DS Game Impressions - Bleach, Dragonball Z, Infinite Space, Lufia

While going through and deleting a few half-baked reviews, I ran across this one that I had completely forgotten about from a few years ago, so here it is!

My friend lent me a few DS games that I wanted to play but didn't have, so I tried them out and have collected a few impressions of them here.

Bleach: The 3rd Phantom
I know very little about Bleach, but that isn't a big issue for this game.  It is set before the events of the anime/manga so it's more of a prequel.  It's a strategy RPG like Disgaea, so I was happy to dive in and give it a try.  You move on a grid, but thankfully can attack in a square around your characters, instead of the usual "plus" pattern.  When you choose to attack an enemy, the game will show this confrontation from a different viewpoint.  It switches to a side view, and the animations for the attacks are really cool and fun to watch.  Sometimes the attacks will include a special attack, adding to the damage done.

The only thing I don't like are the skills you can use in battle.  Most cannot be used after you move, making healers almost useless.  Also, you need to equip your items to use ahead of time, which I didn't catch on to at first.  The stat and skill upgrades are nice, though.  Upgrading your weapon can give you more skills, extra power for ones you have, or other bonuses.  You need to unlock one before the next in the line can be used, so planning is essential, since I don't think you can have all of them.  The game was so fun that I bought my own copy.  Now if only they made it so it didn't write "Bleach" somewhere on every screen in the game...

Dragonball Z: Attack of the Saiyans
Brought to my attention by Mole during one of the recent podcasts [recent at the time of original writing -editor], I decided to check it out, since I am a fan of Dragonball Z and turn-based RPGs.  First off, the game looks good.  The map sprites are cool little super deformed version of the characters and the battle animations are nice to look at.  The battles themselves are turn-based (as mentioned previously), where you can attack, defend or use a skill.  Skills are powerful, but costly.  They can be upgraded with points obtained from victories and new skill can be revealed when certain skills level up.  There don't seem to be many skills to learn, and it takes awhile to get enough points to buy anything.  There's also a "sparking" meter, which is presumably used for super moves.  Until you get those (I haven't yet), the meter is pretty useless.

Story-wise, the game starts just before the martial arts tournament when the Z fighters first see Picollo Jr. (the young one).  Along the way, you take control of different characters and do various unimportant tasks.  It takes over an hour to get Goku in the part, and then fight Picollo.  After that, you resume doing unimportant things that presumably lead to the fight with Napa and Vegita.  While it's nice that they don't just rehash the show/manga plot verbatim, the things you do just don't feel special or interesting.  Also, story bits in the game seem to take longer than they should, since there is a small pause after a text bubble goes away and before characters do their emoticons.  They also do them frequently, which just made the uninteresting story bits take that much longer.  So while the game looks good and the battles are fun, the story makes the game actually kind of boring.  I don't know if I'll play it much more.

Infinite Space
This is a game that's been on my radar for awhile.  Space exploration and battles with grid-based equipping.  It sounded really fun, but the price and availability has always been a drawback.  When I started, the first thing I noticed was the graphics.  It reminded me of the Transformers DS games which kind of looked like crap.  Ugh.  Well, I can look past that, especially for an RPG, so I dove further.

It was a letdown.  The space battles are interesting, but get annoying pretty quickly.  Most things in the game are not explained well at all, adding to the frustration.  The more I played the game, the less I liked it.  Some are small gripes, like your initial target in space battles is not the ship in the front, which you actually NEED to attack first.  There are plenty of big gripes too, like the computer AI being almost perfect.  I didn't even get the melee battles, but I read about them, and it seems I dodged a bullet by not getting that far.  As sad as it is, I'm going to pass on it and save that chunk of change.  I'll happily give my friend back his copy.

Lufia
Last but not least is Lufia.  This is a series I really need to get into, since I enjoyed the original on SNES back in the day (and I still need to get my own copy of that).  I have the GBA one, and should really play more, but I wanted to give this one a try since I've seen it for pretty cheap.  First off, it is an action RPG, not a turn based, but that wouldn't be enough to deter me.  The combat is ok, but not that great.  You don't get many moves so it's not as fun as it could be.  You get a pretty effect on your attacks midway through the combo, but all they seem to do is obscure parts of the screen for no benefit.

The combat can be a bit wonky, mostly from using the d-pad to move in the 3D space (it would be perfect for the 3DS circle pad).  It's easy to get hit, and you take more damage than you might think.  This is offset by the "retry with level boost" option on the continue screen.  There's also a lot more platforming than I would have guessed, and it's about as bad as you'd suspect.  While the game is funny and doesn't really take itself seriously, it's not as fun as the old Lufias.  A bit disappointing, and fans are better off skipping this one.

