shotgun and automatic rifle, are enough to tackle every fight in the game. Also the on with the bear. It's amazing how many bullets he can take. Same goes for the bosses. Speaking about the boss battles: They are easily the highlights of the game, event though it is downright frightening how many bullets one single person can take. At least, the battles are always frantic and engaging because they always take place in a natural disaster, which mixes things up a bit.

The game is about 6-8 hours long in your first playthrough. Since it has an upgrade system for Raymond and for his weapons as well as some unlockable weapons and outfits, there is some replay value. 100 achievements and an additional difficulty setting provide further motivation for a second playthrough.

I enjoyed the game for the most part. While it doesn't excel in any part, it is quite competent overall. I would give it a 6.5 out of 10. Nothing excellent but nothing really terrible can be found in this game. Worth your 20-30€.

After a long break, the Video Game Canon gets finally a new update. Since last week was fully focused on the Dreamcast, there are some new games that made it on the list:

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Possibly the greatest fighting game ever made. It's not a game whose depth comes from five different meters to keep track of, but it's amazing depth comes from it's actual mechanics. (LK404).

Samba De Amigo
DDR is intimidating; Samba De Amigo is welcoming. Shaking maracas is so charming that even people who play on easy are smiling while they play. Instead of weird, high-speed techno music, Samba De Amigo had cheesy, upbeat songs like Ricky Martin's "Cup of Life." (LK404)

There are still many games on the list that don't have any explanations yet. I'll keep them up there for another week, on the next update, I will only leave the titles on the list which have a full explanation why they are there. That update will then be considered Version 1.0 of the Video Game Canon. If you want to participate in the discussions or suggest new games, head over to the Forums.