(Here are the other notable North American game releases from October 2005 to December 2005!)
Nintendo Wave:
Booststream 2
Published by Capcom but developed by a new team, Booststream 2 is a futuristic racing title that can best be compared to an easier F-Zero. The sequel somewhat streamlines the experience, there are 18 tracks, all based on real world cities but with a futuristic twist, while there are less cars to choose from than the previous game, but each car handles in its own distinct way. The game is highly praised for its graphics, its creative tracks, and its excellent musical soundtrack, and ends up being one of the best reviewed racing titles in quite some time, with around an 88% on Gamerankings. Booststream 2 would be the last Wave exclusive installment of the series, as its critical and commercial success would make it one of the Capcom franchises targeted by Apple in their attempt to win exclusives from the company. With F-Zero still under Nintendo's belt, the company doesn't fight all that hard for Booststream, and the third game in the series would ultimately be exclusive to the Katana successor.
Cinder
(Authors' Note: The following game idea was given to us by the reader HonestAbe1809!)
Cinder is an adventure/shooter title with a very dark motif, based on twisted versions of classic fairy tales. The protagonist is Cinder, a take on Cinderella, who lives in a decrepit mansion with her cruel stepmother, Lady Stelazzia, and her two wicked stepsisters. Cinder has a few friends in the form of street urchins who she occasionally sees when she is running errands for her mother out in the market. After witnessing Stelazzia performing forbidden magic, Cinder's life is threatened and she's forced to flee with some of her friends along for the ride, into a world of twisted fairy tales, evil, and darkness. The game, while somewhat of a third person shooter, is more like OTL Ratchet And Clank in playstyle, but with magic. Cinder and her friends jump from world to world via various portals, one step ahead of Stelazzia and Cinder's two stepsisters. As she and her friends explore, they come across a variety of strange fairytale creatures and people, including a version of Alice in Wonderland where Alice has become even more bloodthirsty than the Red Queen, a version of Peter Pan where Peter is an immortal boy who kidnaps dozens of girls in search of the perfect Wendy, a strange hollowed out giant elephant whose corpse is turned into a blimp and who very much resembles Dumbo, a version of Snow White where Snow is a cruel slavedriver in the dwarf mines, a version of Pinocchio where the titular wooden boy is more like Chucky, etc. The game spoofs and twists numerous Disney stories, though because the game is not itself made by Disney, it carefully straddles the line between parody and ripoff, and steers clear of resembling Disney too much. The game's motif is a sort of post-apocalyptic cyberpunk fairytale land, with magic as technology, tending toward horror. It's a very disturbing game and ultimately gets a Mature rating. As Cinder and her friends explore, Stelazzia's power grows. She ultimately transforms her two stepdaughters into hideous beasts to fight Cinder when they outgrow their usefulness to her, but eventually, Stelazzia has to confront Cinder herself, gathering up the power she's stolen through her use of dark magic to become a powerful sorceress. Cinder, with the help of her friends, kills Stelazzia and saves the realm (as much as it can be saved, it's still a crapsack world, but isn't in immediate danger of being wrecked by dark magic anymore).
While favorably received by critics, Cinder is somewhat overshadowed by other major games in the fall of 2005, and its creepy motif and disturbing content make it a hard sell. It still turns a profit, but posts only mediocre sales, ultimately selling more copies down the road as a discounted cult classic than as a full-priced new game. It would eventually see a release for the Xbox 2 and Wave successor down the road with HD graphics.
Eidolon Frei
A JRPG featuring anime cutscenes and strange, magic wielding characters, it's a rather obscure game, made by a rather small and new developer. The main characters are miniature humanoids with pointed ears who are somewhat of a hybrid of dwarves and elves who frequently confront creatures much larger than them known as Eidolons. Some Eidolons must be defeated, while others can be befriended. While the game is a bit on the weird side, with a battle system that's somewhat hard to pick up and a steep difficulty curve, it's one of the better reviewed JRPGs of the year, due to its battle system and large world to explore. It doesn't sell enough to get a sequel but it does help put its developers on the map in terms of RPGs.
