Rate the game!

[Barkworm]

I thought I could bring this thread back since I really enjoyed it on the other boards.
The first game to be reviewed in here is

Prince of Persia: Warrior Within (GC)

Graphics: The graphics are excellent in this game. "Sands" looked great, this one looks even better. Especially the animation of the prince is just incredibly good. My only beef with the graphics is, just like in the first one, the facial motion in the cut scenes. The lip synching is pathetic.
9/10

Sound: This is one of the controversial points of the game. It was critized that the Prince's voice actor was changed and that the Metal music was just out of place. I thought the voice acting was done ok (although they should have kept the Prince's voice actor, or at least his accent) in this game. Not near as good as in "Sands of Time" though. The music is actually not that bad. It's just that it gets boring and repetitive soon and it feels forced. There also are a couple of really annoying glitches with the sound effects (which are apart from that very good).
7/10

Gameplay: The controls of the platforming parts are exactly the same as in "Sands of Time". Which is a good thing. The combat was improved a lot. While it was pretty dull in the last game, it really feels dynamic in "Warrior Within" and is a lot of fun. Unfortunately there is a lot of boring backtracking in this game. It gets annoying, especially if you have to return to places you already loathed the first time.
About the game's difficulty, I played it on "Normal" and it was a lot more challenging than "Sands" but also never ever unfair.
9/10

Lasting Appeal: I think it took me about 20 hours to beat it so it's about double as long as "Sands". It also has two different endings and a couple of other hidden stuff.
8.5/10

Story and Presentation: The story is a complete mess. There was more than one time I just sat there and thought "...uum, right.". The weird thing is, it's kinda interesting anyway. The new style... well, I thought some reviewers were just being picky but they were totally right. "Warrior" has nothing of the wonderful fairy tale atmosphere of its predecessor, everything feels very, very forced. One of my favourite things about "Sands of Time" was that the Prince was actually telling a story to the audience. You won't find something like that in this game.
6.5/10

Overall: "Warrior Within" improves on the flaws of "Sands". it's longer and the combat is way better. The sad thing is that it also destroys a lot of the things that made "Sands of Time" so great. Don't get me wrong, it's a great game nevertheless but it also shows that gameplay is not the only thing about a game. I can honestly say that I appreciate "Sands of Time" even more after I have played through "Warrior Within".
8.5/10

[Mecha Cow]

It's good to have this thread back, I liked it as well.

Good review too.

[Peanut]

Nice review of PoP:WW Barkworm. I still haven't gotten together enough funds to buy it, but I will soon.

I'm bored, so I'll review Super Mario 64 DS for the Nintendo DS! :D

Graphics: I was totally blow away with the graphics for this game. Totally. I didn't expect it to look as good as it does. I love the updated character models, Bowser especially was the biggest surprise. Everything else seems to be a little better than the 64 version. Textures are sometimes blurry, but most of the time still better than SM64. The character models in SM64 didn't really stand the test of time, looking back on them now is kinda gruesome, so seeing the game looking this good was a real treat.
Overall: 9.0

Sound: Very little difference. Mostly everything is exactly the same as it was on the 64 version. The differences of course being character voice samples. Everything sounds as it should, not much of a change, which is a good thing.
Overall: 8.5

Gameplay: It's as good as it ever was. The addition of some 3 new characters into the fold is great, even though I wish they had kept Wario out of the game. They don't control super differently, but it's easy to notice things like jumping distance and speed. Yoshi is the only one who controls much different from the others, his ability to swallow and make eggs out of enemies is great. The new additions to the game, such as the various added boss fights are awesome, although I would have liked to see a completely new world or two thrown in somewhere, rather than just little mini levels. The extra stars rarely stray form the "collect the silver stars" or "push the secret switch" types, but you can't go wrong with more stars! The controls are tough to get use to at first, and even once you've mastered them you'll find yourself loosing control at times and going somewhere you don't want to, usually off a ledge and into the abyss below. The mini-games included with the game are really great. They show off some great things with the touch screen. If a revamped version of Super Mario 64 isn't enough to warrant a purchase, the mini-games should change your mind. Never thought you could get addicted to simple card games? Try and resist Luigi's selection. Bottom line, buy this game, love this game, beat it over and over, it's amazing.
Overall: 9.5

Replay Value: Are you kidding? 150 stars, 4 playable characters, tons of mini-games. You could play it forever. Just that fact that it's fun to start the game from scratch and go through it over and over again shows how great the replay value in this game is.
Overall: 9.0

From top to bottom this is an amazing game. Despite the fact it came out way back in the day. That shows how good of a game it actually is, with a face-lift, it's a reborn classic! First must own game for the DS. Slight control issues are of little problem, once mastered you won't slip up often. Buy this game, now!

Overall: 9.5

[Kid Icarus]

Good review Peanut.

Here's mine, for Feel the Magic.

Graphics:
This game doesn't blow you away with it's high poly counts, or it's crazy textures... no. It kills you with style. The presentation of the game is amazing. The entire experiance is presented through celshading, is very well animated, and makes great use of the dual screens. When you start up a scene, comic strips tell you the story of what's going on (usually 4 panels, 2 per screen).
9/10

Sound:
The music is so so. It's this games big weak point. The tunes are catchy while you're listening to them, but they don't stick around after the power's off.
5/10

Gameplay:
Here's where the game really shines. It makes perfect use of the DS's features. The face buttons are used ONCE in the whole game, for a feature in the menu where you can zoom in on girl. We have our first perverted DS game with Feel the Magic as well. In the same button-using mode, you can touch the girl anywhere, and she reacts. The actual game is made up of minigames. Not a single game has been alike so far, and I'm at the very end of the game. Sonic Team's put a lot of work in to making the game shine. You do everything from riding a unicycle between rooftops, to cleaning dirt off the girl.
10/10

Replay Value: There are a ton of hidden things in this game, plus some of the mini games just BEG to be played in public (like Microphone, where you have to scream at the top of your lungs to get the girls attention, and Candle, where you have to actually blow on to the system to blow out candles.). Add in a hard mode, and a 'paper doll' featuere that lets you design your own girl (that you even get to 'touch'), and you won't get bored anytime soon.

Overall: 8.5/10

[ThirdMarioBro]

Thank you Barkworm. I was going to start this, but forgot. Let's see, everyone knows Mario 64 is a god game, so I'll do Feel the Magic too.
__________________

Developed by Sonic Team

Published by Sega

Graphics (6.9): The game isn't much for the graphics department, but that's not the point. The Cel shading and 1960's Japanese art deco fit this Sonic Team game nicely. The cilouette characters are good, because it lets you imagine they are whoever you want them to be. I especially like the Ulala wig you get when sticking Sonic Advance into the GBA slot. Overall very nice and fitting.

Sound (8.0): I actually really liked the music. There's not much of it, but it seemed to get stuck in my head. Very, very catchy.

Gameplay (9.5): Two words. Breast Fondeling. Could you ask for anything more. You scream into your DS, blow your DS (take that as you will), ride down hills in shopping carts, and fling hitchhikers at you rivals car. The whole game is completely fu*ked up, perverted, and is a work of mad genius. Where else could you undress a girl on the beach and then dance in the sand. Want to clean dirt off of her ass? They've got that too. Just about every DS feature is used here.

Replay Value (9.0): You can play this game forever. There's not as many mini-games as there could be, but they're so wierd and addictive, you don't care. Besides, poking breasts never gets old. It's basically Wario Ware for perverts. Buy it now.

Overall Score (9.1)

[Barkworm]

So basically, this is THE game for lonely men? :lol:

[Kid Icarus]

Pretty much. IMHO, every DS owner should have 2 games in their collection right now, Mario 64 DS and Feel the Magic.

[ThirdMarioBro]

I wanted Ridge Racer too, but nah. Feel the Magic is THE game.

[The Clerk]

Final Fantasy VII for Playstation

Graphics: When this first came out, in 1997, these were unbelieveable graphics, but now... they aren't all that great, but i really like them anyway. The backgrounds and surroundings are great.

8/10

Music: By god... this is probably my favorite music in any game, well, besides from Knights of the Old Republic. Each character has their own theme in this game, and it has the Sephorith theme and Aeris theme, and Aeris has fantastic music. It's so catchy, i even have the cd for the game.

10/10

Gameplay: At first, i wasn't used to having to push the O button to select things, i was always used to the X button at the time this game came out. But the gameplay is easy, and fun.

10/10

Story: Yes. This is what i love about this game, and that is the frickin' story. It's so... what's the word? Ah yes, brilliant. Each character have their own thing to do with Cloud, whom you would be in this game 95% of the time. To this day i am still confused about what all happens in this game.

10/10

Replayability: Well... i think if you play for the first time, not knowing what is goign to happen, it will take you around 72 hours. And i was playing this non stop before. I have played and beaten this game around 6 times and i still get a kick out of it. There are a whole lot of side quests in this game to do if you want to know more about the area around you and your teammates.

10/10

...and a side note: This has the best Cid in any FF, IMHO :)

[Kid Icarus]

I wanted Ridge Racer too, but nah. Feel the Magic is THE game.
That'll pry be my next DS game. Thats the one with the touch-steering wheel, right?

[ThirdMarioBro]

Yup. Virtual Steering wheels.

[Barkworm]

Another review of a game I beat a couple of weeks ago:

Sly Cooper (PS2)

Story and Presentation: Very good. The story is quite interesting and is shown in these really cool flash animation cut scenes. New chapters always start like an episode of a cartoon show and it's really a lot of fun to follow the story.
8.5/10

Graphics: The graphics are pretty good with some good use of cel shading. The game is already two years old and there are similar games with better graphics but it looks good nevertheless. There are some more than annoying slowdowns though.
7.5/10

Sound: Most of the music is very simple and mediocre. It's really nothing special. The voice acting on the other hand is very well done.
7/10

Gameplay: When I read the words "generic platformer" in the Nintendo thread I felt the sudden urge to review this game because that's exactly what it is. There's almost nothing about the gameplay that you haven't seen in other platformers. Plenty of the levels are weakly designed and boring especially in the middle part of the game. There are a couple of cool things though like a bemani like boss fight and the whole last chapter. The latter is the only challenging part of the game btw, the rest is ridiculously easy. To make this even worse, you can find two upgrades that make you unvulnerable against falling into water and even against falling from cliffs. Who the hell has ever heard of a platformer in which you survive when you fall from a cliff?? "Sly Cooper" is probably the easiest game I've ever played.
7/10

Lasting Appeal: Once you've beaten the game you'll probably come back to find all pages of the "Thievius Raccoonus" but even that won't take you longer than 8 hours at most. After that you can try to get the "Master Spirits": If you beat a level in a certain time you can unlock audio commentary of the developers. While the rest of the game is too easy, those master spirit tasks are almost unfair and no fun at all.
5.5/10

Overall: Sly Cooper is not a bad game but as far as sheer gameplay is concerned there are tons of better games. The game's presentation saves a lot. I don't think it's worth buying but if you are really bored it's good enough for a rental. Use a walkthrough though to avoid the two upgrades I mentioned, they take a lot of the game's value.
7.4/10

[ThirdMarioBro]

Meh, another shot at Mario's throne gone generic. Not really Sony's fault. You just can't copy perfection.

[Barkworm]

Although this is the first console generation in which a Mario game isn't the best platformer (at least until Mario 128 is released).
If anyone cares, here's an updated version of my "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" review. I also edited the "Warrior Within" review since I felt the rating was a little too low.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (GameCube)

Story and Presentation: The story is nice and simple and the game really feels like a playable oriental fairy tale. Another big plus is the two main characters, the Prince and Farah. They really make the game feel alive.
9/10

Graphics:
Beautiful animation and level architecture, as well as some really good looking CGI movies. The facial motion is rather bad though.
8.5/10

Sound:
Great voice acting and some very nice pieces of music, oriental sounds mixed with heavy riffs. Unfortunately the sound is beyond horrible.
7/10

Gameplay:
The platformer parts of this game are awesome, maybe the best of the current console generation. The combat in comparison is a little dull and can get annoying at some points. There are only a few different combos but it's still quite cool to jump over a sand zombie and slice him. The sand abilitys are a nice feature but only the "Rewind" and "Stun" abilitys are really useul. "Sands" is not really a hard game although some of the fights can get pretty rough. The last boss is a bad joke however, he's way too easy.
8.5/10

Lasting Appeal:
This is the game's weak point. You can beat it in under 10 hours. It's the kind of game that can be played more than once without getting boring though.
7/10

Overall:
PoP: The Sands of Time is an awesome game that suffers from some obvious flaws. Nevertheless I'd recommend it to everyone.
Although I haven't played it, the X-Box version is probably the best one since the sound of the GC version is really (and I mean really) bad.
8.7/10

[Spitfire]

Review for: Resident Evil 4
By Spitfire666xXxXx


Graphics:
RE 4 has some breath taking visuals.At times there are a few little glitches though, like a guys hand through my head, but that happens very rarely. Leon looks amazing and the villagers are the most detailed enemy Ive ever seen in a game. Its like they actually spent time making the enemy look good. The backrounds are great to, even a close up on the ground doesn’t look that pixelated which is perfect
9/10

Game play:
Gameplay wise this game is a winner. It is fun, and you have to play it to understand how fun it can be. Running from hordes of angery Spanish villagers could never be so great. You can blow heads off with guns, kick heads off, stab them, set them on fire, shoot them off cliffs, shoot their hands and legs to make them drop to the ground or drop weapons, and theres more you can do. Sometimes after a moive plays you have to tap a button real fast to do something or you might die, for example after the first boss you have to press A real fast to cut a rope. It makes watching the movies more exciting. They let you do everything. You rarely don’t get to do something. Its so interactive you can shoot just about every object and get rewarded in some way. Treasure hunting is fun too, you can hunt for treasure and sell it or something ypu find stuff you can put togther and increase the value.
Another plus in this game is the AI. Its not stupid in the least. The computer knows more then you know and they make it seem that way. The villagers sourround you and try to flush you into building to corner you. If you go some place they cant reach they will throw cocktails at you until you come down, or catch on fire and die
The bosses are another thing I like in this game. Their really creative and during boss battles theres more to them then just, run around the boss shooting him. You have to dodge things and do special action button stuff
Now Im only on Chapter 2, right after just getting Ashley but this game has already impressed me enough to say all this about it
10/10

Game Modes:
Looks like theres just the normal game, maybe you unlock mini games
?/10

Controls:
The controls are so perfect you can tell it was made just for Gamecube
10/10

Sound:
The sound is really good! Everything sounds as it should, from head explosions to people yelling in Spanish. Even the voice acting isnt bad, which is new to me kinda lol
10/10

Extras:
I don’t know if there are any but I hear rumors of secert characters
?/10

Overall:
I can’t give them game a full review because I havnt beaten it but I covered the basics. I suggest anyone with a Gamecube should rent this atleast, even people who hate th Resident Evil series can enjoy this. I have to give it a 9 though until I know what the extras are
No Zombies = Great Game
9/10

[Mecha Cow]

Nice review Spitfire, I've never been interested in Survival Horror games before but I think I'll give RE4 a rent.

Anyway, I know it's been out since forever in the States, but us Europeans had to wait six months for FSA, and damn it, now that it's finally out and I've finished it, I'm reviewing it. New review system too. Might be a long post, bear with me.

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-Game: The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
-System: Nintendo Gamecube
-Publisher: Nintendo
-Developer: Nintendo
-Players: 1-4 (Gameboy Advance's and GBA-GC Link cables are needed for every player when playing with more than one player, one GBA-GC Link cable included)
-Year: 2004

-Info:
A sequel to the Four Swords multiplayer add-on to the GBA remake of A Link to the Past, Four Swords Adventures puts the player in the shoes of not one, but four Links, who have to fight together (and against each other) to re-seal the evil Wind Sorcerer Vaati. The game includes two modes of play, Hyrulean Adventure being a full 2D Zelda quest for one to four players, while Shadow Battle lets 2 or more players duke it out to find out who is the weakest Link.

-Presentation: 07/10
Four Swords Adventures is a little more 'casual' than regular Zelda games, sometimes abandoning style for accessibility. Menus are simple and the game feels like more of an arcade game than an epic adventure. It's not that odd, though, since Four Swords Adventures often plays like one too. The cutscenes aren't very exciting either, though that's understandable since the game's meant to be played with friends, and not everyone likes to read a ton of dialogue. Overall the presentation is simple, but does what it's supposed to.
-Graphics: 07/10
Most of the tiles and objects are taken from the SNES' A Link to the Past, and re-textured to look less pixeled. Smoke and light effects in the style of The Wind Waker have also been added. While it looks nice on the TV screen, it isn't always as pretty on GBA, where the extra textures and effects are obviously missing. The Links themselves look great and are well animated, but unfortunately that cannot be said about most of the other character sprites. There are some that are quite ugly, especially when compared to the great-looking characters of the recently released The Minish Cap. Also, it's possible that you'll have trouble following the GBA action when playing on a regular (non-backlit) GBA, since some of the tiles are quite dark. Still, the graphics aren't too bad, it's just that the Gamecube can do much better.
-Sound: 08/10
Four Swords Adventures features some remixed Zelda tracks in addition to a number of new ones. The music is played from the TV (not the GBA)and the quality of the sound is great. While the tunes are nice, they're not overly exciting, and are mostly meant to be just background music. Sound effects are good, but too few. Link makes plenty of noise (Each Link has his own 'voice') but other than that the levels are pretty quiet.
-Gameplay: 09/10
Hyrulean Adventure is the main mode of the game, and is basically an all-new 2D Zelda game. It's quite good when playing solo, though not without its drawbacks. You'll die a lot easier (Not that it matters much since you'll have a large number of Force Fairies -which revive you when dead- in no time) and you don't really have any reason to collect Force Gems as frantically as you would in multiplayer since you have no one to compete against anyway. Still, Hyrulean Adventure is great even on your own and a reason for any 2D Zelda fan to consider Four Swords Adventures.

However, Four Swords Adventures is still a multiplayer game in essence, and should be played with friends for the full experience. Playing through a Zelda game together with one or more friends really is an awesome. You're forced to work together, but if you want to be the no. 1 Link, you'll need to bend the rules a little. Whoever collects the most Force Gems wins, and friendships will be put to the test fighting over them. But just as you've started hating your friends, you'll find yourselves facing a huge boss, fighting side by side, willing to take a full-force blow for each other. Then again, when someone dies all their Force Gems scatter across the level, waiting to be picked up...

Shadow Battle is kind of an arena mode, where the goal is to take out the opponents using whatever means possible. There are also a lot of Tingle's minigames to be played against each other.
-Control: 09/10
Those who were sceptic about the GBA-GC connectivity, rest assured. Switching screens takes a little getting used to, but within minutes it'll be second nature. Make sure the GBA's batteries have enough power though, because if one gets dissconnected somehow it's Game Over.

In singleplayer mode, the game can be played with a regular Gamecube controller, though I actually prefer using a GBA.
-Life: 09/10
Hyrulean Adventure consists of 24 levels, each of which basically being a full dungeon that will take about an hour to complete, so I wouldn't call the game short. Also, this is one of the best multiplayer games ever, and if you have some GBA-equipped friends around who understand at least the basics of Zelda, Four Swords Adventures has almost infinite replay value. Even when playing on your own, Hyrulean Adventure should be worth playing through a few times, and since it's level-based (You can select any level you've unlocked), you can always pop it in for some quick Zelda action.
-Feel*: 08/10
While it's more arcadey than other Zelda games, Four Swords Adventures still feels like a Zelda game and has tons of charm and appeal. Some may think a multiplayer Zelda is cheap, but if they'd play the game they'd soon find out that Four Swords Adventures is something special, even without the multiplayer 'gimmick'.

-Overall:
Four Swords Adventures is an amazing game, and proof that GBA-GC connectivity works. Solo players can enjoy a full 2D Zelda game, and any Zelda fan who has access to the multiplayer mode should get this game without a second thought.

-Final score: 89/100 (Not an avarage)

+ : Perfect balance between cooperation and competition, and one of the best mutiplayer games ever.
- : Gathering four Zelda fans, four GBA's and four GBA-GC Link cables is easier said than done.

---
*'Feel' is basically where I rate the 'soul' of a game, and how much I've personally enjoyed playing the game. I feel a good atmosphere and a nice feeling are one of the most important factors in a game, which is why I've decided to include them when reviewing.

Sorry for the long post. What can I say, I'm thorough.

[Peanut]

Nice review Mecha Cow. Very nice. Although I've never felt any sense of competition while playing the game, and the friends I game with are pretty damn competative. (One threw us all out of his house, along with the game we were playing, WCW/nWo Revenge. He can't stand loosing.)

[Barkworm]

I decided that I won't buy it. I don't have a GBA and I don't think it's that much fun alone.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Ridge Racer DS
___________________

Graphics 7.5
Yeah, the DS is capable of FAR more, but Nintendo is saving this things real juice for when PSP's pretty sh*t comes out, so no biggie. There's the occational chunky texture, but the game runs at a solid 60 FPS, so Yeah! No flat roadside objects either.

Sound 8.5
Normally techno in a game tends to sound like crap, but this is some well thought out music. Very good stuff. Not much of it, but I like it. I like the announcer. He adds to the Arcade feel with some familiar samples. Car sounds kick ass as well.

Gameplay 8.8
Drive, ram stuff, powerslide. Hardcore stuff, and gets VERY hard after awhile. There's 8 tracks, and each is long and well thought out. The AI is cheap, but I expect that from an arcade game. The virtual steering wheel is a great idea, but takes a lot of practice to master. It's hard though, so be patient. D-Pad controls are good as ever. Very nice intro too.

Multiplayer 9.0
You can play any track in the game in single card multiplayer, and other users can download whichever car they want from your card. It shows just how much is possible in this mode. I expect Mario Kart to be fully supported because this sucker can download the whole track AT ONCE into up to 8 other DS's at once. They don't get the music or announcer, but the game runs at full speed with a VERY long range on the Wi-Fi. If this is a taste of the future of DS multiplayer, ON ONE CARD, then I am more than impressed.

Overall 8.7
Very awesome for a first gen title. Not the deepest title ever. Just pure arcade racing thrill. That makes me happy. Ridge Racer DS feels awesome when playing it. The whole package is just great. I hope to see Rush 2049 someday, or perhaps Daytona on the DS one day, but this will keep me plenty happy until Mario Kart rolls in. Buy it now.

[Peanut]

I beat it about a week and a half ago, and I know someone else reviewed it before in the old thread (Mecha Cow I think), but I'm going to review Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.

Graphics: Simple is probably the best way to describe the game. The whole thing takes place in a paper world, so obviously, everyone/thing is made of paper. That being said the characters in the game all look pretty cool even if they're very limited in movement and animation. The backgrounds are all 3D, and at times fairly detailed, but there really isn't much special about them. The paper effects in the game are pretty cool though, such as things ripping through the background, and enviroments changing a frame at a time, as if being animated via a flip book. There's very little to complain about, the graphics are overly simple, but they do a good job of getting things done. One complaint I do have is the fact that besides a few things, nothing actually looks very paper like in the game. They could have used a ton of special effects to make Mario actually look like a crumpled piece of paper when he rolls into a tube, or into a paper airplane, but most things just end up looking like boring character sprite. Not that big of a deal, but I thought they could have gone a lot further with the whole "paper" deal.
Score: 9.0

Sound: Despite the lack of voice overs, the sound in PM: TTYD is actually very good. There are a ton of really catchy tunes in the game, Glitzville is the first one that comes to mind. The sound effects are pretty basic Super Mario Bros. effects, and the Mario voice samples are nothing new either. I know Nintendo probably doesn't want Mario to right out have large conversations with people, but I think it might be time for them to put some true voice overs into their games for other characters. I know there would be a lot of worry about bad voice acting tainting the game, but I'm sure Nintendo could find some decent people to at least do a decent job.
Score: 9.0

Gameplay: I'll start by saying...I'm not a fan of RPG's. At all. Lots of text/speech + boring battle systems that I've seen time and time again don't equal fun at all. Luckily Paper Mario doesn't have anything of the type. The battle system is great. The fact that you actually play a part in the battles besides just pushing A to attack is great. Not only are Action Commands awesome, but Stylish Moves and Guard Commands are great as well. The whole audience element is another addition that makes Paper Mario stand out.
One of my favourite little things is

the fact that you not only play out the story as Mario, but as Bowser and Peach between Chapters. The little Super Mario Bros. inspired mini-levels for Bowser are really cool, and the various things you do with Peach are prety neat as well.

There are just so many gameplay elements to mention, but you would be better off trying them out for yourself.
Score: 10

Story: Since this is an RPG, story plays an important part. It all starts off pretty generic, collect the Seven Crystal Stars to keep the evil Lord Grodus and his X-Nauts from opening the Thousand Year Door. The story really takes off into some cool directions after about Chapter 3. The chapters themselves all play host to some cool elements. Several of which are really a surprise and fun to boot. Such as

Mario joining a wrestling league, being re-named 'The Great Gonzales', and having to fight his way to the championship belt in Chapter 3. Thinking you out right whooped some serious ass on a pathetic prankster and finished Chapter 4 within 30 minutes, only to find that Mario was stripped of his name and apperance by the fiend during the battle and you really beat yourself in the fight. The whole 'Mystery on the Train' thing that happens in Chapter 6 is another good example of just how surprising this game can be. Finally, the last boss will be a real shocker.

Overall...it kicks ass. Plain and simple. From the surprises out of left field, to the overall charm and humor spread through out, it's just awesome. Who wouldn't find a Pianta crime syndicate amusing?
Score: 10

Replay Vaule: I sunk over 27 hours into the game my first time through, and that was without doing any side quests or additional searching around the various locals of the world. Now I'm knee deep in my second play through on Chapter 5 with upwards of 9 hours sunk again.
Score: 9.5

Overall: Basically...this game kicks major ass. My favourite game of the year without a doubt. Do yourself a favour, if you haven't played this game...get it...NOW!

Overall Score: 9.8

[Mecha Cow]

Yeah, I was the one who reviewed the game at the old GD forums.

Nice review, glad to see you enjoyed it as much as I did.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Paper Mario 1 kicked ass. I bought 2,, but just haven't had the time to play it yet. Paper Mario is like one of the best RPG's ever.

[Duke]

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door.

Overall: Basically...this game kicks major ass. My favourite game of the year without a doubt. Do yourself a favour, if you haven't played this game...get it...NOW!


Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door was my favorite game of 2004 too. At the very beginning of the game I wasn't that impressed but by the end I loved it. The reason i wasn't that into it at first was the fact that the story really took some time to develop. Basically in the original Paper Mario, the story is thrown right out in the beginning of the game. But this one really started off slow and took some real time to develop, which i normally like but since the original one was just put out there at the beginning, i was honestly fearful that the little info i got about the story was about it and i wasn't impressed. But it wasn't and the story was amazing.

Did you guys beat the pit of 100 trials? Now that was fun.

[Peanut]

I only went to about level 22 or so...I did it to

Save that kids dad for the Trouble Center quest.

I'm going to go through it on this current play through though.

[Duke]

Yeah, i think i went through it four times. I went to level 22 or so for the same reason u did. Then i went to either 50 or 60 and realized i had no chance. I reached level 93 and died, and then finally i made it all the way through. It definitely takes some strategy to make it all the way through plus a little luck.

[Peanut]

I'll have to go through it on my first save. I didn't even have much problem with the last boss with that one.

Anyways, recently I've been playing the old Crash Bandicoot games with my sister on PSX, so she begged my mom, who went out and got Crash Twinsanity for us. I'm on the final level of the game, so I thought I'd review it.

