Coming Attractions 11.22.08: Goodbye!

Posted by Drew Robbins on 11.22.2008

411's Drew Robbins delivers his last Coming Attractions, giving us his thoughts on Chrono Trigger for the DS and handing out his year-end awards...a month early.

Welcome to a very special edition of Coming Attractions…what is so special? Not only am I sick at the time of writing, but this is also the last Coming Attractions…with Drew Robbins. I didn't plan originally to drop the column this quick, but early this week the PC-Centric Extravaganza lost its host, and I saw the opportunity. So, starting next week, I will be a Tuesday night writer for the PC column, and a brand new host will be taking on Coming Attractions.

- I would talk to you about my adventures in World of Warcraft, but then I realized that almost none of you would care. Just so you know, Northrend rocks, and Death Knights should be banished from existence. Of course, it will all be worth it when they get nerfed in a patch and a bunch of Death Knights claim they are going to "quit WoW" because of it…only to come back in the next week. I'm only level 71 as of now; the road to 80 looks tough but I shall make it.

- My other game of interest this week was Banjo Tooie, which is just as great today as it was eight years ago. I've done some thinking though, and have decided to actually give the new Banjo Kazooie a chance. What could it hurt? When I get a new 360, it will be the first game I buy…it will be an interesting experience that could either bolster or destroy my childhood.

- Left 4 Dead came out this Tuesday, and despite popular belief, I do not own it. With the new WoW expansion out, I really don't see myself playing anything else till Christmas. And what a day Christmas will be, Prince of Persia and Left 4 Dead will no doubt dominate my life for the entirety of my winter break.

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Coming Attractions – Week 20

Week 20 also happens to be the first week in what seems like ages where I don't have several games worth a purchase. This week has one, and only one game that I endorse.

This Week's #1 Pick

Chrono Trigger (DS) - The Super Nintendo is widely regarded as the best system of all time, and this is quite a fair analysis. Heck, the system even had RPGs that I enjoyed. One such game was Chrono Trigger, a journey through many different points in time. From the Prehistoric era to the bleak future, Chrono Trigger had it all. Being as well received as it was, Square re-released it on the Playstation to less than stellar reviews. While it introduced beautiful cinematic scenes, it also introduced everyone to unpleasant load times. Said load times made the game almost unplayable and many flocked back to the SNES version for playthroughs of the classic. The PS1 game may have more features, but none of these were worth the loads, and the DS fixes that problem.

Take the PS1 version of Chrono Trigger, now just remove all the loading times. What you now have in your hands is Chrono Trigger! So, what should you expect from the experience? Combat-wise, Chrono Trigger is fairly similar to Final Fantasy, with each character having a selection of magic (techs) and normal attacks. The main difference is combo-techs, attacks which require two characters to team-up, dealing more damage than a normal technique.

But who plays RPGs for the combat? What Chrono Trigger does best is the sound, which just about blows any other game soundtrack out of the water. The music sets up every scene and it always fits, making Chrono Trigger a beautiful audio experience.

All together, Chrono Trigger should only last you about 15 hours, and those 15 hours are guaranteed to be jam-packed with some of the best RPG action of all time.

My Rating: Two Thumbs Up - If you haven't played it before, then you must buy this. On the other hand, if you own a copy of the game, you can probably pass, unless you haven't experienced the game with cutscenes, which are just fantastic.

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Quick Previews

Age of Empires: Mythologies (DS) - Assuming that you are, in fact, reading this on a computer, you can probably play this game as it was meant to be played.

King of Fighters: Orochi Saga (Wii) - I'm not a fan of King of Fighters…sorry, I prefer my fighting games enjoyable.

Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine (Wii) - Speaking of cooking, what is the deal with this Cooking Mama saga involving PETA? The flash game they put up in protest was hilarious; especially considering that they thought it might actually convince people of the evils of Thanksgiving. I'm not sacrificing "Annual Leftovers Week" just because it harms animals, screw animals, what have they ever done for me?

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Reader Feedback

Mark Salmela - Well, speaking of bad journalism, I got Game Informer in the mail yesterday. I'm fairly surprised that they gave the Game of the Month to something besides Gears of War 2…they opted to give it to Little Big Planet instead.

Chris Vicari - Yes, reviewing WotLK will certainly be quite a task, as I can only imagine it will take me a while to get to level 80.

Shaydee - Well apparently both the 360 and PS3 versions of Sonic Unleashed have been delayed. Early reviews suggest that Sonic Unleashed comes pretty close to breaking the Sonic cycle, but is pulled back by the werehog…go freaking figure.

Toddo - Man, it is going to be hard to wait till Christmas for Left 4 Dead…

David - I can't imagine myself enjoying a 3D Mortal Kombat, so MK vs. DC is subjugated to a rental (at best) for me.

And beating me at Madden? I have…no idea what you are talking about.

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The Coming Attractions Awards

With only a month left in the year, and this being my last Coming Attractions, I feel it is safe to have an Awards column. There will be several categories in place of the usual "Yesterday's Attractions," and "Console War Scoreboard." Let's get these awards underway…

Who Needs Books, anyways? (Best Story)



Winner: Grand Theft Auto IV

This was really a two-horse race. It was between the graphical powerhouse known as Metal Gear Solid 4, and what we have here, GTA IV. In the past, Grand Theft Auto (outside of San Andreas) has usually had a boring story led by characters that were often hard to like. Tommy Vercetti would take a job to kill a man without asking questions, and GTA 3's nameless protagonist was much the same. With GTA IV, the game is led by Niko Bellic, a man fleeing his country due to the great promises of the American Dream. Upon arrival, the "American Dream" turns out to be an overblown lie by his cousin, Ramon. The story as it unfolds from there is fantastic, and makes GTA IV an unforgettable experience.

