birdman1414's GameSpot Friend's Reviews birdman1414's GameSpot Friend's Reviews birdman1414's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Sat, 25 May 2013 07:07:58 -0700 GameSpot birdman1414's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:46:07 -0800 Egonga reviewed Fable II for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/fable-ii/user-reviews/641392/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

If Peter Molyneux were a car salesman, he would offer you a hovercar and, instead, deliver a Ferrari. While the Ferrari might be a handsome beast, a top of the range model that'd be the envy of your friends, everytime you looked at it, somewhere in the back of your mind you'd tell yourself "It's good, yes, but is isn't a hovercar..."

Has Fable 2 bucked the trend? Well, yes and no.

A technology called 'dynamic regions' was promised to us at the X06 event in Barcelona, whereby each of your decisions, no matter how minor, would eventually have an impact in the way the game world develops. The game world itself is rendered in absolutely beautiful graphics, featuring amazing water and sunlight effects. You'll find yourself admiring the sun's rays as they try to pierce the leaves of a tree, bathing your character in tiny daggers of light. Colour is also used to good effect. Areas full of honest citizens will be bright, colourful and sunny, like something from a cartoon; yet at the same time is never so garish as to ruin the atmosphere of the game. Evil, twisted areas, overrun by monsters or petty thugs, are shown in dull, muted colours, lending to the feel of the area in a very subtle way.

Such alteration of the colours becomes apparant using the 'dynamic region' technology, where vibrant areas full of colour can quickly become dull messes filled with downtrodden citizens. However, the feature isn't as organic as suggested; simple transactions or damage to the environment don't change a thing. Changes to regions come from quests; quests where you're given straight, honest choices. Do the right thing, and the area will prosper. Do evil, and it will suffer. There are only three such choices throughout the game, meaning only three areas can be affected by your influence. And, in truth, being the bad guy can be very unrewarding; entire communities of shops, from which you could build an empire of commerce, can be destroyed by being evil; it's in your best interests, personally, to do the right thing, making it an unbalanced system.

The game world itself is relatively small when compared to a very similar game, Oblivion. However, each area is more detailed meaning that, although it is smaller, it probably has more content per square foot than The Elder Scrolls series. Sidequests are given their own stories, too, which means that you rarely feel as if you're doing a mindless dungeon crawl; there's always a reason for doing it, something to drag you onwards and keep you interested.

Speaking of commerce, there are several jobs available to you to help raise funds for outfitting and equipping your character. These take the form of very basic minigames that involve pressing the A button at the correct moment. Doing this repeatably, without fault, with grant you multipliers, and therefore more money. Sadly, this is as dull as dishwater, and once you've earned enough money to get onto the property market you'll never feel the inclination to return to them.

So far, so bad, right? All the aspects tacked on to the game such as socialising, jobs, buying property and gambling will hold your interest only for as long as you need them; you'll never find yourself wanting to head back into town and start dancing for people. Thankfully, the core of the game - the story and the combat - are truly fantastic.

The combat system is simplistic, but fun. X is for melee; pressing it will unleash an attack. Holding it will perform a block. Holding it with a direction will charge a power attack. Threading together a combo of attacks will increase the damage of each consecutive attack. Pressing X and towards an enemy will perform a counter. Y, the Ranged attack button, and B, the Will button, also handle multiple tasks. It may sound like each button is overloaded, but when you're playing it just seems so natural, so responsive. It also helps that each skill is unlocked as you progress and spend your experience points in Strength, Skill and Will; in this manner, you're introduced gradually to all the moves of combat. By mixing it up, by smoothly switching between the three disciplines in combat, you earn style bonuses which increase the experience earned. You'll find yourself dodging, slashing, shooting and spellcasting like a madman, rather than sticking with simple attacks, to get that experience bonus.

The story is good too, although somewhat cliched. Loved one dies, swear revenge, evil madman trying to stop the world... you've seen it all before. However, the game provides enough twists and turns to keep you interested, and has a likeable cast of characters that are well voice-acted. Sadly, however, the ending is somewhat weak; I won't go into spoilers, but the final encounter with the main villain will leave you disappointed.

So, has Molyneux delivered the goods? Yes and no. No, this isn't a fully realised world where your every action influences it's development; your choices in this regard are limited. And no, there aren't an abundance of fun minigames to wile away the wee hours of the morning. However, what you do get is an excellent, fun combat system and a well told story that will keep you interested, even if you can see what's coming ahead. At it's core, it's a great game, and one that should be enjoyed by all.

This isn't the hovercar we were promised, but it isn't a Ferrari either. It's somewhere inbetween; it's a jetpack.

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"Egonga reviewed Fable II for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Egonga on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:46:07 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/fable-ii/user-reviews/641392/platform/xbox360/ Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:48:43 -0700 aip_gamer reviewed Crysis for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/crysis/user-reviews/618850/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

Physics are unmatched and graphic quality is beyond other games. Also had great game play and replay value.

The games physics are unbelievable, you if you shoot it, it reacts. Palm leaves respond to each bullet, certain buildings can be blown up, and actually effect you if you are hit.

The graphics on very high with anti aliasing to 16q absolutely blew me away. Ive never seen a game pull off graphics like this, very realistic and still had a good artistic swing in some areas of the game.

The game play was also a hit. Being able to switch styles of your suit made for several different ways to play the game. If you like to go in with a bang...do it...if you like to hang out and peg people one by one, do it...guerrilla warfare your thing (mine) do it.

If you want a good graphic game and enjoy playing first person shooters, I recommend picking this game up. Not only is it good the first time, it is good the second...and third.

If you like a good challenge...the Delta difficulty setting is a good challenge. I like to think I'm pretty good at FPS but the Delta diff got me yelling curse words at the screen. The AI in this game is also unbelievable. The enemies really respond to your actions.

very good

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"aip_gamer reviewed Crysis for the PC..." was posted by aip_gamer on Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:48:43 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/crysis/user-reviews/618850/platform/pc/ Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:23:26 -0700 diddyj reviewed Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/call-of-duty-4-modern-warfare/user-reviews/561629/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Like i said before, this game is in the top rankings for FPS's on the 360, so you can't really go wrong with this title...

Graphics: the graphics in this game will blow you away...they will draw any gamer into this game..i might go as far to say as this game has the best to date graphics for a FPS out there...So, 5-5 for me

Gameplay: there are no flaws in the gameplay in this Call of Duty...IW couldn't done a better job with the gameplay...and it doesn't hurt that the campaign in this game complimates the gameplay like no other..you might have more fun with the single player in this game, then with any other game out there...5-5 for me

Difficulty: I'll go as far to say that the only thing hard about this game is veteran on campaign... and if you take your time on that, then you can get that level beat... Now, as for the online, your gonna need a lot of practice to be good online in this game..

Considering that people say that the online is so much better over the epic campaign, then you got yourself a great all around game..the game for me, gets a 9-10

do yourself a favor, take your time with this game..

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"diddyj reviewed Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare for the Xbox 360..." was posted by diddyj on Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:23:26 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/call-of-duty-4-modern-warfare/user-reviews/561629/platform/xbox360/ Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:13:47 -0700 diddyj reviewed Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64... http://www.gamespot.com/paper-mario/user-reviews/561628/platform/n64/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

Lets just start off with this, this game is one of the best games on the wii virtual console..