Crash Twinsanity
Xbox
Vivendi Universal Games
2004

Graphics: The Crash Bandicoot series has never been one for graphical superiority. The game is usually made up of simple characters and vibrant backgrounds. Crash Twinsanity is no different. You could describe the style in this game as cartoony, where the previous Crash Bandicoot efforts attempted to make Crash semi-real looking (Take the added Fur Shading in the Xbox version of Wrath of Cortex for example.) they obviously went for a total cartoony look for this game, and it works. Crash has always been an appealing character, and he looks the best he's ever looked in Crash Twinsanity, despite the fact that they dropped the fur from WoC. The other two playable characters, Dr. Neo Cortex, and his niece..or daughter (Neo seems to be hiding something.), Nina Cortex both look fairly good as well. Nina in particular has a pretty snazy look, from her school girl clothes, to her Bionic Commando appendages. Enemies are fairly detailed, with some obviously having more time spent on them than others. There are decent effects in the game, nothing mind blowing, you'll witness countless explosions through out, and they look pretty good. Character animation is awesome, everything in exaggerated perfectly to give it a very cartoon like feel. Crash is still a dope and his constant blank and cheerful expressions can't help but put a smile on your face. Dr. Cortex is probably the most animated of the bunch, and rightfully so, the poor guy gets trounced time and time again through out the game. Backgrounds are fairly detailed, and at times are very impressive, sometimes there's a bit of repeatition though. They range from the usual platforming staples, a lush jungle, to a snow capped iceberg, a volcano, caves, etc. etc. While not overly impressive, the graphics get the job done while looking very pretty at the same time.
Overall: 7.5

Sound: Crash Bandicoot, much like Mario, has a very distinct set of sounds. Everything you've heard before is back in Twinsanity. Crates shatter and TNT boxes explode with the same sound as they ever did, which is perfectly fine. There really aren't many voice samples during gameplay, but the cut scene dialouge is particularly impressive. Dr. Cortex outshines the lot in this category, mostly because Crash is yet another mute hero. Dr. Cortex is a joy to listen to, Lex Lang does a great job with Cortex and he sounds better than ever, many of his yelps and pleads are great, but it's his cut scene dialouge that really takes the cake. The cut scenes themselves are often quite amusing. The best example being when Cortex gets accousted by a pack of angry, jet-pack wearing, penguins, who insist he isn't allowed to have his ice berg laboratory back because his last check bounced. There are problems though, at times the dialouge will not only be pointless, but sometimes it'll cut in and out, and in a couple cut scenes it disappeared completely, although it has to be noted that the bad dialouge only came from secondary characters. The music in the game is...well something only a Crash game could pull off. It's overly silly, and I love it. It's performed by a single "band" who make all their music using only vocals, the opening theme/Nsanity Island song is so catchy you'll find yourself humming along in no time. Some of the other tunes are hit or miss, and at times get quite annoying (see Ice Berg levels). The sound has it's good points, but it also has it's problems. S some glitchy effects and dialouge here and there, plus some repetative stuff in several of the levels, but it's still quite good.
Overall: 8.0

Gameplay: Crash games have always been nothing but entertaining, the simple level designs and clever platforming puzzles were always a joy to play. Luckily most if that is back, and there are several improvements, but also a couple downfalls. The biggest thing to mention is that the games levels no longer follow a singular path, they're all in full 3D now, but that doesn't mean they're opened ended like Super Mario 64, a couple of them are still quite linear and at times are pretty much just like the old Crash games. There's one glaring problem I saw in the transition, there's no real hub between levels. As where most platforming games now have a central hub world, Crash has a kind of semi-hub. There are areas where you're not in a level, but it doesn't feel that way. All the levels lead back to the one singular spot, such as Dr. Cortex's lab on the Ice Berg, but if you want to get back and play a level, it'll be a lot more difficult than just jumping into a painting, or going through a portal, you'll have to either backtrack through an entire level, or do a full circle around the hub area to find an entrance. The levels blend seamlessly into the hub, which I guess is pretty neat, but it makes for some confusing, and sometimes frustrating moments. Trying to tell where a level begins and where it ends is almost impossible. The levels themselves are more diverse than I've ever seen in a platforming game, in terms of gameplay. They're split into several different types, with some levels combining several different elements. These include things like Rollerbrawling, guiding Crash and Dr. Cortex, enganged in a fist fight, down chutes, ramps and platforms. These levels feel a lot like Super Monkey Ball and are tons of fun. Then there are the typical Crash levels, you break crates, collect wumpa fruit, smack enemies around and go through some nifty platforming elements. Dr. Cortex is a bit different, you'll utilize his ray gun to blast crates and enemies away, and activate switches. Nina Cortex has some pretty cool moves. She can spin and jump, although a lot weaker and shorter than Crash can, but she can also punch enemies from a distance with her spring loaded hands, and grab onto rings to swing and jump from walls or between gaps, which is really a ton of fun. Then there are the Crash/Cortex buddy levels. These basically have Crash abusing Dr. Cortex to no end. He can spin Cortex around in a double spin, use has flat head as a hammer, and toss him across gaps to clear a path or activate switches. The levels also include some variations, like having to roll Cortex around in a steel barrel and into chutes so he can activate platforms far across a level. Then there's "Humiliskating" basically in these levels Crash kicks Cortex's ass out a window and uses him as a snowboard to get down huge hills, these levels are great if to only hear Cortex scream in pain as his male region is used to grind along steel posts. Basically there are tons of different elements in this game, all of which are quite fun, with the exception of some of Cortex's stuff. The game, at times, will smack you in the face with a frustratingly hard bit of platforming or puzzle solving. There are quite a few of these moments, and it just seems like they throw in these cheap little pieces to make the game seem harder, when it just makes you want to stop playing. Now on to one of the few really bad things about the game, about a little over half way through a huge change comes over the game, instead of happy sappy Crash Bandicoot style , you get all this dark broody stuff. It starts when you visit the Academy of Evil to retrieve Nina Cortex, and it quickly goes down hill from there. Every game needs it's dark parts, but once you hit that stage of the game, it just flies into bleakness. There's no more happy music, no more bright colourful stages. You get stuck with gothic rock music, and dark, torched ground with satanic looking totem poles instead of the silly stuff you normally see in Crash games. Crash himself looks terribly out of place in these enviroments with his bright orange fur. Overall there are a ton of cool elements in the game, the Crash levels are obviously the best, but when Crash is paired with Cortex it's not only funny, but down right great to play. A bunch of things detract from the game, the broken hub world, the sometimes frustrating bits and pieces of cheap level design, and the style change for the worse after the half way point, but it's still a ton of damn fun, more than I expect to be sure.
Overall: 7.7

Replay Value: It's a pretty short game to be sure, probably around 4:30 to 5 hours for your normal gamer, but if you want to 100% it, it'll take you quite a while. There are a ton of gems to collect for each world and each level, which unlock bonus material much like DVD extras.
Overall: 7

Overall: Crash Twinsanity is a game that, despite some noticeable glares, is definately a fine platformer. Withouth the charm of Crash Bandicoot though, it would slide into mediocrity. As it stands it could have been so much more, it's enjoyable for sure, and I suggest trying it out if you ever have the chance, but this will go down as one of those games where I wonder what could have been. If they can improve on the formula in the next installment, they'll have a real winner on their hands.


Overall Score: 7.3

[Barkworm]

I don't want this thread to die so here's a short review of:

Jak 3 (PS2)

Story and Presentation: Neat. The story is pretty well done, since it's told in some excellent cut scenes.
HUGE SPOILERS!Actually it's obvious from the beginning that Damas is Jak's father but I really enjoyed all the little hints to it.The plot twist at the end with the true face of the Precursors was hilarious.
8.5/10

Graphics: The highlights are the in-game graphics cutscenes. I think they have some of the best animations I've ever seen. Apart from that the graphics are very good too, although they have a LOT of vertical tearing and some slowdowns.
8.5/10

Sound: Music and sound effects are nicely done. The music sounds a lot like in the Ratchet and Clank games, so if you like the music there you'll like it here too. The voice acting is just awesome. Especially Daxter is great as ever.
8.5/10

Gameplay: The original Jak & Daxter was a classic platformer. The second one was a GTA ripoff with platforming elements, lots of action and a difficulty that was just way too much for the average gamer and just unfair at some times. A lot of fans of the first one were turned off by it. Those people probably won't like this one either.
So what is this game? It starts with a little platforming. Then it goes into shooting stuff. After that you'll do a couple of races with dune buggys (the dune buggys are extremely cool, by the way). There are also some missions on the so called "hoverboard". Does this all fit together? I'd say YES. It's just a lot of fun. Fortunately Naughty Dog has reduced the "GTA-ishness" so the game is pretty much straight forward now and offers a lot of variety in the different missions. Most of the weapons are very cool, the dune buggys are really a lot of fun to drive (and I hate driving in games) and the hoverboard, although it's slow, is a nice little extra too. Dark and Light Jak are also pretty cool ideas, although you'll rarely use them.
The difficulty was one of the major problems of the last "Jak" game. It was just way too hard at some points! "Jak 3" is still not an easy game but you'll never find anything unfair in it. It has a very enjoyable grade of difficulty.
8.5/10

Lasting Appeal: First time through will take about 15 hours if you ignore all the secrets. It's actually not a long game but fair enough compared to other games I've recently played.
7.5/10

Overall: "Jak 3" is a very entertaining game. There were rarely any missions that I didn't enjoy. I also really like the characters. Of course it's not inventive or anything but the game pulls off its thing really well. Don't expect a platformer though. This game has platforming elements but basically it's an action game. And a really good one at that.
8.5/10


Yes, I know you people don't care because you all hate the PS2. I hate you too. :P

[Peanut]

I'm sure the thread won't die, it's probably just because no one has gotten anything new lately.

The PS2 platformers were all just crap to me. Ratchet and Clank wasn't bad, but I thought all 3 Jak games were terrible.

As for PS2 itself...I hate it, for good reason.

[Barkworm]

What was bad about Jak and Daxter? That game was a fine platformer.

[Peanut]

I just didn't like it. There's something about Jak I don't like, the character that is. I didn't have any fun when I played the last two, and I traded the first one in after I bought it only 3 days before. Ratchet and Clank is a different story. I'll give that game a little love, because at least it does some stuff differently, with the whole gun/platforming thing. Jak was just too much of stuff that's not only been done before, but done better.

[Barkworm]

I see where you're coming from. I also like Ratchet and Clank better, especially the second one. Actually I'm a huge fan of the second game. It added some RPG elements to the gameplay, had a ton of totally different weapons and was really huge for a game of that kind. I still need to play the third one.

[ThirdMarioBro]

And then Sony killed the franchise. Stupid bastards. :roll:

[Barkworm]

The Ratchet series hasn't been killed off.

[愛]

Aren't they done with Jak, though? I remember hearing something about them stopping at 3.

[Barkworm]

Yup, Naughty Dog doesn't want to do more Jak games.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Whiceans it'll be sold to Universal and become a new addition to their long running of Sh*tty GBA games alongside Spyro & Crash. Sad sight.

[Peanut]

Actually I think the first GBA Crash game got a ton of great reviews, and I'm sure one of the Spyro games wasn't all that bad either.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Look for my Wario Ware Touched review soon :D

[Duke]

Look for my Wario Ware Touched review soon :DI picked it up today and so far i have to say i'm a little disappointed. Normally I love mini games, and I honestly believe the DS was made/designed to play minigames but gamestop had it right imo about the game being repetitive. It just doesn't have the variety that feel the magic has. It's still fun just a bit of a let down.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Wario Ware Touched
_________________________

Graphics: 7.0
For the most part, simplistic, but it's Wario Ware. It's gotta move fast and furious so you don't need to bother noticing. The opening cinema animations are far superior to the original GBA game, and they're damn funny as well. The game makes good use of the DS's 3D prowess for the series 3D debuet (no, I don't count the GCN game), and it's a treat to look at.

Sound: 7.0
Now, for the most part the game has great music, but the tunes don't stick in your head. I found myself turning on the original just to hear the music, but it just dosen't stick as well here. The sound effects on the other hand kick all kinds of ass, especially the 9-Volt old school stuff. The game was actually done by a different team than the first because they were busy with Twisted so I can write the few gripes I have off. The music does have a few lyrical songs here and there, and for where they're placed, it's funny as hell. Why? Keep Reading

Presentation: 9.5
Pure Kickass Wario Ware, and has somepretty sick/stupid ass humor (a good thing believe me). The familiar 70's deco look is back in full force. There's some new characters here and there, such as Jimmy T's family (goofy looking), but there's one new addition that made me almost drop my DS in disbelief. Her name is Ashley......and she's a cute little worshiper of Satan. Yes my friends, Nintendo has opted to put a satanic worshiper in Wario ware, and she is just nutso. The little (real) goth wants to put Obatron in her devil's brew, and the music they sign during her gameplay sounds like the Addam's Family theme on HARDCORE crack. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen come out of Nintendo. Worth the purchase just to see that.

Gameplay: 8.0
Now, people complain that the game is rather repetative because you use only the touch screen, but they're forgetting something. The original just used the cross pad and the A botton on 95% of the games. There's not a really big difference, and you can't wiin just by rubbing non-stop. That won't get you anywhere. There are 180 games, and they are all fun as dope. I didn't find them to get old, and the funny cinema scenes made me laugh out loud.

Overall, the game is highly recomended. It has flaws, but all do, and they don't kill the experience by any means. It puts that DS to heavy use, and works you just as hard as the original did. It's some of the best fun I've had this winter.

Overall Score 8.0



Tune in in a couple of days when I bring you my Star Fox Assualt review :)

[Duke]

Wario Ware Touched
Gameplay: 8.0
Now, people complain that the game is rather repetative because you use only the touch screen, but they're forgetting something. The original just used the cross pad and the A botton on 95% of the games. There's not a really big difference, and you can't wiin just by rubbing non-stop. That won't get you anywhere. There are 180 games, and they are all fun as dope. I didn't find them to get old, and the funny cinema scenes made me laugh out loud.My biggest problem wasn't w/ the games themselves but w/ the lack of variety in each mini game. Once you unlock the games and replay them in album mode they don't change, they basically all go through a cycle of 1-2-3 then repeat w/ less time and once u learn the pattern then you can pretty much play forever.

[Peanut]

That's exactly what the first Wario Ware was like too, I really don't understand that complaint. BTW nice review TMB.

[Duke]

That's exactly what the first Wario Ware was like too, I really don't understand that complaint. BTW nice review TMB.Well for me it is the touch screen that makes the difference. On most mini-games i can just make the same stroke with the stylus and i could go all day.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Well, I enjoy the interaction with the game myself. A button, touch screen, it dosen't really make much a difference to me. Guess it's just a mtter of opinion.

[Duke]

Yeah, ultimately any game is a matter of opinion. But like i said earlier, i have enjoyed it, i was just a little disappointed that's all.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Star Fox Assualt Review
___________________________

Graphics: 8.5

Visually the game looks like a dream in rail shooting mode, and the effects are pretty. She never drops under 60FPS, and the foot missions look pretty goo d as well. The perspective of the game really changes depending on weither you have a vehicle or not, and it makes a difference as you feel small. The game conveys this well. All in all, it's up to par, but the rendered cimemas look absoultely stunning.

Presentation: 10.00
Absoultely stunning. If you've known the characters of this game for some time like myself, then prepare to cry your heart out. It'll make you really feel for them. Nintendo and Namco have conveyed this exceptionally. I didn't know what to expect, but in the end they have truly mde this an experience to remember. I truly enjoyed the story to the absoulte fullest.

Sounds: 10.00
The soundtrack is fully orchestrated, and performed by the Tokyo New City Orchestra. It's unbelieveable, and loops perfectly. I'd be happy with these renditions forever. The sounds are also classic, and you know exactly what has happened when you hear them.

Gameplay: 8.5
The difficualy curve is extreme. It starts at Star Fox 64 at max and builds on that. The game can be rough, but that's just on the Bronze level. Imagine the Gold setting. Pure nightmare. Anywho, the foot missions are well thought out and not half as boring as people say they are. Give them a chance and you'll see they belong in Star Fox. It amazing just how well it all pulled together. The bosses are crazy as well.

Overall: 9.2
I'm extremely satisified with Assualt. Yeah, it's short, but it throws you every which way during the time it lasts. The story, presentation, quality, sounds, and gameplay all come together to make an epic experience you won't soon forget, if ever. I'll treasure this one for all my gaming life. Hell, it's better than Star Fox 64 by far. Buy it and have a BLAST!

[Barkworm]

What about the game's length? I heard it's no longer than 6 hours.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Yeah, that's about the right length, but to the game's credit, it hammers you with more action in those six hours than any other Star Fox title. And for the record, most all of the other Star Fox titles were about this ling too. It's the medals and replayability that keeps you coming back.

[Peanut]

Why is it so difficult to find a good long game lately? Paper Mario:TTYD was one of few I've played recently. Most game times are clocking in around 6 to 7 hours now.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Blame development cycles. it'll get worse before it gets better.

[Demented Utrom]

All game development cycles take forever now.One release date is promised but it's pushed back and pushed back again the cycle goes on forever.I don't trust game release dates anymore.Because they might be pushed back for some reason.

[Barkworm]

I have a review request: I found a sealed copy of the limited edtion of "ICO" (the one with the postcards). I have been looking for this game for a while but it was such a bitch to find. Since this will probably be pretty expensive my question is if it's worth it. I heard nothing but good things about it so far.

[Peanut]

I haven't played it for a couple years, so I can't give you a full review but I can tell you that it's one of the best games on the PS2.

[Barkworm]

Sooo... I've finished "Wario Ware Touched!" and since I'm not in the mood to write a full review all I'm gonna say is that I'm a little disappointed with it. I can't really describe it but it definitely lacked something. And damn, it was so short. I'm pretty sure the original one wasn't as short as this one.

[Kid Icarus]

That's how a lot of people are feeling Barkworm... but I'm slowly finding more things to dig up. Have you unlocked all the minigames? How 'bout getting all those toys? That harmonica is really freaking cool, and I'm going to drive people nuts with the noise maker one.

Anywho, I'd give WWT an 8.5/10. It was a fun little game while it lasted, but it would have been nice to have a little more to it. And Ashley rocks hard core.

Would anyone be interested in an Animal Crossing review? I'm assuming most people on here have played it...

[ThirdMarioBro]

I'd like to hear one from you actually. I haven't played it near as much.

Ashley is so damn cool. Nintendo goth. Just f*cking perfect. :lol:

[Duke]

Sooo... I've finished "Wario Ware Touched!" and since I'm not in the mood to write a full review all I'm gonna say is that I'm a little disappointed with it. I can't really describe it but it definitely lacked something. And damn, it was so short. I'm pretty sure the original one wasn't as short as this one.Yeah that is pretty much exactly what i started saying the day it was released. It's hard to really describe what was wrong with it, other than saying it was too short and repetitive (I know the others were too but not in the same way). Really I think it comes down to the fact that it only used the touch screen, and you could make the exact motion w/ the stylus and go forever.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
___________________________

Graphics/Presentation 9.5
This one is one the top level of Graphics in the Gamecube catagory. Honestly, the fur shading absolutely kills Star Fox Adventures. There are prettier, but not many. The big DK in the lower left corner makes for some funky animations and is cool to look at. Never drops under 60FPS. Absoulte beauty to look at.

Sound 9.5
I've heard better in the DK series, but still, each song fits it's area very well. The underwater music is quite ambient, and just hearing the good ole DKC theme brings a tear to my eye after all these years. All of DK's new voice clips are just funny as hell. It makes me laugh just to hear him yell. The thumping noises of the punching and the bongos is nice, loud, and rattles my surround sound. Kickass bass. All in all, the sound is almost completely perfect for this game.

Gameplay 9.6
The only thing keeping this sucker from a 10 is the length, but I write that off because there's so many ways to enjoy this game. The combo system is so deep that you can practically combo and chain through a whole level. And for the bongos, they are a freaking blast. Honestly, I haven't laughed this hard when playing a game since forever. It's a total joy to play. No story whatsoever other than DK wants to be king of all the relms, and beats the royal sh*t out of everything in his path. Just the way I like it. Walking, running, stunning, and pummeling is all a Brease and a joy to control. It takes almost no time to learn at all, and you get good fast. It's a new and unique experience that is a thrill to play and enjoy.

Overall 9.5
For their first work to boot, Nintendo's Tokyo Studio has truly impressed me. I still wish it was longer, but like I said, who cares. The replay in absurdly outragious, and the game is just so much fun you'll be laughing the whole way through. Play this baby and have a blast. It's one of the most unique titles this generation.

THUMP THE MONKEY!!!!

[Barkworm]

Don't you think 9.5 is a little bit too much? ;)

[ThirdMarioBro]

Not really. I'm basing it on fun factor alone. There are flaws, but no game has made me laugh this hard in since forever. It provides a new experience, which is something I have a hard time finding nowadays. That, and I'm tired of picking games apart. Gamers have become too cynical. I just want to go back to when I played something to have fun, not judge it, and this game makes me feel like that. Dunno if that makes sense or not. I just miss those days sometimes.

Anyways, the game is a blast. :D

[Peanut]

I only played about 5 or 6 of the worlds when JameO brought it to my house, but I couldn't see myself giving it over an 8.5 at that time. Nice review though.

[Dinny]

Nice review TMB, but I think you need to include a Length category. The main game to Jungle Beat is very short, but people who beat the game (intended pun ;) ) and then stop playing it don't understand what the game is about, if you continuously attempt to beat your own personal best you'll get so much more out of it.

[EZweasel]

im gona do another review of mario ds.. im gona make it short.

Graphics: the best graphics i have seen on a handheld system..when i first started playing it i was so surprized and thrilled that this awsum game was improved apon so much. it gets a solid 10.

sound: just as good as the old game it seems so that gets a 8.5

gameplay: deffinatly the downfall of the game..this is probably the worst gameplay in history. i was so dissapointed that i could not play the game anymore. it ruines every great attribute about it.. the problem is there is no joystick and after only minutes of playing your hands hurt to the point where the game is useless. im giving it a 2

fun factor: terrible because the controls 4

overall its an average of 4.9

this game is no where near worth buying, playin, renting or whatever you plan to do because of the terrible controls.

[Peanut]

Wow. You must real suck with the thumb pad. The game is easy as hell to control.

[EZweasel]

Wow. You must real suck with the thumb pad. The game is easy as hell to control.

i love the d-pad with certain games but it just doesnt work for mario in a 3d world. the game would have been amazing if they would have only went the psp rout. the psp is eons beyond the ds in forms of gameplay. nintendo should have thought about this before releasing it.

[Peanut]

You do know you can use the touch screen in replace of the analog stick on a 64 controller...right? It's called the thumb strap...You don't have to use the D-pad.

[EZweasel]

You do know you can use the touch screen in replace of the analog stick on a 64 controller...right? It's called the thumb strap...You don't have to use the D-pad.

i am not a fan of the tough screen and it was a let down with the metroid game also. toughing the enemies to shoot them was just plain dumb. i realy thought ds was gona be amazing, but i realy hate it. the system is selling terrible in the us...they beter be glad it is selling so great where it was made.

[Peanut]

I'm just going to stop typing anything until TMB gets here...

[EZweasel]

I'm just going to stop typing anything until TMB gets here...

well ok. mario 64 is an amazing game i just don't think it belongs on the ds. well i just miss the joy stick realy bad. from what i have played on the psp i realy like it...to me nintendo is the second greatest system out there while x box is just trash. nintendo has the clssics which is why i like it so much...X box just tries to be too big for its britches making games for older audiances which aren't realy that good. What makes the ps2 so great is the selection of games. no matter what your ooking for in a game you can usually find it. nintendo takes so long to come out with games. i believe the PSP has more games than the ds and it came out later. Look at the selection on gamecube and xbox right now. theres just not much there...then go look at sony. you are you find heaps of games...Yea theres crap in the heaps, but theres also gems and in my opinion games that are beter than most of what nintendo can put out.

[JameO]

The DS is based around the touch screen! You have to use it! Wow, you shouldn't be playing or reviewing games for the DS if you don't like the touch screen, since it's the main reason it is so good.

[Peanut]

After your first 2 sentences your post was pointless and off topic. Congrats on loving Sony. It has nothing to do with this thread.

[ThirdMarioBro]

i am not a fan of the tough screen and it was a let down with the metroid game also. toughing the enemies to shoot them was just plain dumb. i realy thought ds was gona be amazing, but i realy hate it. the system is selling terrible in the us...they beter be glad it is selling so great where it was made.

DS's First weekend sales in US only: about 400,000 (almost all preordered)

PSP's first weekend sales in US only: 171,963 (1/2 preordered)
--------------

DS's global sales: Almost 6 million

PSP's global sales: Less than 3 million



I rest my case.

[JameO]

Can anyone say Ownage? That is T-bag material right there!

[Barkworm]

Hahahahahahaaaa, good stuff, good stuff indeed... :lol:
I have to agree that the D-Pad controls are pretty bad though, but the "tough screen" controls are decent.

[EZweasel]

DS's First weekend sales in US only: about 400,000 (almost all preordered)

PSP's first weekend sales in US only: 171,963 (1/2 preordered)
--------------

DS's global sales: Almost 6 million

PSP's global sales: Less than 3 million



I rest my case.

well alot where returned. you can go to any store and see that. the psp is selling good from week to week. ds seems to have sold all theirs at once then people realised how crappy it was and took it back...also yea ds is doing better globally i can agree with that.

[Peanut]

Where the hell do you get this information?

[JameO]

Do you see alot of used DS's selling at your local gamestop or EB? And how about you stop bashing a company/product that paved the road for portable gaming. Just because you are a Sony fan boy, doesn't mean you have to bash it's competitors. I love my DS, but I will say that the PSP looks pretty hot as well, technology is where it's at, not popularity.

[EZweasel]

Do you see alot of used DS's selling at your local gamestop or EB? And how about you stop bashing a company/product that paved the road for portable gaming. Just because you are a Sony fan boy, doesn't mean you have to bash it's competitors. I love my DS, but I will say that the PSP looks pretty hot as well, technology is where it's at, not popularity.

i want to play a game that doesnt have a 3d world for ds..the system is great for that i think. i just don't see it being used for 3d'ish games. it honestly hurt my hands. I thought sony had a stroke of genious putting in a joystick on a handheld system.

EDIT: ok im not gona make any new post about this so im editing this. the gameboy ds has just recently topped the psp in japan in sales.

http://gamepro.com/nintendo/ds/games/news/44108.shtml

[愛]

Cut this sh*t out. This isn't the place for console debate.

[Peanut]

Ai actually being a mod? Hell must be f*cking freezing!

Edit: I think I'll get this thread back on topic with a nice review of the game I rented last week, Star Wars: Republic Commando for Xbox!

Graphics: Beautiful! I love how they styled the game off of the Metroid Prime helmet view. It's a much more gritty feeling Star Wars game than anything before it. Everything looks great in this game and there are some really awesome effects. You have the option to melee enemies with a retractable knife on your hand, if you connect a death blow to an enemy their inner fluids, usually some green blood for alien beings and oil for droids, will splatter all over your visor and stay there until a futuristic "windshield wiper" cleans it off. It's stuff like that that makes this game so cool. It feels like Star Wars, it looks like Star Wars, it's great!
Score: 9.0

Sound: This is pretty cut and paste. It has all the normal Star Wars sound effects you'd expect, laser blasts, droid noises etc etc. The real stand out is, surprisingly, the voice overs. Temuera Morrison lends his voice for various random Clone Troopers and most importantly for the main character, Delta 38 (also referred to as "Boss" by your squad). Listening to your squad chat it up while you pull of certain tactical moves or just fight for your life against a large pack of Trandoshans is awesome. They'll even warn you if you've got an enemy coming from your "6", or praise you for a good shot or brutal melee hit. The music in the game also fits pretty well. It doesn't really stand out, except for a few tense parts. It'll get your blood pumping in certain areas.
Score: 8.0

Gameplay: One thing is sure, you'll enjoy the hell out of this game! I had a very very difficult time putting it down once I started. One of the few games to do that to me in a very long time. Yes, it's a FPS, but there's something about it. There's basically non-stop action. There are tons of scripted events, which creates some hectic moments. Your squad is basically your best weapon in this game, sometimes even better than your own blaster. Delta's 40, 07, and 62 are deadly. Unlike most games that involve squad controls, your allies aren't complete tools. Not only do they give you great back up, and a heads up call if you're about to be ambushed, but they'll constantly save your life.

You command your squad with a simple press of the A button. All over the place you'll see little translucent squares that represent areas where you can commant your team to perform an action. This can range from slicing a computer terminal, to giving you sniping/grenade/anti-armor cover, to setting up explosives or operating some heavy machinery. You need to rely on your squad mates (On the Hard difficulty at least, which is what I played). For example, I needed to cross a bridge and blow away some debris so my squad could delve deeper into the enemy base, the problem? Turrets and Geonosian Warriors flying out of the wood work. I could have sent a team mate down there and attempted to cover him, but I'm not nearly as crack a shot as the rest of Delta Squad. I set my team mates up at various spots around the bridge, waited for the first Geonosian bastard to tumble and ran to the end of the bridge to set the charge. I didn't get touched once. My squad blew those bugs to hell. There are tons of huge fights, such as a droid boarding party from a Seperatist starship. Dozens of droid dispensers against myself and Delta Squad. There are so many options to taking it to the enemy. It's awesome.

My favourite feature of the game is probably the fact that you're not dead until your entire squad is put down. If yourself or a squad member falls in combat, you can be revived and be back in action within seconds. I had even died during the beginning of some large battles only to have my squad do the job without me and bring me back to my senses once it was over.

There are some really cool events too, such as fighting against General Grevious' body guards. You even get to fight along side Wookies on Kashykk! You'll get a huge kick the first time you free a Wookie and watch him kick a Trandoshan in the face, rip a Battle Droid in half, or toss a Super Battle Droid over a ledge.

There are a couple problems though, mostly they have to deal with the lack of different enemies, or the durability of certain enemies. Super Battle Droids are a pain in the ass to take down. A REAL pain in the ass. I won't even mention the Driodekas. There's also a strange lack of weapons. Besides your standard blaster rifle, which can be fitted with attachments (using the d-pad) to turn it into a sniper rifle or anti-armor grenade launcher, there are only a couple more guns. The ones available are pretty cool though. This is a game just shy of being amazing. It's great, that's for sure, but it could have been really amazing. I guess that's what sequals are for!
Score: 8.5

Replayability: This is the thing that will hurt this game overall. I blew through it in less than a day. Around 7-8 hours. That's pretty decent for a FPS, but once it's over you probably won't want to head back and play it over again. Maybe a few select areas, but not the whole thing. You'll just want more new stuff. The mutliplayer is there, and it works, but it isn't very special. Especially considering Xbox fans already have Halo 2's multiplayer to keep them happy. Republic Commando would have benifitted from a co-op mode, which is missing for some ridiculous reason. This is the only area of the game that needs some major improvment. They get a little extra for at least attempting to impliment a multi-player mode, but it's not enough.
Score: 6.0

Overall: Star Wars: Republic Commando is a great FPS that's just shy of being amazing. Some tweaks and additions could make this a classic. A poor multi-player mode, little replay value, and no co-op hurt the overall score. I'm awaiting the sequal, which hopefully solves some of these problems.

Overall Score: 8.5

[Mecha Cow]

Nice review, Peanut. I guess I'll contribute to this thread with a mini-review of another Star Wars game.

I don't feel like typing out an entire article and I should be studying anyway so you guys'll have to settle for just the scores.

---

-Game: Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
-System: Game Boy Advance
-Publisher: Ubi Soft
-Developer: Ubi Soft
-Players: 1-2
-Year: 2005

-Info:
Based on the upcoming finale of the Star Wars saga, Revenge of the Sith lets you wield the lightsaber of either Obi-Wan Kenobi or Anakin Skywalker. Play through one character's individual storyline or link up with a friend for some multi-Jedi action. May the Force be with you and all that.

-Presentation: 6/10
-Graphics: 07/10
-Sound: 08/10
-Gameplay: 05/10
-Control: 04/10
-Life: 07/10
-Style: 07/10

-Overall:
An entertaining but repetative Hack 'n Slasher that's let down by poor controls.

-Final score: 62/100 (Not an average)

+ : The Force powers are cool and an original addition to the standard Hack 'n Slash formula.
- : The sluggish controls do not go well with the fast-paced action.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Edit: I think I'll get this thread back on topic with a nice review of the game I rented last week, Star Wars: Republic Commando for Xbox!
Overall Score: 8.5


Sorta sounds like a tweaked Metroid Prime engine altered to be FPS instead of FPA with team based missions and a Star Wars premise. That would be a good thing though. Sounds interesting.

[Peanut]

It's very interesting, and does have some similar attributes to MP. There are some huge differences of course. My main problem with MP was it felt so damn lonely. That feeling is totally gone with your squad, with the exception of a few of the small areas where you're on your own.

