despa1r_fact0r's GameSpot Friend's Reviews despa1r_fact0r's GameSpot Friend's Reviews despa1r_fact0r's GameSpot Friend's Reviews en-us Copyright (c)1995-2013 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. http://www.gamespot.com 20 Wed, 22 May 2013 08:46:27 -0700 GameSpot despa1r_fact0r's GameSpot Friend's Reviews http://img.gamespot.com/gamespot/shared/promos/misc/gs_logo.gif http://www.gamespot.com 135 40 Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:26:37 -0700 kbaily reviewed Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two for the Wii U... http://www.gamespot.com/disney-epic-mickey-2-the-power-of-two/user-reviews/810869/platform/wii-u/ ...and gave it a 5.0.

Ok I'll be honest. I liked the first Epic Mickey. It was an ambitious idea and despite some issues with the clumsy camera and wonky combat, I found the story compelling enough to work through it.

I was really hoping when the sequel was announced that perhaps they'd be able to fix the issues with the first and make a better game. Sadly this is not the case. You know a game is bad when the multiplatform sequel sells LESS than the Wii exclusive first game. I really get the impression that Warren Spector wanted to improve the game but the heads at Disney wanted to rush out a sequel to make money off kids before they forgot or lost interest. So much of this game reeks of that.

Ok the story this time is Wasteland is rebuilding itself now that Mickey destroyed the phantom blot. Suddenly mysterious quakes start occurring and the Mad Doctor shows up and sings about how he's changed and wants to help. Oswald goes with him while Ortensia and Gus the Gremlin wire up a TV to bring Mickey back. The first game's story felt compelling because you wanted to see where Mickey and Oswald's dynamic was going to go but here, they're all friends on an adventure and it's dull. They even have full voice acting and yet I find myself wishing I could go back to the grunts and squeaks of the first.

Gameplay is a mess. First of all they still didn't fix the camera which was the biggest issue many had with the first game. Also Mickey still lacks any sort of lock on for his paint attacks so fighting baddies is a test of patience. To make things worse, this game decided that having 2 player co-op was the way to go and like Resident Evil 5, your AI partner is incompetent. Oswald carries a remote to use on various items as well as he can fly to carry you over gaps but getting him to do stuff tries your patience further. There's no online co-op so if you can get a friend to help you, do so. Otherwise you'll be waiting forever for Oswald's brain to work and he activates the thing you were standing beside for 5 minutes. Despite trying to bring in new elements like magical ink or not focusing quite as much on the good/evil thing, you'll mostly find yourself just trying to move on to the next thing and not even bothering finding all the collectables.

Also this is the first time ever where playing with the Wiimote(or Move) controller is BETTER than a traditional one. Why? Well when using the regular controller, you have to move the brush reticule with the right analog stick so if you have the Wiimote or Move, you're better off with that.

Also the game is glitchy as I'll get out. I'm talking Sonic '06 levels of glitchiness. Load times are long, slow down shows up when too many baddies are on screen and at one point I actually fell through the floor and got stuck. I can't believe how unfinished it feels. Not to mention a lot of areas from the first game have been reused.

This is just disappointing. There was so much potential for this as a series. It could've been a great game for parents and kids to play together exploring a fun Disney world but nope, the corporate heads saw a big pile of cash and said "screw it kids are dumb, just crank out a half assed sequel and we'll make easy money."

What a shame.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two for the Wii U..." was posted by kbaily on Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:26:37 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/disney-epic-mickey-2-the-power-of-two/user-reviews/810869/platform/wii-u/ Tue, 23 Apr 2013 01:11:04 -0700 kbaily reviewed Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/paper-mario-sticker-star/user-reviews/810571/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

I'll be honest, like most of you, I wasn't thrilled with the choices of this Paper Mario installment. Super Paper Mario tried using the environments and such for a platformer which wasn't bad but not overly endearing and this one sort of returns to the turn based combat and yet doesn't.

As Paper Mario goes, this one has a pretty weak story especially when compared to Thousand Year Door and Super. It's the Mushroom Kingdom Sticker festival celebrating the arrival of the Sticker Comet when Bowser shows up and steals the power of a Royal Crown Sticker that makes him all shiny. He grabs Peach, leaving the festival in ruins. And that's it. Mario of course has to go to the rescue but yeah, no fun new characters to meet, except for a lovably simple Wiggler, no side story with Peach or Bowser and what they were doing while Mario was running around. You're only new friend is Kersti, a bossy silvery crown sticker who will go down in the annuals as one of the worst Mario characters ever. Fi was more useful than her. So yeah where Paper Mario was known for mixing up the tired "Bowser kidnaps Peach formula" this one almost reverts back to the first Paper Mario taking place in the good old Mushroom Kingdom with the usual grass, desert, forest, ice, etc. levels. Though it still tries to have that self-referenial sense of humor.

So this is how the combat works now. It is back to turn based but instead of having a menu of attacks, you collect stickers scattered throughout the levels and purchase in shops then select them in battle. So your book will be full of jump shoes and hammers. Also scattered throughout the land are "things" which are random items like fans, staplers, cats, that can be converted into stickers and these work as suped up attacks, though many times I found myself hoarding these things for boss fights. They also have special functions elsewhere in levels to open new paths or clear out roadblocks giving this more of a Zelda or Metroid feel of gameplay. The nice thing is, once an item is found, you can repurchase it at a store in town as opposed to hunting around for it again.

Kersti's one useful thing she does is "Paperizing" where she lifts you off the page and this is used to place stickers and scraps in places in order to progress.

So since battles no longer increase HP or attack power, why not bypass them, well as you find out later, battling gets you coins and in many cases stickers which you do need. At first having only a couple album pages limits you but towards the end you'll have more pages then coins to buy stickers to fill them. To fill more attack slots Kersti will let you spin for 3 coins to increase your attacks per turn and like with other Paper Marios, learning to time attacks and blocks is crucial to success.

I kept going back and forth on this game. For a while I stopped playing it altogether getting annoyed at Kersti waiting until half way through a boss fight to tell me that if I had "this" item I could beat it easily. Hunting around for additional exits and being forced to fight enemies with no purpose. But I went back and gave it another chance and found myself getting into it. It's not a horrible game especially if you judge it on its own merits instead of trying to compare it to the rest of the Mario RPGs. And I found myself addicted to filling up the sticker museum.

Much like NSMB2, it's perfectly servicable, plays well and can be fun if you let it and don't expect too much but I really hope the next Paper Mario installment steps it up a bit.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed Paper Mario: Sticker Star for the 3DS..." was posted by kbaily on Tue, 23 Apr 2013 01:11:04 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/paper-mario-sticker-star/user-reviews/810571/platform/3ds/ Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:51:24 -0700 kbaily reviewed The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX for the Game Boy Color... http://www.gamespot.com/the-legend-of-zelda-links-awakening-dx/user-reviews/810570/platform/gbc/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Despite being a Zelda fan, somehow I missed Link's Awakening the first time around. Probably because I was a stupid child who owned a Sega Game Gear instead of a Game Boy so it eluded me for years.

Thankfully the 3DS came along with the Eshop and this was one of my first purchases as this and the two Oracle games are the only Zeldas I haven't played (at least until the new 3DS title comes out).

Much like Majora's Mask, Link's Awakening is more a spirtual, personal journey for Link. Following the "Dead Link" timeline after the Oracle games (according to Nintendo's Zelda timeline), Link is sailing the high seas training for the return of Ganon when a storm leaves him shipwrecked on a strange island. A young girl named Marin finds him on the beach and Link awakens and learns that if he wants to leave this island he must find 8 magical instruments to awaken The Wind Fish, a creature who sleeps in a giant egg on top of the mountain. Ok then. There is no Zelda, no Triforce and no Ganon and unlike MM, no real threat of the world ending.

One of the more unique aspects of this title is the Mario character cameos. One of the first folks you meet is a pudgy mustachoied man named Tarin who's running around the woods looking for mushrooms and turns into a racoon. (Mario be trippin) But also a local resident has a pet Chain Chomp and various dungeon enemies resemble Mario baddies and even Wart, the one time villian of SMB2 makes a cameo as the frog king as well as Kirby and Dr. Wright from the SNES SimCity. Makes for what could almost be an amusing crossover.

Gameplay is pretty standard Zelda fare you've come to know using the template setup by it's predecessor "A Link to the Past." You have eight main dungeons as well as the added "Color Dungeon" for the DX version which allows you to enhance your attack or defense. You have an easier time getting around the island thanks to phone booths placed around where Urial will give you hints as to which way to go. Also you have a few worthwhile side missions like a long trading sequence that will get you a super powerful boomerang and collecting seashells to make your sword more powerful. While Kolohint Island seems small, there's a fair amount of stuff crammed in here but never feels like it drags on too long.

If I had any complaints is that some bosses feel a bit too easy. Many bosses I was able to beat within seconds of them appearing on stage. Of course getting the boomerang really makes the game easy especially the final boss. Also the last two dungeons are somewhat overly complicated in their design. They involve way too much backtracking and doing things in a certain order. I had to take a look at zeldadungeon.net to figure out how to finish them at one point.

But still I got a good sense of satisfaction once I did finish the game and experience the rather bittersweet ending. If you're looking for something to download to your 3DS, this shouldn't be missed.

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-legend-of-zelda-links-awakening-dx/user-reviews/810570/platform/gbc/ Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:45:01 -0700 game-ster23 reviewed Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/luigis-mansion-dark-moon/user-reviews/810011/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

Luigi is finally back to his ghost catching schemes. The second fiddle of a twin brother hasn't visited a mansion in over a decade when the original Luigi's Mansion was released on the Nintendo GameCube in November of 2001. I certainly enjoyed the spooky thrill back then, but was it worth the long wait for the sequel?