Graphics: Since these graphics are from paper, you can really make these graphics amazing...however, the paper animations and the graphics for paper on this game, are flawless! so, its still perfect 5-5

Gameplay: this game is amazing, so in order to have an amazing game, you have to have amazing gameplay.. When it comes to this game, nothing about the gameplay turns you away, the gameplay is superb in this game as well...perfect 5-5

Difficulty: This game isn't hard, it just depends on how well you listen and read the story..if you can follow a story line, then this game is really easy..

Leaning Curve: Doesn't take to long at all to learn the controls.. so, i'd say about a half hour at max on learning the controls on this game..

As you can see, there aren't really any problems with this game, thats why for me it gets a perfect 10-10 for me..

Enjoy.....

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"diddyj reviewed Paper Mario for the Nintendo 64..." was posted by diddyj on Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:13:47 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/paper-mario/user-reviews/561628/platform/n64/ Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:23:30 -0700 diddyj reviewed Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/super-smash-bros-brawl/user-reviews/561302/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 10.0!!!

Well, its been about seven years since SSBM has been released, so this game should be fresh and ready to go..

Graphics: to me, the graphics on this title are some of the best graphics the nintendo wii has to offer..so how can you go wrong on this game graphic wise?? Graphics get a 5-5 for me.

Gameplay: gameplay is the most important part to video games.. Its quite similar to melee's gameplay, but thats not a bad thing.. Melee's gameplay got a perfect 5-5 from me, so brawl's has even upgraded more from melee which gives a perfect 5-5 as well from me..

Difficulty: this game is not hard, but also not all that easy...sure you can beat up on nasty level 9's in brawl..but if you think thats the same as human competitors, then your wrong.. each character has their own unique ways to use them, its important that you master your fav. brawlers, so you can compete with other human players.. so, it is quite easy against the computer, but against human players, this might take some time...

that about wraps up my review on this game...i can't find any flaws in this game accept for the fact you can't do tag team tourneys...but, thats not enough to hold it back from a perfect 10-10...

Get the full article at GameSpot

"diddyj reviewed Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii..." was posted by diddyj on Wed, 26 Mar 2008 06:23:30 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/super-smash-bros-brawl/user-reviews/561302/platform/wii/ Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:15:17 -0700 diddyj reviewed Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/guitar-hero-iii-legends-of-rock/user-reviews/559643/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Guitar Hero is know for some of the best rhythm in games out there.. in my opinion, it would be hard to find someone out there who doesn't like this game; and thats just because of how great it really is..

Lets start with graphics, i actually think that they did such a great job improving the graphics from the last game to this one.. the only bad thing is that they took a comic book approach to the cut scenes...Again, it was better than the cut scenes from the previous game, but they still could have done a better job.. The character design is good, the guitar models are great, graphics get a 8 out of 10

ahh...gameplay, this is where the game shines...its really amazing how the reaction time from the guitar controller to the game on the screen has no errors at all...they've also improved the smoothness of hammer ons and pull offs in this game.. Seeing all of this leads me to give the gameplay a 10 out of 10

Considering the difficulty, its split down the middle for the players out there.. the people who are not that good at the game complain that its too hard.. then the people who are actually good, they complain its too easy, so it really depends how much you practice...So, learning curve for me, is from a 1hr-whenever... i say whenever because you can always improve your skills in guitar hero...

Online isnt all that good, they dont have the best servers, so you'll be looking for matches here and there for a little while..

Overall, i would give this game an 8.5 out of 10

Get the full article at GameSpot

"diddyj reviewed Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Xbox 360..." was posted by diddyj on Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:15:17 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/guitar-hero-iii-legends-of-rock/user-reviews/559643/platform/xbox360/ Fri, 21 Mar 2008 04:56:49 -0700 diddyj reviewed NBA 2K8 for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/nba-2k8/user-reviews/559640/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

If your looking to have some fun with a basketball game, then this is your game..
If your looking for a good basketball sim, then this is your game..

The graphics are alright..on a scale of 1-10..graphics would get about a 7. NBA Live has the better graphics, but the graphics of the animations on NBA Live aren't as smooth as the ones in NBA 2k8; so that kind of makes up for it..

The gameplay is great on the exception of a few glitches here and there.. but what sports game doesnt have glitches?? I think that this game's gameplay is so much better than lives, that it helps you forget about the graphics difference between the two. For the gameplay, on a scale of 1-10, i would say it gets an 8.

In the difficulty section of this game, you will find yourself being decent at this game in no time..So, i'd give the learing curve about 30-60 minutes to get used to this game...

And the one thing this game isnt so great at, well not just this game, but all 2k games...is that the servers are really bad, you will find yourself wanting to play online really bad, then all of a sudden the 2k servers are down..they are down alot...

So, overall this game for me gets an 8.5 out of 10

Get the full article at GameSpot

"diddyj reviewed NBA 2K8 for the Xbox 360..." was posted by diddyj on Fri, 21 Mar 2008 04:56:49 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/nba-2k8/user-reviews/559640/platform/xbox360/ Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:44:06 -0800 Saruman1719 reviewed Mission: Impossible for the Nintendo 64... http://www.gamespot.com/mission-impossible-1998/user-reviews/545032/platform/n64/ ...and gave it a 5.5.

It seems like just yesterday when my friends and I were hyping this game up. Everything we read and saw about it in magazines led us to believe that it would easily rank among the very best of the N64 library. However, it seemed that month after month, one thing became very clear...the game looked like it was never going to come out. While I can't remember exact dates, it seemed that it was due out one spring, then it was pushed back to the summer, then the fall, then winter...and then it started all over again. Once it did finally hit store shelves, one of my friends bought it immediately and we all sat down to finally experience it.

Unfortunately, the game did not live up to expectations. It started off slow, the graphics were average even back then, and as time went on, it became disappointingly obvious that things were not going to improve much. Sure, the game is somewhat varied, be it going through stealth sequences and other spy-like activities and a fair amount of action, however, the whole package was just lackluster. Many people point out that the longer a game spends in development and is even delayed a couple of times, the better the game will turn out...if that's the case, I don't even want to know how bad this game was before the delays.

The one highlight of the game to me was the Embassy Party, mentioned in Gamespot's own review. This was indeed a very well done level and if every stage played out like this, the game would have been brilliant. There were numerous goals to complete to get out of the level and each one flowed perfectly. Now that I think about it, all the magazine articles seemed to only be written about the things that happened in this level...small wonder I figured this would be an amazing game. As with every individual, my own experience with my friends shaped this level and makes me fondly remember this part of the game, and that period in my life, 10 years later. Small things like being a "rapist in the bathroom", to "I must deliver my diploma to the President" and "trying to be a bad man's boyfriend" mean little or nothing to anyone, other than my friends and I. Those were the days and I'm happy that this game was at least able to inspire us to coin terms like those while playing this game in our youth.

