Grazza

I agree with Pit-Jr, Dragon Quest is what's missing. Dragon Quest VIII was so good, it's a shame to not see IX and X on the HD consoles. Other than that, I'd like to see some games similar to Zelda and Shadow of the Colossus. Zelda clones used to be really good (Landstalker, Story of Thor 2).

LOL! True, but funny. That's true. I admit, I am using a list of where the Missile Expansions, Energy Tanks and Power Bombs are, because I'd never find them all myself, and I really want them all. I'm not using a walkthrough though. I think you need to learn the overworld yourself, otherwise you'd get too confused. To me, it is very action-packed, much more than Zelda. To be honest, I really think it's an FPS, just with a modified control scheme. It has so much in common with the FPS genre, to me it's too close not to be one. Yes, they are still as good as when it was released. Bliss. Agreed. It feels so right. So, so true. The training mission is sufficient, and it's actually very easy. I think this quality of pacing is why Metroid Prime is considered better than recent Zeldas. I'd say I still prefer WW and TP, but they just don't have the pacing. Zelda won't be massively respected again until it gets some focus and pacing. Is that the Wavebuster? That's the only optional weapon I've got at the moment.

Yeah, I was on that section last night, and I must admit, I started to remember why I began to dislike the game last time! Unless I missed it, there's not a single save point between the one in the Quarry and after you get the Power Ball. In the meantime you: [spoiler=]Fight invisible Space Pirates (before you've got the X-Ray Visor), fight Wave Troopers (which you have to use the Wave Beam for), fight Gold Troopers (Super Missiles, thank you very much!), fight Ice Pirates (switch to Ice Beam), do that "red, yellow, blue" Morph Ball puzzle, fight the Elite Pirate and, worst of all, fight that invisible "missile camera" (again, before you've got the X-Ray Visor). I mean, really! After that point, the backtracking also gets absolutely ridiculous. I maintain that it's far, far worse than the maps in the GBA games. And you can barely get through a room in the Chozo Ruins without those blinkin' Chozos appearing! I won't give up though, as I've done it all before. The only thing I couldn't do was beat the final boss. It'll be different this time though... hopefully! Seriously, it's an amazing game up to and including Thardus. I just think the balance goes out the window after that. At that point, you're only switching between three visors and two beams. It eventually becomes four visors and four beams. Personally, I think the Plasma Beam could be stacked on top of the Power Beam. Can't wait to get back to it though!

That's fantastic. If Wii HD has a high-quality upscaler, existing games could look as good as that on TVs. The images are 1280 x 960, so they'd be somewhere between 720p and 1080p.

Ah, that's OK. I'm not at Phazon Mines yet, but I've just beaten Thardus and I'm chuffed! All of the bosses and mini-bosses gave me a lot of trouble last time, but they're fine this playthrough. It's like I suddenly "get it". It does help getting all the Missile and Energy Expansions. I've even mastered the Morph Ball Jump, which I can't believe! Also, as silly as it sounds, I really like Metroid Prime Pinball and that's warmed me to the real Metroid Prime! The GBA games helped massively too. I'm quite keen on trying Echoes (which is the only one I don't own), and I'll probably play that via Metroid Prime Trilogy.

I've got this on Zelda: Collector's Edition, and I've got to say, I like these side-scrolling action-RPGs. I've completed all the dungeons, but I can't make the final run from the last save point to the final boss. Any tips? If you like this game, you'll probably like Wonder Boy III: the Dragon's Trap (Master System) and Wonder Boy in Monster World (Megadrive). They're actually a little bit like Metroid too.

OK, I've got to make an apology about Metroid Prime. I decided to re-buy it and play through the whole thing again. It is brilliant! I don't want to jinx my chances, but at the moment I'm breezing through the bosses, defeating them 1st time, and I'm finding the map easy to navigate. Everything took me several attempts five years ago. I must have been a terrible player! I just feel bad about criticising it so much. I really do listen to people's arguments on here, and the likes of Dwarf Gourami and MCJ Metroid have convinced me to give it another go. I'm glad I did!

DQVIII, because I particularly recommended it. I'd hate to have someone waste money on my account (but I genuinely believe it's brilliant). As for God of War 1 + 2, I get the feeling I should play them, but I really don't like violence and gore, so I haven't so far.

I'm still really hoping you'll like that. Good buy! The PS2 (and DS) have kept me away from current-gen gaming for quite a while!