King Boo has shattered the Dark Moon that hung above Evershade Valley, home to several haunted mansions. Professor Elvin Gadd has been studying the peaceful paranormal specimens until the destruction of the moon caused the ghosts of the valley to lose control and become evil. Gadd knew only one fellow who could find all of the Dark Moon pieces that were scattered across the valley and restore it. His name is Luigi.

Luigi is forced to use the Poltergust 5000 again, though he had to fetch it from a spooky mansion this time. The vacuum is now equipped with several new attachments. Attachments include the strobe bulb, which is needed to stun the new types of ghosts and the light-dark device, which reveals invisible objects throughout each mansion. Attachments can be upgraded by collecting treasure along the way.

The Professor gives you a DS Phat, nicknaming it Dual Scream, to map out each mansion and to call you. Gadd calls you a little too often at first, making you want to let a polterpup gobble it up and run far, far way. Thankfully, his calls become predictable and less frequent.

Many small details in this games gives Luigi character and realism, such as his trot like run and humming to the background music. Using the gyro sensor and turning first person view when looking into small cracks also makes it feel very realistic.

There are five mansions to explore this time around. Each mansion is divided into several missions. This makes exploring a little easier and more focused on one task at a time, rather than being sometimes lost and overwhelmed in the original.

Each mansion you explore is very detailed and full of secrets to discover. All five mansions stand alone from each other, giving you some variety. Every puzzle you encounter is well thought out and uses the environment cleverly. Most of them are only used once, keeping the experience fresh every time.

There are many types of ghosts that live in Evershade Valley. "Greenie" ghosts are the most basic, though they eventually grab sun glasses or a shovel to protect them from getting captured. All of the ghosts have a different way of defending themselves, needing to plan a strategy to catch them.

Graphics of this sequel are very crisp, especially in the cut scenes for a handheld game. The 3D effect does bring some depth in both gameplay and cut scenes, but not as much as I would like.

The controls of Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon are quite straightforward. Moving Luigi with the control pad feels smooth and effortless. The vacuum is used with the L and R buttons, L for blowing out air as R is for sucking. The A buttons is to use the strobeblub to stun a ghost, then catching it by holding R and pulling back with the control pad. X and B buttons allow you to point the strobe light upwards and downwards. The B button is also used to run, which is necessary when you're being chased by ghouls.

The music and sounds effects of each phantom really bring the spooky tone to life. Some of the background music sounds similar to the original, giving the experience a little nostalgia.

Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon includes a multiplayer mode called ScareScraper, which lets four players locally or from around the world, battle your way up many haunted floors. With three different modes, Hunter, Rush, and Polterpup, makes you want to hunt some more ghouls all the more.

Even though ScareScraper mode is co-op, it feels rather competitive at times. When trying to capture a ghost, then another player steal it from you, or on when dashing for a red coin and someone takes it before you. This mode, and the Boos and gems scattered around each mansion, give Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon high replay value.

Pros and Cons of Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon
+ Thrilling gameplay
+ Tons of charm
+ Very high replay value
- Average 3D effect

Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon was certainly worth the wait, with the oodles of charm and engaging gameplay. The best 3DS title to date in my opinion, without a doubt.

I gave this title a solid 9.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"game-ster23 reviewed Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon for the 3DS..." was posted by game-ster23 on Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:45:01 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/luigis-mansion-dark-moon/user-reviews/810011/platform/3ds/ Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:32:20 -0700 kbaily reviewed Skylanders Giants for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/skylanders-giants/user-reviews/809122/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

Skylanders like Angry Birds, Wii Sports, Facebook games, loves to be hated on by gamers because it's popular with kids and of course it was made by the evil overlords of Activision as a way to get kids to spend their hard earned allowance money on pieces of plastic...say the same gamers who have shelves of gaming action figures doing nothing but collecting dust and ensuring they never get laid, along with a closet of old Guitar Hero/Rock Band instruments. *ahem*

So the first Skylanders came out as sort of a "reimagining" of Spyro who at that point was shell of his PS1 self and was basically slapped into Activision's new toy collecting game for BRAND NAME RECOGNITION! Though Skylanders has almost nothing to do with Spyro and probably why his name was dropped from this one's title. Despite most gamers expecting Skylanders:Spyro's Adventure to fail miserably, it instead made tons of tons of money. So a sequel seemed inevitable.

I came into possession of Skylanders Giants through a friend who won it in a raffle but already has the PS3 so this one was handed off to me. First and foremost you do not need to buy all the figures to beat the story mode. You can beat it with the starter set and if you have the first game, the "Portal Master" set is cheaper containing just the game and Tree Rex. If you want to find all the items in story mode you only need one of each element which is means you'd need 5 figures in addition to the 3 that come with the starter pack. Also all Series 1 figures work with Giants. So in short there's no need to buy every single figure if all you plan to do is play through the story mode.

Anyway the story goes that Kaos aka the love child of Darth Maul and Mini Me as voiced by Invader Zim, was banished to Earth and turned into a toy however, he breaks free and manages to return to Skylands via the in store game display. CURSE YOU ACTIVISION!! Once back, he sets out to find the lost city of Arkus, an ancient place that is said to hold the item that can control an army of giant killer robots. So basically taking ideas from "Hellboy 2: The Golden Army." The NPCs from the first game return Flynn (voiced by Patrick Warburton) and Cali gather the Skylanders along with the newly found Giants and set out to stop Kaos once more. Honestly the story while not the deepest actually has some charm and humor to it and you meet some likeable characters along the way though Flynn will start to get annoying near the end but then again that might be part of his character.

Gameplay is pretty straightforward. There's no jumping, just fighting and exploration. Thankfully the game has hard setting so if you're over the age of 8 playing this, might as well crank it up to hard. Certain types of characters can get to special places. You can just barrel though the stage or take the time to find all the hidden goodies. I do think the devs could've stepped up a bit more. I know it's a kids' game but they don't need to make it so blantantly obivious of what has to be done. I will say on hard setting the game actually does get fairly tough around the 4th level though some enemies feel a bit cheap. The addition of the giants mostly just leads to certain place that require one of the big guys to move something large or smash a wall but their larger size tends to make them slow so it's a trade off.

Aside from the story mode the game has a fair amount of content. The hub is Flynn's ship where you can participate in Battle Arenas and Heroic challenges and like Pokemon work on upgrading each Skylander. There's also multiplayer where two figures can be placed on the portal at once but sadly no online gameplay which is a shame because there's potential for a big online community and with other kids toys like Webkins, I think there was a missed opportunity.

If you can get past the whole "game that exists to sell you toys" aspect, it's not a horrible game. Not the deepest game but honestly its nice to see a developer besides Nintendo actually put some effort forth in making a decent game geared at kids.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed Skylanders Giants for the Wii..." was posted by kbaily on Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:32:20 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/skylanders-giants/user-reviews/809122/platform/wii/ Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:50:08 -0800 kbaily reviewed LittleBigPlanet Karting for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/littlebigplanet-karting/user-reviews/807627/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 6.5.

Man what a disappointment. How did this end up being so medicore? You take the developers of the fun Modnation Racers and let them work with the fun, imaginative world of Little Big Planet and you should have a great kart racer right? RIGHT?

Sadly LBP Karting while not awful is just...boring. It's hard to say what went wrong but let's see.

Well part of it is, this game was already made but called Modnation Racers but while it still has the fun creation tool, a lot of the things that made Modnation stick out like upgradeable items and building up a shield are gone.

There's a story in this. This time the greedy grabby horde invaded Craftworld and Sackboy must take to his car and set off to stop them. You go through a storymode playing through races and battle challenges trying to get 3rd or higher to move on. The real problem comes is that instead of just focusing on racing type challenges, it throws in weird mini games, first and person racing challenges. There is the desire to go back to level to collect all the goodies for the creation tools of course.

The creation part is the thing that will decide if LBP Karting is for you. But once again if you already have Modnation Racers why bother? But there is a nice level editor and the charm of the world of LBP is still in tact. Though I don't see why costumes and items from the 2 LBP games couldn't have been carried over to this in some way.

Levels themselves honestly feel really bland. They literally took stages from past LBP games and rearranged them in 3D kart tracks. It tries to have it's own personality like using the grappling hook to swing over pits and using the creatornator to gain items but honestly it was hard to get any sort of adranaline rush from the races.

Now I'll admit that it didn't help that the same time I got this I also got Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed and when you put LBP Karting up against that one, it really seems dull and uninspired.

Sony fans, I'm sorry. If you want a good kart racer to play, you have better options. If you want a creation tool, Modnation does it better and if you want a good answer to MK, Sonic's got better ones.

Better luck next time Sackboy.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed LittleBigPlanet Karting for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by kbaily on Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:50:08 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/littlebigplanet-karting/user-reviews/807627/platform/ps3/ Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:35:02 -0800 kbaily reviewed Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-and-all-stars-racing-transformed/user-reviews/807626/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

For years Sonic tried and failed to make a mascot racer to rival Mario. Fans would like to forget Sonic Drift and Sonic R and Riders while interesting wasn't exactly a pick up and play party type of game. Finally Sega made Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing where finally Sega made a competent kart racer to rival Mario and was surprisingly fun.

All too often with Sega I worry when they have a success because all too often they're the case of the guy who wins the lottery, immediately buys a big house and soon after the house falls apart because they don't know how to maintain it and end up worse off than they started. Luckily with Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed, Sega avoided this pitfall and instead is more like the guy who wins the lottery, stays in his house and improves it.