So in the end, once I put aside my personal memories of the game, it is not hard to advise avoiding this game. I do own my own copy because I felt it was worth the few dollars to pull out the cart every now and then and relive the great memories that one level did provide. Otherwise, the game is simply average and was unable to live up to the hype.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Saruman1719 reviewed Mission: Impossible for the Nintendo 64..." was posted by Saruman1719 on Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:44:06 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/mission-impossible-1998/user-reviews/545032/platform/n64/ Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:42:05 -0800 saturnsport2000 reviewed Shadowgrounds Survivor for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/shadowgrounds-survivor/user-reviews/528885/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Gameplay 9 - Graphics 7 - Sound 8 - Value 7 - Tilt 8 - Overall 7.8
This game is something that stood out for me the first time I played it.
First off the game offers great game play that pretty much is aim and shoot, through grenades, get to the check point. The story does keep you going while offering a character change though out different missions. This is a well implemented aspect, but can be a little frustrating, right when you get going with a characture.
There are three character you play and each have there own abilities and weapons. These weapons you are able to up grade by finding parts in the area you are playing, as well s killing aliens. There are only a few areas of upgrade for each character, but each one does change the way weapons feel and damage given.

The graphics are solid and smooth, light effects look great as do explosions. The graphics are showing there age, but fit the game well and delivers were it needs too.
The top down action is great and lets you see the action with few blind points. It offers a change in game play from first person stand point. There are options for the camera that work well.
The game may feel a little short, but replay is there. You will want to go back, play it on a harder level, upgrade different areas, and search for 'secrets'.
Overall I do recommend the game, it offers great gameplay, fast paced action, functional graphics, varied gameplay, all at a budget price

Get the full article at GameSpot

"saturnsport2000 reviewed Shadowgrounds Survivor for the PC..." was posted by saturnsport2000 on Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:42:05 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/shadowgrounds-survivor/user-reviews/528885/platform/pc/ Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:21:25 -0800 sniper_basic reviewed Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/guitar-hero-iii-legends-of-rock/user-reviews/526426/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Roughly seven months ago, I went out with my best friend's girlfriend and paid 50/50 to get him the Guitar Hero 2 bundle for the PS2. We spent the majority of the summer rocking out and embarrassing ourselves in public playing like a rock star on a little plastic guitar. Then we got another guitar and played Co-op. I was hooked. I went home one night and looked at my Wii and asked it "Why can't you do that? Why does the PS2 rock and you do not?" Two days later, almost to answer my question, Guitar Hero 3 was announced for the Wii. After months of anticipation, I finally grabbed my Wii-taur and popped the game in.

I thought the neighbor's porcelain dolls all just exploded in a flurry of rock and roll. Yes, the horns were immediately thrown up in the air.

Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii is the only shot you've got at rock stardom for a Nintendo system (unless you want to dance to DDR, which I hope you don't), so for the Nintendo faithful who's always dreamed of unleashing star power (the act of tilting your guitar straight up to double your multiplier for a short time), this is the only game in town. Now I know exactly what you're thinking. "Simply because I own a Wii, they made the game dumber and less fun just to spite me, didn't they?" Fear not, for Guitar Hero 3 rocks just as hard with no songs cut or made easier for Wii families.

As an added bonus, the guitar (which I will refer to as the Wii-taur) is arguably the best for any system thanks to it's Wii specific functionality. Just plug the remote into the guitar and you're good to go. The guitar uses the Wiimote's batteries, it's motion sensing capabilities for deploying star power, and the rumble feature to shake your guitar to let you know you have star power and to shake to the beat of the song during star power mode, a feature which is undeniably cool.

There are some negatives to the Wii version though. First of all, the tilt function of the guitar is a little wonky. Sometimes it takes a second for it to recognize the tilt to deploy star power, which can lead to a few missed notes. This is rare and only seems to happen when the battery is particularly low, so keep them charged and you should be good to go. There's also the graphics. Compared to the other next-gen consoles, this sticks out like a VERY sore thumb. Textures and jaggies litter the stage and band members. If you really cared about graphics that much though, you probably already bought it for the 360, so it's not that big of a deal.

There's also the issue with downloadable songs. For the Wii, there isn't any. Some people may see a real downer here, but there are plenty of songs here to keep your attention long before you think about slowing down, let alone crying for the Foo Fighters or Velvet Revolver song pack. Seriously, if you want downloadable songs that badly, do like I did and download Frets on Fire for the PC.

The positives here are great. For starters, The song selection is fantastic, especially since the majority of the songs are the master copy, which means you'll be jamming to the actual song and not a Guitar Hero band's cover for most of the game. Playing along to the actual guitar riffs of "Paint it Black" by The Rolling Stones is beyond awesome. However, the covers stick out like a sore thumb. Find the original version of Dead Kennedy's "Holiday in Cambodia" and you'll see what I mean.

The difficulty level, for better or worse, has definitely been bumped up for Guitar Hero 3. The jump from Medium to Hard is like skiing down the bunny slope and immediately moving to Mount Killgore: The Dream Smasher. Only those who are hardcore about their plastic guitar skills and welcome hand cramps with very sore open arms should attempt it.

Oh, and if your friends tell you to try Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames" because it's really easy on Expert, they are not your friends and are laughing AT you.

This is the only Guitar Hero game for the Wii, and luckily it's one of the best. The small downgrade in graphics from the other next-gen systems and the absence of downloadable songs is more than made up for by the original song list and the unique capabilities for the Wii that are used here. If you are a serious rock fan, buy this game and rock your Wii-taur into the Wii hours of the morning. Just make sure to blame the neighbor's dog for the dolls.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"sniper_basic reviewed Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Wii..." was posted by sniper_basic on Sat, 01 Dec 2007 10:21:25 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/guitar-hero-iii-legends-of-rock/user-reviews/526426/platform/wii/ Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:07:46 -0800 sniper_basic reviewed WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/wwe-smackdown-vs-raw-2008/user-reviews/518731/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 4.5.

The Smackdown series puts in it's annual installment in Smackdown vs Raw 2008. I'm a huge fan of the series and when I heard it was coming out for the Wii, I went to the nearest Gamestop and reserved my copy. I was so excited. How will they do the Extreme Rules match for the Wii? What kind of minigames will they put in for things like the Royal Rumble that are specific for the Wii? Does it exceed the high standards of Nintendo's past Day of Reckoning series? Release day came and I went back to claim the game of my affection. Turns out I was the only person who had reserved the game at that Gamestop.

I went home and found out why.

First and foremost, there are only five match types in the entire game. One on one, Two on Two, Hardcore, Triple Threat, and the KO match. This extreme lack of modes is just plain insulting for Wii owners. With a game series that prides itself on releasing more and more match types every year, it's a complete and utter shock that they would put out such a bare bones list such as this one.

There's also some weird things missing here and there. This is most apparent in the Create-A-Wrestler (CAW) mode. The mode itself is your basic Smackdown series mode, filled to the brim with everything to customize your wrestler from pants and jackets to changing his facial features down to where the eyes are looking, so if you ever wanted to create a wrestler that looks like a horse recently kicked his face in, you can do it. However, there's a couple things missing that's in the other versions of the game. First, you can't put letters on your wrestler. Want to write your name on your warm up jacket? Too bad.

