AleksandarTale's GameSpot Friend's Reviews AleksandarTale's GameSpot Friend's Reviews AleksandarTale's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Sun, 19 May 2013 22:30:00 -0700 GameSpot AleksandarTale's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Sun, 19 May 2013 15:35:46 -0700 Ravenhoe reviewed Batman: Arkham Asylum for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/batman-arkham-asylum/user-reviews/811495/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

As every other geek on this planet, I am a big fan of the dark knight (even though I thought his last film was not that good despite the hype) and I am thrilled to say that this has been the purest Batman gaming experience I had the pleasure to taste so far. Yes, there are some shortcomings, but all fade away in the bright light of quality that Rocksteady delivered with Arkham Asylum.

The visuals, sounds, music and the great voice acting (especially Batman and the Joker) create a very broody, yet exciting atmosphere, a perfect fit for the dark undertone of the Batman comics, while maintaining the thrilling spirit of adventure that makes this franchise so energetic and popular.

The setting is a tad weird, a large island, which serves as an asylum, certainly makes it much easier to create the game in terms of level desing, yet I would have prefered some more realistic locations, in line with the comics / films / lore. On the other hand, the setting gave the designers the freedom to throw in all sorts of bosses (a who is who of batman villains, most of which are second class villains, I reckon they are saving Catwoman and The Penguin for some other time) and levels. The remote setting makes it possible to have a whole island taken over by plantlife without you getting the weird feeling that you are playing some weird Japanese RPG.

The combat is visceral and so is the level 'solving', even though I found the game quite easy to beat, unless you are trying to find each and every secret level and item that is, but I am not a completist and here to beat the single-player story and that's it, thank you very much.

When it comes to first person combat, be it medieval melee or martial arts, most games either lack the finesse and excitment of combat or have control schemes that make your fingers go all entangled on your ass (Severance, TMNT, Dark Messiah of M&M etc.). Batmam AA manages to make the combat easy to get into, yet you still feel that you are in charge of the action the whole time. The pacing is also very nice, with some parts relying on your stealth skills while other are just bedlam and brawling like there is no tomorrow.

The idea of leveling Batman up is neat but never really takes over the game like some RPG game would, but it is a nice addition to add some depth and tangible feeling of progress as you fight your way through hordes of people with make-up issues.

The story is nice, not a lot of twists and Joker wants to take over the world (O rly?). As usual, all the villains are never inclined to kill Batman when they have the chance but rather let him live, only to have him thwart they plans before curtain fall, ... what the heck, that is what it's like in the movies too eh ?

All in all, this game is loads of fun and I sincerely hope that the other games in the series (City and Origins) add a bit more spice to the levels and the story, but retain the tight and super-polished gameplay. SLICK !

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Ravenhoe reviewed Batman: Arkham Asylum for the PC..." was posted by Ravenhoe on Sun, 19 May 2013 15:35:46 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/batman-arkham-asylum/user-reviews/811495/platform/pc/ Tue, 14 May 2013 16:20:52 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Tales of Phantasia for the PlayStation... http://www.gamespot.com/tales-of-phantasia-1998/user-reviews/811304/platform/ps/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Tales of Phantasia
Platform: PSOne
Developer: Wolfteam
Publisher: Namco
Genre: Action Role Playing Game
Age Rating: Cero: A, ESRB: T for Teen (Rated by Fans)
Original Release Date: December 23rd 1998
Translation Team: Absolute Zero/Phantasian Productions
Fan-Translation Patch Release Date: Absolute Zero: 25th December 2007 Phantasian Productions: 31st December 2012
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Game Score: 8.8/10
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Summery:
If you're still into old school style RPG's then Tales of Phantasia for the PlayStation is one RPG that is both impressively remastered and still enjoyable after a long while.
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Looking at your old dusty Gray PlayStation game console, you only played it every now and then today cause you only missed playing all our favourite games such as Resident Evil. Gran Turismo, Sypro, Crash,, Final Fantasy and the legendary Metal Gear Solid. Nearly towards the consoles timeline had been ended mostly RPG's helped keep it going for a short extra while. How about this, a fan translation group called Phantasian Productions independently worked on a English translation patch for the 1998 PlayStation enhanced remake of the original Tales Of title that started it all as well as it's counterpart Absolute Zero who released their English Patch of the game in 2007. It did took Phantasian Productions 12 long years for their project to start in it's beta stages, getting the right men and time to get to work on translating and adding some new features to make it feel as if Namco would have localised this game instead of the inferior GBA version.

For those who have not seen the original version nor played the GBA version, Tales Of Phantasia was originally released on the Super Nintendo in Japan of 1995, it was Namco's first entry into the popular running RPG series and it showcased 48 bit capabilities for it's impressive graphics and a powerful soundchip which allowed voice samples and tje opening song being played in the intro. Three years later it got remastered for the PlayStation and thanks to the translation efforts, it's one of, if not the best version of the game we can get our hands on.

Tales Of Phantasia follows teenage swordsmen Cress Albane (whose known as Cless Alvein in this version) who sees a mysterious spirit who lives inside of a withered tree. Cress returns to witness the destruction of his village and the death of his parents. Cress embarks on a journey which transcends him from space and time to stop an evil lord known as Dhaos who's intends on eliminating anyone related to the power of magic. Tales Of Phantasia's story wasn't anything as gripping as Square's Chrono Trigger but however the game has solid writing for both fan-translation patches and enjoyable characters that still make them as engaging as they were back then. Characters such as Chester Burklight who is Cress' bast friend and archer, Mint Adenade a Cleric, Claus F Lester a summoner and Arche Klaine a magic user. The English fan-translation patches does an excellent job of translating the dialogue even if Phantasian's is sometimes complex to read and Absolute Zero having only a few translation liberties. Dispute this it's still excellent writing and on top of that there are also some new cutscenes as well as some anime sequences that add more tension to the story.

Tales Of Phantasia started of the Tales formula so you'll feel right at home if you've played future titles in the series. However in the PlayStation version the game includes brand new features on top of the games original content. The game goes by the series pacing, if you haven't played any game in the series then simply it's an Action RPG where you wonder through the world map where you can go into dungeons, move on from one town to the next for the next part in the story while having to fight off against a group of monsters along the way. Towns serve as your resting points and you can interact with NPC's and you can visit shops to purchase items and better gear. In Dungeons there are some puzzles that require you to press switches, pull statues or rocks out of your way or to other spots on the map which are needed to open doors to the next area. Later on you'll acquire an accessory called a Successor's Ring which can shoot fireballs at switches from afar. At the end of each dungeon there will be a challenging boss battle to fight off against and then it's back to town to rest up and move on to the next portion of the game. Tales Of Phantasia keeps it's pacing balanced in between cutscenes and gameplay so that you never waste to much time doing one thing at once. Tales Of Phantasia also has a few minigames that you'll find in between and of course the game has it's original side quests on top of the brand new content.

Most notably is the redesigned graphics and improved soundtrack unlike Square's PS1 versions of the old Final Fantasy and Chorno Trigger games. The characters as well as the locations have been redesigned with new signs and different colour palette which look more impressive then did look back then. Characters are still pint sized but however do they have additional and smoother animations that make them more cleaner. The World Map has also changed into 3D and it's castles, mountains and towns have all received a bump up in detail and they look way more shaper then the original and later GBA releases. The Soundtrack itself has remixed tunes as well the opening music track that plays in the opening intro which are great with one exception. The track that plays when you fight against a summon spirit called Fighting of the Spirit has perhaps one of (if not) the best remix version that is ever heard in games in the series ever, it was so fantastic that when I took on my first summon spirit I actually paused the game for a few minutes just to listen to it. To fans including myself this track is simply that powerful.

Tales Of Phantasia on the Super Nintendo was the first game in the series to introduce the Linear Motion Battle System, however this version of the game uses an updated system that was used in it's 1997 instalment Tales Of Destiny. For those who never heard of the system, simply battles take place inside a small side scrolling battle arena where characters and monsters engage each other in real time combat. You control Cress in battle while your allies are controlled by the AI, you can have up to 4 members of your party to fight together but however you can switch Cress out and play as other characters if you want. The controls for battle are Circle or regular attacks, Cross for your abilities known as Artes, Square makes your character black incoming enemy attacks and Triangle brings up the battle menu where you can change party members behaviour in battle, use items, change formation and set your abilities whilst you can also do these outside of battle. You can use the D-pad and Circle to do different main attacks such as Down+Circle for a Thrust attack or Up+Circle for an upward slash. L1 reverses your party formation if incase the enemies surround you and you can switch between different different targets on the screen with the R1 button. There are 3 different battle controls that you can use. Auto allows the AI to take control of your party members, Semi Auto allows you to control your character but not fully while Manuel mode allows you to fully control your character. Phantasian Productions has given Cress an accessory called the Technical Ring when you start the game, this will give you the Manuel Control option. When equipped which allows you to freely move around the Battlefield without constantly returning to your standard position.

Regardless of what the game says on the back of the box, you can actually get a second player to control another character by plugging in a controller and equipping a second character with a Channelling accessory. You can also plug in a PlayStation Multitap to allow up to 4 players each equipped with Channelling accessories to be able to play together locally.

Characters have their own abilities that are called Artes which are basically skills of strike and magical attacks which are used to take down powerful enemies in the game. It's easier to combine Strike Artes with Magic Artes as they do more damage then standard attacks. Artes can be learned by levelling up while some others such as Magic Artes and also Arcane Artes can be purchased b NPC's while summon spirits are earned through battles with them. They can be turned off in the Artes menu or can just assign your teammates to use them Manually or shortcut buttons.

For characters styles of fighting, Cress relays on his weapons such as Swords, Axes and Spears. Cress' attack has two different attack stats that represent one for Slash and one for Thrust. Swords doing all round damage, Axes are better for Slash while Spears are better for Thrusting. Chester Burklight is an Archer who shoots arrows at enemies and in this version Chester can now have his own Artes which makes a useful Long Range character in battle unlike in the SNES version. Mint Adenade is the party's healer and can use a variety of healing and support spells to keep your members alive when injured or inflicted with status aliments. Claus F Lester is a summoner and can summon beasts that you've earned from beating them in battle while Arche Klein is a magic user who can conjure up deadly spells like Ice Tornado, Eruption, Thunder Blade and advanced spells like God's Breath, Fire Storm and Indignation. The updated battle system offers plenty of depth and rebalance as well as tweaks such as removing Mints Valkyrie spell and Arche's Extinction. Boss battles are cool and challenging and also Phantasian Productions has also added additional difficulties which can make the game almost impossible and must only be attempted by masters of the game due to the aggressive AI and uneven stats each monster has. Ether way it's an amazingly addictive combat system but it's understandable that it isn't as advanced as future titles.