Fire Emblem: Sojourn Of The Myriad
The first Fire Emblem game for the Nintendo Wave, Sojourn Of The Myriad plays pretty much like a classic Fire Emblem title, retaining the permadeath systems of the originals while including tactical-based battles and fierce one on one fights. The main plotline concerns a civilization of refugees that were forced out of their homes by the rise of an ancient evil, and now wander the lands in search of a new home. These people, known as the Myriad, are constantly threatened by bandits, enemy armies, and powerful evil creatures, and must be protected by a few brave warriors determined to lead their people to a new home. The Myriad are led by the young general Tashin, who is the main playable character of the story. While there are others amongst the Myriad who can fight, Tashin must also form alliances with members of neighboring kingdoms. The Myriad find an ally in the Kingdom of Lovell, after Tashin rescues their princess, Kaila, from bandits. Lovell's prince Ragna, along with Kaila, become two of Tashin's most valuable allies, though Ragna has enemies, both within his own kingdom in the form of his treacherous brother Blaine and in the form of neighboring kingdoms, small but still dangerous, who ultimately form the Ozatt Alliance to attempt to overthrow Lovell. The Myriad finds itself torn over which faction to support, while at the same time, the ancient evil that destroyed their homeland threatens to surface once more, putting everyone in jeopardy. Sojourn Of The Myriad features the best graphics in a Fire Emblem to date, full voice acting, and full CGI cutscenes. The game's quest is about the same length as The False Princess' main quest in terms of missions, and there are more sidequests as well. The game ultimately has three endings, based on whether or not the player chose to support Lovell, the Ozatt Alliance, or a more neutral path. Supporting Lovell leads to the Tashin marrying Kaila and the Myriad becoming a client state of Lovell, though Ragna is killed and the nations of the Ozatt Alliance are almost completely wiped out, leading to many innocent deaths and the deaths of numerous likable (and potentially playable in other paths) characters. Supporting the Ozatt Alliance leads to an arguably more egalitarian world, where Lovell is subjugated but not wiped out, including the Myriad getting their own independent nation, but Kaila is killed and Ragna is Tashin's mortal enemy, vowing to come back and get revenge. The neutral ending is the “best” ending, requiring the most difficult storyline missions. Pretty much everyone lives and Lovell and the Ozatt Alliance form a lasting peace. It's still somewhat bitter sweet: the people of the Myriad are scattered throughout the realm, and while Ragna and Kaila both live, Ragna is permanently crippled, and while Kaila still loves Tashin, she declines to marry him, instead choosing to stay with her brother to take care of him. In all three endings, the ancient evil, known as Dischord, is the final boss, though the form it takes in the final battle changes slightly throughout the three paths.
Fire Emblem: Sojourn Of The Myriad is one of the more anticipated Nintendo first party titles of the year, even in North America. It performs quite well in Japan, and even though Fire Emblem is more of a niche series in the States, the game still surpasses The False Princess to become North America's most popular Fire Emblem title to date. Ragna, the game's most tragic character, becomes its most popular, and he and Tashin are both considered top candidates to make it into the next Super Smash Bros. game. Sojourn Of The Myriad would later receive a direct sequel, based on the Ozatt ending and casting a vengeful Ragna as the villain.
The Abnormals
A Nintendo-published title developed by David Siller and his studio Daybreak, The Abnormals follows up Avian, which was a mascot platformer that performed decently on the Wave. The Abnormals is a totally different game: it's a superhero/monster-based beat 'em up title that takes place in a world where people have begun to mutate: some of them have become superheroes, revered by the populace, and others have become horrifying monsters, shunned by the world. The superheroes battle the monsters, but of course, not everything is as it seems, as some of the superheroes aren't really heroes and not all of the monsters are truly bad. The protagonist is Salvo, an adolescent boy born into a family of superheroes, who falls in love with a shunned witch named Lenore. Salvo's powers include super speed and the ability to fire projectile energy from his hands, which in the game can be used to take down enemies and obstacles. Most of the early part of the game is spent battling monsters, but after a crucial plot twist in which Salvo begins to protect Lenore and her fellow witches, many heroes turn against him. Eventually, however, Salvo's family and various other heroes rally to Salvo and Lenore's cause, and the lines ultimately become blurred. The main villain of the game is the evil Mayor Machiavelli, who doesn't appear to have superpowers at first, but his real ability is to absorb the powers of both heroes and monsters alike, turning him into a powerful and deadly hybrid who seeks to control all (think of him as Sylar from Heroes crossed with The Mayor from Action League Now). While The Abnormals has a great deal of humor and classic comic book style action, it does have a number of serious parts, and deals with heavy themes such as racism and prejudice. It's ultimately quite favorably reviewed, with an 86% on Gamerankings for both its gameplay and action, and sales are quite strong as well, easily surpassing those of Avian and launching The Abnormals as Daybreak's first real game franchise.