Sega clearly listened to the positive feedback from the first game and set out to improve. First and foremost the roster got a major overhaul. Sonic and friends are still there along with a few returning friends but others have been swapped out for new Sega representatives. Nights, Gillius Thunderhead, Vyse and Meme replaced characters like Ryo, Chu Chus, Big, and fans will be torn on this. While it's nice seeing some characters join in, some of the ones that got dropped were disappointing. Also for some reason Wreck-it-Ralph and Danica Patrick are here. Why? Seriously Sega you have all those great characters, why waste two spots on NASCAR and Disney? Also PC owners get a few exclusive characters from Team Fortress and Metal Sonic and Alex Kidd were special free DLC characters. So you'll have some good and bad when it comes to characters used in this game.

The biggest enhancement to the standard kart racing formula is the ability for your car to transform into a boat and plane mid race. You'll be driving along and when you go through a blue transform gate the car will change into a boat or plane. For the most part this is pretty fluid though the switch to flight can be a bit jarring but it puts MK7 and Diddy Kong Racing to shame of how well it's implemented.

The other improvement is a much more diverse collection of tracks. The first game had 3 tracks with the same theme. 3 beach, 3 Casino, 3 Haunted Mansion and so on. This time around we see a lot more variety. Recurring favorites return as well but now we get to see an HD Starlight Carnival, a trippy Nights dreamworld, a Shinobi Japanese garden, and a great Skies of Arcadia full of awesome airship battles. And on top of that the tracks themselves change in some cases. Such in Rouge's Landing, first you're driving through a village, next thing you know you're flying through the middle of a Sky Pirate air battle. It keeps the action fresh and exciting.

As kart racing gameplay itself goes, the action is fast paced and exciting and unlike Mario Kart there does seem to be greater focus on skill. You do have items but many can be dodged. Like a character can sent a swarm of bees out in front but it's possible to weave through them as well as the glove pickup allows you to catch items and throw them at opponents. There's a lot of focus on boost and drifting as well but sadly no drafting was implemented again which I would've really liked. Also the all Star moves return however they don't have as much flair as they did the first time around. You're car just turns into plane mode and auto pilots though for a bit and you can attack though it likes to pick bad times to end itself like right next to a sharp turn into a bottomless pit.

Solo players have the option of the World Tour, a sort of career mode where you gain stars to unlock mods for your karts, new tracks and characters. Sadly I preferred the Sega Miles point system in the previous game where you just racked up points to unlock what you wanted. Now you have to grind a lot of races over and over again on a hard rank to get all those stars if you want all your Sega friends to be playable and later World Tour challenges get brutally hard.

The game is abound with various modes both on and offline. You still have Grand Prix, Time Trials, and most importantly a lot of more battle modes now. Online for the most part works well and is fairly lag free. Another neat feature is all tracks have little gold coins scattered about. Collecting these gives you chances at a slot machine to play while waiting for the next Vs. race to load up. This often yeilds starting a race with a special powerup.

If I had one complaint is the game doesn't allow for what I call "Mario Kart" controls. I prefer using the X button to accelerate rather than the right trigger and it would've been nice to have this option.

But honestly even if you're not a big Sega fan, this is easily the first Kart racer to be able to hold a candle to Mario since, maybe Crash Team Racing. Pick it up. It's a blast.

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-and-all-stars-racing-transformed/user-reviews/807626/platform/ps3/ Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:46:25 -0800 kbaily reviewed PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/playstation-all-stars-battle-royale/user-reviews/807553/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

Of all the games that came out in 2012 none fascinated me more than Playstation All Stars Battle Royale. It wasn't nesscarily my most anticipated game or my favorite game but it was one I just wanted to experience. Some blew it off as a lame Smash Bros. knockoff with less popular, less iconic characters, Sony fans defended it thrilled to have a game of their own. Critic review ranged from "fun" to "boring."

So after a price drop, I finally picked up thanks to Sony putting that lovely online code you need so you can't buy it used.

Now first off I LOVE Smash Bros. as a series. I am not into the arcade like fighters of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat but Smash. Bros. gave us something unique in swapping out a health bar for a damage meter and making the object to knock your opponent out of the ring and you combine that with having Nintendo's iconic characters (and then some) coming together to kick the crap out of each other. It was fun, addictive and easy to pick up and play.

Honestly, I was surprised that as big as SSB is that it didn't have a million knockoffs like Mario Kart did. Sure we had TMNT Smash Up and a few anime ones but honestly I was more surprised companies like Sega didn't jump on this (seriously why does Sega All Stars Brawl NOT exist? Does Sega not want to make tons of money?) So to see Sony attempt to make their own answer to Smash Bros. did not surprise me. I wanted to see how it came out. I'm not opposed to something being a "clone" of something as long as it brings something new to the table.

Well you get a roster of 20 characters, with 2 new ones available for download. The nice thing is they're all available from the start so you don't have to spend hours solo unlocking anyone but at the same time it gives you less incentive to play solo as the only things you unlock are alternate costumes and animations. The roster is decent and Sony, while not as colorful or diverse as Nintendo, has a good amount of variety. Where else can a cartoon racoon and a rag doll go up against a killer clown and a fat princess? But also you have more generic white guys meaning when action gets crowded, it gets hard to see your character as more characters in this one have the same body type and aren't as colorful. Still it's better than what an Xbox mascot fighter roster would be. (Master Chief and...uh...um...) But at the same time I agree with the fans, third party or not the absence of Playstation 1 icons like Spyro, Crash, Cloud and Lara Croft is disapponting. Hell Metal Gear fans got stuck with Raiden on this one. And it's a shame fans got stuck with the "new" Dante instead of the one they wanted. If you're going to do a game like this, give the fans what they want.

Now onto gameplay. Enter South Park Ski Instructor: "If you go into this trying to play like Smash Bros. you're going to have a bad time." I must emphasize you CAN'T play this like SSB. It may look like SSB from screenshots, but plays completely differently. First of all, you can't fall or get thrown out of the stage. Stages are walled in and this forgos health meters as well. What you do is the more hits that connect earns you AP. You build up this power to 3 different levels and only when said level is reach can you do a super attack to KO opponents. This is how you win matches. On one hand, it's a unique strategy making you think if you want to build up to level 3 which almost always guarantees a hit or spam the lvl 1 attack. This though can be frustrating for some. You can spend an entire match punching, kicking, grabbing, hacking away with items but if none of your Supers KO anyone, you'll still lose and I will say this, there are some serious balance issues. Kratos is easily the Meta-Knight of this game. His hits always connect and he builds up AP at a staggering rate. So this is a system you're going to love or hate. But one thing is certain it DOES NOT play like Smash Bros.

The stages are rather nicely done meshing two gameworlds together. For example you start out in Metropolis from Ratchet and Clank but midway through GoW's Hydra shows up to wreak havoc and wrestle with Captain Qwark or my favorite, starting out in the Underworld dodging Hades attacks, when the Patapon show up and start singing and attacking Hades. You'll have that Patapon song stuck in your head for days. It's clever though the stage hazards aren't much of a threat since all they do is knock down AP

While obviously it outshines SSBB in the online department; No friend codes, mostly lag free, and short waiting times, the single player features are soley lacking. You can play through each character's story mode which is made up of some still's of the character's short story that lead them to the fighting realm. There is voice acting but whatever story is given is weak and forgettable. Ratchet's looking for bolts. Jak's looking for Ico. Toro's is rather funny as he's the only one aware he's in a video game. But the story still just bookend the arcade mode with the most amusing thing being when the two characters who have a "rivalry" meet up and talk smack for a second. These range from clever "Sackboy vs. Big Daddy" to WTF "Evil Cole and Fat Princess." The final boss was a clever idea. Polygon Man the early PS1 graphics demo is this game's "Master Hand" sadly he doesn't really do much. He shows up to talk and challenge you then sits in the background sending purple clones of other fighters while yapping in the background. Then he'll try to smash you with his chin, you punch his cheeks a few times. Repeat this and he's done. I did expect this to be a lot more interesting than it was.

But outside of each arcade story mode, there's some practice challenges to hone your skills and that's it. No massive Subspace story mode, no event matches, and as I said before the unlockables are rather "meh."

Maybe I'm being a little too hard on PSAll Stars. I still had fun with it and like SSB it's still fun to break out with friends but to me if Sony was wanting to make their own answer to Smash Bros. They should've have really gone out. Of course SSB64 was small with limited content when it came out so we can keep our fingers crossed that future installments will expand more.

Get the full article at GameSpot

]]> http://www.gamespot.com/playstation-all-stars-battle-royale/user-reviews/807553/platform/ps3/ Sun, 03 Feb 2013 15:37:51 -0800 kbaily reviewed Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/super-mario-3d-land/user-reviews/807061/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

So let's look at something. 3D Mario games and 2D Mario games play very differently. I'm not saying 3D Mario is bad. I'm saying it's different. In a 3D Mario it's very exploratory and puzzle based where 2D Mario is all about bouncing to the finish and this may explain why 2D Marios sell better. Look at the figures. More people bought NSMBWii than Mario Galaxy and it sucks but what can you do when the masses prove time and time again that they just want the same thing over and over again?

Super Mario 3D Land tries to implement 2D gameplay aspects into a 3D game and does it fairly well. Storywise we learn that Tanooki leaves blossom once every 20 years (lol) and Tanooki leaves have been spread across the land and this time not only can Mario and Luigi use them but also Bowser and his minions start using them as well. You have goombas as well as Bowser sporting tails as well.

As level design goes, it's still creative though familiar. While the level no longer rely on collecting stars, there's still a lot of puzzle solving and rooms to explore to find the Star coins and the levels do have a degree of challenge to them especially when you get the S levels once you beat the main game.

