MrSelf-Destruct's GameSpot Friend's Reviews MrSelf-Destruct's GameSpot Friend's Reviews MrSelf-Destruct'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 05:02:33 -0700 GameSpot MrSelf-Destruct's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Sat, 04 May 2013 13:32:51 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed Dark Souls for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/dark-souls/user-reviews/811007/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

When was the last time a game really challenged you? When was the last time defeating a boss felt like the end all, be all triumph? When was the last time a game forced you to consider death as a tactic and not necessarily a failure? If you play Dark Souls, the answer to all those questions will be "very recently."

The game begins with a somewhat short cut scene that details the history of a land known as Lordran. Long story short, a king discovered Flame, and used it to overpower the almost God like dragons, along with the help of a scale less dragon named Seath. When the war was one, the king, Gwyn, split up an object known as the Lord Soul to his most trusted individuals. However, the First Flame began to die, and, when that happened, the world went completely to hell. Once bustling and populated cities turned barren as the populace became undead monsters, known as Hollows, which is when an undead being goes crazy and homicidal. Now, the once grand kingdom of Lordran is more or less a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Since all Undeads eventually go Hollow, they are brought to an asylum on a cliff in order to prevent danger befalling the few remaining people who are alive. This is where the game begins. After you create a character by choosing their gender, physique, class (more on that in a bit) and Gift (which is where you choose from a set of items that have various different effects) the game throws you into a jail cell in the asylum, and you are given control. The game gives you a broken sword and the armor of your class to start with, but it isn't long before you gain the shield and weapon of your class. In my case, I chose a Knight, who gets some pretty decent armor and a good sword for the beginning of the game.

The Undead asylum is, essentially, the game's tutorial level, although I say that with the loosest meaning on the word. The most you get is some messages scribbled on the ground about the basics of combat. Basically, all it tells you is the different types of actions at your disposal, like blocking with a shield, running, light attacks, strong attacks, and a few others. However, it doesn't tell you anything about how to use magic, what kind of weapons do what kind of attacks, and much more. This becomes immediately apparent when the game throws its first boss at you. The most help you get is a conveniently placed message detailing how to attack while falling… And even then, it doesn't guarantee victory against the boss.

This reflects how the rest of the game goes. Basically, you are given little to no guidance on where to go and what to do… there is no quest log, no pointing arrow, no context given as to what your overall goal is. The game's way of telling you where to go is, basically, dying. A lot. If you are in a new area, and are being continuously killed in one or two hits, then there's a good chance that there is something else for you to do first. Just what that is is up to you to find out.

Now, I don't dislike the idea of this. It makes it all the more rewarding when you finally figure out how to progress, or where to go. However, playing offline, the game more or less requires a guide to beat, even for the most intrepid and determined player. The way the online is designed is that you will receive hints from other players via messages on the ground. This is good for people with access to online, but for people without, it pretty much means a guide is in order. While nothing in the game is too obtuse, there are a few objectives that are very obscure and nigh impossible to figure out.

While figuring out what to do is a challenge in and of itself, getting there is, in many ways, tougher. Combat is not a guns blazing affair. If you charge into a group of more than two enemies during your first time traveling through an area, there's a very good chance that you will meet with a swift end. You see, Dark Souls is the kind of a game where every action you do requires planning. Attacking an enemy is slow and deliberate, and it eats up your Stamina bar (along with actions like blocking an attack, sprinting and others). Almost no weapon in the game offers a really fast method of attacking, so that means that each swing of your weapon needs to be precise; missing an enemy leaves you wide open, and enemies in this game will take advantage of that. When first traveling through an area, enemies can take you down in a few hits… Of course, assuming you're using a good weapon, you can do the same to them. Really, the game puts you on more or less even ground with enemies, at least early in the game. But this system of deliberate attacks forces you to be careful. When you successfully defeat an enemy, you gain Souls, which can be used for many different tasks, such as leveling up, buying new equipment, upgrading said equipment, or powering up spell casting items.

Of course, you are bound to die in this game. It's not even a matter of "if", just a matter of "when." The game's checkpoint system are things called bonfires. Resting at these restores your amount of healing potions, attune your magic, among other things. If you die, you are sent back to the last bonfire you rested at. However, you lose all the Souls you had in your possession. All is not lost, though. If you can make it back to the area where you died, you can find your Bloodstain, which holds all the souls you lost. The catch is that every time you rest at a bonfire or die, all of the enemies in the area reset. Should you die again while trying to reclaim lost souls, the Bloodstain disappears forever, taking all of your precious souls with it.

This system may seem punishing, but, in reality, it forces you to be careful. Not only does carelessness lead to death, but it can lead to a loss of your lifeblood, since souls are so crucial to character development. It also forces you to make tough decisions… Should you try and reclaim your souls and risk losing them, or should you simply leave and grind for a while in an earlier area? The constant threat of death and loss of progress makes the game incredibly tense; every enemy encounter can either further bolster your character or set you back for hours. Every swing of the sword either brings you one step closer to victory, or one false swing from defeat.

Since the game is challenging, replaying an area a few times will definitely help ease the challenge a bit. It encourages you to learn from your mistakes. But, it's a double edged sword. Since enemies respawn in the same place every time, it leads to repetition, and a lot of it. If you die a lot, you are going to need to fight through the same sets of enemies more times than you may care to. While it's still rewarding to finally reach the next bonfire, getting there can easily turn frustrating and tedious. Of course, if you're playing correctly, you should only die a few times before it finally clicks and you push on through the difficulty. Still, dying over and over can be very discouraging, especially when it's on a boss that required you to fight through ten minutes of the level. Almost any player is bound to be frustrated at some point while playing this game… I know there were more than a few instances of four letter words being hurled at the screen.

The high level of challenge also leads to a high level of reward. There is an overwhelming sense of satisfaction from finally delivering the deathblow to one of the hulking monstrosities of the bosses, or form earning enough souls to final level up. Granted, this feeling is soon shattered when you decide to stop basking in the glow of victory and move on, but the feeling of accomplishment is one of the driving forces of the game.

Despite the odds often being stacked against you, there are plenty of opportunities to try and even them a bit, since the game offers in depth customization. For instance, the fact that the game gives you the choice of what class to start as is a little misleading. Every time you level up, you can increase a certain attribute by one. That means that, if you start off as a mage, you could theoretically end the game as a tank character who can wield all manner of weapons, or a fast character that uses critical attacks to win. It all depends on how you upgrade your statistics.

On top of triumphing against bad odds and upgrading your character, the simple fun of exploring the highly varied world is a good reason to keep playing. Each area is incredibly distinct in its feeling and atmosphere. For instance, the Undead Burg is just what it sounds like… A city long taken over by the undead. Another area is a dark, oppressive and rickety old city in the sewers of Lordran, created by mutated freaks. The visuals do a lot to help keep the variety coming, thanks to the strong artistic design of everything. Enemies, architecture, armor, weapons all look great. The sound, on the other hand, is consisted mostly of the sounds of battle and some very subtle ambient music. It all sounds fine, but is also somewhat forgettable.

Aside from a few problems with the game's structure, the technical side of things tends to be shoddy at times. There are a few areas in the game where the frame rate takes a noticeable dip, and may sometimes even freeze for a second or two. Also, there may be times where the camera gets caught up on something, causing a tough to see perspective. Also, the lock on camera is can be a problem at times. Later in the game, there's an area with huge enemies who can hit you when you can't hit them, or target them, which leads to frustration when you're trying to run away but can't shield their attacks. There are a few other inconsistencies here and there, too. They are rare when they happen, so they are mostly forgivable, but it can still be frustrating when you're in the heat of battle and the camera suddenly goes weird, causing you to fall off the narrow ledge you're standing on.

Overall, Dark Souls is an RPG worth playing for those who really want a challenge. The rewarding challenge, precise and deliberate combat and the good visual design/ atmosphere makes it more than good enough for die hard RPG fans. However, the game isn't for everyone, since the very way the game is structured leads to repetition and often times frustration. There are also some noticeable technical foibles, and sometimes the game goes from "challenging" to "cheap" (the Curse status halves your max HP until you get it cured, and it stacks, which means you could be running around with a quarter of your total HP with no way of fixing it). Despite these issues I have with the game, Dark Souls is well worth the time and effort. So long and thanks for reading.

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"turtlethetaffer reviewed Dark Souls for the Xbox 360..." was posted by turtlethetaffer on Sat, 04 May 2013 13:32:51 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dark-souls/user-reviews/811007/platform/xbox360/ Mon, 22 Apr 2013 23:28:59 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed Metroid: Zero Mission for the Game Boy Advance... http://www.gamespot.com/metroid-zero-mission/user-reviews/810566/platform/gba/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

The Metroid series arguably created the 2D side scrolling action/ adventure genre, back when the original was released in 1986. It featured a wide open world, with no particular order you had to do things in, and the player needed to figure everything out for themselves. Metroid: Zero Mission is a remake of the original, with significant updates including a (technically) longer play time and updated production values.

And what production values they are. The GBA is clearly being pushed to the limits with this game. The sprite based 2D graphics are all highly detailed and filled with color. Samus herself animates in an almost jaw dropping way; despite being 2D, she moves with lifelike believability, and little details like her gun always being on her right arm top off her good looks. The attention to detail in the game is truly staggering. There are tons of little touches that are almost unnoticeable, but the creators felt it fit to put them in anyways. The environments are all pleasing to look at, and they have enough variety so that you never grow tired of them, and you can tell the difference between each one.

Meanwhile, the sound is also top notch. The classic Brinstar theme has been redone so it's much more dramatic and pleasing to hear. Despite the fact that it loops frequently, it doesn't ever grow tiring. The same can be said for the other themes throughout the game. Each area is different, and very well done. You will likely find yourself humming along to the tunes after a while in each place. The sound effects are also quite well done, even though they aren't really as big a part of the game. Explosions, supersonic running, the electrifying sound of the screw attack… they all come through the GBA's speakers quite nicely.

The story, what little there is, is quite interesting. It focuses on Samus's first mission, which is to eradicate all of the mysterious alien creatures known as Metroids on the planet Zebes. There is more to it than that, mostly told through the environment and brief comic book type cutscenes. It's not quite as focused as Fusion's, but it's still well done enough to be interesting.

Of course, the Metroid games have always been about gameplay. And this one, ultimately, is no different. You start out fairly weak; you can only fire simple little beams of energy, can't jump too high, and have a very small amount of health. At first, the places you can go are extremely limited. However, it isn't long before you find the ever present Morph Ball ability, and, from there, you slowly work to become a walking killing machine. The sense of progression, of becoming more powerful and of discovering previously out of reach areas are all here in full force.

While the game is less linear than Metroid Fusion, it still has a set path for you to follow. Scattered around at various points in the many stages you explore are Chozo statues that will show you the general area you need to go. While it may be disappointing to some that the game tells you where you need to go, it's almost never as straightforward as you think at first. There are usually hidden areas, indicated by the "hidden in plain sight" tricks such as a crack in a block or an obviously shown area.

Usually, you will need to find the next big power up so you can progress further into a boss's lair. However, not only do they grant you the ability to progress the story, but new powers typically open up new hidden places to uncover in previously visited areas. For instance, early on, you may come across a block that can only be broken with a Super Missile. Well, you can come back once you've obtained said power up and claim your prize. This encourages exploration, since there are tons of hidden upgrades to find, and you will never find them al on your first run through a level.

The game boasts a few boss battles at the end of certain stages. These are, typically, quite spectacular in that they are screen filling monstrosities. And they all look quite good; little details abound, and the animation is rather stellar, just like Samus. However, only one of these can truly be considered hard… And it's not the last boss. The first few are quite easy; I beat them on my first try. Their patterns are never too tough to figure out, and you can tell when they're close to death since they will get progressively redder and their attacks will come at you faster and hit harder. However, the general pattern never changes, and even the hard boss has a very basic pattern that shouldn't take too long to figure out. Still, you need to be on your toes, because, later in the game, one slip up can mean a huge loss of precious health.

The number of bosses can, in a way, represent the overall feel of the game, which is very fun but disappointingly short. Much like how there are only a handful of boss battles, the game can easily be beaten in five or six hours, and that's if you have no idea what you're doing. To get all the powerups would probably maybe up to three hours' extra playtime (if you really take your time with it). Of course, there's always the extra difficulty to challenge yourself with, or you can try doing speedruns with as few items as possible. Since the game is so short, it does encourage replay. However, it ends very abruptly, and it feels like it should be longer.

Despite the very short length, the game is still worth playing if you love 2D action/ adventure games. It offers the same satisfying mix of run and gun action, exploration and "stranded on an alien planet" atmosphere that made Metroid such a popular series in the first place. The top notch production values, responsive controls and fun combat will keep you coming back. Just beware that the fun doesn't last forever. So long and thanks for reading.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/metroid-zero-mission/user-reviews/810566/platform/gba/ Mon, 15 Apr 2013 01:52:29 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-the-4-heroes-of-light/user-reviews/810263/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light is a spinoff from the popular and long running Final Fantasy games. It advertises that it presents old school RPG gameplay in a storybook type world. And, despite the several flaws present in the game, it does just that.

The game begins with a young fourteen year old, Brandt, awakening in his hometown of Horne. Since he is "finally a man", and there is a very serious threat from a witch in the north, the king sends Brandt out to investigate why a battalion of soldiers haven't come back. Soon, he runs into another young man, Jusqua, and finds Yunita and Aire at the mansion up north. When they beat the witch, they go back to Horne only to find that everyone has been turned to stone! From there, they all go their separate ways to look for a reason behind the curse. For the first half of the game, they all supposedly overcome their own respective character flaws, and, finally, join up to fight evil together.

The story sounds a lot like basic RPG stories, because, well… It is. The story is extremely basic, and the characters are about as deep as a dried up kiddie pool. Additionally, for the first half of the game, the characters will meet up and randomly ditch each other for seemingly arbitrary reasons, and the story is constantly shifting perspectives between these four. Also, you will typically get a guest character that will leave your party, taking all the items you may have given them.

While the story is fairly shallow and basic, there's a certain element of charm to it, despite its really fractured storytelling. You won't likely care that much for it, but it's still entertaining enough so that you won't terribly mind when there's a story scene. There are a few interesting twists throughout, mainly at the halfway point, but they are rather poorly explained and confusing. Despite this, it's a decently fun story that doesn't require too much thought.

The simplicity of the story is part of the game's roots in the old school, and the story book atmosphere. Another part of the game that definitely shows this is with the graphics. The character designs are all fairly simple, but adorably so. They all have basic black eyes and super deformed models, but it looks really good in a cute kind of way. The various towns you explore also look simple, but charming. Each one typically has a different motif or element that sets it apart from the others. For instance, one is located in a hot desert, where everyone wears robes to cover themselves from the sun's scorching rays. In another, everyone sports winter gear, because it's in a frigid arctic. Despite the fact that there isn't much to differentiate the towns, they all have a distinct feeling to them because of the different "themes" for each.

This also extends to the various Crowns that you acquire throughout the game. Each one changes the headgear of the character whose wearing it, and it's worth trying out each crown just to see what the characters look like in them. Even if you don't think the Scholar crown is worth using, you have to admit that the characters looking freaking adorable wearing a graduation cap.

On the sound side of things, there isn't really much to talk about. Now, the music isn't bad by any means. However, it's not special, either. While the overworld theme is rather catchy, most of the themes for the towns are really just back ground filler. Again, nice to listen to, but you won't be humming any of them as you play. The dungeon music is easily the most disappointing, since it's so "subtle" that it may as well not even be there. The battle music remains the same throughout, and it's not too bad, but, like the rest, it's very basic and not that special. The traditional boss music is, on the other hand, pretty cool, mixing heavy electric guitar with old school bleeps and boops. There isn't much to the music, and what's here is serviceable, but hardly memorable, aside from one or two tunes.

But how does the gameplay hold up? Since this is an old school RPG, this is the part of the game that really matters. And old school, it is. You explore dungeons that are all rather bare bones, battling through randomly generated battles to gain experience and level up. At the end is a powerful boss that you must beat using all the tools you have at your disposal. However, despite its old school roots, there are some modern enhancements. For instance, almost all of the status ailments in the game are only for the battle you're in… So if you get paralyzed in battle, beat it and bam it's cured. This isn't true for all of them, but it definitely helps keep frustration to a minimum. However, one of the most noticeably different qualities of the battle system is with Action Points.

Each character can have up to five Action Points at a time. Performing actions in battle cost a certain number (attacking costs one point, casting more powerful spells can cost three, for, or with a few super powerful ones, all five points, etc.) This makes the Boost (defend command) actually a part of the strategy in battle. If you need to save up points to cast a powerful spell, you'll have to boost in order to gain enough points. This is actually quite a neat feature, as it means you could theoretically last forever out in the wild with the right strategy.

One feature that some will view as annoying is the inventory system. Each character can only hold up to fifteen items. This includes the equipment your character wears, so, if you have a piece of armor on, a sword, a shield and an accessory, that's four spaces in your inventory that you can't use. On top of this, any spells you use take up a space since, rather than learning spells, you use them by having the spell books with you. For a magic using character, this makes it so they can't have very many support items with them like potions and the like. Many would find this quite bothersome, but I rather liked it. It forces you to carefully consider what items you'll need. Additionally, as long as you don't constantly load up on items (which you shouldn't need to if you sport a versatile White Mage) then you shouldn't ever need to drop anything in order to make room for an item in a chest. Rather than just rushing out into the wild, it requires you to plan, which I think is neat.

One feature that will turn many people off is the lack of post battle money. Battles never ever give you currency to spend on equipment… Instead, enemies will occasionally drop Gems. These are, surprisingly, the backbone of upgrades to your party. On one hand, you can sell the gems to shop keepers for a profit and purchase more supplies and equipment, or you can use to upgrade your current armor. Additionally, you can use it to upgrade the Crowns, which is where the meat of the gameplay lies. This offers a nice system of consideration, since you'll always have to choose how to use the Gems you've acquired.

What are Crowns? They are, essentially, this game's version of the Job system from the main Final Fantasy series. There are twenty something different Crowns to choose from, all with different Abilities. You see, each crown has four "levels." Sing gems, you can upgrade the Crown to the next level, which grants a new Ability. For instance, the famous White Mage job starts out with an ability that makes healing spells work on everyone. The next level powers up that move, making it so healing spells are more effective AND works on the entire party. The next level allows the mage to Hide, avoiding physical attacks. The final one is a move that requires all five AP to be spent, because it fully heals everyone and gets rid of status ailments for the entire party. Not only that, but each job has an innate ability. To continue using the White Mage as an example, its use of White Magic costs one AP less than with other classes, so a spell that would cost three for a Ranger will only cost two. This system is simple, but deceptively so, because there is real depth to it.

