Pads & Panels

Title: KORG DS-10 Synthesizer Plus

Platform: DS

ESRB: E

Publisher: XSEED Games

Developer: AQ Interactive

Review by: Kevin Haverty

KORG DS-10 Synthesizer Plus is not a game. There are no boss fights, no princesses to be saved, nor zombie infestations. Instead, it is a tool that crams a bunch of KORG synthesizers on a Nintendo DS cartridge to make it a very powerful music-making device. On the Nintendo DS, users get a six-track sequencer, but KORG DS-10 Plus takes advantage of the DSi’s advanced hardware to double the number of tracks to a dozen. Users can connect up to 8 units wirelessly, and each DS will share the sequence of the host DS. Sessions can be saved and transferred to friends via the wireless connection. (more…)

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Title: Half-Minute Hero

Platform: PSP

ESRB: E

Publisher: XSEED Games

Developer: Marvelous Entertainment

Rating:

Review by: John Gustafson

Exercises in game design experimentation are shockingly rare these days, and when they are pursued they typically originate from Japan. Half-Minute Hero is such a title, taking a satirical and over-the-top look at JRPGs by making the playtime 30-second “digestible” installments in an 8-bit world. Gone are the lengthy, self-absorbed plots concerning stereotypical character archetypes battling in grind-fest combat systems, and in their place is a one-premise story with simple characters fighting on autopilot.

As the Hero, players have 30 seconds to save the world before, well… the end. The catch is that time can be rewound, but only to 30 seconds before destruction. By reliving the same 30 seconds, Hero levels up, traveling to new areas and addressing whatever new problem presents itself as the be-all to end-all. It is an interesting idea, but limited in presentation and execution. (more…)

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Title: Flower, Sun, and Rain: Murder and Mystery in Paradise

Platform: DS

ESRB Rating: T

Publisher: Xseed Games

Developer: h.a.n.d.

Rating:

Review by: Dan Braun

Despite its charm and highly stylized looks, Flower, Sun and Rain is a uninteresting and convoluted title that suffers from its own absurd sense of humor and self-absorption. Ploddingly sluggish controls, ridiculously complicated puzzles and a meandering plot stuffed with cryptic dialogue all hurt a game that feels like an example of what the film Groundhog Day might have looked like, had it been directed by David Lynch. (more…)

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A few more companies made their Electronic Entertainment Expo lineups public this week before the big event hits next week.

XSEED Games announced a hefty lineup – Lunar: Silver Star Harmony (PSP), Half-Minute Hero (PSP), FRAGILE: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii), Arc Rise Fantasia (Wii), Flower, Sun, and Rain (DS), JU-ON: The Grudge (Wii), Little King’s Story (Wii), Ragnarok Online (DS) and Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga (Wii).

Eidos is set to show Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3, 360, PC), Mini Ninjas (Wii, DS, PS3, 360) and Just Cause 2 (360, PC, PS3).

Crave Entertainment is scheduled to show Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection (360/PS3), Pinball Hall of Fame: The Gottlieb Collection (Wii), Monster Mayham: Build and Battle (Wii, DS), World Championship Athletics (Wii), Real Heroes: Firefighter (Wii) and My Virtual Tutor (DS).

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