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!

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?

[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



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.
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



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

[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: 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