This is because, in the latter half of the game, enemies scale with you. In the first half, enemies are at a fixed level, much like in other RPGs, but they level with you after the fifty percent marker. This makes it so you can't just power level and hope to wipe the floor with everyone later in the game. It forces you to use strategy and plan out what character will take up what role. It's a joy to find a combination that works for you. Not only that, but there is no penalty for switching roles. So, in one random battle, one character might be a Fighter. In the next, they may be a Beastmaster, with absolutely no penalty. This allows for a total change in the dynamics of your team on the go, making this one hell of a fun to use job system.

My one beef with the system is how essential the Elementalist class is in the last half of the game. You see, this game is focused on the elemental affinity of the monsters you fight. So, go up against an ice dragon with everyone armed with basic Steel shields and just try to attack to win, you will be goners a few rounds in, regardless of how many healing spells you have. However, equip everyone with an Ice Shield and a fire element weapon and you'll be pretty well prepared. However, throw in the ability of the Elementalist that amplify your party's elemental effects and another that lessens the severity of the dragons ice attacks, and you will be virtually unstoppable. While the other three characters can more or less be what you want (the best idea is to have each party member cover another's weaknesses) the Elementalist is more or less a required class, which is a bit disappointing. Despite this, the Crown system is a deceptively deep way to play, and a hell of a lot of fun to mess around with.

The battle system is even furthered pulled into the spotlight when, near the end of the game, you gain access to four super dungeons. Each one is a tower of sorts that sports one hundred randomized floors to fight your way through. After every ten, you can leave and go, rest up, gather more supplies, etc. while still retaining all the progress you have made in said tower. This is a blessing, because I have only played through the first one and it is tough. The tower was rated with a difficulty level of one, while the others ascend from there, all the way up to four. The enemies in the towers are all ones you'll likely have encountered before in the game, but with enhanced stats so that they can easily wipe out an unprepared player. However, the rewards for completing these are great, because you gain access to some truly powerful new Crowns. These Towers are also replayable, making them ideal for grinding for Gems and the like.

There are some problems present in the game. In the first half, you only ever have maybe three people in your party, and it's not long before they leave. This can lead to frustration when a guest character leaves and takes all the good equipment you gave them. Additionally, the first half discourages experimentation, since you have a very limited number of characters, and guest ones have pre assigned roles. Additionally, in the second half, most of the dungeons and all of the towns are entirely recycled from the first half. Treasure chests you opened up remain opened, so it's always pretty much about making a bee line to the boss. The only major difference in towns is that they sell different items and that characters will say different things. This leads to some serious d…j… vu, and is rather disappointing overall, even though the bosses you fight are all different.

However, the game focuses on its old school roots, and it focuses on what is, arguably, the most important thing in the game, and that's the battle system. Sure, the fact that you can't select targets might be annoying, but the game generally does a good job of auto picking. Sure, the dungeons are repetitive, but it's alleviated by the fact that there is a strong boss waiting at the end just ready for the slaughter. The story may be incredibly basic, but the charming graphics and adorable character designs make up for it. The 4 Heroes of Light is far from a perfect game, but the good undoubtedly outweighs the bad. If you are looking for a somewhat different, but still decidedly old school, RPG, 4 Heroes of Light is a good choice. It should take around thirty hours to beat, and you can always come back to it to try out different party combinations and take on the uber challenging bonus towers in a true test of RPG mettle. The deep crown system makes this a journey worth taking, even if you get a sense that you've seen most of this before. So long, and thanks for reading.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-the-4-heroes-of-light/user-reviews/810263/platform/ds/ Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:53:54 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed Darksiders II for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/darksiders-ii/user-reviews/809013/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Darksiders 2 begins with a recap of necessary information about the first game. The Apocalypse happened ahead of schedule, and the Horseman War is blamed for the extinction of humanity. However, this game is a parallel story, rather than an actual sequel. You play as War's brother Death, the Pale Rider himself.

This is a surprising move on the part of the creators, since most games are just continuations of the same story. However, it pays off, for the most part. Death is a pretty neat character in many ways. For one, he just looks really cool, especially when amplified with armor. He is also much more agile than War. This is almost immediately apparent. Whereas War was more or less restricted to jumping and climbing, Death can run up walls, and moves almost like a spider at times. This is amplified in combat, where his dodge is critical to survival.

Anyways, Death seeks out the Crowfather, who is supposed to hold all the knowledge in the world, or something along those lines. Death knows of something called the Tree of Life, which he hopes to use to resurrect humanity in order to clear his brother's name.

The story starts out promising enough, but, unfortunately, it never really becomes anything too interesting. Pretty much the entire game is just working to resurrect humans by completing favors for an underdeveloped cast. This is the most disappointing aspect of the game. Whereas the first introduced us to much of the mythology of this universe and had a pretty interesting story, Death's tale is nowhere near as compelling. As I said, the entire cast is underdeveloped. The game treats them as if they are full-fledged, well developed characters, but we never really learn anything about them besides their place in the universe and what kind of task Death must complete for them. At least the development for Death is somewhat interesting, as we learn about his past as well as the origin of the Horsemen.

While the story leaves something to be desired, other aspects of the game have been improved upon or more fleshed out form the first game. The most noticeable is the combat, which has been made smoother. Where the first one was somewhat tough to grasp, the way Death fights feels much more natural. He dances around the arena out of the way of enemy attacks and attacks in one fluid motion. There are a wealth of new moves available for you to purchase in addition to the basic moves you have in the beginning of the game, which helps further let you choose how to fight.

The game now features a loot system. Basically, enemies and chests will have randomly generated weapons or armor, which can increase your stats and help make Death stronger. This is a nice feature in theory, but there are some issues with it. The most apparent is the way the different types of armor are balanced. Ones that help increase your Magic attacks have incredibly poor stats. Meanwhile, ones that are made more for defending have stats that can be ridiculously high. This is a shame to me, because the "magic" types of armor are all really neat looking, but almost useless next to the less cool looking "combat" armor sets. Also, getting chests at earlier points in the game is actually kind of counterproductive. Whenever you enter an area with chests, the loot inside immediately scales to your level. So, you could open a chest at level five, but why do that when you can get an infinitely better piece of equipment at level twenty? Despite this, the loot system does give the game some replayability since the game features a New Game+ system.

On top of the loot system is a Skill Tree system. Battling, completing side quests and the like give you experience points. When you level up you are free to upgrade or purchase a new skill to use in combat. There are two Trees, one for pure offensive attacks (such as teleporting and slashing at the same time, which is helpful if you are in a corner) and the other for support moves (summoning Ghouls to come and help you fight). This gives you more options in how to slaughter your foes. It works well in giving you the power to choose how you want to fight.

Beyond the combat, there is a multitude of dungeons for you to explore. In the first game, there were four or five, while, in this game, there are tons more, although many of them can be considered "mini" dungeons. They are all generally well designed, with some pretty tricky puzzles, but nothing too mind bendingly tough. The main story ones are typically bigger than ones related to side quests, which is to be expected. Much like the first game, there are bosses at the end of each. However, for some reason, the bosses have taken a huge step back from the first game. Where in the first, you needed to learn their patterns and use unique ways of attacking (typically making use of the "dungeon item") to take them down. In this game, all of the bosses feel more like mini bosses. They are all just super versions of normal enemies, which is really disappointing. They still take some effort to bring down, but there is almost no strategy beyond just "dodge and attack."

The game is also structured very differently form the first. Rather than having one hub world, there are several different worlds that open up as you progress. A good chunk of the game takes place in the opening world, which resembles a more traditional fantasy Earth type setting, with bright, vibrant colors and ancient ruins. However, the other locales have some good variety to them. I won't spoil anything here, but I will say that each one looks different and pleasing to the eyes. However, one issue I had was that each world becomes shorter and shorter as the game goes on. The first area is about the same size as the entirety of Darksiders 1 while the next one is still decently large but noticeably smaller and the next one is comprised of one dungeon and a long road. It's almost as if the developers threw in the new worlds but didn't have enough room to put everything they wanted into the game. Despite that, the variety amongst the environments is welcome.

The dungeon designs aren't quite as varied. Granted, each one has an easily distinguishable "theme" but they all tend to look similar to each other. It's not a huge problem, but it is pretty strange considering that the worlds have good variety.

To help further flesh out the game world, you can talk to NPC's who will frequently give you side tasks to complete. These range from beating a secret boss to finding a certain number of special items. It's all pretty basic stuff, but they are fairly enjoyable and addicting to complete.

To wrap it up, Darksiders 2 is a sequel that tries to add a lot of RPG elements to the Darksiders formula. For the most part, it succeeds. The dungeons are all pretty fun, the loot system (while flawed) is pretty addicting (since you never know when you'll find the next big prize) and the Skill Trees give you a pretty deep set of options when it comes to fighting. There are some issues with the game, like a weak story and underused worlds, but Darksiders 2 is a game that any fan of the original should enjoy. So long and thanks for reading.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"turtlethetaffer reviewed Darksiders II for the Xbox 360..." was posted by turtlethetaffer on Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:53:54 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/darksiders-ii/user-reviews/809013/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:50:19 -0800 turtlethetaffer reviewed Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/nine-hours-nine-persons-nine-doors/user-reviews/808323/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (referred to as 999 from here on out) is a visual novel game. This means that the bulk of it is reading, which may turn a lot of people off… However, the game is accessible enough to help alleviate the reading terrors.

The game starts out with the main character, Junepi, waking up in a strange, sparse, almost militaristic bedroom. On his wrist is a strange wrist watch type device with the number 6 on it. There is a locked door with the number 5 painted on it in huge red letters. Water is rushing into the room through a hole in the wall. This sets up the basic premise of the game, which is racing "against the clock" (which is put in quotes because there is never a time limit despite what the story says) to find a solution to the room you're in.

When he finally manages to solve a puzzle and make his way out of the room, he encounters a group of eight other people. They have all been placed in similar predicaments. All of them sport a watch with a number from one to nine on it, and all of them needed to find an exit from the room they woke up in. All anyone knows is that they were all kidnapped by a man in a gas mask who calls himself Zero. Before long, a speaker turns on. Zero talks over it, informing them of the rules of the game they are being forced to play, the Nonary game.

They have nine hours to escape the ship that they are on. If they fail to do so, they will drown in the ship, since water is continuously rushing in from it. The watches on their wrists act as detonators. The only way to remove the bracelet is to either escape or die. When people enter a numbered door, only three to five people may go through, and their bracelets must form the Digital Root of the number on the door (more on these in a bit). They need to verify their bracelets on devices called REDs, and find a device known as DEAD in a certain amount of time, or else a bomb that has been placed inside each one of them will go off. They need to seek out a door with the number 9 painted on it.

It isn't long before they find out what happens when one of the players doesn't follow the rules. The man with the 9 bracelet takes one of the female characters hostage and goes through a door by himself after forcing others to assist him in opening a door. However, he thought that he could get away for some reason, and soon meets a gruesome end. From here, the story unfolds into a game of life or death.

Before I go on, I'll explain Digital Roots. In short, they are simple math problems. Since each person represents a number, they must work together to make it through the numbered doors. Rather than explaining, I'll give an example. Say a door has the number 4 on it. That would mean that the people with the bracelet numbers 5, 7 and 1 can go through. 5+7+1= 13, and since the sum is two digits, you add up the tens and the ones place. 1+3= 4. There are, of course, various other combinations to work with for each number.

Anyways, the story is easily the best part of the game. In the beginning, it's fairly straightforward, but, as the game goes on, it becomes increasingly more complex and interesting. While you think that there may not be much the writers could do with the premise in terms of truly mind blowing twists, that's just what they do. Obviously, I won't spoil anything here, but trust me when I say that there are some really mind blowing concepts and truly amazing examples of smart writing. All of it is told through text, and the bulk of the game is reading. If you hate reading, this game won't change your mind, but if you don't mind, give this game a shot. It's well worth it.

The plot is very strong, but the cast of characters is equally great. When you first start out, you think that most of them will just turn out to be bland stereotypes that we've come to expect from games with anime art styIes. However, nothing is further from the truth. While many of the secrets aren't given until the True Ending, each character has multiple layers to them. There is a certain reason that this seemingly random group of people were chosen to play the Nonary game together. They are all connected somehow, and one of the great joys of the game is finding out how.

The way the game is structured is, ironically, somewhat similar to Metal Gear Solid. That is, there are long stretches of plot development and simply observing what happens on screen and the occasional bout of game play. While MGS is debatable in how well is pulls this formula off, 999 pulls it off rather well. Each room you stop to play in has some good puzzles in that they are challenging but not awfully mundane like in so many horror and adventure games. The answer is always right in front of you, just not spelled out so easily for you to find. It takes quite a bit of brainwork to survive, but not so much that you'll be stuck on a puzzle for more than a half hour to forty five minutes.

While many would consider the fact that the story outweighs the gameplay a bad thing, the way the story is written makes it so that you'll always want to see what happens next. Right from the very beginning, the player has many questions put into their head, and this only continues as the game goes on. There are tons of mysteries both big and small to find out the answer to, which is why you likely won't mind the fact that the actual playing sometimes takes a backseat to the story.

Throughout the game, there are decisions that impact what ending you get. These range from which number door you go in to having certain conversations or getting a certain item from other cast members. There are six "endings" in total (although one is a literal "to be continued" so more like five and a half) and three of them are simply teases. The three "bad" endings will only whet your whistle, since they raise more questions than ever before. Since you're likely to get a "bad" ending on your first play through (unless you happen to choose the correct path for another ending), it may frustrate you at first when there are more questions than answers. However, you can go back and replay the game, skipping any text you've already read, which somewhat alleviates the repetition of replaying the same parts. One of the "good" endings just makes you want the True ending. It gives you a lot of answers, but there are still burning questions left. Once you see the True Ending, almost all of them will be answered in satisfying ways to boot.

In conclusion, this game is ultimately for people who want to get a great story and don't care too much about other elements of a game. If you have always hated reading and prefer fast paced action over slow paced plot development, this game is not for you. However, if you are looking for a great story and a bit of a brain workout, 999 is a game you absolutely must check out. The story is very well written and truly mind blowing in many ways, and it will leave you guessing until the end. So long and thanks for reading.

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/nine-hours-nine-persons-nine-doors/user-reviews/808323/platform/ds/ Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:02:24 -0800 turtlethetaffer reviewed Far Cry 3 for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/far-cry-3/user-reviews/807895/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

I recently finished playing Far Cry 3, which was one of the most well received games of 2012. Similar to my Xenoblade Chronicles review, I'm going to take a more free form approach to this review in the spirit of the game.

When you first fire up the game and begin a new file, you are shown a montage of scenes from the point of view of the protagonist, Jason Brody. We see him and his college friends living it up on a beautiful tropical island. However, we are soon shown that it's not what it seems. It turns out that all of the images that you saw were taken from Jason's phone and they are being shown to him in a cell by one of the game's antagonists, Vaas. Jason, his brothers and his friends have all been captured by pirates that plague the island. Their only destinies appear to be slavery or worse. However, it isn't long before Jason's older brother breaks out and leads him to safety. Sadly, his brother is shot by Vaas, leaving Jason alone. Jason is forced to flee into the woods from pursuing pirates. It isn't long before he is taken in by a member of a local warrior tribe. From here, the story unfolds into a tale of rescuing Jason's friends and eventually trying to liberate the island from pirates and worse.

The story sounds promising enough, in theory. However, the execution leaves a lot to be desired. In the beginning of the game, Jason is a nobody who has never shot a gun and its repulsed by simply hunting and skinning an animal. As the game goes on, he becomes more and more vicious, feeling at home in the jungle, a predator in his own right. It sounds like he would have an interesting character arc, but, for some reason, he doesn't. One minute, he's complaining to a tribe member that he's never shot a gun before, and, an hour later, he is killing pirates left and right. Sadly, the protagonist isn't the only disappointing aspect of the story. The other characters, like Jason's friends, are extremely shallow, which gives us almost no reason to really want to save them other than the fact that the game tells us to. The only really "good" character is Vaas, and that's because we are given brief explanations of his past. That and the fact that his voice acting and motion capture work is so well done makes him a good villain. However, he doesn't get nearly enough screen time. He is absent from much of the game.

And really, that's the biggest issue with the story. There is so much absent from the game that the events in the story feel incredibly disconnected. We are given almost no back story for any of the characters, which makes them simple shells despite their good voice work and facial animation. Every major event in the story just feels like it was thrown together haphazardly. This is a shame to me, because there was room for so much more. If they had delved into the psyche of characters like Jason and Vaas more than they did, the game could have had something truly special on its hands. Instead we are given a story that acts like it has something to say, but, in all reality, it's practically mute.

While the story is quite disappointing, the visuals and sound are not. The game is a real powerhouse, showing off huge landscapes and a bright, vibrant world. There is something truly special about water skiing as the sun goes down, watching the light reflect off the water as you zoom along at full speed to your next destination. The sounds are just as great as the visuals, too. As I mentioned before, most of the characters have excellent voice work (with the exception of Jason, who just sounds whiny a lot of the time). The other noises, like tearing across the country side in a four wheeler, gunshots firing off in the distance, a tiger pouncing on you and more are a real treat to the ears. It's not uncommon to want to just stop walking and look around at the various sights, taking in all of the atmosphere that was lovingly put into the game.

Of course, if you do that, you are liable to get attacked by a bear, a cassowary, a komodo dragon or one of the other various types of animals present in this game. Far Cry 3 boasts an impressive ecosystem filled with the randomness you would expect in a truly untamed wilderness. Animals never reappear in the same spot twice, giving the game a true air of unpredictability. You could be walking along, duck into a house to nab a treasure chest only to be attacked by a wild dog you didn't see. This makes the game much more fun to explore than it would be normally.

Of course, there is more to the island than just the animals. The island has no shortage of things for you to do and places for you to go. The variety is pretty good, ranging from taking on hunting missions where you must kill certain animals in certain ways to racing against the clock to bring supplies to a tribal camp. Each one is just different enough so that you're not likely to get bored with them.

