Rant: Let’s go mobile – please no.

This rant might come as a surprise. I also write articles about mobile games and now I’m going to actually talk bad about it. I read an article today and something snapped inside of me. Something just made me sigh so hard, I almost blew over my nearly empty can of soda. I just realized something that will be a grave danger if we didn’t talk about it. Even if this might seem nonsense to you, I’m quite afraid it might happen. Feel free to discuss this in the comments, I’m kind of curious what you guys think. Warning: this rant has been written when I was a bit angry and disappointing by the news I open the next paragraph with. Just a heads up, m’kay. It might be not written as good as I usually write. 

Layton and Fantasy Life sequels go mobile.

Thank you Kotaku for sharing my opinion. I simply can’t believe that Level5 is making this idiotic move. I have a lot of respect for Level5, since they made some amazing titles. But jumping on the mobile cash train is just making me sad. Extremely sad.

Apart from that, Nintendo is also moving mobile after a lot of complaints. I’m extremely afraid that they might do something stupid as well.

I could rant about how disappointed I am about this, but it might be better to explain why I feel like that actually. There is something going on in the mobile market that is really not good for us gamers.

Moving to mobile

When I browse the app store lately, I notice that big titles like Final Fantasy and Fifa are appearing on the mobile market. This business scheme is just insulting in my eyes.

Why? Simply because those games don’t belong on the mobile market. At all. Since mobile games are meant as timewasters at the doctor’s office or waiting for a bus. Games that work well on mobile are games that are easy to understand and play. Games that have a simple idea behind them. That’s why Candy Crush is doing so well.

I’m quite sure that some people will disagree with me on this. They will try to prove that I’m wrong with examples of games that did well on the mobile platform. A game that actually did well on mobile platforms is Minecraft Pocket Edition. But then again, it’s a game you can enjoy in short bursts and it’s something excellent to do while you are waiting on something.

Why don’t triple A games belong on the mobile market? One reason is, that a tablet and phones aren’t meant to have long gameplay sessions on. Tablets where originally a decent alternative to a laptop for business men. But phones, they just aren’t meant for it. Think about it, you can’t call somebody because your battery died because you played too much games on it.

Also, because people want to use their phones more and more to do stuff on, where actually a tablet or a laptop is made for, the sizes of a phone gets… just out of proportion. I have seen phones that barely can fit in a pocket.

Target groups

My biggest issue is the fact that the people who play games on their mobile phones are a different group who play games on their consoles, handhelds and/or computers. When I see people play games on Facebook and their phones, I rarely see them play games on a handheld. Also, when I look to most of my friends who play games on consoles and other devices, I rarely see them play games on mobile phone. It’s because most people who play games on their mobile phones aren’t that interested in games to begin with.

I could try to explain it, but let me prove my point. When I went to Minecon a few years ago, the people who played Minecraft Pocket Edition had a separate room. Most of the people there were young mothers, males that did a lot of sport or very young children.

Or another example, the more popular games that started on mobile, get their way onto Steam, handhelds and/or consoles. Weird isn’t it?

Before I forget to mention it, the fact that you have no buttons to play with feels so awkward to me. Not only that, what you see on the screen then depends on the size of your fingers as well. Not only that, when you are in a situation where you need to do some sort of quick action, buttons are just better. Since you can press them and it’s harder to press them by accident.

No tablet for me

So, I’m already seeing some comments in my head. But if it’s on a tablet, it might be better to play on since your fingers take up less space or you can plug in a keyboard.

Hold the Android there. (Little phone pun, sorry.) First of all, I agree with the argument of the tablet being a better size to play games on. I honestly think that mobiles shouldn’t be powerful enough to play games like Delver or Fifa on.

But the argument of being able to plug in a keyboard or a controller is just, well, it makes for a whole different experience. Out of that idea we got tablet-laptop hybrids and a console named the Ouya.

I actually own a tablet. I use it to watch video’s on when I’m on a trip or in bed and I can’t sleep. It makes less noise and it’s lighter to carry then a laptop. In the end, I actually prefer a laptop.

Anyways, I think I’m going to wrap this one up. It felt quite nice to blow off some steam about this. It’s possible that I look back at this article later and my opinion might be different, but I think that the big triple A games shouldn’t go towards mobile platforms. If anything, they should rename it to “tablet platforms”. Since then my arguments about phones have less meaning.

So yeah, I might write more about this subject but in any case, I hope you found this interesting. While I could have written this when I was more calm and collected about the subject, I feel that, as a writer and creative person, you should allow yourself to publish something you created when you were in a different mood. But that’s a whole other subject. Take care and until the next article. I already have something in mind. ~

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Review: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney 5 – Dual Destinies (3DS eShop) review ~ How Do You Feel?

The Japanese box-art because we only got an eShop release.

Ace Attorney Wiki entry

So, it has come to this. This case is the hardest to crack. I want to prosecute this game and get a “Must Play” verdict. Yet, I’m up against some serious competition. So, let’s see. What is in my court record? A lot— What? Oh, that’s great! You have the perfect man for this job? What’s his name? Reviewer NekoJonez? Okay. We will give this a shot! 

16 November 2013 – 9 PM

NekoJonez’s Gaming Room

Ahn, mister Introduction. What? You want me to review this new game on the eShop I just finished? Okay, I was planning too… What?! This review will decide your verdict? -Gulp- Okay. I hope that the comments will tell me how they liked this article and or the game…

Opening statement

So it has come to my attention that this game will receive DLC around the time the new Zelda game is going to be released. Yet, I have to study as well. So it’ll be a busy period for me as a reviewer. Yet after several years of absence, how ironic that Phoenix Wright was also absent from the story in the last games, Phoenix Wright is back. In this new game, he shines. Like I made clear in my first impression article of this game.

