I've had a bit of a gaming week. Finally finished Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Justice For All. I can see why they did a relaunch for Apollo Justice, as by the second installment Phoenix's continuity and supporting cast had already managed to get quite convoluted. There's a certain truth to the suggestion that the Ace Attorney games are interactive stories - certainly the twisty narrative, offbeat humour and endearing characters are the primary reasons for playing - but there's a definite challenge underneath the narrative, if only in trying to work out how to get from the conversation the game is allowing you to have to the solution you think you're aiming for.Yes, with total freedom you'd be able to accuse the right suspect and lay out the evidence within the first five minutes of a case, and you have to sit around waiting for the opportunity to test your theory. This doesn't bother me - it's a game, the whole point is to work within the rules. These AA games are a real pleasure. I've already ordered Trials and Tribulations, and I'm very glad that while that may mark the end of the Phoenix Wright trilogy, there's at least two more Ace Attorney titles for me after those.
Now, Ace Attorney is a franchise on Nintendo's dinky DS handheld, but I do dabble in higher tech end of the gaming spectrum, and you don't get much more high end than Mirror's Edge, out this week. I downloaded the demo for the 360, and while I'm very glad I did, I also suspect the demo may be as much Mirror's Edge as most people need. The demo is definitely worth a try though, as by making an effective first person platformer EA have seemingly invented a whole new genre - this is as tactile an exercise in running and jumping as you're likely to get, a more immersive perspective on the kind of running, scrambling parkour experience demonstrated in games like Assasin's Creed, but in a futuristic setting. The game as a whole seems a little sterile, and I have the feeling that it's obstacle course gameplay and simon says combat may get old quite fast, but do get the demo - it's very possibly the precursor to the kind of thing we'll be playing in a year or two, and there's a great kick from the unprecedented sense of motion you get while flexing this new control system.
Speaking of demos, the Resident Evil 5 one will apparently be announced soon. Excitement over a hint of an announcement of a demo? Well yes, but this is Resi, and it's special. Euroshamer has this interview with producer Jun Takeuchi, in which he says:
"If we had the chance to go back and remake Resident Evil 2...you know, I think there is the demand for it. It's certainly something we would like to consider and think about."
Come on Capcom, you know it makes sense. Having ported/updated the original time and time again, and translated earlier titles into on-rails shooters and pachinko machines, a proper current gen update of Resident Evil 2 is long overdue - it's got a great story, and introduced Leon Kennedy and the G-virus along with Raccoon City and the atmospheric environments within it like the police station (revisited in 3 and Outbreak File #2) and so forth. Great as Resi 4 is (and Resi 5 looks) a mass zombie outbreak in a major city is the holy grail of the American zombie genre, and always worth revisiting. My (very sad) dream would be a Resident Evil: Raccoon City game for current systems that weaves the plots (and mainly shared locations) of Resident Evil 2 and 3 together, throwing in some NPCs (the cops, the Umbrella mercenaries) to create a greater sense of chaos as the city succumbs to the zombie hordes. Plllleassse Capcom, pretty please?
Mark
