Ghost_Face's GameSpot Friend's Reviews Ghost_Face's GameSpot Friend's Reviews Ghost_Face's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Mon, 20 May 2013 06:39:44 -0700 GameSpot Ghost_Face's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:26:29 -0700 ZJohnnyZ reviewed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-dawnguard/user-reviews/797825/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 1.0.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dawnguard 1st DLC is buggy and broken. If ghost towns are supposed to be an intentional part of this DLC then a CLEAR WARNING needs to be put into place. Silent stealthy and non-hostile assassin killing Named NPC's and merchants without any warning or ability to intercede is game breaking to me! Vampire raids on towns are cool, but not when there is a Very high chance that they always cause the death of Named NPC's (Quest givers/ minor quests involvers etc.), and merchants. Eventually every town becomes a ghost town, and you can't sell your junk or get training anywhere! This is not acceptable to me so I uninstalled this DLC as did all my friends that already purchased it.
There are also many new bugs introduced – to many to list you can Google it!!
The other biggest problem with this DLC is the in order to get all achievements you have to play it twice. Joining either the Vampires or the vampire hunters which is super lame. I did not have to join Both the Stormcloacks AND the Empire legion to get through the quest line with relevant achievements, same should be done here join either and get all achievements whiteout needing to lose progress and revert to a save before the crucial decision!

Quote -> "I've seen a lot of threads on Bethesda's forums with X-boxerz complaining about random vampire attacks turning your cities into ghost towns starting the moment you install Dawnguard. Even worse than that, they don't let up even after you complete the master quest.

Here are a few of the many threads

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1391660-riften-massacre-master-vampire-attacks-imgs/

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1390665-vampire-attacks-pose-a-serious-threat-to-any-player-with-this-dlc/

Here's a video showing an attack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v80gUzq6Ec8

Seems fun the 1st few times but I can see this being more of annoyance having to babysit NPC's everytime you visit a town with worry that a merchant or quest giver may be mutilated off screen with no way to prevent it.

I know the PC community will mod it out most likey day 1, but after reading these complaints I'll pass unless PS3 version is patched for this."


http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/615804-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/63304193

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim-dawnguard/user-reviews/797825/platform/xbox360/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:02:21 -0800 Randolph reviewed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/user-reviews/787478/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 3.5.

If their is one compromise I was ready to make after Oblivion it was this, I knew that we would not see a return to the depth of play provided by a game like Morrowind. Skyrim however seemed to be on a path to a better flavor of the Oblivion formula, so I let myself become optimistic. While Skyrim is certainly much better than Oblivion, it's still a far cry from where it should be, and is held back from it's potential by Bethesda's usually laziness and oddball game design.

Stepping into the game world crafted here makes a good first impression, as Oblivion did. The graphics have been given a nice overhaul, especially in character models, making character creation a far sight easier than it was in the previous game. Improvements made to Oblivion about a year after it's first release to deal with environment in the far range are already present here, and the result is a vivid and well designed game world, with far less noticeable recycling of the several; dungeon types.

The world of Skyrim is far better than the creatively and artistically bankrupt land of Cyrodill. The characters within it far less silly looking. They even managed to get at least a small handful more voice actors, though they still get heavily reused, the issue is made less severe, rather than better. Armor and weapons are much better designed, and have a fantastic amount of variety. (that full Deadric armor is a real impressive thing) It's a gorgeous and immersive game to be sure, and like Oblivion if you had asked my opinion early on you would get glowing praise.

This is however a long term commitment game. Like Oblivion, the longer I played, the more obvious the warts became, and the game went through a death by paper cut process. The combat is barely a step sideways from Oblivion. From first person the swings made by your character still seem slow and very awkward. The third person perspective is improved, but still not good enough. But it's the first time they managed to get anywhere near acceptable in their development history, so it's still a praise worthy thing, if you lower your expectations accordingly.

The combat boils down to whacking away, drinking a potion, and whacking some more. Magic is handled slightly better than in Oblivion, but unless you drop the difficulty down, you're going to have some trouble. As with ranged weapons like bows, the second your opponent is aware of you they charge right and start clubbing you. So you cannot really have a pure ranged or magic character on the default or higher levels. Using any ranged offense from third person is awkward/ineffective, and not recommended.

Stealth characters however can rejoice. Stealth has been made both effective and fun, and a great set of super stylish armor awaits you at the end of the thieves guild quest line. But it's those guild quest lines that are another problem. Like in Oblivion, you can get by without specializing in any of them to too much of any extent, and you can waltz around town as the champion of all the land, leader of every guild, and still be treated like a raggedy chump, even while breathing fire and wearing a set of armor more expensive than most full cities, and carrying a sword or hammer that can fell a dragon in two strikes.

Things like that kill the immersion the game crafts. Then you have other problems, such as the very low population of the game world. the environments only have a few token animals in them very spread out over a large area. The "cities" are unusually small, and usually consist of a small handful of people. The civil war quest which plays a large role in the starting circumstance of the game involves "war", which usually boils down to about thirty or forty people having a brawl in the tiny streets of a barely populated city. It barely qualifies as a skirmish.

Yet it is presented as this massive conflagration swallowing all the land. (and all two hundred or so of the people occupying it) Also, no matter which side you choose, the quest lines are identical, just swap "Stormcloak" for "Imperial" and vice versa depending on which path you take to know what the other side will be like. Even when you see that through, the recognition granted you is exclusive to one city, and even that is fleeting. Go from single handedly winning one side of the war to trying a new quest line. You go from hero of all the land to a no name scrub in ten seconds flat. Some half hearted gestures are made via random comments by passerby of some of your skills as you progress, but it's a fleeting gesture. Your reputation never really truly proceeds you.

Also, for some reason, if you kill a chicken, the entire towns population sees red and tries to murder you. I have no idea why that is a thing. But it is. The Dragons are impressive at first, and your shout powers are fun to play with, but resolving the main quest line, much like resolving the civil war, seems to not actually change anything. Eventually the dragons attack so frequently, and all fight exactly the same, that they started to seem like nothing but really big Cliff Racers, (Morrowind vets know what I am talking about here) an all too frequent annoyance, rather than anything special.

The game has some good traits, but for me, in long play, the flaws are far too numerous. But, it did take me a good seventy hours to really get to the point of not being able to stand the game anymore. So you could still justify buying the game for a reasonably impressive and lengthy first character play through. Just give it a long time before coming to any conclusions, and you may see, as I did, how boring, dull, and sloppily designed a game it really is.

This PS3 version of the game also comes with some unique problems of it's own. The textures are blurrier on the environments, blockier on the characters, and it just generally runs worse. I experienced constant slowdown after only three to fours hours of play that required a reset, and hundreds of thousands of players experienced problems with their games running in single digits once the save file gets over a certain size. These same problems were present in the PS3 version of Bethesda's last game on PS3, and were simply never resolved. To date, Bethesda is still attempting to tackle the issues unique to this version, but the question of why it was allowed to ship to retail in this state remains a mystery.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Randolph reviewed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by Randolph on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:02:21 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/user-reviews/787478/platform/ps3/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:55:16 -0800 Randolph reviewed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/user-reviews/787477/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 5.0.

If their is one compromise I was ready to make after Oblivion it was this, I knew that we would not see a return to the depth of play provided by a game like Morrowind. Skyrim however seemed to be on a path to a better flavor of the Oblivion formula, so I let myself become optimistic. While Skyrim is certainly much better than Oblivion, it's still a far cry from where it should be, and is held back from it's potential by Bethesda's usually laziness and oddball game design.

Stepping into the game world crafted here makes a good first impression, as Oblivion did. The graphics have been given a nice overhaul, especially in character models, making character creation a far sight easier than it was in the previous game. Improvements made to Oblivion about a year after it's first release to deal with environment in the far range are already present here, and the result is a vivid and well designed game world, with far less noticeable recycling of the several; dungeon types.

The world of Skyrim is far better than the creatively and artistically bankrupt land of Cyrodill. The characters within it far less silly looking. They even managed to get at least a small handful more voice actors, though they still get heavily reused, the issue is made less severe, rather than better. Armor and weapons are much better designed, and have a fantastic amount of variety. (that full Deadric armor is a real impressive thing) It's a gorgeous and immersive game to be sure, and like Oblivion if you had asked my opinion early on you would get glowing praise.

This is however a long term commitment game. Like Oblivion, the longer I played, the more obvious the warts became, and the game went through a death by paper cut process. The combat is barely a step sideways from Oblivion. From first person the swings made by your character still seem slow and very awkward. The third person perspective is improved, but still not good enough. But it's the first time they managed to get anywhere near acceptable in their development history, so it's still a praise worthy thing, if you lower your expectations accordingly.