For the most part the battle mechanics have improved quite a lot from it's SNES counterpart but however there is one issue, the random encounter frequency. Random battles are triggered every few steps on the world map and in dungeons, the problem with that is that it tends to bother you when you're solving a puzzle which becomes aggravating. However it is important to grind because bosses do tend to put up a reasonable challenge and later enemies can really mess you up and put you in a disadvantage.

In addition to the updated battle system, there are numerous new features to the game that are added in this version while others not seen in the later GBA version. First up is cooking, it allows you to cook recipes for your party members to recover HP, TP and other status elements. You've seen this idea in perhaps later Tales Of games like Eternia, Symphonia, Abyss and so on as this proved useful in keeping your party members healthy even if the ingredients became expensive.

There are around 25 recipes in the game to find in towns as they each have what's called a Wonder Chef. Another new feature is titles which some can think as achievements but however it's for characters for completing certain actions in the game, some of these are acquired through levelling and story while you can get others through sidequests.

Speaking of which are also some new sidequests in this version as well as brand new areas and dungeons. New areas involve the updated shadow dungeon and the extended Treant Forest which can be difficult to go through. There is a brand new minigame where you play as Arche in a Horizontal 2D shooter as you use both front and backward attacks to take down everything on the screen, there is also one sidequest following a young ninja girl named Suzu Fujibayashi where you need to help her find her parents and doing so will allow her to join you in battle. She uses her Ninjitsu to rapidly cut down enemies, throw fiery shurikens and summon a mighty giant frog that can breathe fire, yes it can breathe fire...just don't ask how.

If you're still into old school style RPG's then Tales of Phantasia for the PlayStation is one RPG that is both impressively remastered and still enjoyable after a long while. With improved mechanics, brand new extra content as well as great storyline and characters make it the best version of Tales Of Phantasia available to English speaking gamers. You will be held back by the Phantasian Productions patch's issues with the collector's book and looking at one location on the map, it also has a major issue if ran on the PS2 where you get up to the final boss and then crashes. It's more playable on PS1 Emulators and modded PS1 Consoles but at least you can use Absolute Zero's patch which at least has no issues. If you can ignore those issues and want the additional difficulties then go with Phantasian Productions but otherwise stick to the Absoulte Zero English Patch which came before it. Tales Of Phantasia is now 18 years old and thankfully for the title in the series, it's tale has aged wonderfully.
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The Good Points:
1. Improved Battle Mechanics and also has 4 Player support
2. Several new additions such as side quests, replacements and improvements in-which some of them where not seen in the later GBA version
3. Phantasian Productions Patch provides new difficulty settings (when unlocked) and also has the options to have Artes named differently
4. The best version of Fighting of the Spirit heard in any version, Ever
5. Characters still engaging and enjoyable and also the added cutscenes and some Animé sequences add more to the story

The Bad Points:
1. Awkward random encounter frequency
2. Phantasian Productions English Patch has a few minor bugs
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
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Get the full article at GameSpot

"AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Tales of Phantasia for the PlayStation..." was posted by AQWBlaZer91 on Tue, 14 May 2013 16:20:52 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tales-of-phantasia-1998/user-reviews/811304/platform/ps/ Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:46:48 -0700 clock0 reviewed Sonic Dash for the iPhone/iPod... http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-dash/user-reviews/810718/platform/iphone/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

This is one of the best apps I have ever played.This is a sonic version of temple run but even better then temple run you can chose to play as 4 characters Sonic,Tails,Amy and Knuckles.My favorite character in this game is knuckles but it doesn't matter which character you have because they all do the same moves but it is cool to add different characters to play as.This game is really awesome.What do you get when you put temple run and sonic in a blender? A pretty damn good smoothie.Temple Run + Sonic=A pretty damn awesome game.This is a free app and it is worth getting.If you liked all the temple runs then by all means get this really awesome game.I deleted subway surfer because I had this awesome game to replace it so goodbye subway surfer and hello sonic dash,but I didn't delete temple run because that game is too good to be deleted but this game I will NEVER delete it is just so damn awesome.

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"clock0 reviewed Sonic Dash for the iPhone/iPod..." was posted by clock0 on Fri, 26 Apr 2013 20:46:48 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-dash/user-reviews/810718/platform/iphone/ Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:14:56 -0700 ad0234 reviewed New Super Mario Bros. U for the Wii U... http://www.gamespot.com/new-super-mario-bros-u/user-reviews/810485/platform/wii-u/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Last year has been a significant one for the New Super Mario Bros series, since Nintendo had released two games of it in that year. That isn't to be said it was a very good one. The earlier one, New Super Mario Bros 2, released on the 3DS, was shoved in during the development of the Wii U version, with young, more inexperienced people working on the game, and one that didn't really succeed all too much, because it was simply too similar to it's predecessors, adding barely any novelty to the series. And then there was New Super Mario Bros U. A game with more significant changes and additions, and simply put, a game that savored more professional work and effort. And New Super Mario Bros U is also the first Mario platformer launch title since Super Mario 64 on the N64. Plus the Wii U needed some fresh, exclusive titles for it's launch, since a lot of the launch games were only ports of games already existing on different platforms. Luckily, New Super Mario Bros U, unlike the 3DS version, has succeed in bringing the series back to a more glamorous shine, even though it isn't that kind of launch title to show off the new console's possibilities and strengths.

--- Presentation ---

Believe it or not, but in New Super Mario Bros U, the story actually gets a little twist. Instead of having Bowser and family kidnapping the Princess and taking her to Bowser's own castle, Bowser this time decides to simply take over Peach's castle, throwing Mario and CO. far, far away from the castle, and now it's up to the heroes to make their way back to the castle and save Peach and the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser's mighty plans. In every other game such little twist would have absolutely no impact, but for a Mario game, it's actually quite a nice one.

Actually, it is the twists, the little or not so little twists to the New Super Mario Bros formula, that separate this game from it's predecessors. In a nutshell, New Super Mario Bros U is what you expect, and what you've come to know. You have to make your way through eight different worlds in order to defeat Bowser and save Peach and the Kingdom, each world contains it's own typical theme, you'll always encounter a level count that retains the ca. 8-10 levels per world, and so on.

Making your way back to the castle instead of moving away from it gave the developers an opportunity to give the game another load of novelty they have missed. Since your way to the final stand of Bowser is more the exact opposite direction than it is usual, it would have been more than fitting to have some dramatic shift in world themes and the order of them. Instead, New Super Mario Bros U has pretty much the exact same world themes as well as order like in the previous New Super Mario Bros games. Yet, New Super Mario Bros U gives each world theme a new, little twist to make them feel at least a little different.

And another, much better twist of New Super Mario Bros U: It's the first of the New Super Mario Bros games to contain a big, full featured world map with all the smaller worlds fit into it, making the vibrant and rich world of Mario viewable in a whole. It's smaller worlds are connected great with each other, the path Mario must take through the main worlds takes you everywhere, and the different world themes make for a colorful and detailed world map. Not only does it look beautiful, but it also adds a better sense of an actual adventure happening. During any time you may scroll around the map and take a peak at where the adventure will take you, and adding to the charm, the game tosses a few cut scenes that show what happens to the castle while Mario's on his way to that destination. And one last note: the game's world map also contains extra content such as enemies and powerups wondering around the world map, as well as a few other clever features, including some little by-the-by minigames, and hidden paths that must be found, making the world map part of the fun.

As far as the new features of the Wii U go, New Super Mario Bros U doesn't take that much usage of them. It's the best launch title to show off the off-screen play, but the touchscreen is only used for multiplayer, with some good yet limited use of it, and the visuals do not push the graphical abilities of Nintendo's system at all. Don't get me wrong, though, this isn't counted as a negative.

What does seem like a negative is that it seems like Nintendo took it quite easy with this game and made it themselves quite comfortable. They did put a lot of thought and polish into this game, but you'll also notice that they only did that, what was really necessary. Take the visuals, for example. Seeing the typical New Super Mario Bros visual style shine in HD, with backgrounds finally being 3D and getting lots of depth really is great. Actually, there are multiple beautiful and impressive looking backgrounds here to be admired. However, seeing the game recycling backgrounds for multiple levels is a bit odd. Or take the animations. Seriously, Nintendo took the amount of newly created animations to the possible minimum, making some cutscenes look a bit dated.

However, what's absolutely not acceptable is the soundtrack. It's still heavily the soundtrack from the Wii game, with some more, new tracks than New Super Mario Bros 2 had, but it's still lame having to hear so many tracks from the Wii game a third time. It's reaching a limit where the music just comes soaring out of people's ears right after entering them, and it's pretty frustrating and odd to see that Nintendo was so lazy with the game's soundtrack when considering that Nintendo puts a lot of effort into making good music for most of their games.

--- Gameplay ---

Just as the presentation, New Super Mario Bros U's gameplay is very familiar. Like usual for a 2D platformer game, you guide Mario from left to right, avoiding the usual obstacles while snagging powerups to enlarge your chance of success and coins to collect 1-Ups, which are as easy to become as stomping yet another Goomba. Controls are, weirdly, even better than ever. Mario has all of his typical moves at disposal, and he controls as if you're controlling him with your own thoughts. Level Design in New Super Mario Bros U is even more creative than ever, offering the best levels of the series so far, with some meaty challenge after the first 4 worlds of the game, and the 3 Star Coins in each to find, some of them hidden cleverly, while some other are hard to reach. Not to forget the occasional secret exits that unlock hidden paths among the world map. It's all quite familiar yet all still so fun. And like stated before, it's not as if the game hasn't improved over it's predecessors, since it's got clearly the best level design of all four games. And there is some innovation in the level design; a few new ideas and objects as well as a combination of 2 familiar ideas that haven't been combined within a level before make for some innovation, though not much. The majority of the levels seem rather familiar, just better and more cleverly designed than ever.

It's outside of the level design where the game picks more up in novelty. Baby Yoshi's can be found on the world map which than follow you from level to level, until you die or lose them, granting Mario some unique, new powers. Meanwhile, Nabbit, a totally new character to the Mario Universe, steals Mushrooms from Mushroom houses and hides in specific levels, who you then have to chase down in the level he hides in. A much different, but nice addition is the integration of Miiverse. It lets you state your opinion about levels you've just played, while at the same time let's comments from many different people appear on the world map. It really is these touches that make the game stand out from the other ones and let it feel fresh.

And of course, this game can be experienced, just like the Wii one, with multiple friends among your side. While the main four players still play the same role and characters, a fifth player can join the Mustache-Mushroom fun and create platforms out of thin air, as well as interact with some enemies and platforms. The multiplayer is as fun and chaotic as ever, and definitely a particularly great offering for parties. The addition of a fifth player engaging himself with a kind of god-mode is a nice one, though it's probably not as fun as playing as one of the 4 main characters. It can however be a great help for inexperienced gamers, or a great option for those who aren't very good at platformer games and just want to join the fun fast and easy. Oh, and if you're up for some competitive play, Coin Battle mode is the perfect choice. It's the same as in the Wii game, yet a bit more competitive this time around.

