Available on the US service at the moment (and probably due to hit PAL Wiis this Thursday) Art Style: ORBIENT is easily one of the top five WiiWare games, and is recommended to anyone who doesn’t own a copy of Bit Generations: Orbital on Game Boy Advance.

If you do? Well, it’s up to you, but you’re paying 600 points for what - to all extents and purposes - is the same game. Sure, it looks a little nicer on Wii, but it seems to fit the handheld a little better - particularly as the presentation, while remaining true to the original’s minimalist ethic - seems a little bland on the big screen.

For the uninitiated, ORBIENT is a game where you play as a small satellite, which has to gobble up others of the same size or smaller in order to grow, and absorb ever larger entities until it’s large enough to snaffle the ‘goal’ planet. This is done by pressing A to bring yourself closer to the orbit of one of the larger celestial beings, or B to repel. Get close enough and you’ll circle said star automatically, but mostly you’ll be using gravitational fields to manoeuvre around the empty expanses of space, picking up planets as you go by bumping into them or letting smaller stars orbit yours by aiming to ensnare them in your own gravitational pull without allowing them to collide into you. It’s worth doing this with as many satellites as possible, as these get you extra ‘lives’ - important in the later stages, when you’re bashing into planets within seconds and your stock starts dwindling rapidly. It does get very tough when you’re near the end.

Two buttons makes it sound disarmingly simple, but there’s a real knack to ORBIENT, and it’s not as easy to master as you might think. You at least get the assistance of a visual clue to your planet’s movement this time, with small particle effects representing the pull and push of each star. Chances are you probably didn’t pick up the original, in which case ORBIENT is a bit of a bargain - offering a substantial challenge and addictive gameplay for a mere 600 points. And if you’ve cleared the original and fancy another bash at it, then its cost is a small price to pay for revisiting a true original. Highly recommended.

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PROS: Lots of opportunities to play with friends. You can record your own music.
CONS: Has a limited range of licensed songs to play to, and they’re all abbreviated. Cover vocals aren’t so hot.

Sonic RPG works well as a light and addictive RPG, perfect for those new to the genre or tired of stat-heavy, grind fests. However, with DS role players such as Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest and a new Mario & Luigi game on the horizon, Sonic will quickly fade from memory.

Reviews
Fifa 09 All-Play (Wii) - 75%
Sim City Creator (Wii) - 86%
G1 Jockey 2008 - 74%
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 All-Play (Wii) - 67%
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Wii) - 36%
Captain Rainbow (Wii - JP import) - ??% (they said it’s not import friendly, but claim it’s a wonderful game)
De Blob (Wii) - 87%
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (DS) - 79%
Hell’s Kitchen: The Game (Wii) - 49%
Rapala’s Fishing Frenzy (Wii) - 45%
Dungeon Maker (DS) - 54%
Flower, Sun And Rain (DS) - “The score’s for Suda fans: take the number of Harman Smith’s personalities, multiply by Volodarskii’s UAA rank and add Goichi himself. That makes…” (That’s 79% by the way)
The Sims 2: Apartment Pets (DS) - 70%
Mystery Case Files: MillionHeir (DS) - 72%
Lock’s Quest (DS) - 76%
Pipemania (DS) - 75%
Drawn to Life: SpongeBob SquarePants Edition - 78%
Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness (DS) - 86%
To Love-Ru (DS - JP Import) - 45%
N+ (DS) - 75%
Bomberman Blast (WiiWare) - 5 Stars
Mega Man 9 (WiiWare) - 3 Stars
Groovin’ Blocks (WiiWare) - 3 Stars
Helix (WiiWare) - 1 Star
MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade (WiiWare) - 5 Stars
Space Invaders: Get Even (WiiWare) - 4 Stars
Commando: Steel Disaster (DS) - 67%
Wonderworld: Amusement Park (Wii) - 37%
Dragon Hunters (DS) - 58%
Spellbound (DS) - 35%
Pirates: Duels on the High Seas (DS) - 40%
Subbuteo (DS) - 57%
Johnny No Dasshutsu Daisakusen (DS) - 28%
Mitewa Ikenai (DS) - 42%

Huge thanks to Nathan for the transcription!

Canadian RPG idols, Bioware, have fused the joy of role playing games with their love of Star Wars, Dungeons and Dragons and Chinese Mythology… but who knew that secretly, they had a soft spot for the blue hedgehog and his collection of furry friends.

