FIFA Street 3 for the Nintendo DS - A Review

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Football games on the Nintendo DS were a lackadaisical affair prior to the recent release of FIFA Soccer 08. I can't believe that I would be saying this but, EA seems to be carrying on the momentum with the new release of FIFA Street 3.

The game starts with you entering your name and selecting your "favourite team and player". World Player of The Year, AC Milan's Kaka is in the roster too amongst the likes of Ronaldinho, David Beckham, Thierry Henry, Christiano Ronaldo and Cesc Fabregas. This is something only EA can pull off, with their budget and all.

There are several game modes available, though they seem abit spartan. Game On is basically your normal single-match kickabout. Pick a home and away team, choose one of out seven locations, decide whether it is a Score or Time Game and whether there's any handicap.

The Street Challenge mode however, is a different kettle of fish. Here, you build your team around the player you chosen earlier in the start of the game, bringing the team from "Pretender" to "Legendary" status by completing Street Challenge events and earning Reputation. LOL. I just ripped that off the menu screen.

Basically you get to choose 3 other players to partner your player (in my case, Kaka). The trio consists of a goalie (of course, if else?), and two other players in other positions (defender, midfield, striker). The disparity between the 3 players and your initial player of choice is pretty obvious. In my case, Kaka, with a skill level of 90, will have to put up with teammates with the average skill level of 67.666667.

Like any self-respecting team, you get to pick a logo, and thats about it. Street Challenges will have you participating in Score, Time and Trick Games (I haven't gone through enough of the game to discover more). Score games are the more straightforward of the three, you win by scoring, but there are certain conditions to fulfill. Trick Games on the other hand will have you earn trick points as the win condition. Time games... win a match before a set amount of time.

Each win brings some reputation points and just maybe, some Team Chemistry points. Playing as a team earns you team chemistry points, and the more you have, the more reputation points you'll earn. So remember, there's no I in team, so get everyone involved. Apologies for the clichéd phrase.

A little bit on Tricks: Players perform tricks with the ball, by holding down the right shoulder button and pressing a combination of arrow keys. You'll be lobbing the ball over opponents (and getting to the ball as well), switch footing and misdirecting opponents in no time.

Stat freaks will be delighted and disappointed at the same time as even though the game dishes out table after table of stats right after a match, there's no way to access a summary of the data once you are back in the Street Challenge main screen. I love them numbers too EA BIG!

One concern for players in general is that match objectives, which can border on numerous, are not shown during a match itself. The touchscreen is basically blank slate devoid of stuff, except for some indicators to help you with performing tricks. You end up breaking up the flow of the game by accessing the Start menu screen to find out the match objectives. I'm definitely not BIG on that.

Bad stuff aside, this game looks pretty. The combination of the DS' small screen, small arenas and 3D graphics makes the game something to behold. Player textures are a bit washed-out and the current player indicator maybe a little less obvious then what gamers are accustomed to, but hey, this is one pretty DS game.

Like any other EA title, the soundtrack doesn't disappoint. There are not many songs due to the limited capacity of DS carts, but it does sound like a FIFA game alright.

Multiplayer options abound, with WFC connectivity topping up the list of options which also include local Multi-Card and Single-Card Play. Get into a kickabout with a friend (using Friend Codes) or have a quick match with a stranger through the Quick Match option.

I didn't really had much expectations for FIFA Street 3, but EA BIG managed to deliver a positive mixed bag of stuff. Would I get this game? I would. And should you? Yeah!

FIFA Street 3 is currently available at Play-Asia. Click here for purchase details.

Do I Want A Stuffed Polar Bear?

After playing the Golden Compass game on the Nintendo DS, I really would like to have a. A stuffed polar bear, b. Tickets to the movie! Why? Read on.

I have not read any of Philip Pullman's books, especially his best selling "His Dark Materials" trilogy of books. I only read about him in a Time magazine article just recently. A pretty controversial chap who penned an equally controversial trilogy of books, this just makes me want to watch the movie to see what is all the fuss about.

Now, going back to the game. The Nintendo DS version of the Golden Compass is a pseudo-3D platformer of sorts, and after playing 2 levels, the entire experience can be summed up as "boring". The protagonist, Lyra, yawns alot when being idle, a metaphor to what the player might be experiencing through a largely unassuming, uninspired game.

Even some parts of the levels seem to be rehashes, prompting the player to think, "Have I been here before?" or "Is this a loop?"

