Alone in the Dark Neutral Perspective
Ok I'm not going to delve into every deep and miniature detail about this game. I just played it for the heck of it, it looked cool and I needed a new game cos I'd play the hell out of the ones I had.
Driving Mechanics
Now just to get it out and over with, the driving in this game is greatly over exaggerated in that it is being blasted as the worst driving sequence in a non driving genre game. The driving is not that bad, in fact it's pretty damn cool. Sure you might not be able to master the steering and ungentle feel on your very first go, but it really isn't rocket science. You're in a car on the run from some big ass monster; you’re not going to worry about traffic laws and speeding tickets. In this game it's the same exact deal. You just drive like crazy until you reach your destination in one piece. You need to maintain a good distance between you and the creature chasing after you as it will catch up with you. As it follows you it ruptures the ground and the city apart leaving a concrete mesh of chaos in its wake. And you do not want to be part of that party mix. That car turns in the direction you want it to turn, it go fast, it slows down and it's pretty durable. What more do you want from a car when you're main thought is "Oh crap I need to get to the other side of the city sharpish!” Oh and the cinematic during the driving sequence are quire spectacular and make me wonder if most of the money really was used on these movie moments more than any other aspect of the game.
Blinking
Ok so I heard that one of the things that bug people about this game is the constant adjustment of your characters vision and focusing and the requirement of BLINKAGE. First of all the word constant has no real place in that summary, because it does not occur that often. At the start of the game you’re required to blink a few times to regain a clear vision, but considering that you just rampaged through a race to the finish line or die horror scene and have awoken from unconsciousness, it’s perfectly acceptable that you need to blink a few times. It doesn’t happen that often and most of the time I forgot that it was an action at all.
Fire Mechanics
Ok so you can pick objects up and set them ablaze and then use them to set enemies on fire or the increase damage attacking them. So you go to pick up a chair and you see a fire. Oh cool toasty. You walk over to the fire with your new found wooden friend/brain bashing sidekick and try to set it alight. Now one of 3 things can happen and there’s no guarantee as to which will occur each time you want to do this.
1) You will successfully light the object on fire and wahay it’s off to make zombie marshmallows
2) The thing won’t light. It just will not catch fire; you keep trying different angles and approaches and finally give up. You might come back to it in a minute and it’ll work or find a new blaze or object.
3) You burn alive trying to set a chair on fire cos it won’t work and you keep walking into the damn flames.
Now the main problem with this arises when you’re enemy is there and wondering why you’re taking such a long time when they’ve made the intentions clear, that they want to kill you dead. You’re back is to them as you fight with the flames of nothingness and the enemies are attacking you and causing you damage. You get hurt and you could die, just like in real life. The only thing about this scenario that wouldn’t happen in real life is the fire not working. Unless it’s one of those crappy video fires. Why do people buy those??
Which brings me to….
Injuries
So yeah you can patch yourself up and gain realistic period wounds. No this is not a menstrual reference. You don’t just take a magic elixir and bam you are fully healed, pick up $200 and continue to the next door. You have to medical apply treatment and bandaging to your wounds that take time to heal. That’s quite a cool and realistic application, though it would have worked better if you could heal your minor injuries yourself and get instant health replenishing items around the levels. Now what is the problem with this? Well see my above reason for when trying to light something with imagination embers and being in the same room as the undead is not cool.
POV Transitions
This is a pain in the ass. But a pain in the ass that sometimes flutters away and just leaves you with a slight tingly numb feeling in your buttocks. See when you’re shooting in third person it’s difficult to see around you and the quick change to 3rd could be a lot smoother. Plus picking up items is a chore that shouldn’t exist. It’s best to pick up items in shelves ect in 1st person and to pick up objects on the ground in 3rd because you can never see objects lying about clearly in 1st. It reminds me of the map in that retro Friday the 13th game. Where you are now and where the map says you are completely messed up and unhelpful. Where you see an item in 3rd and where you see in it 1st makes the mind boggle and retired after a while.
Melee Hit Detection
It’s dodgy. Really dodgy. I swung a bat at an enemy and it took about 3 attempts before it seems to land and cause damage. Sometimes there’s a stall in the melee strikes. When I tell you to hit you better hit you son of a…
Previously on Alone in the Dark…
Ok I found this to be quite a cool feature and it made it seem like you were in a TV role, specifically it made you feel like you were in 24.When it first comes on you might think it’s a bit cheesy, it kind of is truth be told but it really is a nice added feature that adds to the episodic feel of the game.
Skipping scenes/levels
People complain that if you advertise that skipping levels is a cool feature in the game then the level design must be rubbish and not worth playing through. I think they should of kept it off the summary of the case, but that isn’t what the makers are trying to say. I think they just crammed so much into this they quite think about how to best market it. So they let it slip and boasted about a feature that would seem to lessen the value of the storyline and game play. But why should they care if people skip the stories. Careful now, I’m making sense here. If you made a game with this feature and have been involved in other games before would you care that everyone that had bought it skipped chapters out of laziness or giddy curiosity? I don’t think so and why? BECAUSE THEY BOUGHT IT. Key part of the sentence. The purchased the game, you’ve already made your money so who cares if they jam the disc into a toaster and then try and play it on a DS. Yeah if I were a game designed I’d rather people appreciate the hard work that went into the different areas of the game but these guys wanted to create something cinematic and it is that. So they’ve ticked that of the box and they’ve gotten big bucks for it. I don’t think they really care if you bought the game just to pretend you’re a protagonists in an altered episode of 24 with demonic housewives running amok in New York.
Sonic Adventure 2: Battle
A Sonic game on a Nintendo console. Surely that's beyound the realms of logic and possibility. Surely the little Italian plumber is a tiny bit peeved and wondering if his paychecks will stop coming through. Surely Sega haven't given up on their own consoles. Well the latter is more or less true thugh it has nothing to do with Sonic the hedgehog, Sega haven't been in the console wars now for years, it's pretty much in the field of the big 3. You know who they are. So it's fitting that Segas mascot made a changeover and migrated to the other more popular consoles that were actually selling. You may loose out on console development, but why loose you're mascot and main attraction/money maker. Sonic has appear numerous times now on the Xbox and 360 and also on the Wii. But before that he appeared on the underrated gem that was and still is somewhere, The Gamecube.
The primary single-player mode in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle allows you to choose from two different quests: hero and dark. If you choose the hero quest, you'll play as Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails while trying to stop the sinister Dr. Eggman from taking over the world. In the dark quest, you'll play as a batgirl named Rouge, Dr. Eggman, or the dark form of Sonic, Shadow.