Despite their heritage and legacy as D20 rolling, hardcore conversation-simulating role players, Sonic is characteristically light, and accessible – a My First Mass Effect, if you will, a Jade Empire for Dummies.

The game’s primary emphasis is combat, and Sonic Chronicles presents engaging and intense battles. Like the Mario RPG games they’ve so carefully aped, Bioware mixes up combat with rhythm based touch screen events for special moves. When two opposing sides are throwing back and forth their most powerful moves, Chronicles becomes an impromptu Elite Beat Agents song, making for fast and addictive combat.

Plus, The Dark Brotherhood features all the trappings you’d expect in an RPG; wearable equipment, bundles of consumables and even Chao that can give buffs and special powers. While it does offer an enjoyable stepping-off point for RPG newbies, it won’t hold genre veterans for long. The ability to pull off the rhythmic special moves far outweighs the need for a strategic battle plan; fights are heavily weighted on offense where a barrage of attacks will likely win, in lieu of thoughtful strategy and tactics.

Sonic can communicate with his pals, such as series veterans Knuckles and Tails, in a dialogue system not unlike big brother Mass Effect; Sonic can rush through conversation for instant action, or stay and dig up information if the interplanetary civil war story piques your interest. Plus, he can offer a snarky or sarcastic response, but with no true consequences; you’re not exactly going to piss off Big the Cat, are you?

While this RPG features the concepts and mechanics that define the genre, it does little to hold attention outside of battle. Unlike the games it apes, from Squaresoft’s Super Mario RPG to the more recent Mario and Luigi games, Sonic lacks humour, charm and most importantly, interesting events. The majority of the game is travelling and backtracking across tightly constructed maps, collecting doo-dads and defeating monsters, yapping nonsense back and forth with your pals.

Thankfully Shadow doesn’t have a gun and Sonic isn’t riding a hoverboard, but compared to the self-referential humour, quirky dialogue and genuinely funny ideas present in Mario’s turn-based ventures, Sonic is stale and joyless. Even the enemies are generic space mutants and ice soldiers, with no googly eyes or personality in sight.

Sonic RPG works well as a light and addictive RPG, perfect for those new to the genre or tired of stat-heavy, grind fests. However, with DS role players such as Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest and a new Mario & Luigi game on the horizon, Sonic will quickly fade from memory.

As a first for me, I’ve been playing an MMO in its launch phase. I have very limited experience with online RPGs. Crucially, I never played World Of Warcraft.

I have reasons for not playing WOW. First is the risk of addiction. Both professionally and personally, I can’t afford to get stuck with a single game. I go through a couple of games each week - sometimes more, if there’s a review deadline approaching. (Some games I’ve played in the recent couple of weeks, but haven’t had the time to blog about: Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway, Lumines II, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Pure, Burnout Paradise, Viva Pinata 2, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, NHL 09, Madden NFL 09, Buzz! Master Quiz, Buzz! Quiz TV, Castle Crashers, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Stalker: Clear Sky. Speaking of which, Pure is all kinds of great if you’re after an arcade rush.)

Second is that from what I’ve gathered and based on my own limited exposure to the genre, MMOs haven’t really been for me. The basic structure is just wrong: I want to give them my money, but not when the game is geared towards a person who only plays that one game. I want to have a good experience with just one or two nights per week. Grinding is anathema - it’s a waste of my time, much like fighting PC hardware in order to get a game running. The whole idea of building up the experience towards an exclusive club of hardcore guild gamersat the expense of all those who grow tired before that is not appealing.

Warhammer Online does not set out to change what the genre is about, but based on my initial steps in the game, it’s commendable for several changes. I’m making steady progress, so far not feeling like I’m sent out on meaningless gathering and slaying quests, all the drama of heroic questing becoming just so much accounting. I haven’t really noticed my experience bar. It’s literally out of the way, but I was enjoying myself so much that I didn’t think to check it for the first few sessions.

They have put a lot of thought into the (opening) quests. It doesn’t feel all that much like a tutorial, it feels like I’m accomplishing stuff and being of use to the community. Because even though I’m very much of a solo gamer, I have already fought alongside dozens of comrades and slain dozens of my mortal (human player controlled) enemies. The way the game makes your actions count from the first public quest you stumble into is extremely engaging. I’m much more interested in my faction’s standing against our enemies than I am about my own leveling. The realm versus realm instanced brawls are great fun. Fighting people instead of robotic AI makes all the difference.