I can't help but feel disappointed for another poor movie tie-in of a game and the only things that can make up for this have been stated in the first paragraph. A. A stuffed polar bear, because the one in the game looked really fugly with washed out textures. B. Movie tickets to the Golden Compass!

Old School Gamer..Try Primary School..and Orcs & Elves

When I was in primary school, a friend of mine used to create pen-and-paper role playing games. He would create the dungeon map ala a complex version Snakes n' Ladders, with paper from his maths exercise books, and then populate it with various creatures and traps.

There were always the staple "move back X number of tiles" traps and these came not without consequences.

The characters that we used to play the game with were taken from Dragonball, and my friend would create their stats and special powers. Sowhile kids these days would be busy blasting at the rather buggy Hellgate London, I was having fun with pen-and-paper RPG at their age.

In retrospect, my friend would make for an excellent video games designer.

In any case, id Software's latest offering Orcs & Elves is reminiscent of simpler times and even the graphics play a role in conveying that. Like the games that my friend used to create, Orcs & Elves takes place in a dungeon setting and in addition to creatures you'll need to beat and traps, there are also puzzles and NPCs to interact with.

I had only a short time with the game, and it does have great potential especially with old-school RPG gamers. For those who don't like to lift a finger to use the stylus anytime a game requires you to do so for a miniscule task, you'll probably love Orcs & Elves as it is pratically button driven. Look Ma, no stylus!

Orcs & Elves is available at Play-Asia at USD 34.90 with free shipping. Click here for details.

Real Football 2008? More Like Real Crap

Football, otherwise known as soccer to the Americans (for lack of common sense), can be found in almost every single modern video games platform. Given that the Nintendo DS is one of the more popular platform, it's not suprising to have another football title grace the two-screened handheld console.

Both Konami and EA have cornered the market with their Winning Eleven and FIFA titles but now here comes Gameloft with Real Football 2008.

Both Winning Eleven and FIFA 08 come with their own sets of strength. Winning Eleven has the cool World Mode, not-so-dumb AI, the gashapon machine and the 360 degrees playback camera. FIFA 08 looks like the old FIFA 98 or 96 for the PC, which is saying alot for a Nintendo DS game, has high production values, a myriad of licensed teams/players, and a rocking soundtrack.

What does Real Football 2008 bring to the table which is already occupied with two heavy-hitters? Nothing much other than very fast but pong-ish gameplay. It looks like a water-down, el-cheapo version of Winning Eleven, and I thought developers can't go any worse than Winning Eleven.

The lack of licensed teams doesn't really matter but the oddly named players, in an attempt to mimic the names of their real-life, licensed counterparts, are in bad taste. Is that Patrick Viera on the cover of the game?

I would stay away from this game if I were you. The lack of any redeeming factor shows that you are better off with FIFA 08 or Winning Eleven.

Archaic Sealed Heat.. Makes Sense To You?

When screenshots and details of Archaic Sealed Heat (ASH for short) first came out, there were speculations that the game will be released in 2 cartridges. The reason behind these speculations was that Nintendo DS cartridges were small in capacity and won't be able to fit all the FMVs and pre-rendered gameplay graphics.

This game can certainly generate alot of dumb hogwash from citizenz of the Internetz. Essentially glorified flash memory cards. Nintendo DS cartridges can be manufactured with sizes ranging from a paltry 8 megabytes to I don't know..perhaps 2 gigabytes and above if there's a need for such large capacity cartridges in the first palce.

A scan through a list of ROM files in my R4DS reveals that while ASH is the largest with a 256MB image, the largest I've played prior to that was MechAssault: Phantom War. MechAssault has a file size that does its title proud: 128MB. In comparison, popular PSP titles such as GTA have ISO file sizes measuring above 1GB. That's pretty crappy considering a Memory Stick maxes out at 4GB.

In any case, I managed to get through the first chapter of ASH without much trouble, despite not understanding a single word of Japanese. A turn-based RPG of sorts, there's a certain high standard for production values in this game unseen in most DS titles. The developer is generous with the FMVs and there's quite abit of voice work going on during the game.

The game takes place on a 3D-rendered map and there's a grid overlay on the background as well. Characters and enemies are portrayed as 2D sprite characters on the map. Another interesting of note is that like Zelda, ASH is touchscreen exclusive.

My journey with ASH ends here, since it exists in form of a ROM file. I don't like playing with ROMs for an extended amount of time and do I subscribe to the idea that they are substitutes to buying the real game. And besides, I don't really like RPGs.

I suppose the game will appeal to a certain segment of Nintendo DS gamers and if you want to, the game is available at Play-Asia. Click here for further details.