Two of the most prominent activities, crucial to exploration, are Radio Towers and Outpost Liberation. With Radio Towers, you must ascend one to reach the jamming device on it. These are simple but fun and addicting little first person platforming challenges. While many games get first person platforming wrong, Far Cry 3 makes it just challenging enough so you must think about what to do, but not so bad that you'll want to throw your controller. When you destroy a jamming device, you can see more of the map, and you'll usually gain access to new guns for free. From there, you can choose whether or not to liberate outposts. These are enemy bases that you need to take care of in order to create quick travel stations.

Arguably, Outposts show off what Far Cry 3 does best, and that's giving you the choices when tackling an objective. For instance, you can attach a silencer to a rifle and snipe out the pirates one by one, waiting for them to be isolated from one another. Or, if the base has a caged predator, you can shoot out the door on it and release the animal, setting it loose on unsuspecting foes. Then, while they're distracted, you can sneak in and disable the alarms, which prevent reinforcements from coming. Or, you can go in and do your best to take down each enemy in bloody fashion with your machete. Or, finally, you can go in guns blazing, working your way from cover point to cover point and eliminating the opposition as they come at you. Each option is just as good as another, really allowing you to choose how you play. I personally would try to take out the enemies silently, since later in the game reinforcements become really tough to deal with. Of course, that's not to say the gunplay is bad. Far from it. As mentioned above, the guns have great sound effects, which make them feel very powerful and fun to shoot. However, to me, using a takedown never got old.

Another strong point of the game is the sense of progression in all facets of it. The most obvious one is with the Tatau, which is a tattoo that Jason gets early on. Essentially, every time you level up, you can choose what new ability or benefit you get, which adds more ink to the tattoo on your arm. In the beginning, they are rather boring upgrades. Typical FPS tropes like cooking grenades, sliding and reloading while running are available. However, later on, you gain some truly awesome new moves. For instance, there is a takedown maneuver that allows you to knife an enemy, then take his knife and throw it at another foe. The fairly steady stream of new moves makes exploration and mission completion exciting, since you'll get new moves to add to your repertoire, adding further depth to the combat.

Exploration also pays off in the form of money, of course. With money, you can purchase upgrades for your guns, allowing for deep but simple customization. The game even gives you a set of cool spray paint to add to your weapons if you so desire. It's quite fun and addicting to gain more cash for your weapons. But, in the beginning of the game, you can carry a limited supply of everything. This is where hunting comes into play. With animal skin gained from the animals you hunt, you can craft new pieces of equipment that allow you to carry more resources like more ammo, more guns or more money.

The campaign for the game is no slouch, either. While the story missions aren't quite as free form as things like liberating outposts, they are quite fun and various in their own right. They have a good variety. Some missions are exciting, explosive vehicles chase sequences where subtlety is thrown to the wind. Others are exciting in a different way, such as one where you must escape a collapsing cave or one where you need to sneak in undercover to infiltrate the enemy camp. The missions are consistently exciting and rewarding right to the very end.

A game of this size and ambition isn't perfect, though. There are glitches present in the game, ranging from mildly annoying (like getting caught up on a piece of scenery in a vehicle) to incredibly frustrating (losing all of your ammo and weapons, forcing you to buy more, which costs a small fortune). While they aren't too common, they can be annoying when they occur. I personally didn't have too many problems, but they were frustrating when they happened.

There are a few other elements that could have been better thought out. For instance, the hunting missions. While most of them aren't too bad, some of them are more frustrating than fun. For instance, one has you taking down a pack of rabid dogs with an RPG. While it sounds fun in theory, the dogs would almost always run away, forcing me to restart because they either disappeared or I was too dumb to find them. You may also experience weird ones, like enemies just totally disappearing since the time of day changed. As I said, the glitches aren't too bad, but they can be frustrating when they happen.

But any mistakes the game makes are more than forgivable. Despite the weak story and the occasional glitch, far Cry 3 is a very fun open world FPS. The constant character progression, the open ended gameplay, variety of activities, exciting campaign and great production values more than make up for any shortcomings the game has.

To sum it all up, let me share a story I have about the game. I was simply driving along a road, when a jeep filled with pirates pulled up alongside me. We began to drive into each other, trying to run the other off the road. I won, sending them off into the woods, where they hit a rock and flipped the vehicle. Three of them died on impact, but the fourth survived. He got out of the car, and ran to attack me. Just then, a nearby leopard pounced on him, doing my work for me. That is the kind of time you're in for if you decide to dive into far Cry 3's world. So long and thanks for reading.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"turtlethetaffer reviewed Far Cry 3 for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by turtlethetaffer on Sat, 23 Feb 2013 16:02:24 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/far-cry-3/user-reviews/807895/platform/ps3/ Sun, 23 Dec 2012 12:19:15 -0800 turtlethetaffer reviewed The Last Story for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-story/user-reviews/805096/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

The Last Story is the second game from something called Operation Rainfall, which was a movement to get Nintendo of America to localize three highly acclaimed RPG's on Wii. The first released in the U.S. was Xenoblade, which was an incredible game in every conceivable way. How does Last story hold up? Read on to find out.

Graphics: The graphics are a mixed bag, much like Xenoblade. On one hand, the artistic design is gorgeous. The world feels real and has some awesome architecture, the characters have solid designs (without super obnoxious features) and the armor designs are pretty neat. Depending on the version of the game you get, you might get an art book, which really shows off the strong designs of the characters and enemies. And, while the game looks good for the Wii, the technical side of things is far from perfect. There are more than a few muddy textures, facial animations are weird (but better than Xenoblade's) and you will experience pop up in certain situations, so severe that entire sections of the map will be invisible. Additionally, there are frame rate issues in quite a few of the battles throughout the game. It's nothing game breaking (I never experienced a crash) but it's insanely distracting, especially when you're trying to fight your way out of a corner filled with enemies. Frame rate issues even persist in some cut scenes, which is disappointing. Still, the strong artistic direction somewhat makes up for these problems, and, like I said, it's not game breaking. 7/ 10

Sound: While the graphics leave something to be desired, the sound is just fine. The main theme is absolutely gorgeous, and put to great use throughout the game during key moments. Other tracks aren't quite as good as you might hope for from the composer of Final Fantasy, but they are still very well done and nice to listen to. The quality extends to the voice acting, which is a pleasant mixture of various European nationalities. It gives the game a good personality, and it also gives a few moments of good humor. There really isn't anything bad to say about any of the audio. 9/ 10

Story: A group of mercenaries are on a mission below a place called Lazulis Island. They are searching for treasure, when one of them, Zael, is spoken to by a mysterious voice. He is given something known as the Power of the Outsider, which allows him to draw his adversaries' attention to him and revive his allies, among other things. Shortly thereafter, Zael runs into a mysterious silver haired girl named Lisa. After dodging royal guards, Zael and Lisa share a tender moment while a meteor shower occurs. I won't spoil anything past there, but I will say that the story comes together rather nicely. It starts out as just another job for the lowly group of mercenaries, but it evolves into something much more epic.
One thing that was really well done was the development of Zael. He is a young man of almost childish ideals. He believes in a world of knights saving princesses, where kings are undoubtedly good and the enemy is undoubtedly bad. He believes that there is no gray, and he hopes to become a royal knight someday so he can protect the weak. We learn all of this in the first hour or so of the game, and we only learn more about him as the game goes on. Other characters aren't quite as well developed, but you will likely come attached to all of them. They are all unique individuals, with unique pasts and problems. The other supporting members of the cast are similar in that they are all developed just enough so that you care about what happens, but not so much that you feel you know useless info about them.
While the story is quite good and intriguing, there are a few flaws. The initial encounter with Lisa comes off as a bit cheesy and almost fairy tale like, which is almost against the message of the game. Additionally, the main romance of the game seems shallow at times. Finally, there is a plot thread about Zael's past with his village that was attacked when he was younger and his relationship with the leader of the mercenaries, Dagran, that I feel could have been more well developed. We get a vague sense of the past, but never really fully understand it.
Despite this, the strong cast of characters and interesting conflicts will keep you invested in the story until its poignant end. 9/ 10

Gameplay: While this game is a JRPG, the way it plays is far from typical. The most immediate change from the norm is the battle system. The way it works is that you only have control over one character, mostly Zael, with a few exceptions in the story. You use the control stick to move the character around the battlefield in real time as your AI enemy and allies do battle. If you are near an enemy and tilt the control stick in their direction, you will automatically attack. The goal is to draw the enemies' attention to you while your other characters cripple your foes with spells and the like. It sounds basic, but you gain a few abilities throughout the game that mix things up. For instance, in the very beginning, you gain The Power of The Outsider, which, as mentioned above, can sometimes draw enemies' attention towards you and can revive fallen allies. This adds an element of strategy to the each battle. There are a lot of things to consider in battle, such as enemy Spell Circles. These are areas on the battlefield that have some sort of effect, such as healing the enemy or poisoning your team. Certain abilities can be used to get rid of these, but only after the Action Gauge fills up.
The battle system sounds complicated, but in practice, it's anything but. The learning curve is very gentle, easing you into the game by giving you new abilities every few levels. By the end of the game, you will have faced just about every conceivable type of battle. There is good variety to the enemies and bosses, which ensures that you never grow bored. Additionally, there are even times where you re- fight old bosses, but with new conditions, which can trip you up. The battle system is fun and addicting overall. The only problems with it are that there can be times where you are just trying to make your way out of a group of enemies only to attack them, and there are the aforementioned frame rate issues.
The way the game is structured is also rather unique. Instead of traveling the world and visiting towns, there is one hub town (Lazulis Island) that you stay at for the bulk of the game. You go to various locations in the town and castle to trigger events or go to new places. The story is broken up into Chapters. Each chapter plays almost like a level in a game such as a platformer. What I mean by this is that instead of just constantly fighting in the same places, each Chapter is a linear area with a fixed amount of battles. You constantly press forward until you reach the end to fight the boss. This is an interesting way to approach the game, as it's a far cry from what other JRPG's usually do. However, JRPG's are typically linear, so the structure isn't really bothersome.
Outside of main story missions, you can explore Lazluis to your heart's content. And exploration is quite rewarding. You are bound to find random items lying on the ground, or find an NPC that will give you a sidequest to do. Rather than having basic quests like "Find this item", quests are usually more unique. For instance, in one of them, you must find and trade different items with different people until you ultimately obtain a powerful sword. In another, you take on a challenger that ambushes you out of revenge. The quests are fun and rewarding, often times leading to rare items that can help you upgrade your weapons and equipment.
The way armor is handled in the game is also quite different. Instead of constantly finding new armor, there are only a few different types of sets. To get better defense, you upgrade these pieces of armor using gold and certain items you can find in battle. The same thing applies with weapons. Instead of constantly getting new weapons (although there is a steady stream of new types) you upgrade them to unlock their full potential. The upgrade system gives you good reasons to take on challenges such as the Arena and replay some chapters in order to gain new and better weapons and upgrade your equipment.
The battle system and formula of finding new quests to do and new battles to fight remains addicting throughout the game, despite any flaws. 8/ 10

The Last Story is a fun JRPG for the Wii. The battle system is a lot of fun, the hub world is fun to explore, and the game tells a compelling story. If you enjoyed Xenoblade, you will likely enjoy this game, even though it's not quite of the same caliber. So long and thanks for reading!

Get the full article at GameSpot

"turtlethetaffer reviewed The Last Story for the Wii..." was posted by turtlethetaffer on Sun, 23 Dec 2012 12:19:15 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-story/user-reviews/805096/platform/wii/ Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:57:19 -0800 turtlethetaffer reviewed Final Fantasy VI Advance for the Game Boy Advance... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-vi-advance/user-reviews/803429/platform/gba/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

I've never played Final Fantasy VI before I played the GBA version, so this review is based solely that. FFVI is a fairly old game (dating back to the SNES era). Does it hold up well in the modern age?

Graphics: The graphics are hardly showing their age. The character sprites are 2D and 16 bit, but highly detailed and well animated. The environments you go through are varied and many, never losing their appeal even near the end. Enemy designs look great (despite the lack of animation), especially the bosses, which have considerably more detail than normal enemies. Spell effects are flashy and fun to watch. Despite the age of the game, the visual aspect is top notch and charming, and aids the atmosphere of the game quite well. 10/ 10

Sound: The sounds of FFVI are many; there is a huge soundtrack with a ton of different tracks, and the sounds of battle are pleasing. The main component of the sound is undoubtedly the music, which is, simply put, fantastic. The number of themes in the game is almost staggering (complementing the he cast) and what's more impressive is that there really isn't a bad one in the bunch. Despite the decidedly lower quality of the GBA speakers, the music is very pleasing to the ears. 10/ 10

Story: Long ago, three beings known as the Warring Triad fought one another for fear of their powers. After seeing the suffering it caused humans, they sealed themselves in stone to maintain the balance of the world. However, humans came to be able to use magic by utilizing the powers of magical beings called Espers , which led to the War of the Magi, a worldwide conflict that nearly ended the world. The Espers sealed themselves off in another dimension, which ended the War, and made humans simple beings again. Now, technology has replaced magic; soldiers walk around in machines called Magitech tanks, airships and trains are common modes of transportation and no one can use magic.
The game opens with a squad of imperial soldiers being led by a mysterious girl happening upon a frozen Esper. From there, events unfold quickly, and we are introduced to a huge cast, all with unique backgrounds and pasts. The story itself is quite good, dealing with an evil empire, forbidden magic and an extremely demented, odd and power hungry general. However, the story is supported well by the excellent cast of characters. They are all strangers at first, but come to know and rely on each other. Each one has their own reasons for fighting, and some are quite sad and tragic; I won't spoil anything here, but, despite the light rating, the game deals with some very dark issues.
The game takes a huge twist in the middle (one that I won't spoil) that sets it apart from other JRPG's. Needless to say, the excellent cast of characters and strong plot will make you want to see it through to the end. The only issues I have are small. The whole second half of the game is rather unfocused (with a reason) and there's very little development during it. (Most of it is during the first half.) Despite that, the story is great, easily one of the best in an RPG. 9/ 10

Gameplay: Like most JRPG's, FFVI relies on its progression and battle systems. I'll explain each in detail.
In the game, you can gain Espers by various means. With these mystical beings, you can have characters learn certain spells by equipping them to someone. In battle, you gain the typical experience points and money, but you also gain Action Points, which help you learn spells. Each spell is learned when you have achieved 100% AP needed for it. However, the allocation rate is different for each one. For instance, a low level fire spell has an allocation of X20, which means that you really only need to earn five AP to learn it. However, a high level healing spell has an allocation rate of X1, which means you must earn 100 AP to learn it. In addition, the Espers serve as summon monsters, like in other Final Fantasy games. It all depends on which one is equipped on which character. This system allows for strong customization, especially once you begin earning higher level Espers, which teach some of the strongest spells in the game. Some even give level up boosts, such as a bonus onto the Strength stat, which makes you consider which ones to equip to which characters at which times. It's a very smart and addictive system.
The battle system is, more or less, the same as Final Fantasy IV's. The ATB gauge fills up over time, and when it does, the character can make a move, whether it be attacking, casting a spell, or using an item. Either way, it worked in previous games, and it works well here.
One feature that sets the game apart is the importance of Equipment and Relics. Equipment is just what it sounds like; the armor and weapons a character is wearing. However, many pieces of equipment have special bonus effects, like one that protects against spells, but not against physical attacks. Weapons in particular are very important. There are some that are the typical RPG fare (gives boosts to attack power) but others have very special effects, like a sword whose attack power is determined by the wielder's HP, or a knife that does extra damage to humanoid enemies. Sometimes, the stronger equipment that gives you the most boosts isn't necessarily better. It requires careful planning on the part of the player. However, arguably more important than equipment are Relics. These are essentially Accessories, like in previous games. However, they play a crucial role in battle, thanks to the effects they have. Early in the game, they give you meager upgrades, like boosted running speed or immunity to Poison. However, late in the game, they start boasting totally game changing effects. For instance, if you are making a melee fighting character who can take a lot of damage, one Relic can greatly boost their physical attack, while another can increase their maximum HP by a whopping 50%. That means if a character has a total of 4000 HP, they will be boosted to 6000 HP. With the right Relics, fights that were once unwinnable become a total breeze. This makes the game highly exploitable in a good way, since it's fun to experiment with different load outs to find the best possible outcome to a battle.
The first half of the game plays like a regular JRPG; you go around to places that the story dictates, you buy equipment, you complete quests, etc. However, in the second half, the game opens up and is, essentially, one huge side quest. For reasons I won't say, you must rebuild the team by performing numerous side quests. The open ended nature means it can be tough to find out what would be the best place to tackle next and it you can find yourself aimlessly wandering around, lost as to what to do next. Thankfully, the world is filled with things to do, so you won't be wandering for too long. Additionally, there are lots of optional bosses to fight, plenty of great pieces of equipment to find and many party members to recruit.
If I had one complaint about the game, it would be the end game grind. Throughout the bulk of the game, you are likely to find a party you are comfortable with and stick with them, and this includes the majority of the end game sidequests. However, the final dungeon requires that you have three parties to use. This means that if you want three full parties, you must train twelve characters. This is troublesome, since you will have one great team and likely two mediocre ones, which means you have to grind to give them the spells you want, and to level them up to an appropriate level. This takes quite a long time, even if you know the proper places to grind away. It really hurts the pacing of the game, since the rest of it moves along at a pretty brisk pace.
Despite any problems, the gameplay of FFVI is quite strong. 8/ 10

FFVI is a true classic that holds up well. The excellent production values, the strong story and great cast and highly customizable gameplay helps this RPG achieve new heights. It's well worth playing if you've never been able to play the game before, or you're looking for a great portable RPG. So long and thanks for reading.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-vi-advance/user-reviews/803429/platform/gba/ Sat, 13 Oct 2012 00:43:35 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/dragon-quest-vi-realms-of-revelation/user-reviews/801361/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelations is a remake of DQVI on the SNES. Apparently, it never reached American shores… until now, of course. How does it fare in the modern age?