Dragon Quest VIII: The Ancient Princess Curse
Dragon Quest VIII is the eighth title in the acclaimed Dragon Quest series developed by Enix. Visually and gameplay wise, it's quite similar to OTL's Dragon Quest VIII, featuring a cel shaded style and traditional RPG mechanics in a vast world, and a lengthy quest that can easily take 50 hours to complete. The plot of TTL's Dragon Quest VIII combines elements of OTL's plot with elements of classic horror: it still features a curse that transforms a royal into something else, but rather than transforming a king into a toad monster and a princess into a horse, in Dragon Quest VIII, the princess is the only one cursed, and her curse transforms her into a zombie-like being, dangerous and devoid of life, though at times quite lucid. She also plays a significantly larger role in the game, speaking in many scenes, her curse playing a huge part in the game's story. She was cursed by an ancient and powerful king, the Lord of the Dead, who seeks to turn all creatures into his zombie slaves, with the princess as a test subject. The game plays out much like OTL's title: the Lord of the Dead is defeated and the game seems over, but his curse has not ended, and in fact, a greater ancient evil remains: Rhapthorne (same name as OTL's main enemy) the Vile, a powerful god of darkness who wishes to turn the world into his own personal domain after being cast out by the gods. The Hero and his companions must defeat Rhapthorne to at last undo the curse and save the world. Dragon Quest VIII, like its predecessors, is an exceptionally popular game in Japan, selling millions of copies and becoming one of the year's top selling games. But in the States, it does worse than IOTL. It's overshadowed by other popular titles, including Enix's own Full Metal Alchemist, and is a total flop in the West, making Enix seriously consider whether or not they should continue localizing Dragon Quest games, even after all seven previous titles were localized for the West.
Guitar Hero
Developed by Harmonix and co-published by RedOctane and Activision, Guitar Hero is a rhythm-based game utilizing a guitar peripheral that allows players to play rock songs by various bands. Activision wasn't involved with the original Guitar Hero IOTL, but decided to hop on board earlier ITTL, mostly for the purposes of licensing music. Because of Activision's involvement, the game features about ten more songs than the OTL original, including songs by some of the bands that appeared in Thrillseekers such as Bikini Kill. Because of the game's release for the Wave, it looks significantly better graphically than OTL's game. Its sales and reviews would also outpace OTL's game slightly, making it one of 2005's best reviewed games. Its sales started off a bit slow, but word of mouth would help it sell much better throughout 2006.
Perchance
Developed and published by Sony, Perchance is an action/adventure/puzzle game and Fumito Ueda's spiritual successor to Sarasvati, filling the same niche as Shadow Of The Colossus did IOTL. Its protagonist, Somna, enters a mysterious city where he must go into people's dreams in order to find the thing causing their nightmares. Like Shadow Of The Colossus, Perchance is a non-linear game, where Somna can explore the city freely, entering most of the dreams in any order he chooses. Each dream has its own visual motifs and gameplay quirks, some are very peaceful and calm, with few if any enemies in sight, and some are quite action-packed, requiring quick movement and reflexes. Taking inspiration from titles like NiGHTS and Carpathia, but much less action-oriented than those games, Perchance features beautiful graphics and music. Somna is largely on his own in the story, as most of the people he meets are sleeping, but he does interact with a few other humans, mostly within the dreams themselves. This game got a decent amount of hype prior to its release, and got mostly good reviews, though it doesn't reach the acclaim or notoriety of OTL's Shadow Of The Colossus, and is ultimately remembered as a strange but thought-provoking adventure game. It's not a failure by any means, and Ueda is still considered one of the more talented game developers in the business.
Treetoppers
Treetoppers is a platformer/puzzler where levels are grown with various seeds collected by the player and can be chained together, simulation style. Different seeds can grow different types of level structures, for example, Boss Seeds can be used to grow massive monsters, Challenge Seeds can be used to grow more difficult segments of the same level, Bonus Seeds can be used to grow areas where bonus games can be played, etc. It's an interesting concept for a game but the execution isn't quite as good as it could be and the game achieves only moderate success.
Psychonauts
Psychonauts is an action/adventure title developed by Double Fine Productions for the Nintendo Wave. IOTL, the game was originally imagined as an exclusive Xbox title before ending up a multiplatform, but ITTL, Microsoft turned down the title, and it bounced around for a year or two before Nintendo decided to give it a shot as a future Wave franchise. The gameplay and plot are very similar to OTL's game, with a few minor differences such as giving Raz more psychic powers to use, expanding the game's open-ended segments, and including more large boss enemies to take advantage of the Wave's technical power. Most of the main plot points and the core gameplay remain intact, and like OTL's Psychonauts, TTL's game becomes a critical hit upon release, with similar ratings (about 8.5 to 9/10) to OTL. However, Psychonauts manages to sell better than OTL's title, positioning itself as a family friendly game for the Wave at a time when there weren't all that many similar games on the console (there was Haze, but it's a lot scarier and less funny than Psychonauts). It's one of the Wave's better selling titles over the holiday season. It would later be ported to PC after its timed exclusivity expires, but remains exclusive to Nintendo systems for its console version.
Samurai Shodown
SNK's reboot of its classic 2-D fighting game series, Samurai Shodown returns with brand new cel shaded graphics, a ton of new combos and weapons, and a large, 21 character roster. It's released to arcades in early 2005 and ported to the Wave in December with slightly enhanced graphics and three more characters than the arcade version. It gets good reviews and is considered one of the best 2-D fighters of the year, though it doesn't rise to the level of success of Divine Wrath 3.