The other weird thing is that you can't preview your entrance options. That's right, you can't look at your entrance animation, video, or music before your wrestler hits the ring. So if you want to know how "Superstar 9" looks with the song "Music 5", you'll have to save your wrestler, go to a match, watch the entrance, finish the match (You can't pause and quit), and then go back into the create-a-moveset mode to change that animation to "Superstar 10". For people like me who loves to create his own wrestlers, this is a complete mode breaker for me. This is something that's been in Smackdown games since it's been on the PS2, but doesn't seem to make it to the Wii. You can still preview your moves by hitting Z, which makes this oversight even stranger. It turns creating the perfect CAW into an incredibly time consuming task. Oh, by the way, there is no advanced entrance creation here. You can only choose the preset stuff.

Okay, now that I'm done ranting on the CAW, it's time to talk about the wrestling itself. Instead of going by the limb damage meter of the other versions, the Wii game opts for a fighting genre life bar. Get it into yellow and perform your favorite move. Get it into red and perform your finisher. Pin. Rinse, lather, repeat. There's very little strategy here to be had here, which means your little brother waving the Wii-mote wildly could probably have a shot at winning. However, it's actually a surprisingly fun mode. The life bar can me used more like what the past Smackdown games called a stamina meter since your taunts raise your life back up. Opponent's last elbow drop put you into yellow? Roll out of the ring and taunt to recoup some health, just like a real wrestler. This faster paced arcade action is something that I hope they continue. As it stands though with this year's game, the wrestling gets really old really fast. Even being able to do the taunts by holding the C button and moving the controller accordingly can't keep you from yawning your way through the majority of your matches.

The Wiimote IR is relatively spot on for the game since it relies so heavily on the controller motion and not on pin-point accuracy, but there are some trouble spots with how the game translates it sometimes. I had to be careful around the ropes when my opponent was down next to them since the same waggle to get your wrestler to lock in a submission hold could also have you go for a springboard jump off the ropes, which can ground you long enough for your opponent to recover and go on the offensive. I also had some trouble about four hours into my first play session where it seemed to stop registering the left and up motions of the Wiimote, causing me to lose to Carlito. I had to watch him spit apple in my face due to the game failing to translate my motions. That's not cool.

The Main Event mode is incredibly lackluster. I made the mistake of going to ECW for my session, which may have hurt my chances of having fun with this mode. There are some nice things about this mode like being able to pick and choose your matches and create your own rivalries and alliances is done well, but with this version of the game it's really a bit pointless since the wrestling gets boring really quickly. There's really very little to do in this mode and getting challenges from the same people over and over again can get really annoying. Trust me, if I could block William Regal's caller ID, I would have. On a side note, the Power Ranking in the mode is completely useless for gauging your success. I utterly destroyed and bloodied the WWE Champion John Cena, yet he goes up two spots to #1 and I go down five spots. As "Stone Cold" Steve Austin would say, "What?"

The graphics are pretty good for the Wii. It's on par with the PS2, but the other next gen systems completely blow it out of the water. You also still get the seemingly traditional clipping issues of things like hair and ring ropes, along with some other texture issues and a really ugly crowd.

All the things THQ has been pushing so hard for in this year's game (things like Superstar Fighting Styles and the Extreme Rules match) are nowhere to be seen in the Wii version. For anyone who's played the other Smackdown vs Raw games, the Wii version of SvR 2008 is a stripped down wrestling title that shows you all it has to offer in the first hour of playing. If you own any of the other systems the game was released on (Especially the XBox 360 version with it's song importing feature), go for those versions. If you only own a Wii, do yourself a favor and use the backwards compatibility and play a few matches in Day of Reckoning 2. You'll get a far more fulfilling experience that way and and extra $50 bucks to spend on the next WWE Pay Per View.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"sniper_basic reviewed WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 for the Wii..." was posted by sniper_basic on Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:07:46 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/wwe-smackdown-vs-raw-2008/user-reviews/518731/platform/wii/ Fri, 23 Mar 2007 23:35:42 -0700 Robbie_IV reviewed Root Beer Tapper for the Xbox 360... http://www.gamespot.com/root-beer-tapper-2007/user-reviews/436610/platform/xbox360/ ...and gave it a 7.8.

Root Beer Tapper is one of the lesser-known classics of the golden age of arcade games way back in the early 80's. Therefore it's good to see it make a new appearance on XBOX Live here in good 'ol modern times. In it, you play as a bartender whose humble duty is to serve refreshing mugs of root beer to his rowdy customers before they take their thirst-driven rage out on him. Running up and down each individual counter, you must pour out a root beer and then slide it towards a customer, the force of your drink pushing them backwards until they either slide off of the screen and disappear from view or come to a halt and drink the beverage before sending the glass back to you.

The only two ways to lose a life in this game are to either fail to serve a customer before they reach the end of the bar, or to miss a glass that one has slid back towards you, causing it to fall to the ground and shatter. Sending each and every single customer off of the screen will grant you victory in whatever level you are on and send you to the next, more difficult stage. Customers will periodically re-emerge from whatever area you send them to by serving them, meaning that speed is necessary if you wish to progress to later stages. Occasionally, a customer will drop off a tip for your server, which if collected will add both a bonus to your score and set off a stage show which may distract some of your customers and allow you a breather.

Obviously, like most games of it's day, Tapper's goal is to provide hectic gameplay that constantly gets faster as time goes on. In that manner, it can become an incredibly addictive little game as you strive to serve more and more customers and earn higher scores. This need to do better is increased more by the live scoreboards on XBOX Live, which allow you to compare your highest scores to that of the entire XBL user base. There are also several relatively well-placed achievements which challenge you to do better and pull off a few unusual stunts. There are a few online modes, but these really aren't very different from the regular single-player game except that another person whom you can speak with is playing at the exact same time as you and you're both trying to achieve either the highest collective score or outscore each other in that particular match. Not only that, but matchmaking always seems almost totally deserted, meaning that it's difficult to get a match with anyone who isn't a friend.

At 400 Microsoft Points or about five dollars, Root Beer Tapper is a great investment to make on the XBOX Live Marketplace. It doesn't have much to offer beyond the single player mode and very limited multiplayer, but at this price that's really all you need to enjoy this game. Very highly recommended.

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"Robbie_IV reviewed Root Beer Tapper for the Xbox 360..." was posted by Robbie_IV on Fri, 23 Mar 2007 23:35:42 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/root-beer-tapper-2007/user-reviews/436610/platform/xbox360/ Sat, 17 Mar 2007 23:53:04 -0700 Robbie_IV reviewed Wario: Master of Disguise for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/wario-master-of-disguise/user-reviews/434352/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 4.8.

Wario, long Nintendo's go-to guy when it came to handheld games, is back once again in Wario: Master of disguise. However, what was once a proud and somewhat under appreciated series has been very poorly represented in this latest sequel. What used to be a series that was all about wacky action romps through bizarre and colorful settings has been turned into a drab an almost generic platform/puzzler hybrid that carries almost none of the spirit and very little of the fun that was prevalent in those earlier Wario games. The old Wario Land series has seemingly been reinterpreted by a group of individuals who had limited experience with it and almost no idea what to do with it or the system it was destined for. The game kicks off with Wario watching television and becoming jealous of one of the characters he spots on the screen. Seeking to gain the riches he sees the person on TV collecting for himself, he builds a contraption that allows him to jump into the television set and into the program itself. Once there, he steals the device that allows the show’s main character to become a master thief, and re-dubs himself ’The Purple Wind’ as he sets off in search of incredible wealth. It's right here that one of the game's first problems becomes apparent. The story is told through long, seemingly endless walls of text that are a chore to read. Almost any resemblance to the sense of humor in the old Wario games is absent, save for constant fart jokes made in reference to Wario's "thief" name.

