CalibusTheCrab's GameSpot Friend's Reviews CalibusTheCrab's GameSpot Friend's Reviews CalibusTheCrab's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Sat, 25 May 2013 00:52:39 -0700 GameSpot CalibusTheCrab's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Wed, 05 Sep 2012 11:39:10 -0700 nintendoboy16 reviewed Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-and-sega-all-stars-racing/user-reviews/799631/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing brings Sonic back into kart racing, which he was in before thanks to Sonic Drift on the SEGA Game Gear, but you won't just see Sonic characters here as other SEGA franchises get some love too, such as Jacky Bryant from Virtua Fighter, Ulala from Space Channel 5, Ai-Ai from Super Monkey Ball, Ryo Hazuki from Shenmue, Beat from Jet Set Radio, among others. If you have the 360 version of the game, Rare's Banjo is available as an exclusive character alongside the XBOX avatars. If you have the Wii version of the game, the Mii's are playable. And if you have any of the HD console versions on the PS3 or 360, you can download Metal Sonic as DLC. While the DS version doesn't have anything special like those, the roster is still quite well varied and gives even lost franchises some mention.

As for the racing itself, it's actually quite crazy, sometimes crazier than any Mario Kart game. Whether you play a character that rides a car, a hover vehicle, or a bike, you'll have a well controlled racing experience on your hands. Even with the use of "gimmicks", which are pretty much SEGA's take on items in other kart racers like Mario Kart and Crash Team Racing, with the red missiles being similar to red koopa shells, a remote controlled rocket being the near equivalent to the blue koopa shell with the only difference being that you can set it off anytime, a barrier to temporarily protect you which was seen in Crash's racer, and even Star Power. What Star Power does is that depending on the character, they'll either gain a massive boost of speed, or by slowing their foes down by playing music. These only work when you're behind the top three however as if you use it when you're in the top three, you just throw the star, though it does make the game feel a bit more balanced that way.

Let's move on to graphics: for a DS version of a game that's on multiple consoles that OBVIOUSLY have more power, this version actually still holds it's own quite well on a more limited handheld. The vehicles and characters look very good. The environments look great, and a nice color palette to back it all up. What's also very neat is that the framerate is still very smooth for a DS game.

Next up are the controls: though unlike the console versions where you use an analog stick (unless you play this on a 3DS where the analog nub works on D-Pad controlled games, but as I don't have a 3DS yet, I can't comment on that), you can only use the D-Pad to move as you're accelerating. Luckily, the controls work great enough with the right response time and it feels just as good as Mario Kart DS, so no problems there.

A few other things to comment on and I'll start with the stage variety. Like I said, I comment the developers for adding such variety in the character roster, but while most of these tracks are a lot of fun to race through and look really nice on the DS, they could be a little more varied in what franchises to represent. The biggest culprit in the franchise section is the Sonic series. I know Sonic is a major franchise for SEGA, but why does that series have nine courses while the few other courses to be referenced (Billy Hatcher, Jet Set Radio, Samba De Amigo, and Super Monkey Ball) only have three each? Why weren't there tracks dedicated to Virtua Fighter, Alex Kidd, or Space Channel 5?

Now onto some of the gameplay modes, other than your regular grand prix and time attack modes, there is also a mission mode. The missions mainly consist of battling other racers, getting a certain number of some objects, drifting a certain number of times, avoiding certain objects, driving through the right colors of giant rings, and of course, racing some adversaries. Most are quite fun, but one mission in particular has an unclear objective where it only states that you have to dodge one thing, but when you play it, you have to dodge another obstacle that will also take away your points without telling you. Luckily, it was only one mission so it's nothing too major.

You'll also get an achievement mode, but personally, I never really cared too much for them. Not that they are a bad thing, it's just that I don't like paying too much attention to them and rather focus on unlocking more useful things like more characters.

One thing I have to criticize in regards to a bit of the replay value is that you have to BUY background music in order to hear them in the game. Hearing the same music over and over again gets a bit repetitive and extra music tracks help prevent it from being such, but we have to buy the other ones? We didn't have to do that for other things like racecourses as you'll race through the unlockable ones anyway, as well as the characters because you'll race them anyway, why not do the same for the music?

But speaking of music, the DS version of the game uses mostly MIDI versions of the soundtracks, but they are very well done and some of the worst tracks they could put on there (like Sonic R's Can You Feel the Sunshine and Super Sonic Racing) are actually more tolerable. I think my most favorite track in the game has to be The Concept of Love from the Jet Set series (though granted, I've yet to play a Jet Set game) mainly because it's the catchiest in the game and suits the Tokyo based stages very well.

Lastly the multiplayer, now granted, I have never played the online portion of it (due to my DS not being compatible with the online service I have), but in local download only multiplayer, players who don't have the game have the option to play only a few characters, but only with the first player picking the characters and the tracks. Luckily, the game runs very smooth when you have full bars, but every time a race finishes, you have to turn off the dang systems every time, which is annoying if you want multiple rounds.

But once you get past those flaws, Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing is still a great racing game to have in your DS collection thanks to its widely varied roster, still very well done racetracks and fun local multiplayer, though if download play didn't have you reset the system after every race, it would have been a little bit better and if more franchises got referenced in the stages it would make the variety in the game stick out a little bit more.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"nintendoboy16 reviewed Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing for the DS..." was posted by nintendoboy16 on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 11:39:10 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-and-sega-all-stars-racing/user-reviews/799631/platform/ds/ Wed, 16 Feb 2011 05:28:46 -0800 nintendoboy16 reviewed Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4 for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/naruto-shippuden-ultimate-ninja-4/user-reviews/755718/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

WARNING: This review may spoil not just parts from the game, but from the Naruto series in general.


Last time, we saw Naruto as a twelve year old ninja student slowly maturing from prankster who doesn't do well in school, to a person willing to defend the people he cares about. Now in the latest Naruto saga, Naruto Shippuden, he has grown up into an older teenager after three years of special training with Jiraiya, who is one of the Sannin. He may still have his immature moments, but by time, you can tell he's growing up.

But enough about talking about the series in general, let's talk about the first Ultimate Ninja game set in the Shippuden saga, known as Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4 for the PS2.

The game's story starts in a non-canon chapter where Naruto and Jiraiya stop by this town not far from the Hidden Leaf Village is cursed by a beast which lives in the mines near the town. Naruto hears of a little girl willing to sacrifice herself in these mines, but he doesn't like the idea and goes into the mines to stop her and kill the beast who curses the town.

After that, he heads back home to the Leaf Village with Jiraiya (where the saga truly starts), reunites with some old friends, and gets an assignment to go rescue an old rival of his he met in the Chunin Exams, named Gaara.