Game Boy Supernova:
Bomberman Realms
A fairly basic Bomberman game for the Supernova, it features a six world adventure mode and a multiplayer battle mode with online play. The most notable thing about Realms is its beautiful art direction, each world in the adventure mode has its own visual style, and there are more styles in the various battle mode stages. As far as portable Bomberman games go, it's probably the best one ever made, and compares favorably to the better console editions. It's a decent early seller, and has fairly good sales legs as well.
Templar
A tactical RPG developed by Squaresoft, Templar centers around an ancient order of knights and their campaign to help an ambitious princess conquer a kingdom in turmoil. With one of the deepest storylines to date in an SRPG, it compares favorably with Final Fantasy Tactics, though there are significantly less fantasy elements (at least early on in the game). The game has some fairly deep statistical development for its genre, characters develop in 24 different stats, and weapons, armor, and relics can improve those stats in a myriad of ways. The game is fairly low-tech compared to other games on the Supernova but still quite pretty, it's reviewed well but sales aren't as good as those of typical Squaresoft games, especially in North America.
Apple Katana:
Jocko The Shark
A King Crab spinoff featuring one of the more popular side characters in the series, a sports-loving shark named Jocko, Jocko The Shark is a mix of platforming and wacky sports gameplay. The plot is fairly simple, with Jocko trying to make a professional underwater sports team while winning the heart of his mermaid cheerleader love interest, but the gameplay is the real allure, mixing 3-D platforming with tons of fun minigames. It totally ditches the frustrating and awkward stealth gameplay of King Crab 3, letting Jocko pretty much do anything he wants, while the minigames are fairly easy, minimizing player frustration. The game wasn't expected to be a hit but became one of the most popular late Katana platformers, laying the groundwork for the franchise's revivification on the Katana successor.
Shototsu II
The anime-spoofing, fast paced 2-D fighter is back with its second installment for the Katana. It adds six more characters to the mix for a total of 18 (two redundant characters are removed) and features a revamped storyline mode. It's not that big of an upgrade from the first game, but thanks to the popularity of the original, it manages to be one of the best selling 2-D fighting games of the year. It does sell better in Japan than in the States, though that's a given for virtually every 2-D fighter save for Divine Wrath and Mortal Kombat.
Vintage Football Challenge
(Authors' Note: The write-up for this game was given to us by the reader Neoteros, with only the games' review/performance information provided by us.)
Vintage Football Challenge is a sports game developed by Hitmaker as a footballing counterpart to the racing focused Vintage Speed Series; the main selling point of the game is the possibility to play as several legendary football teams - or even as a team made up of several legendary players - and the marked difficulty of the game, a true footballing simulation in which tactics and teamwork are essential to come out on top. The main mode of the game is the Vintage Football Challenge mode, in which the player is asked to repeat the deeds of several teams - both club teams and national teams - from 1930 to 1970, to do the exact opposite and take a losing team to victory, for example Hungary in 1954, or simply to fulfill certain conditions during a match, for example scoring five goals in one match as Johan Cruyff or block ten shots in one match as Lev Yashin without conceding a single goal. This is the mode that allows the player to unlock club and national teams for the other modes. The Vintage Football Championship mode is exactly what it sounds like, a tournament between several legendary club and/or national teams; the Vintage Football Team mode, on the other hand, is a fantasy football mode that allows the player to buy 11 players (at least at first, the number of spots in the squad increases with time as in the actual history of football) from the game's player roster for a fictional football team of their own creation, and play matches of increasing difficulty against other fictional football teams of legendary players picked according to a theme, for example "Best of South America", "Best of the 1970s" or "Best Under-21"; defeating a team allows the player to unlock some of the players of the defeated side and put them in their own team.
There is, of course, a Vintage Football Exhibition mode for single matches between the player and the CPU or two players, and a Vintage Football Online mode that allows players from around the world to challenge each other in single matches and/or tournaments. The game's graphics can be, depending on the player's own choice, realistic or deliberately emulative of old newsreels and TV sets; the game's own commentators (there is more than one of them) can likewise be disabled or enabled - in the latter case, they will emulate the style of the commentators of a certain period, depending on what kind of team is the player playing as. Most notably, perhaps in a deliberate effort to emulate Ayrton Senna's endorsement of Gran Turismo, the coach that gives the player wise pieces of advice during the game is none other than O Rei, Pelé himself. The game sells well enough to warrant a sequel: in fact, even though it isn't as well received as Vintage Speed Series was, it becomes wildly popular among football aficionados and online players, that appreciate the possibility the game gives the player to control both legendary teams and fictional teams of legendary players - up to and including the players' own ideal 22 of the Vintage Football Team mode - in online matches and tournaments. It is however criticized for its at times excessive difficulty, a focus on mainly European events, players and teams, and the lack of the 1980s in the game - a common complaint is, in fact, not being able to play as Maradona. The latter two criticisms are answered in the sequel, Vintage Football Challenge 2, that adds the 1980s and 1990s to the game's timeline - a game in which Pelé's spot as coach is taken by Maradona, to the dismay of the Brazilian fans of the game - and several new challenges, players and teams from around the world; not just South America, but also Africa, Asia, North America and even Oceania: beating the "Best of All Time" team in Vintage Football Challenge 2's Vintage Football Team mode as a team composed deliberately and exclusively of black African players or of the few players from Asia comes to be considered one of the hardest challenges in console football gaming ever, a challenge acknowledged by the game with the "Tigers of Asia" and "Lions of Africa" achievements. But even the sequel becomes infamous for its difficulty.