The Tanooki suit returns but Mario can't fly with it. It just allows him to hover and float slowly which helps given the game in order to be more like old 2D games removed stuff like grabbing ledges or an extra mid air move which is fine early on but those later, tougher levels I found myself needlessly dying because I couldn't grab a ledge or misjudged my jump. The 3D somewhat helps but seriously there's a reason most 3D platforming stars have either a double jump or a hover decsent. Also the first Tanooki suit doesn't turn Mario into a statue. A later version you find that's gray does allow for this though which is nice. The other new item is the boomerang bro costume which is neat for long range attacks and grabbing coins and such.

As with previous titles, if you die too many times you get the option to use a White Tanooki suit which grants invincibility as well as the magic P Wing which auto warps you to the goal. While some scoff at this. There were times when I got fed up and just used it. Plus you're more likely to die from falling which the white suit doesn't protect you from.

Once you beat the main game, a series of Special Worlds are unlocked and these are much more challenging. You get the option to play as Luigi who jumps higher but is also more slippery to control. This is where the statue Tanooki suit resides and the White suit and the P Wings don't exist here and I will say these levels were nearly frustrating at times. Many times I died because I couldn't grab a ledge or misjudged a jump or Luigi slid off the edge but if you think Mario games are too easy, give these a whirl.

Also it uses street pass where other players can give you Star Coins and powerups in Toad houses.

Overall the game is great. Not the most revolutionary game but more "new" than the "New" series. It uses the 3D fairly well and looks great and still an enjoyable title and easily one of the reasons to get a 3DS.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed Super Mario 3D Land for the 3DS..." was posted by kbaily on Sun, 03 Feb 2013 15:37:51 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/super-mario-3d-land/user-reviews/807061/platform/3ds/ Sun, 03 Feb 2013 15:15:48 -0800 kbaily reviewed Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition for the Wii... http://www.gamespot.com/kirbys-dream-collection-special-edition/user-reviews/807060/platform/wii/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

Kirby had his 20th anniversary and in a rare surprise Nintendo released an anniversary collection and it's a pretty sweet deal and if you love the pink puffball, then it's worth owning.

First off, this collection contains 6 classic games. Kirby's Dreamland 1-3, Kirby's Adventure, Kirby Superstar, and Kirby 64 Crystal Shards which can all be played with the Wiimote held sideways, classic or GC controller. I will admit that I would've liked to have seen the GB games added to this as well as the GB port of Adventure was a much better version of the game. But the games look great though it would've been nice to see them reformatted for widescreen or perhaps the GB games with the Super Gameboy color palette but it was probably not possible.

Along with the collection of old games you get a timeline, a history book and a CD of Kirby music. Sadly unlike the CD that came with Skyward Sword, this is just the in game music, not a symphonic remix. Also contained on this is 3 episodes of Kirby's anime "Right Back at Ya." Though it is one of the better Nintendo based cartoons (better than Mario's or Link's and more true to it's source material), I would've gladly dropped these for a few more games.

Also included on the disc are a series of new challenges using the "Return to Dreamland" graphics. Magalor after apologizing for turning evil and trying to kill you and all, brings you to his ship to engage in some very addictive time trials though I get the impression had the Wii supported this, these would've been DLC for "Return to Dreamland" still they were some of the most fun I had with this and highly addictive especially if you're after that gold medal.

With this generation dealing out a lot of "collections" and myself owning 3 HD PS3 collections, Kirby's Dream Collection is one of the nicest compilations I've seen and had a lot of care put into this package and if you're a fan at $40 it's not a bad thing to have for your collection.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed Kirby's Dream Collection: Special Edition for the Wii..." was posted by kbaily on Sun, 03 Feb 2013 15:15:48 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/kirbys-dream-collection-special-edition/user-reviews/807060/platform/wii/ Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:34:36 -0800 loopy_101 reviewed Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/tony-hawks-pro-skater-hd/user-reviews/806567/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 3.0.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD is a weak ass attempt by the folks at Activision to bring the THPS series back to basics.

Featuring the "greatest hits" of the early games in the form of remade maps (e.g. School II, Warehouse, Downhill Jam etc) and a retro inspired soundtrack complete with music from the first two games, on paper this might seem pretty neat. Don't be deceived. Not only does this game feel unfinished, missing many maps that should of been included in THPS HD to begin with (e.g. Airport) but it is functionally broken. Robomodo clearly aren't as talented as their Neversoft forebearers. There are more than a few noticeable glitches that ruin play including bails that will send you rocketing into the sky and strange clipping/draw-in issues that plague many of the levels.

THPS HD looks and plays far worse than Project 8, a Tony Hawk's title released nearly six years prior. The controls in general also feel awful in this release, not half as responsive nor as snappy as you'd hope. Perhaps what upset me the most about this release is the lack of multiplayer modes. Tony Hawk's online was one of the first experiences I had playing over the internet and I imagine it still has people playing it via XLinkKai. To see the multiplayer missing in this release, even in terms of local splitscreen play, is a complete let-down as far as I'm concerned.

So should you bother with this release? Not really. If anything, this release is aimed at suckers to nostalgia such as myself. If you want to relive the memories of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater there are far better ways of doing it. Nothing is stopping you from getting any of the earlier releases in the series on PC so if you insist on running the likes of Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 in actual high defintion, nothing is stopping you from doing that instead.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"loopy_101 reviewed Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD for the PC..." was posted by loopy_101 on Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:34:36 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/tony-hawks-pro-skater-hd/user-reviews/806567/platform/pc/ Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:58:26 -0800 kbaily reviewed Journey for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/journey/user-reviews/805788/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

I stand alone in the desert looking off into the distance. Where am I? How did I get here? I do not know. Around me the sand glistens...the haze surrounds me. Slowly I make my way up to the top of a nearby sand dune, around me are tons of graves and off in the distance...a mountain. For some reason I am drawn to it. I am not sure why but I know that this is where my journey begins.

I make my way through the rows of gravestones, the sand is thick and slows me down. When I divert too far from my path, the wind seems to blow me back. I come to what appears to be ruins of a building and dancing in the wind are a group of small red pieces of fabric. I sing a tune I know all too well and the pieces bind to me creating a beautiful scarf. Suddenly I can float and even fly for a short time. I never felt anything like this, as I drift down I realize that this is only good for a short amount of time, luckily I find more of these magic scarf pieces and as my scarf grows, so does my ability to sustain flight.

As I continue, I come to a large area where I learn that the magic red fabric pieces can be manipulated to make a bridge and at the top of this bridge I created by singing to the red scarf pieces, I find a large stone with etchings. As I sit to meditate on my findings, I am visited by a mysterious white cloaked figure who shows me images of a time long past....a great civiliation once dwelled where I now stand...they used the magic fabric to create their civilzation...but then...what happened? Some horrible cataclysm? Am I all that remains. My journey is long.

I continue and to my surprise I meet another pilgrim like myself with a red cloak and magic scarf. Not a word is uttered between us and yet we both know what we have to do and both of us desire to reach the mountain in the distance.

I slide down a large sand dune and my feat glide through the sand with the backdrop of the setting sun in the distance. I feel so free and alive, like nothing I ever felt before.

My elated feeling ceases as I head into the dark ruins of great buildings. It's dark and...my God, what sort of terrible creatures are these. They're like robotic dragons with giant eyes searching for me. Were these the things that destroyed the land of my ancestors. I am afraid but I have to continue.

The journey contines....

(seriously I couldn't think of any other way to review this)

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed Journey for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by kbaily on Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:58:26 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/journey/user-reviews/805788/platform/ps3/ Sun, 18 Nov 2012 11:32:28 -0800 kbaily reviewed Pac-Man Championship Edition DX for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/pac-man-championship-edition-dx/user-reviews/803389/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.5!

Back in the arcade days, Pac-Man was king. Besides Mario, it's hard to think of a more iconic video game character, in fact he was the first true video game "character" his predecessors were nameless ships or blips. But after the original arcade classic, it seemed as Pac-Man's subsequent sequels failed to capture the same magic and at one point he started trying to be like Mario with platformers, kart racers and party games and most of these....well..sucked.

Then came Pac-Man Championship edition DX. Now I'll admit that I simply thought this was just the arcade original with leaderboards and an HD coat of paint. I was wrong. This is not just a port of Pac-Man. This is Pac-Man on steroids.

Instead of simply clearing out the dots in the maze, you'll eat a string of dots followed bya fruit, then another string of dots appears and you'll eat that, eat the fruit and repeat. Each time, Pacy gets faster and more ghosts spawn. Many ghosts will be asleep and when you pass them, they wake up and start chasing you and next thing you know a rainbow army is on your tail, then you get a power pellet and chomp through the string of buggers for maximum points which is oh so satisfying.

On top of this, you get a variety of time modes and challenges and online leaderboards to compete for high scores.

And for extra flair you can choose from a variety of character models, background designs and music. You can even use the ugly Atari design.

Seriously, any old school gamer needs to play this. It is an adrenaline rush that will leave your fingers sore in a good way. And it's free for Playstation Plus users so you have no excuse.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed Pac-Man Championship Edition DX for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by kbaily on Sun, 18 Nov 2012 11:32:28 -0800
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/pac-man-championship-edition-dx/user-reviews/803389/platform/ps3/ Sun, 30 Sep 2012 08:12:07 -0700 kbaily reviewed Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/kid-icarus-uprising/user-reviews/800678/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 8.5.

I am old school. I remember playing the original Kid Icarus on the NES. It was my babysitter's copy because the actual game was pretty hard to come by in the days before the internet and used games. Now old Pit had a GB second game but no one remembered it (though you can download it on the DS shop now) and then he disappeared. One of those Nintendo franchises lost to time while Mario, Link and Pokemon rose to prominence.

But with the reveal of SSBB and seeing an updated look of our old angel friend, some hoped for a new game. Well finally we got it and so far this is my favorite 3DS game.