[ThirdMarioBro]

I kinda like the lonelyness. It draws you into the adventure and makes you more aware of your surroundings because something can come from anywhere and there's no one to help you.

Still, I might try this someday.

[Barkworm]

Yep, the loneliness was one of the aspects that made MP so good.

[Peanut]

I can't say it was for myself. I know that's what made the atmosphere of the game, and it was damn good, but I can't play games like that. It's what made the game so good and what ruined it for me.

[愛]

No one respects your opinion!

But seriously, to each his own. Metroid Prime is a wonderful game for plenty of people. Republic Commando is an incredible game, too. I played the demo and it rocks.

[Peanut]

I never said MP wasn't a good game. I could tell it was, but I couldn't get into it. You know how much of a pussy I am.

[愛]

Oh, I know about your fear of Resident Evil, a game that isn't even all that scary.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Nothing's that scary anymore when you've been desensitized to every kind of violence known to man.


*shoots a kid crossing the street for target practice*


.....What?!?

[Kid Icarus]

Few DS games to put up on here...

First up, Yoshi Touch and Go

Graphics: 6.5. They look great, but the DS is some capable hardware... Surely you can do better, Nintendo? They've kept the same Super Mario World 2 and Yoshi's Story style.

Sound: 8.5. The music is great, the sound effects are okay. Nothing much else to say here. Like all Nintendo games, the music just fits.

Gameplay: 9.0. The game plays like 2 diffrent games, really. The first part has you guiding Baby Mario through the sky as he falls to his DEATH! You draw lines of clouds to direct his movement, draw circles around enemies to change them to coins, and keep him safe until he hits the ground. Depending on the ammount of coins you picked up, you'll get a diffrent colored Yoshi. The more coins you get, the better the Yoshi (Ironicaly, the standard Green Yoshi is the worst of the bunch). The second mode plays like a scrolling shooter. You can draw clouds to guide Yoshi over pitfalls, circle enemies to make coins, tap Yoshi to make it jump (which can be done as much as you'd like in a row to keep him airborne), and tap the screen to fire Yoshi's eggs at coins and baddies. The game has modes a plenty, 2 standard and 2 unlockable. Another spiffy feature that more DS games should have, is the ability to detect other DS units around you that are using Pictochat. I've yet to test this feature, but it should come in handy.

Over all: 8.7. The games fun, but in the end it feels like a tech demo turned into a game... which is exactaly what it is. I found it more enjoyable when I started thinking of it as a shooter rather then a platformer.

Next up, Polarium.

Graphics: 2.0. Lots of style, but nothing fun to look at. The graphics work for the game, but they could have been better.

Sound: 2.0. Like the graphics, the music is stark and barren. it works for the game, but again, it could have been better.

Gameplay: 10.0. The game play is stunning. You get 2, 1 player modes to choose from: Challenge and Puzzle.

In Challenge mode you're forced to clear lines repeatedly to keep the screen clear. Blocks seem to appear in random patterns, and they fall faster the more lines you clear. This mode becomes VERY difficult VERY quickly.

Puzzle mode has you drawing single lines to clear the screen. They start off simple, but the difficulty kicks up around 25. For every 10 puzzles you clear, you unlock 10 more. There's 100 in all. You can also create 100 of your own puzzles, as long as they have a solution (the game makes you solve your puzzles before they can be saved to memory).

You also get a few multiplayer options. The first is the ability to send out a free demo to other DS units via Download Play. The demo has 5 sample puzzles, challange mode, and a VS mode. VS Mode is the finest 2 player puzzle match since Panel DePon (Tetris Attack). Each line you clear gets sent to your opponet, and this continues back and forth until time runs out. whoever has the least lines left wins.

Remember those puzzles you made? They arn't just there to show off your pixel art skill... you can send those puppies over to any copy of Polarium.

Over all: 9.5. Nintendo was right when they said this game would be spoken about along with Tetris. This is the best puzzler on the market right now, easily. One of the growing number of games that isn't possible on anything but the DS.

The last one is Pac-Pix

Graphics: 8.5. The graphics are what you'd expect from a PacMan game. Good use of colors, some nifty book styles. Pretty cool looking.

Music: 7.5. Typical PacMan music, nothing too special. It works.

gameplay: 8.0. You draw Pacman, arrows, and bombs to eat the ghosts. i'm tired, so i'm not going to get in a lot of detail. the game's fun, highly addictive. best use of the DS touch screen outside of Polarium.

over all: 8.5. Great game, great use of the touch screen, and a prime example of game design that wasn't possible until the DS came along.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Very nice reviews Gwg. The music is the only thing about Polarium that annoyed me. I expect good tunes from my puzzles to keep me humming. I thelps me thing faster and clearer. Still, it challenge and vs mode you don't have time to think anyway, so that's all good.

Yoshi is like an arcade game. It just goes on and one and on and on until your hand falls off. Feels good to have a new arcady challenge.

Pac-Pix, haven't got it yet, and don't have the cash to any time soon, but I'm sure I will eventually.

[Barkworm]

Here we go:

Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (GC)

Presentation: First thing you'll notice about the story is that there is none. Absolutely none. Does it matter? Not really. The world is beautiful and lively anyway.
8/10

Graphics: Extremely nice. Animation, effects, fur-shading, everythings looks just great. The number of polygons could be higher at some points but that's honestly the only complaint that comes to my mind.
9/10

Sound: Although this is no Donkey Kong Country, the game has some extremely catchy tunes, especially in the Boss fights. The sound effects are also good but nothing special.
8.5/10

Gameplay: This is classic platformer gameplay, only controlled with the GC bongos. And it works PERFECTLY. It'll take you about half a minute to get used to it, then old DK runs, jumps and does all the crazy sh*t you want him to do. I know some people (like Gamespot's Jeff "I don't even know about the Platinum crests!" Gerstmann) think the game is too easy, because you hardly (probably never) die. Those people probably don't understand that the difficulty is not about getting through the levels but about collecting all the crests. If you want to get all the crests it WILL take some skill.
9/10

Lasting Appeal: The game is too short, there's no doubt about that. I think it's possible to get all the crests in less than four hours. But after that you can always play again for new highscores.
6.5/10

Overall: I haven't had this much fun with a platformer since "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" (I know it's not a real platformer but still). The lenght kills some of the game's value but overall it's an incredibly fun experience.
8.7/10
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/barkworm/Avatars/dkjb.jpg


Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)

Graphics: These are probably THE best graphics on the PS2. The amount of details is incredible. There are some slow downs but they're not too bad.
9.5/10

Sound: Even better than in the previous game. The voice acting is great. The music is as good as you would expect it from a good movie, the main theme is probably one my favourite video game tunes overall.
9.5/10

Story and presentation: The story is a lot simpler than in "Sons of Liberty". Since everyone knows how crappy the story there got towards the end, that's a very good thing. All the characters are really cool and the story of the Boss was excellent. I think she's the most badass MGS character since the original Ninja. The only disappointing thing was that most of the game's bosses didn't have an own story like in the previous games.
9.5/10

Gameplay: The new camouflage system, the Close Quarter Combat and the new health system are all excellent additions to the classic stealth gameplay. Difficulty and variety are also very balanced. The bosses are also as good as ever. "The End", anyone? That sniper duel was intense! That freaking old geezer actually snuck up on me!
The game's main problems are the controls (they're just too clunky for a game like this) and the camera. More than once I unintentionally ran into an enemy. Nevertheless the gameplay is great. You actually play more in this one. :D
8.5/10

Lasting Appeal: It'll take about 20 hours to beat the game and then there is still that little "Snake vs. monkey" mini game. It's stupid but entertaining.
8.5/10

Overall: Although the controls and the camera are not so hot, this is still a more than great game and a more than worthy successor to the MGS series.
8.9/10
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/barkworm/Avatars/mgs3sig.jpg


Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (GC)

Story and Presentation: Nintendo games have never been famous for their storys but the one here is pretty enjoyable with a couple of really cool twists. The style is a "love or hate" thing. Personally, I liked it a lot.
8/10

Graphics: The style is great but technically it doesn't really use the GameCube's power. They really should have added some cool paper effects or something like that.
7.5/10

Music: Well, it's nothing memorable IMO. Literally. I can't really remember the game's music. It was there and it didn't bother me. The sound effects were pretty neat though.
7.5/10

Gameplay: The battle system is one of the best I've ever seen in an RPG. It's just a perfect mixture of usual RPG gameplay and mini-gameish action. The Bowser and Peach levels also added a lot to the fun.
The only complaint I have is the tedious backtracking towards the end of the game. It doesn't spoil too much though.
9/10

Lasting Appeal: 30-50 hours of gameplay. Superb.

Overall: The game really doesn't use the GC's hardware too much. I found that a little disappointing. Apart from that, the "The Thousand-Year Door" is a totally awesome game, that every GC owner should have in his collection.
8.8/10
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v340/cowcowmoomoo1/paper-mario-the-thousand-year-door-20041007013509684.jpg

[The Stryker]

Lemme review a Game that pissed me off more than anything else this year, more than Family guy and more than American Dad...I speak of

Wrestlemania 21
for the xbox!

A Game that was so hyped in the Wrestling Video game community and was even praised in Magazines for its gorgeous graphics and such...but you know they never mentioned one thing, One little tiny insignificant thing that nobody cares about....GAMEPLAY, Ok the gameplay isn't Unplayable its just Terrible.The Graphics, While nice give off a weird Plastic Figure effect to everyone. The Game chugs whenever going into any Transition (Going from Match to Main Menu) and the AI is one of the worst i've seen in years. Thanks Studio Gigante Thank you.

Presentation:8/10
Graphics:7.5/10
Sound:5.5/10
Gameplay: :x 4/10
Replay Value: 6/10

Overall: 5.5/10

The Worst Wrestling Game i ever played...and yes worse than Wrestlemania on Sega all those years ago. Good thing Gigante is going out of business because of this game, They deserve it for releasing this crap on the Public for 50 bucks

Don't Rate the Playa, Rate the Game

[classictmnt3]

i will review cold winter for ps2Its a good game overall the physics are well done but lets talk graphics. There not rlly good they are average but they defiantly arent ps1 graphics6.5

the gameplay is great there is a hit and jump button and sprining in all directions is awsome the guns are cool and realistic the gameplay is soo fun but it does get depressing but so what 10,0

SouND everyone says sound is bad and its not its great.there arew some problems with it though like when u throw a flower box it doesnt make noise 8.0

other well there is this thing in the game where they know were u are unless u move slow or crouch but it just adds fun

this is my favorite game next to turtles in time im giving it a 9.5

[Peanut]

Stryker, I agree. That game is complete garbage. Not to mention the fact that the online mode didn't even work when it came out. What a piece of trash. I'm glad the review sites tore it apart.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Wario Ware Twisted

Graphics (89%) - It looks great in my opinion. It runs between the 200+ mini games with ease and each game has it's own graphical presentation. Colorful, bright, and all 70's retro-ish like the original. It's funky, cool, and just whacked out.

Sound (93%) - Frankly, the music is just as good as the original in terms of creativity, and actually better in terms of quality. Classic Nintendo stuff mixed in with Disco flavored music, and a taste of whacked out Japanese pop here and there with full lyrics make for one of the best portable soundtracks ever. Never stops making me giggle.

Gameplay (100%) - Honestly, this is why the GBA should go on another couple of years. No other console could provide an experience like this. The gyro censor makes this game an experience like no other. It seems like the censor wouldn't work that well, but it does. It's precise to a millimeter, and never misses a mark. Now I see why the DS and GBA are meant to co-exist. Each has something you couldn't play anywhere else. This game is golden, and 9-Volts games will make you laugh out loud.

Overall (96%) - This is one of the best portable games ever created and is more than enough to keep you happy for a long time. They replay is immortal and the concept never gets old. Buy it NOW or I'll come to your house.

[The Stryker]

Ok time for a Stryker Review on a good game (IMO)

GTA: San Andreas

Finally! Sweet Sweet Climax! A fitting end to a series that started out alright and grew into a bonafide gaming legend,With the best Storyline in the series history,A truly human character and great gameplay and a sweet soundtrack, GTA proves it has staying power.

Presentation:8.5/10
Graphics:7/10 (Gotta be real)
Sound:9/10
Gameplay:10/10 (Just Great)
Replay Value:8/10

Overall:9/10

I can't say more about this game....without this franchise sony could not have survived, Let alone dominate the last console wave

[Peanut]

I think it's about time I reviewed this game.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/tmntrule/conkerlive_logo_blue.jpg

Since this game is broken up into two distinct pieces, (Single and Multi) I'm going to split them up when reviewing them in the various categories.

Graphics:
Single-Player: Amazing. Really nothing else needs to be said, Conker just looks straight up awesome. It amazes me that we're actually getting a new generation already, considering Xbox can still pump out amazing graphics like this. Everything in the game is beautiful, from the fur-shading and water effects, to the way Conker leaves foot imprints in sh*t. Amazing draw-distance, large, detailed enviroments and little to no slow down at all, even when things get very very hectic. Simply stunning.
Score: 10
Mutli-Player: Another home-run. I'm amazed they actually pulled this off with no slow down, even during XBL play. The character models are highly detailed (they're also fur-shaded), though not so much as the single-player portion, it's still nothing to scoff at. Things get down right INSANE in this mode graphically. At any given time there can be up to 16 people going at it, explosions and gun-fire going off inc every diretion, blood flying and vehicles exploding, and not a hint of slow down. It obviously doesn't come close to the single player, but it's still damn good.
Score: 8

Sound:
Single-Player: This is the same as it was on 64, which is a very good thing. Very little is altered from the original BFD, there are some new dialouge snippets here and there, but other than that it's pretty much the same. The swearing in the games dialouge has been more heavily censored this time around, for what reason I don't know. Words that made it through the 64 version like sh*t, twat and asshole are now censored. Luckily the beeps lend itself to making the game funnier at some points. The music is as awesome as it ever was. The Windy theme, along with the Great Mighty Poo's song, would give me a reason to award this category a 10 on their own, but with awesome voice-acting and tons of great and catchy tunes, it's a no-brainer.
Score: 10
Multi-Player: This mode has your standard sounds. Gun-fire and explosions sound as they should. The real kicker in this mode is the dialouge the characters speak. Censored at first, (Beating single-player unlocks the "Potty Mouth" option) the game gets absolutely brutal. From lines such as "Eat sh*t and die motha f*cka!" to "F*ck yourself, you stupid pr*ck!" you'll find no end to the enjoyment of hearing your combatants curse at each other like sailors while shooting, frying, or blasting foes into little pieces.
Score: 8

Gameplay:
Single-Player: Anyone who has played the N64 version of Conker's BFD should be right at home here. It's essentially the same thing, though levels involving shooting are now much easier to handle. For those who haven't played CBFD, the game revolves around our fuzzy hero, Conker, and the misadventures he has after a night of drinking with the boys. You'll do everything from classic platforming to racing, shooting and even some dinosaur riding. Conker is non-stop fun from the beginning until the end, almost anyways. There are a couple parts where I desperately wanted to skip ahead. These included the games one swimming section, and a rather annoying chapter involving a vampire (although the zombie shooting was quite fun, there's one particular part that I got quite enough of in about 2 minutes.) Overall Conker kicks a major load of ass. The earlier and later parts of the game being the best, it gets a little slow for a bit, but it's still enjoyable almost the entire time.
Score: 9
Multi-Player: The biggest addition to this game, is the addition of a completely fleshed out multi-player component. The section of the game puts it's focus squarely on the war between the Squirrels and the Tediz. Ranging from Old War (WWII type maps and weapons) to New War (Futuristic maps and weapons), it has a lot of variety. The depth in this mode is something that really amazes me. You have 6 different *upgradable* classes to play as, from a simple Grunt, who carries a normal fire-arm, to a Long Ranger, who specializes in distance fighting (ie sniping), all the way to a Sneeker, a fast and agile soldier who does battle up close and personal with a Katana. The classes themselves are all fairly balanced, with each having special abilities and uses. (A Sneeker for instance can hack doors to open up spawn-points or steal enemy vehicle distributors, while a Grunt has a special Medi-Gun that allows him to heal team mates.) Besides your basic class (which can be switched at any time during a game), there are also different vehicles available. These range from tanks to small 4-wheelers and airborne vehicles. Different classes have different vehicles available to them; for instance, a Demolisher is only able to use a Tank, while a Sky-Jockey can only fly. (All classes however, can perform secondary actions on vehicles, such as gunning) The actual point to the multi-player differs by map. Some maps, such as Dead Beach, have the SHC (Squirrel High Command) trying to break through enemy lines to take out the Tediz leader, while others, like A Bridge Too Narrow has a simple CTF mission. As far as how the multi-player plays, it's terrific. It takes awhile to get used to it, you'll probably be confused about objectives and your specific duty in achieving them, but once you get the hang of it it's a hell of a lot of fun. The vehicles feel some-what cumbersome to drive, with the left stick controling your movement, while the right moves your vehicles weapon (if available). You get used to the driving, but that doesn't mean it's all the good. The vehicles are a great deal of fun to use, and at some points very necessary, but they could have spent a bit more time on control. The on foot action however, is much much better. I don't take much joy in using certain classes, such as the Thermophile (uses a flamethrower), but others are simply a blast to use. Just picture yourself, a grunt, being flown above one of the large maps, strapped into a Mule along with 6 other people. You're taking heavy fire from enemies, either in other vehicles or in ground mounted turrets, and suddenly your ship is about to go down. You quickly push A and eject from your position, along with your team mates and parachute your way into the enemy base. A demolisher on your team lets loose with his rocket and takes out a couple troops along with himself. You begin tearing into them with your gun, while curses spew from every which way as frequently as blood does. This is a normal occurance in the game, so are things like insane Ninja Tediz dropping from the sky and landing in a crouch position before slicing your head off and issuing a friendly "F*ck you!". There are minor problems, and there aren't really that many maps, plus the missions never change, you'll always be doing the same thing on a specific map, but these are minor. You'll probably be having too much fun to notice anyways. Put a game or two into this mode and you'll probably be left thinking "OK...so...what's so good about it?", put a couple hours into this mode and you'll be left thinking "2 AM? What the hell...let's playing another match mother f*cker, because I'm about to tear you a new asshole!"
Score: 9

Replay Value:
Single-Player: It's not very long. My final time of completion was 8:56, but I've already started a new game and I've replayed a couple chapters 2 or 3 times already. It's a great game, you can play it over and over again, but it's still a little on the short side.
Score: 7.5
Multi-Player: Difficult to tell at this point. It's definately amazingly fun, but Rare is going to need to release some extra stuff to keep it going as long as Halo 2 has been going. If you like the multiplayer as much as I do, and have XBL or just a couple friends, it'll probably last you quite awhile even without new content.
Score: 8.5

Overall: Rare took one of the greatest games of all time, upgraded it, tweaked it and stuck it in with a great new multiplayer experience. The single-player game alone is worth the price of admission, (especially if you've never played it!) so with a great mutliplayer mode, it's a no-brainer. Even if you have no XBL and no friends, there are bots with 3 varying difficulty levels, as well as a story-type mode called Chapter X. Buy this game and love it! Xbox fans rejoice, Rare has finally released a good game on the Big Black Box.
Overall Score: 9

[ThirdMarioBro]

Very nice review dude. Way better than IGN's sh*t.

[Barkworm]

IGN's review wasn't that bad. All they said was that they still loved the singleplayer but just didn't enjoy the multiplayer part. And frankly, I don't care about the multiplayer part anyway.

[Peanut]

IGN's review wasn't that bad. All they said was that they still loved the singleplayer but just didn't enjoy the multiplayer part. And frankly, I don't care about the multiplayer part anyway.

Indeed. I was the same way. All I wanted was the single player game, but after playing the multiplayer for a couple hours, I've come to love it quite a good deal. Like I said, the single player is worth it anyways, but the multiplayer just makes it so much more sweet a deal.

[XERO]

"Lock and Load!" still rings in my head. :lol:

[classictmnt3]

Very nice review dude. Way better than IGN's sh*t.

dude ign did a good job and besides this game probably wouldve got a better rating if it wasnt a remake of an immature game

[Barkworm]

Thanks god that you're so mature...

[ThirdMarioBro]

dude ign did a good job and besides this game probably wouldve got a better rating if it wasnt a remake of an immature game

You're already walking a fine line here with several people dude. Don't start something.

[classictmnt3]

You're already walking a fine line here with several people dude. Don't start something.
ok sorry if it wasnt nice its just in my opinion it was an immature game its just my opinion but the online play of it is cool

[The Stryker]

Ok im just gonna bump off a couple of quick overall grades on Handhelds because...Im lazy


Kirby Canvas Curse:8.5/10
Warioware:Touched!:7/10
Warioware:Twisted:6/10 (I just didn't like it, i don't know)
NFSU:Rivals:7/10


Alright when i get Day of Reckoning 2 that'll be my next full review

[Spitfire]

Alright this game is old but who cares?
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

This game is really fun, I have it for PC and I'm considering buying it for Gamecube. I like blasting zombies ^_^

Graphics: Okay it's an old game...but for a game made in 2000 it still looks decent by todays standards. The pre-rendered backrounds help keep the game from looking to awful. Though the character desgins look blocky. Everything moves smoothly though. The zombie bodies twitch after death. I'm going to compare it to the other games out at the time.
9/10

Story: Intresting at best. Nemesis is after you, the city is going to be blown up and you must escape. The only person left to help you is Carlos a wussy Merc sent to clean up Raccon City. They story is fine but the dialog is crap. Then again the dialog is crap in every RE game. It's so corny and the voice acting is bad too so it doesn't help any. The lines are delivered like they were acting out a soap opera
7/10

Gameplay: It's some nice puzzle solveing, zombie blasting fun! Nemsis is always on your ass so it keeps you on your toes. And zombies can appear in areas you have already been in. There is lots of ammo though*atleast when I played* So killing them is a matter of how much you take use of the awesome dodge they added. I dont know why they took it out in the later games O_O You can make ammo in this game by mixing gun powders you get different results. The puzzles are fun and never to hard but some take time to figure out. The added option to choose your path in some places is fun too. You never know what is going to happen unless you played already. When you die you have to start from you last save which can be a bummer, saves are limited as well but that just adds to the tension of the game.
10/10

Extras: If this game is strong in any point it's extras. There are 8 or 9 alternate costumes to unlock and 8 extra endings to unlock. You have to beat the game 8 times to unlock all of the endings O_O Atleast playing multiple times is actually fun! You get to see how our favorite RE characters escaped the chaos before the city was bombed. You unlock Mercenary Mode which lets you play as the Mercs. There are two endings. You can unlock Jill's Diary by collecting all the papers in the game. You can also unlock infinite ammo guns by beating Nemesis in certin fights. Which can be hard o_O
10/10

Sound: The lack of a musical score in some parts can make the game dull but everything sounds fine. Except the voice acting which is horrid. The only good voice is Nemesis's and all he says it S.T.A.R.S. The guns sound good and the zombies sound liek zombies. Though they could have a louder voice. Their moans are kinda low
7/10

Overall: This game will please any RE fan. And if your just getting into the series then I suggest you play this one. Lots of ammo and it's still the old style the other games had. I like it better then RE 4 for the time being. It's a nice break from it since it's not really easy and I have stuff to unlock o_O
9/10

[ThirdMarioBro]

Darkstalkers: Thw Chaos Tower
--------------------------------

Graphics: 8.5

Nice, very nice. The colors really show off the PSP screen and the visuals are great on the small screen. Remember, I'm rating the graphics on a CPS2 arcade scale and how well they were ported. The game is a little disproportioned when scretched, but it's fine in 4:3 mode. Even streched, it's not near as bad as most make it out to be.

Sound 10.0

Perfect in every way.

Controls: 7.5

Yeah, the D-Pad is sh*t for fighting games. Total sh*t. Capcom fighters are unplayable to any extent because you have to roll and wuarter roll for 90% of the moves. Fu*k that. Now, the analog nub on the other hand is excellent. It takes some adaption, but after you get used to it, it's great. NOthing beats a good arcade stick, but this is a good substitute.

Replayability: 8.8

You can play this mug forever, and with the network gaming, prepare to get your ass kicked by the combomasters out there. The Chaos Tower challenges will hammer even a Capcom vetran in the higher levels, but it's all possible.

Overall: 7.9

The loading is fu*king rediculious for a 2D FIGHTER for crying out loud, and the D-Pad has always sucked on Sony hardware because they had to break the pieces up to keep Nintendo from sueing them over controller desgin, but whatever. The nub works, and the screen, visuals, and sounds are absoultely stunning. Capcom fans, and fighter fans, buy this now.
_________________________________

[Barkworm]

I beat "God of War" (PS2) a couple of hours ago, so here's my review.

Graphics: On par with Metal Gear Solid 3. Animation, characters, effects and environments are pushing ole PS2 beyond its limits and the best is: All of this happens almost without loading times and slow downs. 10+ enemies on the screen without a slow down on the PS2? In this game it's possible. At some points there is some vertical tearing but that doesn't hurt too much, neither does the fact that some of the NPC models are extremely undetailed.
9.5/10

Sound: The game offers an extremely epic and sweeping orchestral soundtrack. It's definitely one of the best soundtracks of this console generation since the music is not just great but fits the game perfectly. Imagine battling a giant Minotaur while listening to thunderous choral singing? Yeah.
To round this off, the voice acting is also very well done. Kratos sounds just like you expect him to sound, and the female narrator adds a lot to the overall mood of the game.
9.5/10

Gameplay: You won't find anything truly "innovative" in this game. That being said, it doesn't matter at all. I've never had more fun kicking monster butt. The controls are extremely intuitive and after 10 seconds you'll be able to pull the wildest combos you could imagine. The four different types of magic also add a of lot to the fun in the many many battles. All the combos are pretty easy to execute, so even crappy gamers will be able to fight with style. A very neat idea are the mini games in the battles: After your opponent has lost most of its energy, the circle symbol will appear above its head and a rythmic mini game will start which is kinda like a finishing move. Some of these mini games are extremly cool and cinematic, especially in the (few but cool) boss fights. I've noticed that sometimes the games won't start against some of the bigger regular enemies. It doesn't really matter since you can beat them without the finishing move but it's a bit disappointing anyway.
The riddles and platforming parts are not as great as the combat but they're a lot of fun nevertheless. I'd say the platforming is better than in games like Sly Cooper and it's not even the real point of the game.
I'v heard some people saying the game is too easy, well, it's not. Even in "Normal" it gets pretty tough towards the end an than there are still two harder difficulty settings. I've tried the hardest one (God mode) for a couple of minutes and even your regular zombie warrior does MAJOR damage there. The difficulty is well balanced and enjoyable.
9.0/10

Story and Presentation: The story of Kratos, a pale-skinned warrior trained by the god of war, who is seeking for revenge and forgiveness for his sins is probably not the most original one but it's nevertheless very enthralling and beautifully told. The cut scenes are a mixture of the game's incredible artwork and CG sequences and look just fantastic.
The game is definitely not for those who start to puke when they see blood beacause there's a lot of it. The good thing is that the violence perfectly fits the game and doesn't feel forced. Hey, it's ancient Greece, things were a little rougher back then! ;) I'm not really into violent movies and games but I found myself happily chopping off Minotaur head and ripping Zombies apart.
9.5/10

Lasting Appeal: The game is not very long, it will take about 15 hours at the very most. The funny thing is that it didn't really feel that short to me. There's is no backtracking and no minute that is no fun. Plus if you beat the game, it will unlock half a dozen of cool videos (making of-videos, as well as new sequences), a new difficulty setting and a new mini game called "challenge of the gods". Great stuff.
8.0/10

Overall: I know there are some people here who think this game will influence the gaming industry in a negative way (yep TMB, I'm looking in your direction ;) ) but a game with such high production values, awesome graphics, sound, story and gameplay just CAN'T be bad for gaming. Not at all, this is the kind of game that makes me happy I play games and I wouldn't give a game a 9.anything if I didn't mean it. "God of War" is an almost flawless experience.
9.2/10

http://ps2media.gamespy.com/ps2/image/article/598/598019/gow1_1111522672.jpg

Someone read this, I spent an hour writing it... :lol:

[ThirdMarioBro]

At the core it sounds pretty much like a brawler. If that's the case, perhaps it's influance on gaming will get me my Streets of Rage IV. You'll hear no complaints from me about this one ;)

[愛]

That must've taken so long considering English isn't your first language. You're a beast. I want to try this game out. If the game goes down in price some, I'll consider picking it up.

[Barkworm]

At the core it sounds pretty much like a brawler.
You know, it is somehow. The game's director David Jaffe (who has now my deepest respect) calls it "Action-Adventure" but the main thing to do is kicking butt.
That must've taken so long considering English isn't your first language.
Actually it took so long because I suck at typing... :embarass: But you really should try the game out, every PS2 owner should.

[The Stryker]

I got into God Of War in the same exact way as RE4, A quick demo in my Local Gamestop and soon i just found myself just going there for the demo..until i finally broke and bough the two.

I agree with Barkworm on all points about the game, I just didn't like the last boss. the first two were awesome and it kind of pfft'ed at the end IMO

[Peanut]

Yeah, I'm back. Time for some quick trashing. I just need to get this off my chest.

Nintendogs
Nintendo DS

Graphics: Good. Nothing wrong with them, nothing spectacular. The dogs are well animated and they're cute as hell.
Score: 8

Sound: Boring. The dogs make realistic noises, but there's really nothing else. The music is pretty damn bad, though. I gets the job done, I suppose.
Score: 7

Gameplay: Decent. It's pretty fun to screw around with your dogs, take them for walks and what not. The voice recognition is pretty good, although it's difficult to remember the exact tone you taught your dog a trick in, so it can be frustrating at times. The contests are alright, not too much fun, considering the dogs act like retards a lot, but still ok.
Score: 6.5

Replay: F*cking stab me in the eye, the fun will last longer. Seriously, how this ever became a full game, I'll never know. I had fun playing with my dog for about an hour, then I had done everything in the game. Sure there are a bunch of different breeds, but they're essentially all the same. I'm glad I never bought this game myself. My sister, who cried for two days when the game still hadn't arrived at our EB, even stopped playing it after a couple days. Just ridiculous. This game takes about an hour and a half to see everything, and about 20 minutes to DO everything. Sure, there's a bunch of cool little toys, but the dogs pretty much give the same reaction to all of them.
Score: 1

Overall: Complete waste of time. It's fun for a little while, then completely tanks. I predict this game stays on my shelf and collects dust, along with my PS2 game library (minus Kingdom Hearts) and my sister's copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabanf for GC.