Vintage Football Challenge is one of the best reviewed soccer titles of all time, surpassing all of the recent FIFA games and Apple's Virtua Soccer as well. Though its sales don't come close to those of the FIFA series, it's one of the best selling Katana games of the year worldwide, topping the charts in Europe, South America, and Africa, and doing quite well in Japan. It even sells decently in the States, though it doesn't come close to its international success.
Ninja Blade 2
The long awaited sequel to 2001's niche fighting title, Ninja Blade 2 is notably released in North America about 18 months after its Japanese release. It features 13 playable ninja characters, all of whom use deadly bladed weapons against their enemies. Like the original, it's known for its heavy degree of difficulty, and unlike the original game, doesn't find quite as much of a foothold in tournaments. Still, it's a surprisingly strong seller in Japan. In North America, it gets overshadowed by Shototsu II.
Melodia's Wish
Melodia's Wish is an anime JRPG featuring lyrical music as a heavy part of the plot and gameplay. One of the most heartwarming RPGs ever made, with sweet characters and lots of romance, it's the kind of game that's beloved by many hardcore RPG and anime fans but really fails to do well commercially. Its reviews average in the 7.5-8.0/10 range and it scores even more highly in a lot of the import magazines, but even in Japan, it's a bit of a flop.
Microsoft Xbox:
California Beach
California Beach is a beach volleyball/water skiing/wave rider game that's sort of like a cross between Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball and Thrillseekers, featuring beautiful scantily clad women and a variety of extreme water-based sports. There's a rudimentary story mode, but it lasts only about an hour and a half and is mostly an excuse to get the characters into sexy situations. Considered a very poor imitation of Thrillseeekers but still achieves a degree of popularity due to its notoriety.
The Witcher II
The sequel to the PC/Xbox RPG The Witcher, The Witcher II continues the story of Geralt of Riven, expanding greatly on the world of the first game and featuring an updated combat system and lots more sidequests. Visually and somewhat gameplay-wise, it has a lot in common with the original Witcher game IOTL, which came out in 2007 and was a highly acclaimed RPG classic. TTL's Witcher II continues from the story of the original game, which itself was based heavily on the OTL stories from Sword Of Destiny and The Last Wish. The Witcher II introduces the character of Ciri for the first time, and chronicles Geralt's struggles to protect her as he is pursued by a mob sent by a cruel king who wishes to obtain Ciri's power. Geralt, along with his allies Triss and Yennefer, must protect and raise Ciri, who may one day become strong enough to overthrow the king and restore freedom to the realm. Along the way, Geralt finds himself in many strange adventures, sending the player on one of the most complex journeys ever seen in a console RPG. The Witcher II is released for the PC in August 2005, and for the Xbox in December, becoming one of the year's most popular games for that system. Reviews for the game would significantly surpass those of the original console version, which was quite dated at the time of its release. Ultimately, the game would get reviews averaging in the high 8s on both the Xbox and the PC, making it one of the best reviewed RPGs of the year. Sales would ultimately come to surpass those of the first game, leading to the third game in the series being put into development shortly afterward.
Game Boy Nova:
Sekai no Monogatari
(Authors' Note: The write-up for this game was given to us by the reader Neoteros, with only the games' review/performance information provided by us.)