The storyline in the Shippuden is run by a third-person adventure mode known as "Master Mode," in this mode, you control as Naruto as you wander through the Land of Fire and the Land of the Wind (where the desert is located). There, Naruto also gets involved in fights with other random ninja not seen in the anime or manga, but not in the same format the Ultimate Ninja games had. In fact, it's FAR different. It resembles more of a 3D beat 'em up more than anything. And most of that combat is run by button mashing that lacks a LOT of depth. There will be times during these brawls when Naruto will pull off some awesome jutsu that's NOT his "Rasengan," (you can hit that anytime) but that'll be when the Triangle button pops up and tells you to press the button. This happens quite frequently. And like open world-esque games, you get to do secondary objectives. And there will be chances to do the traditional fighting the Ultimate Ninja PS2 series has had since the beginning.

About the secondary objectives, hardly any of them are fun. The only fun ones in the game involve the main fighting in the series, and even part of the event of that makes no sense. You'll see mysterious characters disguised as characters from the Naruto series (all the characters they are disguised as are unlockable and playable) whether they would be the younger versions of the ones who did grow up, (which makes no sense), characters who died (also doesn't make sense), and characters who are living during the timeline UN4 is based on. A lot of these other sidequests are composed of fetch quests or delivery quests, all of them aren't that fun.

Another single player mode is called "Hero Mode." In this mode, you get to experience the storyline in the classic Naruto series (back when they were twelve to thirteen year old kids) from confronting Haku and Zabuza to the betrayal of Sasuke. But to fully do that, you must get ALL of these orbs known as "Piece of Memory," which are found all over certain maps in "Master Mode," and all those are used for are dialog segments which just have a picture of the characters, a scrolling narrative for that character, and characters talking either to each other, or themselves. These scenes cost one "Piece of Memory" each, but the scenes where you do fights are also rare like in "Master Mode."

But without these modes, you wouldn't be able to unlock characters for the fighting gameplay modes, so some good does come out of them there.

But where the game should be mainly focused on is the main fighting, and as I said, is as fun as in previous Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games. You still have the good controls, the decent fighting system, and you still got the multiplayer, which is quite important for a fighting game. And when you do get single player fights in "Hero" and "Master Modes", you do get very challenging fights and in fighting games, they are exactly needed more than a dull adventure mode. And what's still great about the regular fighting gameplay is that most of everything is kept intact, like the game is still in the same 2.5D plane with stages that have multiple parts to them. You can still get cinematics for when a character pulls off an Ultimate move (which you can still do by pressing the Triangle button and then attacking your enemy with Circle), and hit the right buttons fast enough to either make sure your move is pulled off correctly, or by stopping your enemies ultimate move, which still is a lot of fun to do as it can either deal a lot of damage or prevent any massive damage.

The graphics in the game got a major change. In the previous three Ultimate Ninja games for PS2, the art style resembled the manga series. In Ultimate Ninja 4, they change that to cel-shading similar to Tomy and Eighting's Clash of Ninja series on Nintendo's Gamecube and Wii, and later used in CyberConnect2's Ultimate Ninja Storm series for the PS3 and XBOX 360. And they look quite nice for the most part, the only thing that kind of disrupted them is seeing jagged lines, which are on most of the characters, but the environments look great.

The controls, whether they are in fighting or the adventure mode are ok. There really isn't much to say about them for the adventure mode (since I already brought them up), but in fighting the controls are solid as they feel very responsive and are still quite comfortable.

Like the anime series, Ultimate Ninja 4 does a well done job with the music, which blends a bit of rock and roll with far-eastern instruments, it is all beautifully blended together. And the sound effects still capture that feel of the anime series.

Overall, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja 4 disappoints with the lack of single player fights, dull adventure mode, a waste of a flashback story. But the multiplayer fights and the rare single player fights are still very fun.

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/naruto-shippuden-ultimate-ninja-4/user-reviews/755718/platform/ps2/ Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:21:04 -0700 nintendoboy16 reviewed Bloody Roar: Primal Fury for the GameCube... http://www.gamespot.com/bloody-roar-extreme/user-reviews/736980/platform/gamecube/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Before Eighting developed fighting games like Naruto: Clash of Ninja and Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. They were making games in a series called "Bloody Roar", a 3D fighting series where you play as a human-like race called "Zoanthropes" and these beings have the ability to transform into beasts whether they'd be animals you'd see in real life, creatures you only hear in myths, or creatures made up for the game.

The Bloody Roar series was mostly on the first two Sony PlayStation consoles from the first game on the PlayStation One to the fourth game on the PlayStation 2, but however, there was one game that did hit the Nintendo Gamecube (and later the Microsoft XBOX), and that game being Bloody Roar: Primal Fury (known as Extreme in the Japanese Gamecube release, but it was called Extreme internationally on the XBOX version).

The game opens up with a beautiful anime style opening for the Gamecube version, and it keeps the same style of animation for the endings of the characters. While the graphics seen in the gameplay look a little different, you can see that the characters still look like they did in the anime style scenes. But whether in anime format or not, the characters look quite well made with their color and detail. Bloody Roar also runs well with it's fast and smooth speed and hardly any sight of technical slowdowns.

As I said in the beginning paragraph, Primal Fury is a fighting series where your fighter can transform into a beast during gameplay, and when you have enough power in your "Beast Change" meter (which is at the bottom of the fighting screen). You can transform by a simple press of the X button, if you get more power and your "Beast Change" meter is full, you can go in a Hyper mode with your beast mode, which gives your fighter more power when he/she transforms. If you hit the Z button, you can still go in Hyper mode if your "Beast Change" meter isn't full, but because of that, some of your fighter's health, and depending on how much power you have in your "Beast Change" meter, it can take a little to a lot of your health.

During beast mode, some things will change. Like some beasts will bite as one of their moves, and some will scratch the life out of their foes. Also some beasts will be slower than their human forms, or sometimes faster. They'll even change in size too. This, I feel, adds a bit of variety during fighting.

Because of the Gamecube's button layout, it takes sometime to get used to and feels a bit cluttered up unlike the traditional button layouts when you first play it. And it really doesn't help that the Gamecube's D-Pad is smaller than Nintendo's past D-Pads. But luckily, the controls are responsive enough to look past most of that and that the analog stick runs just fine for fighting games, which also helps you perform moves a lot better than using a D-Pad. What also helps is that if you're really uncomfortable with what buttons the actions are, you can customize them in the controller configuration screen.

Although the fighting sounds great, there are other parts in the sound that are annoying. One of them being voice acting, which is only heard during gameplay. Most of them sound not suited to the characters personality, and some of them try too hard to be cool. Not to mention the music doesn't sound right in much of the arenas. In fact, a lot of the tunes in the game made me cringe, probably due to the bad guitar playing.

