Well, maybe the name will grow on me, but in case you missed it, the followup to Phantom Hourglass will arrive later this year on the DS. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will see Link ditch the boat for a train! Not sure how I feel about that either, but the initial gameplay trailer does show off some new moves for Link, and let’s be honest, it’s Zelda so it HAS to be good! We’ll be sure to discuss this in the podcast, but in the meantime, there’s a discussion about it in the forums now, so chime in there!

I had been meaning to get Scurge: Hive for some time now as I heard it was a bit like Metroid. I’ve been needing a quality DS game and when I saw it at Target for $7 on clearance, I didn’t hesitate to snatch it up. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the game in the couple hours I’ve put into it and just thought I’d pass this info along because I know our readers are Metroid fans. Honestly, I was a little shocked just how similar this is to Metroid. Female bounty hunter? Check. Upgradable arm cannon? Check. Aliens everywhere? Check. Meta Ridley? Well, no, but there is definitely a Mother Brain-looking thing in a cylindrical glass case.
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Awhile back, Ray and I scoffed at Sega’s bold prediction that Mario & Sonic at the Olympics would sell 4 million copies worldwide. The game was pretty much crap mediocre and we had faith that consumers would recognize this despite the fact that Mario and Sonic were in the same game for the first time. We were wrong. Turns out they’ve now sold 5 MILLION copies worldwide between the Wii and DS and expect continued sales due to the fact that the Olympics are still 4 months away. Unfortunately, Ray did purchase the game and helped them reach that 5 million, but I forgive him because his 6.6/10 score for the game should have deterred others from buying the game. I’m a bit upset that this game sold so well because it just means more of the same from Sega, Sonic + Mediocre Game = Profit.

The massive DS on your screen is actually a playable demo of Ace Attorney: Apollo Justice, the 4th installment in the Ace Attorney series which is set to arrive in the U.S. February 12th. While this is the first game not to feature Phoenix Wright as the ace attorney, he does make an appearance in the demo above, so check it out! If you’ve never played an Ace Attorney game, here’s your chance to get a taste of it, but it’s only a small taste as the full games are more involved than just the courtroom proceedings.

Ray and I are both completionists when it comes to videogames, so we are just dying to get all the ship parts in Phantom Hourglass. Looking at some of the forums out there, many of you are also looking to complete your collection, so let’s help each other out! Leave your Phantom Hourglass Friend Code in the comments below and we promise to add you. Here are our Friend Codes for y’all to add as well:
Tim: 120 371 687 656
Ray: 081 717 962 761

It’s really nice that Sonic Rush Adventure allows you to submit your best times to the online leaderboard. It’s also very irritating when someone figures out a way to ruin it for everybody else.

The good news is that you can find me listed in the top rankings
for Zone 2-2 and Zone 7-2.

I also want to iterate how much fun racing against opponents online is. The difference in abilities between Sonic and Blaze make each race incredibly balanced, as long as you know what you’re doing…

You can check out my review by clicking on the image above. Being a “true” Sonic fan, I’m sure my reviews of Sonic games are skewed, but which way? Sometimes I can’t tell if I’m being too easy or too hard…

I picked up Sonic Rush Adventure for the DS today, and you better believe I’ve played the snot out of it already. Hideki Naganuma did not do the music. But the three composers who did, tried pretty hard to sound like him. Unfortunately, it’s just not the same.