Graphics: Much like Dragon Quest V, the game is a really great looking mixture of 2D sprites and 3D architecture. It worked well for V, and it works well here. The game looks amazing, even when you start to rotate the camera to admire the buildings and towns. The color palette is a decidedly bright one, and it pays off in a big way. On top of that, the artistic design of the game is quite attractive, filled with cool looking towns/ castles, charming enemies (who animate very well for being 2D), and plenty of variety. Worth noting is that the game takes place in two different worlds, and the way each one is designed helps them to stand apart from one another. In the Dream World, the world looks brighter, with a more upbeat song, while in the real world, the palette is slightly darker and more dreary. While it may be disappointing that the game doesn't make use of the fully 3D engine of Dragon Quest IX, the game still looks great. 10/ 10

Sound: The game is, like number V, a mix of highly orchestrated music and old school sound effects. One thing I found to be somewhat lacking in the fifth game was that, aside from a few tunes (one of which is the ever present theme song), there wasn't a whole lot of memorable music in the game. In this one, the battle music, boss music, overworld, town, castle and more has been redone, and it is generally higher quality. To me, the game has a much better soundtrack. Meanwhile, the sound effects are pretty much the same. Old school, 8- bit sounding, but in a good way. Much like the graphics, the hybrid of old and new helps add to the charm of the game. While the music still isn't quite on the level of, say, Final Fantasy, it is still very well done and memorable. 8/ 10

Story: The game starts out with you, the Hero (and, of course, silent as always) and two mysterious people fighting a monster named Murdaw. However, the fight turns out to be less than successful, and your character is turned to stone… or is he? Because, right after this scene, you awake in a mountain town, and are told to deliver a shipment of goods to a nearby bazaar by the mayor. From here, many events occur, and you learn that there are two worlds: The real world, and the dream world, and that the dream world exists because of the trickster who defeated you in the beginning, Murdaw. From there, you do a lot of world hopping, meeting many people (including the ones who were with you in the beginning) as you set out to defeat Murdaw and bring peace to the world. The story has a great concept, and some memorable scenarios, as well as some surprisingly poignant moments that I won't spoil. While the characters are rather shallow, the story still manages to hold up well. It has several interesting turns over its long course, and it will likely surprise you in ways you won't be expecting. There are also many great side stories, like two lovers who are pushed apart when one of them is framed for poisoning a mayor's dog. Despite the lack of character depth, the concept and conflicts throughout the game make the story worth seeing through to the end. It doesn't quite pack the same emotional punch as the fifth game, but it's is still quite enjoyable. 8/ 10

Gameplay: As many have come to expect from the Dragon Quest series, it is rooted in tradition, sometimes to a fault. You wander around a multi- continent world (in this case, two worlds), fight randomly encountered monsters, grind for levels and money, hardly ever defend and so on and so forth. However, this game has a few unique features that helps it stand apart.
The first thing is the job system. No, it's not a new idea to RPG's at all, especially JRPG's. However, here, it is refined to a highly addictive, fast paced and meaningful upgrade system. Essentially, after a certain point in the game, you gain access to Alltrades Abby, where you can change every character's Vocation. There are numerous ones to choose from, like the warrior (a slow but powerful physical fighter), the priest (the weak but helpful healer/ support character) and some more atypical ones like Monster Master. (You learn abilities monsters throughout the game have.) The way it works is that, basically, each job has eight "levels" to master. You level up a job by fighting battles, and, after a certain number, you'll increase your mastery. With each level comes a new ability or two. Once you reach level 8, you can't learn anything more and can choose to stay with that job or switch to a new one. The benefits of keeping a job is that some have better stat changes than others. For instance, the warrior has high HP and high attack and defense, but has low agility and magic points. Meanwhile, the mage has low… well, everything, but high magic points. Additionally, after mastering certain combinations of jobs, second tier jobs become available. For instance, mastering both the warrior and martial artist jobs allows the gladiator to be used.
The job system is smartly implemented so that you aren't penalized if you choose to switch jobs before mastering your current one. The game has a very nice sense of progression, because you unlock new skills and abilities at a pretty constant rate. One issue I have, however, is that some jobs are clearly better than others. Arguably the best second tier job is the gladiator, due to its huge HP, attack an defense boost. It only gives negative stat changes in magic points and wisdom. It is great for pretty much any character who isn't focused on using magic. (The Paladin is probably the second best choice, since it nicely balances attack and magic.) Meanwhile, the Luminary vocation pretty much has negative stat changes for every single stat. It does pose issues if you go through the game with a specific strategy for your party in mind. (However, there are certain areas where you can grind away and gain experience for jobs. Most areas have level caps, but a few don't. I personally grinded for hours mastering every single job.) You will likely only make somebody a Dancer just so you can get some of the skills, and swiftly change the vocation ASAP. Meanwhile, you'll feel regret at changing your high HP warrior to an incredibly weak mage. Additionally, some jobs don't have too many useful skills. The most notable of this is the Monster Master. Most of its skills are useful for lower level random encounters, and they become obsolete once you reach a certain point in the game, because they either do negligible damage, or they just don't do anything. Despite these flaws, the job system makes battling much more fun, because it offers a tangible sense of progression.
Outside of that, not much is different from previous installments. That is if you don't count the two worlds. This game is massive, with two full worlds to explore. That's not like two mini sized worlds that would cumulatively make up the size of one Dragon Quest game. Each map is the size of one map in previous games. This makes it so there is a ton of places to go and explore. However, it can make it rather difficult to figure out exactly what to do next. You are liable to have times in the game where you just wander, not really sure what to do. Usually you can find some sort of clue, but it can be frustrating when you're stuck.
In addition to the typical JRPG tropes, there are some unique mini games that factor into side quests and party recruitment. In Dragon Quest V, you could randomly recruit the majority of the monsters in the game. However, in this one, you are limited to the humans the story brings your way and some optional monster characters. This may be disappointing to some, but I personally didn't have too much of an issue with it. Anyways, the mini games include things such as the Best Dressed contest, where you must experiment with vocations and equipment to get the highest Style attribute possible to win a beauty contest. (There are eight levels.) Another one has you entering one of your slimes to battle in mini tournaments. These are fun little diversions, with some nice rewards, including new party members.
The game is also pretty long. It took me 50 hours to beat (that's with at least ten hours of grinding.) It is a very meaty quest, with lots to do. Despite this, it retains the same gameplay of Dragon quest V.
If the fact that there are changes that don't hugely affect the Dragon Quest gameplay bothers you, this game will do nothing to change your mind. However, if you love old school RPG's, this game has you covered in the gameplay department. 8/ 10

Dragon Quest VI is a great, old school JRPG. It features an addictive (if a bit flawed) job system, great graphics, a good soundtrack and a surprisingly neat story. If you've been hankering an old school gaming fix, you could do much worse than Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dragon-quest-vi-realms-of-revelation/user-reviews/801361/platform/ds/ Mon, 10 Sep 2012 19:10:23 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed Kirby: Mass Attack for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/kirby-mass-attack/user-reviews/799850/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

Graphics: The game is a gorgeous and colorful side scroller, much like older Kirbys. The pallet is vibrant and beautiful, and the animations are great. The enemies are, as per usual with Kirby, silly but neat. The levels have a nice variety to them, with each world having a distinct style to it. There is never any graphical slowdown, either. Overall, this is Kirby, and it looks damn great. 10/ 10

Sound: There is a lot of new music here. Sure, there are numerous remixes of older tunes, but, for the most part, there is newer stuff. It is all pretty good, sounding crisp and clear through the speakers. However, it won't quite stand out like the older tunes, which is slightly disappointing. Despite that, the game sounds great, with lots of cartoony sound effects that we have come to expect from Kirby. There really isn't any negative to the sound. 10/ 10

Story: One day, Kirby is enjoying a stroll through islands in space near Pop Star, when an evil alien wizard uses a magic wand to split Kirby up into a bunch of smaller parts. From there, he goes to take over Pop Star, thinking he has defeated Kirby once and for all. However, Kirby teams up with himself to save the day! The story hardly even matters because, one, it's Kirby, and two, it is hardly even present for most of the game. There are only a few story book like cut scenes throughout the game that basically open and close the game. You'll stop caring about it pretty quickly, so it doesn't even really count. NA/ 10

Gameplay: This is where the game tries many new things. This is not a typical Kirby platformer. Instead, you control up to ten Kirbys at once using the stylus. It works well… most of the time. There are times when you have all ten Kirbys where things will start to hitch. For instance, if you need to jump over a ledge, the Kirbys move one after the other, which hurts the flow of the level, because you need to wait for everyone to be back together, otherwise the camera will linger because one or two of the little pink dudes fell behind. Not only that, but moving them in a group can also be problematic. Drawing your stylus over the group will cause them to cluster together, and, from there, you can guide them along a drawn path for a short while. However, sometimes, when you're trying to simply jump up on a platform, you will accidentally start guiding them, which can frustrate if you're trying to dodge out of harm's way. Additionally, you can do things like fling Kirbys at enemies in the sky. This is somewhat challenging, as you must predict their trajectory ahead of time. Finally, you can tap an enemy to make them all gang up on the foe and pummel it to death. This works well, for the most part, but sometimes Kirbys will have path finding issues and they will wander around the monster, not attacking it like they should. Overall, the controls are a little inconsistent, but it is still fun to guide your Kirbys through the many levels of the game.
Because Kirby does not inhale and copy his enemies' abilities, you might think there isn't variety to the levels. However, there is a pretty good amount of it, especially in the later ones. For the first two worlds, there are usually new ideas introduced, like a level that takes place in a tree that is constantly shifting its weight. (You must command your Kirbys so their weight balances the tree out and doesn't break.) Sometimes the levels can be frustrating because a Kirby accidentally stands in harm's way, or you mistime something and instantly lose a bunch of Kirbys under things like weights that fall. (Similar to Thwomps.) Then, in the latter two worlds, there are usually more challenging versions of the earlier levels. However, there is just enough variety to keep things interesting, for the most part. The only real issue is that not a ton of the levels are particularly memorable. There is the occasional standout (like one where you command a tank full of Kirbys) but the level design, while very creative and varied, doesn't quite stand out like in other games.
In previous games, Kirby had a health bar and you died once you ran out of health. In this game, each Kirby can be hit by two attacks (unless it's an instant death one like being crushed) before dying. However, when a Kirby dies, you can grab its ghost and bring it back to life before it floats away. This makes it so you have some room for error, but, in later levels, things can get tricky. Sometimes, if a Kirby dies and you try to save it, you can get caught back up in the death trap. You can bring wounded blue Kirbys back to healthy pink status by sending them through Health Rings that are scattered in certain places throughout levels. Finally, in order to get more Kirbys, you need to get fruit. For every one hundred you get, you get another Kirby. Each one is worth something different. For instance, an apple is worth one, while a watermelon is worth forty and a Maxim Tomato gives you one hundred. Once you have ten, you get a 10000 point bonus for every one hundred pieces of fruit.
Throughout the levels, there are Medals scattered around in hidden places. This acts similarly to Star Coins in New Super Mario Brothers. For every certain amount you get, you unlock something in the Extras menu. For a good chunk of the game, you unlock some pretty fun mini games. There is good variety, like a pinball game, a Kirby RPG that is actually more about timing, a top down shooter and more. They are pretty fun diversions, for the most part. Some aren't as fun as others, but it's still pretty cool that there is such a good variety. What is slightly disappointing, however, is that after about 80 Medals (a little under half of the total ones in the game), you simply start unlocking items on the check list. The check list basically functions like Achievements on the Xbox. You complete certain tasks, and you "get" it. These range from pretty easy to very tough. (Like beating a boss with one Kirby and losing no health.) It's a cool feature for completionists, but I feel like there could have been more mini games or something else added in.
The boss battles are, for the most part, easy but fun. They all have a specific pattern that they follow, and, once you figure them out, they become pretty easy. You never really feel too stressed by them, as long as you stay on your toes.
One complaint I have is that, in order to unlock the last world, you need to find all of the rainbow medals. Basically, each level has one in addition to the normal medals to find, and some of them are rather tricky to get. This makes it so you need to replay levels. I personally had found a good chunk of them the first time, but it's kind of lame that Nintendo made it so you have to complete some of the extra content in order to just finish the game. Then, once you get to the last world, it is just re fighting all of the bosses form the other worlds, then the final boss. This disappointed me a little, as I beat the final world in all of about ten minutes.
Finally, when you beat each level, you get a Star depending on how you performed. To get a gold star, you need to make it through the level with no damage at all. If you take damage but make it so no Kirby is KO'ed, you earn a silver. If a Kirby is KO'ed, but you save it, you get a Bronze. If you lose even one Kirby, you get no Star. This makes it quite challenging if you're trying to complete the game completely, as the levels get tricky near the end.
Overall, the variety in levels and the new ideas are nice, but the gameplay is flawed due to inconsistent controls and a lack of truly great levels. 6.5/ 10

Kirby Mass Attack is well worth playing for fans, as it can be quite fun. However, I found myself yearning for the copy abilities of past games, as well as more combat variety. (Combat just consists of pummeling foes and that's about it.) There is plenty of extra content and challenges for completionists to sink their teeth into, and the game has lovely production values. If you're craving Kirby, but have played everything else, this game is worth checking out. If you never liked Kirby, this will probably do little to change your mind, but it might be worth checking out for the unique mechanics. So long and thanks for reading.

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"turtlethetaffer reviewed Kirby: Mass Attack for the DS..." was posted by turtlethetaffer on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 19:10:23 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/kirby-mass-attack/user-reviews/799850/platform/ds/ Sat, 08 Sep 2012 13:25:17 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/dragon-quest-v-hand-of-the-heavenly-bride/user-reviews/799750/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

I recently played Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride on the DS. How does it fare in the modern age? Read on to find out.

Graphics: The game is presented in a mixture of 2D and 3D. All of the sprites, from characters, enemies and other things are rendered in 2D. However, all of the environments are in 3D. This is a pleasing combination of both old and new. The sprites are insanely charming and have some cute animations as you walk around, and the enemies are all very crazy and fun looking. (They also animate very well when they attack.) Additionally, the developers added in a feature that allows you to rotate the camera in a full 360 degrees in most places. Not only does this allow you to admire the architecture from every angle, but it's useful for finding hidden doors and items that you wouldn't be able to see normally. The battle screens are also very well drawn, making great use of a bright color pallet that runs throughout the whole game. Overall, the presentation of DQV is a pleasing mixture of both old and new, making it both nostalgic and novel at the same time. 10/ 10

Sound: Like the graphics, the music is a mix of both old and new. Sound effects like walking up stairs are very old school sounding, but the music is very crisp and clean. It is quite nice to listen to, although there aren't a whole ton of standout tunes. While the music sounds great and is of general high quality, there aren't a whole lot of tunes that will make you say "wow" like there are in other RPG series like Pokemon or Final Fantasy. Despite that, the music is still nice to listen to when you're just roaming around a town or exploring the wild. There are a few tunes that really grabbed me, like the opening theme and the theme that plays in castles at night. (It's a beautiful acoustic version of the castle theme.) Something else worth noting is that there aren't a whole ton of songs. Towns all repeat the same theme, as do castles, the overworld, most dungeons, enemies and bosses. As I said, it's not bad, but I feel like there could have been more variety. So, while the sound isn't mind blowingly good, it is still pretty good. 7/ 10

Story: You start out by naming your character, a young boy clothed in a purple cape and hat. Once you do that, you begin the game as that child. You travel to a few different places with your father, Pankraz. Along the way, you meet a few interesting people, like a young girl named Bianca and a little cat named Sabre. After a certain point in the game, you are shot forward ten years. The game spans the course of three generations, adding a very personal touch to the otherwise typical save the world RPG story. Things like a friendship you develop with a prince who was originally a stuck up brat, seeing how places you knew as a child changed over time, and even choosing a bride give the story a lot of emotional weight. Despite the rather shallow characters, the plot manages to interest, mainly because it reflects life so well. For instance, in the second generation, you don't have a clearly defined goal. You just wander around the world, seeing how things have changed, while searching for the Legendary Hero and thinking about your father's words. (That I won't spoil here.) People from the past have changed, and may even join you for a time in your quest. All of the emotional buildup gives the finale a certain weight to it. You are a man with a family, and they are counting on you to lead them to victory. Aside from the story, the world is a very interesting place. At first, you go to towns that are just typical RPG towns, filled with folks with funny accents and lots of puns. However, as the game progresses, you go to more interesting locales, like a town on the side of a mountain, a castle whose town is inside the walls, a harbor that sports a ship where you can gamble to your heart's content and more. Inhabiting these towns are lots of funny and quirky characters who give helpful advice or commentary. It is really cool to see how these places have changed over the years. Overall, the story is more than your typical save the world story, due to the personal element that it has. It will make you care more about what is happening, despite the somewhat shallow characters. 9/ 10

Gameplay: Dragon quest V is a very traditional JRPG. You travel around the world, fighting monsters in randomly encountered battles, gain experience, level up, buy new and better equipment, learn spells and pretty much everything you can imagine in a traditional RPG. It's a formula that works, despite the somewhat dated features it has.
One quality that does set this game apart is the monster recruitment system. Certain monsters will randomly ask you if the can accompany you on your quest after a battle. Despite the fact that this is luck based, it is a very neat feature and adds a certain level of customization to the game. You're likely to get most of your main party near the beginning of the game, where monsters are much easier to recruit than later in the game. I personally found a team that worked for me for a good portion of the game, before some human characters are given to you later in the game. There were even a few of them that I brought right to the end, and I used them to fight the final boss. This is nice, because it means that the monsters aren't just random throwaway characters who serve little purpose. They level up just like any other character and can grow to be very powerful. It can be very annoying if you're trying to recruit a specific monster, because you will need to grind for quite some time. The odds are always pretty low, so get ready to fight a lot of monsters if you have a very specific team in mind.
This luck based aspect works its way into other parts of the game. For instance, there are the well-known Metal Slimes that give you tons of experience if you are lucky enough to find and kill one. The reason for this is because they are pretty tough to find, let alone kill. They can dodge a ton, flee quite often, and even if you do manage to land a hit on one, it always does one point of damage. This means that you either need to get lucky enough that you land enough hits on them to kill them, or you land a critical hit on one before it flees. In other aspects that are luck based, there are numerous mini games for you to play, like a slot machine or a TnT board. The TnT board is like a massive board game. You roll a die, move forward that many spaces, and gain an effect depending on what space you landed on. This can be anything from winning money to being teleported further on the board, to outright losing the game. Each play costs a TnT ticket, which are scattered in numerous places around the world. The idea of luck based rewards can be quite frustrating at times, but it makes them all the more rewarding when you finally kill a Metal King Slime, or beat the tough TnT board.
You are only allowed to have four teammates on the field at a time, but you can carry up to eight thanks to the Wagon. Whoever you take in the Wagon does not fight, but still gains experience along with everyone else. This is immensely helpful if you recruit a low level monster and want to improve them, or have a character who doesn't have great equipment but want to level them up anyway. Additionally, at certain parts in the game (where you're allowed to swap out team members), you can change out team members mid battle, allowing for some strategy to be had. On top of that, each character can only carry a certain number of items with them (although there is the seemingly never ending bag which can store everything else), so inventory management is a must, at least in the later parts of the game. Additionally, there are certain items that can be used as items for an effect. For instance, the Staff of Antimagic is a rather weak weapon, but place it in a character's inventory and have them use it, and watch as it casts a spell. Again, this adds a lot of strategy to the proceedings.
There are some rather annoying features, like the save system. Basically, you must confess to a priest at a church (which are located in just about every town), and you need to go through a lot of dialogue in order to save. Every time. Another thing is the cost of equipment. It gets ridiculously expensive near the end of the game to keep up to date with armor and weapons, and monsters only drop a few hundred coins per battle. (With one exception that I remember where the monster drops at least one thousand coins.) This makes it very grindy if you want to constantly have the best equipment.
Despite the old school nature of the game, it's not too challenging. The random encounter rate is never too high (with a few exceptions), so you're never really too overwhelmed as long as you plan well enough. You can get through most random encounters without too much strategy. Most boss battles aren't too difficult either, as long as you remain on your toes. It's only near the end of the game where you need to seriously consider strategy and grinding. (I did several hours of grinding before the final boss and still had to be careful.) Additionally, when your party is wiped out, the consequences aren't as bad as they could be. You simply lose half of the coins in your wallet, but keep everything else. (And you can even store money in banks scattered around the world if you're not confident about an upcoming fight.) This makes the game pretty forgiving, for the most part.
Overall, the game isn't perfect, and there are some aspects of it that are quite dated, but the game is still very fun. 8/ 10

Dragon quest V is a great remake, with a highly nostalgic presentation, a great and emotional story, and some old school gameplay. (For better and for worse.) If you're craving an old school RPG, or just want a great story, Dragon Quest V has what you are looking for. So long and thanks for reading.