A strange, but minimal flaw is that the lip sync for the characters are WAY off. Sometimes when they still talk, I don't see the voices fit in right with the lip movements. They sometimes move real fast, but they don't even talk that fast. It's just really off to see and is an annoyance when it comes to audio and video.

But minus bad music and bad voice acting. Bloody Roar: Primal Fury is a great fighter to pick up for the Nintendo Gamecube with it's great looks, smooth speed and responsive controls. And like every fighting game, don't forget to fight with a friend in multiplayer vs battles.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"nintendoboy16 reviewed Bloody Roar: Primal Fury for the GameCube..." was posted by nintendoboy16 on Mon, 13 Sep 2010 12:21:04 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/bloody-roar-extreme/user-reviews/736980/platform/gamecube/ Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:12:58 -0800 nintendoboy16 reviewed Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/sphinx-and-the-cursed-mummy/user-reviews/708998/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy on the Sony PlayStation 2 brings a very creative and immersive blend of two genres, 3D Platforming and an adventure game in the style of Zelda. The story resolves around two characters, Sphinx and Tutankhamen.

Sphinx's part of the story starts when he gets an objective to get the Blade of Osiris from the hellish lands of Uruk. Where as Tut's part of the story starts with him waking up to what is later on a horrible birthday. Which results in him turning into what he becomes for the game.

In an overall view on the story though, it's actually really easy to follow. Sure, Sphinx and Tut are in locations FAR from each other throughout most of the story, but they share the same two main goals, and that is to stop the Chaotic god, Set and to turn Tut back to normal. How it was told was decently written as well. Some parts were confusing, but those confusing moments didn't stop the story being easy to understand.

The graphics of the game do a really well done job of capturing the beauty of Ancient Egypt, and is one of the reasons why I find it immersive. The environments look very much like the location it's based on, even though quite a bit of the game has a cartoonish mood. Even the graphical effects (such as water and lava) look good.


One of my favorite things of Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is the character design. They may not look as depicted as they were in antiquity, but they're still very well designed. An example I'll pick is with one of the main characters, Sphinx. In ancient fact, the statue itself (called a sphinx) has a lion's body and a human's head. Sphinx in the game doesn't resemble that entirely. Instead he looks far more human, but with a lion's tail. He also runs as fast as a hunting lion, so it makes sense on why he's named Sphinx.

Easily the number one factor of Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is the gameplay, which as I said before, is a very creative and immersive blend of 3D Platforming and a Zelda style adventure. Everything about it is so well thought out and in the end result is a top notch job. The puzzles are great fun to play with. The very well detailed environment is great to explore. Even the platforming is great enough that if Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy was just a platformer, it still would've passed,

The combat is very well done as well, even if it does lack the lock-on the 3D Zelda games had since Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64, but honestly, I found no need for one in this game. Everything about the combat is simplistic, whether it be bosses or non-bosses, but it plays so well with a good working camera, and great controls on the DualShock 2.

But the main con I have with Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is that it feels somewhat forgettable to save your game. What I mean is that the game is so immersive, you'll have the urge to rush to the next part that can be really hard and if you die, you go all the way back to the last save point, which at times can be hard to find, due to them being not that tall, or somehow camouflaged into a few environments.

Overall though, Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy is a fantastic game with great environment and character design. It's an adventure game that is well worth traveling to at a reasonable length of around twenty hours (maybe a little less, maybe a little more).

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/sphinx-and-the-cursed-mummy/user-reviews/708998/platform/ps2/ Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:28:15 -0700 nintendoboy16 reviewed The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King for the GameCube... http://www.gamespot.com/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-return-of-the-king/user-reviews/684727/platform/gamecube/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Based upon the third part of the novel series by J.R.R. Tolkien and the third in the Peter Jackson film trilogy. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the conclusion of the series.

The story is pretty much what the title says. This time how they did it in the game is split it into three paths. Path of the Wizard is Gandalf the White's part of the story. Path of the King is Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. And path of the Hobbits is Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee. The story follows the events of the film and book pretty well and like it's predecessor, The Two Towers has a blend of cutscenes using CGI and clips from the film. There may be spoilers for those who haven't seen the films or read the books though, and that's pretty much the only flaw the game has in terms of story.

The gameplay has both a single player and a cooperative. The single player starts with the Path of the Wizard, after that starts seperating the story with adding the other two paths. Cooperative tells the same story, but pulls it off differently. It starts with Path of the King story, then proceeds to Path of the Wizard, back to the Path of the King for one more mission, then to the Path of the Hobbits. Both gameplay modes are fun whether single or multiplayer. However, they each have some flaws. Single player sometimes picks up at the wrong sort of checkpoint when you dig deeper in the mission you're doing. Multiplayer has lack of checkpoints and while it has the convienience of restore points for a player's fallen character, it is only limited and if the same character or the other player dies. It's "Game Over" and you have to start all the way back to the beginning of the level. But despite those, both single player and multiplayer are really fun.

From graphics and sound, it can be safely said that they both have the Lord of the Rings charm. The graphics looked and felt like the films and the sound has the right sort of sound medieval warfare has. Not to mention the music from the films is well put out in each mission and has a well done voice cast from the cast of the films, such as Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins), Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee), and Christopher Lee (Saruman).

Controls are pretty much the same as Two Towers and are just as great feeling. And like the Two Towers, it also has a combo and upgrade system from spending experiece points you earn in the game. Which is still just as great as the last game.

Quite a bit of replay value is placed as well. You can gain a little more higher levels for your characters unlike The Two Towers. You can go back and try to reach perfection with all characters in almost every mission you can. Even quite a bit of unlockables, such as three new characters to unlock.

Overall, like it's predecessor, Return of the King is another beautifully done game based off a beautifully done film based off a beautifully done book. It will satisfy on both terms of single player and multiplayer.

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-return-of-the-king/user-reviews/684727/platform/gamecube/ Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:34:28 -0700 nintendoboy16 reviewed Mario Kart 64 for the Nintendo 64... http://www.gamespot.com/mario-kart-64/user-reviews/681196/platform/n64/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

In the age of the SNES, Mario joined in the racing genre in a new series called Mario Kart. The first game was Super Mario Kart, and what this game did is have Mario welcome in the racing genre. When the N64 came along, Mario returns in his racing Kart for a new race, but unfortunately this one disappoints for me.

Why did I feel this was a disappointment? Well for one thing is that the racing is kind of boring. Why it's like that is that not a lot of stages had as much excitement as some do, and some racetracks felt a little longer than supposed to. There is some excitement in all of them here and there and some fun adds up by adding harder difficulties, but somehow that still feels like the fun is overshadowed by the boredom.

The graphics are a mix for me. The environments look really good and colorful, but the characters are where the bad comes in. In pictures when you're selecting a character you're racing as, they look quite good, but when you're playing as them, they have a bad habit from looking decent when they're far away from the camera, and bad when they're close to the camera. A lot of pixels are shown as are why they look bad up close, and other N64 titles didn't have this problem.