Snagging a copy of New Super Mario Bros U will also mean you'll have quite an impressive amount on content to discover. The lengthy main game is only part of what forms New Super Mario Bros U, as there are also two additional modes, Boost Rush Mode and Challenge Mode. Boost Rush Mode is about mastering side scrolling levels as fast as possible, speeding up the scrolling by collecting coins, which is accessible from one to five players. The real surprise is challenge mode. This mode tosses challenges towards you that rate from one star (fairly challenging) to 5 stars(super-enormous-tough), in which you can get a bronze medal, silver medal or gold medal. Or of course a fail. These challenges take place either in totally new terrains or in levels from the main game, and it's incredibly fun to try to beat each challenge, and succeeding in them is tremendously satisfying. They are also quite varied, and only the fewest are less than good or frustrating.

--- Verdict ---

It's simple: New Super Mario Bros U prefers to deliver an experience not very different from it's predecessors, while at the same time, never falling into the category "predictable". Sure, there are some overly predictable parts in the game. But others, like the sudden appearance of an classic Mario enemy in glorious HD on your TV screen that hasn't been seen since the mighty Super Mario World, or a level with a theme unlike any other level seen before in the New Super Mario Bros series, form some truly great moments of the game. You won't be able to shake off the familiar feel the game has, but these new, little twists make sure you will be getting enough "new" to keep you playing.

In fact, New Super Mario Bros U is without a doubt the best entry into it's series yet, as well as one of the launch titles worth to get for the Wii U. It's level design is always creative and fun, it is an overall challenging and satisfying game with lots of secrets, it's got some cool bosses and a very epic final battle, and, unlike the 3DS version, it's able to separate itself from it's predecessors, with new features and innovations, new, additional modes, in particular challenge mode, that add variety, novelty and more fun content as well as HD graphics with much nicer visuals. It's definitely not a good showcase of the Wii U, and does not present next-generation gaming in any ways, but that isn't a negative at all. What does disturb at some occasions is when you do notice that it could have been more, it could have been grander, as Nintendo did stay relatively save with this title, not taking too many risks (and yes, even in terms of level design that is). But it's still an incredibly enjoyable game that is definitely worth getting.

The Good
+ creative, varied and challenging levels
+ fun and cool boss battles
+ Incredible controls
+ Nice HD visuals
+ a full world map with all the little worlds connected with each other adds to the experience and looks really good
+ new features and other innovations give the game a fresh enough feeling, while still featuring many throwbacks
+ Multiplayer is a blast
+ great use of Miiverse

The Bad
- Recycled music, again
- occasionally predictable
- game lies on the safe side


Review Score: 8.0/10

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"ad0234 reviewed New Super Mario Bros. U for the Wii U..." was posted by ad0234 on Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:14:56 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/new-super-mario-bros-u/user-reviews/810485/platform/wii-u/ Fri, 12 Apr 2013 07:47:54 -0700 Berkut666 reviewed Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/need-for-speed-hot-pursuit/user-reviews/810144/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Could have been better. Simplistic controls, bad vehicle handling. Graphics are pretty good. The cop missions are by far the best.

The level up system is quite a good idea, however it is basically the same for racers and cops.

The levels are well laid out. Tracks are nice. I will say it was a nightmare to get started. I like a game I can put in the tray and just play. This took ages to get to an actual race. you HAVE to sit through cut scenes, and before that I had major issues with security (it kept on forcing me to confirm my Xbox live account)

I would have liked more options to modify the cars, and maybe a better car dynamic than "Oh look I have unlocked the next level"

I will be honest and say I did not play it online but I have no intention of doing so. I have played it for a few hours, and that was enough for me.

In conclusion, OK game just not for me!

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Berkut666 reviewed Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Berkut666 on Fri, 12 Apr 2013 07:47:54 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/need-for-speed-hot-pursuit/user-reviews/810144/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:54:47 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Final Fantasy: All The Bravest for the iPhone/iPod... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-all-the-bravest/user-reviews/810055/platform/iphone/ ...and gave it a 1.0.

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Game Title: Final Fantasy: All the Bravest
Platform: iOS
Developer: Bitgrove
Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: Action RPG
Age Rating: N/A
Release Date: 17th January 2013
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Game Score: 1.1/10
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Summery:
All the Bravest's mindless gameplay, stupid micro-transaction problems make this application a total insult to both fans of the series and to video games in general.
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Throughout the years Final Fantasy has had of case between great games during the 8 bit, 16 bit and the PlayStation eras. However since Final Fantasy XI, the series has gone a different direction and it's gone between both good remakes of the old games and Tactics while releasing a series of completely terrible games. We were hoping for Square Enix get on with Versus XIII but instead we get this time around is a god awfully abysmal game for the Ipad that comprises on micro-transaction deals. It's result is Final Fantasy: All the Bravest for the iOS which no hardcore or causal gamer should ever, ever play.

There is only one factor about this game that I like and that it does feature classic tunes from each of the represented titles like the battle music and the overworld maps from each of the games, the rest of the games features carry nothing but serious issues. Technically speaking, the game's graphics are nice and it does feature some nice character and monster sprites even if there animations are laughable. Spell effects and summons do fair much better though.

First up this game is supposed to be an RPG with a storyline right, well guess what? There isn't to this game. Basically all your favourite sprite based heroes from the originals all the way up to XIII join forces together for whatever reason to take down all the monsters and bosses without any dialogue what-so-ever. Instead characters go from one spot to the next to fight a series of monsters and eventually fighting a boss. You'll gain EXP and level ups as well as Gil but however there isn't any in the game what-so-ever, eventually you'll gain additional weapons which can allow characters to deal greater damage and it's automatically equipped to your party members.

The game's giant and fatal flaw with All the Bravest is the gameplay. One of it's main features is that the game has a micro-transaction deal where you need to pay real money for adding characters to your party. Instead of having 4 members you get to control up to 30 characters at Max together and it costs 0.99 to get a random character from the series into your party. This costs over 27.72 for the full party in total and worst off it's randomized so you can't pick who you'd want in your party and also it will always be different so if you were hoping to get Cloud Strife in your party only for you to get someone else that you don't want. You do have 25 job characters that you can unlock as you go and enlist them to your party. On top of Square Enix's scam list, you want to know how to get to the other locations in the game? Pay 3.99 to in which you have dozens of Gil in the game at your disposal that you could have used instead. It's just totally stupid for the company to take your hard earned money since an average playthrough will probably cost you over 40.00 top of the game's cheap download price.

The worst thing about the game is it's battle system. Sure it uses the Active Time Battle system where characters have to wait for their bar to be full before they can attack but however all you do in the battles is mindlessly tap or swipe your finger across your party and they will automatically attack the enemy on screen. You simply cannot simply command them to attack whatever enemy on the screen. All characters including the white mage characters jut simply attack but they have their own attacks to deal damage to the enemies. What's bad about this system is that all battles relay why to much on mindlessly swiping the screen and on top of that it really tires your hand out after only the first few battles you have in the game but that ain't the worst of the battle systems problems.

The characters can die in one hit when attacked and when your party is wiped out you have 2 very stupid options instead of just selecting the retry battle option or using a Phoenix Down when one member dies. Your First option is wait for 3 minutes for one member to be brought back to life only to get his backside handed to him again, this would however take about 90 minutes for your entire party to be revived. Your second is to use an Hourglass which instantly revives your allies and resume the fight. OKAY HANG ON! How do Hourglasses revive party members? That doesn't even make any sense at all. On top of that you need buy them as well as if you've already spent your entire allowance on the maps and characters in which again why can't you just pay for them with your Gil instead.

After only nearly an hour with the game. Your hand would be tired out when playing and you would simply figure that you regretted ever buying this game. Overall Final Fantasy: All the Bravest's mindless gameplay, stupid micro-transaction problems make this application a total insult to both fans of the series and to video games in general. If you see this game in the app store, don't even think about downloading it let alone look at it. With the original Final Fantasy games already available on the app store, your better with those games instead.

Seriously avoid this game at all costs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. Features classic tunes

The Bad Points:
1. Terrible and mindless gameplay that relies nothing more then screen swiping
2. Costs money to unlock all the content
3. Micro-transaction deal of picking out random characters as well as additional for reviving which is annoying
4. Features little to no story, and gameplay is completely boring and devoured of any substance
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-all-the-bravest/user-reviews/810055/platform/iphone/ Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:02:56 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Orcs & Elves for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/orcs-and-elves/user-reviews/810036/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Orcs & Elves
Platform: Nintendo DS
Developer: id Software, Fountainhead Entertainment
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: Fantasy Role Playing Game
Age Rating: PEGI: 12+, ESRB: T for Teen
Release Date: March 13th 2007 (US), March 16th 2007 (UK)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 7.5/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
It's a short-lived experience but however Orcs & Elves has a well balanced and fast paced RPG game design that's both accessible and fun.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It's incredible to see that the mobile phones are capable of gaming as they do exist some games that are actually impressive. Id software did an RPG version of it's popular Doom games as well as it's lesser known but well received mobile title that is Orcs & Elves, which is ported to the Nintendo DS a year later. For it's translation from mobile phone to the DS it's impressive in spite of it's overall length.

You play as an Elven warrior named Elli who is accompanied by a magical talking wand named Ellon. He is tasked with the goal of travelling towards the mountain of Zharrkarag where a tribe of dwarves have been overrun by a massive load of evil Orcs and all that remain of them are their spirits. You dive into Dwarfen territory to find out the source of the problem, but eventually you learn about the true evil behind the assault and also the death of the dwarves king named Brahm. It's a simple plot but however the characters are interesting by the Dwarfen spirit's dialogue being spoken in ghostly text and also sticking to the old English language which is refreshing for them and each spirit you meet later on in the game has some personality to them. As for your talking wand Ellon, he has a cheeky but proud personality as he served Elli's father and also tends to insult the bad guys pretty much which is amusing.

Orcs & Elves takes place in First Person where the game plays like a classic dungeon crawler much like the Eye of the Beholder series. In the dungeons you'll spend the entire game looking for gold and treasure, enemies to kill, secrets areas to discover and of course earning EXP and Gold from monsters which can level up your character. One of the key features of the game is that it focuses on turn based combat even though the game is in First person. Everything you do such as moving, using potions, attacking enemies and so on all use up one turn and each enemy you face in the game will use it's turn as well.

You control your Character using the control interface on the Touch Screen or by using the DS face controls. The D-pad moves your character and using the L or R strafes and since it is turn based your movement is grid based. You use the A button to use your current weapon and also you can use the X Button to cycle between your available weapons. You can use the Y button to skip your turn which actually helps to let the enemies get close to you and finally the Select button brings up the Map for the bottom screen. You can also use the icons on the touch screen to touch the equipment you want to use, activate the map or repair your armour. In my opinion the DS face controls work better but using the Touch screen controls is a nice mechanic.