Overall Score: 2

Overrated, thou has a new name! Nintendogs.

[愛]

I agree. I picked the game up and took it home to play. I played it for about 20 minutes before turning it off to play something else. I went on and off with the game, but it's not really all that worth it. If you have the cash for it, I say go for it. It's a cool game to show your family and stuff, but not for personal entertainment. Get Meteos or something.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Agreed, total waste of time IMO. I don't have time for pet sims. Nintendogs is for the non-gamer folk....like NIntendo said I guess. I'll stick with Meteos--the never ending game.

*fuses planets*

[Kid Icarus]

I've been having a blast with it... But meh, to each their own.

I will agree that you can see and do everything in a short ammount of time. Have I done everything? Yup, you betcha.

[Peanut]

It seems to me with this game, you either spend a lot of time with it, or very little. With very few people being in between. My girlfriend can't get enough of it, while my sister went for a good length of time and stopped, and I did a couple competitions and went on a walk and I was done.

Edit: Probably should have mentioned this, for all you guys with a girlfriend who doesn't like games...get her to play Nintendogs. She'll be DONE. My girlfriend would join in random playings of Mario Party and Donkey Konga, but that was it. After Nintendogs she's been insane into Nintendo. She's playing through both Pokemon and Paper Mario: TTYD and she actually ASKS me to play games with her now. Nintendogs works for hooking chicks! She even started getting into some Xbox games with me, not anything wussy either. We're talking KOTOR here.

[Kid Icarus]

It seems to me with this game, you either spend a lot of time with it, or very little. With very few people being in between. My girlfriend can't get enough of it, while my sister went for a good length of time and stopped, and I did a couple competitions and went on a walk and I was done.

Edit: Probably should have mentioned this, for all you guys with a girlfriend who doesn't like games...get her to play Nintendogs. She'll be DONE. My girlfriend would join in random playings of Mario Party and Donkey Konga, but that was it. After Nintendogs she's been insane into Nintendo. She's playing through both Pokemon and Paper Mario: TTYD and she actually ASKS me to play games with her now. Nintendogs works for hooking chicks! She even started getting into some Xbox games with me, not anything wussy either. We're talking KOTOR here. And that is how you expand the market ;). I got my 60 year old team manager hook on Nintendogs when I brought it in to work, along with a hand full of other coworkers.

But I agree. It's an either or game, like Pokemon. You either really like playing it, or you coulden't care less.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Yeah, Nintendogs is meant to convert new gamers, though there will be existing gamers who enjoy it. I'm already a gamer, so the game kind of bored me rather quickly, but then again, I don't need converting and don't really enjoy pet sims. I just bought it to give it a fair shot. But anyway, I saw three hot women (ranging around 21 to 28 ) comming out of Gamestop with Nintendogs and brand new DS's. Freaking unbelieveable.

Of all people to do it, Nintendo created the ultimate electronic chick magnet.

[XERO]

Ha!

Is Nintendo just for kids now? :P

[The Stryker]

Alright i gotta do this...ya'll know how i roll.

WWE Day Of Reckoning 2

I'll just get to the point.

Graphics: Almost all of the wrestlers look like themselves and the lighting and texturing effects are nice.and an all 3D crowd. But dammit if Keibler doesn't have a Hilton eye 7.5/10

Sound: can't really comment since i only grade on...if i can hear it, its alright. 10/10

Gameplay: Alright heres the meat of the matter, The gameplay hasn't changed much from DOR1 but some of the new features are helping and i look forward to seeing where they go in the Next-generation. The Stamina system adds a new degree of difficulty to the game so rationing moves is key in most matches, Its a bitch when you're tapped out. Speaking out Tapping out, HA- the submission system is now guided by the C-stick and well...you can do stuff. I don't know what DRAIN does. 9/10

Replay: If you don't have friends or a sibling that likes wrestling, You're F*cked. but otherwise the multiplayer is awesome as usual for Nintendo brand Wrestling games. 8/10

Overall: A good wrestling game to tide the fans over until the supposed Wrestling game "coming of jesus" known as SVR2K6. A solid grappler and very reminicent of No Mercy and Wrestlemania 2000. The only BIG failure on the game is the Story mode....I HATE LINEAR STORYMODES. 8.5/10

[Kid Icarus]

Sonic Mega Collection

Game Play: It's all here. Well duh. It's emulated. I'd hope they woulden't be able to mess up emulated games. >_<.

Sound: Games sound great in stereo. <3.

Graphics: Now this is nice. RCA inputs are the way these games were ment to be played. Reduced screen blur, increased resolution, and more vibrant colors. *joygasm*.

Features: All the manuals, comic book covers, sound samples, games, and bonuses any SEGA fan would kill for. Thankfuly they only have to spend $10-$20 now. Yay for those stoopid SEGA fans for not having to kill! (read: this is/was a joke, ment to flash us back to the 16 bit days when SEGA and Nintendo fans would have knife fights in the street. k?)

[Jo269976]

Resident Evil 4 - PS2

(this is a quick review)

Story: Leon Kennedy (from RE 2) has been sent to look for the presidents missing daughter in Europe, what he finds is much worse than Raccoon City

Graphics: PS2 graphics may not be as great as Gamecubes but the PS2 version of RE 4 has got the best graphics you will find on the PS2! You will see how the game got so much hype when it first came out

Gameplay: RE 4 has got an amazing gameplay value, no longer is the old camera angles and dumb enemies, Resident Evil has been REdefined and REborn, you better think fast on your feet as you have no idea when an enemy with a chainsaw will charge out at you and decapitate you!the Ganados (villagers) will plan their attacks and trap you in confined spaces

Sound: RE 4 has the best sounds in the series, one minute it will crickets chirping or just the wind, then you will hear a Ganado shout something in Spanish and you will be plunged into an explosion of chilling sounds and screams

Extras: RE 4 has some amazing extras that some you will only find on PS2, you now have a new stroy moe playing as the secretly seductive Ada Wong, you will also find mini-games such as the Mercinarys or Assignment Ada you will also discover unawnsered questions in Ada's Report

Overall: RE 4 is the best game I have ever played this game is a must buy for any PS2 owner, 10/10

[Peanut]

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones

Speed kills
+ Narrator
+ ORIGINAL PRINCE VA
+ SoT Charm
+ Proven PoP play mechanics
- WW style and music
=
BEST GOD DAMN GAME EVER IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!

11/10

[Barkworm]

I have no money to buy it... :cry:

[Peanut]

WELL YOU NEED TO GET MONEY FOR IT! It's the best game of all time.

[Peanut]

I just beat PoP: TTT moments ago, so I decided to do my full review.

Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
X-Box

Graphics: One thing PoP has always had going for it is a great graphical style. It may have become dirty and muddled up in WW, but it's back in great form in TTT. The developers have some how managed to combine 2/3's SoT with 1/3 WW to pull off a PERFECT visual balance. The game takes the more realistic looking visuals and matches them with the beauty and bloom lighting of SoT. Running the game at 480i, the only supported HD type, the game looks great. Some of the city scapes are just beautiful. You can tell the graphics are beginning to age, but not in a bad way. The lip-synch is slightly better this time around and I found no graphical glitches what-so-ever, much unlike WW. The Prince, as usual, animates so well it's just a joy to watch him jump from spot to spot. All of the new animations look amazing. Much more so than the ones added in WW.
Score: 9

Sound: If there was one thing I always found a little lacking in PoP it was in this department. The music and voice acting in SoT was terrific, but the enemy noises were as annoying as anything I had ever heard. WW had god awful music, bad voice acting and even worse enemy sounds than SoT. This has all been changed! Not only does TTT make a welcome return to the music of old, (No Godsmack! YES!) but it even makes away with the terrible enemy noises and brings back the original Prince voice actor! Absolute joy!
Score: 9

Gameplay: I will firstly go on record saying PoP is probably my favourite series of all time. I've never laid hands on a more fun game in my entire life. Even with the abysmal sound and atmosphere of WW, I had a blast. I never thought the PoP play could be improved...but I was wrong. Welcome to speed kills. I was kind of fuzzy on them when I read/heard about them on various game sites. Speed kills are basically a quick, quiet and FUN AS HELL way to take out enemies. It's all about the timing. Keeping quiet and out of sight is vital to speed kills, because if an enemy gets a peak of you, or hears you smash something, he'll run at you and you'll have to face off against him with the normal PoP fighting system. (Which remains unchanged from WW) Once within distance of an enemy unseen the screen will glow around the edges. Pressing Y will cause the Prince to jump out from where ever he is, (Between two walls, from behind, hanging from a plank, hanging from a chain etc etc.) you'll then engage in a kind of timing mini-game. When the picture slows down and your sword flashes blue, you hit the X button. The Prince will perform various devestating moves to take out the enemy, or enemies, quickly and without hassle. The blue flash can come anywhere from 1 to 5 times depending on your enemy. All of the speed kills are animated to be completely bad ass. The first time you see any number of these you'll probably saying something from "Awesome" to "HOLY SH!T! OWNED!" depending on how much of a loser you are. I won't spoil any of the animations, but suffice to say, The Prince 0wnz. With speed kills the time spent in a fight is dropped significantly. Truthfully, this game is all about the platforming.

Speaking of which, there are a couple new platforming elements in the game. One of them, my personal favourite, is the sword stabbing spots. These allow the Prince to plunge his sword into the wall and use it to climb, wall run, or slow his descent. Another is window shutters. These allow the prince to be flung from walls in various different directions, sometimes onto a platform that lays to an odd angle from the wall, or to another shutter.

Other gameplay differences come in the form of the Dark Prince. I had a great deal of fear about playing him, as he reminded me a good deal of the Sand Wraith from WW, but cast all worries aside. Although he plays a bit similar, mostly because your health will constantly drop when playing as him, he also has a number of difference. Not only is the Dark Prince fun, but he adds a bunch of cool new moves to the Prince's growing collection. The Dark Prince is all about power, so he can kill enemies a lot faster than the normal Prince one on one. His speed kills mostly revolve around using his lasso like chain to rip heads off, and yes heads still roll in this game. The Dark Prince's chain also acts as a rope. He can grab onto wall hangings as well as suspended pipes. If that doesn't sound like your cup of tea, don't worry; he's only in the game in small doses and only about a dozen times. Everytime the Prince touches water he reverts to his normal self.

The bosses, of which there was none in SoT and a couple sword weilding baddies in WW, are a huge bright spot in this game. Although there are few of them, they all are nothing but a joy to face off against. Running along with the new platforming/speed kill fighting, the developers created bosses that need to be defeated using all the Prince's skills. For example, one rather large boss will require you to do a bit of platforming in order to reach a high enough level to face off with him, once there you'll have to utilize quick timing to take him down via speed kills before you can finish him off with normal fighting techniques.

Basically, this game has everything you could ever want in terms of gameplay. The platforming puzzles are still as fun as ever and the all new speed kills add platforming to the fighting, and more PoP platforming can never hurt.
Score: 10

Story: WW was nothing short of a disappointment in this category. SoT delivered an amazing story tale atmosphere and a charming story. Luckily Ubisoft took a note from the fans and critics and went back to the SoT forumla. Not only is that loveable, charming, funny Prince from SoT back, but so are a couple of old characters as well. I really knew Ubisoft did the job when I heard Kaileena, the narrator of this game, tell me how the Prince had begun to find some of his former self, only to hear the Prince begin to have one of his amusing conversations with himself about a certain returning character. This is the true sequel to SoT and a fitting end to this trilogy, which I hope more than anything returns.
Score: 9

Replay Value: This is a tough one to handle. If you love PoP like I do, you'll play it over and over and over. If you like it, you'll still probably go through it 2 or 3 times. It's about 8-9 hours long. but it's one of those games you want to go back and play again, just to experience it all over. This is an automatic 10 for me, but to look at it from other people's perspective I can see it being a little lower.
Score: 8

Overall: The best chapter to one of the best action adventure games of all time. Amazing on all fronts. Buy it and love it!
Score: 9.8

[Kid Icarus]

man, i still remember when 8-10 hours was a LONG game, and 2-3 was the norm... =\

[Peanut]

Some else buy the game! :cry:

[Spitfire]

Resident Evil 4 Review

Resident Evil 4 for the Playstation 2 is a very watered down experience. The Gamecube version, released early this year, featured stunning graphics, sounds, visuals, and gameplay. This sadly has not been transferred to the PS2. In my review I will cover why I find this version to be easily the worst port ever made.

Story – The story for RE 4 was never that great to begin with but it does its job and is fun to play along to. I never had any gripes with it and the PS2 version in fact adds to this story. So in this field the game does a good job.

9/10

Graphics – Leon himself looks good*except I find his hair to be a bit to light* and the backgrounds are decent. The enemy models and items however look horrible. Their faces look blocky and not very detailed. The items seem to bright and also lack detail. And while in your item box they look more like blobs of color as opposed to items. I didn’t play this game on a High Definition TV, but I played the GC version of the same TV and I can see the differences are massive. This version almost looks like a late Playstation game. Even the main menu is missing the flare. Another gripe I have is load times. I don’t see how a game that looks like this could take so long to load. The GC version loads were instant. This however is not. I might also add that saving takes longer as well.

2/10

Sound – Graphics are not the problem for me with this game. It’s sound, the gunshots, breaking glass, explosions, the music, and the voices all these seem like their muffled. I jump out a window and I can barely hear the glass breaking. I didn’t hear any music at all in some parts. I heard no background noises and most of all I couldn’t hear the enemies talking. Part of the fun was hearing someone yell right behind you, you turn around and you see a scary guy behind you with a pickaxe. Gunshots sound awful and then they hit the ground after they fall off a roof you get a little thump instead of a back shattering thud. This muffled sound is even noticed when picking up items such as ammo, where it used to make a gun cocking noise now I can hardly tell what sound it makes.

1/10

Controls – The controls are all right. I have no real grips with them. Though I believe you should be able to skip cut scenes with the start button and I didn’t like using L-1 and R-1 to draw my weapons. I also personally hate the PS2 joysticks, but that’s just me. Not everyone will have the same issues with the controls as I did.

7/10

Extras – Nothing new here for me, I found the ADA missions to be horrible rehashes of Leon’s. They just stick ADA somewhere Leon has already been and have you fight waves of enemies. No fun to be found in that for me. I did like the extra story but the rest of the gameplay itself ruins that for me. The costumes would be nice if they showed up in cut scenes but they don’t. And the only new set is the Gangster/Knight. Boy…that knight suit sure makes a lot of noise. I found the new guns to be utterly pointless and I never use them. Mercenaries mode and Assignment ADA are on the cube version so I’m not going to comment on those since nothing new at all was added.

2/10

To be honest this game offends me. It’s like playing a downgraded version of a masterpiece. It’s so bad I can hardly play myself. So my advice would be the following. If you have yet to play RE 4 then play it for the Playstation 2. You will enjoy the extras and have fun. However if you already played it for the cube then avoid the PS2 version. The extras are not worth the downgrade in my opinion. RE 4 is still a great game even on PS2. So if you haven’t play it give it a shot it’s a wonderful game, but if you have a cube I suggest playing it for that.

3/10

[Peanut]

Prince of Persia: Revelations (PSP)

Graphics: They look remarkably well. Almost on par with the PS2 version of the game, which is amazing for a handheld. It's actually very easy to completely forget you're playing a handheld game at times. Everything is crisp, animations, as usual, are beautiful. I was very surprised at how much it looked like it's console counter-part. Great stuff. There's one problem and that's the loading. The game takes about 5 minutes to start up during the first load. Once it's up and running it's not so bad, but you'll get 10 second load times between certain areas, which can be quite annoying as they every so often come at horrible times. I got one load right as I was wall running over a spike pole and needed to time my jump just right to hit a ledge on the opposite side. The game keeps a pretty respectable frame rate for most of the time, and only dips when a bunch of enemies are on screen at once. It's impressive overall, but the load times are pretty annoying.
Score: 7


Sound: The sound in Warrior Within was never very good to begin with. The great music of SoT was dumped in favour of heavy guitar rifts and some blaring Godsmack. In short, the music is awful. Next we come to the sound effects, they were terrible in WW as it was. The enemies are so annoying you enjoy killing them just to shut them up, rather than to protect yourself. Lines like "OOOOOH, PRINCE! Hit me HARDER!" are just un-called for. We'll also add in the fact that the Prince VA has been changed to "generic bad-ass #94". He has no charm, no wit and he sounds like nails over a chalk board. Complete trash. Now let's talk about the soung glitches. There we many in WW...but this is just pathetic. In this game the sound will work in two ways, either it will cut in and out so badly that you can't hear what's happening anyways, or it just won't work at all. Sometimes you'll hear basic sound effects, like the prince running or swinging his sword, but the music and voices will be all gone, which is actually a good thing at times. When the sound is running fully, it's off-synch, meaning you'll do a wall run and a second later you'll hear the Prince's feet running across a wall. Basically, the sound doesn't work, and when it does it's god awful anyways. Mute the f*cking thing.
Score: 0.5

Gameplay: Luckily Revelations doesn't skimp on this, the most important part of the PoP package. Gameplay is just like any of the PoP games. It's fun all around, but the platforming is where it's at. This version of the games add's several new puzzles and environments to the game that actually tack a couple hours onto the games length, and more PoP platforming is never EVER a bad thing. The original WW was long enough as it was and now it's even longer. Besides the added areas, which are actually some of the most fiendish PoP platforming puzzles to date , the game is pretty much the same. From enemy placement to difficulty. Not that that's a bad thing, as WW played just as well, if not better, than SoT. The controls can get a bit wonky at times, what with the sand powers being mapped to the D-Pad, which makes quick rewinding nearly impossible as you'll need to move your thumb from the joystick to rewind, but it all works out once you get used to it.
Score: 9

Replay Value: This is tough. I didn't play through the original WW to many times because of it's length and deeply disappointing story/atmosphere. Revelations adds on a couple more hours and at the same time keeps the dark and brooding atmosphere. I wish they had recoreded new dialouge for the Prince while doing tTT for this game. As it stands it's very long for a game of this type and going through it will take you some time. It would be well worth it to go back and play a couple more times though, just because it's so fun.
Score: 7

Overall: I love PoP, so I love this game. However it does have it's problems. The sound is completely abysmal and the load times are a pain in the ass. On the flip side the same awesome PoP gameplay is intact, and they even added on a couple hours of extra content. Is this the superior version to WW? I can't really say. If I were playing this game on a console I would probably say yes, but as it is I'll say it's a little below the original game. It's still tons of fun, but some of the detracting points can really get on your nerves.
Overall Score: 7.9

[Barkworm]

I finally beat PoP: The Two Thrones (GC):

Presentation:
The story and the mood in "Warrior Within" sucked. I think we all can easily agree on that. A crazy dominatrix, exploding dogs, horny sand bitches, a slutty empress and an asshole prince just wasn't what fans of "Sands of Time" wanted. The developers listened, killed off Kaileena, brought Farrah back and seperated the Prince from his asshole side. YES! Even the funny conversations between Farrah and the Prince are back, this time plus witty comments of the Prince's dark side.
The ingame cutscenes are mostly clumsily delivered but apart from that the story is really good. To me it still lacks the magic and charm of "Sands" though.
8.5/10

Graphics:
I was kind of disappointed by the graphics this time. I had the impression that there were a lot more glitches (clipping) than in the previous games and the framerate wasn't as steady as usual (especially in the early Dark Prince parts and the cutscenes). The engine has really noticably aged. On the plus side the animation is as great as ever and for the first time in this gen's PoP series the lip synching is GOOD. The graphics are still good but I was expecting better.
8/10

Sound:
One of "Warrior Within's" big negative aspects. Fortunately Ubisoft got rid of the generic Hardrock and the crappy voice actors. The music is very good this time around and Yuri Lowenthal is back in action. Rick Miller as the Dark Prince is also doing an excellent job. I'm glad the guy who voiced the Prince in WW didn't get the part. Sadly there are still many glitches with the sound effects.
8.5/10

Gameplay:
Everything about the speed kills has been said by Peanut. They rock! I also like how they were implemented into the boss fights. I've got to admit that the whole thing reminds me a lot of the mini-games in "God of War". That's definitely not the worst game to take some inspiration from though.
Boss fights haven't exactly been the series' strong point but the few we have here are really good, especially the first and last one.
The platforming is as awesome as usual, I did have the impression though that it's getting a teenyweeny bit old this time (don't kill me, Peanut!). I actually think it was a good decision to wrap the series up with this one, the franchise could use a fresh start. Anyway, I'm just being a bitch. After all this is one of the few games I can't stop playing.
9/10

lasting Appeal:
Well, the game is not really long, a little longer than "Sands" maybe. I don't have as much time for video games as I used to anyway so I'd say the lenght was enjoyable.
7/10

Overall: A great ending to a great series. I still think "Sands" is the best "Prince of Persia" but "Two Thrones" definitely makes up for the flaws of "WW". I'm very excited to see what the new generation's PoP games will be like.
8.7/10

http://news.softpedia.com/images/news2/It-s-Official-Prince-of-Persia-The-Two-Thrones-2.jpg

[Peanut]

Yeah! I love that game. You totally need to play it on Xbox though. The GC version is craptastic. Just like WW. There are absolutely no audio or video glitches in the Xbox version, plus the graphics actually look nice and clean. (Might be because I'm running it in HD)

[Peanut]

A couple quick reviews for stuff I got over the last little while.

PS2
Shadow of the Collosus 9.0/10
Jak 3 7.0/10
Sly 3 7.5/10

Xbox
TMNT: Mutant Nightmare 7.0/10
FarCry Insticts 8.5/10

Xbox 360
Call of Duty 2 9.5/10
DOA4 8.0/10
Perfect Dark Zero - Single Player 8.5/10, Multiplayer 7.0/10

[Barkworm]

I'm bored so here are a couple of Mini Reviews:

Sonic Rush:

Presentation: The colourful style of the game is great but the story sucks hard and most of the characters (especially Cream) are horribly annoying.
7/10

Graphics: Neat. Excellent blend of 2D and 3D. Everything's colourful and highly detailed.
9/10

Sound: Light and shadow here. The music in generally is very catchy, while most of the voice acting is simply atrocious. Stupid 4Kids...
8/10

Gameplay: It. Is. Fast. Very fast. And "fast" in this game equals "fun" most of the time. There are some unfair moments but the overall level of difficulty is very balanced (although the final boss is about a 100 times harder than anything else in the game) It's a pleasure dashing through the levels with highspeed. Unfortunately there is no use of the touchscreen apart from some totally gimmicky (but fun) bonuslevels.
8.5/10

Replay Value: I'm sure you'll play through this more than once and if it's just to get better ranks. There is also a multiplayer mode which is supposed to be quite fun.
8/10

Overall: Definitely a great game, though the lousy voice acting and mediocre story hurt it a little.
8.3/10
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/barkworm/B000B6EZHW.jpg

Castlevania Double Pack

Presentation: Creepy haunted-house atmosphere (especially in "Harmony") plus interesting (but generic) story.
8.5/10

Graphics: Both games look good although the main characters' animations are very choppy. Enemy and boss sprites are very detailed.
8/10

Music: "Harmony"'s music is actually not bad but the midi quality is very poor. "Aria" makes up for that. And I LOVE the Japanese voice samples!
8.5/10

Gameplay: Both games are very similar. Juste is the more fun character to play, simply because he's so fast. Thus playing "Aria" right after "Harmony" might feel a little clunky at first. The ability to collect enemy souls and use them in battle totally makes up for that though. Plus there is a lot less backtracking.
A word on the difficulty: "Aria" is quite challenging while "Harmony" is a bit on the easy side.
8.5/10

Replay Value: Both games together will get you playing for at least 15 hours. If you want to see all the different endings, add at least five more.
8/10

Overall: These games are a hell of a lot fun. 'Nuff said.
8.6/10
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/barkworm/B000E5LHIA.jpg

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow

Presentation: The Anime style might look generic but I happen to like it a lot. It's good to see Soma Cruz back in action.
9/10

Graphics: Soma's sprite could look better but apart from that, these are some of the finest 2D graphics I've ever seen.
9.5/10

Sound: Good to freaking fantastic.
9/10

Gameplay: Basically it's the same as in "Aria of Sorrow" but everything feels improved and more polished. The touchscreen support feels a little forced.
9/10

Replay Value: Meaty quest plus multiple endings = approximately 15 hours of fun.

Overall: "Dawn of Sorrow" is an awesome game in every way.
9/10
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v188/barkworm/B0009XH4EI.jpg

[ThirdMarioBro]

Metroid Prime Hunters:
-------------------------
Graphics: 9.5

Okay, I know it seems like a given, but stop and look at how beautiful this thing is. See it running on a DS Lite, and you may stop for a second and question if this is really DS software, or FMV. It's unbelieveable. People compare DS visuals of the DS to N64, and that's bullsh*t. This sucker can crank way past that. The ole' N64 had a sh*tty rendering engine that could do a lot, but would choke on framerate every time it did it. DS shows how many years have passed, because it's processors are actually slower combined, but the graphics chip is so damn capable, this sucker can pull the full Metroid Prime engine at obviously lower resolution which a portable can get away with and you not notice. Only problem I had was that enemies in the distance are hard to see/shoot at, but I soon realized that was the fault of the screen brightness. DS Lite will solve that problem.

Control: 9.0
I hated the thumbstrap when I used it with SM64. Never touched it since. Well, I now see why it was packed in. Once you adjust to the lack of cheapo "Lock on", you see that this actually controls better than Metroid Prime. Be warned, the learning curve is steep, but I adore this setup. This is pretty much like Keyboard/mouse FPS control except with a Nintendo D-Pad rather than a sh*tty keyboard's arrow keys. Honestly, the level of percision is insane. The sensitivity can be tweaked to your tastes, and the touch screen buttons you need have a very wide hit range. I almost never miss, and can switch from morphball to plasma gun, to missles, and back to running in 3 seconds flat. It's astounding how good they handled the controls. You just have to adjust, that's all.

Sound: 9.0
Other than a couple of "bleh" tracks, if you loved Kenji Yamamoto's previous work, you'll obsess over this one. All hail the return of Super Metroid's omnious Male "voice Ahhs" chanting as you walk into the boiling gates of hell. Outstanding, and the sound effects even track your footsteps, just like Gamecube. Frequence is a little low, but hey, should I complain about 30Khz on a portable? Hell no.

Fun Factor: 9.9
It's no secret that Prime is my favorite Gamecube game, and this sucker plays just like it except with dual "analog/touchscreen" control. People claim that the action is more of the focus, but that is because there is more of it. It was not done at the cost of Metroid's puzzle solving roots, or Morph ball puzzles" , or find "a way to get the damn energy container locked away right in front of you" stuff. :lol:. The action is just better because there is no lock on, and the battles require more skill. You can still avoid most fights though, just like any Metroid title. This is not an "Add On Sequel", or unnecessary game in the series. It is a full blooded Metroid game.

Multiplayer: 8.9
Honestly, i didn't think Nintendo could do FPS this good. Headshots, Chump points, multiple weapons, sniper points, scalable arenas, 25 arenas in all, each of a different type, and respawn points are random to kill "camping" before it starts. Computer scans for a random place nobody is close to and sets you there. 8 different game modes, and dfferent characters with highly varied abilities. And no, rolling into a ball and dropping bombs like crazy won't work. in fact, you'll probobly just get pwnd for it. Only tactful use of the secondary forms in perferrably tight spaces will work. It's very balanced. Yes, people will drop out on you, but they will get marks against them for it, and if you see someone with a high "chump" rating, you can opt out of playing with them and wait for someone else. Now, I'm not a Halo master, but I know what a good FPS should have, and this has it. If it were on a console with 128 bit visuals, people wouldn't fluff this off like they do. It's really astounding how rounded and complete the package is. I'm having a blast. Now, imagine this with Revolution's idea of "point and shoot" and more players at once, and we're got a Halo contender. As it is, this sucker offers a console experience in online multiplayer. Only weakness is the 4 player limitation. Try it. You won't regret it.

Voice Chat: 8.0
Now, for the voice chat. I was expecting police scanner quality due to the nature of the device. What I got instead was near XBL quality sound with headphones or external speakers. Yes, you can only talk between games or when waiting for other opponents, but the ARM7 is only capable of so much at once, and if it had in game voice chat, the thing would lag like hell. It's already being pushed and hammered way past the limit and managing NO slowdown whatsoever. The designers admitted as much. it was not done to "protect children" or anything. We can likely not expect full voice on Revolution. Remember, this is a handheld being maxed out. To have GOOD QUALITy voice chat at all, it a damned fine bounus. I don't mark off for it's limitations.

Overall: 9.7
If you are a Metroid fan, buy this game. If you're a Metroid fan and don't buy it, you will be treated as a heritic and burned at the stake. I'm serious. Best handheld game I've ever played, and stands up to it's console brethern in the art design department, as well as physics, gameplay, puzzles, better action, and sound. The multiplayer is like a whole different game in one card using the same engine. It was worth the delay alone. Graphics aren't Gamecube of course, but it dosen't really show because it runs so well and looks so good. If portable game continue to evolve at this rate, consoles are going to have to start doing something new because simply, DS and PSP are showing that once the visuals advance a little further, there won't be anything they can't do that consoles can.

[Peanut]

Peanut's Quick Reviews!

Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter - Xbox 360
Graphics: 9.8
Sound: 8.0
Gameplay: The game rocks during the day, but the night missions are boring and ugly. Day - 9.0, Night - 6.0
Overall: 8.5

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Xbox 360
EVERYTHING A 10! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[愛]

I'd like to give a quick review, as well.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Everything 10/10. My only beef with the game? I don't like the fact that every monster is the same level as me. I liked in Morrowind I could go to a certain area and get my ass kicked.

Comments? I didn't think so.

[Peanut]

Not all monsters level with you. I've run into some things that're at least 4 levels or more higher than me and I've gotten WHOOPED!

[ThirdMarioBro]

Ridge Racer 6 (360)
-------------------
Visuals: 7.5
Dosen't push the machine by any means, and the engine looks like a modded version of the PSP game. Same GUI except for the Pac-Man distance HUD. Although, the car reflections and lighting kick PGR's ass. Still, seems pretty bland.

