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| Vidya Game Reviews | |
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| Topic Started: Feb 26 2011, 03:27 AM (11,989 Views) | |
| MathewJJA | Apr 17 2011, 08:34 PM Post #16 |
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Unregistered
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The game I'll be reviewing today will be... Super Paper Mario for the Wii. I recently finished this game after leaving it alone for a while. And it gave me the same amount of satisfaction like the first time I played it. One of the things you'll notice is how different it looks from the first two predecessors. It works like Super Mario Bros. Each chapter has 4 sub chapters and there are eight chapters. This might differ in likeliness between different gamers, but don't fret if you don't like it! Because very early in the game, you get the Flip ability! This ability allows you to flip into 3-D to find hidden passages, items, or even people! But the downfall, it only lasts about 15 seconds. Now let's get to the plot. The princess was kidnapped (OH EM GEE REALLY?), but this time, she wasn't kidnapped by Bowser. Obviously, the Mario Bros. assume that Bowser did kidnap her and they go to his castle to confront him. Bowser keeps denying that he kidnapped her and also wonders who actually did. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Peach appears trapped in a barrier! And what follows is a man in a cape with a monocle and top hat. His name is Count Bleck. He is the main antagonist in the game. He claims he kidnapped Princess Peach to activate the events of the Dark Prognosticus. He then kidnaps everyone in the room, Luigi, Bowser and all his minions. Except Mario, who is unconscious after attempting to attack Count Bleck. What happens next is a wedding between Bowser and Peach which will awaken the Chaos Heart. Now I don't want to spoil anything else but that's the opening. Now the gameplay is pretty cool. It's simple, 2 is jump, and the D-Pad moves you around. :P It's also responsive so don't worry about messed up controls. At times, it could be frustrating, though. Especially if you are playing with Luigi, since he is very slippery when walking. And a lot of the levels and puzzles could be very tedious. Another problem is how it can change from extremely easy, to frustratingly difficult. It's strange how one level can be easy like 3-2 to extremely hard like 3-3. It goes for bosses, too. Like the final boss who is really easy. But a big plus is the music. The music in the levels and boss battles are simply great. It also has the Pit of 100 Trials like in TTYD. Except this time there are 2, with optional bosses at the end. Another part I like is the amount of playable content. You can finish the game and there is still a lot of things to do like level up, play at the arcade. etc. Overall, this game is very enjoyable, if you can get passed its flaws, you'll like it a lot. RATING: 8.5/10 |
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| SnowmanXIV | Apr 21 2011, 02:01 AM Post #17 |
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I'll review Portal 2. I've only played it for about an hour and a half so far, I think, and the campaign is supposedly 6-10 hours long. I probably won't review this until I've finished both the campaign and co-op. If Valve is amazing enough to support P2 with free updates/campaigns (like TF2/L4D2) I'll do mini-reviews of those too. Obviously if the update is like, "Added four new hats," I won't review it. I'll only review stuff that adds to the gameplay. |
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| MrMarill | May 7 2011, 03:24 PM Post #18 |
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CURSE YOU! I was about to review it xD Uh, I'll review a different game instead. I've got it! Athens 2004: The Olympic Games Playstation 2 Now, this is a random game. Y'see, I was told to babysit for my mum's friend and her child demanded I played this, so we did. I have this game at home from when I was young and it's still as GodAwful as I remember. You can play as either a male or female and nearly every event and offers no difference whatsoever. There are many different types of games, all very different. Oh wait they're not, they're all the same, but that's besides the point. I'll go through them individually. Track There's Sprint, Middle Distance and Hurdles. Yeah, no Long Distance. Seems odd, but I'll run with it. AHAHAHAHA- Anyway. Sprint is amazingly technical. You smash Circle and X as fast as humanly possible, alternating. To this day I still cannot place higher than 8th. 100, 200 and 400 metre are all hideously broken. Then we have Hurdles. 