BACK TO THE INDEX.
Another THING.
-By Philip Wesley-
-Presented by DMG Ice.com-
-May contain harsh language-
-Presented 03/31/2005-
THE TOP TEN REASONS WHY ANOTHER CODE RULES.
10. The Genre
- Another Code is a real Adventure game in the same genre as King's
Quest. Sam & Max, Broken Sword, etc. This game has the potential to
sell this genre to a new generation of game players and thus push
forward the possability of ports of older Adventure Genre games like
The Incredible Journey, Secret of Monkey Island, and other.9. The Music - Luckily for game players, Another Code features some infinitely good music. It may not be from Koji Kondo, but what is here is very moody, and oddly contagious.
8. Biometrics - The whole plot of the game revolves around actual science with a little hint of the Supernatural. Ashley's father is a Biometrics investigator. Biometrics is the name given to the means of identification by handprints, retinal scans, DNA, etc. Something about her fathers research in this field is the reason he and Ashley's mother were murdered... or was it?
7. D - The name given to a wandering ghost that Ashley encounters. Apparently he was murdered on Brad Edward Island over 50 years ago for some reason unknown to him or our heroine. Yes, Ashley sees dead people. Neat.
6. Touch & Tap - The Point and Click genre (Adventure Games) comes to the DS in a way that makes more sense. Since the Nintendo DS allows you to use touch and microphone input as well as buttons, this game allows for using both to solve puzzles and find clues. This is a revolution to the genre.
5. Storyline - The storyline is appropriately dark and mysterious. The DS needs all the mature and original titles it can get.
4. Ashley's Hairstyle - See that Indie Girl look that Ashley has? Is that not cutting edge hot? She probably listens to all the latest bands you have never heard of.
3. Detective Club - Another Code is the spiritual successor to the Japan Only Detective Club series, since that series is already gone to the great cartridge heaven in the sky. Also, Another Code is a mystery game that you control in way more ways than could ever be done with Detective Club.
2. Another Code FRANCHISE - The game did rather well in sales and Famitsu gave it a Platinum Award in their magazine. The game did so well and CiNG/Nintendo enjoyed making/producing the title enough to announce that the game will see a sequel. This allows them to tie the games into one long and continous storyline. Only a few of Nintendo's franchises really follow a deep storyline that continues in each game. Those games series are Metroid, and Pikmin. The Legend of Zelda games are barely related to each other sometimes and are mostly disconnected from each other in terms of story.
1. Ashley - The world needs strong female leads. The only company making any real progress in that aspect is Nintendo. Nintendo has always been progressive with their main characters. The world needs a female lead that is instantly relateable with everyone. Ashley is a typical young adult, and a drastic shift from bulletproof heroines like Lara Croft, superpowered bounty hunters like Samus Aran, or the demure Princess Peach. She is not silly looking. You could walk into a mall in North America and see a girl similar to Ashley. She is pretty normal for the most part. One of the more interesting things about her is that -like Samus Aran- Ashley was raised from a young age by a surrogate family. She has a tragedy in her past she is dealing with and learning to overcome. CiNG and Nintendo have created a perfectly amiable and marketable main character.
There you go folks! Actually, this has inspired me a bit... I should do some sort of special on the progressive women of Nintendo. Nintendo -it would seem- is the only company to treat female characters with RESPECT. Think about it. Many of the franchises Nintendo has helped create have respectable female lead characters. Look at Princess Zelda in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Nintendo gave her a role with respect, she got some of the meatiest roles and shows up Link on more than one occassion. She also shows that without her, Link can not win. You respect Samus Aran, you can respect Ashley. Even Princess Peach does things for herself these days. Nintendo goes out of their way to create strong females in their games. Whereas Sony, and Microsoft do NOTHING to appreciate women. Do you know or care about Coco Bandicoot? Can you name the female characters in Jaks & Daxter? The main female character in the Halo series is a downplayed MACHINE. While the Master Chief is almost adrogynous behind his armor, his gender is clearly defined. Women to Sony and Microsoft are either hood ornaments, T&A, or given lesser roles. Of the three major console game companies, only Nintendo seems to understand women. Interesting food for thought, huh? Also, Nintendo is the only company that specifically targets females and children as well as the older male demographic. Microsoft and Sony tend to solely target a certain age of males with their software. Well, who knows? After the blow-out of speculation and facts for the next Game Boy unit, I may do a series solely on the truly remarkable "Nintendivas" that exist in the world. I will take responsability for coining that term now. Hell, once I get the whole buy DMG Ice stuff thing up, I'll sell it as a shirt.
-Editorial by Philip Wesley-
-Sources: Nintendo
-Property of dmgice.com-