The controls work pretty well for the Gamecube controller. As they work decent, but still somewhat awkward on the Classic Controller. But a problem I have with both controllers is there is one unresponsive command, which is to shoot things back. It's not so much a problem with the empty boxes and banana peels, but the green and red Koopa shells is the problem when it comes to shooting back. I tried numerous times shooting the enemy racer behind me and only a few times have I ever fired behind my character. It's that unresponsive.

The Wii Virtual Console version of this game makes the Time Trial feature pointless to have. Mainly for the fact that to save things like records, you need an N64 Controller Pak, which is pretty much the N64's memory card.

Multiplayer is still fun though, but there's really not much to say on it. Overall, Mario Kart 64 just turns out a disappointment for me, despite there being some fun in the game. I really wouldn't recommend this Mario Kart that much for that matter.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"nintendoboy16 reviewed Mario Kart 64 for the Nintendo 64..." was posted by nintendoboy16 on Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:34:28 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/mario-kart-64/user-reviews/681196/platform/n64/ Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:14:54 -0700 nintendoboy16 reviewed Sonic Rush for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-rush/user-reviews/680478/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

From the old days of Sonic the Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis, we remember great speed of racing games in the form of a sidescroller. As the 3D games were coming along, and kept at least some speed involved, there really hasn't been much of the Genesis formula involved, despite the fact that some of these Sonic games are enjoyable. When the Sonic Advance games came out, 2D Sonic games returned and are better than ever.

Now on the Nintendo DS, the blue hedgehog returns in his sidescrolling format as he was in the Sega Genesis games, but instead of 2D graphics, we get 3D graphics on characters with 2D gameplay and some 2D backgrounds. The sidescrolling missions have 2D backgrounds with 3D character models, while the boss battle segments have 3D everywhere, but with 2D gameplay. Either way, the graphics are really nice and clean.

The story of the game is another "space time screw up" scenario, but with two worlds. Sonic's world and Blaze the Cat's world. In Sonic's part of the story, Tails finds out what is wrong and finds out that there are two different Eggmen. Dr. Eggman/Robotnik from he and Sonic's world, and Eggman Nega from the other world where Blaze is from, while Blaze goes into Sonic's world to get the Sol Emeralds (Sonic is still getting Chaos Emeralds as usual in secret missions). It's a pretty good concept, but how it's written is a bit confusing.

Now talking about the controls, the sidescrolling segments and boss battles use just the D pad and A and B buttons. The D pad is used for looking up, ducking, and running left and right, like the Sega Genesis games, while the A and B buttons are used for jumping. If you duck by holding down the down button and press the jump button, you'll get a speed charge. Sonic rolls forward, while Blaze charges some flames as they both get their boosts of speed. Also, if you keep holding down the button in the direction you're supposed to, speed will build up like in past Sonic games, and that's a really good thing. Also in the sidescrolling missions if you either jump from a trampoline, or slide of a ramp, you'll be able to use the A and B buttons to nail tricks to add more points, and that's pretty cool for those who want to beat their previous score. There are also 3D secret stages for Sonic for when he gets a Chaos Emeralds and in this one, you really need a stylus to drag him left and right while he's running forward and getting the required amount of rings. Touch screen controls for this are very precise for him dodging and even jumping at the side of the tube he's automatically running in.

There is a multiplayer racing mode like in past Sonic games, but unfortunately, it wasn't fun at all. Although it is cool that you can have multi-card or single card multiplayer and have races, the game lags in multiplayer no matter what the bar level is. I see it on full three bars as the other player does too, but it lags, even at that level, and in a game like Sonic, that is what ruined the fun of multiplayer racing. It's supposed to be a smooth, fast game.

And at times, we'll get some voiceovers. Although the story is mainly driven on text, there are sometimes when Sonic, Tails, Cream, and Blaze will talk. Like Cream and/or Tails will say something when Sonic and/or Blaze goes into a mission. The only times you'll hear Sonic and Blaze talk is once for Sonic at the title screen, once for Blaze at the character selection screen. They'll talk also when they get hit from something and lose their rings. To me, it's kinda pointless having voices in menu screens or mission select screens and the only place where I think is ok is when they get hit in addition to when they lose their rings.

Overall, despite some pointless places to have voice acting and laggy multiplayer, Sonic Rush is a very well done piece of 2.5D sidescrolling. It had the feel of the Sega Genesis with great graphics and gameplay. This is definately worth buying for blue hedgehog fans and even newcomers.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"nintendoboy16 reviewed Sonic Rush for the DS..." was posted by nintendoboy16 on Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:14:54 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-rush/user-reviews/680478/platform/ds/ Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:50:54 -0700 nintendoboy16 reviewed Dragon Ball: Origins for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/dragon-ball-origins/user-reviews/679821/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

Dragon Ball: Origins is a game in the Dragon Ball anime and manga series that has young Goku on an adventure from meeting Bulma to the World Martial Arts Tournament. The game is set before the events of Dragon Ball Z, when Goku grows up into a powerful Saiyan Warrior, fighting villains in a bit more darker territory. The regular Dragon Ball series is a bit more light and more funnier than its darker series.

The game begins in the first part of the story with Goku's grandfather, Gohan (whom Goku's first born son was named after in Dragon Ball Z) telling the player the basics on how to play as Goku in the game. As it goes on, more advanced moves for Goku are taught to the player by having new moves being added as the player progresses through the game.

The controls are indeed very easy to use. The player can either use the stylus only, or with his or her left hand on the D pad to move the young fighter, and their right hand holding the stylus for attacks. The D pad controls can be switched to the Y, B, X, and A buttons by going to the setting in the pause menu and switching the D pad controls to the four letter buttons. Having left handed players use the stylus for attacks, while the four letter buttons for moving Goku. Making the controls very convenient!

The graphics for Dragon Ball: Origins really feel like the anime. They're colorful, light, and beautiful. Goku looks as young as he was back then. Even his friends, such as Bulma, Krillin, Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong look like they did in the anime and manga. The environments even remind me very well of the anime.

The gameplay has two modes of fighting. Empty hand fighting is where Goku punches, kicks, even his "Kamehameha" technique is used in empty hand fighting. How it can be done is very creative. When Goku charges his energy, the process starts with the player holding down "KA" on the touch screen, then does the same with "ME", "HA", "ME". After those, the player selects a target with the touch screen, ending the process with "HA". There is also "Power Pole" mode, where Goku switches to his power pole and uses to jab and smack enemies. He even uses it as a grapple on certain shaped rocks to get across big gaps, and even destroy small rocks from a distance.

While the game has eight sagas from meeting Bulma to the World Martial Arts Tournament. Each saga has their own number of sub missions, which are extra missions that can be done to add variety of the game. It is one of those things that keep playtime added to the game. Playtime to the game can also be added by there being chest containing health and ki pieces for Goku and Bulma. Even finding figures of characters of the game can be found to add playtime.