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]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dragon-quest-v-hand-of-the-heavenly-bride/user-reviews/799750/platform/ds/ Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:01:12 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed MadWorld for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/madworld/user-reviews/798832/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

I recently played Madworld, so I'm here to give you a review of it.

Graphics: The game is similar to Sin City in that it's pretty much all black and white. The only color used aside form black and white is red and blue. Blue for the few times you kill aliens and they bleed all over. Red for the absolutely ludicrous amount of blood flying around everywhere that you'll be seeing. The graphical style is definitely unique and looks pretty damn awesome. It looks almost like a comic book, and that is enhanced by the cutscenes, which use comic book panels to tell the story. The design of everything is pretty neat, too; enemies will be dressed up in ludicrous getups, and the environments look cool too. The only real issue is that there are times where the screen gets jumbled and it's difficult to tell exactly what is happening. These instances are rare, but it can be a little frustrating when it happens and you lose a chunk of your health bar. Despite that, the game is very good looking, with some of the most unique graphics of this generation. 9/ 10

Sound: The game has a lot of voice work. From Jack's low, gravelly, typical badass voice to the absolutely hysterical yet extremely tasteless commentary by Greg Proops and John Di Maggio, the voice work is superb in the game. The same goes for the sound effects; enemies being ripped apart, sliced up the middle, smashed into things and just being generally slaughtered sounds fantastic. The music is mostly hip hop. Now, I personally don't care much for the genre, but I won't deny that some of the songs got stuck in my head. They are of high quality. Really, there is no bad sound in the game, especially if you like hip hop music. 10/ 10

Story: The game starts out with Jefferson City being cut off from the rest of the world. Bridges are destroyed, roads are blocked, and anyone who tries to fly in via helicopter is shot out of the sky immediately. Enter Jack, a badass biker who talks in a low, raspy voice and inexplicably has a chainsaw attachment on his right arm. He is instantly a part of a game called the Deathwatch. In this gameshow, contestants have one goal: kill. Basically, the entire city is a part of it. Either they kill, or they are killed themselves. However, simply killing the competition won't do. Instead, they need to do it in creative ways. Anyways, Jack takes down a bad guy, and gets sponsored by someone who is referred to simply as XIII. From there he works his way to the top. The story is actually a lot more complicated than this, but I won't risk any of the surprises for you. All I'll say is that it actually has some interesting commentary on violence and other things. As a side note, the story is, for the most part, pretty serious. However, as I mentioned before, during levels there will be two commentators who are absolutely hilarious, and this fits with the rest of the game. It's never meant to be taken too seriously. 8/ 10

Gameplay: so, as I said in the story section, your goal is to kill enemies in the most ridiculous ways possible. In each level, there are numerous objects in the environment that you can use to dispatch your foes and rack up a huge amount of points.
Before I go on, I will explain the structure of the levels. Basically, you need to earn points. There are "tiers" in each level that unlocks more weapons, environmental kills, etc. Once you earn a certain number of points, you unlock something else, until, eventually, you unlock the boss stage.
So, anyways, the gameplay is pretty fun, if a bit formulaic. It is pretty addictive to find more gruesome and funny ways to kill your enemies. For instance, one of the most common environmental weapons in the game is called the Rose Bush. It's a wall or other object covered in spikes. You could just throw a guy onto it and kill him and that will be that. However, it's more fun, and more profitable, to impale his head on a road sign, put a trash can over his body, then repeatedly slam his body into the spike until he is dead. This craziness is constant throughout the game. As you move from level to level, more and more objects open up for more killing mayhem. For instance, in a space themed level, there are turbines and saw blades everywhere. However, you eventually open up a UFO, which can suck guys in, then shoot their body parts out into the air in a spectacular and gory wave of blood. In another, you open up a guillotine that you can use to slice guys in two. The combat remains a lot of fun throughout the game.
There are a few drawbacks, though. The bosses, while fun and flashy, aren't all that challenging at all. For the most part, you should be able to take them out without even losing a life. (Should you lose all your lives, regardless of where you are in a level, you need to return to the beginning of that level.) Whenever they are "challenging", it's mostly because they use cheap attacks or the camera gets in the way. Despite that, they are still pretty fun to fight, if only to see the hyper violent and hilariously over the top ways they die. (And to listen to the funny commentary.)
Additionally, the game, despite being very short (like 3- 5 hours), does get repetitive. The very structure is repetitive, and it doesn't do much to hide this. Granted, the combat is fun and over the top, so it helps alleviate this a bit, but it can't hide the fact that maybe something more could have been done.
My last bit is on the minigames. In each level, once you rack up enough points, you unlock a Blood Bath Challenge. (Which is hosted by a seemingly invincible pimp named the Black Baron. The reason I say that is because after an extremely obscene tirade of explaining the game, one of his hookers demonstrates how to play the game… using him. He gets killed numerous times and always comes back for more.) These are, for the most part, pretty fun. For instance, in one of the more simple ones, you must throw enemies into a small pit in time with a ceiling covered in spikes smashing down on top of them. (And, yes, blood sprays in liberal doses.) Most are pretty fun, but a few aren't. For instance, in one called Man Golf, you must use a golf club to hit enemies' heads into floating rings to score points. The problem is that, when the animation starts, it goes to a predetermined position, making accurate shots pretty much impossible, making the whole minigame feel more like a game of chance than accuracy. In another, called Money Shot, you must line up rocket sodas and make enemies hit spikes on an interesting looking billboard. However, again, precision is fairly difficult in this game, making it seem more like chance than anything.
Despite any flaws it has, the game remains pretty fun to play to the end. 8/ 10

Madworld is an obscene, tasteless, extremely violent, yet hilarious and entertaining game. If you're in the mood for some serious butt kicking in an over the top way, I would recommend this game to you. That is, as long as you can stomach the gore and the sense of humor the game has. (That is, anything goes, really. Tastefulness? What's that?) If you can't handle some huge amount of gore and obscenity, steer clear of Madworld, because it is one giant bloodbath of blood and mayhem from start to finish. So long and thanks for reading.

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"turtlethetaffer reviewed MadWorld for the Wii..." was posted by turtlethetaffer on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:01:12 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/madworld/user-reviews/798832/platform/wii/ Fri, 17 Aug 2012 22:29:37 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed Borderlands for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/borderlands/user-reviews/798726/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

I recently played through Borderlands and all of its DLC (I bought the Game of the Year edition) and I am here to tell you what I thought. Keep in mind that this is a review of the single player mode only, and I will have mini reviews of the DLC as well.

Graphics: The game utilizes a cel shaded art style mixed with realism, giving it an almost "living comic book" feel to it. And it complements the game perfectly; Borderlands is extremely violent, with limbs and other body parts flying everywhere, blood galore and plenty of guns. However, it is also a very over the top and humorous game, so the graphics perfectly convey this mood. On the design side of things, the game holds up well. The thousands of guns you aquire over the course of the game are all well designed and cool looking, and the special effects some of them have (for instance, lighting enemies on fire) look great. The environments are also good looking, although there could have been more variety. While, yes, the world of Pandora is a lawless wasteland, most of the areas are slightly same- ish. A general brown color permeates the game and, while the environments are well designed and do have variety, the overall look is kinda bland. This is remedied in the DLC, where each one brings a new kind of environments, the most drastic of which is the Zombie Island of Doctor Ned. In contrast to the bright colors of pretty much every other part of the game, the Zombie Island is very dark and gloomy, giving some nice variety. There is the occasional brief framerate drop and pop in for textures on guns, signs, etc, but these are pretty forgiveable considering how big the areas and total game is. Overall, Borderlands is a good looking game despite a somewhat bland environmental design and the occasional technical hiccup. 9/ 10

Sound: Pandora is home to many sounds, from the cries of the wolf- like skags, to the echoing of gunfire. The sound effects are very rich in Borderlands; the guns sound great and powerful, while the dialogue thrown around during the gunfights is humorous and well-acted. Speaking of which, all of the voice acting in the game is very well done, with rich accents and some great one liners. The only real "complaint" someone could have is with the music which, while not bad by any means, is just sort of "meh." It's nothing special and it is, overall, pretty forgettable. Despite this, the many sounds of Pandora are a treat for the ears. 9/ 10

Story: Borderlands starts out with a bus riding down a highway. On the bus is Marcus Kincaid, a dominant businessman on Pandora who will do just about anything to make a buck. However, more importantly, are four Vault Hunters. Roland, a mercenary who works for the Crimson Lance; Mordecai, who is an expert hunter and marksman; Lilith, who is kind of a mystic; and Brick, who is just a huge tough guy. You are given the choice of who to use (I chose Roland) and, from there, set out on an adventure to find the hidden Vault on Pandora, which is said to contain vast amounts of treasure and riches. Of course, it's only a myth, and you must use the dwellers of Pandora to help you find it. The story sounds promising, but it really takes a back seat. The most plot development comes in the text logs you get when taking quests, which, surprisingly, tell a tale that isn't that bad. It's just a shame it wasn't presented in a more exciting way. The same goes for the side scenarios. As you progress throughout the game, you gain access to new areas, with new people who have new problems for you to undertake, usually involving the local gang of bandits. Again, the scenarios actually are pretty interesting, as far as pure story goes, but the way it is presented is very uninteresting. However, there are a lot of quirky characters who you meet along the way, and this helps immerse you. Additionally, there are some side missions you can undertake where you must collect recordings of a scientist who is slowly going mad while researching the Vault. Not only are these humorous, but they also help fill in some back story. Overall, the story actually isn't terrible, but the way it is presented is very bare bones and uninteresting. 6/ 10

Gameplay: This is where the meat of the game lies. When you first design your character, you can name them, change color schemes and whatnot. However, the character you choose does affect the game; each class has a unique Action Skill. For instance, Roland lays down a turret that can fight foes while you take cover to recharge your Shield. This is an important quality to consider when making a character.
Anyways, the mechanics of the game are like an FPS with ARPG elements thrown in. Whether or not you hit your enemies with your gun is not determined by stats; rather, it's about how well you can aim your weapon. However, enemies and you have a level, so the amount of damage you do is determined by your gun, your level and where you hit the enemy. Killing enemies nets you experience, and, when you level up, you earn a Skill Point, which can be spent in your character's Skill Tree. Useful skills like health boosts, magazine capacity upgrades and other things help add a lot to your customization of your character.
Of course, you will be mowing down a ton of bad guys throughout the course of the game. It's a good thing that combat is fun. The controls are tight, and the action is fast paced and very bloody. Most guns are fun to use, even the pistols. Combat is just like other shooters; you take cover behind objects, waiting for a good chance to fire off some rounds. In Borderlands, your character can equip various types of Shields, which take a certain amount of damage before you start losing health points. Shields recharge after staying out of the line of fire for a little while. This adds an extra layer of strategy to the game. Additionally, there are other things to consider, like if your weapon has an elemental effect. Weapons can set enemies on fire, electrocute them, send out caustic rounds or even cause mini explosions. Finally, there is the Second Wind feature, which is where, if you lose your health, you don't die right away. Instead, you are in a downed state and can hip fire your weapon until you bleed out. If you kill an enemy in this state, you get a Second Wind, and are put back into the action.
Speaking of weapons, this game has guns. A lot of them. Enemies spawn and drop random weapons and shields, and more guns can be found in various Chests and shops around Pandora. One of the main motivating factors behind the game is getting the next big item. Even though most of the equipment you find is pretty much useless to you, it is addictive and exciting when you find a better weapon than what you currently have, especially if there is a big difference. The same goes for Shields and Class Mods. (Which give bonus effects like faster reloads, or ammo regeneration.) Hunting down loot is an insanely addictive diversion, and it's all the more exciting when you find a diamond in the mounds of coal. Additonally, you may find an ultra-rare unique weapon that does something no other gun does. (For instance, it may be a sniper that literally shoots fireballs, or a pistol that never runs out of ammo.)
As far as the actually gameplay goes, the game follows a pretty standard formula. You go to a new area, do some quests, take on some side missions, earn more loot, and move on. The structure itself is repetitive, but the quests are varied enough that it's more addicting than anything to play. Quests can be as simple as finding a certain item or killing a certain number of enemies, or more elaborate like taking down a gang leader or hunting down a vicious creature. The structure of the game is inherently addictive.
Getting around Pandora can get boring, so it's a good thing that you have access to a vehicle, complete with a turret of your choice on it. Driving is a fun, if somewhat loose, pastime. The vehicle controls just well enough so that it's not a pain, but it could handle better. Overall, though, driving is a lot of fun, especially getting road kills and watching enemies explode into a fountain of red goo.
Speaking of enemies, the game is somewhat lacking in variety. The most fun to fight are the humans, because it's just more epic. There are some variations in the humans, like Brutes, who just shrug off damage and keep coming, to Psychos, who charge at you with knives and do massive damage should they attack you. The creature enemies, like skags (who primarily jump at you) aren't as fun to fight. The combat is very fun, so it never grows tiresome, but there could have been more variety with the enemies.
The game's conclusion is somewhat disappointing, but, despite that, the game is highly addictive and a lot of fun to play. 8/ 10

DLC review section: This is where I'll do brief reviews of each DLC, naming what it adds to the Borderlands game and how fun it is.

The Zombie Island of Doctor Ned: Doctor Ned, who is totally not Doctor Zed from the main game, is pretty much the only survivor on the island of Jakobs Cove. (Jakobs is one of the many weapon manufacturers you find throughout the game.) There are zombies everywhere ready to munch on the brains of the living. Without going into too much detail about the plot, I will say it is very funny, loaded with pop culture references like the rest of the game, although it delivers more humor than the main game. The zombies are fun to fight, coming at you in waves. Although it is easier than the main game, there is some variety, like with Tankensteins, who resembles, you guessed it, Frankenstein's monster. The atmosphere is very Halloween- ish, with pumpkins everywhere and a lot of dark and gloomy locales. The quests are mostly fun, although there is a set of them that require you to collect more and more zombie brains by landing headshots that just grows tedious, and with little reward. Despite that, the Zombie Island of Doctor Ned is a very fun and funny add on, with some good loot to boot. 8/ 10

Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot: There is not story to this one. Instead, it is, essentially, a Horde Mode. You complete Rounds, with five waves to a round. The first wave is the starter wave, filled with basic, easy to kill enemies. The second is the self-explanatory Gun Wave. The third is the Hoarde Wave, where Psychos of all kinds charge you. The fourth is the Badass Wave, where the enemies are much tougher and the fifth is the Boss Wave where you refight a random boss form the main game. As the Rounds go on, you get handicaps. They can range from very helpful (boosting the attack power of a weapon) to extremely hindering. (Enemies are tougher.) This ups the challenge a lot. This add on is for people who want pure combat. They won't find much else here besides that. Granted, at the end of every round you get some guns, but they usually aren't worth your time. The biggest incentive is two Skill Points you can earn, which is very tempting. It will not be easy, though, as you will eventually need to play Twenty Round tournaments. The add on pack isn't bad, just somewhat bare bones. It's great if you're looking for a ton of combat. Additionally, this pack gives you a Bank to store items in, which is immensely helpful if you have a cool gun but don't have room in your inventory. 7/ 10

The Secret Armory of General Knoxx: This adds a lot of new content, like two new vehicles, which are fun to drive, and a lot of questing. For reasons I won't say, the Atlus corporation is mad at you, and it has taken over T- Bone Junction. This is probably the most humorous of the add ons, with humor at just about every turn, whether it be General Knoxx's exasperated conversations with you or a soldier singing about how excited he is for Ice Cream day. There are some very clever references as well, topping off the humor. Additionally, the new quests are fun to undertake, some of them having an almost "epic" feel in relation to the storyline. There is also a lot of content here. This is the longest of the DLC's, with a long main storyline (at least 7 hours) and an abundance of side quests to take on, ranging from scraping off graffiti to finding out the fate of a boss you thought was dead. (And taking care of said boss.) The DLC is also tougher at first, partly because the enemies you fight are the Crimson Lance, well-armed mercenaries who are tough to bring down. (There are more varieties of them than in the main game, like elemental ones or ones with jet packs.) The new vehicles, new enemies, new quests and abundance of content and good loot help this DLC reach great heights. The only real issue I have is that sometimes the vehicles may glitch or you may fly off the road unintentionally, killing you instantly. However, the rewards are indeed great, with you ultimately making a mad dash and grabbing whatever you can out of an Atlus warehouse before a bomb goes off. This DLC is a lot of fun despite any small flaws it might have. 9/ 10

Clap- Trap's New Robot Revolution: The Hyperion Corporation wanted to stop the second- hand sales of their weapons (the Vault Hunters picking them up off of dead bodies), so they designed the Ninja Assassin Clap Trap robot. It was originally designed to kill the Vault Hunters, but it became smart and decided enough was enough. It organized a Robot Revolution. Hyperion calls on you to take care of it. In addition to some rather funny propaganda (including one that lampoons Bioshock's famous "Is a man not entitled to the sweat upon his brow?" speech), the entire DLC is pretty amusing. The Clap Trap enemies you fight are very hilariously designed, especially the ones that run right at you, waving their arms like mad men. This DLC is rather short, though. (I beat it in one afternoon.) Despite that, it is fairly fun, with some rewarding quests. (The collection quest from the Zombie Island makes a return in the form of Clap Trap parts. However, it's not nearly as much of a hassle, thanks to smaller required amounts of more frequent drops.) There are also "Trap" versions of old enemies, but they play more or less the same way. At the end of the DLC, you fight new, enhanced versions of bosses from previous DLC's. This is fun and pretty humorous, like how one of them comments about how it's "hard to find a cold, sweet embrace of permanent death." You fight a massive, and slightly frustrating, final boss, but the rewards for doing so are great. You gain access to an infinitely exploitable warehouse with tons of treasure chests. Overall, the New Robot Revolution is pretty humorous and fun, despite the short length. 8/ 10

Borderlands is a very addictive, brutal, funny and awesome game. You can find yourself getting lost in the game world, doing quests and hunting down loot. It is a very addictive cycle of rewarding character progression. And, if you buy the Game of the Year Edition, you will have much, much more content to play through on top of the fairly lengthy main game. Even if you want to treasure hunt alone, Borderlands is a trip to a foreign alien world well worth taking. So long and thanks for reading!