What's impressive about Orcs & Elves is how well each dungeon is designed. You wonder around each of the games varied dungeons where you'll have enemies to fight against and also you'll need to find some treasure and items lying around that will be a variety of different potions and ales as well as ammo for other weapons that you can use when you're in danger. If you explore hard enough through the levels and have the map activated on the bottom screen, you'll find secrets with hidden and rare items inside. Should you eliminate all enemies and find all the hidden secrets of each level, you'll get a bonus amount of EXP for 100% completion which is helpful for easier level ups.

You'll have a few puzzles to solve such as talking to the spirits which can give you the code to open locked doors, getting through walls that can crush you before you can deactivate them and moving boulders out of your path. Each of these environments are well paced and they are well designed for the main purpose of the game.

Once you go through the dungeon you'll discover a Fire portal which takes you to the Dragon's Lair which is guarded by the Mighty Dragon Gaya who in which has a shop allowing you to buy weapons, rings and potions. You start out with your basic sword and armour as well as your talking wand but eventually as you progress further into the game you'll eventually gain better weapons like a Flaming Sword, a Vorpal Sword which gives the power of lighting, powerful crossbows, phoenix eggs that are like explosive bombs, a dragons breath which can burn enemies, a powerful hammer named Abraxas which crush enemies and can target enemies that surround you. and finally the scroll which can petrify monsters.

Eventually your magic wand will gain new spells and become more powerful as you advance through the game. It will grant you 4 spells that are Lighting and Fire which are powerful against some types of enemies and there is Stun which can stop enemies for a few turns and the last spell is Force which can shove enemies out of your way. Most of the spells are useful but sometimes you won't end up using most of your other arsenal you have until later portions of the game where you need to use a scroll or a long range weapon to knock down a boulder for you to safely move on. Be careful though as you'll also have a rat that will try to steal some of your stuff such as gold or in one segment of the game your wand. At the end of most dungeons there will be a quick boss battle which takes several hits and few potions to be put down but there's not much strategy needed for them.

The main issue with the game is that the overall game's length is about 6 hours which is incredibly short when you just scratch the surface of the games main content, however searching for secrets and defeating all enemies in each dungeon can extend it to nearly 7 to 8 hours of gameplay from start to finish. You're actually are better playing it on the harder difficulty settings which does provide more of a reasonable challenge then the default Normal. This is because it takes longer to beat since you need to spend time grinding and thankfully the respawning enemies on Nightmare will happily help with that since their corpses that you don't destroy will come back to life to attack you again. Yes, I actually managed to beat Nightmare mode on Orcs & Elves and I was Level 35 when I finished it and it's a great achievement for me.

While the gameplay of Orcs & Elves has been translated well from the mobile, the graphics have been improved well from it too. The enemy and weapons sprites as well as the ghostly 3d models of the dwarfs are impressive. The environments as already stated are well designed to the whole medieval setting and the animations for the ghostly dwarfs texts are impressive with the way that the words animate.

As for the soundtrack it's mostly heard on the main menu and at the games background story rather then the gameplay. Still it's decent orchestral music and the sound effects for the monsters and weapons are impressive.

For a Mobile Phone game it's impressive for it to translate it nicely to the handheld. It's a short-lived experience but however Orcs & Elves has a well balanced and fast paced RPG game design that's both accessible and fun. If you can get at a cheaper price rather then full price then this game is worth it but however you will be disappointed at it's overall length.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. An excellent translation from mobile to the DS
2. Nice control interface and turn based combat
3. The Dungeons are nice and are well designed

The Bad Points:
1. It's very short.
2. No music during the gameplay
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

"AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Orcs & Elves for the DS..." was posted by AQWBlaZer91 on Tue, 09 Apr 2013 06:02:56 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/orcs-and-elves/user-reviews/810036/platform/ds/ Fri, 29 Mar 2013 08:37:57 -0700 clock0 reviewed Temple Run: Oz for the iPhone/iPod... http://www.gamespot.com/temple-run-oz/user-reviews/809547/platform/iphone/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

This game is a great game in the temple run series.It has all new stages and powerups.If you liked temple run 2 then you will really enjoy this game.This game is 0.99$ in the app store this is worth buying because it is fun and it will get you going for awhile.This game is the better then temple run 2 because it has better powerups and new and better improved techniques.This is like temple run brave but even more better.This is basically a 2nd version of temple run 2.If you are a big temple run fan then b all means you should really buy this game.Though in this game you can only use one character.This has 2 stages to play at. 1.The woods 2.The Dark forest.This is the best temple run game as of now.If you liked the first 3 Temple Runs then you will for sure like this version of temple run.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"clock0 reviewed Temple Run: Oz for the iPhone/iPod..." was posted by clock0 on Fri, 29 Mar 2013 08:37:57 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/temple-run-oz/user-reviews/809547/platform/iphone/ Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:26:30 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xi-seekers-of-adoulin/user-reviews/809498/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 2.0.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin
Platform: Xbox 360/PC
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: MMO RPG
Age Rating: PEGI: 12+
Release Date: PC version: March 26, 2013 (US), March 27, 2013 (Europe, Australia, Japan)
Xbox 360 version: March 26, 2013 (US), March 27, 2013 (Japan, Australia, Europe)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 2.0/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
It's another mission pack for this already shallow RPG that is simply worse then the other packs avaiable in all regards.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After 5 years of one of the most disappointing online games that kept gaining money from fans for so long, It was at last we can finally put this travesty down for good. However Square Enix planned to make another Final Fantasy Online game that was XIV and we all know how bad that trash was. Final Fantasy Online continues it's long going disappointing spree with their announcement of XIV: A Realm Reborn and also it's latest Final Fantasy XI Mission pack which is no doubt the worst of them all and why did it have to exist is beyond us. This mission pack expansion is called the Seekers of Adoulin and it's available for the Xbox 360 and the PC.

This is a game that should have just been it's own game and also being that it's online that still plans to be a pay to play is disgusting. Getting the new content out of the way first, there are 2 new classes that are Geomancer and Rune Fencer that try to add new elements and also there are also 8 new enemies, a new region to play which has 12 areas to visit if you so chose to.

Sadly Final Fantasy XI's gameplay doesn't hold up at all and it's a shame XIV never solved it's issues. Basically you run around each town or dungeon talking to people to get quests to do where's all about fighting against types of monsters before taking on the next. It gets really boring quickly and worse off the battle system is super slow and uninteresting to handle.

In case anyone has thankfully never ever played Final Fantasy XI before, basically there is no battlefield when you start battles, instead the entire dungeon and overworld is treated as it's own battlefield and battles are started by walking towards enemies on the map and selecting the attack button on the command menu. You simply just watch as you and the enemy take turns to attack each other. You can select Magic spells and other abilities in the battle menu by selecting but however their set up is very confusing at times. The main feature of this being an MMO is having a party together with other players but only then the battles becomes uninteresting because the turn based battles are extremely slow and boring to play since you're mostly watching the battles. You can try and run away from battles if you possibly can and also it becomes annoying when you're attacks keep missing the target even if you as close as possible.

Final Fantasy XI's graphics won't impress anyone on the Xbox 360 version with dated visuals, blend environments and dull magic spell effects. Basically it looks rather outdated even the PC version doesn't fair better in that department. The character animations are only decent and there each of them can look good in any different kind of available outfits and armours. The soundtrack is the only thing that is good about the game. Each track features plenty of impressive beats and orchestral pieces and the sound effects are good at least.

Seekers of Adoulin won't be able to redeem any of the poorly delivered content, battles are slow and boring to play or even watch even with friends. The command interface is still terrible and also dying causes you to lose experience which is just very stupid especially if you worked really hard gaining it all only to lose it at the hands of a powerful enemy. Overall this is a poor excuse of a mission pack and it really doesn't do anything to enhance the experience of this already terrible MMO RPG game and this is overall just another mission pack for this already shallow RPG that is simply worse then the other packs available in all regards.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. At least the audio is good and that's it

The Bad Points:
1.It's still a pay to play game by monthly basis
2.Dated graphics
3.Bad user interface and the battle system is slow and boring even with friends
4.A waste of extra space and money
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xi-seekers-of-adoulin/user-reviews/809498/platform/pc/ Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:24:30 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xi-seekers-of-adoulin/user-reviews/809497/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 2.0.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin
Platform: Xbox 360/PC
Developer: Square Enix
Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: MMO RPG
Age Rating: PEGI: 12+
Release Date: PC version: March 26, 2013 (US), March 27, 2013 (Europe, Australia, Japan)
Xbox 360 version: March 26, 2013 (US), March 27, 2013 (Japan, Australia, Europe)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 2.0/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
It's another mission pack for this already shallow RPG that is simply worse then the other packs avaiable in all regards.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After 5 years of one of the most disappointing online games that kept gaining money from fans for so long, It was at last we can finally put this travesty down for good. However Square Enix planned to make another Final Fantasy Online game that was XIV and we all know how bad that trash was. Final Fantasy Online continues it's long going disappointing spree with their announcement of XIV: A Realm Reborn and also it's latest Final Fantasy XI Mission pack which is no doubt the worst of them all and why did it have to exist is beyond us. This mission pack expansion is called the Seekers of Adoulin and it's available for the Xbox 360 and the PC.

This is a game that should have just been it's own game and also being that it's online that still plans to be a pay to play is disgusting. Getting the new content out of the way first, there are 2 new classes that are Geomancer and Rune Fencer that try to add new elements and also there are also 8 new enemies, a new region to play which has 12 areas to visit if you so chose to.

Sadly Final Fantasy XI's gameplay doesn't hold up at all and it's a shame XIV never solved it's issues. Basically you run around each town or dungeon talking to people to get quests to do where's all about fighting against types of monsters before taking on the next. It gets really boring quickly and worse off the battle system is super slow and uninteresting to handle.

In case anyone has thankfully never ever played Final Fantasy XI before, basically there is no battlefield when you start battles, instead the entire dungeon and overworld is treated as it's own battlefield and battles are started by walking towards enemies on the map and selecting the attack button on the command menu. You simply just watch as you and the enemy take turns to attack each other. You can select Magic spells and other abilities in the battle menu by selecting but however their set up is very confusing at times. The main feature of this being an MMO is having a party together with other players but only then the battles becomes uninteresting because the turn based battles are extremely slow and boring to play since you're mostly watching the battles. You can try and run away from battles if you possibly can and also it becomes annoying when you're attacks keep missing the target even if you as close as possible.

Final Fantasy XI's graphics won't impress anyone on the Xbox 360 version with dated visuals, blend environments and dull magic spell effects. Basically it looks rather outdated even the PC version doesn't fair better in that department. The character animations are only decent and there each of them can look good in any different kind of available outfits and armours. The soundtrack is the only thing that is good about the game. Each track features plenty of impressive beats and orchestral pieces and the sound effects are good at least.