The combat boils down to whacking away, drinking a potion, and whacking some more. Magic is handled slightly better than in Oblivion, but unless you drop the difficulty down, you're going to have some trouble. As with ranged weapons like bows, the second your opponent is aware of you they charge right and start clubbing you. So you cannot really have a pure ranged or magic character on the default or higher levels. Using any ranged offense from third person is awkward/ineffective, and not recommended.

Stealth characters however can rejoice. Stealth has been made both effective and fun, and a great set of super stylish armor awaits you at the end of the thieves guild quest line. But it's those guild quest lines that are another problem. Like in Oblivion, you can get by without specializing in any of them to too much of any extent, and you can waltz around town as the champion of all the land, leader of every guild, and still be treated like a raggedy chump, even while breathing fire and wearing a set of armor more expensive than most full cities, and carrying a sword or hammer that can fell a dragon in two strikes.

Things like that kill the immersion the game crafts. Then you have other problems, such as the very low population of the game world. the environments only have a few token animals in them very spread out over a large area. The "cities" are unusually small, and usually consist of a small handful of people. The civil war quest which plays a large role in the starting circumstance of the game involves "war", which usually boils down to about thirty or forty people having a brawl in the tiny streets of a barely populated city. It barely qualifies as a skirmish.

Yet it is presented as this massive conflagration swallowing all the land. (and all two hundred or so of the people occupying it) Also, no matter which side you choose, the quest lines are identical, just swap "Stormcloak" for "Imperial" and vice versa depending on which path you take to know what the other side will be like. Even when you see that through, the recognition granted you is exclusive to one city, and even that is fleeting. Go from single handedly winning one side of the war to trying a new quest line. You go from hero of all the land to a no name scrub in ten seconds flat. Some half hearted gestures are made via random comments by passerby of some of your skills as you progress, but it's a fleeting gesture. Your reputation never really truly proceeds you.

Also, for some reason, if you kill a chicken, the entire towns population sees red and tries to murder you. I have no idea why that is a thing. But it is. The Dragons are impressive at first, and your shout powers are fun to play with, but resolving the main quest line, much like resolving the civil war, seems to not actually change anything. Eventually the dragons attack so frequently, and all fight exactly the same, that they started to seem like nothing but really big Cliff Racers, (Morrowind vets know what I am talking about here) an all too frequent annoyance, rather than anything special.

The game has some good traits, but for me, in long play, the flaws are far too numerous. But, it did take me a good seventy hours to really get to the point of not being able to stand the game anymore. So you could still justify buying the game for a reasonably impressive and lengthy first character play through. Just give it a long time before coming to any conclusions, and you may see, as I did, how boring, dull, and sloppily designed a game it really is.


Get the full article at GameSpot

"Randolph reviewed The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Randolph on Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:55:16 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/user-reviews/787477/platform/xbox360/ Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:33:59 -0800 extracrispy reviewed Mario Party 8 for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/mario-party-8/user-reviews/785197/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 6.0.

I'm a big fan of the Mario Party series, although I always have someone to play with, have never indulged myself in the SP aspects of the game, I was thoroughly disappointed with the board design. There used to be a happy balance between skill and luck to tip the edge in your favor, now it's just mindless rolling of a dice and buying as much candy pieces as possible for a few bonus stars at the end.
Things like having a shopping star, green spaces star, and candy bonus stars are just the tip of the iceberg with the amount of luck required to win a game. Duel candies are barely worth a buy sometimes with usual 20 coin prices, because the payout if you win must be randomly picked to a usually max of 20 coins, although a star can sometimes appear on the dartboard. But that's just it, you'll never know–which seems to be the underlying theme of this game.
I also have a bone to pick with the allocation of mini-games. There are an obscene amount of games in the duel section which happens maybe twice a game, and only 6 battle games and 10 1v3 games! Distributing them among the 2v2 and 1v3 brackets would do wonders, because I can't tell you how many times I have to 1v3/3v1 in a game. Seems like there's not enough blue spaces on the board, too much luck of the draw tiles to be had I suppose. As for graphics even for a Mario game you've come to expect a little more than what is offered, while being the least of it's worries you can definitely add it to the list.
The game still has a nice array of games you can play along with a few cool unlock-ables including staff records and two playable characters, as with any other Nintendo game, and with enough people at your side it can still prove to be highly entertaining, but with so many flaws it's hard to keep rooting for this franchise to succeed. There is definitely wasted potential with this game and hopefully Nintendo learns from it's mistakes and gets their act together with the series. IMHO if you're looking to buy/own this game, do NOT pay more than $10....like i did.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"extracrispy reviewed Mario Party 8 for the Wii..." was posted by extracrispy on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:33:59 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/mario-party-8/user-reviews/785197/platform/wii/ Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:27:49 -0700 D-MonDRV reviewed Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/apollo-justice-ace-attorney/user-reviews/725034/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

After nearly three years with three games each as exciting as the last, Phoenix Wright has established himself as arguably the funniest and most dramatic defense attorney in all of video gaming. However, all good things must come to an end, and we experienced the last chapter of Phoenix Wright's Ace Attorney trilogy late last year. Now a new defense attorney has risen, and yes-he gives Phoenix Wright a run for his money.

Those of you who still refer to the series as the "Phoenix Wright series", stop it. It's the Ace Attorney series. Phoenix Wright was simply the series' featured character for a while. Now players assume the role of Apollo Justice, a rookie attorney out to point his big finger for the sake of justice. Apollo Justice, Ace Attorney is the first Ace Attorney game developed exclusively for the Nintendo DS. Those of you who played Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney (the first game) might remember that there was an exclusive fifth case that featured touch screen gameplay mechanics unseen in any of the game's sequels. All of those gameplay mechanics and more return in Apollo Justice, making it the deepest game in the Capcom's now long-running and incredibly hysterical court series.

The game is divided into five chapters, each including their own court case with a very interesting background story. As Apollo Justice with the help of Trucy Wright, Phoenix's 15-year old daughter, it's your job to gather evidence and snoop around for clues to help defend each client. Along the way you'll meet a lot interesting suspects, both new and familiar. Getting things done in the investigation phase is pretty simple, as the only means of gameplay are pointing with your stylus and reading text throughout the menus in the game.

The bulk and real fun in the game lies in the courtroom. Never played an Ace Attorney game before? No problem! The first chapter immediately has you in the middle of a case, and the tutorial is spot-on and very helpful. After gathering the proper information and talking to all the right people, it's up to you to use the knowledge that you picked up to solve the case. Witnesses on the stand will provide their testimonies, and it's your job to dissect each testimony by pointing out all the lies and contradictions provided in their words. Presenting the right evidence during the right time during a Cross-Examination will allow you to delve deeper into the case until you reach that "Not Guilty" verdict.

75% of the gameplay is pretty much identical to that of the previous games, but as stated before you do have the DS-exclusive features at your disposal. Each piece of evidence you gather, with the exception of information, maps, pictures, and diagrams are in full 3D. That being said, you have to search every nook and cranny of your evidence closely making sure there's nothing strange about any of them. You also have the ability to dust for finger prints during select cases when needed. This is done by choosing the item you have, and then loading it up with dust, and finally blowing away all the dust to discover those prints. These rather new features make the game more realistic and it's good to finally have an Ace Attorney game that makes legit use of the DS capabilities.

The game looks just about the same as every Ace Attorney game before it with the exception of each character being new or having distinct changes since it is essentially 7-10 years following the events of Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations. While its respectable to abide by the "if it's not broken, don't fix it" rule, the game could deal with some more changes visually. On the other hand, the game makes use of the ActImagine codec which produces high quality CGI cutscenes which look so much better than the "cutscenes" of previous games.

Like the game's visual style, the sound hasn't changed much at all as well. While the sound is still extremely effective (this has essentially always been the strong point of the Ace Attorney series), it could still do with some upgrades here and there. A lot of games now are starting to have voice acting, so it would be quite fitting to have more voice acting aside from all the "OBJECTION!"s, "HOLD IT!"s, and "TAKE THAT!"s. The court case music is different in every game but stays the same in each game as well, but again, it could deal with some change. Maybe use every court case song in different cases, perhaps?