Now that I finished it, I’m going to review it. After looking to a disappointment in the first place, which is the DLC, I think I’m going to take that back. A totally new case is going to come, and I’m rather excited for it. As usual, I’m trying to read up as little as I can about it. Here is Nintendo World Report’s article about the new case.

In this game, we get 5 new amazing cases. Each with their unique story like all previous Ace Attorney games. Capcom’s writing is again top notch here, and it’s surely a prime example to visual novels and adventure games. Yet, I have to point one thing out that kind of bugs me.

So, this game takes place 8 years in the future from all other games. But somehow the humans evolved to killing people using the “stab-y stab-y” method. Come on writers, I know you can be more creative! Gunshots, pushing people over the edge… are just examples of what you could have used. I just wish the DLC isn’t going to be a case where the victim is going to be stabbed. Another thing is that in most of the cases, the prosecutor is the same guy. While it does help get the personality of him very well explained, I felt like he was overused. And that the returning characters got underused. Like Pearls or Edgeworth. Such a wasted potential.

Yet, every returning character is presented in a beautiful way. The story is now supported with anime cutscenes which make the game as beautiful as -bleep-. I extremely enjoyed reading them all. And I do admit that I often presented some wrong evidence since the reactions can be so hilarious.

Whilst you get more out of the game’s plot when you played the previous games, newcomers won’t be weirded out by it. Since they explain a lot of things with flashbacks or “This reminds me of…”.

It’s quite clear that the character development is quite up there. Yet, some people found Athena Cykes a boring character. I tend to disagree. She is a well-developed character. And the case where she is the attorney is one of my favorites in the game. Yes, in this title you don’t play the whole game as the same attorney. That makes up for the prosecutor flaw. But let’s leave it here for the story since otherwise, we are still here tomorrow. But let’s not forget several typo’s in the game. Hopefully, they patch this!

New yet not better

So, the new gameplay mechanics. The mood matrix is such an interesting idea. It adds to the game a lot. It’s less difficult than the locks from Phoenix or Apollo’s bracelet. Furthermore, it’s something I actually imaged coming to the series while playing the previous games.

Taking the lessons learned from the Miles Edgeworth spin-off games, the entire scene is now searchable. But this time in stellar 3D graphics. You can turn and move around easily and the controls are extremely nice.

The game presents beautiful locations in each and every game. And they are all really fascinating since we haven’t visited them in the previous entries in the series. Like a murder in college. It blew my mind. Ugh, I’m talking again about the story.

I have to give credit where credit is due. The user interface is above amazing for this game! Now you have a save button right in front of your face. Also, you can skip the dialogue from the get-go. I do admit, this brings the possibility that you miss some dialogue. But Capcom has thought about that, they have a button where you can check on the past dialogue.

A change that has mixed opinions for me is the fact that you can “try again” right if your meter drained. But you get a full bar, and you start at the question you failed at. While this takes away the problem of spending too much time with re-playing the case, it does take away from the difficulty. Yet, I have to admit, I saved all the time before these kinds of questions. So, it’s like I said, a mixed feature.

I truly missed the feature where you can view the evidence in 3D. It’s not present in this version, only once or twice. But the features which are present are lovely. Like a notepad where they keep a sort of “To Do” list. So, getting stuck isn’t a issue anymore. Also, now they inform you when you are completely done with a scene. So, missing anything isn’t a concern any longer.

But enough about the gameplay mechanics and such, next!

B-E-A-UTIFUL

If you play this game without the 3D slider set to max, SHAME on you. The new graphics are beautiful and aid a lot with the new feel of the game. While for some critics, it feels a bit too different from the old Ace Attorney games, it’s still top-notch. What I am saying here is that it’s one of the best looking games in the series but not the best in terms of story.

In the cutscenes, the beautiful graphics continue. And the attention to detail is amazing. The animation of this game has blown me away. And how lovely that you can view the cut-scenes again when you 100% completed the game. So, you don’t have to play through the game to see the cutscenes again.

Speaking of the animation. It’s superb! The attention to detail is amazingly well done. And the game feels much more alive now. And the animation is so much better in 3D. You feel like you are really there.

The sound effects help an awful lot with it as well. They are tight and on the spot. And they feel new and not stolen from the best sound library around.

But the music is something you can applaud this game for. The Ace Attorney games always had astounding music and this game isn’t an exception. The track list has some new and old remixed tracks which make this game a blast to play.

So, the game’s length is extremely decent. Around 20 hours of play, you’ll get more than the crazy price they ask on the eShop for it. Which is at the moment of writing only 25euro’s.

So, let’s go on with the conclusion right here. Since this game deserved a longer review, and if I would write it to the length I wanted it to, I would be still writing till I go to sleep, and we don’t want that right?

Conclusion

The bad

– Some spelling issues.

– Mixed “Try Again” feature.

– Underused characters.

– STAB-Y STAB-Y STAAAAAAAB.

The good

+ Extremely improved UI.

+ Great length.

+ Lovely music.

+ Great story.

+ Nice voice acting.

+ DLC is better than I expected.

+ Graphics that put the 2D ones to shame.

Final thoughts:

So, this game is perfect. Some minor flaws but we can’t rip a game apart for it right? It could have been a lot better story wise for me, but it was still a better story than the last visual novels I played. (When I don’t count Corpse Party, that is.)

Let’s keep these final thoughts short. When you love Ace Attorney, play this game. Otherwise, play it. This is a must-have gem on 3DS! (And let’s ignore that I totally blew the theme of this article in the second part since I wrote this over two days).

Score: 95/100