Seekers of Adoulin won't be able to redeem any of the poorly delivered content, battles are slow and boring to play or even watch even with friends. The command interface is still terrible and also dying causes you to lose experience which is just very stupid especially if you worked really hard gaining it all only to lose it at the hands of a powerful enemy. Overall this is a poor excuse of a mission pack and it really doesn't do anything to enhance the experience of this already terrible MMO RPG game and this is overall just another mission pack for this already shallow RPG that is simply worse then the other packs available in all regards.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. At least the audio is good and that's it

The Bad Points:
1.It's still a pay to play game by monthly basis
2.Dated graphics
3.Bad user interface and the battle system is slow and boring even with friends
4.A waste of extra space and money
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xi-seekers-of-adoulin/user-reviews/809497/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:44:49 -0700 ad0234 reviewed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/user-reviews/809408/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

I still remember the first time I started Skyrim on my PC as one of the first PC games I had bought. Quite some time has past by since I've done that. But no wonder, after being astound by the visuals, I found out what was so amazing about Skyrim: I had never seen such a huge world within a video game before. After the introduction and first few hours with the game I knew I wouldn't regret the purchase of Skyrim.

---Presentation---

Skyrim gets a lot right, that's for sure. For one, the story is very entertaining and quite gripping. You play a character who was accidentally accused by the empire, which rules Skyrim, for belonging to the enemy (there's a war between the empire and rebels) and is supposed to lose his head. He/she gets saved by an sudden attack of a dragon, a creature that is actually said to be extinct, since the chaos the dragon causes gives him/her the chance to flee with the help of some other people. During the story you'll find out that the Dragons are back to take over Skyrim, and as it comes your character is the only one able to stop the evil dragons from mischievous plans. It's an exciting story that evolves in a good pace.

Of course, the main story is only the core foundation of what is to happen in this game. Along your way, choices you make affect the story a lot. Actually, you are the one who can decide how the story shall go on. While the main story will end the way it is supposed to end eventually, you may decide how your relation ship to different people are, are able to make crucial decisions that make one group of people to your friends, and another to your foes. And of course, you may decide whether you'd like to be on the good side, or the bad side. You even decide if you want to become a warrior, magician or even a thief. Skyrim has a lot of freedom where you self are able to decide what kind of person your character is, and are able to create your own story. With that said, while it is nice to be able to make such big decisions, the consequences of a few of the little decisions aren't always fitting. The majority yes, but sometimes the consequences of decisions you make are quite incomprehensible. Other times it also felt like the developers had squeezed in one or two too many different decisions to make, when multiple decisions had the same consequence, even though they were two quite different decisions made.

Another reason why Skyrim is gorgeous are the beautiful visuals. The many landscapes of Skyrim are beautiful to have a sight of. There's an incredible amount of details in the world of Skyrim, which can be considered surprising since Skyrim is so huge. Textures are also mostly good, though taking a close look at some objects might end with some unpleasant pictures. Despite some rather muddy looking objects, it's still an outstanding looking game. The same can't be said about the soundtrack. It contains some great tracks, but not very many memorable tracks. Actually there isn't a hell of a lot of music appearing in the game, a lot of the time there isn't any music at all to be heard, and it seems quite random when the music does appear, which does make for some unfitting moments of when the music suddenly starts to play again.

By all means though, what really makes Skyrim so special is that it presents us such an lively, beautiful and exciting world to explore. The world brims of charm, the game represents so many different areas, among them very different kingdoms, so many different characters with personality and other life; it really is amazing what Bethesda has done with Skyrim. They have put so much effort into this game to really give you the feel you're exploring a real, huge world. Not unexpected, but unfortunately, there are quite some glitches and other issues that hold the world of Skyrim back at times. The misleading consequences are only the beginning of many little annoyances that ruin the immersion of Skyrim's world at times. Glitches like getting stuck in environments aren't too common, but they do happen. I don't know about you, but I do perceive it as darn strange when a Mammoth suddenly takes off into the air and lands safe short after the take off. Also, while many people in the game have quite some personality to them, I did encounter people who all shared the same sentences. Which isn't really anything bad, though it also seems very weird when over twenty guardians all seemingly have a cousin who is allowed to fight dragons, meanwhile they have to do their generic, average job as guard. Well maybe they all share the same cousin, an unlikely but still possible solution. Another situation that bothered me quite a bit was the one time where an old lady had died and was lying in the middle of a street. After I had once left and then come back, the lady was still lying there. But the stupid part is still to follow: Whenever a guard who walked along the pathway came along the dead body, he said something like "oh geez, what happened here", knelt down, then stood up again and walked further on. After turning back and coming along the dead body, he did the same thing again. The chances you notice something like that isn't high, but if you do, it really does ruin a bit of the immersion of the world for you. The same goes for dead Dragon bodies, that like to lie in the middle of a way quite some time. Sure, this doesn't have to be unrealistic, but when people suddenly walk through the bones and pretend their isn't anything lying in the way, you do get an awkward impression.

---Gameplay---

Despite my complaints about the presentation of the game, it's still outstanding in general. The same goes for the Gameplay. Right from the beginning you'll be involved in some great action, with battles that look and play great. The main Gameplay aspect of Skyrim is simply traveling through the world and finding all the different areas, always finding more and more content as if it seems that the game does not know what an ending means. And in actual, it doesn't. There are so many different places to find, and so many different missions to complete, that I hardly believe anybody really is able to complete the game with a 100 %. And even if you do have found all locations throughout the whole entire world of Skyrim (which, again, is very unlikely), there are still the many different attributes of your character that you can always improve until there isn't any more to improve. And I'm sure there will always be some foes to have a fight against.

Of course, the game would probably wear out sometime. The main reason why Bethesda had put so much work into creating a world as huge as the one in Skyrim isn't because they expected their player's to explore every single spot in the world, but that players get the feeling their adventure is taking place in what could be a real world, which also leads to even more motivation exploring at least a part of the present world. And it really works. Whenever I come across yet another cave leading into the undergrounds, it's hard to resist for me not to take a peak into the cave. And mostly it ends with me going through the whole cave, beating the baddies that get in my way and coming out with yet another completed mini-adventure that might even be very likely a part of an mission you don't even know about yet. And it's always good to find more and more places since you can fast-travel to any of these places whenever you need to. Also, seeing always more places popping up on your huge overworld map is quite satisfying.

The amount of missions is just as mind-boggling. Granted, I don't know how many there are in numbers, but I know there are a lot. I've got many on my "to do" list, I have done already a lot, and I'm absolutely sure I haven't even seen a quarter of the missions in Skyrim. The missions are also very varied. Find someone or something, bring an object to a specific place or clear off a cage from all monsters in it, these missions are varied enough and most of them are entertaining, at least the ones I've played. The game also always indicates where exactly to go to complete the mission, which guarantees that you won't be stuck on missions because you don't know where to go. That is, except when a glitch appears that let's the arrow disappear, which should normally indicate where to go: then you've got a problem. Luckily, this glitch is a very rare one.

Of course you've got the freedom and can mostly decide which mission you want to do and which not, except the missions that are required for the story mode and other missions that are part of another type of a adventure you choose to take. The freedom of the game really is an awesome part of the game. For instance: you get to make the crucial decision whether to become a magician, thief or warrior. To become a magician for example, you'll have to visit the magic academy, which will then start a kind of totally new adventure for you, that's totally separate from the main adventure, which will then confront you with many more, new missions that become mandatory if you want to end that adventure as well. It really is fun to decide what your character shall become, and to create your own story of your own character.

One thing I didn't talk about yet is the combat: a very important aspect of the game. And it's fun generally. There are tons of different weapons, armor and other spells you can learn to help you in battles (you've guessed it, you can even make your own weapons and armor), and it's really fun using the many different attacks against your enemies, finding out which one's are the best. And combat is quite satisfying as well. No matter with what you battle your enemy, seeing him finally fall is pretty satisfying, especially when special death-scenes occur. Just watch out, as you never know if you're already powerful enough to battle against a specific enemy, or not. It probably won't always end good. Combat isn't masterful though. Without a lock-on system, it's easy to miss your enemy when in a steamy fight, which can make up for some briefly frustrating moments. What really can get a little frustrating however is when you slash right through an enemy and he doesn't take any damage. Doesn't happen too often, but the collision-system isn't always precise.

If there's anything I really have to complain about the gameplay, than it is the check point system. Since there isn't anyone, actually. The game saves automatically whenever you enter an area, house, cave or whatever. But otherwise, there's no automatic saving. Sure, I know, a proper check point system wouldn't be easy to do in a game like Skyrim, but always having to think of saving the game yourself can become a tiny bit annoying, and maybe even interrupt the gameplay a little bit. The real problem of this is simply that whenever you die, you get sent back to your last saving point. And if you have forgotten to save during a long period of time, you might just have to replay a whole lot you had played before. It happened to me once or twice and it wasn't a nice experience. Not at all.

---Verdict---

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is an exceptional game. Exceptional when it comes to size, freedom, imagination and design. The main story will lead you through many exciting locations and moments, and it's only one little fraction of what is to be found in the game. But instead of just squeezing in a lot of content into a game without giving it a lot of thought and attention, most of what is to experience in Skyrim is a simple joy, with incredibly lots of content and lots to do, may it be exploring the huge world or trying to pump your many different attributes, and the game makes sure that the game still has a lot of content to be discovered after you finally get tired of the game. Put all remaining issues together in one game that mar Skyrim and you will be confronted with some of Skyrim's weaker moments not too rarely, but compare it with all the positives in the game that deserve to be mentioned, and the issues of the game seem undeniable tiny. No matter how long you expect the game to entertain, you'll be satisfied in the end. It is an everlasting game.

The Good
+ An absolutely gigantic, lively and gripping world that will always have much more content to be discovered than you plan on to discover
+ Huge number of missions with lots of variety, most of them entertaining
+ Beautiful visuals
+ Good main adventure that should keep you hooked until the end
+ A lot of freedom that lets you create your own story of your character
+ satisfying combat with many, many different fighting options
+ Overload on content that you will most likely never ever experience totally

The Bad
- technical problems and other weird moments ruin a bit of the immersion Skyrim's world creates
- automatic saving system barely even exists

Review Score: 9.0

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"ad0234 reviewed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the PC..." was posted by ad0234 on Tue, 26 Mar 2013 17:44:49 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/user-reviews/809408/platform/pc/ Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:18:02 -0700 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/peter-jacksons-king-kong-the-official-game-of-th/user-reviews/809168/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 1.5.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Peter Jackson's King Kong The Official Game of the Movie
Platform: Nintendo DS
Developer: Ubisoft Casablanca
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Action
Age Rating: PEGI: 12+, ESRB: T, Cero: A,
Release Date: 21st November 2005 (US), 2nd December 2005 (EU), 15th December 2005 (AU), 25th May 2006 (JP)
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Game Score: 1.5/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
Kong Kong on the DS is extremely terrible, uninspiring and worst of all it's really, really broken and buggy.
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While the giant ape would have it's place to shine on most other consoles, DS owners would be introduced to not only one of the worst movie tie-ins it has but as well as being one of the worst games on the platform period.