Get the full article at GameSpot

"turtlethetaffer reviewed Borderlands for the Xbox 360..." was posted by turtlethetaffer on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 22:29:37 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/borderlands/user-reviews/798726/platform/xbox360/ Tue, 12 Jun 2012 13:29:52 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/xenoblade-chronicles/user-reviews/795719/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

Hi, I recently finished Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii. In pretty much every review I've ever written, I have scored games based on four categories: Graphics, Sound, Story and Gameplay. For this game, I think I am going to take a more freeform approach to tell you how I felt about it.

The game starts out with a view of a vast, endless sea. We are told, and shown, that two titans, the Bionis and Mechonis, were locked in a never ending battle until, one day, they each struck a killing blow on the other and became dormant. The Mechonis is home to machines known as the Mechon, and the Bionis is home to Homs, High Entia and Nopon, as well as all manner of creatures. Recently, the Mechon have been invading the Bionis and the Homs are doing their best to stop them. The numerous Colonies all over the Bionis have been defeated; all of them, except for Colony 9.

After a somewhat brief opening scene that shows an epic battle between Homs and Mechon, that also doubles as an introduction to the battle system, we are introduced to Shulk, a young man in his late teens/ early twenties. He is an engineer and research scientist for Colony 9. For a long time now, he has been trying to unlock the secrets of a mysterious sword called the Monado. Not much is known about it, aside from the fact that is can kill Mechon and it cripples most who use it, including the Hero at the Battle of Sword Valley (the battle from the beginning of the game) who formerly wielded it. Once a few cutscenes are out of the way, as well as an introduction of Shulk's long- time friend, Reyn, the player is given the freedom to roam around Colony 9.

The first thing that really got me was the size; Colony 9 is huge, especially for a Wii game. And this holds true for every area in the game. The areas are massive and filled with secrets. Places you never went to on the map could be secret areas, and hold monsters well worth fighting and valuables well worth taking. The game really encourages exploration in a way that a lot of other games don't. New areas hold more experience, skill and art points which can be used to further develop your party of heroes. (More on that in a bit.)

Of course, this is the Wii we're talking about. It isn't exactly the most powerful system on the market. The areas in the game are absolutely humungous and, as such, one might expect that the game runs poorly and looks bad. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The game manages to keep a constant framerate outside of a few battles against numerous enemies and has very little loading times. The only times you will see the loading screen is when you load the game, and fast travel to another map. Even then, the load times are hardly a bother, usually only taking a few seconds. When compared with similar games on other consoles that are similar in size, this is fairly surprising since those games typically have many more glitches and run poorly. It's a boon for the game that it runs so well. And, of course, it manages to look good while doing it. The environments in the game are lovely to look at and have a ton of variety. There is a lot of color throughout the world and it pays off in a big way. There is also a strong artistic component to make up for the sometimes lackluster technical side of things. The way everything is designed is remarkable and unique. The world, the technology at use, the weapons, the armor, the characters… everything is strong in the art department. The only real flaw with the graphics are with the character models. They lack detail, especially in the face. Additionally, you may encounter pop up every once in a while. However, these flaws are more than forgivable, considering how much game is packed onto the disk.

After wandering around Colony 9 for a while (it may take minutes or it may take hours depending on whether or not you like to do side quests and explore), you are eventually thrust into the main quest of the game. After a Mechon attack at Colony 9 that claims the life of Shulk's love interest Fiora, the game really begins. It starts out as a simple revenge story. Shulk and Reyn are furious at the Mechon for what they did. However, Shulk is feeling guilt. He was able to use the Monado, and, when he did, he saw a vision of Fiora being killed. He is also searching for a reason that he can use the Monado where others can't. As the story progresses, you gain more characters to aid you on your quest, and things become a lot more complicated. I won't spoil anything here, but I will say that you will be surprised at the twists that are thrown your way.

Something I feel I must comment on is the pacing of the game. It took me seventy five hours and fifteen minutes to beat this game. That's obviously a long time, especially for the standards of today's games. However, there was never a moment in the story that I felt was too drawn out. The game has a way of throwing a carrot in the player's direction that will make them want to push on and on. Whether it be some dialogue muttered by a character in the background or a vision that Shulk has, the game's story will grab you and is likely to affect your emotions. There are numerous scenes that are expertly crafted to hold your interest and toy with your feelings. The story is well worth seeing to though the end, in order to find out what happens to the excellent cast of characters and what happens with the gradually epic story. What starts out as a simple revenge story expands into something much, much greater. This level of writing is not seen very often in games.

Each area of the game brings a new sense of excitement. You never know what you're going to find in the new places that you visit. You can easily spend hours just walking around and fighting monsters. Of course, this would be more boring if the soundtrack wasn't so damn spectacular. Every area has its own track, and there isn't a bad one in the bunch. Whether it's the upbeat and catchy tunes of the Bionis's leg or the serene and beautiful melody of the Satorl Marsh during the nighttime, you are bound to fall in love with the way the game sounds. Music during cutscenes are also highly appropriate for the situation; sometimes it's a rocking guitar riff, other times it's an epic orchestral/ chorus arrangement, and, in a few cases, both. The music is a part of the reason the game is so unforgettable. There is nothing quite like walking around Satorl Marsh during the day. It seems like just another swamp level. Then, when night falls, the music becomes slow and serene, and the marsh transforms into a symphony of light and colors. There are moments like this peppered throughout the game.

While Xenoblade is a JRPG, it shares a lot in common with MMO's. Aside from the huge map sizes, the game has a highly addicting battle system. When you're out in the field and you see a monster, you can target it if you feel like a fight. After pressing a button that draws your characters' weapons, you begin battle. This is real time, not turn based like so many other JRPG's before it. For one, you only have control over whoever happens to be leading the party at the time. You have no control over when the character attacks. Instead, the characters automatically attack. This builds up the Talent Guage, which, depending on the character, does different things. For instance, for Shulk, you can activate the Monado, which allows you to use a special move that is usually a great help (i.e. shielding your party from monster Arts.) What are Arts? They are, essentially, special moves. You can have up to eight Arts available for use at any given time. Different ones do different things. For instance, one may do more damage when used from behind an enemy, and another may heal a party member part way. Unlike other JRPG's, where magic points are common, characters have no limit on how many times they can use an Art. Instead, each one has a Cooldown time. Essentially, you must wait a certain amount of time in battle before being able to sue it again. This, combined with the fact that your characters restore health automatically after battle, helps greatly with the pacing of the game. You don't need to worry about stocking up on supplies or healing items because your party members heal automatically. Finally, if a character is in danger, you will receive a vision of their death in battle. You have a set amount of time to change the future so that you can best your foes. Usually, you will use Shulk's Monado shield (which makes Art attacks 1) or use a powerful move by warning a teammate in a last ditch survival effort.

Of course, also like MMO's, monsters drop loot and equipment when defeated. This figures heavily into sidequests since you will often need to find a certain number of a certain item or defeat certain kinds of monsters. There is a ton of different items to find throughout the game, as well as equipment. Each character can equip the same armor as someone else (unless they don't have the Skill to equip it), but each piece alters the character's appearance, which is a neat touch.

Compelling you to explore and fight are Skills and Art points. After each battle, you receive some experience, Art points and Skill points. Art points are simple enough to use. You can level up Arts on characters to make them stronger and more effective in battle. Skill points, however, are automatically pooled into your Skill Tree. The skill Tree allows for passive abilities to be used. For instance, a certain Skill tree on a character may give them abilities such as increased health, or earning more experience. Each character starts off with three, but certain sidequests can be done that can give them more trees. You can also gain these points from discovering Locations and Landmarks.

You will eventually form a party of seven characters, but are only allowed to have three at a time in battle. Every character still gains EXP points as well as Skill and Art points. However, ones in battle earn more, and also gain an Affinity for each other. Affinity is how the characters feel towards one another. In addition to unlocking Heart to Hearts (which help further character development), Affinity can help greatly with Chain Attacks (after the party gauge is filled up, you can attack an enemy in sequence and if you're lucky you will attack using each character more than once) and Skill Links. Skill Links are just what they sound like. They allow characters to share skills with fellow party members. This really encourages experimentation, since you can highly customize your party despite the lack of, say, a Class system like in a Final Fantasy game.

Outside of all of that, there are optional Quests you can undergo by talking to NPC's. Quests are, typically, standard fetch quests or "kill x amount of this monster." However, the rewards promised by them, as well as the storylines, make them well worth taking. It can be frustrating when you're missing one of a certain kind of item, but the quests have an addictive quality to them. In addition, completing Quests upgrades your Affinity with whatever area you happen to be in. Increasing Affinity can allow you to gain access to increasingly more difficult and rewarding quests. If you undertake the huge task of completing all the quests you can, you are likely to increase your time with the game by a significant amount. I personally did a lot of quests, but nowhere near enough to reach maximum Affinity with each region. And, as I already said, the game took me over seventy hours to complete.

On top of all of that, you can help rebuild a colony. After a certain point in the story, you aid in the reconstruction of Colony 6, which fell under the power of the Mechon. You can pour resources into different parts of the colony, like the Economy or the Natural area around it. Additionally, performing Quests for citizens in Colony 6 can help in the reconstruction.

After beating the game, you can save over your file to replay it from the beginning with all of your equipment and leveling, as well as some of the items you had. I personally felt compelled to just play through it again the moment I started New Game+, if only to complete more tasks that I missed the first time through.

Final thoughts:
Xenoblade is an incredible game. It is a powerhouse for the system, sounds fantastic has an excellent story and a terrific sense of pacing, on top of great gameplay. If you own a Wii and are starving of a good RPG, look no further than Xenoblade. The story is bound to draw anyone who enjoys fantasy/ sci fi, and the heavy character customization, addicting quests, and superb battle system, as well as the wealth of option content, ensure that you are never likely to get bored with the game. This is an extremely rare game, one that comes around once and maybe twice every generation. Nintendo was wise to bring this game over to the states. Sure, you may notice some small flaws here and there like texture pop in or the annoying battle dialogue, but these are more than forgivable when the game is so well put together and lovingly made. This is one of the best, if not the best, console games from this generation of gaming. I can't encourage you enough to play it. Even if you are new to RPG's, there is an extensive Tutorial section that covers every feature of the game. And if you are a veteran of RPG's, particularly JRPGs, you will appreciate how many annoyances aren't present and how much it updates the genre.
So long and thanks for reading!

Get the full article at GameSpot

"turtlethetaffer reviewed Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii..." was posted by turtlethetaffer on Tue, 12 Jun 2012 13:29:52 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/xenoblade-chronicles/user-reviews/795719/platform/wii/ Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:43:13 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed Silent Hill HD Collection for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill-hd-collection/user-reviews/791453/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Silent Hill HD gave me the chance to do something I never thought I'd be able to do: Play 2 of the most highly acclaimed horror games of all time, Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3. Since this is a collection, I feel it appropriate to review both games separately, although I will be drawing comparisons to the two.
Silent Hill 2
"In my restless dreams, I see that place… Silent Hill…"
Graphics: The graphics hold up decently well. The game doesn't look as good as some of the newer games in the series, but the graphics do what they are supposed to do, which is to create an atmosphere. And this game does it well. Environments are grimy, run down, and feel like they were once lived in, but have long since been abandoned. The environments are more unsettling in this game; the atmosphere is more bleak and sad than scary. However, this works to the game's advantage, since this is not an ordinary horror game. (More on that in a bit.) Also worth noting are the enemy designs. They are all very gruesome and… well, the word that leaps to mind is mushy. The enemies feel alive, thanks to their great animations. Also worth noting is how these monsters are incredibly strange looking, but it's not without a purpose. I'm not spoiling anything, but, I will say that, like many, many things in this game, they all have a deeper meaning. I rarely encountered any graphical glitches or anything, so, even though they look somewhat dated, the game looks pretty good. 8/ 10

Sound: I have yet to play with the original voices on, but I will say that the new voices are very well acted. The actors do a superb job of conveying the emotions of the characters, although the game isn't without some hammy dialogue. Despite that, the acting shines, especially at the more emotional parts. There are some weird anomalies, though. When the character Eddy is eating pizza in one scene, the audio for him eating a chewing is really loud. Also, after you run for a long time, James will need to catch his breath. And the sound they put in for it sounds just very heavily synthesized and out of place. Aside from that, the ambient sound effects are great and the music by Akira Yamaoka is absolutely incredible. Many of the tunes are just so awesome and well put together, you are likely to get it stuck in your head. This is one of the best examples I can point to to show just how much of a musical genius the man is. (This game and, of course, other Silent Hill games.) Overall, despite some weirdness, the sound contributes greatly to the atmosphere, and the soundtrack for this game is superb. 9/ 10

Story: James Sunderland is running into a very unique problem… He has received a letter from his wife, telling him to come to Silent Hill and meet him at their special place. The problem is that James's wife is dead, killed by an unnamed disease. (It's heavily implied to be cancer.) When he gets to the town, it's nothing like what he remembers; a thick fog is overrunning the town, the streets are empty, save for monstrous abominations. He does run into some other characters, who all seem to have their own reasons for being there, save for one. Now, the twist at the end of this game is very well known, but I am not going to spoil it. I will tell you this: if you, by some miracle, have not had the twist spoiled for you, play this game immediately. However, even if you know the twist, but not much else, this game is well worth playing for the story. It's surreal, trippy and the other characters have their own story to tell. All I'll say is that the symbolism in this game is just mind staggeringly awesome; it goes deep, into just about every part of the game. Almost everything has some sort of meaning, from the characters, the monsters, the locations… there is a ton of detail to find in here. If you love picking apart stories, play this game. The symbolism, double meanings and everything will be right up your alley. The way the story is told, and the story itself surpasses most movies and a lot of books. This is one of the best cases for video games as an art form. The story is, undoubtedly, one of the best ever told in a video game, or any medium of entertainment. It will stick with you for a long, long time. This and Silent Hill Shattered Memories are among the best stories ever. 10/ 10

Gameplay: This is a very old school survival horror game, which means, unfortunately, it's not all that fun to play. Instead, you have to deal with tank like controls, disorienting camera angles, clunky combat and some rather confusing puzzles.
Let's start with combat. The melee combat is extremely clunky. There will be times where you will be practically taking turns hitting a monster, then the monster hits you, you hit the monster… you get the idea. Granted, you can sidestep, but the game's corridors are frequently cramped and narrow. It's a good thing this game gives you a lot of ammo; almost too much. By the end of the game, I had a surplus for all three guns, and this includes the Rifle, whose ammo is incredibly rare. However, I didn't mind this, since it let me bypass the combat to kill the monsters. Granted, it may not be very scary, but it made gameplay a lot less annoying. (Then again, after playing SH3, maybe it's not that the game gives you too much ammo, just too few monsters.) Also worth noting, is what I call the Kick of Death. When a monster falls on the ground, you can press the action button to kick it once, and it will die. Instantly. Maybe there's some deep seeded metaphor, but I can't figure it out.
The exploration aspect is a bit better, although it is fairly limited. As you wander the streets of the ghost town, you can go down out of the way alleys to find extra supplies or items. When you're inside one of the game's "dungeons", the exploration is really limited. Essentially, every room is necessary to go in, and all the others that don't matter… well, they're locked. Yes, the game limits exploration by saying "the lock appears to be broken. I can't open it." Maybe this is for the better, because the buildings you explore often have a huge amount of rooms on the map, and exploring something that big would be overwhelming. Still, it can be annoying to read that message for the umpteenth time.
There are also a few boss battles, which are essentially glorified enemy encounters. (One of them even becomes a common enemy near the end.) They also suffer from the clunkiness of the combat. In one of the encounters, you are fighting another being armed with a gun. Maybe it was meant to be an intense shootout, but it turns into this: "Shoot as many times as you can before they can, heal when necessary." You can pretty much do most of the boss battles this way, since you won't find yourself too strapped for healing supplies.
The puzzles fare a bit better, but they are mostly just item hunts. "Find this item, bring it to the correct spot." Some of them are rather clever, such as one where you must figure out which of six executed prisoners were wrongfully executed. (Using a pretty cool poem.) Sometimes, if you're stuck on a puzzle, you'll have to just retrace your steps to all the previous rooms to find out what to do or what to get. This is typical for a survival horror game of this age.
There is also a bonus scenario, called "Born from a Wish", in which you play as a side character from the main story. It isn't immediately apparent, but this actually expands greatly on the main story, after seeing the ending. However, the mode itself is just a lot of running around and item fetching for about an hour.
Overall, the gameplay is alright, and sometimes killing monsters is fun, but there's no denying that the game doesn't have the strongest gameplay. 7/ 10

Silent Hill 2 is a good game, no doubt about that. The atmosphere is thick and sad, the story is just superb in every way and the sound design is some of the best ever seen in the business. (Especially Akira's soundtrack.) However, like many survival horror games, it doesn't have the best gameplay. However, if you've never played it and are interested, it is very much worth playing. (Especially if you miraculously have never had the twist spoiled for you.)