Complex moves like the spin dash, bounce, light dash, Chaos warp, homing missiles, digging, grinding, and punching are all included here and fun to pull off. Sonic and Shadow have their hyper speed gameplay with grinds and inverted loops, which require split-second reflexes to properly navigate. Tails and Dr. Eggman (previously known as Dr. Robotnik) both move around in small mechs
Now that games have been in full 3D for well over five years, it's rare that you'll find a game with as poor a camera as the one found in this Sonic title and it makes gameplay a chore. They've snag an idea that was primiarily used and popular with Pokémon games in their Chao creatures. Raising these small creatures is another aspect of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle that has an added twist. You can still feed them animals and attribute upgrades that you find hidden in the game's adventure levels, but they can now also be transported to the Game Boy Advance, where they can be trained further. Sonic and Shadow have their hyper speed gameplay with grinds and inverted loops, which require split-second reflexes to properly navigate. Tails and Dr. Eggman (previously known as Dr. Robotnik) both move around in small mechs
Graphic-wise for a Sonic game on the gamecube it's fair to say that they're flawless. Super-smooth, fast, seamless environments stretch on as far as the eye can see. Now this is a prime example of how to do a Sonic 3D game, it pulls of most tricks that some games that go through 2D-3D transistions can't.
There's a spark that's missing in this game. The camera angle death trap is a common negative in platform games and the unrefined gameplay is not really a big issue, but nothing really stands out in this game. It's as fun as the previous few reincarnations of Sonic, it's got a nice touch to the graphics, but I don't think graphics was ever suppose to be a key factor amongst Sonic fans, if it was then you were playing the game for reasons different to most other players and what the developers intended. It needs something extra, a spicy ingredient to make it really stick with the players. It's a game you could quite possibly forget you have and if you catergorially organise your Sonic games from top to trash, I'd be surprised if this one was plopped to the top of the stack. It's not bad, it's fun. It's just it seems like a filler game made to keep people happy, yet grounded in today and hoping that they wouldn't want tomorrow to come so fast. Yes that's a sappy line but the game really didn't have too much forward thinking. That all said, it's not a waste of money. You want a good Sonic game that'll entertain you, get this, I advise it. Just if you've played every Soni game that's come before and want something fresh you might not see what this game was trying to achieve unless you look really really hard.
3.8/5
THE SIMS 2
Sims 2 is the 46th sequel, add on, expansion pack of the original game. Now I'm not entirely sure if that number is completely accurate but I am sure it can't be far off.
In the original Sims, all you really do is control a family of virtual characters as they go throughout their natural lives. However, in Sims 2 your character can die of old age and can also have children who grow up and have their own children. Each sim, for instance, has their own DNA that can be combined with other sims to make a child.These children can grow up and have children of their own. So a circle of continous life and a sense of family geneology is incoporated into the game. Aging in this game is a real tough subject because people because who really wants to see the characters they create and helped evolved so to speak die. After all, they’ve spent hours upon hours with them, taking care of them in every way and then for them to croak it after all that primming and customization...phew it's gotta be a touchy issue within the game for some players. An example of this is: The sims in the rest of the neighborhood don’t age while yours will. So, if you have a teenaged sim who falls in love with a teenager of the same age, they will grow older while their first love stays the same. Now there's some perversely interesting about this aspect of the game. I mean it is different. And I suppose you could have your children and their lineage date the one person but that's only if you really have a lot of time and really are slightly deranged inside. Yeah it's a video game but we all know that some video games have specific links to crazy real life fantasies. Can you imagine how messed up things would be if this happened in the real world. To all of your that wish you had some sort of elixir of eternal life, think again.
Another new addition is that your character has wants and fears. The aspiration bar also determines how well certain actions are executed based upon how positive or negative the characters goals currently are. Performing the actions associated with the characters wants and fears affect the bar in either a positive or negative way.
Unlike the previous titles, your sims will actually change physically depending on their activities. The game includes a fitness bar to define what shape your sim is in, and naturally, this bar changes depending on the sim's diet, exercise and general health. It is quite easy to max out and maintain this bar so getting your sim buff isn't exactly challenging, the challenge comes from constant activity and balance. For example, if you decide to focus on the aspiration meter mentioned before, you will find gameplay to be quite eventful and challenging, but what you do is really up to you.
Graphics and sound are really nice, touched up and are easy on the eyes and ears. In this one area, Sims 2 is easily better than its predecessor in many ways way. So, if it’s graphics you’re after, it ain’t gonna get any better than this in a sim based game. The controls in this are for the most part are very powerful and extremely easy, camera control can sometimes become awkward, which is exposed by the sheer amount of times you'll be changing the camera angle. The game is as addictive as previous games and if you've been like me and have sat down to play Sims only to look at your clock and realise that times has flown by and you've missed 2 birthdays, then it will more than likely be the case that'll you'll miss a few more playing Sims 2. If you're a Sims fan and especially if you've never played any of the 3D Sims games,I'd say go ahead and get this. No you don't need to have played Sims 1 to enjoy this game. The game has tweaks and added features that are a welcome change.New items, the aging process and the different personal characters tabs e.g aspiration meter. I had fun playing this and it's been a while since I last played a Sims game. This is fresh and tweaked and came about when I thought they were just constantly beating a dead horse with a funky looking stick.
4/5
FaceWound
This is a fun side-scrolling zombie shooting game. The graphics are impressive too but I'm not sure where exactly the trouble comes i for your PC and it's ability to be able to run it. There's nothing too fierce here that would cause your computer to explode IMO.
The music that comes up when you open the game is wicked, it'd been nice if they could of followed it through into the gameplay, but I suppose it was just developer intro song. The actual audio in this game is impressive for what comes across as essentially a superior flash game. I say this because if it's free to download from the source site then I wonder if they gamers are making any money from it.
Aiming in this game is very easy to do and the shooting of zombiefied citizens is equally easy to execute. Plus if you get the zombies 2 times in the head they're down. Nice one. Some other variations of zombies take a few more shots. Oh and birds are bitch.
You can collect plutonium from kills that...well I'm not sure what it does. I never actually saw any ammo clips get picked up so I'm assuming that ammo is restored due to pretty hard to see clips or that the plutonium gives you ammo.
Now I'm not sure if it was due to my own control set up, but when your character dies, a strange matrix of abnormal frames appear.
I'm not sure if this is on purpose or if it's a glitch. Cos it buggers up your game.
Example:
I had a checkpoint and died later on when a horde of demonic giant ass bugs bombarded me. But no matter what key I pressed it wouldn't bring me back to the checkpoint or load it. The only button that worked was the ESC key and from there I had to start again. Load didn't contain the checkpoint.
Now I have to say your character is pretty funny looking. Maye it's the maddened baring of teeth or maybe it's because I'm not sure what ethnicity he's suppose to be. Is he suppose to be black? I'm really not too sure and I suppose it doesn't matter. He's kicking ass all alone!
The zombies range from haggered repeated citizens, crazy birds that are annoying, acid spewing yellow spurge creatures, an alien eye bugling bublle thing and a top hat wearing zombie on stilts??
If you're after something fun, quick and free for your PC I'd advise you to try this. It ticks all of the above. I'm still playing it now.
5/5
Sonic the Hedgehog
Everyone Everyone!
Dr. Robotnik is trying to take over South Island by gathering all 6 of the Chaos Emeralds! We are in serious trouble. Duke Nukem is busy getting his dangily bits checked for infection, Mario is still depressed about never getting the damsel and Master Chief got stuck in an elevator. We need a hero! Someone fast, someone cool and someone blue. Why blue? Cos it's a cool colour!!