Despite what may be setbacks with the lack of true blue changes to the graphics and sound, Apollo Justice looks to be everything the Phoenix Wright trilogy was and more. The background stories within each chapter remain as interesting as ever, while also being longer and much more challenging than they ever were (the first case took almost 3 hours; the first case of the first game was lasted around 45 minutes at most). That being said, unless you absolutely hate games that have a lot of reading, it's extremely hard to not recommend Apollo Justice-especially if you're a hardcore Ace Attorney fan. If you're new to the series, it's best advised to start with the first game, so you can have more of a grasp of what to really expect. This story-driven title has a lot to offer, including the specifics on how Phoenix Wright lost his attorney badge-oh, darn. One of the story elements has been leaked, and now you're pretty much forced to pick this up. TAKE THAT!

Get the full article at GameSpot

"D-MonDRV reviewed Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney for the DS..." was posted by D-MonDRV on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:27:49 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/apollo-justice-ace-attorney/user-reviews/725034/platform/ds/ Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:25:41 -0700 D-MonDRV reviewed Advance Wars: Days of Ruin for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/advance-wars-days-of-ruin/user-reviews/725033/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Believe it or not, the Advance Wars games have been around for decades--even before its debut on the Game Boy Advance. Starting out as Famicom Wars, the game has been the pinnacle of Nintendo's foray into strategy gaming. That being said, there hasn't really been any drastic changes; we're just lucky that every game in the series so far has been incredibly solid. Now Advance Wars is getting a bit of a facelift, by simply giving the game a story and replacing all those vibrant colors with alternative shades of gray and brown in Days of Ruin.

You can tell by the name. Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is a much darker title than the previous three games. The game takes place after a war that ended with a violent meteor shower that has left the world in ruin. Less than half of the population has survived, and every survivor is as hungry as the next. The main protagonist, Will, is a young survivor who really doesn't realize what happened. When attacked by a punch of pilfering raiders led by "The Beast", he was saved by Brenner, the captain of the 12th battalion of the elite Rubinelle army. Now the remaining warriors are on a search for other civilians to help them out. Along the way, they run into endless skirmishes with "The Beast" and the raiders, find civilians who act like robots, and deal with a Nazi-like mayor as they struggle to fight for what's right.

As you can see, Days of Ruin digs a whole lot deeper than every other Advance Wars game before it. The characters in previous titles had no background, and we honestly had no idea why they were fighting--except Black Hole Rising, which had a barely acceptable story. But even though Days of Ruin sets a darker trail for the series both as a whole and as a story, the gameplay is essentially unchanged.

If you somehow have the nerve to have not played an Advance Wars game, battles are fought on a grid map with cutesy little units that have various abilities and fight in the traditional rock-paper-scissors fashion created by the developers at Intelligent Systems. Each unit has a separate movement range as well as means of attack and defense. With all this, you a whole bunch of different factors that go along with your strategy, such as battle terrain, and when to decide that it's the time to merge two like-units together. The object of the game is to either destroy every one of your opponent's units, or just take over their command base.

You have the staple units like infantry, mechs, recons, tanks, Md-tanks, and a bunch of other naval and air units making a return, and there are a bunch of new ones as well. The new units are just bigger and badder units that make you adjust your strategy a bit more. Anti-tanks are indirect pieces of machinery that are made to take out other tanks with ease, obviously. They're a bit hard to use, because of you decide to move the anti-tank, you won't be able to attack. They can only attack at a stationary position. The same can be said about the anti-air unit, which is used to take out everything in the air. You also have the War-tank, a big bad tank that has more power and defense than the formerly dominant Md-Tank. Also, some units have newfound abilities. Most of the navel units now have the second-hand ability of transporting other units elsewhere, while the Rig now has the ability to build temporary airports when appropriate. Temporary airports can't have you build new airports though. There's even a new unit that can build units, further adding to the diversity of choices you have with your militia.

Gone are the CO abilities introduced in the second game that eventually became a staple of command in Dual Strike. Instead, they've been replaced by the units' newfound ability to level up. Each time one of your units takes out another, they level up. It might not make any sense, because Advance Wars plays like a chess game where sacrifices simply must be made, but the strategy involved forces you to be as diverse with your attackers as possible, so you'll have a much stronger battalion. Just note that the highest level your units can get to is level III.

Days of Ruin gets its story element by taking a page out of Fire Emblem's book. Before and after every battle, there are a bunch of dialog scenes, which we have to give a tremendous amount of credit for. They have been very well written, and each character just has a certain personality that you have to enjoy. We'll even go as far as to say that the game even has some memorable characters. This is perhaps the best step Intelligent Systems has ever taken with the Advance Wars series, and you have to wonder why they haven't done this sooner. Now Advance Wars is more than just a fun strategy game, it's become more of an intriguing title.

To add more to this intriguing game, Nintendo has sought out unlimited replay value by giving the game a great online component. Not only can you share your custom maps with friends online, you also have the ability to start a war with anybody you want all over the world thanks to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Our trials with the game featured no lag. And why should it? It's completely turn-based. We didn't run into any, but sooner or later there'll be a bunch of jackasses who turn off their game, but they won't be a factor. The game also makes use of the headset, which really adds another competitive edge to an already great game.

As stated earlier, right off the get-go you can tell this game is darker than it's ever been. The graphics team made sure that all the combat was done in the most depressing means possibly. The sky is gray. There's soot everywhere. You're fighting in mud. Every character is dirty. It gives you the feeling that this war is supposed to be fought. It sucks you into the struggle that all your mates are a part of. Along with the great war atmosphere, the character art is pretty fantastic as well. Nintendo does a little bit of Square's magic by making their Japanese-drawn characters less anime like by giving them real ears and eyes. Sure, most of what was done with the game was with its colors rather than any of the models, but this game just looks right.

The sound is quite solid as well. It's not as convincing as the game's visual style, but it has more of a mature rocker feel to it. The music is rocking enough for it to sound like Nintendo stole it from Guitar Hero, but obviously they didn't. The sounds in battle are pretty much a regurgitation of the explosions we're used to hearing, but it's not like those will change anytime soon, not on the DS anyway.

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin is a risk that Nintendo didn't have to take, but they did, and with that, they've made the most interesting game in the series. It's hard to call it the best in the series, but there's enough in this game to expand the audience as well as bring new life to the series. The game also puts a bit more of the challenge back into the series that Dual Strike seemed to have lacked. With an awesome new visual style and story that gives the game more of a post-modern war tone as well as the great gameplay the series has always offered along with the long-awaited online play, Days of Ruin is the first of many great games to grace the DS in 2008.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"D-MonDRV reviewed Advance Wars: Days of Ruin for the DS..." was posted by D-MonDRV on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:25:41 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/advance-wars-days-of-ruin/user-reviews/725033/platform/ds/ Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:22:23 -0700 D-MonDRV reviewed Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/ace-attorney-investigations-miles-edgeworth/user-reviews/725032/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

Capcom's cult hit, Ace Attorney, has found itself a lot of fans during the DS' lifespan. Whether gamers pointed Phoenix Wright's finger of justice or used the braces of truth of Apollo Justice, no other series has come with the humor and addictive gameplay the Ace Attorney games have held. Now Capcom is trying its luck on the opposite side of the spectrum with Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth.

As its title suggests, Ace Attorney Investigations puts you in the shoes of Miles Edgeworth, Phoenix Wright's biggest rival prosecutor in the courtroom. This game, however, features no courtroom action but instead has you play the role of detective while pointing out contradictions in the testimonies of parties involved with every case.

Rumored to originally have forensic scientist Ema Skye as its main character, Ace Attorney Investigations is heavily reliant on the investigation phases that gave the series its humorous interactivity. Ace Attorney Investigations is the first game in the series that is played from a fully third-person perspective. Previous games required players to simply point at specific and suspicious places to get information on them. Now players can use the stylus or directional pad to actually have Edgeworth walk or run around the scene to examine key areas. The result is a game that makes it feel like more of a game, rather than just a point-and-click novel.

Nuances in the game include the feature of using Edgeworth's logic to connect possibilities in each case and form facts, which you can use against case witnesses who may have contradictions in their testimony. Logical possibilities are obtained as you converse with witnesses in each scene, and incorrectly connecting some logic will lead to a depletion in your health bar.

While there is no actual courtroom action in this game, the fact that you can go up against witness testimonies leaves things as a good substitute. Testimony phases are done the same way they were played in courtroom turnabouts in the previous games, so this is all still reliant in your ability to point out contradictions in testimonies using evidence in your database. Miles can still press witnesses, forcing them to sometimes add key components in their testimonies to make it easier to point out contradictions.

The lack of court cases isn't a huge problem, but it also gives the game a bit of an empty feeling. Ace Attorney Investigations is still as hilarious and captivating as the rest of the games in the series, but having the ability to take control of Miles Edgeworth isn't fulfilled without actually being in the courtroom. Ace Attorney loyalists who have played through the entire series should remember having the ability to take control of everyone's favorite prosecutor in Trials and Tribulations, but this game doesn't have the same rush the previous games held. Maybe it's because there isn't a stupid Judge, but either way, it would've been so much cooler if we could prove people guilty in the courtroom going against defense attorneys, including the likes of Mia Fey or even Phoenix Wright.