110m for Men, 100m for Women. Fantastic. Same thing, except you press R1 to jump. How the fuck you're supposed to jump while smashing these buttons is beyond me and you'll power into every hurdle and finish in about four hours. Finally there's Middle Distance, the only vaguely fun game in the whole collection. You use the left analogue stick to move lanes, and the right one to choose your speed. That's it. You have little Hearts at the top to measure your stamina, and on the last lap you gain "Second wind" which, when used, makes you run way faster but runs out after 100 metres and leaves you dead, basically. Breaking World Records is laughably easy and you can just go full speed for 400 metres before you run out of hearts. You recharge them by holding back. Field Here, there's Jumping and Throwing. For the Long Jump, Triple Jump, Pole Vault and Javelin Throw, guess how you run? That's right, smashing Circle and X. Then at the end, you have to press R1 at the right time to jump or throw. The same event four times, and annoyingly tedious. Don't expect to get anywhere approaching a good score. For Shot Put, you have to spin your control stick and press R1 to throw. It's really uninteresting. Discus Throw is so needlessly complex I have NO IDEA how to play it. High Jump is laughable. It's playable; there are little footprints on the floor on the way to the High Jump and you have to press Circle or X as you land, depending on the foot, then press R1 on the last one to get the highest jump. This is a lot easier as you're not manically pressing buttons any more. In fact, this is so easy the game starts you off at 2m 20. Yeah. And you comfortably get 2m 50 (the World Record is 2m 50) and you can go as high as 2m 60 before the game says you have to stop. It's so easy. Swimming There's four types here. You're expecting 100m, 200m, 1000m etc., right? Nope. There's Breastroke, Freestyle, Backstroke and Butterfly. All 100m. I'm not kidding, all events are identical. Way to disguise more content. Anyway. You jump in by pressing R1 at the right time (you do in Sprint too, forgot to mention) and you smash Circle and X to swim. AGAIN. Then you press R1 at the far end and... smash Circle and X again. Gee guys, I can smash Circle and X WITHOUT putting in a game. Gymnastics Something different! Here, there's Floor Exercises, Rings Men and Vault. Yeah, it's literally called Rings Men. Anywho, Vault you smash Circle and X (yup) and press R1 to jump. Then you mash buttons and press R1 to land. It's very tedious and simply doesn't work. Rings Men is actually the best game on the collection. You choose Bronze to Gold at the start, which is your difficulty. The higher you choose, the harder it is but the higher a score you can get. You use the analogue sticks to keep yourself in the right zone then smash R1 and L1 when it says (oh, changing the gameplay). Finally, you dismount by doing a specific button combination. The higher the difficulty, the harder it is to stay in control. Then for Floor Exercises they completely changed everything. For Men, you have to do different button combinations and use the analogue sticks as it asks, and it gives you a score somehow based off that. Then Women is a Dance Dance Revolution clone. I'm not even kidding, you use the D-Pad to hit the directions as they scroll up the screen and your on-screen dancer does exactly the same thing no matter what you do. Equestrian This is Male only. I'm not sure why, but aaanyway. You use the left analogue stick to move left or right and the right one to charge or slow down. You press R1 to jump fences. This is horribly broken. It gives you a basic path you have to follow, and if you stray from it your horse gets scared and you get four penalty points. Knocking down a fence does the same thing too. Now, the reason it's so borked is that the game only lets you jump when it thinks you're in range of the fence. If you jump too far back, you knock stuff over. If you crash into the fence, the game stops just before, your horse runs away and you get penalty points. You can see what this means. You try to jump the fence as late as possible and the game decides you're about to crash and completely ruins your momentum. Very frustrating. Weight Lifting The only event here is +105kg Clean and Jerk. No idea why it was so specific xD You smash Circle and X (surprise surprise) and then press R1 to move onto the next stage. Or, I assume so. I've never gotten that far. It's painful to play, and to watch your person fail miserably. Archery The only event again is the strangely specific 70 metres. It's also strangely female only. You aim at the target, which gets smaller and smaller the longer you don't fire to make it harder. It makes NO logical sense and serves just to make it more difficult. There are flags for you to judge the wind, but the animation for GALE FORCE GOING BACKWARDS and the animation for LOTS OF WIND FORWARD DAMMIT are exactly the same. So you can see how that works. As in, it doesn't. Shooting Finally, we have skeet shooting, again Male only. You have the route the skeet will fly, which your character magically knows before the skeet is launched, and your aiming cursor is restricted solely to it and can't move up or down. Now, this becomes a timing game, and if you miss your first shot, God help you. The problem comes then when there are two launchers. You can't move between routes. Instead, whenever you fire your first shot you go onto the second route. Really, that's how they solved it. They didn't delete one route when you're not using it or anything ooohhh no. Two routes going by each other isn't confusing at all, and then you shoot the first one and have 0.05 seconds to readjust before shooting the second one. You CAN'T DO IT. And guess what? They didn't just give you two rounds or something, oooohhhh no. They give you eight. Freakin'. Rounds. You have to shoot, wait for your person to eye their round, nod, load their gun, walk off, have the map tell you where you are, your person be introduced, THEN you fire at the next round. 