Control: 9.0
Tightest drifting control of the series. Plays like the PSP version except without the stupid analog nub. Analog stick all the way baby.

Sound: 8.0
All Techno, and some classic Arcade remixes. Some suck, some rule some can STFU. All in all a good mix though.

Multiplayer: ??
I'll tell you when I get the wireless adapter.

Final Virdect: 7.9
Best in the series, and tons of replay with 201 races, but I wish there had been more. Still, it's more fun than PGR and it's sloppy real world physics. If I want a simulator, I'll get in my car and drive to Wal-Mart to get doughnuts. mmmm, doughnuts. Gotta' go.

[Peanut]

Less crap, more Oblivion! Come on, TMB! Get with the program.

[Barkworm]

Not really a review but I beat "Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time" yesterday and I'm slightly disappointed. Except for the graphics and the Bros. Items (which were totally badass) everything seems to have been done better in the previous game. It was longer, it had better music, better humour and much more to discover. Of course the new one is still an outstanding game but "Superstar Saga" was definitely better.

[Mecha Cow]

Yeah man, I totally felt the same way. It was just more of the same, and too much of a good thing. Good game but a very dissappointing sequel. 81/100.

On another note I beat Luigi's Mansion the other day and I really had fun with it. If I knew it was this cool, I would have bought it at launch. Aside from slightly clunky controls and cramped areas, it's a great and very original game, and a strong case for why Luigi can make a good lead character. 85/100!

[Peanut]

It is time...

Being the resident Elder Scrolls lover, I am here to bring you my review of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for Xbox360. I have now passed over 100 hours into Oblivion in 3 different game files. That's only 400 and something hours short of my Morrowind gameplay time, but rest assured, it will get there in the next couple years. I plan to lay it all out in this review. I won't gloss anything over just because I love The Elder Scrolls series. Just a warning, it may contain spoilers.

The Elders Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Bethesda Softworks, 2K Games

Graphics: By now most, if not all of you, have seen what Oblivion looks like. Much like Morrowind, Oblivion is a game made with so much love that it's easy to notice. The little details in the games graphics really make you sit up and take notice. I'll break this down into two pieces, the outdoor portion and the indoor portion.

Outdoors the game looks beautiful. Trees look like trees, grass looks like grass and rocks look like rocks. Up close, some textures may get blurry, but it's nothing you'll notice, as you'll rarely be staring at the ground anyways. Draw distance is never really a problem. On a clear day you can see the Imperial City from the other side of the province. One thing that's not quite as impressive is the draw distance on the highly detailed ground foliage. Very often, especially when riding on a horse, or traversing plains and fields, you'll notice the grass, bushes, flowers etc., being drawn in as you approach. When you look out across a large vista, the majority of it will be covered in a bland green texture, much like all of Morrowind looked at all times. This does detract from the otherwise amazing look of the game, but overall you probably won't care much as you'll be busy doing something else.

On horse, the game will take a noticeable drop in frame rate. As you move about at quick speeds, the game will attempt to load as fast as possible and, in some cases, this leads to a split second freeze while the game catches up on loading the environment. The frame rate will also take the occasional dip when it's raining outside. It's noticable that the game isn't running as smooth, but doesn't come close to detracting from the gameplay

On the flip side, indoors is an entire different story. Everything is pretty much seamless. You won't get slow down, even with 6 or 7 NPC's or creatures on screen casting spells, shooting arrows or swinging swords. One cavern in particular I went into had a giant brawl between two criminal factions, the Black Bow Bandits and the Cyrodilian Mauraders. At all times there was 5 to 6 NPC's on screen, all duking it out, and at one point it broke out into a 5 on 5 duel in the caves main cavern. All of this was going on and there wasn't a hint of slowdown. With shadows being cast onto the walls by the realistic lighting of the fires, explosions of magic, flying arrows and traps being set off.

One of the greatest things added to Oblivion is the physics system. Every item you can pick up has it's own system of physics, along with random world items like chains, ropes and traps. Did you ever want to blow someone away with an arrow, only to have them land spread eagled on a table, sending bottles, books, food, you name it, flying across the room? I know you have. Have you ever wanted to let off an arrow and actually see that arrow pierce your opponent and stick into their body? How about go into someones house and kick all their stuff onto the floor? Drag a body up some steps then toss it back down? Disarm an opponent of their weapon, then pick it up and toss it off a cliff? Well you can do all of this and more with the Oblivion physics system. The amount of hilarity that will insue because of this system is infinite. The right bumper is used as the grab button. Any type of item you can pick up, from food to weapons and armor, can picked up and tossed. You can grab creatures and people from their arms, legs, head, waists, and drag them all over town if you feel like it. There are also random things, like the chains in the opening jail cell, or already sprung traps. Want to pull back on a spike ball and let it fly at an enemy? Go ahead! Physics system = hilariously good times.

Overall, the game is very graphically impressive. While the slow down and small drawin of foliage is rather disappointing outside, the sheer scope of the entire province more than makes up for it. On the inside things not only look terrific, but run at a smooth clip and very very rarely takes a dip. Also, the physics system is such a blast to play with, really well done.

Score: 9

Sound: Much like Morrowind, Oblivion has a very well written main score. The problem is it will play throughout. You'll get breaks when fights begin, but the music is always the same and if you're like me, you'll just turn it off anyways to take in the sounds of your surroundings. Turning off the music makes places like tomb's and caves much spookier. Especially when you hear the tell-tale sound of a zombie moaning or a ghost whooshing about.

In terms of sound effects, the game does a good job. The sounds of weapons clashing against other weapons or armor sounds like it should. The classic ES "WOOSSHHHP" sound of not having enough magicka is still in there and it still brings chills to the spine of a mage in dire need of a fireball. Creatures sound pretty nasty, like most ES games, a ton of them tend to make rather annoying noises that will either drive you to kill them as quick as possible, or scare you enough to make you run. Either way, the sound effects work and several of them really help in bringing the world to life.

The dialouge is probably the strongest point of the games sound. Everything is very well acted and some of the performances really nail it home. Patrick Stewart has an awesome, yet short, stint as the Uriel Septim, a character ES fans have been hearing about for years. His short performances is really memorable, and avenging his death is a really driving reason behind the story. Sean Bean also does great as Martin Septim, the illegitimate son of Emperor Uriel Septim and heir to the throne of Cyrodill. Martin is an extremely likeable character, and Sean Bean really throws down an awesome performance, without his kind voice, Martin looks like something of a snob, but once you hear him speak you can't help but want to look out for the little guy. NPC's are also well spoken, and with the exception of one High Elf female voice actress, who over acts every single line, their performances are spot on and really help make things feel a lot more lively than the text based dialouge of ES's gone by.

Score: 9.5

Story: Warning that there will be minor story spoilers ahead. While ES games are really about making your own story, there is an overall narrative throughout each game. In Oblivion, you play as, yet again, a prisoner. When strange assassins attack the Imperial Temple, Uriel Septim is led by a couple soldiers through a secret escape passage in your jail cell. Since everything is falling apart, the soilders really don't care that you can escape, they just tell you to stay out of their way. During this short tutorial, you'll be greeted by a couple of little scenes in which things play out. In the end, Uriel Septim is dead and he leaves in your possesion the Amulet of Kings, an amulet worn by the ruler of Cyrodil that keeps the dragonfires lit and keeps the province safe from harm. Since his two sons were killed in the attack, Uriel tells you of another son, an illegitimate one named Martin, who you must present the amulet to.

This sets you off on your quest. The province is in shambles with no leader and worst of all, the group that caused all of this, The Mystic Dawn, followers of the Daedric Lord, Mehrunes Dagon, who fans will know from Daggerfall and Battlespire, is opening up gates to Oblivion all over Cyrodil. The only way to "close shut the jaws of Oblivion!", best line in the game, is for the Emperor of Cyrodill to use the Amulet of Kings and re-ignite the dragon fires. This would all be quite simple, if the Mystic Dawn didn't end up stealing the Amulet of Kings. Basically, you'll be chasing the Mystic Dawn, meddling in their affairs and attempting to get the amulet back form their leader, Mankar Camoran, before Oblivion completely spills over into Cyrodill and destroys everything.

Besides the main questline, each of the four main guild have their own unique storyline, many of which are very very interesting and fun to play through. Three of four guilds are in the middle of some problems. The Fighters Guild, weakened by a loss of members, is struggling to hold their own with a newly formed group of mercenaries. The Mages Guild is in an all out war with Necromancer's. And the Thieves Guild is being put under a great deal of pressure by a hot shot Imperial Legion Officer. The Dark Brotherhood is pretty peach keen at the time, but things really start to un-ravel and you're stuck right in the middle of it. Each is very interesting and fun to see through and all of them have some really fun characters. Each little quest you find also has a bit of a story to it, so there's always something cool going on.

Score: 9.5

[Peanut]

Gameplay: And now we finally hit the big one, gameplay. All the amazing graphics, sound and storytelling in the world couldn't make up for a completely lousy gameplay experience, luckily Bethesda has had a great motor under the hood of the ES series for quite some time. Oblivion is much like Morrowind in terms of the way the game is played. You're dropped into this huge open-ended world, and the whole thing is your oyster. You can choose to follow the main questline and just blow through the story, or you can choose to completely ignore it. You can take on random quests and join some guilds, or you could wander around the province looking for hidden places and raid caverns and tombs. You're never short of things to do in Oblivion and you're never restricted to doing any of them if you don't want to.

Combat was always a weakness in the ES games. It's always been a pretty straight forward affair. You pull out your weapon and hit the attack button as much as possible until you hit your opponent and they fell down. It's so improved in Oblivion that the difference is amazing. There's still only one attack button, but you also have different types of moves and combos. At higher skill levels, you'll gain special feats, such as increased combo lengths, disarming abilities, dodge moves and even power attacks. To go along with said offensive moves, there's also a block button now. In pervious ES games, you blocked randomly, if you had a shield equipped and your shield skill was high enough, which was pretty much a waste. In Oblivion, blocking is done of your own accord. You also don't require a shield. Although much less effective, you can use weapons to block moves as well and with higher skills and some timing you can start pulling off parry attacks. The melee combat still isn't completely amazing, but it is VERY good. There's almost no comparison between the combat system of old. Gone are the days of 50 sword swipes and one hit.

Magic is handled in essentially the same way as it was in previous ES games. You have a list of spells and you cast them. Quite simple. There are varying types of spells and spell classes. For instance Conjuration allows you to conjur creatures, weapons and armor for Daedric planes, while Destruction is more straight forward; allowing you to shoot balls of fire or bolts of lightning. There are also defensive spells. The resoration class, as you may have already guessed, can be used to restore health on yourself or others, cure diseases and restore attributes. You then classes like Alteration, which allows you to do things like breath underwater and open locked doors.

The other major form of gameplay in Oblivion is stealth. Using stealth is exactly the same as it was in Morrowind, but this time around you don't have statues for NPC's, which makes things much more difficult. In Morrowind you knew where there were characters, which houses were empty and where guards were stationed. In Oblivion, every single NPC runs on a scheduale. If you're sneaking to pick a lock, you have to be warry that someone doesn't come by, even more so, you have to be aware of the NPC's who might inhabit the area you're attempting to infiltrate.
Trying to break into the guard barracks? Don't attempt it when there's a shift change, not only will the night AND day shift guards be there, but the officers and commanders are usually in there too.
Of course, the new A.I. leads to some pretty fun moments when using stealth. I needed to break into the prision cell area at one points, most guards will let you just walk on in there for a fee, but during this quest I wasn't allowed. Not only was the guard seated right near the door to the cells, but his shift replacement came in before he would leave, so I couldn't even wait between shifts. Quite craftly, I aquired a poison apple from my Dark Brotherhood companions. Once I had that apple, I tailed the night shift prison guard to find out where he slept. Once everyone was asleep, I snuck into the barracks and put the posion apple on his person. Once he awoke the next day, he decided to have some food. Having the apple on him, he decided to pull it out and eat it. Needless to say, he didn't make it to his next shift and I was allowed to make my way into the prision area un-molested.

Besides combat, a huge part, if not the biggest part, of the ES series has been exploration. Just wandering the world and finding new and exciting things is always fun. Exploring those places and finding cool things is also another great aspect. The latter portion has been dropped though, which I'll talk about in a little bit.
The province of Cyrodill is huge. You could explore for hours upon hours and still not see even a quarter of what it has to offer. When you add the size of the world, the size of the 6 planes of Oblivion, and all the hundreds of interior locations...this is the biggest game ever made.

Not everything is to my liking though. There are a couple things, quite obviously done for reasons, that aren't my favourite additions, as they were done better in previous ES games, Morrowind in particular. Number one on that list is the leveling of everything in the game, from weapon drops to enemy levels.
Leveling destroys the entire aspect of going through a dungeon and finding something completely awesome. In Morrowind, you could discover some really bad ass weapon/piece of armor, and the feeling would be amazing. In Oblivion, you'll never do any such thing. At certain levels, certain weapons/armor will be available for you to find. For instance, you could never hope of finding an elven helmet at level 1. It would never happen, because said armor doesn't begin to spawn until you're level 14 or above.
This also detracts quite a good deal from the overall feeling of realism the game hits home on just about everything else. At certain levels, petty bandits will be wearing things like full suits of glass armor, and give you the fight of you life. Shouldn't you be able to completely mop the floor with some goon on the side of the road when you're the head of every guild in Cyrodill?
The only good thing to come out of the leveling is you won't be getting smoked by something much too powerful for you at lower levels. You'll never be running through the woods and run across a Minotaur Lord, who'll crack open your skull in one hit. Much unlike Morrowind, where you'll wander into some deep chasm and be chased by a creature who's mere breath would kill your character.

The other problem is in the dumbing down of the equipment your character can equip. In other ES games, specifically Morrowind, each piece of your armor was a seperate piece. Gauntlets would come in left and right, pauldrons, which don't even exsist anymore, would also come in left and right. Now the game is limited to a curiass, which includes pauldrons, greaves, boots, gauntlets and a helmet. Some of the armor won't even let you equip top and bottom armor of different kinds. The Dark Brotherhood equipment is the first that comes to mind. There's a top half, a bottom half and a hood. If you attempt to equip some boots, you'll have no pants. If you attempt to equip some gauntlets, you'll have no shirt.
This also decreases the amount of magical items you can have on. Before, you could equip your left gauntlet to fortify your marksmen skill, while your right could fortify your speed. The thing is, the grouping of gauntlets, as well as the subtraction of pauldrons completely, wasn't done to balance anything out. You couldn't enchant a gauntlet to do as much as say, your curiass, or a helmet, so the enchant number was balanced. You're also unable to wear robes over your armor, which is another thing taken out for no real reason. It just seems like they dumbed down armor for no good reason, and managed to take a good chunk of the fun out of personalizing your look.

I could keep going on and on about stuff in the game for pages and pages, but this is already too long as it is. On the whole, Oblivion is amazingly fun and addicting. I do have to knock a point off for the disappointing leveling and pointless dumbing down of the equipment. Once you truly get into Oblivion, it's nearly impossible to get out. The quests are fun, and are actually more than just fetch quests now and include some really neat gameplay mechanics. Combat is fast and actually satisfies this time around, while stealth feels like it's become a whole new element. For the love of God, go get this game. The first time you get a kill with an arrow through the eye, find an awesome piece of equipment, or even brew your own potion, you'll fall in love and never want to stop. One word: Addicting.

Score:9.9

Replay Value: The main quest can last for well over 30 hours, and with 4 major guilds, the arena and hundreds of side-quests, this game is virtually un-ending. Add to the fact that there will be DLC, and playing through as different classes actually changes the way you'll approach things, and you've got the longest game ever made. You'll never find yourself without something to do.

Score: 10

Overall: Hundreds of NPC's, items, quests, secrets, and locations. Addictive elements including exploration and collecting. Amazing physics system with often hilarious results. So many hours of gameplay you could play it all year. Fun combat, great graphics and most importantly, a hell of a lot of fun to play. This all adds up to become, not only on of the greatest RPG's of all-time, but one of the greatest games of all time.

Overall Score: 9.9

[ThirdMarioBro]

That sounds to be one of the greatest games ever made period. Glad I'm buying it Tuesday. Would you recomend the collector's edition, or the standard version?

[Peanut]

The collector's edition is only worth it to a fan of the series. It basically just comes with things fans will want. There's a bonus disc with a 40 minute documentary and some artwork. It also comes with a Septim, which is basically a Cyrodillian dollar, and a cool book about the world. Probably not worth it to the average person, but cool stuff non the less.

[Peanut]

Some quick reviews on the games I've gotten/beaten in the last month or so.

X-Men 3: The Offical Game of the Movie - Xbox360
Good - Early Nightcrawler levels. Multiple Man bridge level.
Bad - Everything else.
Score: 3

Sonic Rush - Nintendo DS
Good - Classic sonic platforming with some new mechanics. Great bosses.
Bad - Some cheap enemy and platform placement makes memorization of certain areas a must. Sometimes hard, but in a cheap way.
Score: 7.9

New Super Mario Bros. - Nintendo DS
Good - Glorious return to Mario's side-scrolling roots. Great level design. Plain fun.
Bad - Music is good, but not on the level of other classic Mario games.
Score: 9.7

Pac-Pix - Nintendo DS
Good - Fun and innovative. Clever puzzles and mechanics.
Bad - Short. Not much re-play value or variation.
Score: 7.5

God of War - PS2
Good - Fun fighting mechanics. Timing mini-games are very cool. Great atmosphere and story. Extremely crisp visuals (running in progressive scan and widescreen). Excellent presentation.
Bad - Slightly generic platforming mechanics. Enemies can sometimes be cheap, especially archers.
Score: 9.6

[ThirdMarioBro]

I'm not giving scores for catagories in these reviews.


New Super Mario Bros.

Graphics: Actually, I think they finally nailed it. Now I hope they stick to it. They've restored Mario's crazy "head into the wind" run from SM64, brought back the classic mushroom mounds, bobbing spotted pedastools, grass, bricks, everything. The game just "smells" like the Mushroom Kingdom, something that we've lacked the entire Gamecube era. How long has it been since you grabbed an invincible star, heard that blessed music, then went hell blazing as fast as you can, doing flips in the air (ala SMB3) tearing up everything in your path? Yeah, too fu*king long.

Sound: Now, this is an aspect that is debatable, I know, but here's my take. All the classic remixes in the game you hear came from Mr. Asuke Ota & Hajime Wakai. Asuke? Never heard of him. Hajime? He worked with Mr. Kondo on the music for Super Mario Brothers 3. Now, the new overworld theme (main grassland song), and the Athletic theme (used in moving platform levels) were done by Mr. Koji Kondo himself. Kondo did all the music for Mario Sunshine, and there is only one track out of 106 that I can remember and actually enjoy humming to myself. Those two new songs he did from this game? I was humming them within ten seconds of closing the trailer video. They are the best Mario themes since Super Mario 64. I also love the world 3 map music, world 7 map music, and all the classic remixes (you can't beat the invincible theme from SM64, so i'm happy it's here). Some songs are allright, but I don't know of a bad one of the bunch. I'm glad they threw some 8-bit samples in there for good measure. As for sound effects, I couldn't be more happy with the selection. I hope these become the standards for future titles, because those sound effects are irreplacable.

Replay: Endless

Control: Perfect, nothing more to say.

Final verdict: When other games try to adopt some of the elements in this game, they almost feel like they're mocking it. For instance, Mario Party 1000009 has goombas, "?" blocks, and Dolphins. Whoopie, its all "retro" dawg. Whoop-de-fu*king-do. It's not a Mario game. Its a fraud pretending to be classic. This game on the other hand, feels right. Its a true bread Mario game from the same materials its forefathers came from. It looks right, sounds right, plays right, and is just the thing the doctor ordered. Its a return to the Mario I loved back before all the tennis, golfing, soccer, baseball, and mindless drunken Mario Booze Parties. This is the game I've waited for since I was a kid who just finished Super Mario 64 and wanted more.....I wanted another true Mario title, not a cash in. It took a goddamn decade, but here she is in all her glory. Its not a fruad, its not a phony in "retro" clothing, and its not a wannabe. Its a Mario game, and I'm so damned thankful I don't know what to say. It makes me feel like a kid again, and as long as I'm playing it, it makes all the sh*t in the world go away, and for a short time, I feel like I've reclaimed my innocense. That's what past Mario games did for me, and thats what this Mario game does for me.

Is the game better than Super Mario World/Bros 3/Yoshi's Island? No, but its not trying to be. New SMB tries to recapture the spirit and style of the original 1985 Super Mario Brothers, and take it to the next level while adopting some of Mario's modern tricks along the way. On that scale, I think it susceeds and outright beats the original SMB. With the sales records this sucker is setting, I smell a sequel. I smell a new series. Hell, I smell a whole damn platforming renissance, and perhaps the acceptance from the public that classic gaming experiences are fun, and it don't need to be forgotten just because they don't push graphics to the next level. Fu*k graphics, long live gameplay. I think people are finally relizing it. Next up, Yoshi's Island 2, the game announcement that made hell freeze over.

PERFECT 10

----------------------------------

Gradius III: Arcade

I am a shooter (see: Shmups) fan. They're repetitive, endless, and all the same thing, but I love them all anyway (except for Perodius...that game can rot). Anyways, there is one game that I have a "special" relationship with, and that is Gradius III. You see, the game is impossible. It is ****ing impossible. Really. Its mean, evil, sadistic, and..well, whatever else you can think of. Now, for the remainder of this review, I shall refer to it as "Bastard" because that's what it is. A bastard.

The Gradius series is renowned for its difficulty, but when Konami decided to do III, they thought "Hey, lets kill off the player as fast as we can to maxamise profits". Ba-Ching! Nice idea you f*cks. Bastard is evil as hell, even on the easiest of the seven difficulty settings. Let's break it down.

Graphics: The visuals are great, and the art style holds up today. No shooter series has the style of Gradius, period.

Music: Believe it or not, Bastard has some of the greatest music in the whole genre, if not gaming. Every single tune will be stuck in your head. The SNES version has the exact same songs, but the Arcade version sounds so muc fuller. Its one of the things that keeps me comming back. Beautiful, fast, and fitting score.

Control: Perfect, and its a good thing too because.......

Gameplay: Whoever arranged the difficulty level of this game has to be the bastard child of Satan himself. You think Contra 3 is hard? Try this b1tch. Now, the game has replay value out the wazoo. You'll keep comming back because its so evil you grow a ventetta against it. Bastard is just one of those games that rams a hot pole up your ass, then you come back saying, "May I have another sir?"

The SNES version was dumbed down not on purpose, but by force. You see, the Arcade machine ran on twin Motorola 68000 processors. That's the equivilant of more than two decked out Sega Genesis' plus a sound chip. Bastard could slow down the combined power of a 25Mhz+ board. The SNES had 3.56Mhz to work with. Without the aid of a special DSP chip in the cart, the port would have been impossible, period. Genesis didn't have the graphical trickery needed to pull it off and didn't do well with expansion chips, so it was out of the equation completely. The SNES version had reduced enemy counts to accomidate, a couple of bosses are easier, and the game is frantic with slowdown due to so much happening. This makes it much easier to keep track of. The Arcade version almost always chugged along as fast as it could, which makes it evil. The music on the SNES version is sampled, but dosen't sound as full for some reason.

Point is, the game is a sadistic bastard and hard as hell, but it is beatable. I finally did it on my PSP, and no, that time with MAME and the savestates dosen't count. I beat it outright on one credit, but it is still a bastard. All you people who think games like TMNT, Contra 3, Mega Man 3, and the like are hard need to play this because it is all of them in one manicial package. Beat it, and you are a gaming legend. Walk away, and you will not be looked down upon. Either way, I love the game to death, but I still hate its guts. Strange relationship me and Bast....I mean, Gradius III have with each other.


Btw, it is so hard, they pulled it from Japanese arcades in a month, and it never made it to American arcades at all. Beat it. I dare you.

[Peanut]

A couple more quick reviews of the stuff I've gone through in the last little bit.

Hitman: Blood Money - Xbox360
Good: Lots of ways to handle a task. Some very cool scenerios. One of the coolest credits/endings ever.
Bad: Finding the best way to do something is sometimes a ridiculous chore. A lot of your success relies on luck. Gets slightly boring and tedious towards the end.
Score: 7.9

Guitar Hero - PS2
Good: Fun as hell. Good song selection for the most part. Amazing guitar controller makes you feel like a real Guitar Hero.
Bad: No progressive scan hangs HDTV owners out to dry. Characters and venues can't be selected outside of career mode. Some of the main songs are completely horrible, and all but a couple of the bonus songs are even worse.
Score: 9.2

Kingdom Hearts 2 - PS2
Good: Amazing presentation. Music, voice acting and animation is all A+. Worlds and characters all feel genuine.
Bad: Fighting can get slightly tedious and usually breaks down into button mashing at most times. Christmas Town music is the same as Halloween Town music. WTF!?!
Score: 8.5

Final Fantasy X - PS2
Good: Sphere grid is awesome. Auron is bad ass!
Bad: Main character is a tool. Too much worthless talking. Furthering story or character is fine, but stopping after every other fight to talk about the weather and laugh and stare at each other is retarded. Same dated battle system with some slight changes.
Score: 5

Feel The Magic - Nintendo DS
Good: Insane "story". Stylish visuals. Most games are lots of fun.
Bad: Horrible music that repeats over and over and over. Some games seem the same.
Score: 7.5

The Rub Rabbits - Nintendo DS
Good: Same insane "story" and slightly better visuals. Some better music.
Bad: Feels like the same game as FTM. Music, while better, still repeats waaaay too much.
Score: 6.5

[Peanut]

So, I just beat Kameo: Elements of Power. Since I'm the only one who posts in this thread anymore, I thought I'd give it a full review.

Kameo: Elements of Power
Rare
Xbox 360

Graphics: Kameo, if nothing else, is a very pretty game. While it's outshined now by things like GRAW and Oblivion, it was probably the most beautiful game on the 360 at launch. Not to say that it's bad now, it's still one of the best looking games on the console.

The environments are probably the most notable part of the game. They look beautiful at all times. Everything is highly detailed and have subtle little touches that make them stand out. Grass sways beautifully, plants and flowers part as Kameo moves through them, ice has a nice shine, and water ripples and splashes. The texture detail is also incredible. I challenge you to find a single blurry texture in the entire game. The lighting in these environments is also pretty amazing. Kameo has a dynamic day and night system. The entire world runs on a clock, behind the scenes, that determines the time of day. So you could spend, seemingly, 2 "game days" in a particular place and watch the sun set and moon rise. Midday in particular, looks fantastic.

The character models are also pretty detailed. Obviously, Kameo and her Elemental Warriors are the most impressive, with Warriors like Chilla sporting some nice looking fur, while Warriors like Flex have a slimy, reflective skin. Beyond that, though, it's pretty mediocre. All Trolls have the exact same look, with some slight changes and all of the Elven warriors have the exact same look without exception. Not to say that those models aren't beautiful and highly detailed, because they are. The secondary characters, with the exception of The Mystic and Thorn, are also pretty plain. Kameo's family in particular are pretty underwhelming, especially when it comes to character design.

That all being said, the graphics in the game are really stunning for the most part, but one thing sticks out in particular. The Badlands. This is basically the "hub" world of Kameo. A large sprawling landscape where battles between the Elves and Trolls take place through out the game. During these scenes, you'll see hundreds and hundreds of detailed characters battling it out. The first time you hop on your horse and ride through a huge line of about 500 Trolls, you'll see what I'm talking about.
Score: 9

Sound: Kameo is a Rare game, so you know you're going to get two things, British accents and an awesome musical score. Kameo doesn't disappoint.

Voices in the game are used sparringly outside of towns, with the exception of your guide in the Wotnot book. When they are used, they're often highly exaggerated and pretty entertaining. Lots of those kooky British and Scotish accents you've come to expect from a Rare game. There isn't much, but what's there is good.

I don't really know what to say about the sound effects in the game, except that I really didn't take particular note of any. All of the Elemental Warriors have their own little growls and sound effects, but they don't really stick out. Everything sounds pretty much the way you would expect it to, which is a good thing in this case.

Finally, the music in the game is outstanding. There are a couple tunes that really get you jumping and some that can really take the wind out of your sails. The way the music jumps up and down during battles is very effective and the music that kicks in during a huge action scene will get your blood pumping. The score for the huge battle sequences in The Badlands are particularly good and really got me into the moment.
Score: 9

Story: Kameo, unlike a lot of action/adventure games, takes a good stab at having a story, but it ultimately falls short. Beside the fact that you get very little backstory before you're shoved into the game is a little akward. It stumbles a bit at the beginning, but attempts to build up some steam after the first section. You won't actually learn what the hell is going on for awhile and things that seem like throw away plot points are actually stuff you should have learned in the beginning.

Basically, Kameo is given the Elemental Powers and her sister, Kalus thinks she should be the one who gets it. Kalus, out of jealousy, betrays her family and awakens the evil Troll King Thorn, who once lead the Trolls of the world on a revolt before being stopped by Kameo's dead father. Kalus releases Thorn and the Trolls begin to wage war on the Kingdom of the Elves again. The only way Kameo can stop Thorn and her sister, is to travel over the land and return the Elemental Sprites, weak forms of her father's Elemental Warriors, to the fabled Wotnot book, in order to restore them to their former selves and give her the power to stop him.

Beyond that, there really isn't much. The Trolls take shots at special barriers around the Enchanted Kingdom through out the game, but that's about it. Kameo just goes around looking for the Elemental Sprites and saving her random family members.

One of the things that makes the story so ineffective is the fact that the cutscenes are pretty bad. There isn't any lip-synch and nothing ever really happens. The brief chat you have with your family members after rescusing them doesn't do much either. They throw in something that's an unforseen twist, but doesn't really matter either way and it in fact doesn't have any effect on the story at all, making it pretty much redundant. The other "twist" is obvious from the very beginning, you can see it coming from a mile away, not to mention it also has no bearing on the story in the slightest. Nothing really gets resolved through out the game. When something interesting does come up, it's thrown away and forgotten about.
Score: 6.5

[Peanut]

Gameplay: Kameo is one of those games that really makes an awful first impression. When you first get dropped into the game, you have control of 3 Elemental Warriors, all of which you lose and two of which you don't get again until about half way through your journey. There's no tutorial, no instructions, nothing. You just go. While this wouldn't be such a big problem in normal circumstances, Kameo isn't a game that lends itself to "pick-up and play". The real baffling thing is, once you get past the opening act, you're given a basic tutorial, but for what!?! After playing the game for about 30-40 minutes, now you're telling me how to move the camera and hover? Thanks.