First off this has to be the first true first party Nintendo game with competent voice acting. Happy now? Not the "so bad it's funny" of the Starfox series or the "OMG WILL YOU SHUT UP!!" of Metroid: Other M. The banter between Pit and Palutena is actually pretty funny. While they do babble on too much at times, it's rather amusing at the fact they are very self aware and don't take themselves too seriously. The baddies have their share of funny quips like the 3 headed Headraw arguing with itself (reminds me of the 3 headed giant from Holy Grail) and Dark Pit is a ton of fun when he shows up.

Also despite the addition of voice work, this game doesn't bog you down with boring cutscenes. The story is told through dialouge during gameplay and atmosphere of the levels. No sooner do you start but Pit is flying, Medusa is back after 25 years to wreak havoc on the land again and the game is like "Bad guys here. Kill they ass!!

Gameplay stages are broken up in 2 parts. The first part is flying. Pit can fly now or rather Palutena is making him fly and the first half is flying and shooting similar to Starfox. You're on a set path blasting foes and dodging obstacles. The second half lands Pit on the ground fighting in a sort of Devil May Cry type combat of shooting and melee attacks. It even throws in some vehicle sections for good measure. You fight enemies, collect treasures and weapons until you reach the boss. Rinse. Repeat. The levels are smooth and tight and never feel too long or drawn out.

Now to the controls. Now I don't relfexively hate any non traditional control scheme and I figured out the set up within five minutes. You hold down the left trigger to shoot, move with the Dpad and use the stylus to aim. It can be a little wonky on the ground using the stylus to turn the camera but it never felt like a deal breaker for me. It came with this stand I guess to help hold it steady but I've never removed it from the box.

While the gameplay feels like an arcade shooter, it has a lot of depth. You can go back to previous stages and turn up the difficulty to earn more hearts and treasure. You can fuse weapons together for more powerful items, unlock music tracks and character models as well as there's a decent online mulitplayer aspect to keep you busy.

Visually the game is one of the prettiest on the 3DS. The levels have a lot of variety from deserts to mountains to cities to Pandora's Labyrinth which looks like something from the SNES Starfox. Pit's design is taken from his SSBB model along with Dark Pit and Palutena but it's also neat seeing all the old NES baddies reimagined in today's graphics. The 3D effect does fit the game well especially for the flying but for me, my eyes get tired and if you move the 3DS slightly it can get blurry.

Overall, I had some reservations about this game going in. Worried that I wouldn't get the controls or get annoyed with the voices but instead I got an awesome, fast paced adventure and I'm glad to have Pit back.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS..." was posted by kbaily on Sun, 30 Sep 2012 08:12:07 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/kid-icarus-uprising/user-reviews/800678/platform/3ds/ Fri, 21 Sep 2012 08:29:37 -0700 gezegond reviewed The Last Remnant for the PC... http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-remnant/user-reviews/800268/platform/pc/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Pros: Beautiful, immersive world • Up to 18 party members • PC tweaks make the game more playable
Cons: Too much randomness in gameplay • Lack of control on your party members in and out of battle • Some important gameplay mechanics are never explained in the game • Missable Content

The Last Remnant is a turn-based RPG developed by Square Enix which was released in November 2008; it was being developed by many key figures that had previously worked on SE's SaGa franchise (A series of games well known for their somewhat frustrating difficulty) and was initially codenamed "Saga Frontier 3". Square Enix decided to make this game a debut on their the brand new international business plan: Instead of making games exclusively with a Japanese audience in mind and then investing on off-shore branches localizing the game for the western audience, they would make the games with both Japanese and Western audiences in mind, implementing features in ways that would appeal to both, and release it simultaneously worldwide.
And so it happened, the game was released on Xbox 360, a platform which was more popular in the west than in Japan. American actors were used for the motion capture and the lip sync. SE even went as far as to create characters that would each appeal to a certain audience: "Rush Sykes", the protagonist to the Japanese and his arch enemy "The Conqueror", to the Westerns.

SE soon realized that their plan had backfired; the game received poor reviews and sales in US and Europe, despite all they had done to appeal to them. Some believed the story to be pointless, some hated the occasional graphical anomalies, while others didn't quite enjoy the gameplay. This led Square Enix to fix some of the game's faults, make some tweaks and release it on PC the next year. The PC port received better reviews, and for good reasons: Many of the game's faults were gone, specially the graphical errors.
The game has sold 580,000 copies since, and is now available on steam. It is one of the few Japanese Role Playing Games that have been released on the PC.
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Story:
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The premise is about the titular "Remnants", ancient magical items that have been around as long as man can remember. A remnant can be any magical item, ranging from a simple treasure chest, to a gigantic insect that extracts water from deep underground for people living in a desert. This means that remnants have become part of people's daily lives, not unlike how electricity has become part of ours. The population of TLR's world is divided into 4 main groups, the Mitra, who look like normal humans, the Qsiti, Frog look-alikes that are half the size of a normal human, the Yama, fish-like people that are noticeably larger than a normal human, and the Sovani, Cat-people who live a long time and have 4 arms instead of just two. There are also the Jhana, savage creatures that can use some simple items and weapons but are too primitive to live along with the civilized population, and the Imps, monsters that have somewhat higher intelligence than the rest, and can use some basic item techniques.

The protagonist, Rush Sykes, is a boy who is looking for his lost sister. At the beginning of the game he meets "Lord David Nassau", young ruler of a small city, and his four generals, who decide to lend him a hand on his quest and later join his party permanently. Later into the game they will meet the previously mentioned conqueror, with unclear motives for his unfriendly actions. The ending, without spoiling too much, is one of those I-should-have-guessed-it-sooner ones, and will make all the pieces of the puzzle suddenly fit together. At the same time it could be a bit cheesy, so I wouldn't call it one of the best endings, but it wasn't bad either.
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Audiovisuals:
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The graphics are rendered using Unreal Engine 3, a choice SE made to cut down on the costs. This has had some negative effects on the 360, but on PC I didn't notice any. As a matter of fact, it's a gift considering it allows some tweaking to be done that wouldn't be possible otherwise. The game also lets you save anywhere in the game except in mid-battle, and I think that's something that comes with the engine. The graphics themselves are exactly what you would expect from a 7th gen JRPG title, the characters are all done great and behave very human like, even when they're infinitely repeating a simple talk animation. The world looks great as well. Each time you visit a new city, you will be awed by the city architecture, the people going about their daily lives, and the remnants that coexist with them in harmony.

Likewise, most "dungeons" look fantastic as well. These include a gigantic desert, grassland roadways, a series of caves in an active volcano, abandoned castles and cities, and much more. I stopped playing the game several times only to gaze at the surroundings, wondering what it would be like to actually live in such a magical place. While these areas are often linear, they have a sense of scale, making you want to travel all the viewable landscape.

The same can be said about the combat aesthetics. The characters are all designed to be distinguishable in combat, so you're not going to have an army of generic soldiers. Each party member will stand out, and many of them have some voiced lines for battle. The weapons they carry are all modeled pretty nice as well. I specially enjoyed the design of Otachi, a long sword that is available from early on. A plethora of weapons are available, and all of them stand out in battle just as much as the characters that carry them. Another touch is the combat animation. Each weapon type, and the way it's handled, has its own set of techniques. When a character lands an impressive blow using one of these techniques, not only does it drain your foe's HP considerably, but also a well done attack animation will be presented that is consistent with the damage that was dealt.

With all that said, I can't really say that the presentation does not have any faults. For instance, Rush's standard run animation which is used in both cities and dungeons is a bit weird to say the least. The same is true for most JRPGs, but with all the realism this game offers, the unnatural walk animation feels out of place. This made me want to walk most of the time in towns by moving the analog stick slightly upward, since the walk animation is a lot more natural than its running counterpart. Another problem is the city and world map. While most games have these for quick transitions, The Last Remnant forces you to use them. Meaning that if you want to travel from one part of the town to the next, you HAVE to go through the city map, choose the next location, and enter, even when the next location is only a few steps away and you can see it from the previous location. This is rather annoying especially given the fact that Unreal Engine 3 can render large maps without any drawbacks. Another gripe I had with the game was the buildings. The shops cannot be entered in the last remnant. You simply buy what you want in the towns, where locals have set up small shops. The pubs and the guilds are the only buildings that can be entered, and they're not much different from town to town. The guilds look exactly the same for all the towns, the only difference being the few people wandering inside. There are only two different pub models, and while the decoration varies slightly from town to town, one has to wonder the reason they've build the same pubs in all cities, keeping in mind that their towns are so much different both geographically and architecturally. These few minor gripes are no big deal, but can easily break the immersion.

The audio, while not as fantastic as the visuals, is pretty good in its own right. The soundtrack consists of music that range from the epic opening to the guild background which does its job pretty well. Each town has its own background music that adds up to it's unique feel. The voice acting likewise does its job fairly well. While it's not the best voice acting you've ever heard, it's probably not the worst either. You can also switch the audio to Japanese if you fancy original voice acting.
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Gameplay:
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You will get a taste of battle mechanics before you go into any town (where you meet David), but it's fairly brief. After watching some cut-scenes and going through some mandatory missions you will be left in the city, free to do what you want, and that's when you first get a real taste of TLR's battle mechanics. Bottom-line: the battle mechanics is frustrating and clunky. Although the game promises you an army of party members, you will only start with 3. With rush being one of them that leaves only two other party members, which I hired at the guild, a choice I later regretted. The people you can hire fall into two groups: The generic soldiers and unique leaders. The unique leaders have some back story in their info screen (which makes them distinguishable from generic leaders), can learn some new techniques, and some have their own side-quests to tackle after they're hired.