Sonic the Hedgehog is the only hope. He became the counterpart mascot to the likes of Mario on Nintnedo, for Sega and still hold that title to this day. He can curl up into a ball and ram enemies or simply jump on top of them and bam they're out.The gameplay itself is very easy to get into; you've got a jump button and that's it. And he's a fast little bugger. That's what we need. When you think of Sonic games, you might also have the image of golden rings fluttering about. Golden rings are, for some reason, needed by sonic in order to survive any hits he takes from enemies. You can collect them all or as many as you want, but it's advised that you get as many as possible cos sometimes no matter how good you are at this retro classic, some dodgy placed spikes or infuriating nemesis will causes hit and you'll become transparent and that's never a good sign.
When you enter the special zone you are in Sonic's Spin Dash and with difficulty and fun you guide Sonic through a maze to find one of the 6 (7 really but this Game has 6 so we'll say nothing) Chaos Emeralds.
I never understood why they decided to rename Robotnik, h was called Eggman in Japan. Is this because of their love of eggs, that no one else in the world may share? I don't know but it's a possible theory.
A great and useful feature of the Sonic game was checkpoints. Checkpoints are awesome and the more the better. A lot of modern games neglect to aknowledge this fact or the importance of checkpoints to gamers. The design of the levels and the obstacles is clever and visually pleasing, note the Labyrinth zone, and I love the fact that you can really explore the levels for different routes and secret rooms, rather than simply having to get from left to right. The game remains just as cute and colourful as ever, and its catchy theme song and all-around great soundtrack still stands out.
5/5
Mega Man 8
Megaman 8 is known for being part of the missing link syndrome in it's own franchise. What happened to Megaman 9 and why did it take so long to come about? Well Megman 9 is coming and though they took their sweet ass time and tried to divert our attention with varios spinned games that feature 'X 'and other funky letters from the alphabet, you uber fans out there will soon have your day.
As Mega Man, you must fight robots and other enemies through 14 levels of immense action. As an added bonus, when you defeat a boss character you are able to use that characters weapon through the rest of your journey, nice touch. Along the way, you'll also collect bolts that will allow you to upgrade your parts or temporarily make yourself virtually invincible. Mega Man can run, jump, slide, shoot, charge his Mega Buster, and change weapons and you get to float around in a bubble trying to avoid deadly spikes, swim underwater, use a snowboard on the now customary ice level, and even ride a robotic sidekick. As with Mega Man 7, only 4 Robot Masters are available to the player during the first half of the game.
Graphically, Mega Man 8 maintains the cartoon-like look of the series, there'snot much difference there. The only major additions are focused in the animation department, which looks fantastic. Everything looks bright and colorful, and there's always a lot of stuff happening on the screen. The sound is decent when it comes to the effects and music, but the voice acting is incredibly drab. The pathetic voice talent does, however, lead to some occasional humor. So in a titular battle between graphics and soun, graphics win by a landslide. The in-game graphics are crisp and brilliantly colorful, complimenting the slick gameplay throughout.
The game is very similiar to previous titles and if you have played them all repeatedly you may get bored of this. But if you've only played a handful of them, this will still be fresh.
4.5/5
Crackdown
(not to be confused with the sega game)
You know that the war on crime is going terribly bad when the P.C Plod hat and the little truncheon alone aren't enough to ward off, (let alone cause criminal urine seepage), those nasty little blithers that were raised to think that exchanging cash for goods is just a concept for morons and that "they fell on the bullets" will get you out of any accidental mass murder charge.
So along comes Crackdown, a police forces wet dream, that gives you the badasses badass that ever walked the streets of badassville. Well not really, video game lore has had bigger meaner cooler badasses. Take Duke Nukem. The dude was armed with a pair of sunglasses and a red vest he rarely washed. He got kick ass weapons, but apart from that his body was a canvas for alien scum laser beams. Sure you got armour and the odd steroid here and there, but it was never enough to stop you from dying. No a quick trigger finger and the abilty to run like hell was but a few of the tricks of the trade in the awesome vintage 3D-Shooter.
Crackdown promised alot, and I'm not just talking about the free Halo demo that came along with it. How many of you out there bought Crackdwon, not quite knowing what it was or if it was worth money but wetting you're already too damn skinny pants at the thought of getting a preview of the juggernaut that is Master Chiefs adventure? 4? Hmm I thought it'd be higher. When I played the demo the summary of the game promised every genre under the tuscan sun in terms of gameplay. RPG, FSP, 3rd-FPS, Adventure, arcade, driving, hentai puzzle games....
Now personally I found out after a few hours of gameplay when I got the actually game of a friend, that I would of enjoy this game a lot more had they not of promised me the moon and the stars. See you're probably thinking that I'm going to rant about this game more than I'm going to rave, well hold your horses and your wallet, cos if you own a horse well la de flaming da.
You play a genetically enhanced agent, soldier human thing, that works for The Agency (well the originality floored me when I saw this). Your main objective is to clean up the streets of Pacific City (sounds flooded) of three gangs, all of which reside in their own little hubs/turfs/coalhuts. The names are: Los Muertos, Volk and Shai-Gen. Now before I head off to kick some multi-cultural bad boy ass, I have to point out that while Latino and Chinese would be the first bunch to stand out in this, Volk made me think I was taking on some extras from Star Trek, that were deemed not wacky enough in the list of possible aliens back in Shatners time. The RPG aspects comes through primirily in the customization sections of your characters. You can level up in areas such as: strength, firearms, explosives, driving and agility. 5 in total. I have to say that levelling up in driving is a nice new option. I haven't come across that before in a game. If you have email me and try not to sound to smug. ;)
It's not a hard game to play. You don't need to be an avid player of this genre multipack to be able to appreciate it. The main part of the game is the campaign.But there's no real epic storyline apart from the little sentence I gave above, so you're given the freedom to do pretty much whatever you like. Run and jump around, beat up the bad guys (or good ones), scurry straight for hard boss fights or level up your statistics. Now stats are pretty accessible. If you do an action related to your skills, shoot a gun, kick a naughty dude in the crotch, throw a grenade, play demolition derby, your stats go up. The controls work well, you can hold down the left trigger and auto-target folk or you can aim yourself at whatever you like. Mindless mayhem ahoy!
The graphics in this game are quite nice and the sceneries verge on being pretty. The cell shading effects seem to have gone down a treat in other games and they really work here. I wouldn't of thought that the developers would care much about this when they had other aspects of the game that needed proper detail in order to work well in the final product, but they did and shame on me for making assumptions. The sky in particular is quite a sight.
Now I'm going to go back to the line about Crackdown promising alot. I'm not saying this is the fault of the developers, RealtimeWorlds , I'd put the blame on the reviews and game magazines. I did think this was suppose to be the next big it, or at least a filler until my own and others personal preferences and sequels came along. The story is shallow, you go here, beat up/exploded these dudes and then do it again. Thankfully the means of transport and abilities of your charactermake the journey quite a thrill. The landscape is thoughfully laid out and moves such as climbing and dangling off high buildings would give those suffering vertigo cramps. It's just the storyline could of been expanded, the weapondry wasn't anything exlcusive and the replay value was surprisingly non existent, well for me anyway. Plus the A.I isn't too smart. If real criminals were this dumb and law enforcers were this powerful, the only thing we'd ever have to worry about is one of them loosing the grip of things and trying to take over the world. I think the best way to enjoy this game to the fullest is to not read this review or any review, just go get it and play it. Oh wait........sorry. Oh well.