When you first boot up the game you are introduced to it's first of many problems with the game. There are no extra modes to play so you're stuck with the main game only and there are no options mode to change your settings.

Now you get into the story. You remember the plot of the King Kong movie versions right? Basically Carl Denham wants to build his movie in the legendary skull island which is located in the Pacific Ocean. Jack Driscoll his screenwriter invites the movie heroine Ann Darrow and Green Beret Hayes into the island. What they soon discover that it's home to a 25 foot giant ape called Kong who kidnaps Ann. In the DS version the cutscenes are told through stillframe images detailing some events but other then that there isn't any voice acting portrayed.

There are about 17 levels in the game and they are shared between both the First Person Shooter stages where you play as Jack and every now and then you'll be able to play as Kong for one segment before playing as Jack again for a few more levels. These levels are extremely short and also there very few Kong levels in the game.

The first gameplay perspective is the First Person shooter stages where you play as Jack as this style is like the early Turok games on the Nintendo 64. You control Jack with the D-Pad, sliding the stylus on the touchscreen and using weapons with the L button. These are the controls for left handed players but also the controls are available also for right handed players. You can use the touch screen to order your partner to open up doors and plant bombs by the arrow which allows you to order your allies. You can also activate switches by standing close to a switch and holding down the L or R buttons. Aiming is automatic which can be annoying like when you're trying to shoot down a hive when there's bees that are constantly coming at you and you're automatically targeting them instead.

A lot of these levels involve you picking up spears and using them to take out crabs, bees and a raptor. In every level you'll always be fighting crabs which gives the game a real lack of variety but where they spawn from gets annoying. In some fights 2 of them can ambush you which can surely result in your death and sometimes these ambushes can appear frequently. Whenever you take a hit the screen flashes red and you die if you take another hit. One thing also is that Jack can't do use any Melee attacks and you can only carry one gun at a time. These guns include a handgun, shotgun, machine gun or a sniper rifle so if you run out of bullets or haven't got a spare spear with you. You're screwed and you'll have to restart the stage again. The worst thing is that when you complete a stage, the game magically takes your equipped weapons away for no apparent reason what-so-ever which can sometimes leave you unarmed in a segment or 2.

When the game gets to the Kong stages the game doesn't fair any better then Jack's stages. Simply Kong's levels take place in a Third Person perspective as you climb up vines and walls to reach other areas and also you'll fight off against giant dinosaurs and raptors with button mashing skills and also using finishing moves to break the enemies jaws and hearing Kong's trademark roar when you win. Mostly these fights can only be won by mindlessly button mashing and also there are also very less Kong stages and also this version of the game has the stage where you rampage the city and the stage where you destroy the planes is also not playable which is very disappointing. Damages done to both Kong and the enemies also lack any impact.

The worst thing about the game is that it is broken. It's extremely buggy and glitchy in nearly every aspect of the game. The ingame graphics have outside lines showing and sometimes you'll might even fall through solid walls which leaves you dying inside the polygonal abyss. The crabs respawn in such a way that they can scare you at times, usually right in front of you and worst off is that spears can ultimately go through enemies at point blank range. There is also a badly distanced fog which makes the game even terrible to look at and it's even worse when an enemy is within the fog. Other problems include the game resetting when you get to Stage 9 and also humorously some enemies can instantly zoom away from you after they landed an attack on you or disappear through the walls. Until you get close for them to appear again.

On top of the bugs and glitches, the graphics themselves are horrendous and is really ugly to look at. The character models look like zombies, the weapon firing has a huge polygon mesh which makes the weapon even uglier then it always is. Even if your equipped spear has not been thrown it can go through walls and also there are no special effects in the game at all.

The only redeemable quality is the soundtrack which is aright by the systems speakers, the sound effects are poor and again there is no voice acting accept for when Jack is commanding his allies.

There is really no excuse for a game like this to really become this bad. On the plus side it will only last for about 2 hours. There is replayability or any unlockable content available for when you beat through the game and you can't replay the levels you played and you would have to erase your save to replay them again. The Metroid Prime Hunters Demo and Goldeneye Rouge Agent on the DS showed how good FPS's can be but however this version of the game just shows how lazy the game designers where when they programmed it. Overall stay away from this version of the game at all costs and stick to the superb console versions instead, it's extremely terrible, uninspiring to play and worst of all it's really, really broken and buggy which in my personal opinion makes it the worst game on the DS.
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The Good Points:
1. The soundtrack

The Bad Points:
1. No unlockable content or any replayability
2. Slow paced linear First Person Shooter levels and are poorly designed
3. Kong's fighting controls are monotonous to handle
4. Loads of Bugs and glitches show of the game's lazyiness in polish
5. A very uninspiring port
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/peter-jacksons-king-kong-the-official-game-of-th/user-reviews/809168/platform/ds/ Sun, 17 Mar 2013 23:12:25 -0700 charlesdao reviewed God of War: Ascension for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/god-of-war-ascension/user-reviews/808981/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

The most amazing new thing about Ascension is the battle mini-games, where you no longer use Quick Time Events, but something new, like well you do a finish move a on enemy the camera changes you movement gets limited and you can attack and evade only, do this right for some time and the brutal kill happens, this is better than boring Quick Time Events. The multiplayer is one of the best parts of the game, each map is unique, so when you play Desert of The lost Souls you can kill the Cyclops but on other map you can take control of a Giant Medusa, each weapon has 2 magic attacks with more than 20 weapons makes more than 50 different magic attacks. And a Human kratos is waiting for you on the single player. They even make you fight 2 bosses at the same time. The trial of arquimedes that some reviewers complain is the hardest part of the game, but i got pass this and only died there two times.

Pros: Amazing graphics, amazing soundtrack, amazing multiplayer, you get to know kratos better.

Cons:Some bugs.

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"charlesdao reviewed God of War: Ascension for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by charlesdao on Sun, 17 Mar 2013 23:12:25 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/god-of-war-ascension/user-reviews/808981/platform/ps3/ Fri, 15 Mar 2013 19:27:09 -0700 nutcrackr reviewed Tomb Raider for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider/user-reviews/808871/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Tomb Raider is a reboot to a well established, stale franchise that was in need of an overhaul. It aims to tell the origins story of Lara Croft, the well known archaeologist heroine. It's grittier and more gruesome than any of the series previous games. Crystal Dynamics have made some big changes to the combat, platforming and puzzles. Almost all of the modifications are improvements to a franchise that has been stuck in a rut for a while. Its biggest source of inspiration comes from the Uncharted series, but it manages to put it's own spin on the action-adventure third person shooter genre. This reboot has young Lara Croft facing dangers she was never prepared for.

Lara's journey begins on the ship Endurance with a small crew in search of the lost kingdom of Yamatai. Lara's intuition sends the Endurance through a mighty storm that breaks the ship in two. While some of the crew escape on lifeboats, Lara washes up on a mysterious island and is taken captive by crazed inhabitants. The Solarii inhabitants have been trapped on the island for decades. Lara's adventure will unearth a sordid past of gruesome sacrifices and remnants from World War 2. Anyone who tries to leave the island is killed by powerful storms. Lara and her friends must find the source of these storms before they can escape.

The atmospheric beginning of the game centres on survival. Lara escapes the Solarii before isolation drives her to shelter. She is tasked with finding food using a newly acquired bow. After apologising to a dying deer, she skins the creature for its meat. This is the only time in the entire game, spanning several days, where Lara needs food or water. Her ankle even gets caught in a bear trap, yet she moves freely minutes later. There is massive schism between the survival narrative, told through cut scenes, and the action game design. The engrossing atmosphere is preserved until the conclusion, but survival aspects are mishandled or tossed aside. Tomb Raider is not a survival game and rarely tries to bridge the gap that indicates otherwise.

You may become attached to Lara through the hardships she faces and not because of her subdued personality. Lara gets battered and bruised more than any other hero in recent history. She endures a monastery exploding in flames, buildings collapsing, zip-lines breaking, planes falling and winds ripping walls apart. There is very little revealed about Lara beneath her scratched, muddied exterior. The back story is limited to a handful of flashbacks that don't lead anywhere. Lara's campfire journals offer brief, predictable insights into a character that you desperately want to know. Camilla Luddington has a great voice, but her timely moans are more prominent than her conversations or monologues. Lara stands tall during adversity but you are seldom exposed to a deeper personality.

The design of combat is separate from the survival themes. It is the most improved aspect of this reboot and very different from previous Tomb Raider games. It clearly takes inspiration from the Uncharted series with fast aiming, nimble movement, close over the shoulder view and melee importance. Platforming during combat is carefully managed and exploited by foes. You take cover behind boxes and walls automatically. You crouch behind cover and peak out naturally when you aim. Exploding red barrels are found almost everywhere and enemy grenades force you from cover. Your arsenal is fairly balanced and you'll rarely need to worry about ammo. The vastly different combat is a wholesale improvement over the previous games and matches many modern shooters.

When enemies get close, you can use Lara's agility to perform sneaky moves. Your melee weapon, a climbing axe, is not a great option unless enemies are weakened. Instead, you scramble on the ground to avoid attacks. You can throw dirt at nearby enemies to make them vulnerable or give yourself time to retreat. It is possible to counter melee attacks and carefully plant an arrow in an enemy's knee. Certain skills produce horrific finishing moves on injured Solarii. The scramble and melee counters make the action even more fun when enemies get close.

Stealth occurs naturally when nearby enemies are oblivious to your presence. You can get close to foes, as their vision is very fair compared to the size of levels. You are able to silently choke enemies from behind and avoid detection without firing a weapon. The bow is most useful during stealth; silent headshots are easy to achieve and arrows distract enemies. Certain scenarios craft wonderful stealth experiences. One such scenario has you moving through a forest under darkness while Solarii guards scour the area with flashlights. You can use the trees for cover, wade through the central river or use the zip lines to come from behind. Most sequences don't give you the chance to sneak around. Given the quality of the stealth, it's a shame there wasn't more of it during the game.

Platforming is more forgiving and pleasurable than its predecessors due to its brevity. Lara can scale ledges, slide over zip lines and swing on banners. A climbing axe is used to latch onto visually unique rocks and clamber around perilous cliffs. Zip lines allow for faster movement between areas and often replace tedious back tracking. Lara's movement requires less ruthless precision, unless you are dropping from one zip line to another. You won't be redoing many long platforming sections because the game saves frequently. There are no lengthy sections where Lara uses her upper body strength while you stare at walls. The platforming is less important, but Lara is still nimble and strong when she needs to be.

