My life for Auir! I mean- evil...

• 1Dec 09

  Birthday gifts and review relocation

  Hi again all.

  My birthday was just yesterday... And I just got 2 games out of it. Here's a brief summary of the two and what to expect from my reviews of them so far...

  Demon's Souls: Demon's Souls doesn't hate you- it loves you... It's just giving us plenty of tough love. Case in point- the difficulty is quite high, but does so through unforgiving level and enemy design. For some- the difficulty may seem absurdly high- and some of the enemies cheap. But trust me- it's not cheap- nowhere near as cheapas Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 was at times.

  Case in point- knowledge of how the game engine, weapons, and enemy AI work gives you a huge advantage here. Long weapons can stab through small walls for instance, and the enemy AI's simplicitycan easily be abused. Perhaps a llittle TOO easily- but still (It can be easy to get enemies stuck or lure them into instant-death situations).

  Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron: With the formula of what was supposed to be Battlefront 3 supporting it- Elite Squadron was SUPPOSED to be a worthy successor to Renegade Squadron... Unfortunately- this is only partially the case. In terms of multiplayer- so far, I'd say Elite Squadron is a relatively worthy successor.

  The single player could- no- should have been much more. Long story short- the campaign is hilariously abysmal in both storyline and design. (

  And the worst part? Your FORCED to playthis mockery of a campaignto unlock many of the game's customization options... Absolutely unacceptable- especially when Renegade Squadron had all these options available from the get-go.

  ---

  Reviews'll be coming relatively soon. I'll probably review Elite squadron first- then Demon's Souls sometime later.

  Oh- and before I forget. Yes- these reviews will not be posted on Gamespot. I will now be posting them on IGN- as I won't be stuck with the .5 increments now. (.1 increments are back! yay!)

  Sure- it's really actually a minor difference- like the score matters THAT much. But the way IGN's review system gives me an additional 5 scores to write summaries in I think makes the transition worth it. (In case your curious, my Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 review has already been posted over at IGN. I probably won't be posting it here)

  • Posted Dec 1, 2009 2:58 pm PT
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• 14Oct 09

  Quick upcoming review previews

  Empire: Total War:

  "Total War veterans- no- anyone who's played a Total War game recently- and even if it's been a while- should be able to up the battle AI difficulty to expert right away if they want any semblance of a fair fight in single player. And even then- you'll quickly see that Empire's Expert AI is just barely the equivalent of Normal difficulty AIs from other Total War games.

  And even then- Rome: Total War's normal AI was better and more organized than Empire's expert AI.

  Ouch."

  Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2:

  "Easier than the 360 version? Yes.

  But that doesn't mean it's a cakewalk in comparison- if you're new to the series, you should still expect to die at least a few times at the easiest difficulty level.

  But the difficulty has been maintained ina fewgood ways. For example: sure- enemy numbers are lower, but their AI has been slightly improved- expect to see them dodging and blockingyour attacks a bit more often now."

  Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic:

  "Too early to say much right now... Been greatly enjoying it so far though.

  Thehigh emphasis on melee combat for non-jedi characters does hamper the "Star Wars" feel of the game for me- since ranged combat feels a little too weak- but this is really just me being nitpicky. (Or maybe my stats just aren't far enough yet- or maybe they're purposely trying to make us feel what it's like to have Stormtrooper accuracy?)"

  These 3 reviews will be coming soon- expect the Empire:Total War review to come first, probably followed by Ninja Gaiden 2 Sigma.

  • Posted Oct 14, 2009 2:16 pm PT
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• 4May 09

  Another 'The Ancient, the Rugged, and the Testy'

  Tsk! It's been a while... (I blame college classes and the fact that I am admittedly shifting over to using other game sites such as gametrailers, IGN, Giant Bomb, andeven most recently Gamespy [though only because ofFlintcock versus the Horde]more often than Gamespot now...)

  Anyway- I just got back from my weekend dance competition... Yes- the Emerald Ball, I was there both saturday and sunday for the event at the Hilton near LAX airport.

  Knowing I would have at least two long breaks on Saturday and Sunday (a 7 hour break on Saturday, 4 hour break on Sunday), I brought my PSP just in case...

  But- I should've known this would happen due to my experience with more expensive hotels- there was a Nintendo 64 in the room...