After hiring your first batch of party members, the game's most frustrating "feature" comes into play: You have no control over your party members. And this is apparent before you even enter any battle, in the menu: It's not possible to choose you party's gear. They are equipped with a weapon before you hire them, and they use some items to upgrade their weapons. They might ask for the weapons in Rush's inventory from time to time, but it's unclear when they do that. The game never tells you where to find these items or how to hand them out to them. They get some of them after you finish a battle (the game explains this), but for some other items, they "clone them from Rush's inventory", something I found out after spending about an hour on the internet looking for clues. The weapons come in different sizes: small, medium, large, and huge. The Qsiti only use small weapons, the Mitra and Sovani can choose between medium and large, while the Yama use large and huge weapons. This coupled with the lack of control can result in a situation where you have a Yama specific weapon 10 times stronger than any of those your party members have, and you can't equip it since none of your party members wants it for some reason. You can buy Yama or Qsiti specific weapons in the shops, but there's no telling whether any of your party members would ask for them. Furthermore, the items that party members use to upgrade their weapons might be impossible to find, unless you're looking for them in the wiki (http://lastremnant.wikia.com/) or some other guide and have lots of patience, since even knowing where to find them doesn't quite help you in acquiring them: Much of it depends on pure luck. This feature was supposedly built so your party members can manage their own gear without you needing to micromanage an army of party members. While this could be actually helpful as an alternative, having it forced on you is simply sadistic, especially since the system doesn't work at all and fails to give your party best available weapons the majority of the time. This is especially true at the beginning of the game, where your party is weak and you desperately need them to have a better gear. And what if someone enjoys micromanaging their party's gear? After all, someone who's not into this kind of thing wouldn't be interested in a game where having around 20 party members is one of its main features. It's a gameplay mechanics paradox, and that's not a good thing.

I wish I could tell you that that's all there is to it considering the lack of control, but unfortunately the developers of the last remnant felt that the high number of active party members can make it confusing for (perhaps western) players to manage them in turn based combat, thus created a system to "fix" the problem: You're party is divided into "unions", groups of approximately 5 party members, and instead of issuing orders to each party member, you issue one order for each union. The game then decides what each party member in the said union should do to achieve that goal. The catch is: the system doesn't work. For instance, there's no set of orders that are always available. You would think "attack" and "defend" are two commands that would always be there, but there are times that the game decides that your union should do nothing but attacking. You expect healing commands to be issuable anywhere? Not necessarily, the game might decide that a union that is horrifyingly low on health doesn't need healing. Most of the time it fails to give your party members the order to deal the maximum amount of damage possible when you want to attack. There are some commands such as "attack from afar" that let's you attack an enemy without receiving any damage that could be used strategically, only if this command didn't pop up completely at random. This makes it completely impossible to devise any sort of strategy. In the end, each battle boils down to simply choosing the command that uses the most amount of action points and praying the game doesn't make overly stupid decisions for your party members: There's nothing more frustrating than losing a boss battle you've been fighting for an hour, simply because the game made a stupid decision for your party.

There should be more to the battle mechanics than that, but the rest of the features are completely pointless for the same reasons. Each battle takes place on a plane, where unions are scattered around based on their positions in the dungeon when the battle sequence was initiated. The unions then have to travel the plane to get to their enemies, which can cause situations such as interception or flank attack. There's also a morale bar, which affects the battle in many ways. There are special moves (that are more special than your regular special) and summons. None of these add any depth to the game whatsoever, since they all happen so randomly. The amount of strategic planning possible is practically zero. Furthermore, each union can be assigned a "formation". Each formation has its own strong points and weaknesses: Some are better at magic and some better at combat, some suited for attacking while others for defending. However, I stopped assigning formations to my unions after I unlocked a formation called "Counter-Offensive" fairly early on in the game, which gave me the most stats for all my unions. Despite unlocking a large number of other formations later, this one was the one I used for the rest of the game, since none of the new ones gave me better stats: Another intriguing but ultimately pointless feature. The game uses quick time events, here called "critical trigger", to liven up the turn based gameplay a bit. These pop up from time to time allowing your party member to perform some extra damage. Fortunately the game let's you turn it off if you're not interested. I had it turned off the entire game since I couldn't land a single hit even though I had no problems chaining a lot of them on the Xbox360 and even receiving an achievement for it. When the feature is turned off, the extra damage occurs randomly, just like everything else in the game.

Next failure is the "Item System". In your regular RPG, each item performs a certain task: A healing potion heals you, while a weapon part is used to upgrade weapons. Not here. There is an item system in place that works similarly to most other systems of the game: Elaborately complex yet completely pointless. The monsters you fight often drop "spoils", this could be a bird fin, a worm husk, or just some generic bone. You can also "harvest" from some of the locations, which can yield you items such as stones, metals, minerals, and special herbs. Some items can be bought from shops. You use these items to either upgrade your weapons, or use them in an item mixing technique in battle. Ideally, this would be a complex and entertaining system where you would experiment with your findings to make new weapons and techniques. The way it is implemented is exactly the opposite: Each weapon upgrade needs a specific set of items, so you can't experiment by mixing different weapons and items. You would think that if a weapon can be upgraded with a stone, it can become even more powerful with gold, or a special rare gem that you found somewhere. That's not the case. If the blacksmith needs stone, then you can upgrade your weapon using a stone and nothing else. Likewise, if you can combine two different herbs to heal some of your party members, those two herbs are the only ones you can use for healing. You can't mix different herbs to receive varied heal effects. It's either a mix of these two items, or nothing. And that's not even the worst part, as it is impossible to find some of the items that the blacksmiths need to upgrade your weapons: There's no hint at where to find them if you don't already have them and even their names doesn't help. You expect an "Avian Fiend Meat" to be dropped by any flying monster. That's not the case. Only a special kind of enemy drops this, and only in a specific location, and in random times. You can't possibly memorize all the items and where you found them, so either you use a detailed guide or the wiki, or you can forget about using the upgrade system altogether. Fortunately, the items required for item mixing techniques can all be bought at shops, so you're not going to have any problems healing your party if you have enough cash. In the end, each item has an overly specific way to obtain, and usually has a single use (convert this weapon to that) or no use at all. The whole system is just plain pointless and also a pain in the butt.

Not the whole gameplay system is broken though: The dungeons are fortunately designed with some relative sense. You can save anywhere in the map, a true bliss. There are no random encounters, the monsters roam freely in the map, and you can engage them in battle at will. Each monster has a status which shows how they're feeling. If they're cowering, you can avoid them with ease. If they're aggressive, they might follow you if you're noticed and initiate a battle themselves, which causes a negative effect on your morale bar and gives the enemy an initial advantage. It is also possible to "chain" some enemies together and engage them in battle together. This will make the battle more difficult, but will also yield you more spoils and drops.

As for the quest structure, aside from the very few main quests, there are two kinds of other objectives you can tackle: Side quests, and guild quests. Side quests can be accepted by talking to the people in town, and accepting their requests if they have one. Given the fact that the main quests are not so abundant, these can be considered part of the game's main quests. Some introduce new characters, some provide back-stories to the main characters, some open up new locations and techniques, and some give you good rewards.

The guild quests instead are the kind of pointless side quests you find in most games. These are lined up in the guild menus, and you can take their reward whenever they're done, so no need to "initiate" a guild quest. Killing a specific monster or acquiring a specific item is what you're expected to do for these quests, but there's no indication at how you're supposed to carry them out. The game is kind enough to tell you where to find groups of monsters, but for specific items and "boss monsters", it is up to you to find them. Since the world is large and the appearance of these targets can be random, the side quests usually end up being done "accidentally": You kill a monster and later find out that killing him was a guild quest: Another random feature.


There are two other frustrating aspects to this game that I should mention: First is the "missable content": Some locations, weapons, and quests, might disappear later in the game if you fail to perform a string of action in a particular time. Some side quests become unavailable if you progress through the main quests. Some locations can only be found only if you talk to a certain civilian at a town. Some items can become unavailable later in the game since the monsters that drop them get replaced by others. This means if you care about getting the most out of your game, you have to follow a guide to avoid missing these.

The other frustrating aspect is the "BR". An acronym of "Battle Rank", it's a status that sits there in your menu and doesn't seem to be important. The game never tells you what it's for. This kind of meaningless stat would normally be ignored, but as it turns out, this is the most important stat in The Last Remnant. The BR is your entire party's global level. The party members don't have individual levels associated with them. Like any RPG, the higher the level is, the slower you progress through it. However since in this game the BR is a global stat, it won't matter when you hired a party member: If your BR is high, all your members will gain improvements at a snail pace, and if it's low all of them will improve rapidly. But you aren't allowed to have the maximum amount of party members (around 20) from the get-go. The number of allowed party members in battle grows as you progress through the main quest. This means if you grind early on the game, you will end up with a bunch of weak members that will stay weak forever. This could at some instances break your whole game, forcing you a complete restart from the beginning. This is the very most frustrating experience one can have in an RPG, so use this guide (http://lastremnant.wikia.com/wiki/Guide_to_a_Low_BR_game) if you want to avoid something like that happening to you.
=====
PC Tweaks:
=====
As stated before, the PC version makes several tweaks and changes that slightly improve the gameplay. Also given the fact that the game is on PC, you can make several PC specific tweaks by editing the game files.

The most noticeable change from Xbox360 version is graphical improvements. The game suffered from long load times and texture pop-in on the Xbox 360, which have been addressed on the PC, since the game runs from your hard drive which is faster than a DVD-Rom. If you have a high end PC, you can also use this guide (http://lastremnant.wikia.com/wiki/PC_Tweaking#Decreasing_texture_pop-in) to make some tweaks to the game config located in your saves directory to improve your performance and get rid of the texture pop-in altogether. Another feature of the PC port is that it includes all of X360 version's DLCs by default, so you don't need to download them separately. There's also the addition of New Game +, which you can use to tackle the portions of game you missed on your first play-through more rapidly, since you start with lots of cash, which makes things much easier.