Other than the fact that the game is now in third person, not much has changed visually. The artwork has remained superb while the old-school anime sprites for each character remain quite lively. Active character sprites during investigation phases have a miniature look, but they're just as lively as the visages in the every dialog scene in the game.

The seemingly untouched soundtrack has become so much of a mainstay that excellence is expected, and the fact that gamers now have new phrases to yell ("Eureka!") will only add to the comedic and memorable flair that the Ace Attorney games hold.

Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth is a game that anybody can enjoy if they had the time to play, but it is an experience best had by those who have gotten through all of Phoenix Wright's chapters in the first three games in the series. Whether you're an Ace Attorney fanatic or not, the game features hilarious and witty dialog and a colorful cast of characters that makes it easy to pick with an engaging story, but this game really could've been so much more.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/ace-attorney-investigations-miles-edgeworth/user-reviews/725032/platform/ds/ Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:18:39 -0700 D-MonDRV reviewed MySims Racing for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/mysims-racing/user-reviews/725031/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 5.0.

EA Games has been a hot commodity this summer because of their recent release of The Sims 3. So what better way to capitalize on their family-driven entertainment than by continuing their MySims franchise for Nintendo's Wii and DS? While it's no Mario Kart, MySims Racing provides players with an enjoyable experience that anybody can enjoy.
Whether you're playing the Wii or DS version, MySims begins with its signature requirement of customization. The gives you the freedom to choose between a boy or girl main character, and you have the option of changing basic external qualities such as clothing, skin color, size, and that sort of thing. In addition to your customizable persona, you also have the option of tricking out your car. Of course, there isn't much to do to it given your lack of appropriate funds.

While arcade kart racing is all about having fun with your friends, unless you're willing to brave the less enjoyable single player campaign mode, then you'll hardly have anytime enjoying the game with friends. MySims racing comes with a Story Mode to attempt to make the single player game interesting, but all it really has you do is drive around and do Animal Crossing-style favors for people when you're not racing. The story revolves around the town getting tired of racing, and the need of a new champion would be enough to rekindle the town's love for the pastime.

The unfortunate part of the game is that while it tries its best to separate itself from Mario Kart, it's going to be compared to the game anyway. The Wii version of the game supports the Wii Wheel accessory, and the controls are mostly the same. The DS version of the game has the same button layout, but it lacks depth because the power-slide mechanics are nowhere near as easy to execute as drifting in Mario Kart DS.

As far as the game's look, it's just as colorful as anyone would hope for a family-style game to look. The race tracks are all unique and the really cool thing is that most of them have their own paths and shortcuts. While the shortcuts are more painfully obvious on the DS because of its dual-screen mechanism, on the Wii it's more about noticing the surroundings of your car. The sound is also typical of any Sims game, with nothing but Simglish spoken, sometimes the game is a pain to listen to. The music isn't really anything memorable and doesn't do much to blend with the experience, which is quite unfortunate because the music in The Sims 3 is terrific.

A hardcore kart racer won't find much to like about MySims Racing, but if anybody can get by the fact that it's not Mario Kart, they'll find that this is a game with some good elements and is quite enjoyable despite its lack of polish. As far as a choice between the Wii version and the DS version go, the Wii version is superior because of not only its graphics and sound, but because the controls are more intuitive than anybody would think.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"D-MonDRV reviewed MySims Racing for the Wii..." was posted by D-MonDRV on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:18:39 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/mysims-racing/user-reviews/725031/platform/wii/ Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:15:54 -0700 D-MonDRV reviewed Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-crystal-chronicles-echoes-of-time/user-reviews/725030/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles became a sub-series when Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates was released on the DS at about this time last year. Unlike the flagship Final Fantasy games, the Crystal Chronicles games combine the exploration and puzzles with a real-time action-based battle system. While the original game on the GameCube featured some overly gimmicky methods of play due to its GBA-based multiplayer, Ring of Fates focused a bit too much on the single player mode. Now with Echoes of Time, Square Enix hopes to have put the right mix into it, while also trying to fully integrate both the DS and Wii audiences.

Before getting into the story, it's worth noting that both the DS and Wii versions of the game are exactly the same. Everything from the graphics to the gameplay, with the exception of the game's controls, is identical. Using the exact same system as Ring of Fates, the game is best when played on the DS because all of the conventions, including touch screen capabilities remain intact. The Wii version also splits the screens in two with main gameplay being on the left, with the other information being on the right. You can use the – and + buttons to make one screen bigger and the other smaller (and vice versa). Aside from the screen usage, the controls on the Wii take a bit of time to master, but considering there's no waggle experiences, that's just fine.

Like a lot of other treasure-hunting and dungeon-crawling games, the beginning of the game has you customizing your character, which automatically gives you more freedom than any of the other games did, because now you can freely choose which race and class you want the main character to be a part of. Whichever way you choose, the main story will have you coming of age on your 16th birthday, and in order to prove yourself, you have to muster enough courage to come out of the woods unharmed. After doing so and earning a crystal, your sister becomes ill and suffers from the "crystal sickness." There's only one cure for this sickness, and the only way to obtain it would be from the past. Not only is that a problem, but nobody is allowed outside the home village to begin with. Swallowing fear, the hero ventures outside in search of a cure for his sister. Little does he know that crystals no longer exist in the world outside the village.

While it isn't as heartfelt as the story in Ring of Fates, it still is solid enough to encourage you to keep playing. Most of the role-playing adventure will be had in the main castle town where you can deposit funds, recruit members, and take on new missions to gain some gil that you can use for equipment and magic-which you'll need a lot in the game. Dungeons in the game aren't randomly generated (thankfully), but the real joy in the game comes from not just the combat, but the minor platforming as well.

With the map on the bottom screen, progress in the game is actually quite simple and linear. Eventually as you get further and further into the game's many dungeons, you'll earn some new weaponry that can be further used to solve puzzles that present themselves in every dungeon. For example, eventually you'll recruit a hunter who can shoot certain targets to help venture through certain areas.

Exploration is quite a theme in the Crystal Chronicles games, but you can't explore too much without some fighting here and there. Humans who specialize on physical melee strikes are the fastest in terms of getting rid of enemies and grinding, but you'll also come across a few enemies who need more than just a physical beating. Depending on which character in the party you're using, you can also use various magic tricks (using either the stylus or shoulder buttons) to unleash some fury on the enemies. A lot of the enemies in the game leave all sorts of leftovers on the ground. Oftentimes they're just items that replenish your health and magic. Luckily, unless you just leave the room, the items don't disappear, so if you're hurting and need some refreshment, you can always come back to the items and pick them up.

The most impressive part in each dungeon is the bosses at the end. The real joy here comes from deciding how you're going to take them apart. Each boss in the game has specific weak spot, but if you continue to hack, slash, or use magic non-stop, the boss can fall that way too-albeit at a much slower rate. Killing each boss not only advances the story and completes a mission, but it leaves a ton of loot too, which you can later use to forge more equipment for later.

Echoes of Time is pretty solid alone, but the best way to play the game is with three others. The beauty of it all is that the four of you get to use whatever class you want, unlike in the original GameCube one where you all have to classes originally set for you. Also, since all the fighting takes place on the same plain, it allows for a whole lot more multitasking. Add the fact that both DS and Wii users get to play together thanks to the Pollux Engine, and you have one heck of a dungeon-crawling experience.

Depending on your tastes, Echoes of Time is a mixed bag in terms of visuals. Since it pretty much uses the exact same visual style as Ring of Fates, hardly anything was changed. The magic plates on the right side of the screen have taken different forms, but that's about it. On the Wii, if you're playing on a standard tube, the text is extremely hard to read due to the increase in resolution. If playing on an HDTV, the words are a lot clearer, but the graphics just become even grainier. On the Wii, you're technically getting a perfect port of the DS version, and when it comes to power, the DS isn't even close to the Wii.