Once you exit The Mystic's house and begin your journey. Things go very well. You gain your first Elemental Warrior, probably the most useful and one of my favourites, Pummel Weed, right off the bat. To obtain most of the Warriors, you need to defeat a Shadow Troll. Basically, you hop down a well and face off against this shadowy monster in his "domain", so to speak. You'll do this to gain all but 3 of the 10 Elemental Warriors, and each time is essentially the same. Although they do start varying in attack patterns, you'll still only ever need to do one thing to defeat them.

Once you get Pummel Weed, you're off into the meat of the game. From this point on, you travel across the land and run through what the game calls "Action Sequences". In between these sequences are things like the Badlands battles, visits to towns, and treks to temples. There are three temples in the game. Forest, Water and Ice. Each one containing one of your poor captured family members. Much like Zelda, you'll need to traverse the various puzzles and traps, defeat the enemies and finally defeat the boss to beat the temple. The difference is, you use the various powers of your available Warriors to do these things in Kameo.

The Elemental Warriors are really the highlight of the game. They're basically transformations Kameo can use at will. There are two Warriors releated to each element. Pummel Weed and Snare for nature, 40 Below and Chilla for ice, Ash and Thermite for fire, Deep Blue and Flex for water and finally, Major Ruin and Rubble for earth. Each have their own special powers, weaknesses and strengths. For example, Pummel Weed is a straight fighter, you can beat down Trolls easily with him, but he's worthless against element Trolls, in which case you'll need to use someone like Ash, the dragon, to burn up Plant Trolls, or Deep Blue to put out Fire Trolls. Many of them also have special abilities that are used to solve puzzles. For instance, Rubble is the heaviest, so he's used to push down switches, while Flex uses his suckers and stretchy limbs to reach out and pull himself across large gaps.

Using your Elemental Warriors and their various powers is easily the funniest part of the game. Each one can also be upgraded using fruit that you find on your adventure. These upgrades include things like extra powerful attacks, or added attack power, some of which change the look of your Warriors. Unfortunately, and predictably, some of them get left in the dust. Rubble, for instance, becomes worthless after the first temple and you'll use him rarely, if ever, for the rest of the game. While some, such as Pummel Weed, Chilla and Major Ruin, are used in just about every scenerio.

A real bright spot in the game are the bosses. Most of them are very fun to face off against and actually require some thinking to defeat. Which brings me to my next point. The difficulty. The game is pretty easy for the most part. There will be sections where it's ridiculously annoying, though. The end of the game is more difficult than the rest, but still nothing too bad. The Wotnot book is what really brings the difficulty or thought process of puzzle solving down. Whenever you don't figure out how to kill a boss or solve a puzzle right away, the book will nag you to read it. Once you do, it will give you a pretty obvious "hint" at how to defeat a boss, or solve a puzzle. About 20 seconds later, it will begin to nag you again and give you a complete walkthrough of what to do. Overall it's a very forgiving game.

Kameo is a game that will start of rocky and throw a lot of people off, but if you stick at it for a little bit, you'll get into it. The Elemental Warriors are a real blast to play as and the overall game is a ton of fun to play. You'll never find yourself saying "Oh, man! Not this again", because the game does a good job of moving you around from point to point without sticking in one place for too long. It does have it's problems, though. Some of the enemies can get pretty annoying and you won't get a chance to use all of your Warriors as much as you'll want to, but you'll have fun with the game from (almost) start to finish.
Score: 8.0


Replay Value: Straight up...Kameo is short. On my first time through, with a good bit of exploration, I clocked in at 9:34 from start to finish. There seems to be a little bit left to do once you beat the game, but not all that much. You're encouraged to go back and finish the "Action Sequences" again, in order to get better grades and unlock achievments, but it doesn't seem like it's worth it.
Score: 5

Overall: Kameo really is a great game. After the extremely rocky start, it really gets into a grove and it's hard to let go of. I've been spending a bunch of my spare time on it over the last couple days, and it seems like one of those games I'll want to go back and play from scratch on a rainy day. It's a blast to play and I can only hope we haven't seen the last of the Elemental Warriors on the 360. While some parts aren't as polished as other, as a total package it really shines as a great Action/Adventure game in the Next Gen. It's absolutely worth picking up for anyone with a 360 at it's new lowered price tag.

Overall Score: 8.7

[Peanut]

Since no one else posts anything, I thought I would!

Dead Rising
Capcom
Xbox360

Graphics: The 360 has thus far created some pretty beautiful games. Both in terms of just plain graphical polish (GRAW, Kameo) and in terms of scope (Oblivion), but Dead Rising is the first 360 that really seems to try and go for something that is indeed impossible in anything but the Next Gen.

Suffice to say, Dead Rising cannot be pulled off by any previous generation hardware. Not with the scope and detail that Dead Rising presents on the 360 at least. In case you've been living under one of the largest rocks in the world, Dead Rising is all about hundreds of zombies packed into a mall. And when I say hundreds, I mean hundreds. There are points in this game where literally 800+ zombies are on screen. Probably more, I never exactly stopped to count.

This is what's so impressing about Dead Rising. The sheer amount of zombies on screen, all doing their thing, wether that be standing around looking stupid, chewing on hands, falling down steps or being destroyed by whatever weapon you happen to be in possession of. The character models aren't overly detailed, unless you're watching one of the cutscenes, which are all done with the DR engine, but are quite obviously much more optimized to look better. The zombies, Frank and survivors all look like high-end Xbox character models, but with some obvious texturing improvements. The zombies themselves have a good deal of variation, but you'll quite often notice 5 of the "hawian shirt wearing, knife zombies" clustered together, or several security zombies. It doesn't really matter, as you usually be too busy plowing them down to care.

Your surroundings, the gigantic mall the entire game takes place in, is also finely detailed. There are tons of stores, with plenty of stuff and it all looks great. There is a loading screen between sections of the mall It isn't really a bother though. The game runs at a very very steady clip, especially considering the completely insane amounts of action going on on the screen at all times. I believe the game runs at a solid 30 FPS, but don't hold me to that. The only time there's ever a dip is when you cause mass damage to a large group of zombies. For instance, swinging your sledge hammer around you in a wide arc with almost always cause the game to take a slight, and noticeable, dip in frame rate, depending on the amount of zombie skulls you're cracking. This doesn't detract from the game and you'll pretty much get so used to it that you don't really take note of it or care.

Overall Dead Rising is a pretty impressive looking game. The character models, while not overly detailed, are still very well done. The cut-scenes are easily the most impressive looking part of the game, but in terms of sheer size, the entire game is stunning. Places like the setting of your final "boss" encounter, or the underground tunnels of the mall, are so packed full of zombies you'll be amazed that they can pull this kind of stuff off now.

Score: 8.3

Sound: Dead Rising has what has to be one of the most well put together soundtracks of all time. Not in terms of music, but in terms of sound effects. There's virtually no music at most times of the game. There is one song you'll hear constantly, and that's the song some convicts are listening to in the courtyard area of the mall. You'll be quite sick of it by the end and eventually want to kill them, not for annoying you while trying to save people, but just because you want to shut the music up. You'll sometimes hear music in the mall, but it's usually drowned out by moaning, screeching and chainsaw noises.

Which brings me to the most impressive part of the sound department. The sound effects. How in the world the sound team got so many amazing effects is completely beyond me. Everything from chainsaws, to umbrellas and baseball bats sounds amazing. I've never heard a person get smacked in the skull with a bowling ball, but now I have a pretty good idea of what it would sound like. The ungodly noises some of the weapons in the game make as you slice, crush, shoot and bludgeon your way through hoards of zombies is incredible.

The game uses surround sound to full effect, and it sounds amazing on my Sony digital system. No matter where you are in the mall, you always hear that constant moaning. Wether it be soft and distant, or loud and near. It creates the perfect atmosphere for the game. Even inside the Security Room, the only safe place in the mall, you hear scratching and moaning coming from the other side of the main entrance door. It's creepy and it's amazing. A real mood setter.The voice-overs are also surprisingly good, especially for a Capcom game. They still have a bunch of completely annoying voices though, so you still know who made it.

It's slightly disappointing that there is little to no music in the game, but the sound effects and voice acting more than make up for it.

Score: 9.0

[Peanut]

Gameplay: Dead Rising can really be summed up as an old school beat-em-up in most cases. Quite often you'll be using whatever you can come across as a weapon and just slamming the attack button to drop your zombie opponents. While there are plenty of fire-arms available in the game, you'll rarely use them to dispatch zombies. You'll usually want to save them for boss fights. In these you'll often find yourself trying to hide away from a completely over-powered psycho with a large and powerful weapon.

The best part of Dead Rising is, in all honesty, not the hokey story missions, or the boss fights (although some are pretty cool), but just enjoying yourself in the mall and doing completely terrible, horrific and all-together DELIGHTFUL things to thousands of un-dead. Just about anything you can think of is available for you to use as a weapon of destruction in the mall. From CD's to shower heads, lead pipes to wide screen tv's and all kinds of other assorted goodies. There's just something completely satisfying about chopping zombies in half with a chainsaw, watching their head explode as your treat their body like a t-ball stand, or burning the skin off their face with a hot frying pan. The sheer amount of interactivity with items in the mall is amazing. And things that you just wouldn't expect. Want to throw a pie in a zombies face? Go ahead! Toss some cooking oil on the floor and watch them slip and slide all over the place. Put masks on them, throw soda cans at their face, shove coat hangers down their throats, cut them in half with swords and axes. There really is no end to the torture you can put these zombies through. If only the rest of the game was this fun.

The boss fights in the game are really up and down. Besides rarely being entertaining, they're also usually pretty cheap; although not overly difficult. It really all depends on the weapons you have in your inventory at the time, which isn't a good way to set things up, as you could end up with anything. In my first play-through I ended up with a lone sledge hammer during one of the earlier boss fights. While just as easy as fighting a zombie when you're equipped with a gun, the fight gets nearly impossible when you attempt and use a melee weapon. You simply cannot get anywhere near the boss. The only hope you have is for his AI to break and have him stuck in a doorway or running in circles. Not so fun.

Speaking of the AI, it seems like Capcom missed something. If there's one completely and overly bad part of the game, it's that everyone in this game is STUPID! For instance, survivors will run head-long into a large group of zombies for no reason at all. You may be calling for them from the complete opposite side of the area, and they'll just run straight on into the pack. You can equip some survivors with weapons in hopes that they'll defend themselves, but this only makes them last slightly longer. You may be in the middle of carrying an injured survivor when another moronic companion decides to run into a group of 20 zombies armed with a pistol. Not only will this require you to put down the injured and defeneless person, but it also requires you to back track to wherever the afore mentioned moron is screaming Frank's name and save them. Before long I would just leave people who couldn't keep up, or who constantly got stuck in a group of zombies on purpose and just continue on my way.

Dead Rising also contains a game breaking weapon. The small chainsaws. You obtain two of these completely deadly weapons from defeating Adam the Clown early in the game. These chainsaw's, unlike the normal chainsaw, can be stored in your inventory and never need to be turned on. They can also be made to last for about 1,200+ zombie kills each, which is a hell of a lot. They also respawn everytime you re-enter the area without one in your inventory. Of course, you can choose not to use them, but who ever turns up an ultimate weapon? Very few people. They kill bosses in very few swipes and that's something that has a lot of appeal, as you'll usually want to get out of those as fast possible.

There has been a lot of talk about the save feature in Dead Rising. Some people hate it, some people love it, some people, like myself, don't really care. It is a broken system, I will admit that. Like many parts of the game, it seems like it was designed to force replayability, something that didn't need to be done. It can essentially make you "lose" the game. If you save too far away from one of the missions, you have no chance of continuing.You'd have to restart from the beginning again to continue with the story missions. Speaking of the story missions, most of them are pretty lame. I'll come right out and say that I'm not a fan of timed games. I think it detracts from enjoyment. Forcing a player along on a very very strict schedule isn't exactly a recipe for fun. Dead Rising is a worst case scenario for those of us who strongly dislike time limits, because the entire game is on a time limit. Busy having fun killing zombies? Don't have too much fun, you'll need to rush back to point A before time B or you'll have to restart from your last save, or in a bunch of cases the very beginning of the game!

Dead Rising really does a bunch of stuff right, but it also does a lot of stuff wrong, in some cases horribly wrong. Killing zombies is so fun you'll want to do it for hours. Unfortunately things will constantly get in the way. Cheap boss fights and border-line boring case missions on a horrible time limit will interfere on a regular basis. Capcom also didn't seem to have the foresight to include a true free-roam mode. You'll get "infinity mode", which is horribly named, as it isn't infinite. You do whatever you want in the mall, occasionally molested by some different enemies and bosses, but you also have a limited supply of food, as it doesn't respawn. This wouldn't be all that bad, but your health is constantly dwindeling, making this mode more of a "forage for food" chore than anything else. The potential for this series really is through the roof. Capcom has built a great base, now they just need to improve on it. There's more than enough room for improvement.

Score: 8

Story: The story of Dead Rising is slightly intriguing. Then you learn about some of the truth and it gets terribly lame. They really dropped the ball on this one.

Score: 5

Replay Value: You'll play through this game 2 or 3 times. Not just because you want to, but in some cases because you have to. The 72-hour mode is real trouble at some parts doing your first play through, so you'll probably restart once or twice about half-way through to keep your levels and skills and make things a bit easier. Forced replay is completely lame. Capcom had a winner on it's hands anyways, so why they decided to kind of break the game is a complete mystery.

[/i]Score[/i]: 8

Overall: Dead Rising is a game that'll really get zombie enthusiasts going. The setting alone is enough to make those familiar with the classic Romero zombie flicks froth at the mouth, but the problems the game has are undeniable. It's a good thing that Capcom really did a great job on the "killing thousands of zombies in a huge mall with anything you want" part of the game, because if that was mediocre, this game would be completely worthless. Please make a sequel Capcom and please clean up your mess this time.

Overall Score: 8.3

[Kid Icarus]

Sounds a bit too much like RE4 gone beat-em-up to me... I'll have to check it out though.

[Peanut]

It's nothing like RE4 actually. The differences are even further lessend by the fact that RE4 doesn't have zombies.

[Kid Icarus]

Zombies... aliens... they all want to kill you. Like I said, I'll give it a go when we get a 360 here.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Bummer, I wish Dead Rising had a soundtrack, because Capcom soundtracks are still to this day top of the line (on of the few things that haven't dropped in quality for them in recent years). Ah well, dosen't matter much. I suppose you couldn't hear it well over all the slattering. :lol:

[Spitfire]

I got sick of people comparing it to RE 4 on GameFAQs. The two are nothing alike. As for the soundtrack I use my own because well I've seen all the cutscenes now and as much as the core soundtrack is good the boss music sounds like ass. Funny because because everyone on the DR boards always says
"OMFG i li3k n33dz dis s0undtr3k!1!!1 it 0000wnzzzz!1!1!!!1 da b0ss musick is awsome!!!"

[Peanut]

Here's my review for Nintey-Nine Nights! I'm not going to take my time and do this properly.

This game sucks. It has a cool premise, and had tons of potential, but it fails to deliever on all fronts. Each mission consists of the same thing. See a large group of enemies, run into that group of enemies, hammer X and Y until everything is dead.

This wouldn't really be that bad, if the mission structure surrounding said hammering wasn't so god awful. Each mission will consist of you doing the afore mentioned...about 20 or 30 times. In between these little skirmishes, you'll run around, very slowly, on a closed in battlefield, filled with invisible walls and ugly textures.

You'll eventually come across a boss. These are usually pretty annoying. They'll take hit after hit and lose little smidgens of health. On the other hand, a single blow from any one of these bosses, be it a belly flop from some stupid ass frog creature, or a shoulder block from a goblin with a well groomed beard, will take away nearly a quarter of your life. This would be tolerable...if deaths didn't cause you to restart a mission from the very beginning. Yes, there are no checkpoints. While some games without checkpoints are understandable, this one isn't. Each mission varys in length, but quite often they move over the 30 minute mark. This means you'll get to the very end of the mission, as I did many times, and take 2 or 3 cheap blows from one of the bosses, you'll be sent back right to the beginning and have to endure 30 more minutes of tedious torture before being able to take another stab at the boss. This fact alone completely ruins whatever fun you may have had with the game. One time through a mission is more than enough to satisfy whatever hack n' slash, button mashing urges you may have.

Even if you were to base the game on it's so-called "epic battles" they fail in that regard too. It doesn't come close to seeming like you're leading the charge as your army barrels in behind you to do some big time damage. It just feels like you're charging in...to kill everything...while your army takes the heat off you by getting stabbed in the face. One of the more annoying problems is that your "army" is completely worthless. You'll notice, once the enemies begin to dwindle, that you'll have 5 or 6 of your men surrounding a single enemy, yet they'll be completely unable to kill him. They'll dance around, rarely swinging a sword. When they do make contact, the enemy will just get back up and storm into 4 or 5 of them, sending them flying across the ground.

A lot of the game revolves around luck. It's pretty easy to crank out the kills in a huge crowd, but sometimes you'll get hit from nowhere, as it's impossible to tell who's who in a large smattering of soilders. Over time, this will wear down yoru health bar, and there's really nothing you can do about it. If you're lucky you'll take very few hits, but if you're not, it'll seem like invisible people are molesting you from every angle, like a skanky chick in the middle of a crowded concert floor. The only thing you can do is hope that someone somewhere drops a healing potion, but good luck with that.

Overall, N3 is below mediocre. I gave it a chance, despite what I thought of the dull demo, and I was met with more of the same, except in unhealthy amounts. Don't rent this game. Don't borrow this game from a friend and try it, and for the love of God don't buy it. You'd be doing us all a disfavour, but mostly, you'd be doing the equivalent of sh*tting in your 360 disc try and and pushing the close button.

Score: 2/10

[Spitfire]

I got that out of the demo, terrible game. 360 just isn't for Japanese gamers. They need to stop trying and make some more Amercian games.

[Peanut]

Well if you had been keeping up you'd know they have some insane Japanese games on the horizion. Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon. Those don't look like they'll disappoint. I think N3 is bad, not because it has any influences from Japan, but because it's just poorly made.

Microsoft has begun to prove that it can deliever the goods from both ends of the spectrum, but I believe the american-style games are so much better. I'm not a fan of Otaku crap though, so that might be why.

[Spitfire]

Yeah same here. I havn't checked out the two games you listed yet. Lost Planet however caught my attention with a cool E3 demo. Capcom and Konami are the only Japanese game companies I like.

I'll check out those other games. Doesn't matter if they appeal to me though since their made to appeal the console more towards Japanese gamers. And if it works then good! More 360 sales, more good game releases.

EDIT: Alright checked them out.

Lost Odyssey: Killer cutscene but I don't like menu based RPGs at all. If there's a demo for it though I'd give it a shot when it came out.

Blue Dragon: Didn't see any gameplay, just lots of robots and airplanes. Not my digs but I don't know what kinda game it is yet so like with Lost I'd play a demo.

[Peanut]

Time for more of Peanut's Quick Reviews!
Since I know how much you all respect my gaming opinion, (lolz) I'm going to add a little something to these. Besides the score, I'll put a recommendation for buy it, rent it, or stay away.

Star Fox Command - Nintendo DS
Good: Great controls. Awesome tactical "mini-game" adds to the fun battles. Branching story.
Bad: Battles are sometimes short and pointless. No "on rails" missions are a bummer.
Score: 7.8
Rent It!

Saint's Row - Xbox360
Good: Great gunplay. Good amount of customization. Hilarious voice work. Two words: Pimp. Cane.
Bad: Same old GTA-type missions. Some minor glitches.
Score: 9.0
Buy It!

Enchanted Arms - Xbox360
Good: Fun, grid-based battle system. Golem's add a cool collectable aspect to the game. Good, although slightly predictable storyline.
Bad: Graphics aren't overly sharp. Cut scenes are nothing but nearly static models talking over a static background. Bad voice-acting.
Score: 7.9
Rent It!

Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy - Xbox360 (Also available everywhere else)
Good: Simple, fun gameplay. Very amusing cut-scenes. Better source material than the first game makes this one more fun to play. Tons of collectables, extras, and unlockable characters/vehicles make you come back for more.
Bad: Sometimes too simplistic. Lightsaber combat is still fairly weak. Main story is short.
Score: 8.0
Buy It!

G.U.N. - Xbox360
Good: Surprisingly fun gunplay and horse riding mechanics. Intriguing, yet rushed story. Amazing voice-acting. Some great missions. Lots of potential for improvement in a sequel.
Bad: Looks like a last-gen game. Extremely short. Side missions feel like more of a chore than anything else. Landscape is pretty much devoid of activity. Paying full-price for the 360 version would be a travesty.
Score: 7.7
Rent It!

Condemned: Criminal Origins - Xbox360
Good: Really really creepy. Great melee fighting mechanics. Lighting effects are fairly impressive. Interesting story. Cool scripted events. Awesome "finishing moves".
Bad: Gameplay gets terribly repeatitive near the midway point. All the environments feel pretty much the same. Enemy AI is pretty stupid. Graphics become muddled in close.
Score: 7.3
Rent It!

[Peanut]

Here it goes, the most surprising game I've played all year...Viva Pinata.

Viva Pinata
Rare
Xbox 360

Firstly, let me say that Viva Pinata is a tough one to explain. You don't really "get it" until you've played it. That being said, knowing what it's all about will definately help. I went into it knowing precious little about it. I knew there were various Pinata's and I knew there was a garden. Beyond that I had nothing. I took the plunge and it was the single best impulse buy I have ever made. So, let's get on with this.

Graphics: I believe this is the one and only hurdle anyone needs to overcome to enjoy Viva Pinata. I also believe that that shows how completely sad most people are. Anyone who walks into a store and looks at the packaging of this game, or sees some screen shots online will immediately say "Kiddie". Who can blame them really? At first glance Viva Pinata looks like a game made for kids. The things is, this much work never goes into a kids game. I recently allowed my sister to play Open Season for my 360, and I was less than impressed at how the game looked. It wasn't even that it looked totally bad bad, it was just obvious they put very little effort into the game, instead they opted to shove it out to capitalize on the movie. Nothing new there, right? This is where it becomes painfully obvious that Rare had more in mind for Viva Pinata, other than to get fans of the new cartoon series to buy it.

Viva Pinata's visuals are bright, cheery, and colourful. On top of that, they're just amazing to look at. All of the plant life looks terrific. From trees to grass, everything works beautifully The water is another big stand out, offering some of the best reflections I've ever seen in a game. The Pinata's themselves are the most impressive part. Each one is modeled to look, (quite obviously) like a pinata. Their "fur" for lack of a better term, is made up of little pieces of tissue paper, and it just looks great. Besides the pinata's there are also "people" in the world. They're all odd, and wear weird looking masks. They too look pretty impressive.

VP won't knock you out of your chair with stunningly life-like visuals like Gears of War will, but it will charm the hell out of you. The designs of all the pinata's and secondary characters, the great environment effects and the terrific detail on things like the various Pinata houses all come together to make a tight, bright and impressive visual package.
Score: 8.5

Sound: If there's one thing Rare has been pretty consistent on, it's voice acting and sound effects. Viva Pinata lives up to that. You won't hear a great amount of talking in the game, besides in the different shops in when your "guide", Leafos talks to you about stuff. The Pinata's all have their own special sounds. Although instead of going for more realistic animal sounds, for the most part they go with human made animal effects. A lot of the Pinata's almost sound like a kid, or in some cases a grown man, playing with some toys and performing the sound effects. It's charming...as hell. It brings all the animals to life in a way that perfectly suits the game.

Strangely, the game doesn't really feature any music while you're playing. You'll hear a ton of sounds, plenty of little musical notices, and a little sound cue when certain things happen; Pinata romances for example. The majority of the music actually takes place when you aren't playing the game at all, but instead watching the Pinata's perform their "romance dance", with music ranging from a complete porn knock-off, to some swan lake.

It's weird when a games soundtrack consists of very little music, but is so completely memorable. Viva Pinata is one of those rare cases. It doesn't even really need music, as the sounds of goings on in your garden are music enough.
Score: 8.0

[Peanut]

Gameplay: And to the part that truly matters, and the part that most people are completely confused about.

Viva Pinata is essentially all about your garden and the Pinata's who inhabit it. When the game starts, you've got nothing but the deed to some beat up old land. You're introduced to the world and you meet Leafos. After some conversation, she awards you your most important tool, your shovel. After some more tutorial, you're set lose in your garden, which starts out as a pretty small patch of land. With your trust shovel, you lay some smack on the destroyed ground, breaking garbage while you smooth out your landscape. Soon after you've flattened out some of your earth, you'll be introduced to your first Pinata, a Whirlm. Apparently this little guy loves soil, so he's decided to take a wander through your nice dirt filled garden. You're soon rewarded with a grass packet, filled with ever lasting seeds that you can use to cover your garden in beautiful green grass. After some more tutorial, you'll learn all about different shops. You'll immeditely get access to the building shop and the general store. There are many more shops that open up as you progress through the game. Once this is done, you're on your own.

When left to your own devices, you'll begin to see how the game of Viva Pinata works. You'll tend to your garden by doing things such as planting flowers or trees, creating ponds, planting grass or using decorations to spice it up. At the same time you've got your Pinata's, the stars of the game. Each Pinata has certain requirments for different things. For instance, the Whirlm will show up and reside in your garden when a certain amount of it is covered in dirt, while your next Pinata visitor, the Sparrowmint, will visit when two Whirlm reside in the garden, but he won't live there until they begin to procreate. Requirements are broken into sets. There are viewing requirements, where you'll get a little cut-scene introducing the Pinata and you'll see them wandering around the outskirts of your garden from time to time. Visiting requirements, which need to be met for a Pinata to visit your garden. Resident requirements, which means the Pinata will move into and live in your garden. And finally romancing requirements, which need to be met if you want to have your Pinata mate and produce offspring.

Discovering and meeting these requirements are a real driving force behind the game. They range from terribly simple, such as the requirement of simply having a Whirlm house for that species to mate, to insanely complex, time consuming and difficult, like needing five Doenuts residing in your garden in order for an Elephanilla to even vist you, and as only one of three seperate requirements. This might not seem like a big deal, but when aquiring one Doenut requires you to have either 10 blackberries or 10 goosberries in your garden, along with 6% of your garden covered in long grass just for visiting, with even more complex requirements for both residing and romancing...well, you can see where the depth and difficulty of this game comes up.

Which brings me to my next point, this game isn't for kids. They just couldn't possibly do it. It's way too complex, it's way too deep and there's just too much micro-management involved for a kid to keep up with. I'm sure they could be easily entertained by it, but if the intention of Rare was to create kid friendly gameplay...not happening. And thankfully so. The game is also home to some painfully obvious inuendo. The very first romance dance you witness features Whirlms whitering and gyrating all over each other, to the tune of some 80's porno music. And no, I'm not joking. How about the Shellybean dnace? The snail-type species. One of the Shellybeans "stands up" on it's behind and has it's shell slide to the floor, prompting some buggy eyes and lip licking from the Shellybean opposite. This is a perfect example of one of those things that both kids and adults will find funny for completely different reasons.

Viva Pinata also has a surprising amount of depth through-out. You gain levels as you perform things to help your garden. Things like getting a rare Pinata to join your garden, or getting through some rather tough romancing requirements net you XP points, which fill up your little XP flower petals. Once it's full, you level up. With level ups you gain various things like shovel upgrades, land size upgrades, the ability to see more rare Pinata's and the opportunity to aquire more seeds, upgrades and specialty items. Even more depth comes from the sheer amount of things you can do in your garden. The whole thing is completely customizable, so do you want a huge lake with a bunch of islands? How about a giant field with long grass and tons of bushes? You can do whatever you want. Put trees, bushes, flowers, houses, etc. where ever you like. Even the Pinata's have a ton of depth, not just in the large number of them, but in what types of things you need to do/have to make them appear and especially in the opportunity for varients and even evolutions! I was extremely surprised the first time I fed a daisy to a Sparrowmint and he evolved into a Candary, or when I fed a bluebell flower to a Pretztail and had him turn blue. I've played for over 20+ hours now, and besides the fact that there are still a ton of Pinata's to see, I haven't even begun to check out various varients and evolutions yet.

One of the cool aspects of Viva Pinata is the whole...I don't even know how to put it. You care about these little creatures. Yet, do you let your favourite Bunnycomb jump around in your garden, happy as a clam forever? Or do you let him get eaten by the Pretztail so he'll move into your garden? Sometimes the choice is tough, sometimes it's easy, but it's always fun either way. Pinata death is pretty inevitable in your garden, no matter what you do. Something bigger is going to come along at some point in time and that Squazzil family you've been breeding is going to have to fight or be eaten alive by a couple Bagesicles wanting to settle down and make babies. On top of death by other Pinata, your animals can get sick and die as well. There are "evil" Pinata in the game called sours. These nasty pieces of work are blood red and love to cause trouble. They'll come into your garden, puking up sour candy that will make your Pinata sick in one bite. Sour's can be delt with pretty easily, either by cracking them in the face with your shovel, or by fullfilling requirements to turn them back into their normal state, there by changing their apperance and giving you a new resident.The Ruffians are the real problem. These big, red-masked jerks cause tons of havock in your garden. Did you work forever to get that pond just the way you like it? Well here comes a Ruffian to cover it up with diry and throw sour candy all over the place. These guys aren't as easy to deal with, as they can't be broken with a shovel and they're difficult to scare off. So while things are generally peaceful in your garden, with the exception of some fights breaking out between opposing speciess (Raisants and Buzzlegums don't get along!), you've still got to be on the look our for the sours and the Ruffian's. They make life a lot more difficult, especially at the higher levels where Professor Pester, the leader of the Ruffian's, shows up to do some one hit kills on your most prized Pinata's. I'll never get a Cinnimonkey again!