Good point, I agree with all that. However, I don't believe Miyamoto's comments rule out MotionPlus (or MotionPlus exclusivity), rather that it will still be a 3rd-person action game, starring Link, where you have an overworld, dungeons etc. To me, that's a good thing. There's an excellent article here about just how worthy motion control actually is: http://www.gamesradar.com/f/e3-09-why-the-amazing-new-demos-prove-motion-control-cant-work-in-hardcore-gaming/a-2009060312265140040 Nintendo must have a real dilemma about how much motion control to put in this game. If they use MotionPlus and, in the end, motion control proves not ideal for traditional, 3rd-person games, they would be left with a game that can't be played on future consoles. However, if they design it to use the Twilight Princess controls, it would not be as good as something purely designed to use a classic controller. If it's going to use motion control at all, I would rather it used MotionPlus, but I know I don't want to stand up doing Link's movements for the entire game (or any of it, actually). I can't help but think that the future of motion control is really just a classic controller, but with the facility to gently move your wrist and point (eg. gyroscope + pointer).

Good for Miyamoto. So many of us love Ocarina, Majora and Wind Waker. To radically change the formula would be an overreaction. All I want every time is for the game to be improved in whichever way the system can.

Yeah, I have to agree with most. I loved the arcade version and owned the Megadrive cartridge. Did you ever have a game that you didn't actually like that much, yet your friend/neighbour always wanted to play? For me, it was this game! In all honesty, I doubt the coin-op was that good, but it was exciting to find a 4-player one and play it with friends. The Megadrive game probably wasn't that bad, but I remember being disappointed the MD couldn't pull off the arcade version. It had great music though, naturally.

OK, fair point indeed, but the difficulty is a legitimate complaint. There's such a thing as the right balance. I honestly don't think Retro Studios realise how hard Metroid Prime is. I read an interview in either Edge or Games TM and one of the leading programmers said something like "even a casual gamer could complete it". Now, in my opinion, that's not an accurate assessment of the difficulty. There are extreme difficulty spikes. The final boss, for instance, is ridiculously more difficult than Meta Ridley. Of course, a game's final boss is always going to be harder than the penultimate one, but it was at least double the difficulty, perhaps triple or even more. This meant a lot of people would get to the very end but not be able to defeat the final boss. Secondly, a lot of the problem is with the way the difficulty is structured. The GBA Metroids are very hard, far more difficult than the Zelda games (apart from the NES ones) and yet it's enjoyable to meet their challenge. I've completed Zero Mission on "Hard" and also completed Fusion. They're both very intense and you need good reactions. However, if you fail at a boss, it's quite easy to get back to it with max health and missiles. In Metroid Prime, the Save Points are so badly placed, it's an ordeal to get back to a boss. Also, if you decide you need more health and missile packs, it's enjoyable in the GBA games to run through the game world, blasting the ceilings and trying to find them. In Metroid Prime, the thought of going back through the game world is too much, and I wouldn't have a clue where to find them anyway. This goes back to what I say about the fine tuning. In theory, the game world is set up the same way as in the 2D games. In practice, it doesn't have the nuance. Absolutely. For some reason, Metroid Prime does feel like one big Zelda dungeon (which is a bad thing), whereas the 2D Metroids do feel like one big game world, but not a dungeon (and it works). Good point, I agree with most of that. Metroid Prime was my first Metroid and I admit I didn't understand it. I didn't expect it to be an FPS, although I did find it had a lot in common with Turok 2 (which is about the only FPS I'd played) in terms of level structure and save points. Also, isn't it a flaw of Metroid Prime if it doesn't introduce the Metroid gameplay well enough? No, but it was still annoying falling down all the time. My final point is that as well as badly-judged difficulty and fine tuning, incorrect expectations (as Emasher says), there were also just some inherent problems with the game. I didn't like the lack of peripheral vision, not being able to see Samus or switching visors or beams. I can understand why Retro included this (for realism, presumably), but it was one gameplay tweak in the wrong direction. At the end of the day, Metroid Prime is an extremely impressive game. I think both its critics and its fans are correct, it's just a matter of opinion.

Nah, my point is that Alton Towers design the general layout for a "roller coaster" in various parts of the park. With that area, they know where they want the lift hill, the brake run etc, whatever type of coaster it ends up being. Air's L-shape with a figure-eight was always going to be the basis for a coaster there. They experimented with a wooden coaster idea. Air, of course, is the result of B&M tweaking the park's design and fitting in their flying coaster there.

It is. Didn't you get John Wardley's "Alton Beast" RCT file back in 2000?