The sound is what you'd expect from any Final Fantasy-themed game. The music is all pretty niche, and the cool thing about the Crystal Chronicles games is that everything sounds like a light-hearted medieval tune. The fair share of voice acting is here too, and nothing is extremely horrible, so it's quite an impressive package on the DS. The Wii is another story.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time combines the robust single player from Ring of Fates with the entertainment had when playing multiplayer on Crystal Chronicles for the GameCube in a less than annoying fashion. Wireless online play is a whole lot better than connecting GBA's to your GameCube, and it's indeed a welcome addition. But buyers beware, the best way to play this game is through the DS, so while both the DS and Wii versions go for about $39, the DS version is definitely the better buy.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-crystal-chronicles-echoes-of-time/user-reviews/725030/platform/ds/ Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:12:55 -0700 D-MonDRV reviewed Space Invaders Extreme for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/space-invaders-extreme/user-reviews/725029/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

It's hard to believe that Space Invaders is thirty years old now. Whether you're an old-school gamer, a returning gamer, or a fairly young hardcore gamer, it's hard to not relate to those who've spent countless amounts of quarters on this Taito Arcade gem. To celebrate its 30th Anniversary, Taito has released an all-new, more intense edition of the game that started the whole arcade shooting phenomenon.

Space Invaders is as general as it gets. If there's even a story, nobody cares about it. It's a fully 2D game that has you in control of an airfighter and it's your job to rid space of all the aliens that are hoping to kill you. Your plane can only move side-to-side, none of that forward and backward business like Gradius or Ikaruga, and you use the face buttons to shoot your laser at the aliens on the top of screen-which are always layout in a certain design, moving forward and side-to-side on the screen. You're awarded points for every invader you blast out of space, and if your accuracy remains true, your score will continue to multiply-so chaining is an effective way of earning points.

The name of the game is just shooting everything; that's the big idea. But what makes this edition of the game "extreme?" Taito has thrown in a few twists to enrich the experience while still maintaining the old-school Space Invaders feel. Aside from the always interesting mid-level minigames that add to your score and fun along with the slightly challenging boss battles, Space Invaders Extreme features certain power-ups that allow your gun to do more than just shoot its primary laser. One of the power-ups is a beam that shoots an entire line of invaders, which also increases your score drastically. In between every army of aliens you kill, a UFO or two will fly about the screen. These quick and hard-to-hit flying saucers multiply your score tenfold if you manage to hit them. But since they're hard to hit, chaining becomes real hard and affects your score as well. The other twist in the game is Fever Time, which is an opportunity to increase your score after completing a Round. When done, a Jackpot UFO will fly about the screen, and that will get players a special Jackpot Bonus.

Also new to the game is online multiplayer. The PSP version is probably the simpler one of the two handhelds, as all you can do is play competitively via ad hoc. On the DS' Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, players can play competitively, and the truly skilled ones will earn a spot in the score ranking. In addition to the Wi-Fi multiplayer, DS owners can play with a friend using single-card sharing. Unfortunately, the game is only two players.

While a lot of the twists certainly make Space Invaders Extreme pretty extreme, it's probably the visuals that do the job more than the gameplay itself. When playing the game at first, especially on the PSP's wider screen, it can be hard to pay attention to what you're doing because the neon colors in the background are so mesmerizing. It's probably our fault we had a lot of early deaths, but it wasn't easy to contract the actual invaders from the background. But alas, colors are pretty. It improves as you clear the first area though, as they start to be clearer and more pristine along the way. It wouldn't have hurt Taito's cause by making the invaders and the airfighter fully 3D, but we're guessing they thought it would take away from the old-school feel.

The game sounds fantastic. The soundtrack of upbeat techno tunes really gives the game an intense feel, and it does nothing truly annoying. While all the explosions of shooting out every invader are recycled, it's not like you can make significant judgments on the way an explosion should sound anyway. The game's sound is definitely one of the extreme high points.

While some aspects of Space Invaders have aged over time, the quality of fun certain hasn't left. Space Invaders Extreme is the perfect companion on the go, whether or not you have friends with handheld gaming systems. It can keep you entertained on a five-minute way for the bus, and it will keep you busy when the days are slow. With the budget price tag of $20 for both the PSP and DS version, it's not matter of when or why to get it-it's a matter of which one you should get. If you're going to be playing it alone all the time, the PSP version is the way to go because of its wide screen and superior sound quality. But if you have friends who enjoy having a little bit of fun, it's the DS version you want.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"D-MonDRV reviewed Space Invaders Extreme for the DS..." was posted by D-MonDRV on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:12:55 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/space-invaders-extreme/user-reviews/725029/platform/ds/ Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:08:15 -0700 D-MonDRV reviewed N+ for the PSP... http://www.gamespot.com/n/user-reviews/725028/platform/psp/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Despite how gimmicky and extremely ordinary internet flash games may be, there are always few exceptions that rival even that of the mainstream games. One such example was the Newgrounds.com favorite, Alien Hominid, that featured beautifully drawn environments and character art combined with an excruciatingly challenging single-player campaign. Now the latest cult-following lies in N+, the handheld adaptation of the popular flash-game, N. N+ remains every bit as challenging as it was a flash game and as a title in the Xbox Live Arcade, further strengthening the growing library of old-school style puzzlers infesting the current generation of handheld systems.

Nobody really understands the logic to the game's prologue, but the bottom line is you play the role of a ninja with an extreme sense of speed and jumping power. Whether you're playing on the PSP or DS, the environment surrounding the ninja will be extremely big, making the ninja look like an ant. The main objective of the game is to turn on a switch somewhere on the map to open a door, and then enter the door collecting as many gold coins as possible along the way. The ninja's lifespan is a minute and a half The premise is very similar to that of Mario vs. Donkey Kong, but it's a lot more stealthy and straightforward.
s
While the main idea is simple, it becomes extremely hard to accomplish because of the game's realistic physics as well as the fact that more booby traps hinder the ninja's exit strategy. Most normal platformers allow your controlled character to survive long falls just as long as you fall somewhere along the map. N+, on the other hand, has you die if you fall off a ledge at a high enough altitude. To make matters worse, the ninja can't attack, so it's all about your own reflexes and dexterity when it comes to avoiding attacks from enemies spread over the many maps. Luckily, ninjas are very acrobatic specimen. Aside from their speed and their ability to jump high and far distances, you have the ability to wall jump back and forth as fast as you tap the jump button. Again, the game boasts realistic physics, so if you try to scale your way up narrow walls too fast, and you crash into the ceiling at a fast enough pace-you die.

In addition to the very addictive single player mode, N+ also has a fun multiplayer mode to go with it. You have the option to play co-op or against each other. Co-op levels have players working together to complete a level while verses modes such as Domination, Blitz, and Tag mode mainly are about staying alive. Remember, with only 1.5 minutes to live and only a few coins scattered about the area, staying alive is easier said than done. You also have the opportunity to play the game online using the both handhelds' online components, so you're not just limited to local play.

The game features a whole lot of unlockable content, which can be earned by beating certain levels, or getting a certain amount of points. Downloadable content includes more levels, and additional characters and victory dances (that don't affect the game). N+ also allows players to design maps and share them with friends around the world using the integrated level editor and the ad-hoc or infrastructure modes of the PSP and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection on the DS.

Whether you're playing the PSP or DS version, both games feature the same simplistic yet stylish graphics. The main difference is the PSP's widescreen support. The backgrounds have a neon glow that change color, while the black platforms are easy to see with no worries of contrast. It can be hard to see the little mines that are hiding, but that's only because some are invisible. Also, when you're being targeted by enemies with bulls-eye projectiles, it's hard to judge where you'll get hit-but then again, it's all about your hand-eye coordination as well as your reflexes, so some of these are just things to keep an eye out for.

The game sounds like the way it does on flash and on Xbox Live Arcade. It's just a bunch of random explosions, bounce springs, and lots of Game & Watch-esque old-school beeping. It's nothing special, but one thing worth mentioning is that the game just sounds like a video game. No questions asked.

The game's boxart or title may not be enough to captivate the casual gamer, but N+ is new wave old-school gaming at its best. The gameplay is simple and easy to master, but it is also challenging enough to keep gamers pounding themselves in disgust because of whatever mistake they made. If you're looking for a platformer with quick and responsive gameplay, N+ is the game you're looking for. Just be aware that while the PSP version has the superior presentation, it also suffers from horribly slow load times.

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"D-MonDRV reviewed N+ for the PSP..." was posted by D-MonDRV on Fri, 18 Jun 2010 02:08:15 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/n/user-reviews/725028/platform/psp/ Tue, 30 Mar 2010 06:28:49 -0700 Soulreavercross reviewed Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xiii/user-reviews/714865/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 6.0.

Pros: Superb visuals, Excellent voice acting, great cast of characters, excellent save/checkpoint system

Cons: Extremely linear gameplay, combat can get repetitive, some dungeons go on for too long, poor and confusing main story, no towns or villages, lack of proper RPG sidequests/elements.