This is the sort of thing that many games have held back as “end game content”. Bringing it within reach of the player who’s still learning his way around the user interface is exactly what I’ve wanted from these games.

The technical performance has been flawless. Framerate is great, it looks good, and so far there’s been zero bugs. Add to this the extremely appealing fantasy world of Warhammer, which - for me - is so much richer than anything else out there, and you’ve got a very compelling package. I’m currently playing a human witch hunter, and am eager to check out a Squig Herder.

We’ll see if it sticks beyond the initial one-month subscription that comes with the install. For now, see you in EN_Zhufbar.

I’d definitely suggest checking out Active Life: Outdoor Challenge, especially if you’ve got a house full of young ones that you’d like to see be a bit more active when it comes to their gaming time. It’s a decent enough workout for adults, but the gaming aspect of it stands at the forefront, and as far as mini-game collections go, it’s easily one of the better ones on the system today.

As usual, please feel free to share your favorite links of the week in the comments below.

The PS Blog weekly reading list (Week of 9/29)

• Puzzle Quest PS3 Infected With Plague - Kotaku
• Resistance 2 beta fighters needed - GameSpot
• Battle Cars details, price and date revealed - PS3 Fanboy
• Destructoid joins Extra Life, presents The SingSterling Challenge - Destructoid
• LittleBigPlanet boss reveals PSP vision - gamesindustry.biz
• Trophies: Grand Theft Auto IV - PS3 Fanboy
• Bomberman Ultra: Bomberman Heats Up Winter On PSN - Kotaku
• PS3 Fanboy review: Buzz! Quiz TV - PS3 Fanboy
• Valkyria Chronicles DLC Lets You Be The Evil Empire - Siliconera
• Turn your PS Eye into a working webcam - PS3 Fanboy
• Sony Bringing Fourteen “Unannounced” Games To TGS 2008 - Siliconera
• BioShock PS3 is gold, demo coming soon - Destructoid
• When graphics matter: the case for Wipeout HD - ars technica
• Buzz! Quiz TV for PS3 Review - PlayStation LifeStyle
• Sony Online Considering MMOs On PSP - MTV Multiplayer
• Wipeout HD Review - 1UP
• Hands-On With The LBP Beta - GameInformer
• Valkyria Chronicles Preview - IGN
• Resistance 2 Developer: ‘Video Game Legislation Has No Place in America’ - Shacknews
• D3 officially brings Puzzle Quest to PS3 and TGS - PS3 Fanboy

Ultimately, Dragon Quest IV is so steeped in retro gaming culture that it’s bound to be polarizing. While it is certainly a well-made game in the traditional Japanese RPG mold, I can’t recommend it to everyone.

Every year around September/October, the two juggernauts of videogame football go head to head. EA Canada’s Fifa and Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) release within weeks of each other every year. It used to be a case of comparing the two against each other, with both games highlighting each others flaws. Even though comparisons may be made, it appears that what we have this year is two games that are going in very different directions. Whilst the arcade nature of the Pro Evolution Soccer franchise may appeal to some, a more realistic representation of the beautiful game is found in the Fifa series (so from now on, no more Fifa-PES comparisons in this review). This year EA Canada have built on the solid foundations laid by Fifa 08, as well as Euro 2008, and have produced an incredibly realistic game. The improvements that have been made ensure that for those looking for a true football simulation, Fifa 09 is closer to the sport than any videogame has ever come.

Going into this years Fifa, executive producer David Rutter claimed they had made around 250 key improvements for Fifa 09. Although you would be pressed to name each of these improvements, the game feels like it’s running on a completely different game engine. This is for the most part down to the revamped collision system. Where in Fifa 08 players with statistically high pace and acceleration dominated powerful but sluggish defenders, the new collision system makes physical attributes like strength and jumping more noticeable. Don’t expect the pace of Theo Walcott to be the deciding factor when he’s up against a heavily-built centre back. However, it also means that strikers with more power than speed like Emile Heskey can shrug off light tackles and are now more of a handful for defenders. It seems EA worked hard to ensure that attributes are more pronounced than ever before and make each player seem much more like their real-world counterpart.

