Ask and you shall recieve... impressions, that is.
Baten Kaitos - I wasn't too sure if I was getting Baten Kaitos before I played the demo; Now I KNOW I am.
The demo is comprised of 3 different scenarios (I played 2), each with plenty of battles and cutscenes. The gameplay is really fun for a "card-based" battle system and the controls are simple enough; L trigger to select target enemy, R trigger to select target party member, and A button to play your cards. You begin each battle with about 6 cards in your "hand". Each time you play a card, it's action is immediately activated and you can continually play up to 4 or 5 cards per turn. The enemy attacks in the same way, and you can play defense and counter cards during an enemy's attack phase. At the end of each turn, you're given final damage results and statistics for that turn. Also, this RPG has high numbers, meaning you'll be dishing out hundreds of points of damage per turn and enemies will have thousands of HP.
The graphics and music are both very beautiful. My only gripe I could see having with the game is that the voice acting can get extremely repetative with each card's name being yelled out by it's player.
With a month full of games constantly coming out every day, I really hope Baten Kaitos doesn't get overlooked by alot of others. It definately looks like a great, new RPG that alot of people might overlook if it weren't for this demo.
Resident Evil 4 - If you've seen the videos of RE4, you know what to expect. If you've played Resident Evil, you know what to expect... somewhat. Aside from the spectacular "CG-looking" graphics, most will say RE4 pretty much plays like Resident Evil with a few new added features, but it also has a slightly different feel to it.
With a town full of mysterious psychos who are all out to kill you on sight, RE4 just feels more "alive" than a Resident Evil full of only zombies, monsters, and STARS members. It gives you a new kind of "on-edge" feeling when you're having to sneak around a town and make sure not to let these crazy people see you, because if they do, they'll call all their farm buddies, with pitchforks and shotguns in hand, to come and hunt you down.
The controls feel like any other Resident Evil game, but with the camera constantly over-the-shoulder, it finally feels right (though personally, I've never had a problem with RE controls). You know to press up to move forward because you're LOOKING forward. Similar RE controls are still there, such as the quick turn (back + run) and using the R trigger to ready your weapon. But now, with your weapon at attention, you have full control of where you aim it. Now aiming at an assailant's arm can make him drop his weapon, or you can shoot out his kneecaps and make him drop to the ground. Of course, there's always the head shot which, if aimed correctly, can take out an enemy in one hit. The major addition to the gameplay is the A button, which is used for different actions in different situations, such as a roundhouse kick to the enemy's head or a dive out of a two-story window. The addition of the A button is definately cool and adds alot of new actions to the game.
Most people already know if they're buying RE4 or not. I know I am, and the demo only proved that further.
Viewtiful Joe 2 - Unfortunately, I was the least impressed with VJ2 over all the demos that I've played, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't good. I just wanted a little more from a Viewtiful Joe sequel than just more of the same game.
The demo gives you one playable level and the choice of playing it through as either Joe or Silvia (I chose Joe). If you've played Viewtiful Joe before, you need no explanation of how the game looks and plays. In case you haven't, Viewtiful Joe 2 is a hardcore action-platformer with a cel-shaded, comic book look and old-school, platforming gameplay combined with "bullet-time" style slow and fast motion effects.
My problem with the VJ2 demo wasn't that it wasn't a good game, because it was. But it's just more Viewtiful Joe and it seems so "slapped-together last-minute". The level design doesn't seem as good as the first game from the first playable level that the demo offers, but hopefully the rest of the game can make up for it.
All in all, I'll buy Viewtiful Joe 2 because it's more Viewtiful Joe, but I'll still hope that the full game has more than just what the demo has had to offer.
I'll post impressions of Mario Power Tennis and Mario Party 6 later tomorrow after I play them a little bit more. For now, I need dinner.