The Final Fantasy series have always held a special place in my heart and my gaming library but recently Square-Enix have been releasing disappointments after disappointments when it comes to the series. It's been a while since I played an RPG on the same level as Final Fantasy X and it seems I will have to wait longer.

The first thing you'll notice about Final Fantasy XIII on the Xbox 360 is the stunning and superb visuals. The character/creature models are almost flawless in cutscenes, FMVs and actually gameplay. The environments are very detailed, sharp and extremely pleasing to the eyes. There's little to no inconstancy in visual quality. Some of the environments will take your breath away with the visual quality, especially the forested areas. The game's visual style is more inorganic machine-like. Most of the enemies and bosses you encounter will have a unique machine-like style visual, even the summons all look like robots.

The game's soundtrack is good. It doesn't retain any of the original Final Fantasy music such as the battle themes, but the change was good and it went along well with everything else. The voice acting was superb, just what you'd expect from a high budget game. Some of the voices during battle can get a little annoying and repetitive like hearing certain characters moan or recite the same thing everything they do the same move, but this was a minor flaw.

Final Fantasy XIII is THE most linear game I've ever played. From the start to the end, all you do is follow a single path and push forward. There is very little deviation to this pattern. By the time you entered the third disc, the game opens out a little giving you some options to explore some optional areas, but they are no different from the main storyline path and still extremely linear. There are no towns to explore in and no people to really speak too. The one or two town/city in the game is designed just like every other part of the game, in a linear fashion and you just pass through.

The game's combat is turn based, but it's in real time. It's very easy to pick up and play. You select a leader or use the one given to you and you can manually select the commands or use the auto select where the game selects the best options for you depending on your current situation. This auto select function can make combat repetitive, especially when fighting weaker enemies. Each character has 3 main fighting styles and 3 other styles minor styles. The fighting styles and how much you can power up each character style are unlocked further as you progress in the storyline. This was probably to prevent overpowering of characters and to keep a certain amount of challenge with enemies and bosses. Sometimes, however, battles get boring when you are thrown into a long dungeon with little team variety in the first two discs.

You will be spending most of the first half of the game switching among the various characters because your team will be split and they all will not join up until very late in the second disc and you will not able to change your team leader until the third. I actually liked how they did this even though it can get challenging at times with just 2 characters, but this provided some variety with the combat (as long as you don't spend too long with with one team in a single dungeon) and it highlights all the characters strengths and weaknesses so when you do get all characters, you will have your favorites.

You can see enemies onscreen in the game and sometimes you can avoid them, but most of the times because of the linear style of the game; you will have to engage in combat. Final Fantasy XIII has a superb checkpoint/save system and days of spending hours playing only to be wiped out by a powerful enemy are over in this game. If you die, you can just retry and you restart on the map right before the encounter or if you choose and the battle is not going too well, you can manually restart the battle yourself. This feature will save you hours of replaying if it wasn't there. Your team is also fully healed after each battle, another great addition to the series. I guess they learned something from Last Remnant.

Final Fantasy XIII's storyline was a disappointment for me. Sure it was great, but it was confusing and it lacked purpose. The storyline was top notch for the character development and no other game developer can get it done like Square-Enix. The main storyline however was disjointed, lacked meaning and was extremely confusing. The villains were also poorly done and they lack the kind of love/hatred relationship compared to other Final Fantasy villains like Sephiroth, Seymour or Seifer.

Overall you will probably complete the first disc in about 10 hours and the second by the time you get to around 25 hours. If you stick to the storyline and don't do much stat grinding, you can probably complete the game in about 40 hours. You cannot backtrack to any locations in previous discs so once you get to the third and final disc, you'll be stuck with the locations there, but it's not really a bad thing since the game was linear in the first place and the few interesting locations and optional boss battles are all in the third disc.

I did have fun with this game in the early parts but the more I progressed the more I started to dislike it. Final Fantasy XIII feels like a stripped and incomplete game because it's missing vital RPG elements that fans of the series have come to know and love. It's a step back for the series. This game was a major disappointment and the only reason why it may sell is because it carries the "Final Fantasy," name but it doesn't deserve it.

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"Soulreavercross reviewed Final Fantasy XIII for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Soulreavercross on Tue, 30 Mar 2010 06:28:49 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-xiii/user-reviews/714865/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:56:40 -0700 Soulreavercross reviewed The Last Remnant for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-remnant/user-reviews/673171/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

Pros: Save anywhere, on screen enemies, great visuals, unique and engaging battle system, a lot of character choices, free dlc content, fully heal after every battle

Cons: Game texture loading during actual gameplay, stat grinding, average storyline, too many side quests that have little to nothing to do with the main plot, frequent lag during battles.


Last Remnant is a turn based RPG with a unique and very engaging battle system. There are some issues about the game, but overall it was a very enjoyable experience. While I cannot recommend this game to RPG noobs because of some steep difficult curves at a certain points in the game, RPG veterans will find this game very enjoyable and will feel right at home.

The visuals in this game are a double sided sword. The game uses the unreal engine and it's very clear that Square-Enix has little experience with the engine. The game does look really good and it is very beautiful and detailed however the game's textures don't load properly at all. In my 100 plus hours playing this game it never loaded properly. Cut-scenes will start to run, during which background and character details will still be loading. The characters or backgrounds appear plain will little details as the details slowly load into the game taking as long as 3 to 5 seconds. This problem also exists a lot during battles and roaming cities and dungeons. In other words no part of the game was immune to this issue. I should also mention I played this entire game while installed in my HDD and it supposed to cut down this problem and lag.

Last Remnant has something every RPG should have and that's the ability to save anywhere as long as you have access to the party menu. The enemies in the game appear on screen and most of the times they are very easy to evade because the main character Rush has the ability to temporarily slow down time so you can just run pass them. However this is also a double sided sword sometimes because enemies most of the times spot you and will chase you once they do. Luckily enemies in the game are different and have different behaviors and speed. However it's annoying when you're running from an enemy and it is right behind you only to bump into another group and get ambushed.

The game's battle system is unique and most of the times very engaging. You feel like you're actually part of battle. Each character (called unit) is an individual however you battle in groups called unions. Each union must have a leader followed by the other units. Each union comprises of a maximum of 5 units, including a leader. That union is what a standard RPG would consider a single 'character.' The units attack based commands that appear during battle. The commands differ a lot depending on your union's character make up, the enemies you're battling or the condition of your union(s) or units. Overall once you reach the events in the second disc, your battle teams should max out at 5 Unions and 18 Units. It's up to you how you decide to split up unions and units. The game contains a lot of recruitable units, including soldiers and leaders.

Battles itself are very satisfying however you will come across frequent lag. It shouldn't really be a surprised because at times there can be dozens of characters on screen at one time. The combat is not all watching once you select your battle commands, you have to pay attention, because very often you get a button prompt, depending on your character's weapon, to do extra damage, change battle order because of teamwork or counter an attack. Some battles are challenging in the game depending on the enemies you battle or their combination, some of them are even as powerful as some bosses. Thankfully after every battle, you units will all fully heal. This is extremely useful because it would have been a huge turnoff if you had to nurse your wounds after each battle.

Last Remnant has a lot of sidequests and I mean a lot. If you stuck to the storyline you could have completed the first disc in about 10 hours or less and the second in about 15 or so. However you will be forced to do the sidequests to get upgrades and stat because you will hit a wall with some of the very difficult boss battles. The sidequests make up the bulk of the game and most of them have nothing to do with the actual storyline. You do learn things about characters and the world, but that's about it.
The game's storyline revolves around Remnants and struggle to control and destroy them. The storyline was average and not what we'd expect from a Square-Enix title. There was little to no character development and the few emotional scenes in the game had no real weight because you didn't really care for the characters. The ending however was worthy of the Square-Enix seal of approval.

The game does have some free DLCs containing a challenging Dungeon with bosses as well as Challenge Packs with additional bosses scattered throughout the world. This adds some extra value and challenge to the game.

Last Remnant is a good game. I did lose sleep over this game and I'm sure anyone who loves RPG would do the same. This generation RPGs are a very lacking genre. Beggars cannot be choosers and this was a great stepping stone as we wait for Final Fantasy XIII

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"Soulreavercross reviewed The Last Remnant for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Soulreavercross on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:56:40 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-remnant/user-reviews/673171/platform/xbox360/ Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:17:20 -0800 Soulreavercross reviewed Far Cry 2 for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/far-cry-2/user-reviews/643156/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Far Cry 2 is a deviation from the typical FPS genre and for the most part, it's quite a unique experience on the Xbox 360 and is worth consideration by anyone who loves FPS and exploration games.

The Good: Extremely large landscapes and a long single player campaign, outstanding visuals, a variety of ways to complete missions, addictive and active online modes, excellent and easy to use map editor.