And now for part 2.
Silent Hill 3
"Listen, suffering is a fact of life. You either deal with it or you go under."
Graphics: Silent Hill 3 has a superior visual style to me, than Silent Hill 2. For one, the environments are a lot more gritty, especially the Otherworld ones. In the Otherworld, the walls become rusty, blood covered, the floors become grates, giving you a peek underneath the ground. The enemies are also much more gruesome, and the game is much scarier for it. Actually, this game is undoubtedly the better pure horror game. The atmosphere is creates has a way of getting under your skin. And, while it looks better than SH2, I did run into some problems. There were a few parts in the game where the frame rate would falter, and it always happened in the same location. Other times, the animation for Heather would stutter, and, again, it happened in the same location. There was also a freeze near the end of the game (but that may be because I had been playing for several hours.) And, after that freeze, the hallway I was walking in became… blurry. Wherever the flashlight wasn't shining, it was noticeably blurry. This was the only occasion that it happened, and it only happened once. Also worth noting, this game's monsters have some pretty deep symbolism, but of a different kind than SH2. So, overall, the graphics are really good, creating a very tense atmosphere of dread and fear. 8/ 10

Sound: The sound is, like SH2, superb. The ambience is amazing (this game is much more disturbing than the other, and sound contributes a lot to that), the voice acting is well done, with good emoting and the music is incredible. (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn made her debut in this game, and it is better for it. The song she sings for the opening cinematic is insanely catchy, and, as always, her voice is gorgeous. Also, the song at the end that's sung by the lyricist is very cool, too.) Once again, Akira has composed some real masterpieces and Joe Romersa has written some incredibly deep lyrics. Seriously, if you have never heard any song by this trio, you have to Youtube it. Search "You're Not Here", "Hell Frozen rain" or "One More Soul to the Call." The only problem I had with the sound was when firing the Submachine gun. It made this really strange, loud static noise, which was distracting. Despite that, the game sounds great. 9/ 10

Story: If you have never played a Silent Hill game before and are going to play this one, I would recommend you do one of two things. Either your play the first one, or you do what I did and look at the plot details of the first one on the Silent Hill Wiki. This game is a direct sequel to the first game, and, as such, there are a lot of details that can easily fly over someone's head if you aren't familiar with the storyline.
Anyways, you play as Heather, a teenager who feel asleep in the mall. After waking up from a playable nightmare sequence, she is confronted by a detective who wants to talk to her "about her birth." Heather, being 17 years old, blows him off and climbs through a window in a bathroom to bypass him. However, it's not long before things take a turn for the worst. The mall shifts into the Otherworld, and she is engulfed in the hellish realm. From there, the story takes a while to get rolling, but becomes pretty good once it does.
While the story is, at first, seemingly a lot more straightforward that that of Silent Hill 2, there is still plenty of symbolism and double meanings to find here, but it's much more subtle this time. The symbolism doesn't really have anything to do with the main story, but is interesting nevertheless.
Also, if you are an extremely religious person, I would recommend not playing this game. There are antireligious sentiments in the game, whether intentional or not. I personally am a person of faith, but I wasn't offended by it at all. It never comes right out and says religion is evil, but the meanings are there.
Overall, the story takes a while to get rolling, but once it does, it becomes an enjoyable horror story. 8/10

Gameplay: The gameplay isn't terribly dissimilar to Silent Hill 2's. The combat is largely unchanged (read: clunky) and the structure is very similar. You wander around buildings, fighting off monsters and solving item based puzzles.
One thing that is different in this game is the amount of supplies when compared to the amount of monsters. While, in 2, you had a surplus of ammo and health, in this game, you will probably find yourself strapped for supplies a lot. Seriously, I had three recovery items at the last boss, and they were saved up from the whole rest of the game. I was going out of my way to not sue them unless I absolutely had to.
The environments are more fun to explore this time, mainly because, in the Otherworld, the game becomes a lot scarier. Now, I am not a pansy. I have seen all of the great horror movies, and I was never really scared. The only movie I ever got even remotely close to scared was with Paranormal Activity. I am also an avid Stephen King fan, and, again, I am not usually creeped out by his work. This game scared me. Like straight up, full on scared me. The atmosphere is so superb, especially in the Hospital Otherworld. I'm not going to spoilt any surprises here, but I will say that, after seeing what happens in a certain room, you aren't likely to look at mirrors the same way again. This isn't a game that tries to scare you with "boo" scares. This game is really heavy on atmosphere. And it uses little things to scare you. At one point, you read a newspaper article about a man who committed suicide by jumping onto train tracks… and, all I'll say is that the person who did this wants to take as many people as possible with them. In another great twist, in the hospital level, there is a patient who is apparently stalking Heather, leaving her love notes and creepy dolls. However, you find out that he is dead and in the crematorium… and, of course, you need to go to the crematorium. You find his body and… well, he's trying to tell you something. There are a lot of really surreal, scary moments throughout the game.
What few boss battles there are are decent enough. However, they are tougher than in 2 since you won't have as much ammunition or health.
One of the things that I found frustrating was that, near the end of the game, here's a certain enemy that becomes very common and is very tough to kill; it was a boss earlier on, and it becomes really common. Add this to how clunky combat is, and how you have little supplies or ammo, and it just becomes frustrating when they hit you with an overpowered attack. There is also a certain enemy who floats through the air that is tough to kill and has a ridiculous range for its attack. Also, I felt the dog enemies were too common.
Overall, despite how clunky the game is at times, the horror elements more than make up for it. 7/10

Silent Hill 3 is the screamer of this duo. It is made to scare you, and it will most likely succeed. It may not be as deep as Silent Hill 2, but there is still plenty of (disturbing) symbolism to uncover. This one is more about just shocking and scaring you. And it does it with hardly any "boo" scares. There is only really one that I can remember, and, even then, after seeing the aftermath, it doesn't even really qualify as a "boo" scare. This one is for anyone who loves being scared.

In review, Silent Hill HD has two great games for a good price. Each one has good replay value thanks to multiple endings and unlockables. Both games are well worth playing for different reasons. Silent Hill 2, while still being a horror game, is more for people who are looking for a unique, well told story. The depth to it is almost infinite. Silent Hill 3 is for people who like to be scared. And not the cheap "wow, I jumped a mile high" scared. It's the "oh my god hold me please" kind of scared. Despite some problems with each game, this pack is a vacation to a quiet town that is well worth taking. So long, thanks for reading and happy gaming!

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill-hd-collection/user-reviews/791453/platform/ps3/ Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:41:25 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed Silent Hill HD Collection for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill-hd-collection/user-reviews/791452/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Silent Hill HD gave me the chance to do something I never thought I'd be able to do: Play 2 of the most highly acclaimed horror games of all time, Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill 3. Since this is a collection, I feel it appropriate to review both games separately, although I will be drawing comparisons to the two.
Silent Hill 2
"In my restless dreams, I see that place… Silent Hill…"
Graphics: The graphics hold up decently well. The game doesn't look as good as some of the newer games in the series, but the graphics do what they are supposed to do, which is to create an atmosphere. And this game does it well. Environments are grimy, run down, and feel like they were once lived in, but have long since been abandoned. The environments are more unsettling in this game; the atmosphere is more bleak and sad than scary. However, this works to the game's advantage, since this is not an ordinary horror game. (More on that in a bit.) Also worth noting are the enemy designs. They are all very gruesome and… well, the word that leaps to mind is mushy. The enemies feel alive, thanks to their great animations. Also worth noting is how these monsters are incredibly strange looking, but it's not without a purpose. I'm not spoiling anything, but, I will say that, like many, many things in this game, they all have a deeper meaning. I rarely encountered any graphical glitches or anything, so, even though they look somewhat dated, the game looks pretty good. 8/ 10

Sound: I have yet to play with the original voices on, but I will say that the new voices are very well acted. The actors do a superb job of conveying the emotions of the characters, although the game isn't without some hammy dialogue. Despite that, the acting shines, especially at the more emotional parts. There are some weird anomalies, though. When the character Eddy is eating pizza in one scene, the audio for him eating a chewing is really loud. Also, after you run for a long time, James will need to catch his breath. And the sound they put in for it sounds just very heavily synthesized and out of place. Aside from that, the ambient sound effects are great and the music by Akira Yamaoka is absolutely incredible. Many of the tunes are just so awesome and well put together, you are likely to get it stuck in your head. This is one of the best examples I can point to to show just how much of a musical genius the man is. (This game and, of course, other Silent Hill games.) Overall, despite some weirdness, the sound contributes greatly to the atmosphere, and the soundtrack for this game is superb. 9/ 10

Story: James Sunderland is running into a very unique problem… He has received a letter from his wife, telling him to come to Silent Hill and meet him at their special place. The problem is that James's wife is dead, killed by an unnamed disease. (It's heavily implied to be cancer.) When he gets to the town, it's nothing like what he remembers; a thick fog is overrunning the town, the streets are empty, save for monstrous abominations. He does run into some other characters, who all seem to have their own reasons for being there, save for one. Now, the twist at the end of this game is very well known, but I am not going to spoil it. I will tell you this: if you, by some miracle, have not had the twist spoiled for you, play this game immediately. However, even if you know the twist, but not much else, this game is well worth playing for the story. It's surreal, trippy and the other characters have their own story to tell. All I'll say is that the symbolism in this game is just mind staggeringly awesome; it goes deep, into just about every part of the game. Almost everything has some sort of meaning, from the characters, the monsters, the locations… there is a ton of detail to find in here. If you love picking apart stories, play this game. The symbolism, double meanings and everything will be right up your alley. The way the story is told, and the story itself surpasses most movies and a lot of books. This is one of the best cases for video games as an art form. The story is, undoubtedly, one of the best ever told in a video game, or any medium of entertainment. It will stick with you for a long, long time. This and Silent Hill Shattered Memories are among the best stories ever. 10/ 10

Gameplay: This is a very old school survival horror game, which means, unfortunately, it's not all that fun to play. Instead, you have to deal with tank like controls, disorienting camera angles, clunky combat and some rather confusing puzzles.
Let's start with combat. The melee combat is extremely clunky. There will be times where you will be practically taking turns hitting a monster, then the monster hits you, you hit the monster… you get the idea. Granted, you can sidestep, but the game's corridors are frequently cramped and narrow. It's a good thing this game gives you a lot of ammo; almost too much. By the end of the game, I had a surplus for all three guns, and this includes the Rifle, whose ammo is incredibly rare. However, I didn't mind this, since it let me bypass the combat to kill the monsters. Granted, it may not be very scary, but it made gameplay a lot less annoying. (Then again, after playing SH3, maybe it's not that the game gives you too much ammo, just too few monsters.) Also worth noting, is what I call the Kick of Death. When a monster falls on the ground, you can press the action button to kick it once, and it will die. Instantly. Maybe there's some deep seeded metaphor, but I can't figure it out.
The exploration aspect is a bit better, although it is fairly limited. As you wander the streets of the ghost town, you can go down out of the way alleys to find extra supplies or items. When you're inside one of the game's "dungeons", the exploration is really limited. Essentially, every room is necessary to go in, and all the others that don't matter… well, they're locked. Yes, the game limits exploration by saying "the lock appears to be broken. I can't open it." Maybe this is for the better, because the buildings you explore often have a huge amount of rooms on the map, and exploring something that big would be overwhelming. Still, it can be annoying to read that message for the umpteenth time.
There are also a few boss battles, which are essentially glorified enemy encounters. (One of them even becomes a common enemy near the end.) They also suffer from the clunkiness of the combat. In one of the encounters, you are fighting another being armed with a gun. Maybe it was meant to be an intense shootout, but it turns into this: "Shoot as many times as you can before they can, heal when necessary." You can pretty much do most of the boss battles this way, since you won't find yourself too strapped for healing supplies.
The puzzles fare a bit better, but they are mostly just item hunts. "Find this item, bring it to the correct spot." Some of them are rather clever, such as one where you must figure out which of six executed prisoners were wrongfully executed. (Using a pretty cool poem.) Sometimes, if you're stuck on a puzzle, you'll have to just retrace your steps to all the previous rooms to find out what to do or what to get. This is typical for a survival horror game of this age.
There is also a bonus scenario, called "Born from a Wish", in which you play as a side character from the main story. It isn't immediately apparent, but this actually expands greatly on the main story, after seeing the ending. However, the mode itself is just a lot of running around and item fetching for about an hour.
Overall, the gameplay is alright, and sometimes killing monsters is fun, but there's no denying that the game doesn't have the strongest gameplay. 7/ 10

Silent Hill 2 is a good game, no doubt about that. The atmosphere is thick and sad, the story is just superb in every way and the sound design is some of the best ever seen in the business. (Especially Akira's soundtrack.) However, like many survival horror games, it doesn't have the best gameplay. However, if you've never played it and are interested, it is very much worth playing. (Especially if you miraculously have never had the twist spoiled for you.)

And now for part 2.
Silent Hill 3
"Listen, suffering is a fact of life. You either deal with it or you go under."
Graphics: Silent Hill 3 has a superior visual style to me, than Silent Hill 2. For one, the environments are a lot more gritty, especially the Otherworld ones. In the Otherworld, the walls become rusty, blood covered, the floors become grates, giving you a peek underneath the ground. The enemies are also much more gruesome, and the game is much scarier for it. Actually, this game is undoubtedly the better pure horror game. The atmosphere is creates has a way of getting under your skin. And, while it looks better than SH2, I did run into some problems. There were a few parts in the game where the frame rate would falter, and it always happened in the same location. Other times, the animation for Heather would stutter, and, again, it happened in the same location. There was also a freeze near the end of the game (but that may be because I had been playing for several hours.) And, after that freeze, the hallway I was walking in became… blurry. Wherever the flashlight wasn't shining, it was noticeably blurry. This was the only occasion that it happened, and it only happened once. Also worth noting, this game's monsters have some pretty deep symbolism, but of a different kind than SH2. So, overall, the graphics are really good, creating a very tense atmosphere of dread and fear. 8/ 10

Sound: The sound is, like SH2, superb. The ambience is amazing (this game is much more disturbing than the other, and sound contributes a lot to that), the voice acting is well done, with good emoting and the music is incredible. (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn made her debut in this game, and it is better for it. The song she sings for the opening cinematic is insanely catchy, and, as always, her voice is gorgeous. Also, the song at the end that's sung by the lyricist is very cool, too.) Once again, Akira has composed some real masterpieces and Joe Romersa has written some incredibly deep lyrics. Seriously, if you have never heard any song by this trio, you have to Youtube it. Search "You're Not Here", "Hell Frozen rain" or "One More Soul to the Call." The only problem I had with the sound was when firing the Submachine gun. It made this really strange, loud static noise, which was distracting. Despite that, the game sounds great. 9/ 10

Story: If you have never played a Silent Hill game before and are going to play this one, I would recommend you do one of two things. Either your play the first one, or you do what I did and look at the plot details of the first one on the Silent Hill Wiki. This game is a direct sequel to the first game, and, as such, there are a lot of details that can easily fly over someone's head if you aren't familiar with the storyline.
Anyways, you play as Heather, a teenager who feel asleep in the mall. After waking up from a playable nightmare sequence, she is confronted by a detective who wants to talk to her "about her birth." Heather, being 17 years old, blows him off and climbs through a window in a bathroom to bypass him. However, it's not long before things take a turn for the worst. The mall shifts into the Otherworld, and she is engulfed in the hellish realm. From there, the story takes a while to get rolling, but becomes pretty good once it does.
While the story is, at first, seemingly a lot more straightforward that that of Silent Hill 2, there is still plenty of symbolism and double meanings to find here, but it's much more subtle this time. The symbolism doesn't really have anything to do with the main story, but is interesting nevertheless.
Also, if you are an extremely religious person, I would recommend not playing this game. There are antireligious sentiments in the game, whether intentional or not. I personally am a person of faith, but I wasn't offended by it at all. It never comes right out and says religion is evil, but the meanings are there.
Overall, the story takes a while to get rolling, but once it does, it becomes an enjoyable horror story. 8/10

Gameplay: The gameplay isn't terribly dissimilar to Silent Hill 2's. The combat is largely unchanged (read: clunky) and the structure is very similar. You wander around buildings, fighting off monsters and solving item based puzzles.
One thing that is different in this game is the amount of supplies when compared to the amount of monsters. While, in 2, you had a surplus of ammo and health, in this game, you will probably find yourself strapped for supplies a lot. Seriously, I had three recovery items at the last boss, and they were saved up from the whole rest of the game. I was going out of my way to not sue them unless I absolutely had to.
The environments are more fun to explore this time, mainly because, in the Otherworld, the game becomes a lot scarier. Now, I am not a pansy. I have seen all of the great horror movies, and I was never really scared. The only movie I ever got even remotely close to scared was with Paranormal Activity. I am also an avid Stephen King fan, and, again, I am not usually creeped out by his work. This game scared me. Like straight up, full on scared me. The atmosphere is so superb, especially in the Hospital Otherworld. I'm not going to spoilt any surprises here, but I will say that, after seeing what happens in a certain room, you aren't likely to look at mirrors the same way again. This isn't a game that tries to scare you with "boo" scares. This game is really heavy on atmosphere. And it uses little things to scare you. At one point, you read a newspaper article about a man who committed suicide by jumping onto train tracks… and, all I'll say is that the person who did this wants to take as many people as possible with them. In another great twist, in the hospital level, there is a patient who is apparently stalking Heather, leaving her love notes and creepy dolls. However, you find out that he is dead and in the crematorium… and, of course, you need to go to the crematorium. You find his body and… well, he's trying to tell you something. There are a lot of really surreal, scary moments throughout the game.
What few boss battles there are are decent enough. However, they are tougher than in 2 since you won't have as much ammunition or health.
One of the things that I found frustrating was that, near the end of the game, here's a certain enemy that becomes very common and is very tough to kill; it was a boss earlier on, and it becomes really common. Add this to how clunky combat is, and how you have little supplies or ammo, and it just becomes frustrating when they hit you with an overpowered attack. There is also a certain enemy who floats through the air that is tough to kill and has a ridiculous range for its attack. Also, I felt the dog enemies were too common.
Overall, despite how clunky the game is at times, the horror elements more than make up for it. 7/10

Silent Hill 3 is the screamer of this duo. It is made to scare you, and it will most likely succeed. It may not be as deep as Silent Hill 2, but there is still plenty of (disturbing) symbolism to uncover. This one is more about just shocking and scaring you. And it does it with hardly any "boo" scares. There is only really one that I can remember, and, even then, after seeing the aftermath, it doesn't even really qualify as a "boo" scare. This one is for anyone who loves being scared.