There are moments that are mostly funny, but at times pretty awkward. What's funny is the faces the characters pull whenever they're shocked, scared, or maybe angry. Even the "game over" screen with Bulma shooting Goku with a machine gun and Goku flailing his arms and legs in fear is funny. But what disturbs me is the sometimes perverted humor, unless if Master Roshi pulls a funny face about what he sees. That makes me laugh.

Overall, Dragon Ball: Origins really is the best game in the Dragon Ball series I have ever come across. It can be enjoyed by fans of the series and non fans of the series of all kinds. Great graphics, superb controls, and the story should get people new to the series familiar with how it all starts for the young Saiyan Warrior.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"nintendoboy16 reviewed Dragon Ball: Origins for the DS..." was posted by nintendoboy16 on Sat, 05 Sep 2009 11:50:54 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dragon-ball-origins/user-reviews/679821/platform/ds/ Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:24:30 -0700 Rutulno1 reviewed The Darkness for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/the-darkness/user-reviews/668763/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

The Darkness tells the tale of one Jackie Estacado, a hitman under the employ of the Franchetti crime family. After being double-crossed during the first few minutes of the game, Jackie learns that he's been harboring the titular creature, an evil little bugger that's been passed down through his family over the centuries. The Darkness' goals are unclear throughout the game, but it's obvious that he's up to no good. As you progress through Jackie's twisted tale of revenge, you'll meet a motley crew of supporting characters and underworld scum, including Paulie, your adopted uncle that's behind all of the drama. The story is entertaining at times, but it'll never really grab you (well, except for one moment), and we have to admit that we would have like to have seen some of the more outlandish villains from the comic series (Angelus, anyone?) make appearances.

Without a doubt, the first thing that will catch your eye after you slip The Darkness into your drive is the incredible job the folks at Starbreeze did on nailing all of the little details that immerse a player in a world. The presentation is top-notch, from the menus to the cutscenes, each of which happens in real-time. As you explore the world, you'll likely notice dozens of little things that catch your eye, be it the graffiti in the subway stations or the peeling paint in the abandoned buildings. There's no doubt about it: this is next-gen eye candy. Our only real qualms with the whole open-world thing is the fact that you need to travel across town using subway stations which, while very realistic, are just as much a pain in the ass as they are in the real world.

The first half hour or so of the game feels like a fairly standard first-person shooter, albeit one that looks excellent. Jackie's weapons of choice are dual-wielded pistols, although you'll find plenty of old standbys (shotguns, rifles, etc.) as you progress through the game. When you're dual-wielding, each of the triggers fires a weapon, while the left trigger is used for melee attacks when using a single firearm. It's likely that you won't use the firearms that much once you unlock the Darkness powers, but it's always nice to have them handy. One of the coolest gunplay elements is the ability to pull off "execution-style" kills when you're close to a foe. It's a lot of nasty, noisy fun that fits in perfectly with game's twisted theme.

Although the shooter is all well and good, it's the Darkness powers that really make the game special. After a little while, you'll gain the ability to send out a snake-like appendage called The Creeping Darkness. You can use this guy to sneak through vents (allowing you to open locked doors from the other side) or simply send it off to literally bite the faces off of your foes. They also have the ability to devour the hearts of your fallen enemies, which allows you to gain more power when you're in the dark. You'll also earn a tentacle that can impale foes and smash out lights, as well as Darkness-powered pistols that actually aren't quite as cool as they sound. You'll need to spend a bit of time in the shadows to fill up your stores of Darkness power.

The most powerful of the Darkness powers is the Black Hole, which sucks anything within about 20 feet into a swirling vortex. While this power is impressive, it's actually too overpowered and makes the last few hours of the action a lesson in repetitive gameplay. Actually, all of the Darkness powers are like that, and you'll probably spend most of the game killing enemies in an area, breaking all of the lights to power back up, then moving on to the next batch of enemies. This "lather, rinse, repeat" style of gameplay gets old around the 5 hour mark, which is only about halfway through the game. Of course, you could always just fight your way through with the firearms at your disposal, but then you'll be missing out on the gory fun.

While the Darkness powers add a nice bit of fun to the game, the "Darklings" that you can conjure are simultaneous awesome and annoying. When you're in Darkness mode, you can stand near any of the portals on the ground and create one of several mean little imps. The Darklings come in a variety of flavors, from the Berserkers that jump on your enemies to the Kamikazes that will act as suicide bombers (they can clear paths or kill baddies). The one that comes in most handy is probably the Lightkiller, who can enter a room and destroy any light that threatens you. Although the Darklings are a blast to watch (they'll urinate on your dead enemies or say some horribly inappropriate things), they can be extremely frustrating to control at times.

Once you're done with the single-player campaign (which, unfortunately, has a disappointing ending), you can take the action online against your buddies. The Darkness features some fairly run-of-the-mill multiplayer gametypes, but the proceedings are improved by the fact that you can play as a human, a darkling, or a shapeshifter. This make the multiplayer fun for a while, but the action is ultimately hindered by poor controls and an unstable framerate. The maps are all surprisingly small, too, which theoretically keeps the action intense, but in reality just makes everything that much more confusing. If you don't have an Xbox Live account you can play via System Link, but there's no splitscreen mode or anything for single-box play.

As I mentioned above, The Darkness features some truly impressive presentation and stunning amount of detail. This is due in no small part to the fact that the game looks great, which might not be much of a surprise to anyone who played Riddick, one of the best-looking games on the original Xbox. While the visuals are downright amazing, there are a number of framerate problems to deal with, as well as some glitchy collision detection. Still, this one's a looker. The audio work is impressive, too, especially the voiceover work (Faith No More singer Mike Patton does a masterful job as the voice of The Darkness). The score is solid, blending Swedish death metal with lighter fare, although there were segments when the music just didn't seem to fit the mood.

While it's not without its issues, The Darkness is an above-average shooter from one of the world's most underappreciated developers. In the end, the development team may have been a little too ambitious, as the game tries some new things, succeeding in some areas and falling just short in others. The presentation and visuals are absolutely top-notch, but the gameplay ultimately becomes a bit too repetitive and the multiplayer feels tacked-on. Still, this is definitely a promising next-gen start for the folks at Starbreeze, and I can't wait to see what they've got in store for us next time.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Rutulno1 reviewed The Darkness for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Rutulno1 on Sun, 05 Jul 2009 09:24:30 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-darkness/user-reviews/668763/platform/xbox360/ Sun, 12 Apr 2009 14:00:01 -0700 DoctorBedlam reviewed Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/brothers-in-arms-hells-highway/user-reviews/654452/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

BROTHERS IN ARMS: HELL'S HIGHWAY - PS3 -

My overall p.o.v. for this game is as follows:

The single player campaign is jam packed with the sort of intense WW2 FPS action fans of the series and genre crave, but a somewhat irregular control scheme alongside a tedious and seriously lacking multiplayer (coupled with an overwrought and implausible storyline) keeps this title from shining bright in the cavalcade of shooter classics.