The Bad: Long tedious tracking from point A to B, weak storyline, sometimes stupid AI, unpredictable glitches that severely affect single player gameplay.

When people hear FPS, they think Halo or Call of Duty and expect game to be somewhat similar to their gameplay. The developers of Far Cry 2 decided to approach the genre with an open world giving players the freedom to do whatever they want and complete missions in a variety of ways. Far Cry 2 is an evolution for the series and does do a lot of things good while some are disappointing.

The visuals in Far Cry 2 are outstanding and the game looks extremely good with great details being placed on the various environments making players feel as if they are actually in the game. The visuals are also assisted by a time of day factor. The game looks different depending on whatever time you play the game (based on the game's own clock). The visual beauty and details really show when the sun is high and the game is very bright, illuminating everything in spectacular beauty.

The game's audio and sound effects are good. The voice acting is okay but very often during real time cut scenes you can hardly hear what characters are saying, even if you're at the closest point to them in the game. It gets kind of annoying. Luckily there are subtitles to help you out. The storyline revolves around politics and sometimes it's absent. The story was poor. Even though there are some plot twists towards the end, it's nothing really surprising.

Far Cry 2 contains a very lengthy single player campaign. Depending on how you play the game, you can spend well over 40 hours on it especially if you're after all the diamonds and complete all side missions. Far Cry 2's single player is a huge game. It is made up of 2 large maps, each map has 9 smaller maps (and one small map joins the 2 areas). Don't be deceived by my choice of words, the 'small maps' are actually very large and within each 'small map' are even smaller more detailed maps for some areas. These smaller detailed maps are usually in areas where missions need to be done. In a world this large getting from point A to B can be a very tedious chore especially when there are enemy camps to pass through, uneven topography to cross or no vehicles to drive. There are some bus stations scattered throughout the game, but they are not enough and are far apart. Sometimes when you complete a mission you're left in the open and to get to the next area gets frustrating, other times you complete one part of a mission in one area and the other part is three quarter the entire main map away. It sometimes seems like this game is a chore. Saving progress is always an issue for gamers. This game doesn't contain any auto save or 'save anywhere' feature. Instead you save in Safe houses, special areas and after completing a mission. Luckily safe houses are very numerous in the game (however you need to unlock them first by killing the enemies guarding them)

The controls in Far Cry 2 are just like your standard FPS however there are some marked differences. There is a sprint feature so most of the times you will be walking and you can only sprint for short distances until your character gets tired and starts to see blurred. There is no close melee combat which is a shame because sometimes you'll be up close to enemies and all can do is shoot them. There are a wide variety of weapons in the game separated into 3 classes and you can only carry one of each class and a melee weapon. You will first need to purchase the weapons using diamonds you find through explorations or completing missions. These weapons can be upgraded. Once you purchase the weapons, you'll have an unlimited supply at the armory however weapons are unreliable, they jam and eventually break, so you must change or swap weapons at your armory ever so often.

You're not alone in the game, as you progress, you'll get buddies. These buddies give you optional missions, help you out on storyline missions and can even rescue you if you die in the game. You can choose to complete missions anyway you like and use any type of strategy. Running in guns blazing isn't always the best thing because you can be easily outnumbered and killed. You'll eventually learn various ways to complete missions depending on your style of gaming

Far Cry 2 was set in Africa however there is little to no wildlife in the game. Zebras, Buffalos and domesticated goats and chickens are not the only wildlife in Africa. There was also no marine wildlife in the swamps, rivers or watering holes, none whatsoever.

There were some glitches I encountered in the game; hopefully patches will be released to fix them. I've read and heard of worse glitches, but I encountered only one major one. In the Northern area, coming towards the end, when I was close to leaving the area, Mike's Bar was glitched and I could not enter it to get my buddy missions. Eventually I decided to continue with the storyline and left out the buddy missions and as a result I missed out on an achievement. The bar was even glitched in the Southern area, but as I progressed with the storyline, it became accessible again. There were some glitches I encountered online multiple times, however re-spawning usually fixed them. First there was one where I re-spawned without any ammo in any of weapons and I could not even pick up any ammo. There was one where I had no weapons. There was one where the weapon I selected (AK-47) was constantly being swapped out for another (Grenade Launcher). I know people have encountered more, but these are just what I experienced.

Far Cry 2's editor is detailed, very easy to use, provided almost infinite possibilities to create and almost infinite multiplayer replayability. Far Cry 2's multiplayer was awesome! The online multiplayer however is totally separate from the single player game. Nothing from the single player campaign is carried over to multiplayer. As you progress in the online multiplayer, you get experience based on various things and level up. As you level up, you gain diamonds. These diamonds are used to unlock various weapons depending on your preferred style of gameplay.

Far Cry's online multiplayer has 4 modes, around 15 default maps and infinite user created maps. The four modes are Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Diamond and Uprising. Team Deathmatch, Capture the Diamond and Uprising are all team based. The only solo mode is Deathmatch. Deathmatch is your standard, kill or be killed. Team Deathmatch is one team must kill as much as the opposing team as possible. Capture the diamond is a team must gain control of the opposing team's diamond and drop it at their own base as much as possible. Uprising is you must protect your team captain at any cost as he activates points on the map.

Lastly I'd just like to mention the achievements for those interested in it. Far Cry 2 a mixture of single player and online multiplayer achievements. They are not difficult to get, they are just time consuming. A good bit of the single player achievements can be missed if you rush through the game, however if you complete all missions and side missions in the North before moving onto South and you complete missions with your buddy, you should be just fine. The online achievements are also very time consuming, but none can missed, as long as you dedicate the time, you should be able to get them.

Far Cry 2 is not your typical FPS, however with a solid single player experience and an active, and fun online multiplayer this game is an experience you will not forget.

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"Soulreavercross reviewed Far Cry 2 for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Soulreavercross on Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:17:20 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/far-cry-2/user-reviews/643156/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:13:22 -0700 ZJohnnyZ reviewed Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/age-of-conan-hyborian-adventures/user-reviews/594905/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 1.0.

Broken Components...
While there are always many "teething issues" with the game that will most likely be fixed if given enough time, AoC is also hampered by three fundamental problems that are unfixable.

1)"Disjointed Game Wold
The game world is designed as a set of zones that are not physically connected to each other, and you constantly run into barriers - usually visible, but sometimes invisible - and both types prevent you from exploring the local area any further. Major bits of the scenery are just set pieces - pretty, but just background graphics. Major parts of Old Tarantia look majestic, but are in reality inaccessible, and same thing repeats in the other two starter hub areas - Conarch Village is probably the best of the bunch, but it is surrounded by an impassable wooden stockade, and the only way to venture outside is to use one of the designated zone points. Khemi being a small island is surrounded by water you are not meant to cross - and if you do, you find out that everything beyond the island is just fake."

2)"Misused Instancing

And here you can build your very own city - just like every guild can, in their very own copy of the area. Instancing done wrong. Funcom also took the easy route in balancing the spawns and quest content in relation to the amount of players roaming each area. Instead of a single dynamically adjusting game world where you can meet your friends if you just walk to the same spot on the map, every non-city zone in the game is instanced. Depending on the player load, there can be easily 8-9 identical copies of a zone up at any given time, and each of them has so few players that you might mistake Age of Conan as a single player game. When trying to group, fiddling with instances destroys the last remaining illusion of an immersive game world. Yet at the same time Age of Conan dumps the universally accepted fix to avoid boss camping and most dungeons are public instances that get copied just like the outdoor zones - so it's highly likely that the end boss of your dungeon is being camped by a Chinese gold farmer. Same instancing continues in zones set aside for building player cities and keeps. You can pool resources and build up a great city, but most likely only your guild members will actually visit it. It appears that the whole city and keep building business is nothing but popping up buildings in specially constructed areas designed for those "massive" instanced and pre-arranged PvP battles. I'm sure Funcom had great plans going in, but the actual implementation can only be described as weak."

3)"Kindergarten Economic System
Finally, Age of Conan has a fundamentally broken economic system. While you gather up money in the traditional ways - completing quests, looting coins and selling all that looted junk to NPCs, there actually is almost no way to get rid of all that money. Items do not decay, and you do not have to repair anything, you do not pay for skill training, travel is free and in general there are no constant "money sinks" to keep the inflation in check. Sure, that best mount costs 150g, but once you have it, then what? Only simple way to spend money that I can think of is by buying consumables such as health and mana potions. In a way the "economic system" of Age of Conan reminds me of the toy economy of Anarchy Online - that other Funcom game well known for runaway inflation and utterly silly prices for anything remotely rare or valuable in player-to-player trading. You may hate all those small money drains present in most MMOs, but if you play Age of Conan, sooner or later you'll learn what's on the other side as everyone is rich and there is nothing to buy with all that money. While there are plenty of other bugs and minor problems that will get fixed over time, all these fundamental issues drag down the gameplay score as they run so deep that they would require major re-working of the game and it's highly unlikely to ever happen. "

Check out " http://www.yougamers .com/reviews/19142_ age_of_conan_ hyborian_ adventures-page6/ " for more rewies.