90% of the game is spent watching a horrible cutscene. Speaking of which, I don't usually comment on this, but the graphics here are disgusting. Everyone moves jerkily and looks EXACTLY the same, all the areas look identical and the crowd are all 2D and never move. And by far the worst part of the game IS... The commentator. Yeah, they put a commentator in. However, he expects every single player to be an absolute EXPERT at EVERYTHING in this game. If you get, say, 70 metres on Javelin, he says "He'll be very disappointed with that throw" or if you get ONLY 2 metres 40 on High Jump he'll basically say you're a failure. He says it in every event, and it gets very frustrating. He also refers to EVERYONE as "This young man" or "He" (there's a female commentator for the females), and it's made worse that your character AGREES with them. Your guy throws it 70 metres on Javelin and starts punching the air and stamping his feet in disappointment. The worst is on the Gymnastics where getting a mere 9.0 makes your character start crying into their coach's shoulder. The commentator reaches "This technique is embarassing" "I can't believe his country accepts this level" "This is truly terrible" AS YOU'RE GOING ROUND THE COURSE. So of course she makes you do worse. Another thing which is sucky: There is NOTHING TO DO. There is no Campaign mode, Mission mode, NOTHING. There's the Heptathlon and all that, but you get nothing from doing it. They're just seven events in a row, which counts points too, I suppose. There's one mode which plays all the events in a row, but why would you bother? Of course, there's also "Individual" which does the individual events. There is no extra choice of game modes. BOTTOM LINE: Please, do not play this game. You will stab someone's eyes out if you do. Probably your own. Final Score: 1.3/10 |
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| MementoVivere | May 7 2011, 10:58 PM Post #19 |
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Game: Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (aka FE11) Platform: Nintendo DS Genre: Strategy RPG Score: 7/10 If you've ever been in a chat with myself, Marill, and perhaps Lightning/anyone else who has played a Fire Emblem (though mostly Marill and me), you've likely heard us discussing the series at one point or another. Your reaction was probably to slink away and let us immerse ourselves in chat about FE9/10, Mia and how amazingly awesome she is, how kickass her skill Astra is, how much she destroys everything that moves if she has Vague Katti/Alondite, the various sorts of bullshit we get ourselves into (and out of), etc. To put it simply, Fire Emblem kicks ass. A lot of it. However, the eleventh iteration of the series is often not received very well. FE players generally refer to characters as "units" because that's kind of what they are. This term is used more when discussing the gameplay itself. I probably did so numerous times out of habit. Anyway. Gameplay is basic Fire Embl... Oh wait. It's a turn-based strategy RPG. You're moving guys around on a grid composed of squares. It would be really boring if these squares did not represent a place in the game world, and each map features various kinds of terrain (forests, mountains, forts, etc) which you can use to your advantage. If they come within attacking range of an enemy unit, which varies with each weapon, they can attack that unit. You might choose not to; sometimes that tactic is advantageous. If the enemy's HP hits zero, they die. You have various weapons (which can break) to accomplish your task, and unlike in most other RPGs, you don't have to worry one iota about armor. Certain weapons have advantages over others too, though this mostly applies to accuracy in FE11. Did I mention this also applies to the enemy? Like you, they are out to eliminate YOUR units in the same fashion. If they kill your Lord/some other vital unit, it's game over for you. It sounds deceptively easy, but it's really not. Even the normal mode in an FE game is harder than many RPGs out there. I find this game easy by FE standards. In this way, it's good for newcomers. You're swimming in money and you get a card that reduces all prices BY HALF. All you really have to do is keep your one thief alive (easy) and use him to loot the treasure chests. There's enough cash in the game world to keep you extremely well-stocked. Speaking of well-stocked, there are weapons that are "I win" buttons, and they're dirt cheap. I don't call Caeda's Wing Spear by its proper name. It's the "Win Spear" because all it does is win. Marth's Rapier is as broke and you get like eight in the game. There are also plenty of special weapons to kill mounted units, flying units, armored units, and dragonkin units. Basically, there's something to take down everyone who may pose a challenge and enough to spread the wealth amongst your team. Death is permanent in the Fire Emblem universe. There are no Phoenix Downs, Revives, or whatever to be found