WEAPONS: The selection is enjoyable, but it wouldn't have hurt the developers to throw a few more goodies into the mix.

PLAYER/TEAM COMMANDS: As you assemble your squad along cover and order them to suppress or fully engage a target...sometimes they're on point, and sometimes they run around in a little circle as bullets strafe their faces. I think a technical tweak here or there would've been a tipping point for such a cliche gaming glitch.

CAMPAIGN vs MULTIPLAYER: Play a few levels of the campaign. I'll give you a moment.

OK, all through? Awesome. That was pretty fun, right? Yep. OK, now go ahead and jump on into the multiplayer for a few minutes.

*Final Jeopardy music*

Back so soon, huh? Yeah, it's really strange how terrible it is compared to the source material of the single player campaign. Yeah, I can't explain it either...it's just flat out awful.

PLOT/CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: This is where the game shoots itself in the foot. Repeatedly.

Within the script (through dialogue, etc.) it's obvious that the creators have a very sturdy hold on the personalities of the characters involved. However, they clearly do not have a grip on how to properly convey emotions with direct intent and within plausible scenes/timeframes.

For example, these characters are supposedly hardened soldiers. Surely they are still human and have emotions, but they are soldiers at war.

At one particular point during a mortar attack (a f#@%*!^ mortar attack!) they're sitting around debating personal issues and reflecting on their own past life decisions as their buddies blow up around them. Lame. Not dramatic. Lame. And unrealistic.

Multiple aspects of multiple scenes display not only continuity issues, but moments between characters within particular circumstances that not only make no logical sense geographically, emotionally, and physically, but are all too OBVIOUSLY placed for a desired dramatic effect that ultimately (and briskly) falls flat on it's face.

BUT! I do enjoy this game. Aside from the in-game movies of whining "soldiers" the game provides a highly entertaining mode of WW2 styled shooter action that I just can't get enough of.

My advice to the developers? Lay off the cheese, and stack on the meat.

:)

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/brothers-in-arms-hells-highway/user-reviews/654452/platform/ps3/ Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:50:53 -0800 DoctorBedlam reviewed IGI 2: Covert Strike for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/igi-2-covert-strike/user-reviews/641588/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

After reviewing the first IGI release I felt it was proper for me to review the second coming.

My points are the same as in the review for the first entry in the series, but with elevated standings.

:)

PROJECT I.G.I. 2: COVERT STRIKE - PC -

Big fan of shooters? Dig PC gaming?

Pick this release up with haste.

Feeling sneaky? Utilize stealth to infiltrate and destroy your enemy from within. But beware as the AI is much more cunning and ruthless than most you've encountered.

Feeling itchy on the trigger? Blast your way through the enemy ranks and dominate their territory-as long as you're comfortable with bullets strafing your every move.

In numerous engagements with the enemy the player might find themselves blanketed by gunfire-just when you thought it was safe, but you forgot to check that corner didn't you?

Personally, this game shines in many regions.

Level design, AI, mission objectives, gunplay, character movement, music, sound effects, etc. just beam creativity. Considering the date of this games release (2003) it stands as a stepping stone, a bridge to the new generation of gaming that we are now a part of.

Fans of METAL GEAR, SOCOM and GHOST RECON will definately feel the warmth in their gamer heart that this game is capable of generating.

Lock and load!!

Get the full article at GameSpot

"DoctorBedlam reviewed IGI 2: Covert Strike for the PC..." was posted by DoctorBedlam on Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:50:53 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/igi-2-covert-strike/user-reviews/641588/platform/pc/ Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:56:38 -0800 DoctorBedlam reviewed Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP... http://www.gamespot.com/metal-gear-solid-portable-ops/user-reviews/634802/platform/psp/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Being a fan of the Metal Gear series there was never any doubt that I'd have to get around to playing this release at some point in my life. Finally spurred onward by the purchase of a PSP3000, this game was in the used section and there were no second thoughts about picking it up.

However, as the game began and I immersed myself in the world-doubts and second thoughts rose like dandelions in the summer.

The controls in previous Metal Gear titles work perfectly once you get in the know. Here on the PSP...not so much, at least for me. I found them to be increasingly tedious as time went on. There was never a flow reached where reaching the proper buttons and pulling the proper trigger allowed me to enact the proper tactics or strategies that I was looking to employ. Again, that's just my own personal experience with this though. Others may, have and will find it a much more easily controlled world than I, I'm sure.

Being that the story takes place after the events in MGS3: Snake Eater, I was primed, prepped, and ready for action (as I thoroughly enjoy that game and praise it to this day!). But, upon immersing myself in the world, I found the plot lacking, wanting and deviating from a tried and true formula that the Metal Gear series has honed to a science. While it attempts bravely to coerce the player into falling head over heels to solve this and that, to dive into the mysteries, to REALLY want to defeat this or that character, to REALLY want to get to know them-it just simply falls flat on it's cardboard cutout face. And it's a shame because anyone who's in on the Metal Gear saga/history would expect to be intensely engaged and hanging on every word. I thought that would be me, but it ended up to be more like me hanging on each minute that excrutiatingly and monotonously went by so that I could put the game down and do just about anything else.

That's not how a Metal Gear game should make a gamer feel. But that's what happened to me.

There's standard action, but that's another problem. It's standard. It breaks no new ground. It seems like a few steps backwards into original Playstation territory. Which isn't a terrible thing to envision, but when a release is developed in this day and age when standards and techniques are at these stages-one expects a solid delivery, a solid journey, and the feeling that your money was well spent.

All in all, I believe that the absolutely obsessed fans will continue to eat up any Metal Gear merchandise, but those open-minded gamers that seek to know, experience and understand the true glory of the Metal Gear series should NOT start with this title.

P.S. - - - Pick up MGS3 or MGS4 - no matter what sort of gaming you're into!

Get the full article at GameSpot

"DoctorBedlam reviewed Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops for the PSP..." was posted by DoctorBedlam on Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:56:38 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/metal-gear-solid-portable-ops/user-reviews/634802/platform/psp/ Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:30:49 -0800 DoctorBedlam reviewed Chameleon for the PSP... http://www.gamespot.com/chameleon/user-reviews/633631/platform/psp/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

CHAMELEON - PSP :

In the vein of Checkers, Mahjong, Stratego (Connect Four, too!), CHAMELEON has established a well constructed title with which we can all pass our time amid a sea of primary colors and lucid dialogue boxes.