There are also some gameplay tweaks which turn it from X360's unplayable state to "barely playable": The game now features a Turbo Mode which makes the battles flow way faster when it's on. After playing a while on Turbo Mode I started to feel that the normal mode is practically on Slow Motion. This is pretty good for grinding and generally conserving time and going through the game faster. You can also switch the critical triggers on and off mid battle, which can help you if you usually use them but want to get rid of them when grinding, or when you're screwing up so much you'd rather turn it off mid battle.

Another tweak is that you are now able to "disable techniques". Yes, the battle decision system was so flawed that disabling techniques you've learned is a good thing: It prevents the game to make overly stupid decisions from time to time. The PC version also lets you hire as many of those previously mentioned unique leaders as you want, as opposed to the Xbox360 version which limited the number of leaders per union, forcing you to hire some generic soldiers as a part of your party. You can now also view the weapons you want to buy before taking them in battle (On Xbox360 version only the stats were visible)

This game being a console port, and a JRPG, it is highly advisable to use a controller to play the game. Any general dual analog design will do. Being a "Games for Windows" game, you can also plug in an X360 controller if you've got one and play without any further configuration required. I did have some problems configuring my dual shock controller though: The game's gamepad config menu splits the commands into different sections (in-game, menu, mid-battle), but some commands belong to more than one category while they're listed in only one. As an example, the party menu key is located in the in-game section, but it also works in the menu (as in world map and city map), if you don't override the key in menu section. So take extra care when configuring your controller. The game's got a surround sound option in case you have 5 speakers connected to your PC, but this game being a JRPG, the back speakers don't make any important sounds that would enhance your experience.

When I ran the game for the first time there were some annoying screen tearing, and there was no V-Sync option in the game's config menu, but I used the "Nvidia Control Panel" to create a profile for the game, and then forcing v-sync on. If you're using ATI you can go to "Catalyst Control Center" and turn "Wait for Vertical Refresh" to "Always On". I've also tried Nvidia's 3DVision: The game is ranked as fair, it doesn't render shadows correctly and some cut-scenes are out of focus. There's no way to turn the shadows off completely in the game's config menu, so other than setting in game settings appropriately, you also have to find "RushEngine.ini" file which is located at "My DocumentsMy GamesThe last remnantRushGameConfig", find the part that says "DynamicShadows=TRUE", and change it into "DynamicShadows=FALSE". (Don't forget to save) It's worth the trouble though: Watching all those mystical towns in 3D is really something else, and it takes you one step closer to truly "live" the game. However if you don't have these fancy 3D and high-end graphic cards, no need to worry: This is a turn-based game, so as long as it runs, the graphics won't affect the quality of gameplay.

And as a final note, I'd like to recommend this wiki (http://lastremnant.wikia.com/) if you ever decided to play this game. I have linked to it multiple times in this review before, but reminding you one more time won't hurt. Using the guides in this wiki can help you dramatically improve your experience with the game, to the point that not using some guides can break your game completely. I'll also recommend Xfire (http://www.xfire.com/download/) if you don't have steam. This program has a bunch of cool features (Taking screenshots and videos of your game, voice-chatting with your friends while playing, music player, etc.) but I'm recommending it specifically for this game because of it's in-game browser, which lets you browse the wiki without needing to constantly alt-tab in and out of the game. And trust me, you will constantly be using the wiki.
===============================================================
Final Ratings:
=====
Story: 7.5/10
The story does its job, but its not the best one you've heard. The ending was somewhat satisfying.
===
Audiovisuals: 8.5/10
The game world is beautiful. The soundtrack is nice. The voice acting could be better.
===
Gameplay: 4.5/10
It's broken, and the PC updates don't fix it. Get yourself a guide or use the wiki unless you enjoy confusion and frustration.
===
Technical Performance: 8.5/10
Use PC specific tweaks to eliminate all visual anomalies. Use 3Dvision and surround sound to enhance your experience.
===
Durability: 9.0/10
Even if you manage to finish all the side quests and the guild quests, give your party members the best weapons, and go through all the extra dungeons, there's still the new game plus.
===
OVERALL: 7.0/10 (Solid)

Get the full article at GameSpot

"gezegond reviewed The Last Remnant for the PC..." was posted by gezegond on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 08:29:37 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/the-last-remnant/user-reviews/800268/platform/pc/ Tue, 11 Sep 2012 19:55:48 -0700 loopy_101 reviewed Blade II for the PlayStation 2... http://www.gamespot.com/blade-ii/user-reviews/799896/platform/ps2/ ...and gave it a 6.0.

From the offset, you'd assume Blade 2 is like any other movie licenced tie-in: generic, buggy and overall missing out on the potential of the property in which it's based on. While Mucky Foot's interpretation of of this series definitely has a fair few tricks up it's sleeve (aside from the usual garlic, silver and sunlight) it could have been better endmost.

So before any of that let us make it clear that Blade is a Marvel property focused on a half-human vampire hunter. During the late 90s, Hollywood seemingly recognised the potential of the character by having him cast as Wesley Snipes and star in several surprisingly spectacular mature rated action flicks. They were violent, gory and as it would appear, converted into the interactive medium on Xbox and Playstation 2. Although in actuality, Mucky Foot's Blade 2 is set somewhere between the second and third films in the franchise. Most of the missions don't infact coincide with the events of Blade 2 the film yet do include characters (namely the carriers) that are central to the core of it's proceedings. As an action movie, the story of Blade 2 isn't particularly profound and it's light science fictional tones are fortunately cast aside rather tastefully in the game's visceral design. Instead the structure is spread out into straightforward mission load outs revolving around three campaigns.

Following a perfunctory tutorial and lackadaisical briefing from Blade's mentor, Whistler, you're whisked into the thick of your objectives and in effect the game itself. And truth be told, this is for the better as Blade 2's action is heavily invested in martial arts and hand to hand fighting. It's very old school, clearly taking alot of influence from older 2D brawlers like the Capcom CPS1 arcade game: Final Fight and Sega's own Mega Drive classic: Streets of Rage. Mucky Foot have taken their own artistic credit into establishing Blade 2 as this and have included a complicated combo system as a result, complete with a multi-tiered fighting system that makes it not only possible to fight several foes at one time but with natural and caustic controls. Blade 2's fighting controls are left entirely to the right analogue stick. At first, the method of using the right analogue stick would seem daunting, not to mention confusing, but with careful timing and placement it swiftly springs to be a very intuitive means of fist fighting, rewarding good players with adrenaline boosts and Blade's own katana for temporal periods and slick looking execution kills.

To already draw up a minor issue though, it completely subdues any other style of play and physical weapons in the form of the pistol, shotgun and especially the glaive aren't developed in nearly the same manner for close-quarters combat. The reality of the Blade 2's quality is largely dependent on the beat 'em up fighting system mentioned prior. What makes this one so bothersome is how the mission structure gets exploited. There are mixed messages as to what Mucky Foot were trying and while on one side it would appear that they wanted an arcade, score-line built brawler in Blade 2 however on the other it would seem that the non-linear level design and oddball capture and retrieve mission layouts are contrarian to this.

A single playthrough of one such mission can extend from fifteen minutes to twenty minutes because of this, often with some limited checkpoint starvation except on the mission preluding the eventual boss fight at the end of each campaign. It all becomes too formulaic and repetitive. Combine this problem with an irregular difficulty curve that makes some levels easy, some levels extraordinarily hard and you're bound to leave Blade 2 atleast fuming on one occasion or two. As with Oni also, the way projectile weapons work make it difficult to escape fights without being hit or being able to counter the hail of gunfire which can lead to a familiar scenario in which you're doing great up until you stumble on someone else's bullets.

While Blade 2 tonally captures the fighting and attention to detail on Blade's abilities as seen in the Hollywood pictures, the art-design, voice acting and music do not resonate the same way. It isn't surprising that Activision couldn't provide convincing replacements for Whistler, Blade or even the "suckheads" you get the kill in this late 2002 release but a complete lack of any licenced music featured in either film is an insult to fans of the series. Sound effects are unsurprisingly your stock choices for weapon sounds and hefty attack sounds, nothing out of the ordinary. Blade 2 does finally have a bright, cartoon-like sheen to its aesthetics. The prosaic city and nightclub scenes are replicated faithfully from the source material as are the sterile prison and laboratory environments seen later on. Characters may appear to be too angular, The blood and violence isn't as intense as it should be but Blade 2's engine looks and plays smooth as it should which is suitably solid for all it's worth. Unfortunately there is no 16:9 or 60Hz support either on the PAL version played.

Atleast Blade 2 is a competent enough action game to consider for a late night rental, the three campaigns would probably take you a good five to seven hours in gametime to complete for that matter. It is clear that Mucky Foot had venerable intentions with the beat 'em up layout as evidenced in the right analogue stick controls, but hampered with inconsistent and monotonous mission design besides lackluster presentation values, Blade 2 refrains itself from being anything more than something to sink your teeth into on a long weekend.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"loopy_101 reviewed Blade II for the PlayStation 2..." was posted by loopy_101 on Tue, 11 Sep 2012 19:55:48 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/blade-ii/user-reviews/799896/platform/ps2/ Wed, 05 Sep 2012 11:39:10 -0700 nintendoboy16 reviewed Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing for the DS... http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-and-sega-all-stars-racing/user-reviews/799631/platform/ds/ ...and gave it a 8.0.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Get the full article at GameSpot

"nintendoboy16 reviewed Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing for the DS..." was posted by nintendoboy16 on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 11:39:10 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-and-sega-all-stars-racing/user-reviews/799631/platform/ds/ Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:28:45 -0700 kbaily reviewed Sonic Generations for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-generations/user-reviews/799549/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 7.0.