here. However, this game gives you a staff that can revive one unit, which is more than FE9 or FE10 can say. Unlike other games in the series, death is almost a requirement to reach the "Gaiden" missions, which are like sidequests. If you have more than 15 units in your army at the time you can access them, you can't reach them. This is THE major flaw in this game. This series pretty much conditions you to always, ALWAYS keep your units alive/to protect the weaker ones (generally any healers/frail mages you bring), and killing them off to reach four extra levels through the course of the game flies in the face of accepted FE play. I wouldn't have minded "beat X map in a certain way", but intentional suicide? There's a new mechanic (idk if it's in any others) in this game. The game will allow you to "reclass" almost any unit. The only real exceptions are your Lord, ballisticians (they suck, no movement), and dragonkin (they suck harder, no weapons). Out of these characters, you should only be using your Lord because you have to and he's a great unit. I'm not sure I like this idea. It would have been decent if it required a relatively rare item IMO. Overall, I feel it devalues each character. Lose one of your very few and precious natural mages? It doesn't matter; make someone else the new mage. Nobody has a real niche anymore when you can make anyone anything. Everyone is replaceable, making it hard to care for them. I suppose it's a good idea for newcomers to the series, but then I'd recommend them FE9 or FE10 anyway if only for easy mode and superior stories/characters, soooo... Story is pretty good for a 1990 game. There is always someone starting shit (namely, war and douchebaggery) in a Fire Emblem, and it's no different here. The game starts with the kingdom of Altea getting stabbed in the back by one of its allies. Our protagonist, Marth, loses his family. His parents died during the invasion and it's unknown what happens to his sister until late in the game. Marth escapes to the island of Talys and bides his time. When he has enough strength, he sets out to take back his nation. So begins the story. And OF COURSE it eventually turns into "save the world", which is another staple of FE and most RPGs in general. It's nothing special, but it fits the "Fire Emblem formula". It's one of those things that isn't broke, so it doesn't need fixing. What DOES need fixing is... Shit, pretty much every character. Even though there is generally little in the way of character development in this series, I would assume most players feel somewhat close, silly as that sounds, to their most used units. After all, these are the ~15 characters they've taken on nearly every mission and trust will get the job done. For me this would apply to units like Mia and Nephenee of FE9/10 fame. Mia is really little more than the girl who is always exuberant and happy no matter what, while Nephenee is a simple country gal. Even though they wouldn't be great characters in almost any other game because they have little to no back story or development, these are characters I know will get shit done in FE, so I use them a lot and like them more than most. There really isn't anyone who fits that bill in FE11. There are no supports in this game and few conversations on the battlefield. While I wouldn't submit any FE support as an example of great dialog, it's an insight into the characters that is simply lacking in FE11. So everyone who isn't Marth, Caeda, Minerva, or the pegasus sisters is pretty much a faceless unit. Contributes to the feeling that "everyone is replaceable", which I mentioned already. Graphics aren't too great. However, Fire Emblem isn't exactly known for its graphics. Even at their best in FE10, they were pretty average save for the beautiful videos. I mean really, you're playing a game on what amounts to glorified grid paper and you expect amazing graphics? It's not going to happen. Every character looks passable while they're speaking, which helps. Not really a huge fan of the sound either. There aren't many "epic" tracks. This applies to the series as a whole if you ask me. The sound is serviceable in that it gets the job done; it's just very little stands out in any context other than the game. All things considered, make a "Fire Emblem" playlist and fill that shit with (good) power metal. It's fitting and superior. So I probably ripped on the game a ton. Don't get me wrong, it's fun like any other FE is. It does what an FE has to do, which is deliver solid gameplay and something resembling story/characters. I'll play through it a good amount and make up zany challenges like "Archers only" just to see how far I get before I die. The reclass mechanic is likely good to fuck around with. But the type of player it's really fun to is the player who has already played an FE or two and knows what to expect of the series. I would most likely not recommend this title unless you've played a previous entry. While the game tries to appeal to newcomers, it does so in clumsy ways and doesn't have the strongest gameplay/story/characters. |
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| MrMarill | May 11 2011, 06:14 PM Post #20 |