Viva Pinata is a deep, addicting and extremly satisfying game to play. Every little action has an equal reaction that could lead to so many secret things. I've invested so many hours into it and I've still yet to even scratch the surface of some of the games bigger secrets. Aquiring Pinata's has a very Pokemon type feel to it, but instead of pitting these poor creatures against each other, you pamper them and try to make them happy. At least for the most part. When it comes down to my Cocoadile being happy and needing a snack, or my Swanana's living...well Cocoadile wins! This game needs to be played by everyone, especially if you've liked any of the Tycoon games, The Sims, Harvest Moon, or even Animal Crossing. You won't regret it.
Score: 9

Replay Value: 20+ hours, still haven't seen close to everything, still haven't lost any intrest in the game. I even see myself starting new gardens for a long time to come. There are still a ton of things I skipped in reviewing the game. Stuff like Pinata personalizing (you can even give them nose rings), Pinata Central challenges, produce creating Pinata, Helpers from the Inn, and the romance mini-game. I know I'm forgetting some too. You could play this game for a really really long time. I know I will be.
Score: 9.5

Overall: Viva Pinata is the sleeper hit of the year. There's no arguement to be had here. Nothing has come out and surprised me more than this game. If you had told me a week ago that I'd be playing Viva Pinata more than Gears of War, I would have laughed, quite a bit too. But it's true. I am playing Viva Pinata more than Gears. A lot more. VP just has a completely addictive nature, amazingly charming graphics, and I will admit, really cute Pinata's that I just want to hug the candy out of. This is just a great game, and Rare's best work since becoming a Microsoft 2nd party. Maybe even their best work since the original Banjo Kazooie on N64.
Overall Score: 9.2

[Dinny]

Peanut I have a question about Viva Pinata - if you leave your game and don't come back for a while, does you garden become overrun with weeds like in Animal Crossing?

[Peanut]

Nope. It isn't a persistent world like Animal Crossing. Time doesn't move by at a normal pace or anything. When you turn it off, you garden is completely safe.

[Dinny]

Has anyone got Rainbow Six: Vegas yet? If so is it worth buying?

[ThirdMarioBro]

GameplayMaybe even their best work since the original Banjo Kazooie on N64.
Overall Score: 9.2

Biiiig words there. Soo, sounds like a cross-breed between Animal Crossing and Pokemon without the ignorant fighting, and no stupid human elements. Sounds like something I might be interested in. I think I'll Christmas this sucker. Shame that it has no music, as that is one of Rare's greatest strengths, but whatever. Sounds like it doesn't need it anyway. Sounds amazing.

[LogicDonny]

Anyone got a review for zelda twilight princess?

[Peanut]

I do now! There won't be any spoilers in this BTW, so feel free to read it without worrying. Here it goes...

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Nintendo
Wii

Graphics: Twilight Princess is a mixed bag. When you've been steadily playing high-end Xbox 360 games for months, it gets kinda hard to move back down to last-gen graphics. This is Zelda though, and that really doesn't make a difference. Is it kind of sad to see bland textures and flat environments? Yeah, but the game has some great design that really offsets the ugly. I'm still of the belief that as time goes on, Twilight Princess will become an ugly game, just as OoT has become, as opposed to something like the Wind Waker, which has a timeless quality to it. As much as it was talked about that the Wii version of TP would be doing some stuff that just wasn't possible on a Cube, those things were either cut, or make so little difference that it hardly even matters. There are parts of the game that look beautiful, but there are also parts where you'll want to cringe. The game also has a pretty dull colour palette. Lots of browns and greens, it does lend itself well to the atmosphere of the game though, which is generally pretty dark, so it's fitting.

I don't think anyone was really going into this game hoping for a huge graphical boost, and I certainly hope that's true, because those people will be disappointed. It's a good thing the character and environment designs are so good, because when stacked up to the games of today, TP just doesn't cut it.
Score: 7.5

Sound: This is probably one of the things I'm most disappointed about, and I know that I'm not alone. Maybe I am on this forum, but not in general. Twilight Princess sounds like it was made way back in 1998. The music, while it has it's high points, is generally un-impressive, especially for a Zelda game. Why the game wasn't orchestrated is a mystery to me. People will argue all about it not needing to be, but those people are wrong. This isn't the mid-90's. It's also fairly disappointing that there's so much re-used in TP. I know some of the familiar tunes gives it a nice link to OoT, but it still seems more lazy than anything else. Of particular note, the Twilight Realm has some of the worst music and sound effects I've heard since PoP:Warrior Within. Everything is a loud, annoying, high-pitched squeal and the music just sounds like someone on acid pounding on a synth machine. I would find myself turning my sound all the way down, so as not to endure it. Utterly horrific and not befitting of the Zelda franchise at all.

Once again, Nintendo decided to not have voice-overs. It's getting old now. It used to make sense, it even used to be charming, but enough is enough. There's no excuse anymore. I never thought this way until PM:TTYD came out, but now I firmly believe it. I know Link will never speak, and that's fine, but the other characters need to. Reading scrolling text is a thing of the past. Even more perplexing is that they even put some elaborate lip-synch in on a majority of the characters. Completely baffling.

Another problem comes from the use of the Wii-mote speaker. The thing is bad. It's just not a good speaker. The quality is awful, it sounds super tiny, and sometimes you'll even get static and weird pops coming from it for no reason. That really sucks considering all of Link's weapon sounds come directly from that little speaker. It's a really cool concept, but poorly executed. The fact that you can't even turn it off and allow the sounds to come from your TV is even more confusing. Another bad move that just makes the game feel more dated that it needs to be.
Score: 5.0

Story: One of the things vastly improved in Twilight Princess is the story. There are actually some interesting characters in this game, and some of the friendships you make actually work this time around. There are actually secondary characters with active roles in TP, something the Zelda series always needed. A lot of the cut-scenes are really terrific too, they're not overly long, boring or chatty, and the animations and expressions used by the characters are top notch. There are some twists here in there, all of which are obvious, but it's still more fleshed out than previous Zelda games.
Score: 8.0

[Peanut]

Gameplay: We all know what Zelda is about, so I won't go into the details on this, but I will mention the stuff that needs to be said. Firstly, the game controls fine. Is it better than using a normal controller? No. Is using the Wii-mote as a sword sometimes not as intuitive as it should be? Yes. It still works though and it doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the game.

Right off the bat, Twilight Princess starts slow. Very slow. You're looking at at least an hour and a half, maybe even two or more if you dilly-dally, before you get into the first dungeon. The beginning is a little too much tutorial. It basically goes through teaching you how to use the Wii-mote, which is actually not at all difficult, for longer than it needs to. Once you get passed that, though the game picks up the pace.

Let me just come right out and say it, a select few of these dungeons will be things of Zelda legend, while the majority are on average or slightly below other Zelda games. Not all of them are winners, in fact there are more duds than truly epic ones, but when they're good, they're really good. The puzzle and action mix is perfectly balanced, the puzzles themselves are clever, though never hard, and the dungeons are usually the perfect length. That being said, some of them are not the greatest, and that magical number of 8 dungeons...welllll....not so much. At least two of them can hardly be called dungeons. I will say, if and when I go back to play TP through again, there are going to be a couple dungeons I really don't want to play at all, like the Shadow Temple or Jabu-Jabu's Belly in OoT. There are some really really awesome new items in the game too. I won't spoil them, but suffice to say, you'll enjoy them. Most of them may have little to no use outside the dungeon you find them, they're still cool to play around with.

The bosses in the dungeons are always great. Always. If there's one thing that surpasses the other Zelda's in Twilight Princess, it's the boss fights. Epic is really the only word that can be used to describe them. I could go back and play all of them over and over again. In OoT there were always those bosses you were kinda like, "ehhh. I don't really want to fight it, but I guess I have to." ones like Morpha or that electric jelly fish...ball thing. Not that they're bad, just not overly interesting. You'll never feel that way in Twilight Princess. This is the best set of bosses in any Zelda game, period. Even some of the mini-bosses kick the ass of full-fledged dungeon bosses in other titles in the series. And the final battle is the most epic battle in Legend of Zelda history. No arguments can be made.

On to the wolf. I dislike it a great deal. The first couple times where you're forced into being the wolf actually made me angry. The things you have to do are so boring, almost like time-fillers. I do enjoy traversing terrain as the wolf, though. That's pretty neat. The use of the transformation becomes a little less needed later on in the game, thankfully. This is one of those things that sets Twilight Princess apart from the other Zelda's, but ultimately it's also the one that makes the game sag for me.

I'm also extremely disappointed with the over world. It's huge, it's barren, it's boring and I warped everywhere to avoid it. This game suffers from the "too big for no reason" syndrome that many games of last generation did. A huge world doesn't equate to better gameplay, in the case of TP, it detracts from it. Yes, there are hidden spots all over the map, but when there's a couple moblin archers between point A and point B, and nothing but open landed and ugly textures to keep your eyes occupied in between...well it gets boring. There's just nothing to do! Very few side quests are available and what's there isn't all that engaging anyways. The enlargement of Hyrule Field only resulted in less immersion. You don't make a connection to this Hyrule, because there's either nothing there to care about, or you skipped around all of it to avoid being bored to tears. Yeah, riding Epona is kinda fun, but I did that nearly a decade ago for god knows how long. TP would have benefited from a smaller over world.

Twilight Princess is a Legend of Zelda game. There are some crazy differences in gameplay, like the wolf, and a couple other things that I haven't mentioned, because of not wanting to spoil it, but this is essentially Zelda again. The Wii-mote controls don't add or detract from the feel of the game, or the way it plays, so that's not a problem to worry about. I'm not overly happy with the quality of some of the dungeons, and I'm especially not happy with the amount of side-questing, but it's still a great game. Is it the game of the year? It's not my game of the year. I'm confident in saying that. I guess it's all up to personal preference, and wether or not you want to admit to yourself that the tried and true Zelda gameplay might have lost some of it's shine this time around.
Score: 8.5

Replay Value: It's a long game. As long as the touted 70+ hours? Maybe if you're 10 years old, suck at puzzles, or enjoy running around in circles for a couple hours. At 33+ hours, I essentially have everything complete. I'm missing all about a couple heart pieces, I've got the special items, and screw looking for Poes. I just don't find this Zelda as engaging as the previous ones. I want to play some of the boss fights over again, but is it worth investing all that time for the 5-10 minutes it takes me to defeat one of them? Not really. I could see someone easily playing this game for as long as anyone played OoT, though.
Score: 8.9

Overall: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess delivers us another Zelda game, but is that as big a deal as it used to be? The game feels dated now. Not just graphically, or audibly, but as a whole experience. Is this the promised, "Best Zelda EVER!" not by a longshot (or should I say Clawshot?). Is it a great game? Definitely. The Wii-mote neither adds nor subtracts from the experience, so it really just seems like a negligible point. I wanted this to be the best Zelda ever, I tried to love it as much as I loved OoT or tWW, but it falls below both of those on my scale, in some cases far below. If you like Zelda, you'll like TP, but don't expect that epic feeling to stay with you for the entire game, or for it to steal away that top Zelda spot from previous incarnations.
Overall Score: 8.8

[Barkworm]

Peanut is GERSTMAN!!!

[Mecha Cow]

Overall Score: 8.8
You picked that exact score on purpose, didn't you? :lol:

Nice review, shame about the overworld. I completely disagree about the voiceovers though. Maybe it would work if they spoke gibberish ('Hylian').

[Peanut]

You picked that exact score on purpose, didn't you? :lol:

:lol: Actually, I feel it is truly the exact score that the game deserves. Putting the Nintendo fanboy in me aside, along with my adoration for the Zelda series, I believe that's exactly what Twilight Princess should receive.

[ThirdMarioBro]

As long as the touted 70+ hours? Maybe if you're 10 years old, suck at puzzles, or enjoy running around in circles for a couple hours.

That would be me.


I'm going to disagree with you on the music, but then again, I have a soft spot for sampled music, and especially sampled strings. The one thing that worries me is all the links to OoT. It seems like fan service to me, which makes me believe that the next Zelda could be radically different, which would fall in link with that Miyamoto quote about this being "Last Zelda in its current form". That could be good or bad. I don't know. Either way, I'm a fan, and fan service pleases me. Otherwise I wouldn't like SSB Brawl, and that whole game is nothing but.

I'll be posting a review of Sonic the Hedgehog soon.

[Mecha Cow]

That is probably just PR fluff. I wouldn't expect a radical departure, just the same 'basic' formula edited to efficiently intergrate the Wii stuff. I mean, Miyamoto would probably also call Mario Galaxy a 'new formula', when it's still a platformer, just with a new twist (Which is good).

And the OoT fanservice does sound like it would get bothersome. Does the game still have an identity of its own, or does it try too hard to be OoT2 like I feared?

[Peanut]

It does have an identity of it's own, but at the same time, it feels like they were trying to please the people who b*tched about tWW.

[Mecha Cow]

Ugh, exactly what I was afraid of. I guess I'll see in a week.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Sonic the Hedgehog

(if you are a Sonic fan, then read on. If you're not a Sonic fan, disregard this review, and this game. There is nothing to really convert you here.

-----------------------

Graphics: Okay, the pre-rendered cinemas are Final Fantasy quality. When I saw the first cinema in action, I was damned impressed. They spent a lot of money on it, and they bothered to sync the lips with the acting for once. Sonic's trademark attitude seems to finally be back, as the opening cinema depicts. That made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Now, once the actual game engine kicks up, the game takes a big hit in visuals. It doesn't look bad at all, but as I play Gears of War, I know what this machine is capable of, and Sonic doesn't use that power. The game engine also chugs when you look at the waves in Wave Ocean Zone, yet it has no problem going at mach 10 speeds. Polygon count is lower than it should be, yet the model work is exceptional for all characters.

Gameplay: Yes, they are still using the fu*king Sonic Adventure engine. I give up complaining, so we'll work with what we've got here. The camera is probably the worst it has ever been. You'll be looking at one thing going towards a wall, then the camera does an "instant shift" to another angle, and you go careening off a cliff, because it didn't give you any time to change your direction. As for the controls, the complains seem a little over-critical. They are too jumpy, and don't adapt well when you're going fast, but its still usable. The slide kick for Sonic is kind of...well, dumb, but it works well. Shadow's missions seem like what Knuckles "should" have had in SA2. As for Knucks himself, he's just worthless. Serves no purpose whatsoever. They seem to have replaced him with Shadow, which PISSES me off. Tails is actually quite useful once again. He has several trade-off stages with Sonic, and is fun to play with. No mechs, no team based bullsh*t. Sometimes the characters follow you around, but its nothing like Sonic Heroes. They are auto controlled, and just "help you out" (like Sonic 2....worthless), and you have no direct control over them. Silver's stages kind of bored me, but throwing stuff around is fun. There just isn't enough to interact with. The best fun I've had so far, are the places where most people log complaints with. The Sonic "high speed" stages are a blast. They are also hard as hell to maintain control over, but the sense of speed you get blazing along at 300MPH on foot is thrill enough to compensate, at least for me. The game is pretty difficult at times, but it is mostly due to the dated engine and controls. Its a fun Sonic game, albeit frustrating.

Sound: Here is where I was pleasantly surprised for once. The music is pretty good. Yeah, there is some of that generic Sonic Team metal in there, but there is also a good balance of strings and electronic music mixed in. The remix though of "Sweet Dreams" (Sonic 2 ending theme) is dogshit though. They inserted rap in the song to appeal to the "gansta gamers" out there. Thus, the song is dead to me. Other than that, good soundtrack...not Sonic Adventure level of good, but still good.


Overall Score: 6.5

When you're playing as Sonic, you'll be one happy camper. Its just fun as hell, and the Sonic stages make up for a fun and fast ride. Sadly, the game is still a glitchy mess. I honestly can't understand how Sonic Team spent two years developing this title when it basically recycles code they've been using for seven years. It has a good story, interesting plot twists (with Amy no less) and the Shadow/Silver stuff isn't that bad. Online co-op is pretty damn good as well. The game also has a few references to Sonic Adventure here and there. Fan service I suppose, but that fan service would have been better suited making the game less of a technical mess. The camera is the worst I've ever seen in a game, period.

Overall, if you're a Sonic fan (as am I), there is plenty to love here. Its a good ride. If you're not a Sonic fan and spoiled on Nintendo production values, then you'll hate it.

[愛]

So...you beat the game, but don't have any achievement points? How does that work, TMB? Am I not correct when you get achievement points for clearing levels? Zero achievement points means no clearing of levels. Nice one.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/TheFatedBattle/GOTEM.jpg

[jeff the cheff]

Madden 07'

Is fun. Best game of the year?

[Mr. Snackpants]

Is that a joke?

[Spitfire]

So...you beat the game, but don't have any achievement points? How does that work, TMB? Am I not correct when you get achievement points for clearing levels? Zero achievement points means no clearing of levels. Nice one.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/TheFatedBattle/GOTEM.jpg

I don't know how he plays but I don't use my XBL profile when I play games. I use another one that doesn't have XBL. I had already gotten a bunch of achievements on my profile and when I switched it to live they didn't stick to the live profile. So I kept using the old one that wasn't live.

Now I don't care about achievements but I still use it just cause all my save files are on it.

[Peanut]

Why would you have one Live profile and one that you play your games on? That doesn't seem to make any sense.

[ThirdMarioBro]

I can understand why if he doesn't really care about the gamerpoints and the whole "ranking yourself against everyone else to see where you stand in the world" bullsh*t. I don't really give a damn how I rank up either. I'm not going to loose any sleep because I'm not one of the 500 people in the world with 110,250 points in Pac-Man.

[Peanut]

Bitter, bitter people. Jesus. I think you guys just suck!

[Spitfire]

Why would you have one Live profile and one that you play your games on? That doesn't seem to make any sense.

I just have a live profile so I can DL demos and game updates with it. The profile I play games on just happened because somehow when I switched my account to live it spit into two accounts so I had one not live and one live. No clue how it happened but the not live one had all my save files and stuff on it so I kept using that one.

And yeah some achievements aren't very fair. I don't like ones that are near impossible to get. Like #1 in the world in Ghost Recon...

[Peanut]

I just have a live profile so I can DL demos and game updates with it.

OK. That does make sense. I was looking at it as if you were playing games online. Never thought about the silver account.

One thing, why get game updates if all your game saves are on another profile....?

[Spitfire]

Well the updates carry over to your other profiles, cause the maps and stuff I got for Perfect Dark Zero work on all profiles, and the costumes I have for Dead Rising carry over too. So that's why I get them.

I also play the arcade games to. Like I got Mortal Kombat 3. And my roomates like to DL the XBLA demos sometimes.

[Barkworm]

My review for Twilight Princess, I don't feel like writing a more elaborate one:

Presentation: The story of TP is good but not really that good. It's actually pretty lame at some points, especially in comparison to Wind Waker. Sure, Zelda games always have very simple good vs. evil stories but they get you emotionally involved. This didn't really work for me in TP. I just didn't FEEL the characters like in previous games (with the excepion of Midna) and the plot somehow lacked an epic quality. It also didn't help that Ganon's role in the game was very forced.
To be fair, the cinematic delivery of the cut-scenes is top-notch, something Nintendo has definitely improved.
Despite all the bitching
8.0

Graphics: Fils-Aime said that this would be the best looking Nintendo game ever. Well... no. Just read what Peanut wrote about the graphics.
8.0

Sound: Am I the only who remembers the announcement of orchestrated music in TP at E3 2005? They basically said that they wouldn't be able to orchestrate the whole game but a lot of it. What happened with that? After listening to fantastically orchestrated soundtracks like "Shadow of the Colossus" or "God of War", MIDI seems like an anachronism. The music itself is good but it could have been a lot better. I did enjoy the creepy sounds of the Twilight realm though. It sounds more like something you'd expect from "Silent Hill" though.
In the first couple of hours I was completely disgusted by the sound effects from the Wii speaker. But the more I played the less they bothered me. It does add to the experience but the concept is half-assed. Nintendo should have added a better speaker or drop the thing altogether.
About the lack of voice-overs, again see Peanut's review. :D
8.0

Gameplay: So much has already been said... To put it in a nutshell, classic Zelda gameplay with tacked on (but fun) Wii controls, some of the greatest Zelda bosses ever, also the most boring final dungeon in any Zelda game and controversial wolf parts (I didn't think they were that bad). The biggest disappointment to me were the sidequests. The few which are there are kind of fun but the crap you get for completing them is not worth it.
About the Wii controls, my biggest gripe with them wasn't the sword play (which I enjoyed a lot) but how some of the menus were handled. In some menus you can control everything with either the pointer or the analog stick, in others you can't. Doesn't make any sense to me.
What I also don't understand is this new trend in Zelda games that the last couple of hours (minus boss fights) get so bad. Wind Waker felt very half-assed towards the end and TP is no better in that department. At least we know that Aonuma was rushed into releasing WW but this game had been in development for ages.
Anyway, I still had a lot of fun with it. ;)
9.0

Value:If you're not like me and love to run around without any purpose, there's no way you'd spend more time here than 50-55 hours. Not to say that's bad but still not the promised 70 hours.
9.0

Overall: I love this game. That being said it's also way more flawed than other Zelda games. Nintendo promised too many things they didn't keep. It's an excellent game but I can't help but feel a little disappointed.
8.9

[Brodie]

I've been playing the Sonic game, and TMB's rating is a pretty good one. I'm a Sonic fan, but this game is pretty bad, considering Sonic Adventure 1 and 2.

And I'm 83% done with Sonic's episode, and haven't gotten achievement points yet, so its kind of weird. You'd think for a game of this nature the achievement points would be easier. But you get them for beating each episode, and final episode, and then beating every mission with an S rank, which is ri-donk-ulous.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Haha, yeah. I saw that they want an S rank out of the player to get the achievement points. Then I laughed and threw the case on the bed in disgust. Maybe if it wasn't so broken. I had no problem with Sonic Adventure 1 & 2, but then again, they weren't broken.

[Dr. Doom]

Well, I did buy a used copy of SA2 that was literally broken.

[LogicDonny]

Well, I did buy a used copy of SA2 that was literally broken.


WHAHA wow.. that must have sucked, dude..

Sonic adventure 2 was fun but the only thing I hated that made me mad was the knuckles stages.. The music was evil and the level were horrible.. Never woudl I want to do those stages again.. :lol:

[ThirdMarioBro]

A Sonic game with three real "Sonic" stages is not a Sonic game, something Sega is just learning since they are putting out Sonic and the Secret Rings for Wii. I'm only touching that because AM2 has had their hands in it, and they are the only quality team left at Sega.

[Peanut]

Who wants to bet it's still going to be crap? It's on rails, that can't be fun.

[愛]

Sonic is just getting progressively worse and worse. Maybe we should let it die like Mortal Kombat. I loved the old games, and Sonic is a great character, but...if most of the development team is gone, then it's going to be bad from here on out. Let it go.

[ThirdMarioBro]

I never said I was going to buy that sh*t. I'm done with Sega. I'll borrow my mom's Blockbuster card, spend $3 bucks to rent it, then take that sh*t back once I'm reassured that is sucks donkeycock. Me and Sega are done.

Oh, and those rumors about a NiGHTS 2 for Wii. I pray that stays in rumorville. I don't want a sequel from those people.

[Wingnut]

There's always that off chance that a sequel could be something great and take the series out of the "cult" so to speak...but odds are it would end up like NiGHT Xtreme Ring Racer or some BS.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Suddenly I'm reminded of Sonic Riders. *shudder*

[Spitfire]

I never said I was going to buy that sh*t. I'm done with Sega. I'll borrow my mom's Blockbuster card, spend $3 bucks to rent it, then take that sh*t back once I'm reassured that is sucks donkeycock. Me and Sega are done.

Oh, and those rumors about a NiGHTS 2 for Wii. I pray that stays in rumorville. I don't want a sequel from those people.

Sadly you can't even rent games for a good price anymore, it's 7 bucks a rental...at Blockbuster anyways.

[Wingnut]

Damn, 7 bucks?

It's 3.00 a week at Movie Gallery (I don't know if you have those where you're at, though)

[Spitfire]

Well it's 7 for any next Gen game. But I on;y have Blockbuster and Hollywood by me. Other then that all the Mom and Pop places don't rent games. And their all Asian and only have movies in Viet or Chinese.

[LogicDonny]

Rogers video is great when it comes to games.. you can rent any game for 7.97 and get 5 days fo rental or a 7 day rental for the same price..

my other store willow gives u 2 games for 1 for like um 6 bucks for 2 days or 9-11 dollars for a week..

willow rocks for their used games prices..

[Krang]

Sonic is just getting progressively worse and worse. Maybe we should let it die like Mortal Kombat. I loved the old games, and Sonic is a great character, but...if most of the development team is gone, then it's going to be bad from here on out. Let it go.
Sad, but true. It's a shame that Sega doesn't even seem to be putting much effort into the Sonic series anymore with what I've been hearing about the latest game. I'm hoping that Sonic and the Secret Rings will be different, but it wouldn't surprise me if it had some of the same problems. I just wish Sega would concentrate less on the storylines and graphics, and more on the gameplay and control (although, like you said, they won't get far without good developers). On a somewhat related note, I also wish they would stop ignoring some of the great franchises they had in the past such as Streets of Rage, Eternal Champions, and Ristar.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Sega will never touch those names again. They are a marketing name owned by Sammy that uses it's "biggest profile" franchises to cash in on the waining loyalty of fans, and spends the rest of their time publishing titles for the mainstream crowd. When they started developing FPS titles (and bad ones at that), and published Charlotte's Web, I wrote them off forever. It's a shame that those wonderful brands will go to total waste. I wish someone would buy them off of Sega, but that will never happen.

[Krang]

Good point. Now that they're just a part of Sammy, Sega no longer has a reason to revive those series since they're not as instantly recognizable as Sonic (which, as I mentioned, it seems they aren't even putting much effort into). Well, there are always fan games (http://www.bombergames.net/sorr_e.htm) (although I haven't tried that one out yet so I'm not sure how good it is...).

[ThirdMarioBro]

Niiiiiiiiiiice. I'll play that.

[LogicDonny]

It's too bad sega didn't release street of rage on the sega genesis collection..

[Peanut]

Just finished Hotel Dusk about 45 minutes ago. I'll probably put up a full review later, but for now I'll say that everyone who owns a DS needs to play this game. It's the best game on the DS by a long shot. I now sit and pray for a sequel.

[愛]

Just finished Hotel Dusk about 45 minutes ago. I'll probably put up a full review later, but for now I'll say that everyone who owns a DS needs to play this game. It's the best game on the DS by a long shot. I now sit and pray for a sequel.

I finished the game about three minutes ago, myself, and I fully agree with Peanut here. It has been the only game that refused to let me put the DS down. I actually had to charge the DS today because I used it all day. I pray for a sequel, as well.

[Cure]

A couple of impressions of Sonic and the Secret Rings.

First off, the game is definitely frantic and crazy fun. There were times I found myself holding my breath cuz I was so tense. The feeling was fantastic. The RPG element of leveling up and getting new skills adds some thinkin' to it.

Unfortunately, there are some problems with it. The homing attack isn't as responsive as it should be. It works almost every time I do it now, but only because I had to take some time to figure out how it really works. Also, the missions are either crazy short and easy or ridiculously hard. Like :x .

Either way, I'm not completely finished with it, not even close. So far I'm having a blast, albeit a flawed blast. I'll let you guys know when I finish.

[Kendamu]

Well, it definately doesn't sound as perfected as Sonic Rush, but it doesn't sound completely broken like Sonix Next, either.

[Cure]

**SONIC AND THE SECRET RINGS**

If you guys were to know me in real life, you'd know I like everything fast. Who do I pick in fighting games? The fastest one automatically. Who's my favorite Ninja Turtle? Mikey, cuz he's the quickest, among other things. What superpower would I pick? Super speed. I've been told I talk to fast sometimes. So it's only obvious that I have a thing for Sonic the Hedgehog. Ever since he first came out on the genesis, I was in love. So much so, I might've even developed some fanboyism for him. Now this fanboy in me wants to automatically give this game a ten, but the realist in me thinks otherwise. Naturally, I was hyped for The Secret Rings. So how does it hold up?

GAMEPLAY: As many of you know, the game is on rails. Sonic moves forward, and you move him left and right by holding the wii-mote on it's side like Excite Truck. At the beginning, Sonic is pretty slow, and doesn't live up to his name. This all changes when you start leveling up, and get stat enhancing skills like increased acceleration, smoother turning, increase of maximum speed, etc. That's when Sonic feels like SONIC.
As to the actual game, it would've been extremely fun if the programmers were just a wee bit fairer. For example, in some stages Sonic will be running at full speed only to crash into a locked gate and have the enemies that you need to kill to open said gate show up behind you four seconds later. That would've been ok, if this game wasn't revolved around going fast. Also, to kill the enemies, you'll need to do the most godforsaken part of the game; WALK BACKWARDS. It is so unbearably annoying that..........ugh. The fanboy in me wants to overlook these things, but I really can't. The game has excellent sections of pure adrenaline and reflex testing obstacles, but sometimes the stage planning is awkward and downright stupid. In my opinion, puzzles should NOT be a part of this game. 7/10.

GRAPHICS: Err....yeah. This is the one part you should take what I say lightly. I dunno a pixel shader from normal bumping, so yeah. The game is pretty enough, I guess. 9/10.

SOUND: You know, the music isn't as bad as some people want you to believe. There's only 2 levels, really where the music is unbearable. However, the music you hear in the menus, which is where you'll spend a lot of time, is possibly the worst, so I can understand why people will have the impression the music is bad. The voice acting is bad, though. Crappy, really. 6/10.

OVERALL: The game is definitely fun and frantic, and hands down the best Sonic in recent memory (besides Rush). It is flawed, but the positive outweighs the negative in this game.