Marvel Vs Capcom Infinite - Dream Entrants

Wow.  The game that easily could not have been has been officially announced.  Marvel Vs. Capcom Infinite is coming in 2017 (supposedly).  So far we have seen Ryu (duh), Megaman X (my favorite incarnation, and I'll accept him over Zero since Zero has had his day), and Morrigan (duh) for the Capcom side.  Marvel is bringing Ironman (duh x3), Captain Marvel (awesome), and Captain America (thumbs up, soldier!)

It's back to 2v2 and has also been confirmed that there are no assists this time around, which should help with balance, even if I'll miss them.  The Infinity Stones also make their return.  As of this writing, it is unknown if they behave like they did in Marvel Super Heroes, or maybe even like X-factor from UMvC3.

As is normal with announcements like this, it's time to say who I want added to the roster, even if they have little to no chance (for some of them).  First up, Marvel.

My first Marvel choice is Venom.  It was an easy choice.  With Spiderman and Marvel coming together somewhat, this does have a chance to happen.  Besides being one of my favorite Marvel characters, he was a lot of fun to use in the Vs. series, and I missed him in the previous installment.  His symbiote attacks would be a great addition to the game.

My second choice?  Who else but Juggernaut.  He was always a blast to play, and I want him back.  Not likely, since Marvel and the X-Men are on the skids, but you never know.

Third choice?  Darkhawk.  I have no idea if he's still relevant, as I haven't read his comics since the mid 90s, but his design was always cool.  I don't even remember what moves he might have, but it would be cool to see him in the game.  Not likely, though.

Considering this is likely some sort of tie-in to the Infinity War movie, I think it's likely to include Thanos.  I don't want him as the boss, or even at boss level strength, but having copies of the gems would give him a great move set.

My first Capcom choice might be obvious.  I want a hunter from Monster Hunter.  I don't want different stances or other gimmicks to incorporate the various weapons.  Just make them special moves.  Give them the great sword as a default (slow, good range, heavy hitting), and make the hammer spin a special move, maybe the insect glaive vault as another, bowgun as a projectile...you get the picture.  Plus, I want a super where the hunter does a superman dive, and if it connects, the Rathalos runs over the opponent.  Awesome!  I think there is some chance of this happening, since Capcom is understanding that the series does sell outside of Japan, but we shall see.

Next would be to bring back Phoenix Wright.  Keep him mostly as he was, but don't make him a joke character.  Let him actually be effective enough to work on a team.  If not, I will keep comparing the developers to Sam Raimi and his travesty of Spiderman 3.  *shudder*  Anyway, I don't think this is likely, but I'd like it to happen.

I got to rep another Capcom favorite, Sengoku Basara.  After some deliberation, I went with Masamune Date.  Not my favorite, but his 6 sword style will definitely set him apart from other combatants.  Plus, he's one of the two poster boys for the franchise, so that will help.  Again, not likely, but it should be.

While we already have a Darkstalker, I always pull for Jedah to be included in the crossover games.  Why?  He's the coolest one.  He has great moves, a unique look, but plays familiar enough to not be an oddity.  Plus hearing that laugh while doing one of his two awesome super moves would be great.  I think he has about zero chances of being in a game over Morrigan and Felicia, since that's all people care about from Darkstalkers.  As long as there is no Dimitri, I can deal with that.

Another great series that I want a character included from is Rival Schools.  Most of them might appear too 'normal' to hang with the rest of the cast, so I have to lean toward Demon Hyo as the entrant.  His dual swords (one of which is a broken blade with phantom energy...so cool!) and fearsome demeanor would fit right in with the rest of the cast, and still rep another Capcom forgotten favorite.

Did I go this long without recommending someone from Power Stone?  It was the first thing that jumped into my mind when Ryu yelled it out in the trailer, so of course I would put someone in from that series.  My constant choice for that is Ryoma, since he's really cool.  Plus, he could take back his move that Virgil stole in UMvC3.  Either give him his Power Stone form as a super/gem move, or even leave him in it the whole time, I don't care.  Another forgotten Capcom classic that needs to be represented.  I think all of my Capcom picks are very unlikely, but they do need to bring in some fresh blood from lesser known and lesser shown titles.

Last, I'm going to recommend a boss for the game.  No, it's not as great as Galactus (who Ghost Rider could obliterate), but the end of the trailer made me think of Ultron.  Then I thought he could be a great boss.  From the old Marvel cards I collected, I remember Ultron would upgrade himself after each defeat to have a stronger form.  So, make him a 3 stage fight like Abyss from MvC2.  He has 3 different forms, each stronger than the last.  If you wanted to cross him with Capcom, infect him with the Sigma virus.  Or make him integrated with Sigma.  However, I would prefer that at least one form is the P90-X Hardball mech from Lost Planet.  It's big, mechanical, ties a Marvel character into a Capcom one, and is reminiscent of Tatsunoku Versus Capcom.  I haven't worked out the other forms yet, but so far I'm liking the idea!

I don't usually do this, but please leave any dream picks you have in the comments section below.  I'm interested in what characters other people want in!