4/5
DBZ:Budokai 1
All your favorite characters are here: Goku, Gohan, Raditz, Trunks, Frieza, Hercule, Master Roshi, Cell, Piccolo, etc. Not all of them are playable, but you'll get the chance to control the best of the bunch.
Burst Limit must have taken a leaf from this games book, because the storylines are limited. You've got Saiyan, Freeza and Cell and that's your lot. Great for novices, not so much for fans.
Features include: Follow the Dragon Ball Z animated series from Saiyan Saga to Cell Games!
Face off with up to 23 mighty Dragon Ball Z warriors!
Unlock, customize, and trade devastating skills with friends to create the most powerful fighters in the universe!
Fight in 5 epic play modes
Fine tune your skills against custom AI opponents
Battle at blazing speeds in the Burst Zone
You can avoid ki attacks by sidestepping quickly. One thing you can do in this game that cannot be done in Deadly Alliance is deflect projectiles and return them to the sender! While on the ground, you hit the guard button (B) and press the thumbstick toward your opponent; while hovering, you press B and the thumbstick in the opposite direction of your opponent. It's very easy to do, but beware, your opponents can always do the same, create a volleyball effect. Kamehame-Ping Pong!!
Flying usually begins by punching or kicking an opponent into the air. The opponent can also be the one to initiate flight by doing the same thing. The controls change only slightly while in the air. On the ground they feel stiff and a little confined. You can perform tons of different punch-punch or kick-kick-style combos, but that's a gameplay mechanic that was exhausted years ago. In the air, combat receives only a slight change. Now you have the option to "fly" (charge) at your opponent and hit 'em with a nice hard punch. If the controls weren't stiff, and if the combo system wasn't so generic, I probably would have loved this game. Being a diehard fan, meant that I quite enjyed it but I wasn't fooled enough to think it was the best we were gonna get or deserved.
Graphically it's ok. The characters look like they should and there are a few instances were attention to detail are notable and then there are times when it is in dire need of a touch up.
If you're a fan at the time I would of said get this, but there have been better DBZ games out. Heck Burst Limit is far superior!
2/5
Megaman X1
Mega Man has been in so many games, it's hard to keep track. It's more than possible that he rivals even Mario in terms of appearances in games. As many great examples of side-scrolling greatness that the series has, it has just as many frustrating points. Mega Man X, the series' first step into the realm of the Super NES, remains quite solidly in the former category. The first game is quite possibly the best, a superb platform action game, that maintains the basic features of the classic adventures.
For the SNES debut, you play not as the blue bomber from the NES titles, but rather as a prototype that Dr. Light knew would never be completed in his lifetime. Sealed away in a capsule, his creation was later found by Dr. Cain and a vast array of service robots were made from the prototype's design. These robots could all think for themselves, but as usually happens, they started thinking about what a wonderful place the world would be if those illogical humans weren't around. Dr. Cain's best military robots, Sigma and Zero headed up a team of hunters, whose job it was to round up unruly robots. So aim of the game is to go through each of the six levels defeating the enemies along the way, overcoming obstacles and defeating the robot master at the end of the level. When you defeat the robot master their special weapon will be added to your inventory to assist you. Level designs are great and even the enemies are pretty to look at. But what makes this Megaman different from the norm is the addition of "body part powerups". Adding to each environment is the wonderful music score and not to mention the nicely done sound effects. Although if you've played any of the other games in the series, you'll know what to expect. The graphics in Mega Man are by some claims predictably dated, but considering the age of this game it is hard to begrudge this. The background scenery fits in nicely with the bad robot master’s individual theme and enemy characters are nicely drawn on the whole
The only downside to this game is that like most Mega Man games, the game is only hard until you defeat one of the bosses and obtain their weapon. The reason for this is that first that particular weapon gives you an edge on the level and once you figure out which other leader it can beat, well, the weapon basically destroys that leader with ease. At the end of the day, Mega Man X holds up rather well. The game's easy enough to get through, even if you can't memorize blast patterns, and hard enough that even the most hardcore player will probably be tasting some pit-floor every now and then. The upgrades are easy enough to find, without being laid out right in front of the player's face.
4.5/5
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3
One of the most important aspects of playing fighting games is who you get to play as. These days you've got games like Super Smash Bros that advertise with big fancy oooh ahh characters that everyone and their mother wants to play as and then when you actually purchase the game you realise 'oh no you can't play as snake until you unlock him' and then after a century of caring enough...you might just finally obtain the old grouchy ninja.
Now with BT3 on the Wii there are no complaints from me about the roster that is there for you to pick and chose and jump into combat with. At the risk of sounding like a complete air-headed idiot, I have to say that the complete roster that I saw when I put my game into my Wii had me screaming Sweeeet!
Yes it's that good. You get to play as Vegito straight away if you want and why wouldn't you. You get to play as SSJ3 Goku if you want, you get to play as Pan if you want and you get to play as Hercule...but apart form the comedic factor you DO NOT WANT.
I played as Hercule in a random battle against Cell and he can't do an ounce of damage to that bad boy. Maybe if I pitted him against himself we'd see a huge colossal battle of the century. I doubt it though, call me a pessimistic old goat. (SUBLTE SHOUT OUT TO THE REQUESTER-HAI)
The roster stretches from DB, DBZ to GT (don't groan it's fun as hell...well heaven would be more funz playing Omega Shenron)
So yes in case I haven't stress my point quite clearly... the ROSTER FOOKING RULES!
Oh and you don't have that many uber great characters to unlock, apart from Chi Chi,Nail, King Cold and King Vegeta. Fangirl warning! Oh and almost every Saiyan has an Ozaru form!
So after calming down from the colourful pre-epileptic fit I was going through scrolling through the roster screen I decided to actually play the story mode.
Now I just want to retrace and argue my case about my girly excitement about the roster.
My 1st game of this nature was Burst Limit. You have around 27 characters and the game ends at the Cell Saga........do you see what I'm saying, do you understand how vast the jolly level in my brain is in comparison to BT3? If you don't then you clearly are stupid.
Now the storymode - it differs from Bust Limit in that well it's brief chapter wise for each Saga and that works fine, though if you're expecting an in dept story mode for you noobs out there to the series, you'd actually be as well to get Burst Limit. It's limited in it's own story telling but it's got a little bit more effort than BT3. Then again I haven't played the previous titles in this series so I presume they did their job of telling the stories and there is no need to rehash it here in this game.
But in stating that would-be negative it still excels in comparison to Burst Limit, because it goes through all the Sagas and BL just does not! Bad Burst Limit.
The option screens and backgrounds are a nice touch and visually are extremely pleasing. Though repetition if a fast track to hating a character. Stop saying the same thing over and over Videl! I'm looking at Goten and Trunks too! <_<
For those that are new to Dragonball Chi-Chi does a great job of telling you about all the characters. Ok she just gives a sentence or two of her opinion. But each character has a lengthy written biography which is pretty cool and worth wading through.