Honorable Mention: Metal Gear Solid 4

Bioshock (PS3) and Chrono Trigger (DS) were disqualified for being ports.

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Best Graphics



Winner: Metal Gear Solid 4

It is fairly safe to say that if you disagree with this choice, you haven't played Metal Gear Solid 4. Kojima pushed the PS3 to its limits with the game, which gave way to the best visuals since…well, Crysis. It is worth sitting through the convoluted story just to see the visual treats this game has in store, and let me assure you, it has plenty.

Honorable Mentions: Grand Theft Auto IV, Crysis: Warhead, Gears of War 2, Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

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The Best Reason to Have Friends (Best Party Game)



Winner: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

To almost nobody's surprise, Smash Bros. Brawl came out and instantly drained the life out of many innocent Nintendo fans, yours truly included. Still to this day, whenever a friend comes over, it is Brawl time. Brawl time took place of Melee time, a tradition that had lasted for seven years. Brawl is basically just an upgrade of Melee, so all odds point to it being a party dominator for years to come just as Melee was.

Honorable Mentions: Rock Band 2, Mario Kart Wii, Castle Crashers, Smackdown vs. Raw 2009

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Best Game you probably didn't Play



Winner: No More Heroes

The Wii had a strange year, receiving its best content in the early months…and then getting pretty much nothing come the holidays. Brawl was released in March, Mario Kart in April, and this year's best obscure game, No More Heroes, came out in January. No More Heroes placed you as Travis Touchdown in a bizarre quest to become the world's best assassin. With the help guidance of Sylvia, Travis has to take down the current top 10 with his trusty light saber beam katana. No More Heroes was a game filled with absurd humor, fountains of blood, and insane killers…so why the heck are you reading this, go out and buy it NOW!

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The Lair Memorial Award (Biggest Disappointment)



Winner: SPORE

Spore was poised to be this year's greatest innovation. The thought of taking a creature from the cell stage to space seemed like such a great concept, but unfortunately, the concept was executed very poorly. Instead of a gradual build-up, your creature jumps rapidly from stage to stage, until it winds up in the depths of space. Charles Darwin was probably rolling in his grave when Will Wright tried to sell this as a good depiction of evolution. The gameplay was supposed to be a great life-simulator but just ended up being a random mish-mash of different games. It started out as Flow, and then it became World of Warcraft, then Warcraft III, after that it was Civilization IV…and at the end it throws in EVE. Many defend Spore, saying that it is a great space simulator…well that wasn't the intent. We were promised a great life-simulator and instead got a crappy mish-mash that ends in space.

Honorable Mentions: Soul Calibur IV, TNA Impact!

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Halo: Combat Evolved Award (Game that gets more credit than it deserves)



Winner: Fable II

Back on the original Xbox, Fable debuted to a fair share of praise and criticism. While it was praised for its open-ended gameplay, many bemoaned the game's length. Recently, Fable II was released and it was…pretty much the same thing as the original. It baffles the mind how only a few years later, everyone is willing to forgive the short single player and praise the other features that have hardly changed. Ok, you can have a family with children now…but you have to take lousy jobs to sustain them. Your financial problems can't be solved by fighting enemies, as they no longer drop money. This is obviously an attempt at realism, but come on, when your game has magic and superhuman characters; I think realism has already passed you by. Yet, even with this, many are hailing this game as better than the Lost Chapters…to which I say, no, you can't say that, they are almost the same.

Fable II is not a bad game, it is in fact, good…but for many to claim it has such a departure from the original is nothing short of ridiculous.

Honorable Mentions: Fallout 3 (good, but nothing new), Metal Gear Solid 4 (story is convoluted as heck)

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Best Wii Game



Winner: Super Smash Bros. Brawl

With a year so light on games, it should surprise nobody to see Nintendo's highly-touted fighter take this award. As stated in the award for best party game, Smash Bros. is a blast with friends. Also improved this year was the single player, while Subspace Emissary wasn't really amazing, it was a drastic improvement on the stale Adventure mode of Melee.

Runner-Up - No More Heroes

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Best PS3 Game



Winner: Little Big Planet

Last year Sony's monolith had quite the conundrum…games, and the lacking of them. Luckily this year, Sony's system got a handful of hits, including this game from Media Molecule. Little Big Planet is an endless platformer, meaning that even once you have finished the single player, the adventure doesn't stop there. You can create your own levels, or play through levels created by other users over PSN. Even with the moderation of levels beginning to tighten, LBP still offers up hours upon hours of replay value. Even if you don't enjoy the user-created content, the game is worth it alone based on the outstanding story mode.

Runner-Up - Metal Gear Solid 4

*GTA IV disqualified due to being multiplatform

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Best Xbox 360 Game



Winner: Gears of War 2

I may not like the man, but Cliffy B. sure does know how to make a game. Gears of War was outstanding, and the sequel marks as an improvement for the series. While it in all honesty seems like more of an expansion pack Gears 2 does add some new modes to freshen up the game. Horde mode allows you and some friends to take on an endless horde of locusts, and has become a hit with the community. With an improved multiplayer experience, this game will probably satisfy your Gears hunger for the next 2 years, when I'm sure the inevitable Gears of War 3 will come out.

Runner-Up - Fable II

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Farewell…

That is all for the Coming Attractions awards, I'll be giving out Game of the Year honors at the end of the year in the PC-Centric Extravaganza, alongside the Best PC Game award, which I won't give out until I have played Left 4 Dead.

Thank you all for bearing with me for these past few months, next week, a new host will take the reigns of Coming Attractions and I will be seen writing about news regarding the PC. If you wish to contact me, you can email me at [e-mail], or leave a comment below.