Levels are an awkward combination of platforming and puzzling. There's almost no action to speak of, except for the occasional encounter with some rather basic and uninteresting enemies. Usually you'll have to solve some sort of simple puzzle to make progress from one part of the stage to another. These puzzles eventually begin repeating endlessly with almost no variation, which becomes a huge drag. Instead of getting from point "A" to point "B," the game requires you to run around different mazelike stages searching in vain for some way to make progress to the next treasure. This can lead to very long and very aggravating periods of wandering looking for the one place where progress can be made. In between all of this are mini-games that must be played to unlock the chests containing the treasure Wario seeks. Like the game's puzzles, these games are fairly simple and repeat over and over, getting boring very quickly.

Wario's movement is controlled with just the D-Pad. Your other hand is required to use the stylus on the touch screen to control Wario's actions and change his costumes. Each of his different costumes allows him different abilities that are supposed to help him through different situations. The problem is, the game is very bad at recognizing the different patterns you draw on the screen in attempts to get Wario to switch clothes, and this can get very frustrating very quickly. Controlling movement with a single finger feels incredibly awkward as well, as it's apparent that this setup was only made necessary by the developer's insistence of implementing the touch screen into the game. This is even more aggravating because it would've been simple enough to switch costumes with a button press instead of forcing the touch screen controls on the player. It's actually a good thing, in a way, that there isn't as much of an emphasis on action in this game. If there was, these shoddy controls would get aggravating that much faster. However, it’s probably the controls that necessitated designing the game in such a manner, making them even more annoying.

The game's presentation comes off as a stale, sterile imitation of what a Wario game should be. Instead of the cel-shaded look of the older games, this game uses the rendered look that got old after the first Donkey Kong Country game. A system like the Nintendo DS should be able to create something better than this. Even the levels themselves are dull. Instead of adventuring across a giant living paint canvas or through a giant pinball machine like Wario has done in games past, Wario starts things out on a bland-looking cruise ship and proceeds to head off through several more boring areas. The music's a waste too. There are a few voice samples that repeat occasionally, but these by no means make up for any of it. It all just comes off as though the developers had no idea what a Wario game should be like.

Wario: Master of Disguise is a disappointment to say the least. Part of the blame can be placed on developer Suzak, who clearly aren't familiar with handling the Wario license. The Nintendo-developed games in this series were light-years ahead of this game in almost every way. It's a boring, awkward game where fun is replaced by endless wandering and a disappointing sense of what could have been, if perhaps Nintendo themselves had handled this (as they hopefully will in the future). If you want a Wario game, then by all means take the time to hunt down one of the old Wario Land games in the used games section of your local game store instead of picking this up. It's a bad game, and it's not worth your money.

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"Robbie_IV reviewed Wario: Master of Disguise for the DS..." was posted by Robbie_IV on Sat, 17 Mar 2007 23:53:04 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/wario-master-of-disguise/user-reviews/434352/platform/ds/ Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:21:46 -0800 Robbie_IV reviewed Final Fantasy V Advance for the Game Boy Advance... http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-v-advance/user-reviews/421805/platform/gba/ ...and gave it a 8.2.

As Square began releasing old Final Fantasies in portable form, it became an inevitability that sooner or later every single game that was capable of being released on the Game Boy Advance would find it's way there. And so comes Final Fantasy V Advance, a slightly enhanced version of an RPG that had previously only been seen as part of a compilation on the original PlayStation. Now it's available all on it's own, and the timing really couldn't be much better, given the decline in the number of quality GBA releases since the launch of the Nintendo DS.

The game's story begins as a young traveler named Bartz and his Chocobo companion bear witness to a meteor crashing into the Earth. Going over to see it up close, he ends up rescuing a girl named Lenna and meeting a strange old man named Galuf who appears to have amnesia. Traveling farther, they encounter a female pirate named Faris after trying to make off with her ship. Together they discover that they must prevent the destruction of the four elemental crystals to prevent evil from being released on their world.

Like almost any RPG from the 16-bit era, Final Fantasy V is played from an overhead perspective, as you explore a large overworld in search of various towns and points of interest to further the game's story. In most areas outside of towns and villages, your party is at risk of running into random turn-based battles with groups of monsters. Final Fantasy V features a real-time battle system however, which means that enemies will attack your characters in battle if you don't move quickly enough in selecting your own actions. Monster encounters seem to come almost absurdly often in this game, which can be a real pain in traveling through some of the game's larger dungeons. Many areas can be stretched out to a painful degree due to the sheer number of monster encounters that occur, and this in turn makes exploring a drag and can often feel disorienting.

Final Fantasy V introduces it's own spin on the class system that's found in many games in the series. Here, you're allowed to assign any character any of the available classes that you wish when outside of combat. Each different class has it's own abilities and is able to learn more through experience in combat. Classes also affect what kind of equipment a character is able to equip and how their stats improve as they level up. Most classes are able to assign themselves two different abilities at any time, although most also require to use one ability at all times. In being able to change job classes at any time, you're also able to assign different abilities learned in one job class to another one. This gives you the opportunity to combine the effects of different abilities and create characters with interesting new ways of handling battles and other challenges. Messing around with different abilities and seeing how they affect each other is one of the game's biggest selling points, as it can become very absorbing to find out just what can be done with this system and how it can affect your experiences in the game. It is a bit annoying to have to spend the time in combat to gain the experience to actually use these abilities, but that's just a part of most RPGs.

As this is a rerelease, some new content has been added to this version of the game. Three new job classes have been created. These are the Cannoneer, Oracle, and Gladiator classes. In addition, an entirely new dungeon is available after the game has been completed once. This new area contains many difficult boss characters and random enemies and should challenge even those who feel they've already mastered this game. It's not a major addition of course, but it's still nice.

The game's graphics have been tuned up a bit from the original 16-bit release. They all have a bit more detail in them than most games from that time, especially in the battle screens. Everything looks very colorful and well-drawn. It is a bit disappointing that a few enemies are just pallet-swaps of each other, but that issue doesn't arise very often. The game's map does lack a zoom feature, which can make it difficult to read on the GBA screen given the map's size and how tough it can be to make out many details.

The game's sound is up to the series' high standards. There's no voice acting, given that this game was released before that practice became the norm. The music is of the epic orchestral variety, just like in any of the other entries in the series. Many songs that are considered staples of the series can be found here, including the normal victory fanfare. Sound effects seem rather limited as they usually only play during battle or story scenes.

Final Fantasy V Advance is a very strong RPG for the Game Boy Advance. It can last most people several dozen hours, and the new content will give anyone capable of finishing the main quest plenty more to play with. The game's story does feel slightly thin at times, although it's sufficient enough given the game's strengths. Anyone with a love of role-playing games and a GBA should definitely consider this game.