The graphics are top notch and the sceneries are quite pretty to look at too. Also you're ability to run and cower (strategically of course) in this game again outranks the scenery roaming of BL. The animation of the attacks and the characters themselves are stunning and even more importantly - fully posable. If you've played Shin Budokai 2 on PsP, you'll know what I'm talking about when you see just how much movement the characters have after they win a match and do their victory post.
The voice acting is superb and it's from the actual cast. Here's another nit pick at BL...don't have some camp ex prisoner voice Cell. It's the creepiest voice acting ever!
Now doing a Kamehameha with the Wii is cool as heck, I even say the words when I'm alone. The geek is me knows no bonds. But it's all very well and good when it works. Sometimes it doesn't always work and you end up getting pummelled while trying to pull off the attack. That's why I thank Wii for letting us use the regular gamecube controller It's great for when you just want to get in and kick ass without fannying around worrying about the correct motion being pulled off. But the geek/fangirl in me screams and whines and begs t be let out and I end up switching controllers again. It's all about what works for you and what you have the patience for. Fighting moves are fun and plentiful. Most players will see a similarity form others games but the execution in this is exceptional.
Stages and arenas have an optional day/night/evening which and the stages where it's important to not touch the ground similar to the anime/manga are fun too. You have to think and act like you really are in a Tournament.
5/5 Possibly the best DBZ Fighting to date
DBZ: Taiketsu
Have you ever gotten a game simply because it was part of a franchise you loved/obsessed over? Have you ever been let-down by that purchase and wondered how they could make something so dreary and slightly darken the little spot in your heart you had reserved for your favourite show?
Well if so and the said show is Dragonball Z, chances are you're reeling from the cack-fest that is.............
DBZ: Taiketsu!!
Well what can I say about this game, that people who have played it don't already know. It's dreadful. The movement of your character is similiar to that of a rock trying to make love to another rock, but without actually putting any effort into it.
The special moves are so awkward to pull off, that you may as well keep bashing the kick and punch button until the ultimately unsatisfying winner sign pops up.
The selection of characters is same old, same old and the only thing I can think of that borders on 'cool' in this game is that there's some costume colour changes...I like playing in different colours
The animation is ok I suppose for a handheld, but because of the craptastical movement, it just doesn't do anything to impress.
This game is not worth your time or money and if you did purchase it...well you're either doomed to live a life of shame or have spent money on a game that can be completed in half and hour.
If you see this game in a shop or your friend has it... then just walk away and never look back
0/5
Mass Effect! Mmmmmm
Mass Effect
Mass Effect is the 1st in a trilogy of games by Bioware. They are the powerhouse behind the Knights of the Old Republic series as well as popular RPG games such as Neverwinter Nights.
Mass Effect promised alot and in my opinion it'll delivered and then some.
The 1st thing you have to do when you begin this game is to choose what your character *insert name* Shepard will look like. You can customize to your hearts content every little facial detail and choose your gender as well. Or if you're feeling lazy and simply want to jump into the game you can simply pick a pre customise character.
You are Commander Shepard and live in an age where mankind has been thrust into the future of technology thanks to an archoelogical find of a lifetime on the planet Mars.
You have been sent to aquired newly discovered and possibly devastating Protheon ruins and eventually realise that your quest expands to hunting down the manical Saren and trying to save the entire Universe from an invasion of unknown forces.
The story is fluid and keeps the character interested, as do the subplots, which are optional, but completely worth participating in for the pure enjoyment of the game. You'll visit many planets and encounter many different races, some who welcome humanity to their special 'inter galactic gang' and some who don't quite trust human motives or believe they deserve to take a position on the Council.
So apart from chasing multiple bad guys and saving the universe, you expected to try and plead humanities case. Even when you've done something amazing and helped so many there are still those that aren't willing to fully trust the human race. However this is part of the political drama of Mass Effect and is appreciated. If we saved a colony on a small planet and then suddenly the galaxy of races and the Council accepted humanity and Shepard as a paragon (this word is a key factor in the game) of humanity, then well...it'd be boring and cliché.
You command a ship called the Normandy and later on are given full control of it. You have an active and cool supporting crew/cast.
Your active crew, as in your team mates, each have their own interesting backstory and reasons for being on the Normandy. They also give way to new side quests, as well as possible romantic options for some. The only downfall of this game is that you can't switch between your party members. You can customize them though the same way you would Shepard. But I rarely found that to be too much of a negative whilst playing the game. Bioware are good at distractions.
Some may notice that some character voice actors from this game have appeared in other Bioware titles.(as well as other games).
.The game lets you roam a massive universe, though a lot of the planets you visit, that aren't part of the bigger story, have certain aspects that seem repetitive.
The Mako vechile is simply to drive and can move about almost any terrain, it can also survive the longest fall. It's fun ramming off mountains and crashing down, then toddling onwards. It has a machine gun and a missle launcher that never runs out of ammo. And will take down any enemies you come across after a few shots, apart from that there's not much to boast about this machine. It's durable, but when fired upon can be damaged and you have repair kits that will restore it's 'health'.
The graphics are splendid, the characters are lovable or hatable...but you'll enjoy hating those and the music score is superb. The facial expressions and the appearance of characters, right down to their sweaty skin pores (ewww I know) is also brilliantly detailed.
There are similarities to KOTOR, dialogue system, the voice acting, the decisions, but Mass Effect still stands on it's own.
The combat system is just ace! You can use funky powers (that do resemble some Kotor ones like Lift) using biotics.
You have different classes that effect how you can use weapons. They are as follow:
Engineers, Infiltrators, and Sentinels and then Vanguards is a collaboration of the aspects from all.
Oh and you can be a lesbian if you want. I think gay men were in tears when this was announced, but cheer up...Mass Effect 2 might of heard your cries.
The dialogue option is very cool as well. You have a nice selection, that can come across as nice, intimidating or indifferent, the response from other characters when they interject is also great. If a NPC is talking and you choose your response before he/she/it is finished then Shepard responds straight after the NPC shuts up...um stops speaking. It just adds to the realism and fluidity of the gameplay.
I loved this game and it has a great replay value to it. I'm extremely excited about the upcoming games, though I know it'll be a while before the 2nd installment comes out
IMO this game is one of many good reasons to invest in an Xbox 360, in case your PC can't handle everything.
5/5
p.s I could of written so much more about this game, but I don't want to bore you :P
Pokémon Silver
Pokémon Silver
In Pokémon Silver you play a pokémon trainer who lives in the land of Johto. In previous games the name of Ash's area was Kanto. You start of this game as you do all Pokémon games and must meet with the Professor of your town (usually they have names that are related to trees, Oak, Elm ect). From here you get your first Pokémon and usually the one that you'll keep in your roster most of the time, because if you level them up and train them right, they'll be one of your best and most powerful allies.
Some new features have been added in this game. They are as follow:
Daylight Savings- This is quite handy. When you earn money through battles ect, some of the proceeds go to your mom. No she doesn't spend it all (we think <_< ) but she does save it for you. If you've lost money via dying or want to go on a major shopping spree it's always good to know you have a nice lumpsum waiting for you. Basically it's like having a Pokémon bank and it's an optional feature.