Sekai no Monogatari is a god video game/puzzle video game/role-playing video game developed by Gust and published by Koei for the Game Boy Nova. The game plays like a hybrid between one of Kairosoft's business simulation games and Populous; in each level, the player is faced with a bleak landscape split into hexagons and a limited number of turns, during which they have to use the protagonist's divine powers to give life to the land. For example, in the first level of the game the player is tasked with deviating the course of a creek to make flowers, grass and trees grow in 5 moves or less, and in the second level of the game they have to elevate a series of hillocks to a mountain range before doing the same, in 10 moves or less. After an oasis of life is created in this way, people immigrate to the land, and the player is tasked with building a village to house them all, again in a limited number of turns; the game's tech becomes more complex with time, going from Paleolithic to Yamato in the game's 50 levels, with a "jump" every 10 levels. Trade and war are present in the game, albeit in a simplified manner reminiscent of the City Building series by Impressions Games, where enemies appear from the edge of the map and trade is managed through a map of the land, that depicts an archipelago of four islands clearly inspired by Japan, but upside down. The game's protagonist is Hanako, a somewhat archetypal schoolgirl who, upon losing herself in a forest, reemerges in a bleak country where the local Umito people have torn down the idols of their harsh goddess Kirei, who has abandoned them for being too soft, leaving them to starve in a void world. Hanako finds that the Umito began worshipping another goddess soon after Kirei's departure, a goddess that appeared in the dreams of an old hermit, Zochi, 15 years prior, and that bears more than a passing resemblance to her - of course, Hanako discovers she now has budding divine powers, and so the game begins. At the end of each level, the player is rewarded with experience points depending on their performance, with which they can purchase new buildings for the villages, new powers for Hanako, and somewhat less useful things like new clothes and new music. Each level can be completed in several different ways, and it's theoretically possible to beat the last level with just the base buildings and powers, but since it's a truly herculean task it's recommended to beat each level "under-par" and spend the experience points wisely.
Sekai no Monogatari is a surprise critical and commercial hit, considered to be Gust's magnum opus at the time. It's one of the better looking games on the Nova, thanks to its art direction taking advantage of the Nova's limited technological capabilities, while the gameplay some of the deepest and most addictive yet seen in a simulation title. It ends up being one of the best reviewed overall games of the year and is considered one of the best games on the Nova. It does well in Japan, but in the States, it's overshadowed by the release of the Supernova, and sells poorly. It's considered one of the Nova's best cult classics, and sealed English copies become extremely hard to find.
Tommy Tripper
An interesting beat-em-up style game with an isometric view, it's known for pushing the Nova pretty close to its limits, with substantial voice acting and great animation. The gameplay leaves many people comparing it to games like River City Ransom and Major Hazard. The plot is about a guy named Tommy who has to save his girlfriend from a band of mobsters, but has a really over the top, fairly tame style reminiscent of an old comic book. It's a really good game, with reviews hovering around 8/10 or slightly higher, but sales aren't fantastic.
Vampiric Soul
Vampiric Soul is a horror-themed RPG with a vampire protagonist. The game has a definite medieval gothic feel to it, with ornate buildings and a high medieval, aristocratic look to most of the characters. The protagonist is a definite anti-hero who drinks the blood of both the guilty and the innocent to sustain his life force, and the thematics of the game draw some comparisons to the Legacy Of Kain series. It's a high quality RPG, with solid reviews, but the edgy content and difficulty of the game consign it to the ranks of the cult classics.
iPod Play:
Song Rider
A procedurally generated music game with elements of Audiosurf and Amplitude, Song Rider uses the iPod's song library to generate maps that players must traverse on a light-cycle type vehicle. Meant to be a killer app for the iPod Play, it's a bit too simplistic to achieve that but is a pretty good seller. It is more of a commercial/critical success than Songhopper, proving that there continues to be a market for these types of games on the iPod Play, they merely need to be perfected.
Tony Hawk City
A port of the original Tony Hawk City to the iPod Play, with a slightly expanded storyline mode more like the one found in the sequel. Like the console version, it's generally well received, as it's the original game, completely ported to a handheld but with a bit more content, and sales are quite good.
Ulala's World
The latest game in the Space Channel series, this is yet another hybrid rhythm/shooter title, featuring the beautiful space reporter Ulala battling aliens to some killer music beats. This game intersperses freeroam shooting segments between rhythm segments, and while it's nice to be able to play with Ulala on a handheld, it's still a fairly short game and reviews are only mediocre. The Space Channel games would continue on the iPod Play, each one selling just enough to justify making the next one.
Virtua Fighter Infinity
A port of Virtua Fighter 5 to the iPod Play, but taking characters and plot elements from all games in the series to include a sort of “greatest hits” storyline mode, this game joins Soul Calibur II as the second console-quality fighting game to hit the iPod Play in 2005. It's arguably a more impressive technical achievement, with gorgeous looking fighters, plenty of content, and full cinematics and voice acting. Like Soul Calibur II, it's a critical and commercial success, paving the way for the possibility that Virtua Fighter 6 may end up being released on console and handheld at the same time.