Sonic really has come back from near obscurity. In 2010 we had Sonic Colors, Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing and Sonic 4, which were all good. then Sonic Generations came out and everyone loved Sonic again.

What was ironic was for years it seemed like Sonic's best game's were handhelds like Sonic Advance and Sonic Rush but with the 3DS version of Sonic Generations it seems we have a 180 degree shift. This really feels like something Sega quickly cobbled together because they wanted something for the 3DS for Christmas. My friends on the Sonicspot board often refer to this as "Sonic Rush Space Time Continum Adventure."

Storywise, it's the same plot as it's console big brother but more watered down only featuring the 2 Sonics, Eggman and Tails. Metal Sonic, Shadow and Silver show up for the rival battles still but the story is told with static text cutscenes with copy/pasted images from the console cutscenes. If like me you played through the console version, you'll more than likely skip over these.

Gameplay the classic stages are not that different from it's big brother accept Dimps wanted to give retro Sonic a homing attack. This didn't bother me but if you were one of those who had a fit over it in Sonic 4 then you'll hate it. Modern Sonic is basically just Sonic Rush again and if you played both Rushes and the DS Colors, don't expect anything different. Also after beating both acts, you play a special stage based on the tube from Sonic Heroes where you chase the emerald collecting bubbles to speed up. This is clearly to show off the 3D effect. Though in fairness they're way easier here than in Heroes and you can restart when you mess up.
Then you have the afformentioned rival battles with Metal Sonic, Shadow and Silver and these are basically taken from Sonic Rivals (remember those games? Neither do I?) Then the boss fights and getting all seven emeralds unlocks the fight with the Time Eater.

If there was one reason to play the 3DS Generations if you already played the console versions it's that it does feature stages different from the other version and different era bosses. Green Hill, Casino Night and Mushroom Hill from the Genesis era. Emerald Coast and Radical Highway (which if you recall was a stage played by Shadow not Sonic) from the Dreamcast era but the Modern era only features Water Temple from Sonic Rush and Tropical Resort from Colors. Seriously no representation from the Sonic Advances or Sonic Rush Adventure? Making this game shorter as well.

The game also has missions but they're totally optional and are only there for you to unlock the character art and music and of course you can compete for high scores via Street Pass.

While the game is not bad, it's very forgettable especially after playing Generations on the PS3/360. Once I beat it, I didn't have a desire to return to it much.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed Sonic Generations for the 3DS..." was posted by kbaily on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:28:45 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/sonic-generations/user-reviews/799549/platform/3ds/ Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:10:54 -0700 kbaily reviewed New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS... http://www.gamespot.com/new-super-mario-bros-2/user-reviews/799546/platform/3ds/ ...and gave it a 7.5.

This game has sort of come under fire. Mario taking a bit of flack for "going through the motions" and the reason this game exists is because the previous two 2D Marios both for the DS and Wii respectively made butt tons of money outselling their 3D counterparts because the masses prove time and time again they want the same stuff over and over again. Look at Call of Duty and Madden.

The thing is NSMB2 is not a bad game by any means and while I wished it had experimented a bit more, I still had fun playing it. If you watched the Game Overthinker's recent episode about Mario, I share most of the same feelings. I'd rather Mario play it safe and be good then wallow in crap like Sonic, Crash and Spyro did (yes Sonic's improved recently).

So the premise of this one brings back the Koopalings. Clearly realizing that no one liked Bowser Jr. The koopalings tie him up and lock him in the closet, steal the keys to their dad's Clown Car and go to kidnap Peach and wreak havoc (well the locking BJ in the closet was my personal fantasy there.)

The gameplay is what you expect from Mario. Run, jump, use items, etc. The racoon leaf is brought back for nostalgia and for some reason this manifests itself with Luigi having a fox tail instead of the same racoon tail as Mario (is this a reference to Tails?) What's a tad disappointing is the game didn't carry over some of the things that NSMBWii introduced such as Yoshi, the penguin suit or the helicopter hat. Though Racoon tail > heli hat.

The other big addition is the accumulation of coins in that the game does a grand total of all coins collected. Coins come out of pipes. There are gold rings that turn everything to gold and the one new item is a gold flower that not only destroys everything but turns it into coins. A feature that is available is "Coin Rush" where you basically play 4 stages with a shorter time limit with the goal to collect as many coins as possible. This you can use the Street Pass feature and compete with others for high scores. And truly I had fun with this. In NSMBWii I had this urge to collect as many coins as I can just because I could and now it actually means something. Though with such a focus on coin collecting, it renders the life system useless. Seriously why not get rid of lives altogether or at least eliminate the 100 coins= extra life. Sonic Colors did that. Has anyone seen the game over screen in the main story?

Though unlike the first DS game collecting all those star coins feels more worthwhile. Star coins unlock paths on the map as well as 90 will get you to the final world. The main game is only 6 worlds long but bonus Mushroom, Flower and Star worlds are unlockable as well trying to find all hidden paths.

Is this a ground breaking Mario title? No. Is it a solid 2D platformer. Yes. Don't set ridiculously high standards and you'll have a good time.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the 3DS..." was posted by kbaily on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:10:54 -0700
]]> http://www.gamespot.com/new-super-mario-bros-2/user-reviews/799546/platform/3ds/ Mon, 20 Aug 2012 07:32:02 -0700 kbaily reviewed Jak and Daxter Collection for the PlayStation 3... http://www.gamespot.com/jak-and-daxter-collection/user-reviews/798814/platform/ps3/ ...and gave it a 9.0!

I didn't own a PS2 so I missed the great platforming series that graced it. After the Sly collection and looking forward to the Ratchet and Clank collection so in between is the Jak and Daxter series. Now this is a series I was a bit hesitant of. Mainly because the series went through a major tonal shift between the first and second games. I usually get annoyed when a game goes "grim and gritty" because for me it seems like a way to shamless pander to the 15-35 male demographic who won't play anything without guns and swearing because they have insecurites about their percieved masculinity. However despite the series tonal shift, it definitely didn't feel like the shameless pandering that something like "Bomberman:Act Zero" and "Shadow the Hedgehog" did but let's get to the review.

Jak and Daxter: The first game in the series is very similar to Banjo-Kazooie and for me, that's not a bad thing. The story goes a young pointy eared kid named Jak travels to a mysterious island with his annoying friend, Daxter. Daxter trips and falls into a vat of black goo called Dark Ico which turns him into an Otsell, a small weasel like creature. The two of them set out to find a way to change Daxter back. Much like Banjo Kazooie the duo traverses a variety of colorful levels collecting orbs (notes), Scout Flies (Jinjos) and Power Cells (Jiggys). The flies and orbs can be exchanged for the power cells which open new areas. As with the Mario Stars or Jiggys collecting all Power cells will unlock a final ending. You run, jump, attack foes, solve puzzles and fight bosses using ico energy as well as a few vehicle sections to mix up things. Daxter doesn't do much other than mug the camera and talk for Jak. But I had a blast with this and sometimes I wish the series had stuck to this format but that's just me.

Jak II: This was when the series decided to go towards a more "edgy" tone. The story begins where Jak and his friends find a giant Precursor portal and blast through it only to end up in a place called Haven City which turns out is their land many years in the future. Jak is captured, imprisioned and tortured for 2 years before Daxter finds him. His 2 year imprisionment gives Jak the ability to speak as well as all the Dark Ico experiments done to him gives him the ability to transform into a sort of purple rage monster. Where the first game was borrowing from Banjo Kazooie, this one goes for a GTA feel. This annoys me. Jak has to drive all over a crowded city full of hover cars that have wonky steering and if you so much as tap a city guard you'll get chased and shot at when all you want to do is get to the next mission level. The levels themselves are the best. It's full of platforming and the implementation of weapons adds something new and despite the darker tone, Daxter's wisecracking and the use of primary colors keeps it somewhat lighthearted still. My biggest gripe with Jak II is that it is insanely hard at times. I don't mind a challenge but the game is extremely stingy with health and checkpoints. I would spent longer than needed in a mission because I died due to little to no health packs and no mid stage checkpoint. It's worse if you have a driving/shooting mission in the city where there is no health and guards bum rush you at every moment. Dark Jak would be great if it worked when you needed it but guards don't drop dark ico juice so all you can do is shoot and hope you don't run out of ammo.

Jak III: Jak 3 finds the happy medium. It's challenging without being frustrating and makes better use of Dark Jak. After defeating Evil Barron Praxis in Jak II, Jak is banished to the wasteland because of fear of his dark form. He wanders into a desert village in what could be described as "Pixar Presents Mad Max" Instead of driving through a cluttered city with cops constantly chasing you get a big open desert with cars that can shoot and the city area gives you fun leaper (giant lizards) creatures to ride around. Much like #2 it's a mix of driving, platforming and shooting missions and it much more balanced. The game is easier being more generous with the health, allowing you to turn Dark Jak on and off as well as a new light form.

Overall it's a good collection redone in HD complete with trophies though it would've been nice to include Daxter's PSP solo outing. I also wish Naughty Dog would've considered toning down #2's difficulty or at least tossed a few more health packs but these are good platformers with a lot of variety and great visuals that hold up well. Looking at the 2nd and 3rd installments I can't help but wonder if that was what Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts aspired to be but wasn't.

Get the full article at GameSpot

"kbaily reviewed Jak and Daxter Collection for the PlayStation 3..." was posted by kbaily on Mon, 20 Aug 2012 07:32:02 -0700
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