Most puzzles have been relegated into the optional, basic Tombs. The campaign has puzzles, but they rarely hold you up for more than a few seconds. The puzzles in Tombs are not dissimilar from those in Half-Life 2. They might involve weighing down a seesaw to leap towards climbable rocks. Or you may need to drag a pontoon across electrified water. Tombs only take a few minutes to complete and much of that time is spent crawling into them. Completing Tombs is not very fulfilling partly because you open identical chests which provide treasure maps of nearby collectables. Tombs are optional and easy, but they should have been more involving to give a sense of accomplishment. Crystal dynamics have proven themselves proficient in puzzle design, so it's a shame the puzzles are brief and hidden away.

You have access to varied tools that are used to progress or find hidden collectibles. From the opening sequence, a torch is used to set objects on fire to create explosions or release salvage. Salvage is then used to upgrade weapons with more damage or faster reloading. Once you get the shotgun, it can tear down barricades exposing hidden relics. The rope arrow can latch onto objects and create zip lines. The ascender provides rapid movement on zip lines or a way to pull heavy objects. These tools are steadily exposed to you so you can unlock areas you may have spotted minutes before. Having the entire tool set makes exploring the beginning areas quite liberating.

Tomb Raider is a pleasure to continue playing after you've finished the game. You are free to fast travel to campsites in each of the areas. It's not an open world game but you can explore to finish tombs, find relics or do other side tasks. Some areas, like the beach, are brimming with visual splendour and wildlife. The game repopulates areas with oblivious enemies that you can shoot or stealth your way past. This increased opportunity for stealth will make you wonder why there wasn't more during the campaign. Instinct mode highlights collectibles but isn't required. Tomb Raider is a relaxing game to play, even on the hardest difficulty, and returning to the world is more fun than you might expect.

Tomb Raider is a good reboot because it reinvigorates a constrained and predictable series. It's a shame the survival aspects are not perpetuated when the premise is ideal for it. Lara's personality is also hidden under her toughened and beaten exterior. It's fortunate that the game is so delightful to play, whether you are jumping, shooting or exploring. The brevity of puzzles and platforming is the special recipe that pulls the series from it's over reliance on those aspects. Puzzles could be more prominent though, especially when most are optional. The combat is smooth and stealth is the perfect complimentary element. Tomb Raider might not be a game about survival, but the changes it introduces will keep the franchise alive for years to come.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"nutcrackr reviewed Tomb Raider for the PC..." was posted by nutcrackr on Fri, 15 Mar 2013 19:27:09 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tomb-raider/user-reviews/808871/platform/pc/ Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:41:21 -0800 clock0 reviewed Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for iPad for the iPhone/iPod... http://www.gamespot.com/ultimate-mortal-kombat-3-for-ipad/user-reviews/808588/platform/iphone/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Mortal kombat 3 in your hands is a very great idea for true mortal kombat fans.If you like Mortal kombat 3 then you will love this game and you will love it even more now that you know you can play it on the go.This is not the best Mortal kombat game but this is a very great mortal kombat game now in your hands.I would prefer this over Mortal kombat advanced on the Gameboy advanced.This game is touch controls so the controls might be frustrating to some people but im not complaining about it.This game has a decent amount of characters and a nice list of fatalites.This game allows you to play mortal kombat 3 anywhere and at anytime.This is a nice classic on the go.If you played Mortal kombat in the past then this game will bring you down memory lane.Score 7.0 out of 10.Thanks for reading my review of Mortal Kombat 3 on the iPad,iPhone and iPod touch.

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"clock0 reviewed Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 for iPad for the iPhone/iPod..." was posted by clock0 on Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:41:21 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/ultimate-mortal-kombat-3-for-ipad/user-reviews/808588/platform/iphone/ Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:43:49 -0800 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas for the PlayStation... http://www.gamespot.com/die-hard-trilogy-2-viva-las-vegas/user-reviews/808439/platform/ps/ ...and gave it a 5.0.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas
Platform: PlayStation
Developer: N-Space
Publisher: Fox Interactive
Genre: Action
Age Rating: BBFC: 15+. ESRB: M for Mature
Release Date: February 28th 2000 (North America), 2000 (Europe)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 5.0/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
John McClane fails to take justice in a poorly delivered sequel which ultimately fells way to similar or worse then it's predecessor.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oddly titled Die Hard Trilogy 2, it's a sequel to the superb PlayStation hit Die Hard Trilogy with the same three in one gaming perspectives. The ending result is a game where it fails in mostly fronts that leaves you to Die really Hard.

The game takes place inside a holiday city that never sleeps called Las Vegas where John McClane's old friend invite him to a party for his celebration of being the warden of Mesa Grande Prison. John McClane soon gets himself into big trouble when inmates run riot and prison guards helping them escape...for some reason, why I do not know. John's best solution to those issues is to point and shoot at bad guys without much in the way of giving doesn't much F-Bombs and the way Brace Willis has always portrayed his character in the movies. On the plus side there is some decent voice acting dispute a few dry lines including John's famous line "Yippe kai yay!" and also Brace Willis does not portray his role of John McClane like in the movies.

Just like with it's predecessor Viva Las Vegas has 3 different perspectives. One game places John McClane in a third person shooter where you shoot down bad guys, solve some environmental puzzles to advance further and collect better weapons as you go. The second game is an On-Rails Shooter where Light Gun is supported, you shoot down bad guys and you can get power-ups from some downed enemies. The Third game is a driving game where like in the original trilogy you got to disarm Bombs across Las Vegas by driving over them before time runs out. You can find extra time, repair kits and nitros laying each area to make driving a lot easier especially during car chases. You can play through all three of these games through the Story mode or you can play through one of either game types through Arcade mode or Practice mode to practice before playing the main games.

The flaws are as follows: In the Third person shooter levels you wonder large levels that are mostly uninteresting to play. There are a few puzzles like finding keycards and switches which allow you to access locked areas to rescue hostages and find better weapons and explosives. The AI is very flat and also the controls are very difficult to learn. There is a auto aim system which eliminates the First person aiming aiming system that you have.

There is also the driving stages which at first controls way better but each stage is nearly the same as the original trilogy. You drive over bombs to defuse them which sounds simple but however car chases appear far to frequently this time and they can sometimes be annoying as they can easily avoid you and can sometimes plant mines on you. There is a simple time limit this time I should like to point out and it goes up to 3 minutes.

Lastly there are the Light Gun levels which are the best in the overall package. You shoot bad guys before their crosshair turns red which they will shoot you. There are plenty of Health and Armour power ups as well as other weapons you can use. You can switch weapons unlike the original and also the game supports the Mouse as well as the Konami HyperBlaster and also the game finally allowing the Namco Gun to be compatible. Still there are issues like the Light Gun accuracy being inaccurate unlike the Namco titles and also there are some parts where enemies are planted across the screen in which you're always taking damage, the Hostages are extremely dumb and won't hesitate to literally dive into your line of fire and sometimes also the enemies which can sometimes make these levels very frustrating. Overall the entire gameplay is well spent on the Light Gun levels while the Third person and Driving aren't enjoyable at all and can also be frustrating.

The graphical are also very similar to the original with minor enhancements to the character models. Their animations are dimwitted and it's pretty stupid to see someone rolling around like crazy after being blasted by a rocket launcher. Still the environmental details do look nice and the explosion effects are pretty cool. In the Third Person levels John McClane has the power to see through the environment since it allows you to see who is inside the rooms. The sound effects are aright, the music tracks inspired by BT, Lil' Zane, Black Rob and Tony Touch are decent mixes of technical beats and rock music.

Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas isn't a sequel that really is made for Die Hard fans of the franchise. Having three gaming perspectives in one is great and all but however each gametype has a series of flaws that Bruce Willis would be disappointed to hear about. It's good for a cheap buy but you're better off with the original trilogy which is way better.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Good Points:
1. 3 Gaming Perspectives in one game
2. Finally has Namco gun support

The Bad Points:
1. Third Person stages are very uninteresting
2. Hostages are very stupid in the Light Gun Levels
3. Driving stages can sometimes be frustrating
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/die-hard-trilogy-2-viva-las-vegas/user-reviews/808439/platform/ps/ Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:19:35 -0800 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Die Hard Trilogy for the PlayStation... http://www.gamespot.com/die-hard-trilogy/user-reviews/808099/platform/ps/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Title: Die Hard Trilogy
Platform: PlayStation
Developer: Probe Entertainment
Publisher: Fox Interactive
Genre: Action
Age Rating: ELSPA: 18+
Release Date: August 31st 1996 (North America), November 1996 (Europe), December 13th 1996 (Japan)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Game Score: 8.0/10
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Summery:
3 solid Die Hard games in a single game is a superb and fun deal that Movie fans can really appreciate.
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Most Movie licensed video games are just complete rubbish cash-ins which attempt to make a quick buck but however very rarely there is a licensed game that is actually good. One of those kind of games is Die Hard Trilogy. This game is a 3 in 1 compilation which fans of the movies will not be disappointed about. Believe it or not unlike many other movie licenses this package is actually great to play.

Die Hard Trilogy consists of 3 different games which all have different perspectives. You have Die Hard 1 which plays as a simple 3rd person shooter, Die Hard 2: Die Harder which is a On-Rails Shoot-em-up and finally Die Hard: With a Vengeance is a driving game. All 3 of these games are very faithful and also resemble many of the locations seen in the movie.

I look at Die Hard 1 first and it's a Third person shooter where the camera the behind the player and your goal is to run around a closed building one floor at a time and then shoot down the terrorists while rescuing Hostages. Each level has a set number of enemies and hostages to be sorted out before you need to find the elevator with a bomb to defuse and take you to the next level. You control John McClane with the D-pad and using X to shoot, Circle cycles through your other available weapons, Triangle jumps, L1 and R1 strafe and L2 and R2 buttons do a side roll. You'll also find different weapons lying around inside crates or large boxes and also some enemies will drop them such as Grenades, rifles, machine guns and armor to protect you from damage.

While enjoyable the game does surprise you with a bomb sequence where if you think you've finally finished a stage you'll have a 30 second timer to find that elevator before the bomb explodes which delivers some heart pounding moments that you don't want the building to blow up. Whenever you fail at reaching the bomb you'll lose a Life and you have to restart the whole stage again.

Sometimes you'll be faced with loads of enemies which can damage you easily so the best idea is to wait for one guy to come to you so that you can pick them off easier. Always watch out for Hostages cause shooting one will cause you lose points. Die Hard 1 is fun but it just gets more harder and harder that you'll be desperate for extra lives. There are only some by the way.