Into The Lost
Into The Lost is a 2-D platformer exclusive to the iPod Play. The game features large, expansive levels that can be freely explored, comparable to the levels in games like Yoshi's Island, with plenty of tricks, traps, and people to talk to. The game's main story features 30 levels, with 8 optional side levels unlocked by completing various actions in the game. The controls feature the typical platforming moveset such as running and jumping, while the protagonist has a basic strike and can also equip weapons and later, magic. The protagonist is a young boy named Nobu, who is orphaned and who finds a storybook that sets him off on a quest to achieve his destiny by defeating the forces of darkness. In order to do this, he must venture into the Lost Realm, a land ruled by the darkness, to free its people and become stronger. Along the way, Nobu meets many friends and foes, including an intrepid dwarf boy named Abner, a disheveled but pretty peasant girl named Roni, a dark witch princess named Eloise, and a gruff but helpful miner named Jagger. Into The Lost's visual motif resembles that of a dark storybook, and the graphics are in full 3-D, with beautiful environments and detailed character designs. The game's music is a whimsical mix of orchestral tunes and minimalist pieces. The game doesn't feature any voice acting, unlike many similar games of its genre, but for the most part this isn't seen as a knock against the game. The game's levels play out like individual storybook chapters, with cutscenes sometimes taking place when something important happens. The game's main antagonist is Amalgamat, a powerful, shapeless creature which spreads a dark, hypnotic mist throughout the world. Amalgamat can only speak by possessing the body of another. It frequently speaks through Eloise, using her body and her magic to exert its will, but once Nobu frees Eloise from its control, it takes the body of an ancient guardian mech to use as its vessel in the final battle. Once Amalgamat is defeated, Nobu becomes a hero at last, gaining a family. It's implied that Roni becomes his girlfriend at the end of the game, which slightly disappoints Eloise, but she understands.
Into The Lost is considered by many to be the best iPod Play game to date and one of the most ambitious handheld games ever made. Reviewers call it an achievement in visuals and gameplay, and it becomes one of the driving games behind iPod Play sales in 2006. Sales start off only moderately strong initially, but pick up as the months go by.
Multiplatform:
Ruthless: Contract Killer
A third person shooter for the Wave and the Xbox that features a hitman protagonist, the game is obviously compared to the Hitman titles, but tries to be somewhat more stylistic and less stealth reliant, like the Blackheart games. The protagonist is, like many similar games before it, morally ambiguous, initially starting out as a heartless killer only concerned about getting a paycheck, but after meeting a beautiful woman named Michelle (who he initially meets by taking her hostage during a mission), he softens up somewhat and eventually becomes more of a very light shade of gray in terms of morality rather than a completely edgy antihero. The gameplay is praised for being quite fast paced for a shooter, with a lot of creativity in how to deal with enemies, and quite good enemy AI. It also features a multiplayer mode with both co-op and competitive options, and the online mode is played by a lot of people, at least initially. The game is released for the Wave and Xbox, and though it's overshadowed somewhat by For God And Country and Victory: Parallel Reality at the time of its release, it still sells a considerable amount of copies, due to the hype for the game beforehand and the strong reviews it gets. While reviewers do praise the gameplay, it does receive a good deal of criticism, both for its overly edgy content and its rather poor treatment of women (To quote G4's Morgan Webb, who sarcastically opined: “The picture on the cover shows the main character of the game holding one hand over a woman's mouth and using his other hand to point a gun straight forward. Oh, and that woman, by the way? That's his love interest. Yeah, that's a really romantic first date.”). Regardless of the criticism, the game is considered a critical and commercial success and would spawn a franchise that would compete with Hitman.
The Matrix: Path Of Neo
Like IOTL, the creators of the game Enter The Matrix follow up their effort with a game that chronicles Neo's adventures through the original trilogy. Not too much different from OTL's game, though of course the changes to the movie trilogy itself ITTL are also incorporated into the game. It's released for the Katana, Wave, and Xbox, and the Wave version is the most successful, both critically and commercially.
Through The Breach
Created by Treasure and published by Enix, Through The Breach is an action side-scroller similar to games like Guardian Heroes, with RPG elements and anime-like cel shading. It features massive bosses and takes place over a series of levels, 24 in all, which feature increasingly difficult enemies and more spectacular fights. The game can be played by up to four players at once, both locally and online, though online there is some lag during some of the tougher fights, hampering the experience somewhat. The game takes place in the near future, and chronicles a group of heroes who battle powerful creatures that enter our world through dimensional wormholes. The heroes must defend the world from those creatures, while finding the source of the breach and destroying it. The game's somewhat silly motif gets it compared to the Ghostbusters property, with numerous video parodies made later on that remix Ghostbusters music and quotes with the action of the game. Through The Breach is released for the Wave and Katana in October 2005, scoring great reviews. Though it's somewhat ignored on the Wave, it finds a good sales foothold on the Katana, and thanks to strong sales in Japan, it's considered a slight success.