Whilst physics have always been a big part of football games, never before have I seen a ball react as realistically as in Fifa 09. Corners and crosses arc as you would expect them to, passes have that extra zip in wet conditions and shots swerve and dip as you they do in real life. Expect a hit-and-hope effort from the left foot of an off balance Gary Neville to be curl as high and wide as you would see on television. With all the calculations that must be going on in the background, it is amazing that EA have managed to produce such impressive visuals. Tons of new player faces have been added or remade from last year, stadiums look exactly like they do in real life (see the visually stunning Emirates stadium below) and player animation is simply incredible. I cannot stress enough how realistic the animation is and you’ll be astonished by the variety of animations that you will see. I saw defender Rio Ferdinand wrap his arms around striker Jermaine Defoe, before adjusting slightly put his arms on Defoe’s shoulders. He then proceeded to jump and push himself upwards in order to win the header. As he nodded the ball to Vidic (his defensive partner) the striker collapsed under Rio’s weight, with Rio sent tumbling down on top of him. As good as the referees are I didn’t get a foul for this clear infringement, but for all of the decisions that the refs get right, anyone would find it very hard to complain.

The sound has also been improved over Fifa 08. Fifa 09 has arguably the two best English speaking commentators in the world, in Martin Tyler and Andy Gray. Crowds can be heard singing songs for their team, from ‘Glory, Glory, Tottenham Hotspur’ to ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. All of the sound effects in the game sound as you would expect them to. Crowds roar when a player scores and does his custom celebration, but also boo penalty decisions and bad tackles.

In terms of new gameplay modes, Fifa 09 offers an abundance of options for users. An new ‘Be A Pro’ mode (’Be A Pro: Seasons’) has been added in which you take a user created player and lead him up from the reserves of his club team to his national side in the space of four seasons. Last years ‘Be A Pro’ online team play mode has been expanded to 10 v 10 and I can honestly say that it runs smoothly and is an absolute blast to play. Another new online mode, Fifa Clubs, gives the more hardcore users a chance to play clan style 10 v 10 matches against other clubs. Users can join or create clubs, with each club containing up to 50 players. Much like ‘Be A Pro’ online team play, each user can take the role of a generic outfield player on the pitch. Come kick off, the club manager selects the team from the users available to play. Stats are tracked, with clubs being assigned to divisions based on their success. Although the standard manager mode has seen little to no changes from last year, it appears that EA have realised that much of series’ future lies in the ‘Be A Pro’ mode, as well as its online aspects. One would tend to have to agree. Who wouldn’t want to play a Fifa Clubs mode where you get to play as your created player and gain experience to improve your attributes.

Online play also sees the addition of Adidas Live Season in Fifa 09. Real player form for each week is noted by Live Season scouts, with player form represented an preset attribute adjustment. As well as being able to use this new feature in single player modes, player can use Adidas Live Season in online play - providing the team they are using is in top league of England, France, Spain, Germany, Mexico or Italy. Users can choose one free league to receive updates for, with the rest being priced at 560 points each (or a lower total fee of 1600 points if you buy all six). However, although Live Season is a very impressive addition, it seems that players get unrealistic boosts to their attributes if they happened to play well that week. Needless to say it can be turn on or off in whatever mode you choose.

Customisation would appear to be one of the more understated improvements in Fifa 09. Player creation is deeper than it has ever been and I was very impressed that I was able to create a player that looked a lot like me. The general customisation that you would expect, but that most games don’t have, is also there. Users can customise all of their buttons, turn assists on or off, choose from five different difficulty settings and search for only those online matches that meet a variety of user set conditions. There is also an incredibly deep tactics and formation editor (possibly one of the best additions for this year) that allows users to define exactly how they want their team to play. Users can upload tactics online and these can be rated and downloaded. Screenshots and videos of anything in an offline match can be uploaded to the EA Football World website.

For all the large additions that have been put into Fifa 09 (did I mention more stadiums, leagues and teams?) it really is the small things that makes it shine. Players pointing to where they want that pass to come, applauding the through-ball that almost made it through, or reacting angrily to that tackle from behind. Seeing an animation that you haven’t seen before after literally hundreds of games highlights the amount of work that has been put into Fifa 09.

Almost everything in this game works to perfection. Sure, there are a few very rare gameplay glitches (like keepers missing easy shots or crosses) but they are hardly persistent. What EA Canada have done, using their years of experience and fan feedback, is create a game that is almost perfect. This can be said about the best of games, as no game is ever perfect. Not only is Fifa 09 an incredibly fun and addictive game, it’s also the best football game to date.

+

• Stunning graphics and sound
• Realistic ball and player physics
• Tons of offline/online modes, as well as deep customisation

-

• One or two bugs that should have been ironed out
• Yep, that’s about it