  So- yes, the N64 won out over my PSP, easily. They had 31 games on offer- including: (In no particular order)

  • Super Mario 64
  • Star Fox 64
  • Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
  • Majora's Mask
  • Mortal Kombat 4
  • Mario tennis
  • Mario Kart 64
  • F-Zero X
  • Excitebike 64
  • Mario Golf
  • Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
  • Mario Party 3

  And that's just a few! I myself played a bit of Mario Party 3 andMortal Kombat 4... But, the one game on offer that I played the most was none other than the ORIGINAL Super Smash Bros...

  Of course I played it the most! I had memories of enjoying it at other hotels and during summer school- and with all my experience in Brawl, I figured that maybe I'd actually be able to fare well in the game now!

  I was only mostly correct... For there were a few gameplay differences from Melee/Brawl that surprised me... No air dodging? No charged smash attacks? No down-dodging (You could only dodge sideways...)? Took me a little time to get used to them...

  Which brings me to the focus of this post... It's another 'The ancient, the rugged, and the testy,' for the original SSB is around 10 years old at this point- so it qualifies. (That, and I have/got enough experience with it to do a casual review on it- which has already been posted)

  So it's today's victim! Let's get started...

  Super Smash Bros (SSB) was released back in 1999 for the N64. Despite being a low-budget title (2D pokemon and items should make that obvious), SSB garnered plenty of attention- and quickly became one of Nintendo's newest highly popular series.

  Unlike other fighters, SSB wasn't about KOing your opponents by depleting their health- it was all about stacking damage onto your opponent so you could knock them off the arena. Along with normal and smash attacks, you had plenty of items to use to help with this task- such as poke balls, beam swords, baseball bats, bomb-ombs, and much more (all in 2D!).

  If you've played Melee or Brawl- then you'll already know how the original SSB works- despite the lack of air dodging and charged smash attacks. In terms of value however, the original SSB is very limited compared to both Melee and Brawl- for the number of modes and customization options were incredibly limited. In single player- all you had was the mode known as classic mode in Melee and Brawl- only without the randomization, it was always the same opponents (So you'll always start with link- always fight that Giant Donkey Kong with 2 AI allies- always fight that Metal Mario, etc.). There was also the option to practice the game's two types of bonus stage- target smash and board the platforms.

  Then there was the series mainstay- the VS mode. You could play with up to 4 players, both human and AI with 9 difficulty levels to choose from- just like in Melee and Brawl. Unlike melee and brawl though- your options for VS mode were limited to team games, time limit, and stock. You couldn't change much else- not even what items appeared in-game.

  As such- that's why SSB seems rugged and testy compared to Melee and Brawl- it's replay value hasn't aged too well, despite how well it's gameplay has aged. It doesn't have the customization of Melee and Brawl, it doesn't have the large character rosters either has, and it's AI isn't as good as Brawl's (surprisingly commonly messing up recoveries...).

  But the ancient part of the game is what still shines- despite being outclassed by Melee and Brawl. There are enough gameplay differences to make the originall SSB still worth checking out- given how it feels surprisingly different from Brawl at times. SSB has held up surprisingly well over time- and is ultimately not as ancient as you may think.

  The ancient: SSB was the beginning of the Smash Bros series! As such, a few moves we take for granted in Melee and Brawl- such as charged smash attacks and air dodging, aren't present here. These differences are enough to make the game feel ancient, and yet surprisingly fresh compared to Brawl at the same time.

  The rugged: In terms of replay value- SSB has absolutely nothing on Melee and Brawl. This would be the one reason you would want to pass on SSB if you want a new smash bros game and already have Brawl. If your really desperate for a new smash bros game- already have Brawl, but want plenty of value- go with Melee, for the original SSB is a bit lacking here.

  The Testy: SSB was a low-budget title... The 2D pokemon and items should make this obvious... Another thing here is the game's AI- which suffers from many more quibbles than Melee's AI, and especially Brawl's AI.

  My review: http://www.gamespot.com/n64/action/supersmashbros/player_review.html?id=657641&tag=all-about;review1

  EDIT 1: Gack! The Star Wars title included in the list of N64 games was wrong! It's Rogue Squadron- not Renegade Squadron! (This has now been fixed- I blame the fact that Renegade Squadron WAS one of hte games I had brought for my PSP)

  • Posted May 4, 2009 9:19 am PT
  • Category: General
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