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"Robbie_IV reviewed Final Fantasy V Advance for the Game Boy Advance..." was posted by Robbie_IV on Sat, 10 Feb 2007 00:21:46 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/final-fantasy-v-advance/user-reviews/421805/platform/gba/ Sun, 04 Feb 2007 19:55:42 -0800 -Trigga- reviewed Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/tom-clancys-rainbow-six-vegas/user-reviews/420105/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 8.8.

Although many die-hard Rainbow Six veterans may be offended by Vegas' continuance of the trend R6 games are taking (less difficulty, more forgiving health systems) away from the old days, it manages to incorporate a great combat system and a fairly enticing storyline into the production of a game that is, to speak bluntly, just plain fun from start to finish.

On that note, one of my only quarrels with the game is that it ended far to quickly, and that the cliffhanger ending itself is somewhat unsatisfying. So although the ending might bring a frown to your face, I wouldn't count on it lasting more than 20 seconds into the credits. Even as short as it is, the single player campaign is a lot of fun and you won't regret the time you spent with it.

You play as Logan Keller, the new Rainbow team lead. And you're in the company of a brand new team. Gabriel Nowak is your electronics and reconnaissance specialist, and Kan Akahashi is your heavy weapons and demolitions expert. Additionally, you're aided by Joanna Torres, your information officer. Joanna will be safely circling above your mission locations in a chopper all the time. She will provide you with critical intelligence updates and tips throughout the game.

The game starts with a prologue mission in Mexico. The beginning portion of the prologue acts as your only real tutorial for the game. Luckily, the controls and mechanics of Vegas are fairly user friendly and most players should pick them up quickly. Your mission is to locate and capture an international terrorist named Irena Morales. After meeting up with Gabriel and Kan, you will pursue Irena through her weapons depot underneath the border down you started in. After being tricked by Irena, Gabriel and Kan are captured and Irena escapes with your team. When Jo picks you up, you learn that terrorist forces with established links to Irena have swept over Las Vegas, capturing several casinos and you are assigned to pacify the situation and recover whatever intelligence you can as to why Irena and her men have attacked Las Vegas, and where Gabriel and Kan are being held. Your chopper will drop you onto the streets of Las Vegas outside the Calypso Casino, beginning your first mission after the prologue. Your new team are already on the scene. Jung Park, electronics and reconnaissance, and Michael Walter, heavy weapons and demolitions will accompany you for the rest of the single player campaign.

Your crusade through the casinos of Las Vegas is an absolutely amazing experience. The casinos provide a realistic and immersing environment for huge firefights, and they support Vegas' Gears of War-style cover system incredibly well. You'll find yourself rappelling down the side of buildings and breaching in through the windows, smashing through skylights on fastropes, and taking advantages of every entry point to execute intricate squad-based strategy and clear out rooms before the enemies inside even have time to react. The game does an absolutely amazing job of making you really feel like you're a commando with a world-class team under his command. The AI in Vegas is nothing short of great. Obviously you'll see a huge difference between the normal and realistic settings, but even on normal your enemies will demonstrate solid execution of basic tactics. They will make good use of cover, try to flank you, and throw grenades at your position if you allow them to pin you down. Your teammates prove to be essential to your success in the single player campaign. They are incredibly responsive to your orders, and are extremely proficient both at drawing the enemy's fire as well as eliminating them. The sound quality in Vegas is great and there's some top-notch voice acting in there. However, the terrorist phrases (both the ones they shout during combat, as well as the ones they use when conversing amongst themselves when they haven't detected you) can get incredibly repetitive and there seem to be only 2 different terrorist voices throughout the game.

I won't spoil the ending, but I will say that it is almost certain to disappoint any player at the end of such a fun campaign you'll wish would've lasted longer. Still, there's lots of replay value to Vegas. The online multiplayer offers team-based deathmatch and retrieval/attack and defend modes as well as a co-op mode where up to 4 players can either team up to go on a "terrorist hunt" in which terrorists are scattered amongst a given map for your team's pleasure, or play a coop story where you and your team actually play cooperatively in the single-player campaign. Overall, Rainbow Six Vegas is a great game to own and is a must buy for any FPS lover.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"-Trigga- reviewed Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas for the PC..." was posted by -Trigga- on Sun, 04 Feb 2007 19:55:42 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tom-clancys-rainbow-six-vegas/user-reviews/420105/platform/pc/ Tue, 02 Jan 2007 22:59:49 -0800 -Trigga- reviewed Medal of Honor Allied Assault for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/medal-of-honor-allied-assault/user-reviews/407819/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 9.4!

When you think mob movies, you think Scorcese. When you think counter-terrorist espionage, you think Tom Clancy. And when you think World War II you think Medal of Honor. Medal of Honor Allied Assault is symbolic of First-Person WWII shooters.

The game's single-player campaign leaves little to complain about. Only the most demanding gamers could fathom significant disappointment after experiencing the game's 20 historically-significant missions.

You'll begin the single-player campaign in Algeria, in the back of a two-truck caravan with the 4 members of your squad en route to the coastal village of Arzew. Your caravan is stopped at a German checkpoint and after the German officers become suspicious, your driver panics and shoots one of the officers before being shot himself. You and your squad now have to make your way across a clearing to the gates of Arzew on foot. Once at the gates, you and your squad will exchange heavy fire with the German guard units stationed just inside the walls. There are a few explosive crates around to be wary of, and depending on your difficulty setting the Germans will most likely take cover behind buildings and other objects inside the walls, so make sure you've cleared the area before you advance into the open streets. Similar firefights will ensue and after a brutal ambush you will find the 4 members of your squad all dead. At this point it is up to you to rescue Major Jack Grillo from German interrogation. Major Grillo will guide you through the rest of the mission. With his help you will sabotage the Flak 88 canons, destroy tanks and munitions depots inside the complex, and ultimately escape from Arzew and destroy more crucial objectives on the air strip outside of Arzew during your vehicle-bound escape. After the first mission in Algeria, you'll spend most of your time attending various, mostly unrelated missions throughout Europe - many taking place in Norway and France. Apart from the D-Day landing, most of your missions will be done solo, although you will receive temporary assistance from contacts in a few cases. The single player campaign does not attempt to build any sort of long-term plot line. Instead, it focuses on creating thrilling missions which each have their own storyline.Because the missions almost never go as planned, they end up being drawn out into 3 or 4 sub-missions. As a result, completing just 1 mission can be a very lengthy ordeal and is an effective way to allow players to become engulfed in each individual storyline while still anxiously anticipating what the next, completely new mission will hold in store for them. The campaign keeps players guessing, so between the anticipation and the utter thrill of each brilliantly designed mission there is never a dull moment to be found.

The game looks and sounds spectacular. The graphics are fairly crisp and leave little room for criticism. The sounds are convincing for the most part. One sound in particular that raises an eyebrow is the firing sound of the German sniper rifle, the scoped Kar98. The sound is a very deep snap, and while it is not completely unrealistic it is by far the low-point of the game's amazing sound effects.