Players choose from a group of female anime characters, and proceed to "battle" to gain control over the board/territory by shifting the colors of the pieces of the board one controls to gain more ground, reach a certain area of the board, etc.

Now, the lack of a male character to choose from right off the bat might turn away many skeptical gamers, but keep in mind that one could argue that this games main driving force is it's innocent charm.

An immediate fault that came to my attention was the music. Five minutes into the game I knew that five more minutes would've driven me insane. But that is a minor detail as one can easily control the music settings and bring the volume to a whisper or silence it all together.

Ambitious is a word I would apply to this title-for it has the momentum to evolve and develop into a much beloved and renowned series. Or perhaps it will continue to evolve, but remain an underappreciated and under the radar release.

Only time will tell.

But, for now, if you own a PSP and enjoy a thorough display/mix of sight, sound and color-pick up CHAMELEON!

"The time is now!"

Get the full article at GameSpot

"DoctorBedlam reviewed Chameleon for the PSP..." was posted by DoctorBedlam on Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:30:49 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/chameleon/user-reviews/633631/platform/psp/ Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:20:20 -0800 DoctorBedlam reviewed Tom Clancy's EndWar for the PSP... http://www.gamespot.com/tom-clancys-endwar/user-reviews/633110/platform/psp/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Tom Clancy's ENDWAR - PSP:

Having recently purchased a PSP there were a few games that I wanted to have a go at right off the bat. ENDWAR was one towards the top of the list.

And it doesn't disappoint.

For a standard militaristic strategy game, it excels where you expect it to lack. It's control scheme is simplistic, but righteously so. The layout of the maps and each maps varied difficulties only adds to the addictive nature of the game. Victory through your own devised plans, and quick thinking in the heat of battle make for amusingly tense battles.

An area that, in my opinion, would have this PSP release reach grander heights would have to be in the graphics department. Obviously, if one were to take a look at the screenshots, you'd see something resembling a Genesis or NES game from way back and consider it to be up to par with such quality of those days gone by. While you wouldn't be wrong in making such an assumption-it's also not as unevolved as it looks at first glance. But the bottom line here being that a few more flashy animated sequences here and there wouldn't have hurt one bit.

All in all, Tom Clancy's ENDWAR for the PSP is a sure fire purchase for the handheld gamer!

Especially, if you enjoy strategic wargames.

Naturally.

:)

Get the full article at GameSpot

"DoctorBedlam reviewed Tom Clancy's EndWar for the PSP..." was posted by DoctorBedlam on Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:20:20 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tom-clancys-endwar/user-reviews/633110/platform/psp/ Sun, 21 Dec 2008 20:40:46 -0800 cloudleonhart23 reviewed Mega Man 2 for the NES... http://www.gamespot.com/mega-man-2/user-reviews/633047/platform/nes/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

The Mega Man series has always been known for its memorable levels and hard difficulty
While it may have strayed from that after Mega Man 5, These classic games remain undamaged
i will be reviewing one of these games, also known as the greatest one ever in the series.

Megaman 2 had Eight robot masters you could beat down, as opposed to six in the first game, these Robot Masters were Metalman,Flashman,Clashman,Quickman,Airman,Heatman,Bubbleman,and Woodman (wanna see my woodman, baby?) There were six Wily stages, and the first and second birthed one of the greatest compositions in gaming

As for gameplay, Megaman 2 is little different than its predecessor. You beat all eight robot master in your own order and kick Dr.Wilys old ass! But its the simplicity that makes it fun.

Controls are very tight, if you die in Mega Man 2, its probably your own fault.

Which bring me to challenge. Megaman 2 is easier than its hard as balls predecessor, but like all Megaman games, it requires memorization.
You know what they say, "Practice Makes Perfect"

Now on to the graphics finnaly. The game looks fine, except for the occasional flickering enemy, but trust me, its not NEARLY as bad as others like Megaman 3

All in all, Megaman 2 is an awesome game and should be the first step for any old-school megaman newcomer


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"cloudleonhart23 reviewed Mega Man 2 for the NES..." was posted by cloudleonhart23 on Sun, 21 Dec 2008 20:40:46 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/mega-man-2/user-reviews/633047/platform/nes/ Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:22:27 -0800 DoctorBedlam reviewed WinBack 2: Project Poseidon for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/winback-2-project-poseidon/user-reviews/623321/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

WINBACK 2 : Project Poseidon _ PS2 _ - A series of games that has an established cult status among particular circles of gamers, WinBack's second installment returned to consoles with a similarly inspired plot and varied setup for gameplay.

However, with it's repetition of the fan-based success it achieved with the first WinBack release it covers no real new ground and fails in innovation (even with new elements in play concerning the actions and controls).

Aside from the lack of substantial improvement and elevation for the onset of the new generation of gamers on the rise at the time, this game is solid and will bring any gamer-patient enough to seek it out-the benefits of a polished release that is both pleasing to the eye as it is to the shooter fanboy (in us all!!).

Any fans of the Metal Gear series should surely give this title a chance, but they would do well to note that there will be a lack of cinematic drama and thoroughly extensive replay value. And as I've likened WinBack to Metal Gear it is also akin to the Splinter Cell releases.

In the end, the WinBack games are highly underappreciated, and are so for a variety of reasons - some substantial and others heinously bias. Those that look to expand their gaming horizons will dig in the bins and browse the cramped shelves to uncover this delightful gem of a videogame.

Operation Winback is a go!!!

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/winback-2-project-poseidon/user-reviews/623321/platform/ps2/ Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:13:47 -0700 cloudleonhart23 reviewed Art Style: ORBIENT for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/art-style-orbient/user-reviews/617410/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 5.5.

Nintendos Art Style franchise has only been on the wii for a few months. created for the purpose of relaxation, many people consider this series to be innovational. Id have to agree with that....to an extent.
The most recent installment into this franchise really isnt any different.
Story:
Doesnt need one, Doesnt have one
Gameplay:
You move through 50 levels of planet gethering, i personally thought 50 was way to much, especcially in such a slow-paced, repetitive, game. The designers should probably have decreased it to about 20
Controls:
The controls are irratating and unresponsive, and id say it prevents me from enjoying the game.
Graphics:
Heres what prevented me from giving this game a lower score, the graphics are beautiful and very enjoyable to look at.
Fun Factor:
If you add annoying controls and repetitive gameplay together, the fun factor really isnt that high.

In conclusion, Art Style Orbient isnt worth the time, if you want to spend 600 wii points on something
go buy a T-16 game.