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"ZJohnnyZ reviewed Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures for the PC..." was posted by ZJohnnyZ on Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:13:22 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/age-of-conan-hyborian-adventures/user-reviews/594905/platform/pc/ Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:24 -0700 ZJohnnyZ reviewed World of Warcraft for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/world-of-warcraft/user-reviews/579304/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

Bought the game made several characters, was invited into several guilds – no group invites followed, and everyone in the all guilds was always soloing (Uhmm– the point of a guild (aka gang) is to have strength in numbers and to group to power level, quest, grind, farm etc TOGETHER!!!)

This MPG –Massive player game noy MMO is turning out to be a boring solo grind cause there's no one to group with so why don't they just let you create a character from level 60 - 70 now cause I'm sooo bored of being alone. I play mmorpg's to be in groups constantly and play with other people but WOW feels more like "playing alone together" and I can't see the point in having to solo. I might as well just play Oblivion which has far better solo content which isn't just "go kill 10 boars and come back" lol.

Also what if I just enjoy PVP and not PVE, why can't I level up on PVP throughout the game in Battlegrounds? Only makes sense to me to allow players to do this to give us the option of not fighting boring mobs all the time alone. Warhammer Online is going to allow you to level up on PVP so I don't see why WOW can't. This whole level system I find sooo flawed because it's the same thing in every mmorpg. A new expansion is released and level cap increased leaving the old world completely empty and because all the players are out "end level" then there's no one to group with on the lower levels. At least in previous games like SWG you could group with anyone (at any level) and a veteran could play with a noobie because there were no level restrictions of any kind and it kept the community together, very strong grouping communities - with constant groups of up to 16 people.

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"ZJohnnyZ reviewed World of Warcraft for the PC..." was posted by ZJohnnyZ on Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:24 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/world-of-warcraft/user-reviews/579304/platform/pc/ Mon, 19 May 2008 12:23:25 -0700 Shame-usBlackley reviewed Assault Heroes 2 for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/assault-heroes-2/user-reviews/575009/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Assault Heroes is one of the bright spots on XBLA. It's essentially an old-school shooter with snazzy graphics, delightful weaponry, some on-foot sections, and a well-paced, challenging campaign that can be played co-operatively offline or on.

Assault Heroes 2 gives you more of the same.... mostly. There's the obligatory new weapons, which, while still fun, are hit or miss. There are also new vehicles to get in, but they're so underwhelming that I found myself opting to play the game through in the default Warthog-lookalike or even on foot instead.

The big plus is that the game is longer -- MUCH longer. It's at least twice as long as the original, so it's hard for me to argue that you aren't getting your money's worth with the game. And since the foundation for the game is so rock-solid, it's even harder to not like AH2.

The game makes two very bad missteps, though. First, the game is way, way, WAY too dark. On my Samsung LCD, I had to crank the brightness from 65 all the way up to 90 to even remotely make the game playable. It's possible that plasmas and CRTs may not have this problem, but since the majority of HD sets being sold are LCD, it's best that you know this before jumping in.

Also, there are a few spaceship levels that are so bad and so poorly implemented that you'll feel as if you've accidentally booted up a different game. These levels are so bad and so floaty, that your opinion on the game (whatever it is) is likely to drop a pitch or two.

Aside from these awful additions (especially the darkness level, which hurts the game tremendously), this is probably one of the finest shooters ten bucks can buy. Hopefully they'll patch it so it isn't so hard to see, because a shooter that you can't see is broken. Were it not for the overall quality of the rest of the game and the fact that brightness can be adjusted, I'd have scored this several points lower.

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"Shame-usBlackley reviewed Assault Heroes 2 for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Shame-usBlackley on Mon, 19 May 2008 12:23:25 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/assault-heroes-2/user-reviews/575009/platform/xbox360/ Sun, 11 May 2008 07:07:29 -0700 ZJohnnyZ reviewed Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/star-wars-galaxies-jump-to-lightspeed/user-reviews/573275/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 1.0.

What's the point in a multiplayer game with no players SOE called it the CU/NGE, the Combat Update/New Game Enhancement, and it drove nearly everybody out of the game. Nobody plays this game anymore because it is horrible. BUT, people who will never play again and haven't played in years still have houses and structures all over the place that are abandoned ghost towns. (I have three, I quit too)

Here is a quote;
"Over the past month, countless longtime Galaxies players have quit playing the popular online take on the ubiquitous film franchise. Their grievance: a controversial, sweeping redesign of the structure of the game that they say has ruined the fun -- and made irrelevant the years of work they have invested into their in-game personas.

"It's now a shoot'em-up game for adolescents, not at all conducive to our play style," says Carolyn Hocke, a web technician for Saint Michael's Hospital in Wisconsin, whose character A'thena was mayor of an in-game city on Tatooine and owner of a bustling shopping mall. "People who we grew to know over the last couple of years are gone. Cities are ghost towns, guilds are gone. My galaxy is gone, my game is gone.""
http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/2005/12/69816

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"ZJohnnyZ reviewed Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed for the PC..." was posted by ZJohnnyZ on Sun, 11 May 2008 07:07:29 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/star-wars-galaxies-jump-to-lightspeed/user-reviews/573275/platform/pc/ Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:13:41 -0700 Shame-usBlackley reviewed Condemned 2: Bloodshot for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/condemned-2-bloodshot/user-reviews/566622/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

Condemned 2 isn't a fitting successor to one of the scariest games ever made. Nor is it a competent shooter, even though it wants to be at times.

It's not all bad. It's just not very good, either. The fighting system is actually deeper and more fleshed-out than the first game, as are the forensic tools. Fighting is much more fun in this new game, even though it feels like you can hit people from about five feet further away than you would in real life. The forensic events are much more interesting and varied, and actually require some thought and attention on the player's behalf. Also, the graphics are pretty well done, a noticeable step up from the first game's visuals.

That's where the positive comparisons end, though. The story is bland at first, and veers on awful at the end. Condemned's feet seemed firmly trenched in reality, while Condemned 2 veers off on the tangential. The last boss encounter looks like it was ripped straight from the game Prey environment-wise, and while the first game seemed like a videogame version of Seven, the sequel feels like a Trent Reznor video directed by Mel Brooks.

But where Condemned 2 really falls short is in the scares department. The first game doled out heartstoppers seemingly at every turn, while Condemned 2's scares are few and far between. Players will likely miss memorable locations like the cabin and the mall from the first game. Condemned 2 also blatantly apes a level from Bioshock as well, which, contrary to popular opinion, is not a good thing.

There's also a ho-hum multiplayer component thrown in the game like a piece of meat for wild dogs. Why a game like this even needed online multiplayer is beyond me, but here it is, in all it's milquetoast glory. The game would've benefitted from more single-play polish and less of this garbage (which, if you want the achievements in, you better play fast, because no one will play this a second longer than they need to).

Everything generally works as it should in Condemned 2, it's just that it isn't as powerfully evocative as the original. It doesn't match its predecessor from a horror standpoint and it's certainly not a very good shooter, which means it's just sort of average.

Much like Ethan's whiskey, this game is watered-down, and the results are disappointing. A rental at best.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/condemned-2-bloodshot/user-reviews/566622/platform/xbox360/ Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:32:59 -0800 mendoza reviewed Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/uncharted-drakes-fortune/user-reviews/548082/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

I had been aware of Uncharted. I saw the videos and played the demo but wasn't that hooked by any of them. I got the game as a gift and the last time I had so much play a game, was so amazed by the graphics and didn't want it to end was when I played the first God of War.

For me Uncharted finally delivers on the next-gen gaming experience I have been waiting for since the launch of the PS3. The graphics in HD are nothing short of jaw dropping. So much so that you will laugh at yourself for spending so much time admiring the water. The animation system is every bit as good and dynamic as the city running found in Assasin's Creed but the characters and story are world's better. Think 60% National Treasure, 30% Indiana Jones and 10% Resident Evil.So yea buy this game for your PS# collection

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"mendoza reviewed Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by mendoza on Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:32:59 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/uncharted-drakes-fortune/user-reviews/548082/platform/ps3/