Medal of Honor's multiplayer mode is unparalleled in it's ability to provide replayable, fun, team-based combat. The weapons are all well balanced and the maps are absolutely fantastic. The maps you will play on all provide environments for each type of gun to excel in. The maps are large enough to add the element of strategy and stealth to the multiplayer experience, which makes the game much more interesting, but simple enough that it shouldn't take new players long to learn the maps and their essential locations. Medal of Honor Allied Assault has a lot of replay value. The multiplayer is almost endlessly enjoyable, and can easily keep you playing for months without feeling tired or bored of the gameplay. Some of the single player missions are so fun, you'll find yourself wanting to go back and play them again. Additionally, the game's multiple difficulty settings allow you to keep challenging yourself until you've absolutely mastered all the difficulties. If you beat the game on easy or normal difficulty, you can switch the difficulty to hard or very hard and expect to have an entirely new game on your hands. The enemies are more aggressive, and show a significant improvement in accuracy, stamina, and awareness. Beating the game on the highest difficulty will easily occupy any gamer for months.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"-Trigga- reviewed Medal of Honor Allied Assault for the PC..." was posted by -Trigga- on Tue, 02 Jan 2007 22:59:49 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/medal-of-honor-allied-assault/user-reviews/407819/platform/pc/ Mon, 01 Jan 2007 22:36:41 -0800 Robbie_IV reviewed Kirby: Squeak Squad for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/kirby-squeak-squad/user-reviews/407253/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.4.

Kirby is one of Nintendo's oldest and well-traveled characters, having been in dozens of different games on nearly every one of the company's platforms over the years. He's already made one appearance on the Nintendo DS, but Kirby Squeak Squad is the first to take the more traditional approach to Kirby platforming. It's a game that recalls many of the older titles in Kirby's history so closely that at times it feels almost exactly like some of those older ones, but the gameplay behind this and the overall quality of it all is so good that fans won't really mind very much.

The game starts when Kirby sets out to retrieve his shortcake after it's stolen right out of his hands. His quest takes him through the usual Kirby trip through several platforming worlds broken up by boss fights. Each level takes him through different environments like volcanoes and grassy fields and clouds in the sky. Most of the worlds don't actually seem to have that much of a unifying theme, even if individual stages themselves manage to have one. As the game approaches it’s end, the worlds containing the levels do appear to begin sharing more of a theme however.

The Kirby gameplay is the same as it's always been. Kirby can run, jump, and fly. He also has the ability to inhale his enemies and spit them back out at each other. He can copy the abilities of his enemies by swallowing them after they've been inhaled, giving him different attacks and sometimes allowing him to explore different parts of stages. New is the ability to store five different objects on the DS' lower touch screen. Essentially, by touching items or ability statues found inside bubbles around the different levels, Kirby can store them for later use. He can also combine health items on the touch screen, basically to save space, or abilities to gain a random different ability.

The game's presentation is as absolutely wonderful as always. The graphics are incredibly colorful and well-drawn, with many different highly detailed backgrounds. And of course, the animation moves incredibly smoothly, without any weird glitches or objects that appear anywhere they don't belong. Sound is also a high point, with a few tracks taken from older games in the series, including Kirby's very first adventure, and some new music that manages to hold up well.

Kirby Squeak Squad isn't the sort of game that will take experienced players very long to get through. It isn't very difficult, and thus it won't take an incredibly long time for them to finish. The game does add a bit to it's replay value by stashing secret items in every stage. Up to three different treasure chests are found hidden around each different level, containing items and other doodads for Kirby to collect. Collecting all of them provides a bit more substantial challenge to people looking for something more to do with this game. There are also three different mini-games that can be played either alone or with friends over the DS' wireless connection, but they're only good enough to provide a brief distraction from the main game, and most folks probably will get tired of them pretty quickly.

Overall, Kirby Squeak Squad is a platformer that can easily be recommended to almost anyone with a DS. It is a bit on the short and easy side, like almost any Kirby game really, but it's still a lot of fun to play. If you've enjoyed any Kirby game before this, or if you want to try one out now, this is a great game to get.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"Robbie_IV reviewed Kirby: Squeak Squad for the DS..." was posted by Robbie_IV on Mon, 01 Jan 2007 22:36:41 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/kirby-squeak-squad/user-reviews/407253/platform/ds/ Sat, 09 Dec 2006 10:58:18 -0800 Robbie_IV reviewed Activision Anthology for the Game Boy Advance... http://www.gamespot.com/activision-anthology/user-reviews/396693/platform/gba/ ...and gave it a 7.1.

Game compilations have been all the rage over the last few years with developers. They allow them to cash in on games that are long past their prime, haven't seen the open market in years, yet may still be commercially viable and come cheap to produce. Naturally, sooner or later, someone was bound to put out a collection of games from the fabled Atari Era from the early 1980's, and that's where Activision Anthology comes in. It’s a collection of a few dozen Atari 2600 games from the early 1980s, as well as some brand-new never-released-before fan-made games and a few odds and ends that were discovered lying around at Activision.

As compilations go, Activision Anthology is an incredibly comprehensive collection. It features over fifty different games created by the company in it's time developing for the 2600, among them such classics as Pitfall, and Kaboom!. Not only does the game feature these in their entirety, but it also contains complete reproductions of their original boxart, as well as of their instruction manuals. A few of the fan-made games and prototypes that never made it to market even feature some commentary by the developers responsible for them.

Luckily enough, many of the games hold up in terms of sheer gameplay quality to these days. It's possible to look at some of them as embryonic forms of older games that became more popular as time went on, as games like Pitfall and Enduro bear strong resemblance to modern platformers and racers respectively. Many of them are still incredibly fun to play though. While they're most certainly on the simplistic side due to the limitations of the 2600's technology, a great deal of these games are good enough to hold anyone's attention for a long time. And with the wide selection of games available here, it's almost certain that anyone will find something to like here.

Naturally, the presentation of these games hasn't fared well over the years at all. Most of them look downright primitive by today's standards. Even the menu screens, while creative and entertaining, are a bit on the grainy side. Sound isn't much better, as the beeping and screeching that permeates it almost constantly can become annoying very quickly. But that's to be expected with games as old as this, so that can be easily forgiven. In the meantime, the menu screens come with their own unique 80's style music which on it's own provides welcome relief from the gameplay sounds, but also helps to give the entire package it's own feel.

With as many games available as there are here, this game has a great deal of replay value for anyone who isn't immediately turned off by the game's simplicity or presentation. Any of the fifty games can be quickly learned even on the fly, making it easy to switch from one to another at any time and keep the fun going. The game even awards you patches for completing different achievements in each of the different games, giving players another reason to keep going.

The games in Activision Anthology may clearly be creatures of their own time, but they aren't total relics. Many of them remain fun to play, and that alone is reason enough to pick this game up. The huge amount of additional information that is included, such as the instruction manuals and boxart are no more than an excellent added incentive to play this game. It's highly recommended to both nostalgia enthusiasts and people with an interest in gaming's earlier years.

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"Robbie_IV reviewed Activision Anthology for the Game Boy Advance..." was posted by Robbie_IV on Sat, 09 Dec 2006 10:58:18 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/activision-anthology/user-reviews/396693/platform/gba/ Fri, 03 Nov 2006 22:45:41 -0800 Robbie_IV reviewed Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/dragon-quest-heroes-rocket-slime/user-reviews/380182/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.3.