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"cloudleonhart23 reviewed Art Style: ORBIENT for the Wii..." was posted by cloudleonhart23 on Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:13:47 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/art-style-orbient/user-reviews/617410/platform/wii/ Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:11:30 -0700 cloudleonhart23 reviewed Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/metal-gear-solid-3-snake-eater/user-reviews/617137/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Big Boss, once seen in Metal Gear for the NES, and died in Metal Gear 2:Solid Snake for the MSX. This is his story

Gameplay:
Enter CQC! CQC is Big Boss' own way of combat, you can kill guards with your knife while grappling them. I personally think this was a great idea, and it helps the game progress. Another new addition is Camoflauge, Camoflauge is an extremely useful tool when sneaking through the jungle, but it doesnt help much in warehouses. But then again, why would you need it in a warehouse, you can just take enemies out the traditional way. So, in short, nothings changed, its just been made more realistic, and thats definently a good thing. ;)

Music/sound:
The Soundtrack is easily better than MGS2, and is even a bit better than MGS1's soundtrack. The sound is perfect, it fits the setting very well.

Controls/Camera:
Kojima STILL hasnt fixed this, though ill admit, its gotten better than, oh say, the original. But the Controls still fall short of MGS2

Story:
Ill summarize the story as best as i can without spoiling anything. Big Boss, or Naked Snake, is supposed to rescue a rocket scientist named Sokolov and bring him back to the USA before the Russians make him complete a deadly tank called the Shagohad. It quickly goes downhill from there, im not going to spoil anything, but i can say, its a very worthwhile story
(kinda reminds me of James Bond)

Graphics:
Like all the other games
The graphics are ahead of the time

overall, this is a game thats definently worth a look
my final score is a 9/10
ciao peepitos!

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/metal-gear-solid-3-snake-eater/user-reviews/617137/platform/ps2/ Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:03:30 -0700 Rutulno1 reviewed Dead Rising for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/dead-rising/user-reviews/616135/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

When it comes to killing zombies, no one knows it better than Capcom, the makers of Resident Evil. Unlike Resident Evil, Dead Rising is an action game, with zombies that are much easier to kill but travel in great numbers. So if you ever dreamt of slaughtering thousands of zombies in a mall using everything from plotted plants and frying pans to baseball bats and assault rifles, Dead Rising is all that and a whole lot more. The game has thousands of brainless zombies to mutilate, hundreds of usable items, completely over-the-top gore and is by far one of the most imaginative horror games ever created on Capcom.

You play as Frank West, a freelance photojournalist who has been to a lot of war zones around the world. However none of that has prepared him for what he sees in a small town of Willamette, Colorado. After being tipped off about the unfolding events, Frank charters a helicopter and flies into town to get images that could take his career sky-high. What he does find is a town overflowing with zombies desecrating everything around them. After being a witness to a scene in which a woman is thrown over the side of a building, Frank instructs the pilot to drop him off on the roof of a local shopping mall. It will take the game 72 game hours for him to figure out what is actually going on before his pilot returns to pick him up. So it's up to you to find the truth, save as many survivors as possible and get back to the chopper to catch your ride home.

Make sure you gather Prestige Points (PP) when you start up, because Frank's run is as slow as a snail. Leveling up will not only give Frank more speed but also increase his attack damage, throwing distance and melee attack power, helping him to survive. Taking pictures can be a good hobby and you can also level up through Prestige Points by taking interests shots. After having taken a picture you'll be graded on the number of faces in it and the type of shot taken, be it brutal image of a human being torn apart, a dramatic shot like the reunion of the two survivors on the roof at the beginning of the game, or an erotic shot, such as pictures of some of the female character's assets. However, you tend to get so drawn into the zombie-killing parts of the game that you forget to take many pictures.

Skills can also be gained by reading books that teach you everything from combat to driving a vehicle.

Another way to earn experience is by accepting missions. Throughout the course of the game, Otis the janitor will call you every 30 seconds – at least that's what it felt like – to give you updates about what is happening in various areas of the mall. The updates Otis offers give Frank many advantages, such as being able to dodge large groups of his undead friends. By finding survivors and returning them to a secure room, Frank earns experience and levels up faster rather than exclusively sticking to the story missions.

Once you have found and convinced your survivor(s) to follow you, you have a few additional commands at your disposal. You can have Frank command any followers to pick up speed, or you can command them to head to a specific place. You can also equip a few survivors with pistols, axes and just about anything that you can get you bloody hands on. The game includes a large array of murderous tools and Frank can use dozens of objects as weapons against the swarm of zombies. The sports shop will give you stuff like baseball bats and golf clubs, the hardware store offers sickles and chainsaws, and you'll find a variety of firearms at the gun shop. Every item has its own style of attack. While you can smash a zombie using a sledgehammer, you'll also find that a guitar not only has a space-clearing 360-degrees arc, but also hits multiple victims in its path.

The most unique aspect of Dead Rising is the missions. Each part of the main story is broken down into cases that need to be solved. Since all the case files are connected, failing to complete them will hinder your progress and the trail might just go cold. Making your way through the game is a little tougher than it sounds; largely due to the fact that the game has a frustrating save system and time-based gameplay that will require players to replay large portions of the game repeatedly. You are only allowed to save one game at a time, as any save will overwrite the previous one.

The overall sound effects in Dead Rising are truly disgusting in the best possible way. The sound of each weapon is created to perfection and some cut through the zombie with an amazing gushing sound. Every weapon makes a totally different sound and each one sounds exactly right–this is what I loved most about this game.

Dead Rising is not meant for everyone, as it includes tons of violence and gore, but the endless number of possibilities in this game makes it a wonderful addition to almost every Xbox 360 owner's library. While the three-day system, annoying single save, and the need to repeatedly escort helpless people through large hordes of brainless zombies do bring this game down a notch, Capcom makes up for it with great graphics, zombies, its crazy sense of humor and the sheer number ways to have fun playing the game. Dead Rising has its flaws, but it's still an excellent game!

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Rutulno1 reviewed Dead Rising for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Rutulno1 on Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:03:30 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dead-rising/user-reviews/616135/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:30:41 -0700 DoctorBedlam reviewed Spartan: Total Warrior for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/spartan-total-warrior/user-reviews/616122/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

SPARTAN : TOTAL WARRIOR - PS2

The Gamespot review is dead-on.

However, I tally the score for this game from Gamespot's rating of 7.1 to 9.0.

The game grabbed me and got into my veins that pump that wild gaming blood and ran rampant through my gamer system. I was immediately addicted to the slamming swords and rushing displays of power.

My favorite aspect of this release is the section of the game where the player can personalize and setup various options for a "fight or die" survival match with countless enemies. Brutal!

The multiple weapons, varied fighting actions, raging enemies, sprawling environments, and more await any player willing to pick up the Spartan blade & head into the heart of combat.

All in all, a highly addictive and underappreciated hidden gem of a game that for those who choose to seek it out will treasure it for many gaming years to come.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"DoctorBedlam reviewed Spartan: Total Warrior for the PlayStation 2..." was posted by DoctorBedlam on Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:30:41 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/spartan-total-warrior/user-reviews/616122/platform/ps2/