In review, Silent Hill HD has two great games for a good price. Each one has good replay value thanks to multiple endings and unlockables. Both games are well worth playing for different reasons. Silent Hill 2, while still being a horror game, is more for people who are looking for a unique, well told story. The depth to it is almost infinite. Silent Hill 3 is for people who like to be scared. And not the cheap "wow, I jumped a mile high" scared. It's the "oh my god hold me please" kind of scared. Despite some problems with each game, this pack is a vacation to a quiet town that is well worth taking. So long, thanks for reading and happy gaming!

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill-hd-collection/user-reviews/791452/platform/xbox360/ Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:42:49 -0700 turtlethetaffer reviewed Silent Hill: Downpour for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill-downpour/user-reviews/791039/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Hi, I'm here to review Silent Hill Downpour. I have experience with Silent Hill 2, Shattered Memories and Homecoming. I liked them all to varying degrees. How did Downpour turn out? Read on…

Graphics: The game is a huge step up from Homecoming. The character models are now much more detailed (especially Murphy's) and animate pretty well. The environments are run down, creepy as hell and superbly designed. Everything looks rotted, wrong. The enemies, however, are decidedly less gruesome than in other games. Don't get me wrong, they are still pretty creepy, and still have some surprisingly deep symbolism, but they are not on the same level as in other games in the series. Additionally, there are times, mostly on the streets of Silent Hill, that the framerate takes noticeable dips. This is pretty disappointing, in that it takes you out of the immersion. It even freezes on rare occasions, which, again, is disappointing. However, it's somewhat forgivable; when the game sucks you in, it grabs you, getting under your skin. There are many legitimately creepy environments in the game. Overall, despite some issues, this game looks good. 8/ 10

Sound: Sadly, Akira Yamaoka did not return to compose for this SH game, and it shows. Don't get me wrong, the substitute composer does a decent job of capturing the eerie music of previous games, but it just doesn't quite measure up. Also saddening is that the beautiful singer, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, only lends her voice for a few songs that are heard in the background. Despite this, the music is still good (although the ending credits song does leave a lot to be desired) and isn't too heavy in the game. Instead, there is a lot of silence in this game, really adding to the tension. It's like in a horror movie where you know something is just around the corner, and you're tense with anticipation… and it's like that all the time. The ambience is fantastic, as are the monster sound effects. Sound is used in a great way to creep out the player, and it succeeds. In one of the best environments in the game, you're walking through a completely silent library. You go through a door. The room is dead silent, save for the sound of a projector running. You take a few steps forward, when, all of a sudden, a file box slams down on the ground, followed by this insanely creepy, otherworldly laugh. Additionally, the voice acting is really good, particularly Murphy's. There are many little nuances to the speech that many other games forget about. (This is best shown in a very tense scene involving a child and a Pyramid Head- esque figure. Murphy says a lot of stuff under his breath.) Overall, even though the music isn't as good as it has been, the sound is put to great use to scare the player. 9/ 10 (since the music isn't quite that great and Mary doesn't return.)

Story: Murphy Pendleton is a prisoner at a jail near the town of Silent Hill. After a gruesome opening scene that I won't spoil (that also doubles as a combat tutorial), Murphy and other prisoners are seen being transported. They cut through Silent Hill, and, after an inmate starts a ruckus, the bus goes off the road. Murphy is the seemingly the only survivor of the crash. He stumbles into Silent Hill, and must confront past demons while finding a way to escape. Meanwhile, he has to contend with a mysterious figure in a wheelchair following him. The story is actually surprisingly good. After playing a few games, I have come to expect the protagonist to have some dark secret, so I was pleasantly surprised by a few of the twists. They aren't easy to predict in any way. Additionally, there are some great side characters who you'll slowly come to learn about as the game progresses. And, in true Silent Hill fashion, there is a ton of symbolism and little things to dissect about the story. Additionally, the many sidequests you can partake in have stories all their own, essentially making the town of Silent Hill a character. Overall, the story is enjoyable and well done. 9/ 10

Gameplay: The gameplay isn't perfect. Then again, maybe that's the best way to scare a player. Make it so the game isn't conducive to fighting. I'm getting ahead of myself, so I'll elaborate.
The best part of the gameplay is undoubtedly the exploration. Silent Hill is actually a very open place, with lots to discover and do. There is a good amount of sidequests (such that you can at least double a playthrough by doing them) and hidden item caches to find. If you like to explore, this game will satisfy. As stated above, the environs are all creepy as hell, and a joy to explore. Little touches, like footprints that show up under a UV light, really add to the atmosphere.
On the flipside is the combat. It isn't the greatest. I personally didn't have as much of a problem with it as many other people did. It can get frustrating at times, but, if you learn when to block and attack, it isn't terrible. There are other horror games with better combat (Condemned leaps to mind) but, maybe the whole point is to make it feel clunky. If the player feels like a tank, they won't be very scared and will say "bring it on" to combat. If you inadvertently make the player want to avoid combat, it adds that much more tension. There are some points in the game where combat is necessary, but, for the most part, you can actually avoid most fights just by running.
There are also many puzzles throughout the game. Some of them are good, some, not so good. One of the best ones is in an orphanage. You need to turn on stage cues in a theater in the necessary order, then watch as… well, I won't spoil it. It's one of the most well done parts of the game. However, a lot of them are obtuse, with some not so obvious solutions. However, with some brainpower, you can overcome most puzzles. Many of the sidequests are puzzles in and of themselves, and one of my favorites involves a gramophone and… well, all I'll say is "Turn back time."
The game also incorporates some cool elements from Shattered Memories. For instance, you can look behind you by pressing one of the shoulder buttons. This is actually very helpful during Nightmares, in which you are chased by this black hole type thing, and other parts of the game. The biggest part is the Nightmares. With most of them, you are, as I stated, outrunning something, pushing things down and doing anything you can to escape. These are pretty neat and creepy.
Finally, worth noting, this game only has two boss battles, and both take place near the end of the game. I actually like this idea. Both boss battles are more like puzzles, and one of them is huge. This really helps the pacing to me, and I prefer it over bad boss battles. Maybe the devs felt it wasn't necessary to include any, or they just couldn't think of good ones. Either way, it helps the pacing of the game a lot. You just keep pressing forward to reach the end, and there aren't any really overbearing battles.
Overall, the gameplay does more things right than it does wrong. The combat is very clunky, but the exploration more than makes up for it. It's just disappointing that, during the last chunk of the game, combat has a huge focus but on it. This does kind of bog it down a bit. 7/ 10

Silent Hill Downpour is one of the few true recent horror games. Other ones, like Dead Space, are more action games with horror atmospheres. No one is going to mistake Downpour as a third person shooter or some kind of action game. The pace is very deliberate, and there is more emphasis on exploration, atmosphere and running than combat. If you're a silent Hill fan or a fan of horror games, Downpour will scratch the itch. The atmosphere is superb, the story is well done and enjoyable and the surprising exploration and sidequests fit very well into the game without making it feel very "gamey." So long, thanks for reading and happy gaming.

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"turtlethetaffer reviewed Silent Hill: Downpour for the Xbox 360..." was posted by turtlethetaffer on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 18:42:49 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/silent-hill-downpour/user-reviews/791039/platform/xbox360/ Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:21:57 -0700 dsrules13 reviewed Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/kid-icarus-uprising/user-reviews/790991/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

The Comeback Kid
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Pit says as he jumps into the first stage of his comeback. And what a comeback it is. The 3rd installment in the Kid Icarus, and first in over 20 years, does not disappoint. It delivers frantic action, robust multiplayer, over 100 weapons to collect and fuse in 9 different classes, an AR card battle mode, and many more unlockables and goodies.

The thing that sets Pit apart from most(not all) other Nintendo characters and mascots is the fact that he has a personality and a voice. Mario, Kirby, and Donkey Kong all have their own charms, there is no doubt. But each is a virtual manifestation of you, the player.

Pit has his own unique personality, and this is developed throughout the game through his constant banter with Palutena. Jokes are often cracked about things such as the economy, and there is even a hilarious Nintendogs reference. This banter is always enjoyable and interesting, never bordering on the annoying quabbles that Navi exchanged with Link. Throughout the chatter Palutena will often reference the past games in the series, such as showing pictures of the way enemies used to look. This light-hearted tone is refreshing, and lends itself well to the overall feel of the game.

The design of the enemies also contributes at times to the light-hearted feel. Enemy designs are ingenious, and even hilarious at times. One enemy is modeled after the eyes-moustache-nose disguise that you might find at a gag joke store.

But bringing down the enemies is the real fun. And there are myriad weapons at your disposal for this task. From the classic bows and blades to the bizarre orbitars. And they certainly had fun designing them. There is a staff modeled after a flintlock gun and a club modeled after the tower of babel. And they are just as fun to use as they are to look at.

In the "story mode"(that's not what its called but that's its function) there are 25 stages to play through. Each stage starts out with an on-rails flying segment and then transitions to the ground for a ground segment and it all gets wrapped up with a boss battle.

In the on-rails shooting parts you aim using the touch screen, move with the circle pad, and shoot with the L button. And this actually works extremely well. The air segments are my favorite. Ducking and weaving to avoid enemy fire is lots of fun, and these segments lend themselves well to my ranged weapon style. They are also simple in their ambition and execute well.

But the Big N's insistence on keeping this flightless angel grounded is where the issues start to occur. In the ground parts you also have to use the touch screen to control the camera. This is troublesome to say the least, and it is tough to spin and get a good look at your enemies. The boss battles also occur on the ground, meaning 2/3 of each stage is hampered by these controls.

But overall the controls can't keep this game down and just take some getting used to. Playing in shorts bursts minimizes the discomfort. And playing with the pack-in stand also helps.

As for the gameplay, it is frantic. Changing weapons to a club or claws can make the game feel like a 3rd person action game at times, and a straight up shooter with a bow or staff. Gameplay can become repetitive for some, but I never felt that way.

But the "story mode" is only a fraction of the fun in this game. The other major part is the multiplayer. Setting up a game is quick and easy, unlike some other Nintendo online experiences(ahem, *Pokemon*). There are both free-for-all and light vs. dark team-based games. The team-based game is a 3 on 3 affair, requiring teamwork to win. In the team-based game you will be forced to work with the inevitable 8-year-old. And in free-for-all you get to bash the brainless and bratty 8-year-olds, as well as all the other competitors. Good ol' every man for himself slugfest.

The action in mutiplayer is much more frantic, making the poor controls even more noticable and restricting. And if you're going to play multiplayer, you should probably adjust your play style away from ranged combat. Multiplayer just seems to favor melee attacks because if you're close enough to shoot someone, then they're close enough to reach out and club you to death.

But the creator of Super Smash Bros. Brawl wouldn't have been content to stop there, he needed more content. There is a fun but sadly simple AR battle system. It doesn't have much depth, but is a neat use of the 3DS technology. There is a trophy-like system with character and weapon "idols". And also an achievement system, which reveals a picture as you achieve things and provides you with in-game currency and weapons.

The amount of content in the game is remarkable, and Uprising really does feel like a console game shrunk down onto a handheld.

But the most impressive thing about all the extra features is that it takes what is essentially a stage-clear shooting game and turns it into the only 3DS game you may need to buy this year, provided you have Wi-Fi access.

The music in this game is top-notch and there is a music gallery in the game. The music is overall extremely beautiful and well done, setting the mood for each stage.

Addictive gameplay, amazing music, and also outstanding visuals. It's the whole shebang! The graphics for Uprising are not the best on the system, but they are impressive. And the bright and vibrant colors make it quite a looker.

In short, Kid Icarus: Uprising is a can't miss experience for anyone interested at all. I was highly skeptical at first, and found a game that will easily become my most-played 3DS game to date.

Hopefully Nintendo gives this flightless angel some wings and lets him soar for years to come.

Score: 93/100

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"dsrules13 reviewed Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS..." was posted by dsrules13 on Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:21:57 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/kid-icarus-uprising/user-reviews/790991/platform/3ds/ Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:02:00 -0800 turtlethetaffer reviewed Theresia for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/theresia/user-reviews/788404/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

I'm here to reveal this super obscure NDS title, Theresia.

Graphics: The graphics, much like the rest of the game, are a mixed bag. Many of the illustrations for the rooms are very well done, even if some of them are really bare bones. The halls you walk around in look pretty bad, though, with low res textures that repeat frequently. However, there are some well-illustrated pictures that play during flashback sequences, and, despite some bad quality, the graphics do a very good job of conjuring a very dreadful and sad atmosphere. Despite the fact that there are no monsters or anything in this game, there are some very gruesome scenes that will get under your skin. Whenever you come across a dead body, it just looks awful and wrong. (There is one face in particular that was apparently burned off… it's horrifying.) The problem is that there are many times where the game will become a pixel hunt; you'll be scouring every inch of a room (since they don't give off much detail.) for anything useful. Overall, the game is decent looking, and helps create a tense atmosphere, despite the sometimes poor quality of them. Also worth noting, there are a few cutscenes in the game that look very good. 8/ 10

Sound: The sound is also a mixed bag. On one hand, the atmospheric music is extremely well done. It really helps sell the atmosphere, and, later in the scenarios, they become haunting melodies. I really don't think the music gets enough credit; it reflects the overall mood of the game very well. (That is, foreboding and sad.) sure, there's not a lot of it, but what's here is very well done. The sound effects on the other hand, are rather bare bones. You have some grunting, some smashing noises, among others. Some of them serve their purpose well, such as the footsteps, but others are just weak. (For instance, a grenade exploding sounds like a cheap, quiet gunshot sound effect in a B rate movie.) Some of the effects can also get on your nerves, like bugs rustling around. The music is great, but some of the effects leave a lot to be desired. 8/ 10

Story: This is the main reason you play this game. There are two scenarios, Dear Emile and Dear Martel. In each one, you play as a young person who awakens in a strange place with no memory, no way of knowing where they are and deadly traps everywhere. Each one is told in a present tense, first person perspective. Dear Emile is the first one you play (you unlock Dear Martel after) and is deals with a young woman. This is the main story, dealing with… well, a lot of unexpected things. I'm not going to spoil anything for you (by the way, don't read the back of the box. The description for each scenario actually has spoilers in it.) This is one of those stories that unfold pretty slowly. As you wander around, you find pieces of Journals that will tell you more about what the hell happened and what you're doing here. In the beginning of the game, it seems like a clich… story, but, trust me, it becomes very unique and compelling. Also, don't play this game if you like feel good stories. Each scenario is extremely sad, and sometimes flat out depressing, and the ambiguous endings do little to remedy that. (Don't worry, they're ambiguous in the good way.) Dear Emile undoubtedly has the better story, but dear Martel is still competent, expanding on the first scenario in meaningful ways. The only real problem with the stories is the localization. It's not terribly common, but there are noticeable typos and syntax errors that appear more often than I would have liked. But they do little to effect the story. Overall, this is a unique and well told horror story that will get under your skin. Not for the faint of heart, though, since gruesome deaths and violently abhorrent acts are discussed on a regular basis. 10/ 10

Gameplay: Theresia is not a typical horror game. Rather, it is a point and click adventure game with horror themes. There are no enemies, no other people. (Besides the dead ones.) There aren't any exciting chase sequences with otherworldy creatures or tooth and nail battles to the death. There is, instead, a deliberately paced game that relies a lot on puzzles.
First, I'll start with the controls. They do their job. When walking in hallways, you can move your character easily with the D pad. Inside rooms, you just look around and feel around for items with the stylus. It works well.
The core of the game is finding items and solving puzzles. You wander around rooms with a huge amount of items (and nothing like a backpack or anything) and use them to explore further into the game. This is a decent enough system, but there are some missteps.
Mainly, some of the logic involved for the puzzles is ridiculous. For instance, in one room, you must get boots off of a high shelf without the shelf falling on you. The solution? Place a fuel tank filled with water on top in order to balance it out. No, don't knock the shelf over from the side, you need to do the most ridiculous stuff possible. Unfortunately, instances like this are common throughout the game. Especially later in the game, the puzzles become just ridiculous.
Another problem is backtracking. The rooms, as stated above, lack a ton of detail and it is easy to miss an item that you need. If you do, chances are that, later in the game, you'll need to backtrack a long way to get the item. This is pretty frustrating, especially in Dear Emile. In dear Martel, backtracking is kept to a relative minimum.
Throughout the game, you will come across Traps. These are just what they sound like. If you trigger one, you'll lose life. You can restore life by finding Elixirs. You'll probably never be in danger of dying, given the nature of the game. The only danger comes from traps. These kind of limit exploration, which is disappointing, and sometimes you can be hurt by some ridiculous stuff. (ie, searching rubble will cause cuts or shrapnel to burst out.)
Despite all these problems, the game can still be fun to solve the puzzles and learn more of the story. 6/ 10

Theresia is a flawed game. There is no getting around that. The translation is spotty, some of the sound effects are kind of bad and the gameplay can get tedious. However, despite the fact that there are no enemies, the game does a good job of creating an atmosphere of dread. The story is also very well written and well presented. This is a good game for people who like gothic horror or are looking for a good, but obscure, adventure game on DS. If you can get past the problems the game has, you'll find a very unique, albeit rough, gem of a game. So long and thanks for reading.

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"turtlethetaffer reviewed Theresia for the DS..." was posted by turtlethetaffer on Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:02:00 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/theresia/user-reviews/788404/platform/ds/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:17:05 -0800 00Killaz00 reviewed Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/uncharted-3-drakes-deception/user-reviews/787700/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

I wasn't expecting much after the super succesful Uncharted 2, especially when it features deserts, but after all the perfect reviews and suggestions, I picked this up.
One of the most dissapointing games of all time, the lines are all forced, characters lose their charm, the aiming system is atrocious, the puzzles are even MORE tacked on, the multiplayer is crap compared to Uncharted 2... even requiring you to pay $10 if you didn't buy it new.

The Good:
- The graphics are nice
- Platforming is fun
- Battles are fun as always but the aiming system is trash
- Character designs are nice


The Bad:
- Characters lost their charm
- Dialogue lacks the charm of the 1st two, trying too hard to be witty
- The story is uninteresting
- Horrible aiming system
- Rubbish multiplayer

Conclusion: Do not buy this game if you liked Uncharted 2 or 1.

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