With it's constant rotating cast of heroes, one of the few recognizable faces from the Dragon Quest series comes in the form of the slimes, the tiny smiling blobs that appear as low-level enemies in every single DQ game. Therefore it's not much of a surprise that one of them finally manages to land a starring role all of it's own. This comes in the form of Rocket Slime, an adventure game in what's normally a role-playing series. The star of the game is none other than Rocket, a bright blue slime with a big smile almost constantly on his face. Rocket's on a quest to save his family and everyone else in town of Boingburg after they're kidnapped by the Plob, an evil criminal organization with a fleet of giant tanks on their side. Rocket gains control of the ancient Schleiman tank for himself, and uses it to ride into battle against them. There are two different forms of gameplay here: the normal action-adventure mode, and the tank battles. There is no all-encompassing overworld to be found here. Normally, you journey around one of the different stages looking for slimes to rescue and items to collect. Every stage has a boss character at the end which you need to defeat to open up another stage and move on in the game. These stages aren't open-ended, you'll usually find yourself heading through different areas or rooms in the same general direction towards whatever's at the end. In the meantime you'll usually find yourself collecting items and solving rather simple puzzles to make progress.

The game functions like a typical top-down action game. Rocket can attack his enemies by stretching out and then releasing himself, causing him to shoot forward in a rocket-like manner. Contact with enemies or items in this fashion will cause them to fly up into the air. If Rocket manages to maneuver under them before they land, he can pick them up and carry them with him. Throwing items that he carries is his only other form of attack, so the gameplay tends to feel a little on the simple side, and possibly even a little repetitive at times. The only way to collect items or other characters permanently is to take them to one of the train cars (riding on the "Trans-Schlimean Railroad") or rafts that are inexplicably found heading into and out of tunnels that lead back to town. Tank Battles are quite different. The controls remain the same, although pausing things will give you the option to give out orders to your crew mates. Your job in these is to load ammunition into the two cannons your giant tank has so that it can be fired at the opposing tank. This ammunition varies depending on what you have loaded into it when you're in town; you can either decide what to load it with yourself or have the computer choose it all for you. Different pieces of ammo do different things. For example, some move faster, some do more damage, some are unblockable by most conventional methods, and some block enemy fire. You can see the entire battlefield on your DS' top screen, as well as the health of both your tank and your opponent's. You also have the ability to select your own crew from both the slimes that you rescue and the enemies that elect to help you after you capture a certain number of them and send them back to town. Each different character will do different things for you, depending on who they are. This adds a second layer of strategy to these battles. You can see the entire battlefield on your DS' top screen, as well as the health of both your tank and your opponent's. After you reduce your enemy's health to zero, your job is to run across the battlefield into their tank and deliver a final blow to the tank's now-exposed heart-shaped engine to destroy it. Tank battles are always rather fun, and there is a good deal of strategy involved in selecting ammo and crewmates, but it seems a bit too easy to simply break into the enemy tank by either launching yourself at it or just plain busting down the front door and then preventing the enemy from placing ammo into the cannons while your crewmates fire at it. But this isn't for everyone, and it does make the fights seem a bit too easy and simplistic.

Rocket Slime is a very cheerful game. Everything about it seems fun, from the cartoony graphics to the comical dialogue and the almost constant puns found within it. It seems rather easy as well, as it's possible to blow through the game without ever getting stuck or simply not knowing what to do. This might disappoint folks out for a hardcore challenge, but it's not that much of a problem in all honesty. Fans of the series will quickly notice all of the different monsters from the game making appearances here. Nearly every different form of slime is represented in this game, and many of the most common enemies in the series are to be found here.

The game puts on a very good visual front. Everything is brightly colored and moves smoothly. There are never any issues with graphical bugs or anything of the sort. All of the game's action normally takes place on the bottom screen, while all of the relevant information can be found on the top screen, which tends to keep things in order and prevent everything from getting too cluttered.

The game's sound works well enough. Most of the music is of the orchestral variety, with different songs for every stage. There are a few voice samples thrown in at different times, such as when an item is discovered. Everything else is limited to various cartoony sounds that occur at appropriate times. It's not anything spectacular, but it does the job.

Dragon Quest: Rocket Slime is a surprisingly good game. It is a bit disappointing that there's not much to do after you finish the game, other than making sure you've rescued all one-hundred slimes and fighting tank battles either against the computer or against anyone else you may find who happens to own this title. The main adventure takes long enough to recommend paying full price for this game, as it's entertaining enough to make both fans of the series and total newcomers happy with it.

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"Robbie_IV reviewed Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime for the DS..." was posted by Robbie_IV on Fri, 03 Nov 2006 22:45:41 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/dragon-quest-heroes-rocket-slime/user-reviews/380182/platform/ds/ Fri, 13 Oct 2006 23:52:29 -0700 Robbie_IV reviewed Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day! for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/brain-age-train-your-brain-in-minutes-a-day/user-reviews/372408/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

So video games are bad for you, right? Nothing but violence and murder and disrespect for one's elders? Well, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day is a game which attempts to change that notion, with several different mini-games (or exercises) that are supposedly designed with the intent of keeping your brain fresh and alert. Weather or not it actually succeeds at doing so is open to interpretation, but it's worth looking at this game nonetheless.

To start with, the game offers you the option to either perform one of a few different exercises to strengthen your brain, or to take a random selection of three tests to determine your "brain age," which is the measuring stick by which it determines just how strong your brain is. Most of these are scored on how quick and accurate you are, some require you to perform simple mathematical calculations, others require you to memorize different things and repeat them back to the computer. All of them use either the touch screen or the DS microphone exclusively, and allow you to keep track of your progress over a period of days and weeks to see how you're improving. However, the game only allows you to record your score once every day that you play, limiting replay just a bit. Occasionally the game’s voice recognition can be a pain too, as it sometimes mistakes simple words for others or outright refuses to recognize them until they’re repeated several times.

There is also an option to play one of a few dozen different Sodoku puzzles, independently of the normal Brain Training exercises. These are simple number puzzles which take place on a nine by nine grid. To complete one, you must draw a number from one to nine in each of the squares so that no number repeats itself in either the same horizontal or vertical row, or in the same three by three group of squares. There are enough of these to keep things interesting, and it's nice to have something to turn to once you run out of exercises to perform each day. And at the very least this saves paper.

Brain Age's biggest fault is simply how very repetitive it is. Each of the exercises is rather short, and they get repetitive very quickly, even if you only perform them once a day to have a score to record. Playing through them every day does eventually open up even more games to play through, but there aren't enough of these to make it feel worthwhile after a time. Eventually, it all just starts to feel old, and that hurts the game ultimately. Occasionally the game’s voice recognition can be a pain too, as it sometimes mistakes simple words for others or outright refuses to recognize them until they’re repeated several times.

Brain Age looks and sounds just fine, it's just not a very striking game either visually or aurally. The presentation comes off as maybe a little bland, but it's not there to dazzle the player, it's supposed to present its information clearly and concisely, and that's what it succeeds at doing for the player.

Weather or not Brain Age actually helps your brain is open for debate. It's length certainly doesn't do much to help it's case. However, it's various games are fun to practice and get better at as the days go by, and it's got enough in it to keep players busy for at least a few weeks. It's budget price is also a big plus, and makes the game a lot easier to recommend to anyone either hungry for a quick DS fix or possibly on the edge over this game. It definitely makes edutainment a lot more fun than one might expect, which is commendable enough in itself.

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