Everyone knows I love gaming! I don't wear gaming t-shirts or take my DS anywhere, but neither of those are due to shame. I'm just fussy about the quality of t-shirts I wear (I like a certain thinness and a certain material) and, as for the DS, well, I've never, ever got time to play it outside of the house. If I'm on holiday, for example, I'd rather spend every minute soaking up the locale in any way possible, even if it's just reading leaflets in the evening. If I'm travelling, I'd rather keep tabs on where I am and the scenery. But yes, back on the subject...! Whenever I get friendly with anyone, one of the first things I ask them is if they're into gaming. The vast majority are, and you'd be surprised how many people (in real life) are even into the good games like Zelda and Metroid.

Level-5 are the best RPG team in the world! However, I wouldn't like them to be distracted from Dragon Quest. Raven Blade looked great. Project Hammer just looked like a thin idea to make use of the Wii remote for the sake of it.

Robin Hood (3,11) I just watched this and it was incredible, almost too exciting! One of the best characters made his exit, the most evil villain in British TV history returned and the cliffhanger couldn't have been more dramatic! 10/10

It wasn't rushed, but they did change a lot more than that in the last year: * Shield control removed * Magic meter removed * Castle Town altered into distant, overhead perspective * Twilight Realm colourised * Slingshot added * Beginning of game padded out (to get you used to the Wii controls) All that definitely happened between the announcement of a delay and the finished product. Then I wonder when the 3D forest was taken out, what magic meter-using items were removed and whether the Mirror Shield was replaced with the Spinner (very likely). The playable demo from September 2005 was very polished though and I agree the final game wasn't "rushed", just "changed".

Thing is, it's hard to know which teams would be good with Nintendo franchises. I'd go so far as to say that the reason people are excited about Metroid is not because Team Ninja are involved, but more because it looks great, Sakamoto's involved and it's a traditional, 3rd-person Metroid. That said... F-Zero GX was great, so Amusement Vision deserve the next one (perhaps tone down the Story Mode, eh? ) Flagship should be reformed to do all the 2D Zeldas. Four Swords Adventure really "got it", more than Phantom Hourglass, I'd say.

Are you a boxer, King V? As for which games have inspired me, it's really the ones that show me how good escapism can be. I've always liked drawing, and ever since I was about 14 I've been creating comic strips and fictitious worlds. I've actually got a sketchbook right now which is devoted to creating a fantasy RPG world (generic, I know) with the aim to making a comic book. For example, when I play something like Dragon Quest VIII, I ask myself "Why does this feel more magical than Lord of the Rings or Final Fantasy?" I try to look at the construction work on the buildings, the general tone of the game, use of colour, overworld design and town spacing/layouts. It's the same with Wind Waker - "Why is this so great? Why does it make me feel so good?" I try to understand why the games make me feel the way I do, and then see if I can recreate that, without actually copying.

Yep, Alton have designed loads over the years. Air is actually built to a wooden coaster design (obviously without the inversions). The "valley woodie" that you mention was enormous and would have required a great many trees to be cut down, 14 of which were protected, I think that was one of the biggest problems. Then there was another woodie designed for Ug Land, as well as various family-sized woodies around the park. None of them actually got built of course. I can see one at Thorpe sometime, especially now they seem to have downscaled their coasters a lot (in terms of the actual cost of the ride before theming), but what I'd really love is some 80-100ft woodies at the small and medium-sized parks like Pleasurewood Hills, Pleasure Island etc, as well as Flamingo Land, Drayton Manor etc.

One thing we really need in this country is more wooden coasters. Look at the coasters GCI have built in Europe - Thunderbird at Powerland (Powerpark), Troy at Toverland and El Toro at Freizeitpark Plohn. All have had fantastic reviews. Then look at all the fantastic coasters they've built in the USA. It's absolute insanity the UK parks don't see the value in these.

So do I. I'd say Dragon Quest has the edge (especially VIII), but I've come to appreciate the FF style as well. Speaking as someone who didn't own a PSOne, I'd be well up for playing remakes of FFs VII and VIII (and IX and X), even if all they did was improve the resolution and textures (more polygons would be nice as well).

I see what you're saying there. Thankfully I don't have any serious problem (I could just do with a newer pair of glasses), but I find the DS strains my eyes whereas nothing else does. Extra resolution (and better textures and polygon-pushing power) would just require the eyes to work less hard. By the way, I've thought of another reason why HDTVs are good (apart from resolution and colours) - progressive scan. Generally speaking we didn't have it in Europe until HDTVs. Yes, it was on the last CRTs and pre-HD LCD sets, but generally speaking one wouldn't gain it until the HDTVs.