You are given Pokégear, which holds your phone and contact details, map ect.You can phone previously battled trainers and have rematches.
Day and Night feature heavily in this game and also effect certain Pokémon and their evolutions.
A new and interesting addition to the DayCare has been added, where you can breed Pokémon and create baby pokemon or duplicates. Though there are rules and not ever creature can breed. You can also give the DayCare keepers 2 Pokémon, which is very helpful. You can carry the eggs and after so many steps (usually quite a few) they'll hatch. Very early in the game you get a Pokémon I would of thought to be rare in this game. Togepi.
Shiny Pokémon- are also another addition, examples being Shiny Gyrados
Berries- You can get berries that can be attached to your pokemon or used seperately. Handy in combat when you have low HP or are afflicted with say a poison attack and you don't want to waste a move using potions ect.
Attachments- Pokémon attachments are great. Especially EXP.Share and items that increased their powers.
Team Rocket are back in this game, but there are a host of new rocketeers, you have a rival again (and he's a thief at that oooh).
There's a whole new set of Pokémon to be got in this game and you'll still come across loads of familiars from previous games. Also two new types of Pokémon are introduce, that being Dark and Steel Pokémon.
Eevee's appear again and ave two new evolution forms added, depending on the time of day/night you'll get an Umbreon or an Espeon.
In the previous games you got the chance to catch all 3 Legendary Bird Pokémon and then one big powerful one near the end. In this game you're given the same chances, instead it's the 3 Lengendary Dog Pokémon (Entei, Suicine and Raikou) and the big one to look for is Lugia! (Ho-Oh in Gold version).
The mini games such as gambling (tut tut) are still hear and swimming on pokemon over water looks a bit less naff.
Once you've beaten the game in Johto you can continue on to Kanto. This adds more time and nostalgia to the game, but fans will note that Kanto doesn't look the same as it did in previous games. Still it's a nice suprise.
Certain things will annoy players, constant battles in one area, trying to get through a large patch of grassy area and that damn pre-load before a wild battle. Also caves were always annoying to navigate especially with the constant wild battles when you just were not in the mood.
Overall if you're a fan of Pokémon this game is gold (pardon the poor pun). Even today it's still worth getting if you somehow missed out. Even if you can't find it Pokémon Crystal will do the job.
The game took what was great from the previous games and added new features that were handy and fun and refreshed the franchise. The little tweak to colours and graphics were visible and the roster of Pokémon was a great addition. It also had great replay value and again great 'play on after you've 'won' aspect to it.
5/5
Shin Budokai 2 PSP
Shin Budokai 2
This game also comes under the name Another Road, probably because it's the re-telling of certain arcs and storylines involving Future Trunks.
Now from the start this idea will either appeal to people who enjoy What If? scenarios or bug people who like to stick to the original stories and their settings like flies to that dirty pee stained sticky plastic stuff that hangs from your grandmothers kitchen.
Just mine...oh well nevermind that analogy.
Anyway....
For those that have played the prequel, the gameplay and controls will be of no suprise to them. In fact those who have played this after they've played Burst Limit on the Xbox360 will find the controls are identical as well.
Yes I'm an example of that.
So with that said all moves and attacks are easily pulled off (no condom jokes please) after you've done them once or twice.
There are 7 different game modes here, the usual stuff versus, storymode, training ect.
You also have the ability to change camera angles, though I never really fiddled with them to be honest, it doesn't make that much of a difference.
You can play as 24 characters (no not all at once silly) and that list includes the goodies well all love/loathe and the baddies we all loathe/despise
Powering up and changing levels is also fun to do in battles.
Now apart from you're standard pick and click and start your fight-you get to fly around a basic map world and the goal is to protect cities from being destroyed by various enemies or from reaching a certain percentage of health damage. You initiate a battle with your enemies by bumping into them...how rude, what if it was accidental?
Even though you might defeat your enemy then in combat, they just run off and try and cause havoc to the nearest city. So sometimes you're running after Cell or Dabura playing tag and "Imma beat the sh** out of you" with them.
For those who have read that you can play as GT characters...DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP. The characters include DBZ saga characters and some from the films. No extra special guest stars for those who want to play as GT characters or forms that appear in it.
You earn points after each battle and the points are used as currency to buy stuff from the shop. No a damn thing fromt hat shop is exciting. You can't buy hidden players, maps or moves ect. Just pictures <_<
You also gain different cards, which can be added to customize your character and increase their stats. I played a good chunk of the game skipping these chances to customize my characters and it all work out ok. So don't worry if you forget to make alterations all the time.
Overall this a great DBZ fighting game to get if you have a PSP. It's fun and has little additions that make it a slightly different experience from other games like it.
The negative remarks go towards to repetitive in-game dialogue when you win or loose a battle or the fact that nearly every character makes the same pose when they win a match and this particular pose shows of the blocky graphics.
4/5
Castlevania IV
Castlevania IV
It's been a while since I played any Castlevania games, I don't have that impressive a roster of retro games played on older consoles like the SNES, I never owned one. (you may weep for me later).
The first thing to note about this game is that it's straightforward, literally. It's linear and well that's hardly surprising given the type of game it is, though previous games had a few random diversions thrown in that were fun to find and use.
The combat is easy enough, just hit that button and on occasions be careful with your urges to go whip crazy, especially as the whip can...whip (overusing words reviewer <_< ) in multiple direcftions. Alright!
Sometimes certain retro games have an annoying thing in common, the music or the head banging screeching as I call it sometimes.
In those cases I usually mute the game or keep it pretty low and listen to music. But the music for this game didn't bug me out.
Items such as hearts or health power ups are found by using your whip to smack da waxy bitches candles or parts of walls. But they can not be carried and preserved for later use. Though you can get different weapons such as a cross or an axe.
I'm not sure what else I can say, there is a bigger fanbase for the Castlevania series than I knew, I just played it cos it got the luck of a draw. This is a fun game and you're playing a bad ass character who encounters skeleton horses and equally bad ass demons and monster, so for boys I'd be surprised if this didn't appeal to you.
So if you're a fan and some that shall not be named games of the series made you sad inside, then this game is a great pick-me-up if certain narcotics or not available. Drugs are bad..ok.
4/5
E3 08 Announcements
Project Origin
Coming Soon to
Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
The sequel to F.E.A.R. continues the supernatural suspense story of a powerful psychic child named Alma, whose rage against those who wronged her caused her to begin an escalating paranormal crisis that threatens to devour and replace reality with her own. Instead of playing as the Point Man, the game's protagonist is Michael Becket, a Delta Force operative whose squad is sent in to arrest Genevieve Aristide approximately thirty minutes before the ending of F.E.A.R. At some point in the game, the player character, via surgery, will receive reflex powers exhibiting the same slow-motion ability like the Point Man.
Project Origin HD Trailer
Orange Box Review: Part One Half Life 2
Half Life 2
Half Life 2 is a game that promised a lot, mainly in the area of graphics. All I heard of this game from review shows and magazines and other previews was that the graphics were amazingly stunning, breathtaking and a plethora of other lovely descriptive words. So I thought to myself while glancing over these friendly advocators of the game "hey it's not all about graphics, I see some cool FPS play, show me some more, sell the game to me".