FINAL SCORE: 7/10

[Raph86]

Sudeki, an Xbox RPG
___________________________

The graphics were good for it's time, and the cutscenes in it were top notch.
Graphics: 9.0

The monsters in the game look really well done. The environments were nice, and the overall art style was really well executed.
Game Design: 9.5

Only bad thing I have to say about the sound, is well some of the voice acting sucks. The music on the other hand fits the various scenes in the game very well.
Sound: 8.0

For the fights, you enter a zone, the camera pans then the baddies pop up. 2 of the characters that you have in your party, use first person view to attack because one has a gun, and the other has a magic wand. While the other 2 use melee in the form of a sword, and claws. This is not a button masher, the melee characters use combo systems, and if you go in mashing you'll get pwned. It also uses a bit of strategy, as in knowing which combo to pull off in each situation. You can also switch between each character during battle(that is if you've gotten them into your party). During 4 of the boss fights, each of your characters get isolated and have to fight them 1 on 1.
Gameplay: 8.9

Overall this is a great game, with a really good story and gameplay to back it up. This was in my mind one of the best Xbox games that came out, and wasn't hardly noticed
Overall: 9.4

I'd say pick it up, but heh what do I know?
No backwards compatibility yet, since when was Bad Boys II good enough to get backwards compatibility before this? Sometimes I just don't get Microsoft.

[LogicDonny]

thank you for reviewing Sudeki. I been wanting to play this game but wasn't sure. I had people saying it sucks and some saying it's good.

After hearing a fellow member on this forum say it's good, well then I should get it. I mean it is very cheap now due to the unpopularity of this game.

[Barkworm]

Mini-review for my new religion God of War II:

Presentation:
+ Interesting and incredibly well presented story
+ Gorgeous CG movies
+ Slick and easy to handle menues
+ Bonus material explosion

- Nothing but nitpicking

10/10

Graphics:
+ Mind-blowing amount of detail
+ Beautiful colour-palette
+ Smoothest animation ever
+ The best graphics on any last-gen console

- Occasional slow downs
- Not so occasional vertical tearing

10/10

Sound:
+ Fully orchestrated soundtrack
+ Beautifully composed and involving music
+ Once again brilliant voice acting

- Voice acting is often very hard to understand due to sound problems

9.5/10

Gameplay:
+ Simple but uber-cool combat engine
+ Spectacular mini-games and quicktime events
+ Fantastic level design
+ Extremely nice puzzles
+ Stuffed with some of the most enthralling boss battles ever seen
+ Short but sweet Pegasus sequences

- Most of the magic and sub-weapons are very rarely used
- No "real" innovations

9.5/10

Replay Value:
+ Considerably longer than the first game
+ Tons and tons of unlockables
+ It's so f*cking awesome, you will want to play it again

- Still a rather short game

8.5/10

Overall: Last generation had so many fantastic games, it's not even funny. And then at it's very end Kratos returns and maims all of them. God of War II does not only improve on its fantastic predecessor, it represents everything that went right with last generation's games. Play this game and be happy. That's all.

9.6/10

[ThirdMarioBro]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=19558&type=mov

Not everybody liked the Angry Video Game Nerd, but you gotta admit...he's right about this one.

[Peanut]

AHAHAHA! NIGHT TRAP! Dear Lord WHY!?

[Krang]

http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?id=19558&type=mov

Not everybody liked the Angry Video Game Nerd, but you gotta admit...he's right about this one.
The video was pretty funny at times and brought up some good points, but overall, I still liked the 32X. Its release was badly planned and timed, but it had some great games and good potential.

[ThirdMarioBro]

Case and point: Virtua Racing & Knuckles Chaotix.

Knuckles Chaotix was a spiritual successor to Sonic CD, and that can never be a bad thing. Hell, the Virtua Fighter port was still better than the Saturn version.

I always wished they had gone through with the plans to release upgraded versions of Vectorman 1 & 2 on the 32x. The Genesis's swan song would have looked badass on that thing.

[HalfcourtGame]

Most of the magic and sub-weapons are very rarely used


Damn you must be dominate with the Blades. I found myself using either Crono's Rage or Atlas' Quake quite a bit. Atlas' Quake was especially handy in the waves before the 3rd sister don't think I could have done without.

[Barkworm]

That's why I said "most". I too used Crono's Rage a lot.

[Peanut]

UH OH! Peanut is back on the attack! Rate the Game has risen from the dead! Yes, this is long. READ IT ANYWAYS, FOOLS!

BioShock
2K Boston (Irrational Games)
Xbox 360

Graphics: By now, there's a good chance most people with an Xbox 360 have played the BioShock demo. If that's the case, you pretty much know how gorgeous this game is. Everything is crisp and detailed; from character models to the various environments and eye-popping effects. Water in particular looks terrific, but what else could be expected from an underwater city?

The attention to the little details is one of the most impressive things about BioShock. Unlike most games, you won't wander into an area and say, "Gee, this looks familiar." and that's because it never does look familiar. You'll often find many games repeat patterns and design styles over and over throughout a game; whether by slightly rearranging various environmental objects (Oblivion), to straight repetition (Halo:CE). BioShock does nothing of the sort. Despite the fact that the game is saddled with the limited setting of an underwater city, the scope of different environments and settings within it are astounding - from straight 1940's art deco style, to moody forested areas and industrial metal work. The whole city is just dripping atmosphere and art style, and it's easily the most impressive areas of the games design.

Aside from the impressive environments and effects, BioShock also supports some nice character models. They're usually well detailed and - as is the case with the entire game - suitably creepy looking. While highly detailed, it's still rather disappointing that the range of enemy models (and types) is so lacking. Each different "type" of Splicer in the game has both a female and a male model, and they all look exactly alike, with very little variation. While usually not notable, thanks to the fact that many of your enemies wear creepy masquerade masks, by the time you've searched your 20th Leadhead Splicer, the effects of seeing their disfigured face will have faded and you'll find yourself laughing at how stupid they look, more often than not. There are very very few instances where you'll see a (normal) human character up close in BioShock, and that's probably for the best, as they're really quite unimpressive. Between their robotic movements and glassy eyes, you'll probably be more creeped out by the normal people than the messed up ones. However, as I said, those encounters are few and far between.

As far as environmental effects go, (physics, damage models) BioShock is, sadly, devoid of it. What little physics exist for items, or people, are pretty out of whack. You'll often find yourself stepping near an item, only to see it flying off into the distance, as if you had been trying to make a field goal. As another example, searching things like desks or cabinets will often send the contents on them, or items around them, flying off in different directs, sometimes even sending <i>you</i> in a weird direction. Enemies slump and slam into things in a satisfying way once they're dead, although if they're near something they'll often get caught in random parts of the environment - furniture, doors, other enemies - and do a little jig. Damage to things in the environment are pretty much non-existent. You can't shoot lights, or really do damage to anything, which is strange in this next-gen of gaming.

So while BioShock does have all of it's eggs in one basket, in this case it doesn't matter. The art style and beauty of the environments is what BioShock is truly about, and it's probably the best looking game I've ever seen in that sense.
Score: 9

Sound: If there's one area of BioShock that is completely above and beyond anything I've ever played, it's the sound design. It'll make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Although the music isn't overly pronounced, it is used in great effect. Small musical cues often bring with them a feeling of dread, as they're usually followed by a disturbing sight. Areas of the game also have some great late 40's music playing in the background, something that doesn't seem all the spooky on paper, but when you arrive in an area filled with happy music, only to immediately stumble across a tortured body and signs of a horrific struggle, you'll find yourself pretty creeped out. There are even areas of the game where the music lends itself to some laughs, such as when you walk into a bar filled with dead and mutilated bodies, bathed in soft blue light permeating from the ocean visible outside the large windows, and hear the immediately recognizable "Somewhere Beyond the Sea". You can't help but chuckle at the grim scene.

More impressive, and infinitely more frightening, are the ambient sound effects of Rapture. The creaking and groaning of supports that keep the entire ocean from rushing in around you, the dripping and pouring of that very ocean attempting to break it's way into the fallen city. The dead silence that just seems to press in around you as you move about your duties, and especially the screams and battle cries of the insane citizens of Rapture as they attempt to disembowel you. The various sounds really help to get you absorbed into Rapture, to fear the sounds of someone rustling around a corner; or the crack of a light bulb as it shorts out, leaving you in the pitch black, while footsteps seem to begin coming from all around you.

The voice-acting is also really top notch. The stuff you hear coming from the various audio journals laying around Rapture are extremely convincing, always disturbing, and are yet another aspect of the sound design that keeps you firmly bolted down in the world you've been placed.
Score: 10

Story: Another absolutely amazing aspect of BioShock is the enthralling story. The most fascinating part of it is that the majority of it is completely optional. Through out Rapture you'll find dozens and dozens of audio diaries, and through picking up and listening to those diaries, you'll begin to slowly learn more and more of exactly what it is that happened in Rapture, and even come to know and (amazingly) care for, or even loathe, some of the people you're listening to. As more and more pieces fall into place, you begin to get a better picture of the insanity that took place prior to your arrival, and along with the terrific "main" storyline, everything ties together in such a satisfying way, with a ton of twists and turns along the way. In fact, it's so good that you'll actively go through rooms and areas you're not required to, just to get to a single audio diary, and be completely satisfied with what it took to obtain. BioShock's story is really a case of "getting what you put in" and in this case, it's worth every second to try and figure out as much as you possibly can.
Score: 10

[Peanut]

Gameplay: BioShock, in the simplest terms, can be described as a survival-horror FPS. The only problem with that description really comes from the stereotypical - if not completely correct - style of gameplay that the term survival-horror is associated with. Clunky controls, tons of atmosphere, horrible combat. BioShock is really one of those games that breaks the mold, at least in that sense. It really does a good job of combining that super creepy, constantly on your toes, exploration, what's-around-that-next-corner type of gameplay, along with the smooth and satisfying combat that goes along with your typical FPS.

The really interesting part of BioShock isn't the guns, it's the use of plasmids, in conjunction with the use of the rest of the (mostly) standard weapons. The reason for this is that most of the plasmids do very little damage. Sure, you can set someone on fire, but unless you want to deal with flaming pipe wielding psychopaths, you're better off shooting them at the same time. Some plasmids, such as the Electro Bolt, pretty much need to be used in conjuction with a weapon (usually the wrench) in order to be of any use at all. The disappointing part of plasmid use is that some of them seem so totally unbalanced. For instance, setting someone on fire and then digging into them with a couple handgun rounds should be enough to put any freak down, but it pales in comparison to using Telekinesis to throw something, and by something I mean anything, at an enemy and instantly killing them. Doesn't really make much sense. Other plasmids, such as the whirlwind, are really only worth anything on certain occasions, and quite often are so ineffective that they have no reason to even exist. That all being said, the combat in the game is still pretty satisfying. Particularly in fights against the Big Daddies, who although less intimidating than advertised, can take awhile to put down, and will often by the victims of your most elaborate traps.

Easily the most disappointing part of BioShock was the fact that it completely failed to deliver on the "tackle a room a million different ways" promise. Quite often, you'll find that it's exactly the same as any other FPS you've played. You can either shoot the guy with a grenade launcher...or you can set him on fire and shoot him. Hmm. Not really so big a deal. Another often talked about part of BioShock was the ability to set traps and be all clever against your foes, which often isn't the case at all. Mostly because the AI is pretty stupid, but also because you often just run into enemies, without any preconception of where they could have been, thus eliminating the possibility of being able to set up a cool scenario. It's all pretty by the books. You see some guys standing in water? Shock it. Oil on the floor? Set it on fire. It's definitely not as "open" as you're led to believe. And while a good amount of this comes back to the "getting what you put in" yet again, it's also just a waste. Why use 1/4 of your EVE bar to use the decoy plasmid, when you can just gun someone down with a few well places shots? Why trap a hallway with tripwires, only to have one fool rush in, trip one, then have his dead body do somersaults through the rest?

Another problem is the sheer lack of different enemies and the predictable, (see retarded) AI that runs them. You'll get a small group of varied Splicers to face through out the game. Ones who melee, ones who shoot, ones who climb on the ceiling, ones who throw grenades, and ones who teleport (yeah, makes no sense.). You'll sometimes get small variations in those groups - melee Splicers who are unaffected by electricity, for instance - but that happens rarely, and they all behave in the same way. The reason you'll rarely need to use any type of brain activity to take down the Splicers is because they're all one-trick-ponies. Thug Splicers <i>always</i> charge you, so you'll always have enough time to shoot them down before they even get to you. Spider Splicers (wall crawlers) can be set on fire and left to backflip in circles until they're dead, Nitro Splicers (grenade tossers) take very little damage from bullets, so you either blow them up, or use Telekinesis to throw their grenades back at them, and it goes on like this. No one enemy is really of any interest to fight against,the one exception being the star of the game, the Big Daddy.

In all areas of Rapture you'll come across the Big Daddies. Often times, they'll be escorting Little Sisters on their duties - mainly sucking ADAM, the raw unprocessed form of EVE, out of dead bodies with a needle-like device. Big Daddies come in two varieties, the Bouncer and the Rosie. Each fights differently, with the Bouncer favouring head-on attacks and brutalization, while the Rosie operates an insanely powerful gun and tosses proximity mines. Defeating a Big Daddy often takes a little bit of patience and, more often than not, becomes a deadly game of hide-and-seek. Killing these things is also the most satisfying reward the game can offer you. As not only do almost all Big Daddy fights turn out to be epic, but you're often rewarded with wads of cash, and always rewarded with the chance to either harvest or save the Little Sister it was protecting. Depending on your choice, you'll get either more or less ADAM from the Little Sister. ADAM is used to upgrade your abilities, plasmids, health and EVE at special vending machines called a "Gather's Garden" and directly effect how your character plays, so the decision to harvest or save these child-like creatures has a direct effect on how you'll play the game. The Little Sister/Big Daddy relationship is easily one of the most confounding and frightening, yet enduring and powerful parts of the entire game. You often feel remorse for killing a Big Daddy, as they pose no threat to you at any time, until you directly threaten it, or a Little Sister. If it weren't for this entire dynamic, I don't think BioShock would be as good as it is.

With all that said, BioShock does tend to drag somewhere around the middle of the game. This mostly has to do with the never changing threat from the citizens of Rapture. Once you've seen all the various types of Splicers, it all pretty much becomes a by-the-books scenario in area after area, with the story, atmosphere and scenery helping to move you along emotionally, and the Big Daddy encounters helping to keep the monotony level low. The game does pick up in a big way as you near it's completion; yet again thanks to the compelling story and desire to learn anything and everything you can. Even with that help, BioShock still suffers from having a "goal" system that always revolves around back-tracking and searching for one thing or another in order to move on; often making you feel like a slave sent on a fetch quest.

The game plays well enough, it just doesn't do anything remotely as "genre-busting" as it was supposed to, but it's still a ton of fun to play, despite it's many mechanical faults.
Score:7.9

Replay Value: BioShock is definitely a long game, especially for a shooter. Clocking in at anywhere from 15-20 hours, you're going to get your money's worth out of it. Another play-through isn't out of the question, as there are multiple endings and as there's a good chance you missed something the first time through. No multiplayer isn't a detractor.
Score: 8

Overall: Despite some lackluster elements of gameplay, and a disappointing lack thereof in certain areas, BioShock is still a competent shooter with above average art and sound design. The atmosphere is so enthralling and the story so well written and presented; that it's nothing short of a masterpiece. Even if the game doesn't entirely impress in the gameplay department, it's made up for in spades by everything else. As an enitre package, BioShock is the best game on the Xbox 360. The bar has been risen, and now other games must at least attempt to match that quality, or be crushed by one of the first true gaming masterpieces of the Next-Gen.
Overall Score: 9.5

[ThirdMarioBro]

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Gameplay/Story: (10) The gameplay is pure Metroid. Even though you travel between three huge planets (including some surprise locations), you'll still do the standard Metroid backtracking for weapons and such. Its just an easier trip now. The locations themselves are also HUGE in and of themselves. Of any Metroid, Prime 3 easily has the largest scope, yet you never feel lost. The puzzles are designed well enough that they never feel like a chore, yet you won't get bored. The method in which you receive/ your weapons power-ups is the same as ever--kill bosses to receive new weapons, yet the bosses you'll be killing are some of the most impressive in gaming, as well as some of the most tragic. This is the first Metroid in which you have companions at the beginning of the game. A group of bounty hunters which Samus considers friends (as well as friendly rivals) lend a hand in the first hour of gameplay, and even save your life a couple of times. Each is full of personality and charm. Problem is, Dark Samus will corrupt them and possess their bodies forcing you to kill them or be killed yourself. It gets really brutal later in the game. Its obvious Retro poured everything they had into this one. They also finally break ancient tradition several times in the adventure during the game's countless cinema scenes (even at the very start of the game) and let Samus take off the helmet (and more) several times. You can also see her full reflection in the scan visor at any time. Its detailed enough that you can read her facial expressions, and even see the Phazon corruption as it spreads through her blood veins and takes over her system. This is also the first Metroid where you won't loose all your weapons out the gate. You start off with the double jump, morph ball, bombs, charge beam, and you'll get missiles within five minutes of play. The origins of certain classic Metroid villains are also revealed throughout the story, and the cinema scenes are spectacular. Its truly a treat to fans.

Visuals/Presentation:(9.5) Say what you want about the Wii hardware, but this game makes the little white box shine. Bloom lighting is everywhere and it adds a fresh gleam to everything it touches. The model and texture work is also astounding. This is also the first Nintendo game to feature full voice work. Outside of game blurbs such as "Press '1' to Access Map Data", there is no unspoken dialog in the game. Every message, no matter how trivial, is fully voiced, and the acting quality is outstanding. Samus herself doesn't speak, but they did record more expressionistic grunts and yells for her (same girl who voiced the trailers, so you can put the rest together yourself).

Control: (9.0) The waggle makes all the world of difference. Fighting is so much easier than the "lock-on, lock-off, lock-on again" mess you had in the first two games. You can free-aim and strafe without care, and it all feels natural and precise. No, its not more accurate than keyboard/mouse, but this isn't counterstrike. This is Metroid. There is a little lag in the controls, but it is so faint that is doesn't get in the way. It honestly feels like it responds faster than the Wii Channel menu itself. You always feel in control, and more involved with the game. In my personal opinion--its better than twitchy dual analog. Its not more precise, but its so much easier to use. The only sacrifice was the loss of the beam switching from Metroid Prime, but let's face it. Stacked beams from Super Metroid were always much more convenient.

Music: (10) I'll just say this. Whenever Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano collaborate, beautiful things happen. This is the team that brought you Super Metroid, and Zero Mission. MP3 hearkens back to the organic and natural music of old. Classic themes from the whole series are hidden for you to find, and the new stuff will send chills down your spine.

Final Opinion: Obviously this is a bold statement, and I know it will vary from person to person, but I'm going to say it. Metroid Prime 3 is better than Super Metroid. Retro has brought the world to life in a way it has never been before. You finally get to look in on the Metroid universe, but in a way that doesn't tarnish the traditional experience. A lot of annoying series conventions from previous games are thrown out the window, and the experience is streamlined for the core fan. The gameplay hasn't been toned down for the Wii: just refined. The controls may rival FPS standard, but the gameplay is still Metroid based exploration and puzzle solving first--combat secondary, just like always. Nothing has been sacrificed. Samus herself doesn't speak, yet she now has a world filled with everything from friendly hunters to organic supercomputers to talk to her. Its also got the best art design in any Nintendo game, period.

The Prime games are prequels that take place in the gap between Metroid, and Metroid II. Ridley, Mother Brain and crew were killed in Super Metroid. Making this trilogy a prequel to that game was a conscious decision made so the old-school fans could see the classic villains in glorious next-gen 3D. Much like Star Wars Episode III, this is the game in the Metroid storyline that had to transform the "feel" from Metroid Prime, into Metroid II/Super Metroid. Around the halfway point, you'll feel that transformation. Its the link that ties the whole epic series together, and its also the best damn Metroid game ever made.

Overall Score: 10 out of 10 (not an average)
----------


Okay folks, so let the Metroid hate flaming begin!

[Barkworm]

Dude, we know what your reviews are worth! NOTHING!!!

[Peanut]

Faaaaanboooooooy.

[愛]

You're gay. No Metroid is better than Super Metroid.

[Brodie]

That review holds about as much weight as his review for Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

[Peanut]

Oh no, he didn't!

Edit: I just saw some of the MP3 cut-scenes....totally lol-able. Seriously. The humans look atrocious and some of that outer space stuff = Star Fox 64. For REAL!

[Barkworm]

That review holds about as much weight as his review for Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

THUMP THE MONKEY!!!

[ThirdMarioBro]

Oh, **** it.

*points to user title*

I'm a Samus fanboy. Did you expect anything less?

[ThirdMarioBro]

DK: Jungle Climber

To all the harassed Donkey Kong Country fans out there; your day has come. King of Swing was a test run or sorts for Nintendo on whether or not the old Rare DK fans were a market large enough to pander to. Hell, Jungle Beat bombed (though it wouldn't have without the fu*king bongos), so they decided to give this a shot. The GBA game made back dev costs, but little more yet somehow still Nintendo authorized PAON to make a sequel. They fixed every problem with the original. The gameplay is faster and tighter, controls have been overhauled, the collect-a-thon is restored, the visuals are reset to the classic pre-rendered bliss of the 90's, and most of all...the soundtrack. While it's not DKC quality, it strives to be and comes off pretty damn slick as a result. If it's hummable, its great.

Gameplay: 8.9 Same as King of Swing, but with all the annoyances fixed. Its faster, smoother, and easier to control, though the stage design becomes evil near the end. Its a great challenge, and the DK/Diddy buddy system is restored. Its not so much a sequel as it is more like what KOS should have been. If you didn't like the first attempt, give this one a try. Its far more refined and sophisticated than the last game.

Graphics: 8.0 All, pre-rendered plastic. How hath I missed thee. Characters are all on model, environments are varied and beautiful, cinema scenes are realtime 3D, and the sprites are lively and animated. It looks great.

Sound: 7.9 DKC fans will find themselves smiling. Remixes are everywhere, and true to the originals. The original works are catchy as well. Imagine it like DK64, but without the Banjo-Kazooie vibe and you get the idea. There are a few stinkers, but its mostly kick-ass.


Final Score: 8.3

This is the best thing to happen to Donkey Kong since the DKC series. Though I would still rather have a console platformer, this game takes a under-developed concept and makes full use of it. I was iffy about buying this one, because I admit the last one sucked, but the DKC fans I know were very pleased, so I took the gamble. It was worth it.

[Barkworm]

Finally a reasonable sounding review from you. I'm officially interested.

[Peanut]

Me too. Even though I know f*ck all about the game. What exactly is it? Is it a platformer, a puzzler?

[ThirdMarioBro]

It's a platformer in a sense, but you are climbing up and around the screen using the L & R buttons to control DK's hands to grab onto stuff. It seems like a shallow concept, but you'd be surprised how much millage they get out of it.

[Barkworm]

Okay, I finally beat The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass so here's a quick review:

Presentation
+ Wind Waker Style FTW!
+ Comfortable interface and menus
- Doesn't capture the Wind Waker charm as much as you'd wish
- Story is lame as hell

8/10

Graphics
+ Extremely smooth and crisp look
+ Great use of cel-shading
+ Fluid animation
+ Looks like it takes the DS to its limits
- Human characters look a bit blocky
- Some environments lack detail

9.5/10

Sound
+ Good sound effects
+ Catchy tunes
- ... that do not live up to the series' highpoints
- Even less voice acting than in Wind Waker.

8.5/10

Gameplay
+ Excellent use of the different DS features
+ Stylus controls allow some inventive puzzles
+ Some boss fights are fantastic
+ Dungeon design clever as usual
- ... but the dungeons are the shortest since LttP
- Ocean King dungeon sucks ass
- Stylus controls need getting used to for series veterans
- Traditional Zelda gameplay is dumbed down in many aspects to make it more accesible for casual gamers

8/10

Value
+ Good length for a handheld game
- ...but very short compared to other Zelda games

7.5/10

Overall
We hoped that this would be better than Twilight Princess. Well, it's definitely not and I think everybody will agree (with the exception of Mecha, of course :P). If anything, this game made me appreciate TP a bit more. It's still a great game without any doubt but the casualized gameplay and the completely non-epic story don't live up to the series' standards. The Zelda formula certainly needs a thorough overhaul but this wasn't exactly a step in the right direction.

8.3/10

[Peanut]

I fully agree with you, despite not beating the game. It also made me appreciate TP a little more. I may go buy the Gamecube version and play it the way it was meant to played, once I have some extra cash sitting around and there aren't a million others things to play that is.

[愛]

I agree with Barkworm on all fronts. Glad he wrote the review and not me. ;)

It was a great game, but there were parts that were really annoying. And by the end, I was just like, "...I wanna finish this game now. Hurry up." I almost skipped some scenes just so I could finish.

[Peanut]

Oh, snap! I have a couple reviews to dish out here. In quick fashion!

Beautiful Katamari
Xbox 360
It should first be noted that I love me some Katamari, and I had high hopes going into this, my third Katamari game. I won't say that I was let down by Beautiful Katamari, because I felt as a whole a few of it's levels were more interesting than previous Katamari outings, but the fact that they cut so far back on the amount of content, just to sell DLC right after the game released, has put a sour taste in my mouth.
That being said, this is probably the funniest of the Katamari games, despite the fact the amazing cut-scenes and some of the more insane scenarios (Rolling up a Sumo Wrestler so he can beat his rival. Rolling up fireflies so a bookworm can read at night. etc) from We <3 Katamari got the boot.
The soundtrack also isn't as great as the previous two outings, but very little could have lived up to the amazing We <3 soundtrack.
In short, it's more Katamari, but it seems to take a step back towards Damacy, rather than improve on what was seen in We <3.
Graphics: 6
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 7
Overall: 7.5

Conan
Xbox 360
Let me just put this out here:
You're surrounded by a large group of enemies, one dives at you with a thrust, you quickly hit the block/parry button at the appropriate time and you're offered the chance to perform a one-hit kill counter move. You successfully pull it off, and Conan boots the enemy high into the air and slices him in half at the waist. You turn to another enemy pull off a simple combo (X,Y,B) which makes Conan swipe his sword, elbow the enemy in the face, then rip their weapon from their hands, effectively allowing you to dual-wield. You follow that up with a quick combo, (X,X,X,Y) to see Conan slash the weaponless opponent 3 times, followed by a double sword cross at the neck, slicing his head off. As you finish the combo, two enemies rush at you, you quickly pull off one of Conan's many short stun combos, sending one of the two enemies flying away on the toe of his boot, then parry the coming assault from the second enemy. Conan makes five ridiculously fast sword swipes, then boots his enemy in the chest, sending all of his severed limbs and torso flying in different directions. You get jumped by another enemy, parry the attack and Conan leaps onto his shoulders, driving both swords through his arms, then back-flipping off his chest, pulling both sword through from arm pit to shoulder, severing the enemies arms. You turn and toss your off-hand sword like a javelin at an approaching enemy, impaling him through the head. As you recover from your toss, you grab an enemy by the neck and toss him into a group of his comrades. You rush in, stomping the head of the tossed foe into the ground, crushing his skull. As one fallen enemy tries to rise, you stab him through the back, then lift another and slam him onto your knee in a brutal back breaker. You pick up a fallen sword as you're approached by 2 more enemies. You can't get around their shields quick enough, so you go for a combo on the legs, slicing them off at the knee caps. You grab one of their shields from their body as a guard captain rushes you. He comes in with an un-blockable combo, you dodge to the side and come back with a quick combo, finishing in an upper cut to knock his helmet off. As he's dazed, you punch him in the face, knee him in the groin, get in a couple strikes, then slam him in the face with your shield. As he attempts to recover, you toss the shield, throwing him off balance, then move in to rip his great sword from his hand. As he tries to fight back, you pull off a quick heavy combo, making Conan slash his chest, elbow his face, then bring the gigantic sword down in a huge arc, slashing him in half, from head to crotch.
That's Conan.
Overall Score: 8.5

TimeShit
Xbox 360
Pointless, pointless game. The first and last levels both look terrific, but the rest of the game is ASS. Terrible weapons, terrible AI, terrible story, terrible level design, terrible use of time powers. There is one word that describes TimeShift, sh*t.
Overall Score: 4

[Barkworm]

Super Mario Galaxy:

Presentation
+ Great artwork
+ Slick cut-scenes
+ Tons of fanservice
+ Fantastic production values
+ No unnecessary story
- Rosalina's sidestory is lame
9/10

Graphics
+ Best graphics on the Wii by far
+ Stunning art design
+ Wonderful lighting
+ Beautiful textures and shading
+ Perfect animation
+ Immense amount of detail in most of the game...
- .... rather undetailed galaxies in the later portion of the game
9.5/10

Sound
+ Kondo's best work in a long time
+ Great remixes of old tunes
+ Impressive orchestration brings epic feel to the soundtrack
+ Familiar voices and sound effects
+ Dynamic music in some galaxies
- A small couple of unmemorable tracks
- Rosalina should be mute
- SUUUUUPER MARIO GALAXYYYYYYYY!!!!!
9/10

Gameplay
+ Some of the greatest level design ever
+ Very inventive gravity effects
+ Best boss fights in any Mario game
+ Mario fans feel at home at once
+ Very intuitive and clever Wii functionality
+ Bee Mario looks retarded but plays great
+ The best platformer and Nintendo game in many years
- Significant drop in the quality of the level design towards the end
- Camera can be a bitch at some points
- Some very frustrating stars
- Completely unnecessary collect-a-thon sh*t
- Level recycling (Dear Nintendo, if you mirror a level and change the colours, we will still notice. Love, Barkworm)
- Lots of boss recycling
9.5/10

Value
+ Overall good length
+ Great replay value
- The game is actually too long for its own good
8/10

Overall
Get this: This game is amazing, beautiful, inventive, epic, probably the best 3D platformer ever made and also one of the best games of the decade. But still... I'm a bit disappointed. I might seem crazy and completely jaded to most of you but my problem is actually very simple: I started playing Mario Galaxy and was utterly overwhelmed by its awesomeness: The beautiful graphics, the epic score and the insane level design and gameplay seemed to belong to the greatest game I had ever played. Unfortunately the last quarter of the game drag the overall quality down quite a bit. It seems like Team Tokyo ran out of ideas and forced themselves to include 120 stars, despite an obvious lack of inspiration.
All this bitching aside, Super Mario Galaxy is a fantastic game and a must-buy for anyone who considers himself a gamer. It's just a pity to see that the developers couldn't keep up with their own brilliance.
9.4/10

[Dr. Doom]

Wouldn't it just be "brilliance" at the end there?

[Barkworm]

As far as I know "brilliance" and "brilliancy" are synonyms. I guess "brilliancy" is not as common?

[Peanut]

I completely agree, Barky. You pretty much hit the nail on the head with that review.