Super Mario Kart out on Virtual Console April 2

The game that created and defined a genre will finally be available on the Wii's Virtual Console on April 2. Kart racing at its finest, I'm sure fans of the series will be happy to return to the original for arguably the best Battle Mode in kart history, and I know I will be pleased to play a Rainbow Road without walls again. With this much anticipated release comes the inevitable talk of producers convincing consumers to pay for the same game multiple times through ports such as Super Mario Kart. Some wish that game companies would focus their efforts on new games instead of continuing to milk older cash cow titles and think it is crazy that gamers will buy the same game two or three times. As a member of the latter group, for better or for worse, I personally love having old favorites ported onto more recent systems, especially when some new content is added (think anime cutscenes in Chrono Trigger for PS). You really can't argue with supply and demand; there is a real demand for ported or updated versions of popular games, and as long as consumers buy them, producers will keep putting them on shelves. I don't see a major issue with this anyway as development time is generally considerably shorter than it is for a new title so ports don't take much away from the creation of new games. Now if we can just get Squenix to re-do Final Fantasy VII as they've been hinting for years, we'll be ready for business.

Final Fantasy XIII review

It is with a heavy heart that I write the following: Squenix has sacrificed fun gameplay in favor of being pretty and story-heavy. I am about 15 hours into the game and I can verify what other reviewers have alleged; FFXIII is beautiful and boring. I have been a fan of the series since its inception on the NES and even made it through FFVIII without a problem (although I wouldn't want to replay it), but the fact of the matter is, FFXIII has failed to captivate me. A list will best illustrate the pros and cons of playing this game:

Pros:

• Visually stunning, maybe the best in-game graphics I've ever seen.
• Interesting storyline.
• Paradigm shifts in battle have potential.
• The Crystarium is a fun leveling device.
• Music is appropriate.

Cons:

• Extremely linear to the point of boredom. The pace is set by the game, not the player.
• The camera is awful. It bobs around, making me dizzy, and always seems to default to looking out higher than the field of vision I want.
• Walk in a straight line for 5 minutes, then watch 5 minute long cutscene. Repeat. Enough with the cutscenes; I was hoping to play a video game, not watch a movie.
• Ridiculously melodramatic voice acting. Lightning can't possibly be 21; she sounds like my angsty 15 year-old cousin. And don't get me started on how annoying Vanille's voice is, or the fact that she can't stop exclaiming, giggling and breathing heavily for 5 seconds.
• Normal battles = easy, repetitive, no thinking necessary. Boss battles = sharp increase in difficulty that the player is simply not prepared for.
• Damage in battle is difficult to see. I can't tell which abilities are causing more damage than others.
• Auto-battle vs. selecting abilities manually: auto-battle is much more efficient than I am; the AI is frighteningly good. In normal battles, there is little point in trying to choose the best abilities to use in the 5 seconds you will be fighting, and in boss battles, it is hard enough just trying to Paradigm Shift in time to save your main character.
• You cannot control the actions of the two characters in your party who are not the main character. With FFXII, you could set up Gambits so at least the characters were doing what you told them. In XIII, I feel like I am just watching the computer play the game for me.
• Why is it Game Over when your main character dies? This is insane. The other members of your party don't know how to use a Phoenix Down? The worst part is that healing (thus far) is difficult as your main character is usually someone who does not have the Medic specialization, so you must either use a potion or hope that the Medic in your party heals you in time. There is little control.
• The game tries to prevent the player from having to grind by capping growth in the Crystarium in each chapter, but all this does is make the player feel even more as though his/her actions are irrelevant to moving the game forward.

I will stick it out with FFXIII for the time being in the small hope that it will improve later in the game, but at this point, the release of Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening tomorrow is looking better and better.

Overall rating: 6/10