On to Die Hard 2: Die Harder which is a On-Rails shooter much like Virtua Cop and also it's compatible with the Light Guns that are the HyperBlaster on the PlayStation version but it's unfortunate that the game does not support Namco's G-Con 45 controller. You can also use the standard controller or the PlayStation compatible Mouse. I mostly played this with the Light Gun. When bad guys show up they will have a crosshair on them to tell you to shoot them and they have arrows which go anti-clockwise while the screen zooms in at the target and when it's finished reaching the centre then the enemy shoots you. You have about 6 Lives and if you get shot with no lives left then you die. You have to aim carefully at the bad guys cause some guys can use hostages as baits to get you to shoot down the hostages causing you to lose points. There are about 8 stages and unlike the first game you get additional points for stage success and you do unlock secrets by perfect shots and avoiding to shot civilians.

The 2 main issues I have are: one the camera in which when I shot one guy the camera can immediately shift to another guy when I'm about to another guy instead killing a civilian by accident. The second problem is that you cannot calibrate the Light Gun controller which means you'll most likely have problems aiming more efficiently. Dispute these issues it's fun to blast through waves of enemies in an On-Rails fashion and there are plenty of destructive power ups and your main weapon can be instantly swapped permanently for a better weapon as a reward.

Die Hard: With a Vengeance is a driving game where your goal is to drive around streets, warehouses or the seaside to locate and destroy the target bombs within the time limit. With each bomb you catch the time limit increases but however should the timer go out, they city is blown up and you'll restart at the last checkpoint. You'll occasionally find a few power ups such as Extra Time, Bonus Points, Turbo Boosts and Rarely you'll get an Extra Life. After each stage you'll enter a subway stage where you challenge a truck racer who is nearly faster then you but I managed to win against the big truck every time.

It's aright but however the driving controls are very awkwardly set up on the controller and takes a while to get used to. Some chases with bomb cars can be annoying when they try to delay you from bashing right into them. You'll might spend a lot more time running over civilians by accident.

Die Hard's graphics are quite good, the environment details from the movie are rendered nicely and the models while facial features are rough are quite good. The amount of destruction you can do in the games are impressive as each area can be damaged or blown up. Each explosion causes the screen to shake and also in Die Hard 2, the screen does a warp effect each time you are shot and you are given a white flash effect when you die. During the results screen you'll enjoy watching people burn to death and watching people people mess around at the results screen while it's amusing for each character to hold up letters for you to select.

The game's soundtrack is impressive if not relatable with the movie, the voice clips are detailed nicely but the phrase "Yippy ki yay" has the F part edited out.

All three games in this package are amazingly enjoyable and a superb and fun deal that Movie fans can really appreciate. If must movie licenses where that bad before this one and also Goldeneye on N64 then maybe it's time for most game developers to encourage themselves in watching the movie first before even deciding to make one. Of the available versions of the game then I recommend the PlayStation it does feature Light Gun support and also the graphics are way better to look at.
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
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Get the full article at GameSpot

"AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Die Hard Trilogy for the PlayStation..." was posted by AQWBlaZer91 on Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:19:35 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/die-hard-trilogy/user-reviews/808099/platform/ps/ Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:31:30 -0800 JokerPRO10 reviewed Assassin's Creed III for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/assassins-creed-iii/user-reviews/808058/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

No Doubt that Assassin's Creed III compared to Assassin's Creed II [Which is my most favorite game of this generation] is a huge disappointment, since AC2 delivered a sequel that improved a lot of the mechanics of AC1, same was expected for AC3 to overcome AC2.

Sadly it didn't happen with this game, AC3 continues right after the ending of AC Revelations, And promises to end Desmond's Storyline, it does that only the ending itself is executed in the worst way possible! This time Desmond's Sections of the game include its own levels in Modern Day Era, there are 3 levels that are playable with Desmond only and while they are heavily scripted it was nice to see a change of scenery from the Italian Renaissance and the 18th Century America, the level design in these particular levels are very well done! However Something that is not well done is the facial animations of the Modern Day gang, they look Completely Different from the past 3 games, and Desmond himself looks the worst!

This time around there's a new protagonist and a new era, Connor is a decent character but compared to Ezio he is really bland and boring. The New setting which is Colonial America is interesting and perhaps even Highly accurate but its not fitting the AC franchise since all of the houses are small compared to the huge buildings of Rome and Venezia, which is a shame since the Free Running mechanic in this game is the best in the series! Combat is slightly different this time, unlike in the previous games where most of the times you will be using a hidden blade this time you will be using an axe and a pistol, its not drastically different but its a good change of pace since the previous games.

AC3 followed the tradition of including multiple Cities/Locations this time, as a full pledged sequel. [Since AC1 had multiple locations, and AC2 also Had multiple locations] This time you will be visiting Boston and New York with the addition of the Huge Frontier and Davenport Homestead. Frontier is particularly interesting since this time you can hunt for different animals, killing them with bows or the hidden blade will grant you their skin and sometimes even more, however shooting them will only give you a damaged pelt.

The game is visually stunning however there are a lot of visual glitches which shows that the current gen of gaming start to show its age, Probably the best looking aspect of the game is the new Naval Warfare feature, which lets you control a ship and storm the Carribean and the Atlantic seas! Its a welcome addition to the series and probably the closest you will get to feeling like pirate in a video game.

AC3 in my opinion is a huge letdown, despite the combat and the free running being the best in the series the game feels rushed and the ending is extremely disappointing, there are too many bugs both visual and technical. MP is better than ever but only for those who like it!

I Give this game a 8/10!

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"JokerPRO10 reviewed Assassin's Creed III for the Xbox 360..." was posted by JokerPRO10 on Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:31:30 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/assassins-creed-iii/user-reviews/808058/platform/xbox360/ Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:29:30 -0800 AQWBlaZer91 reviewed Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku for the Game Boy Advance... http://www.gamespot.com/dragon-ball-z-the-legacy-of-goku/user-reviews/807776/platform/gba/ ...and gave it a 3.5.

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Game Title: Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku
Platform: Gameboy Advance
Developer: Webfoot Technologies
Publisher: Infogrames
Genre: Action RPG
Age Rating: 3+ ELSPA (Europe), E ESRB (North America)
Release Date: April 14th 2002 (North America), October 4th 2002 (Europe)
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Game Score: 3.5/10
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Summery:
This Saiyan's pride is hurt by it's short length which consist of about 4 to 5 hours roughly, bad design, bad battle mechanics and also a unbalanced enemy design followed by it's bad hit detection and also some inaccuracies
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Like all other Dragon Ball Z games before it, there are mostly just sad attempts to capture the feel of the popular Japanese anime series and so is the Gameboy Advance title Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku from Webfoot Technologies. The game is a retrace back to the 16 bit Super Nintendo days where the gameplay is nearly similar to Square's Secret of Mana titles expect that this game's power level of trashiness is over 9000 on my scouter.

The game takes place during the beginning of the Saiyan Saga, Namek Saga all the way to the final showdown against Freiza. Fans of the show or those who read the manga books might appreciate the idea where the game is getting at for the most part and there is solid writing for the character dialogue.

You play as Goku through the whole game and the gameplay style is a overhead action RPG like Zelda and Secret of Mana, You can fight creatures of the wild like snakes, squirrels, crabs, dogs, dinosaurs, and also powerful warriors like in the show right? It's absurd enough that Goku is spending most time blasting some poor animals but however Goku starts the game at a very pathetically weak level which advancing to quickly will cause Goku to be murdered by dogs which take about 1/3 of his health.

Levelling is extremely necessary if you are willing to survive cause enemies could kill Goku in an instant since the amount of damage the enemies do makes the game very unbalanced. Also there is a problem with the game's hit detection, get this: when you punch an enemy you'll hear either a bash sound which knows that your attack has landed damage on him but if you hear a ticking sound it shows that either your attack has missed him or the attack did nothing at all. Whatever you do try to avoid getting into mindless button mashing since that will only get you killed against harder enemies. You can find Herbs and Senzu Beans which restore your health but in all the battles are all about trying to be rather precise and avoid taking damage then fighting head on. Eventually after some levelling your fireballs will eventually take out most enemies in the game with 1 blast but even then the levelling will only go up as high as 25 in this game.

You can control Goku with A Button for punching, B for KI attacks, R for flying but he has a limit to how long he can fly for while L switches your KI attacks from Energy Balls, Solar Flare to blind enemies for a few seconds and also Goku's famous Kamehameha in which his voice is portrayed very well when using it.

When you're not fighting wildlife creatures you'll find people that will ask you for your help and it's the only way to advance through most of the story. You'll do things such as finding a lost child or a cat or finding bricks to make a bridge for an old man to cross. On top of that the awards like learning the Solar Flare from an old guy and Kamehameha from King Kai makes the storyline very inaccurate but however it does give the game at least some value dispute the poor set up.

There is one thing that this game does right and that's the presentation that is impressive for the system. I actually played this game on my Nintendo DS Lite since GBA games look way more colourful and more brighter then on the actual system. When the game is booted up you are treated to seeing the intro of the show with the FMV engine, during gameplay the environments are nice and sprite-work dispute some rough touches look impressive and their animations aren't bad. The two cons I noticed when playing it that some scenes like when Piccolo blasts both Goku and Raditz with his Special Beam Cannon you don't see the energy projectile at all and the same is said for when Krillin gets killed by Frieza. Also one thing I noticed which may sound like a game bug or programming error is that characters can go through solid walls during the cutscenes which is really bad for a game to have.

Overall Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku is just another bad attempt for a company to capitalize on a popular anime license. This Saiyan's pride is hurt by it's short length which consist of about 4 to 5 hours roughly, bad design, bad battle mechanics and also a unbalanced enemy design followed by it's bad hit detection and also some inaccuracies makes it not even worth a cash in with Camelots Golden Sun and also Capcom's Breath of Fire I and II also available at the time.
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The Good Points:
1. Sprite work is good and the FMV video is pretty good for the system as well as the music

The Bad Points:
1. Lousy hit detection
2. Poor side quest set up
3. Unbalanced damage from enemies and their AI is really bad
4. Other details look unimpressive and terrible to look at
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dragon-ball-z-the-legacy-of-goku/user-reviews/807776/platform/gba/ Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:34:41 -0800 clock0 reviewed Subway Surfers for the iPhone/iPod... http://www.gamespot.com/subway-surfers/user-reviews/807559/platform/iphone/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Some might call this a copy of temple run but I find it really great and not much of a copy of temple run.I find temple run better then this but this game is still a very great rocking game.This game is used with your fingers and may slow down sometimes but it still it a great and addictive game to play.This game has a lot of great stuff in it.This is a free game on the app store this game's new update makes the game even better this game has been fixed with all of its slowing down it use to have but now that is all fixed.This game is good and is a very great passable game on the iPod/iPhone or any other device that this game is on.You will not be disappointed when you get this rocking game it is great and deserves at least a 7.0 out of 10.This game has all the things you need in it.You should really get this game because hey it free and is a very fun and addictive game to play.

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"clock0 reviewed Subway Surfers for the iPhone/iPod..." was posted by clock0 on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:34:41 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/subway-surfers/user-reviews/807559/platform/iphone/