put on your golf shoes and dance the blues

Working at a real newspaper, I end up editing a lot of sports wire copy. Most of it gets to be dead boring, since I’m not really interested in any sport. However, some of the golf stories have been pretty good. When they’re not about how Tiger Woods is either A.) awesome or B.) a complete letdown, they are good. The struggles of a game of golf (like Boo Weekly just barely missing a putt to win — i really feel for Boo), or a golfer against a certain course (Vijay Singh finally winning at Bay Hill last week) are something I can relate to. But why?

Video games, of course.

These stories inspired my to take my Wiimote in hand and play some more Super Swing Golf this weekend. I started with a round of 18, ending up at -1 after reaching -6 at one point. The Wiimote swing control adds an element of surprise that better approximates real golf. The only thing that’s really done that before has been Golden Tee (which is popular among the bar-games crowd) and the DS’s True Swing Golf, which I never played but heard was decent.

But the Wiimote swing puts you into the swing more. I keep trying to figure out what grip is better, what style of swing works best. I have very briefly played real golf, so I have a tiny bit of experience. (but, i decided that Putt-Putt was much more enjoyable than chasing a ball all over a huge course on a hot day)

Sometimes, you just don’t hit such a great shot. Sometimes you cut it so far to the right and O.B into the water so bad that the only remedy is reaching for the Home button and hitting reset. It beats chunking the Wiimote into a water hazard.

So anyway, I love SSG. I’ll keep playing it every once in a while. It’s cute, addictive, realistic but fantastic, and it’s got plenty to do. I’m only on round 5 of the Pangya Festa, and I want to keep going. This is a good sign.

SSG was pre-ordered on a whim on Wii preorder day. I knew I would like it, but it had fallen out of favor. Wii games are more interesting on a rotation, I think. I play a little of each every day, since none of them are particularly deep right now.

My first Gamefly selection arrived after a short fiasco! I signed up but forgot to put my apartment number on it. Getting used to new addresses always causes something like this to happen. Things got sorted out though, and I recieved Sonic and the Secret Rings.

Well, it’s definitely not just another Sonic game. It has flaws, it has moments, but neither are terribly good or bad.

One thing I’ll say is that breaking up the action as selectable “tasks” within “levels” is terribly jarring. I want something that flows, not to be kicked out to a menu after every level. And it’s not clear on what you have to do to advance the plot. It just happens sometimes.

I want a little more flow.

The action is fun though, but I’d prefer more control over where I’m going and more exploration. This hardly reaches Sonic R level of exploration, and it was a racing game. Still though, it has moments, and I really have to get used to the game and controls to give it a fair shake.

PART TWO:

After Dinosaur Jungle, the game really opens up. The levels get bigger, longer and better designed, and as the player gets accustomed to the controls, things are way smoother. The game becomes a struggle for speed, which is what Sonic as a series is all about. Being fast and smooth and suave all at the same time. Feels good once you get going.

I can still gripe that the game has busted flow between levels, though the purposes of the “challenges” are more clear. Each world is a backdrop of two or three or four paths, and the challenges give you some extra time to master each one. As far as I’m concerned, the true test of skill comes in the “Head to Head” race, where you try to outrun the wind djinn. It takes flawless execution, and it will make you a better player.

Now, a word about the crappy butt-rock that the game assaults you with in the beginning: “suck.” The last Wii game to feature such heinous butt-rock was Excite Truck, and it had custom soundtrack capability. Sonic doesn’t, and that’s a good thing. Because the music gets better. Levitated Ruin even has music I want to listen to. (note though, guys who make games, not that you’ll read this, but: Quit trying to use lyrics in game music. Just stop. Seriously. STOP.)

So, this game starts off slow, but has me hooked now.

Post may be continued!!

My dirty little secret has started to come out at work: I’m a gamer. Not only that, but I bring my DS to work.

It started with me wearing my Feel the Magic goldfish shirt. People would ask, “What is that?” or they might stare at me oddly for a moment and go “Is that a… fish?”

“Yes! Do you have a DS? (pause for answer) Did you play Feel the Magic? (pause for “nope, can’t say I did”) Well, the, uh, main character is apparently a skateboarding goldfish deliveryman, although it matters little to the plot after the first minigame. He just has this shirt on the whole game, and in a roundabout way, this is the mark of a romantic hero.” (pause for “oh. ok.”)

Many of the editors and designers I work with are my age, and only one has any interest in video games. He noticed me playing Hotel Dusk one day during a lull (he hadn’t seen it before, but said the ‘A-ha’ animation style gave it away. it’s interesting that that one video had such a lasting impression on my generation.) We started talking about adventure games and such. He hadn’t played Trace Memory, but thought it looked interesting. He said he didn’t know if he would like having to read so much. (lol @ newspaper page designers …jk)

I had started recalling what I liked so much about Trace Memory, since it’s available on the cheap now and I really recommend it to anyone with a DS. There was the way the main character held the then-novel DS Phat (i still like its design better — call me crazy — and i wish i could stick the Lite’s screens inside it). It wasn’t a DS in the game, but a stand-in device that looked the same.

She held it like a real object, not like something that you played games with. She held it like it was a nuisance, too big to stuff in a pocket.

It was done because it was another route to get the player into the game. Cing, the developer, made an effort to exploit the DS’s unique design in several places. I’m not really aware of anything else they’ve made (besides Hotel Dusk), so maybe this is a one-shot thing.

But. Turn on Hotel Dusk, which I believe qualifies as the first videogamey video game to be played with the DS vertical, and you might notice something similar. It’s subtle. Kyle Hyde holds a little notebook in one hand, precisely the same way you might be holding your DS. Of course, with this game, everyone might hold it differently, but the notebook is there as another DS stand-in. Another way of getting the player into the game.

I’m on chapter 2 now.
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