Medal Of Honor: Vietnam
The Medal Of Honor series visits Vietnam for the first time, putting the player in the role of an American soldier in the Vietnam War. After surviving an ambush during the Tet Offensive, the protagonist's unit is sent on a mission deep into the North Vietnamese jungles, where they come under ambush numerous times as they struggle to survive. The game features more intense skirmishes than previous Medal of Honor titles, with booby traps and ambushes playing a big role in the action, including randomized ambushes during some missions that are impossible for the player to predict. Ultimately, there's no grand victory in the game, simply surviving and protecting most of the protagonist's squad is the main goal of the game. Like previous titles in the series, Medal Of Honor: Vietnam gets strong reviews from critics, though its multiplayer mode, which is improved little over previous games, leaves a great deal to be desired. The game is released not only for the Xbox, Wave, and Katana, but also on the Supernova and the iPod Play with all of its missions and gameplay intact, which is considered a very impressive feat for such an ambitious console title. It manages good sales on all the platforms it's released on, but sales have clearly dropped from those of previous titles, and is clearly not a guaranteed blockbuster like it was earlier in the decade.
Need For Speed Worldwide
Created specifically for the Supernova and iPod Play, Need For Speed Worldwide is a console-quality Need For Speed title with a heavy focus on online multiplayer, but also featuring a decent campaign mode for offline single-player. One of the better looking handheld racing titles, it gets good reviews and posts decent sales, with the iPod Play version selling slightly better than the Supernova version.
Pocket Wars
A cross between Pokemon and Bomberman, Pocket Wars is a game about hundreds of little heroes and villains that run around battling with various weapons. The game's graphical style is very cartoony, sort of like OTL's Plants vs. Zombies. It features a single player mode, with smallish top-down levels where players can pick one of the pocket warriors they've unlocked to battle their way through generic enemies and other pocket warriors to achieve certain objectives, but can also be played in local or online multiplayer, with up to eight people battling it out at once in arenas with various sizes and hazards. The game features strategic and collectible aspects, with each character having their own little quirks. There are fighters of many different disciplines, all sorts of occupations represented including a teacher who fights with a book and ruler, a plumber who uses a plunger or can turn raw sewage against an enemy, a judge who uses a gavel, etc. (though there's not a whole lot to distinguish very many of the characters, preventing the characters from taking on an Overwatch/Pokemon level of memetic popularity since it's hard to write very good backstories/personalities for 200+ characters). Some of the most notable characters include Commando, a Rambo-like berserker with big muscles who fires missiles everywhere, Flora, a gardener who raises killer plants, Ellersbee, a beekeeper who can both fire bees at enemies and turn into a bee, Robobuddy, a toy robot who can turn into a lethal cyborg, and Laeticia, a busty witch who enjoys cackling as she roasts her enemies. The game is frantic and chaotic, and becomes a big hit, selling lots of copies across every platform it's released on and spawning merchandise and eventually an animated series. It's not just released for the home consoles, but the Supernova and iPod Play as well, becoming one of the Supernova's most popular launch titles. Reviews average in the 8.5/10 range, and future sequels would be even more well received.
Psycop
Psycop is a third-person action title for the Wave and Xbox about a futuristic police officer with a telepathic connection to a beautiful female computer hacker. It's got a decent amount of visual style, and the game's voice acting gets a decent amount of praise, but the gameplay is generic and it gets lost amongst the crowd in its genre, selling poorly. The game's visual style would come to be influential on later titles down the road that have a greater degree of success.
Speed Storm 2
The sequel to 2003's arcade-style racer, Speed Storm 2 would see a release for all three consoles and both next-gen handhelds due to the last game's success. It features a clear graphical improvement over the original title (though the handhelds don't get the benefit of this), more licensed music, and the ability to have more cars on the track at once. It looks gorgeous and the Wave and Xbox versions, with dozens of fast moving cars zooming along a gorgeous, highly detailed track, don't seem like they'd be possible on a sixth generation handheld, with the Wave version in particular seeing many reviews labeling it even better looking than Gran Turismo 3. While reviews for the title are quite good, its fairly generic racing style does take away some of its flair, especially when compared to titles like Forza Motorsport which feature more realistic action and many more cars. Still, it's a decent enough hit at the time it's released, becoming one of the best selling racing games for the holiday season.
Top Selling New Console Games In North America (in terms of sales over the first four weeks of release):
October 2005:
1. For God And Country (Microsoft Xbox)
2. Divine Wrath 3 (Microsoft Xbox)
3. Victory: Parallel Reality (Microsoft Xbox)
4. Far Cry (Nintendo Wave)
5. Victory: Parallel Reality (Nintendo Wave)
November 2005:
1. Red Sun 2 (Microsoft Xbox)
2. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Nintendo Wave)
3. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Microsoft Xbox)
4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (iPod Play)
5. Reverie Of Mana (Nintendo Wave)
December 2005:
1. Super Smash Bros. Clash (Nintendo Wave)
2. Battlefield 2 (Microsoft Xbox)
3. Novus Ordo 3 (Nintendo Wave)
4. The Witcher II (Microsoft Xbox)
5. Novus Ordo 3 (Microsoft Xbox)
