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Daniel X The Ultimate Power (DS) Status: Finished playing I started playing this game on Sunday 14 March, 2021 // I stopped playing this game on: Friday 19 March, 2021
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.
March 18, 2021 09:58:38 PM
Huh. So, the game isn't that long and it is a solid Metroid-style game with a strong emphasis on combat. The game has a New Game+ mode (that I won't explore) and secrets all over the place. I stumbled on the checklist when I paused the game and by the end I think I only found about half? Getting the rest would entail a lot of backtracking, and I really wasn't interested in going that extra mile. Though, if the game were too hard (which it wasn't for my skill level) it would make sense to grind experience from the monsters as well as hunt down more upgrades. I thought it was interesting that the next-to-last major upgrade was the ability to turn into a bird. The first was the ability to turn into a soccer ball (the metroid ball, essentially). So, a bird or a ball? I'm guessing this makes sense with the books (and cartoon) the game is based on. Anyways, flying around as a bird was really nice because I was starting to get a bit tired of some of the combo moves you have to do to get to the higher ledges. In addition to the meele fighting and the overall metroid-like structure, every now and then you run into areas where you use your "creation" powers to - create platforms that appear in the level. They're often used to block a laser such that you can now pass or to create a platform to jump on and access higher areas. The gameplay for these "creation" points was interesting - they're all "puzzles" where you need to trace a pattern without lifting the stylus or going over a line more than once. The patterns get increasingly more complicated. Oh, as a final "fun activity" the game also includes a special mode that uses the camera - it's more of a toy than anything else. You take a picture of someone, orient it according to a guide and then it "scans" the photo to determine whether the picture corresponds to someone who's an alien or not! I did it around the house with everyone - we all came up as aliens. The only exception was the picture I took of our pet. That came up as human (much to our amusement). I think it's a random die-roller kind of thing, but it was a fun addition and if I was in the target age range (10-12 years old?) this would be so much fun. I think.
March 15, 2021 06:47:03 PM
I was really ready for major disappointment. But...huh! This game is a Metroid game in all but name. Well, the homage is very much there in terms of the gated structure and how you acquire powers and such. It even has the same sense of navigation with similar map structures that made me remember the old (GBA?) Metroid games? Where there any on the DS other than the FPS shooting one? Wow. I've played a few hours, had fun unlocking upgrades and such. Yes, it is very much not a AAA game - there hasn't been much variation in the enemies and it's focus is more on brawling than exploring/jumping, but - it's really competent! And, also a real surprise as to what kind of game it would be. The back of the box did not give me the right impression!

Daniel X The Ultimate Power (DS)