Yes I was aware of the immense impact of HL1, I often browse through information and clips of gameplay of games I myself have not played for whatever reason. Now the choice for me choosing to pick up HL2 in the first place was merely a whim, I decided to give it a try and forgot about the reviews by that time. I just wanted a good FPS cos there was feck all else at the time. So my first copy was on the Xbox.
The graphics are amazing, lets just get that over with. The lightning and the facial movements and reactions ect are all just great, brilliant, well done Valve. I'm not sure (1st time saying this) if I would of truly had the same experience were the graphics...well shite. If the gameplay and storyline was the same yeah I would of had a gun toting good time, but the graphics did just ice the cake and make it a delicious event for me.
The architecture in this game is also stunning. Especially the monolithic Citadel and then the layout of other buildings you go through. A lot of thought and detail has gone into the engineering and structures in this game.Every environment is dense with obvious love, and every scene is beautifully paced, subtly lit, and crammed with layered ambience.
It increases the visual pleasure that I as a gamer and a person in the field of 'buildings' was in love with.
The weapon choices are standard and all helpful, but the one that you're going to have fun with and find a life saver in various occasions is the Gravity Gun. Oh sorry Dr. Mossman just prodded me in the back (steady) and reminded me of its correct name: Zero-Point Energy Field Manipulator.
This can move objects out of your way, bring them to you, an gives a vast selection of seemingly useless lifeless objects the ability of becoming useful murdering tools.
If you want to know what I'm talking about- Ravenholme, saw disc, zombies. I'll leave it at that.
to be continued...
Dementium The Ward Quick Shot Review
From what I've seen so far the zombies are very generic and the damn torch ect & movement is dodgy when you have to move with the keypad and the mouse on the stylus at the same time ^_^
And yes I laughed as well when I saw that the zombies vanished and beamed up to the Enterprise.
Also they zombies need AI work. You hit them once and their head falls off and they keep attacking. You hit them a couple of times more and finially Spock calls them home for supper. There is no break in this 'soon to be boring' method of attack.
I'm not sure if they counted as tutorials but Chapter 1 & 2 were over in 7 minutes...that's 7 minutes total for BOTH chapters together!
The torchlight is barely needed most of the time, though it's worth pointing out that it has an unlimited battery lifespan which is a nice treat. I bet if you needed it constantly though the damn thing would have some sort of limit.
The ever popular creepy girl syndrome hits this game too. Alma (F.E.A.R) doesn't have much competition though as she's useless here.
Still creepy...cos the Ring has made it so for all time!
But for the DS and if you want to be creeped out under the covers I suppose this could do the trick. Then again I wasn't scared...then again I played it in broad daylight on a big screen. There's a twist in the game too. I can't say it's too surprising and I can't say it rocked my world very little does but still you can't have a game of this genre these days without a twist of some sort. It also suggests that there might be a sequel. I'll pass thanks.
It gets a 3/5 for effort and for the fact that it doesn't really 'fail' for a DS horror game. Though more use of the stylus could of been implemented.
Banjo Kazooie
Banjo Kazooie was always one of my favourite games on the N64. It was bright, fun colourful and complete innocent fun. No guts were spilt and no heads were chopped off. You played a bear with a bird in his back and that premise alone got kids, big and small, excited.
Banjo's little sister Tooty has been kidnapped by the ugly witch Gruntilda (almost immediately too) up on Spiral Mountain and it's up to him and his bird pal Kazooie to save her. They meet other characters along the way who help them and who hinder their quest.
It's all about puzzle solving, hopping around and collecting objects (jigzaw pieces). That's a summary in its simpliest form. It's a game laced with quaint funny innocent humour, I don't know about anyone else but I laugh when I found out there was an island called Isle of Hags. Or Gruntilda’s sister (a good fairy!) who can be found hiding in many areas of the game on each and every level, and she’ll spill some gossip to you about her evil sister.
Amazingly for its time of release the graphics were quite impressive, look around you when you enter a room (even one which seems totally insignificant to the game), take a look at the walls, at the objects, the characters, and you’ll find that everything is just riddled with detail.
An example of the stunning colour and lighting in this game can be seen in one particular level Treasure Trove Cove, set on a beach. It's quite pretty to look at and extremely fun to play. Another example of excellent lighting you’ll find when you reach a later level, Mad Monster Mansion. The eerie beamlight of the moon lights up the darkened stage, and the yellow glow of the mansion’s windows finishes the spooky effect.
Movement is similiar to that of Mario in Mario 64. In Banjo-Kazooie, you don’t have all of your moves at the start of the game. You have to learn them progressively, some of which you won’t obtain until halfway through the game. Flying is needed in this game at certain parts and is quite easy to master. Sometimes the camera angles get in the way, but in comparison to other imfamous camera angle whore games, this isn't even on par. It's not a constant problem and can be corrected. The only actual nag I have in this game is the collecting of particular items mainly picking up notes. There are 100 individual notes in each level, and you must pick up as much of them as you can within one run of the level to add them to your total. One run means without leaving the level, and that includes dying.
One of the most fun parts of Banjo is that towards the end of the game, you have to cross a puzzle gameboard and answer lots of questions before you can proceed to the final showdown with Gruntilda the witch. You’ll be played music from the game and have to identify the level you originally heard it, you’ll be shown close ups of corners of a level and have to determine the world in which they are located, and many other fun questions and timed challenges to have a crack at.
It's a roaming adventure type game with many levels to explore, lots of items to find and collect, characters to meet and help, puzzles to solve and sub-quests to discover that you will be totally engrossed for hours and has great replay value that not all games then had.
5/5
Fable 2
Release Date
October 21st, 2008 for NA
October 24th, 2008 for Europe
Collectors Edition tin estimated to be $79.
A Collector's Edition will be released with the game on release date. The Collector's Edition features :
1 Amaray case with Game
1 Bonus Xbox DVD: Videos, New Making-of Feature, Roaming Hobbe short, Concept art viewer
1 approx 2” Qee Hobbe figure w/ two accessories
5 printed Fate Cards
1 token card for in-game content (downloadable over Xbox LIVE), including "Minstrel Chief", a cameo from the star of the Halo series.[23]
1 LIVE trial card – 48 hours
Banjo Tooie Review
Due to the incredible and deserved popularity of the first Banjo game it's not really surprising that there was a sequel made by Rare. This sequel was like it's predecessor, out only on the N64.
So the basic plot is: the game takes place 2 years after the events of Banjo-Kazooie. The main villain, Gruntilda Winkybunion (hehehe) and her sisters, Mingella ( cracked me up) and Blobbelda ( ohohoho), are planning to restore Gruntilda's body to its original form. Banjo and Kazooie must stop them before it is too late.
