Nintendo DS: Going out on top

While the Wii has struggled to keep a steady stream of quality releases (not that it HAD to be that way, Reg), the DS has been getting buckets of great games right on through to the bitter end. Following the last round of instant classics (which included Okamiden, Ghost Trick, 999: 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors and Radiant Historia) is this next handful of amazing games to cap off an amazing run for the plucky handheld system.

 

Monster Tale

“Metroidvania,” developed by DreamRift and published by Majesco, 2011

It’s been a long time since the last 2-D Castlevania game came out… and even longer since Metroid: Zero Mission hit two portable generations ago. I’ve been anxious about new “metroidvania” games, always wondering if we’ve seen the last of them with every drought (thank goodness for Cave Story). It’s especially heartening to see more developers working in the genre.

Monster Tale is the story of a land of monsters that had been conquered by some bratty kids who had mysteriously been pulled into the realm one by one. Eventually, the plucky main character arrives and is granted something the other visitors were denied: the companionship of a rare, legendary creature and a bracelet, both with amazing abilities that can be unlocked. These give the girl the power to free the monsters’ world from the other children, and perhaps more…

I’m willing to bet this game has developers in common with the team who brought us Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure. The characters have the same sort of charm (even if they aren’t British), the cutscenes have the same feel, and the ways combat integrates with the bottom screen make the game seem very familiar at times.

The music is wonderful, the artwork vibrant, the environments varied, the pacing of the powerups is spot-on, the mooks stay tough and no two bosses fight the same (nor have I taken one down in a single attempt).

The risks Majesco took to make this game happen, and happen so well deserve to be rewarded with your money. As this game was only released in North America, I strongly encourage you to send copies to your DS-having friends overseas. They’ll thank you.

 

Aliens: Infestation

“Metroidvania”/Survival Horror, developed by WayForward and published by Sega, 2011

I’m glad I was complaining about the lack of Metroidvanias, because the game gods have sent TWO great ones to shut me up.

Where Monster Tale is tough, Aliens: Infestation is brutal. While you can heal up at save points and with the occasional med kit pickup, when a marine dies, they’re dead for good. If you search off the beaten path you can find replacement marines, and you’ll need every one; I have yet to beat a boss without my ranks being whittled down to a sole survivor.

Aliens: Invasion somehow manages to recapture the feeling of paranoid dread I felt playing as colonial space marines in Alien vs. Predator Gold all those years ago, despite taking away the first-person perspective (though nothing can ever replicate the fright of a first-person face-hugging).

 

Kirby Mass Attack

Platformer/RTS?, developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo, 2011

Shear, utter insanity.

Kirby has bounced back and forth between simple (yet satisfying) platforming experimental gameplay so many times it’s difficult to say where the series is truly home. What the experiment makes in Mass Attack is a driven, uptempo game.

It would probably never have worked if the game’s levels weren’t carefully designed and riddled with all sorts of new do-do-dads to take calculated advantage of the game’s core concept of a Kirby army.

I have but one (and only one) complaint about this game: When you have a lot of Kirbys, it’s sometimes a pain to have to make them all jump individually on the occasion such action is called for. The game is at its best when it doesn’t let you slow down, and this is more or less the thing that does slow you.

 

Professor Layton and the Last Specter

Puzzle, developed by Level 5 and Brownie Brown and published by Nintendo, 2011

I first tried the Professors Layton games with the Curious Village. While I liked the Professor, Luke and the puzzles, I just couldn’t get into the story or the ancillary characters. I eventually gave it another shot with the Diabolical Box and I was properly hooked.

The Last Specter continues to deliver and improve on the Professor’s winning formula. More puzzles (though I dread to see new iterations of peg solitaire), a gripping story and interesting new characters make it a delight.

There’s a little something extra this time, though. After completing the game, London Life unlocks, a life-simulator RPG set in the Professor’s version of jolly old England. There, you’ll interact with characters from all the games in the series as you find work, improve your wardrobe, room and happiness while helping London’s denizens in quests and storylines. It has all the addictiveness of a facebook game, but with much more charm and substance, and lots less harassing your friends and family members to click on things for you.

 

Honorable mention: Solatorobo: Red the Hunter

Adventure, developed by CyberConnect2 and published by XSEED Games, 2011

Not a bad game by any means, it simply doesn’t stand quite as high as the rest. If you have room on your plate for a charming mecha action-adventure game, you can’t go wrong with Solatorobo.

Half spiritual/half direct sequel to the original Playstation’s Tail Concerto, Solatorobo is a bit lighter in tone and more polished in execution. Both games seem to conjure memories of the MegaMan Legends series in me for some reason (they aren’t very similar, but there’s just something about them…), but consider that a recommendation.

With all these to play, it would be easy to overlook Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 sneaking in this February. It would be presumptuous to add it to the list before even trying it, but its presence in the pipeline is a good reminder that there will be at least one more gasp for the DS’s release schedule.