There is no difference at all, certainly nothing major in the actual gameplay of this game. The levels are massive though. If you were a fan of the original and also a fan of the fluid movement and platform standards then you should not be upset with what's given to you here. You still have to collect Jigsaw pieces, similiar to the 1st game. Now what is noteworthy about the gameplay and design of the sequel is that levels are not stand-alone areas. Occasions will arise in the game where the player has to cross between the levels, or return to a level after learning a new skill in order to use it. The train stations in most levels are an extremely handy and important part of this new addition. An example being that once the station has been opened, it is possible to move between levels on the train. Thank goodness for that. I hate having to troll back on foot through lengthy sections. The standard blue eggs are available from the start, but you will eventually acquire other types of eggs, like fire, ice, and grenade (among others). Another difference is in Banjo-Kazooie, if a player dies and re-enters it, all the original musical notes will reappear, leaving the player to re-collect what was lost from the previous bout. Banjo-Tooie changed this in that the collected music notes do not reappear and are cumulatively added to the player's score (this stops the players attempt to collect the highest number possible in one go on a particular level).
Graphics wise Banjo-Tooie has had a nice little makeover and vastly improved it's look from its predecessor. Many people complained about N64;s inability to process good textures. I think Banjo-Kazooie was really the first game to feature decent textures.
Because it's still as much fun I'd give the game a 5/5 It's been unfairly ratted on by other reviewers. It's still an game that anyone of any age can enjoy, most importantly younger gamers
Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped
Crash Bandicoot was Sony's cartoony mascot equivalent of Mario or Sonic back when he first appeared on the PS. He's still churning out games and to do so must mean there's still a strong following. Here we have the 3rd in the Bandicoot franchise.
I like to point out first that one thing that's executed surprisingly well in this game is the audio. It has catchy music, sound effects, and the voice acting is well done and it doesn't fall into the trap of messing up with lip synchronisation. There are 30 different levels in this game and you still have to go through each one collecting crystals. New to the third game is the ability to learn new moves upon defeating a boss. Abilities like the super belly flop, double jump, super spin, and super run definitely help you to get through the levels faster. And there are also secret levels to unlock. Woot!
The plot of this 3rd installment is as follows: You continue where you last left off, with Dr Cortex's space station going KABOOM. Debris from the space station falls to Earth and land on top of an ancient monument, freeing an evil being from its prison. Cortex is then seen being spooked out by the freed being, which has saved him from dying up in space. He is told that it is the last time he will fail the being, which is called Uka Uka (alrighty), and is told that seeing as Dr Neo Cortex is the reason he was freed, he will be allowed another chance to live. Doctor Nefarious Tropy (what a name) is introduced as a master of time and has created a machine called the "Time Twister" which will allow them to retrieve crystals from different places in the Earth's history. These crystals will enable them to take over the world. So you can imagine what the purpose of Crash is in this game. Stop the baddie, collect the worlddevuring crystals and have a good time.
The level design is the same as the previous games, where the player can enter a main HQ area and pick a level out of a possible 5 to go through. However unlike the second game where the player could not see the other hub areas until they went there, in Crash Bandicoot 3, it is possible to look at the other areas.They are locked until enough crystals are gathered though.
There are a few new modes of play in the levels such as riding a jetski, a tiger, motorcycle and even a biplane, which add a flavour to the gameplay. Also after defeating a boss, Crash gains a new ability such as a double jump, a stronger belly flop and even a Wumpa fruit bazooka near the end of the game.
Graphicswise- The animations and bright, colorful landscapes make the game look and feel like a cartoon. Amazing attention to detail and pretty lighting effects give torches, lasers, and other lighting objects in the world a life of their own.
4/5
MARIO KART 64
Lets just point something out right now. Mario Kart 64 is still made of pure win even today. It's simple addictive repetitive fun and anyone can play and enjoy it. Believe me I've witnessed O.A.P's get stuck in an curse with a torrent of naughty words, when Donkey Kong was bombarded by suicidal mushrooms.
So with that said surely this review will have nothing but positive remarks to be made about this game. Well yes and no. There is one negativity and that is that there could of been more diverse and wacky races added and the same for the vechiles. But don't misunderstand me, this is just a fangirl want of more more more. Some people are just never pleased. Oh and the soundtrack ain't worth much.
The playable and lovable characters of the Wii game are as follow:
Baby Daisy
Baby Luigi
Baby Mario
Baby Peach
Birdo
Bowser
Bowser Jr.
Daisy
Diddy Kong
Donkey Kong Jr.
Donkey Kong
Dry Bones
Dry Bowser
Funky Kong
King Boo
Koopa Troopa
Luigi
Mario
Mii
Paratroopa
Peach
Petey Piranha
R.O.B.
Rosalina
Shy Guy
Toad
Toadette
Waluigi
Wario
Yoshi
Some of course are not obtained straight away and need to be unlocked.
But in the 64 version you got to choose from 8 characters only. Quite a difference eh. I think apart from the roster not much in terms of offerings and gameplay were needed to be changed in the Wii version. A sign of a great original. Now you are given 16 tracks to run amok on in this game, so they made up for the short ended roster in some regards. The controls of the game are easy enough to get use too after the first try. Each track is a fun one, though Rainbow Road is flipping long.
Now Multiplayer could be why alot of people may bought this game. 1 player mode is wicked but the 2,3,and 4 player modes are just incredible! 2 player VS. mode is extremely fast and entertaining, but the game really comes to life in 3 or 4 player mode.
The game is flawless in what it sets out to achieved and that is simply colourful fun. You can compare and contrast with other games, there's always a different opinion. But no matter what genre of game you like, give this a try. You will become addicted and so will your mates when they walk in and spy the spare controllers lying on the ground desperate for digit Karting love.
5/5
I'm not sure what else could of been done to improve this game........oh wait
DUN DUN DUN
RAYMAN 2
The story is:
The " hearts of the world" has been shattered into thousand parts called Lums and you will need to collect as many of these as you can find. Some areas of the game are not accessible until you have obtained a certain number of these Lums. It seems that item collection was becoming a revived key role in furthering your gaming quest. You had it in Banjo and even as far back as the Castlevania games.
Level design is impressive with huge and highly detailed levels.
The world of Rayman is full of strange and interesting characters, each with their own distinct personalities. You will interact with many of them and they will help you on your quest in various (and often humorous) means. Most of the characters in the game have their own motives and will follow it despite whatever it is you might be doing in the game.
Control in the game has its ups and downs, depending on the particular stunt that Rayman is doing. A notable contrast is seen between different added activities - Rayman's swimming and flying controls are touchy, making movement difficult. Rayman's water skiing and rocket riding controls, on the other hand, are excellent.
There lies a deadly fault in the camera work of this game - While the majority of the game's camera angles are fine, there are times when bum camera shots just kill you...literally.
The vibrant colors of Rayman are a testament to the beautiful graphics this game has to offer.
The sound quality also receives high marks. It's amazing to see just how much great sound can have a positive effect on the gaming experience. There aren't exactly any voices though, since all the inhabitants of Rayman's world have their own strange language. Again another similarity between Banjo and even to a more abstract extent the Sims.
I can't really fault this game too much, aside from the camera angles that causes me to hurl objects through the air that are apparently protected by law 'cats, dogs, babies and grannies', the game was thoroughly enjoyable. I enjoyed it, it was fun. The aim of the game succeeded.
4/5