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I agree with your entire review, worded a lot better than I would have. I probably would have just went "NO CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT BAAAWWW" for a few hundred pages. One thing though;
You did play FE10, right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1GPaBZ8me0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji6Qcfqn_SU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4jAvv-LKIM Anywho, I'll do a Super Mario World one next. Just finished it, the last world was a cakewalk compared to freakin' Chocolate Island. |
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| MrMarill | May 15 2011, 03:33 PM Post #21 |
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Super Mario World SNES, 1990 Ah, Mario. That fat plumber who chases after princesses of the mushroom kingdom captured by giant, fire breathing turtles. Well, with Super Mario World, you can now do it on a dinosaur! Yoshi! How could you NOT love this game? Quite easily I guess in this day and age. If you're one of those people who doesn't like bad graphics, you're not going to like this game. I've owned Super Mario All Stars since... before I was born, actually, and the graphical style in this game, in all honesty, looks frickin' DEMENTED at parts, and I can only imagine what the graphic designers at Nintendo were on when making this game. It looks scratchy, and everything just seems somehow out of place. Apart from that, everyone should love this game. The engine was basically perfect. Only once in my entire playthrough did I feel the game cheated my life out of me, and that was when I jumped into a bubble and didn't know that doing that makes you stop dead. Mario jumps as you would expect (screw Physics!), and you can now hold down the jump button before you get to an enemy to get a higher bounce, which is a nice addition. For those unfamiliar with Mario games- Wait, no one is, so I won't bother explaining the "plot". It's joyful and fun, as you go on your quest to save peach and the Yoshis. So much more is in this game, though. Yoshi is a great powerup to get, and is really fun to play as in general. The cape has hilarious flying results, and the Fire Flower makes a welcome return. In addition, there are side-paths you can go which unlock switches. Hitting these switches, makes blocks appear in the game. Say you found a hidden purple switch. Any level with purple blocks now have them visible, and you can access more hidden paths. When you haven't gotten these, the blocks have their outlines visible, tempting you to get them. In fact, by the time I got to World 4 I was seeing loads I hadn't hit, and that really shows you how big the game is. In addition to that, every world (I assume) has a fortress in it. I was flying through the worlds, and I got to World 5. I accidentally found a hidden exit, went through a fortress level, and unlocked a level in Star World. There's another world of levels you get one at a time for completing more hidden levels?! Yes please! The main change you'll see playing with Mario is the Spin Jump. Pressing A makes you do a shorter spin jump which crushes enemies instantly, and actually let's you bounce on some objects that would otherwise hurt you. Now, the best part about this whole game, without a doubt, is the levels. Every single level is so inventive, and so fun, I didn't play a single level I didn't enjoy. That's saying a hell of a lot, as even in Super Mario Galaxy 2 I hated the "Go-Faster Galaxy" or whatever it was called. The features in the level all look hideously out of place, but you really don't care as you jump and fly through each of these levels with a grin on your face. You can really tell Nintendo put so much thought into this game, and they had a blast making it. Some of the levels later in the game literally have you shouting at your TV, something along the lines of "THEY DID WHAT!?" Speaking of the end of the game, this is the only flaw I have with the game which actually detracts from the whole experience. After a while, the silly visuals grow on you, but this was disappointing. For all its hidden exits, secret levels and new additions, Super Mario World seemed short to me. And a little easy. Worlds 1-3 were quite easy, minus a Ghost House or two, then World 4 basically took off the easy mode and got quite difficult. I liked this phase of the game. In fact, World 5 and World 6 both had absolutely insane fortresses which were so much fun to fly around in. Some of you may know the thing that satisfies me most in a game is pulling off something and thinking "How did I DO that!?", and you'll do that constantly in World 6. This is where the game truly shines as one of the best games ever created, as people say it is. Everything feels smooth and perfect, and the difficulty keeps you coming back for more, but not so hard it's frustrating. Then World 7 comes along and is criminally easy. I think I died once in the entire world and sped through it. You can see Bowser's Castle from this world, so I was expecting an extra world, but nope. You beat World 7's fortress, and you unlock the final level. The final level is quite fun, but suffers one flaw in that on your third or fourth try you can speed through the entire level in literally twenty seconds. It's a pathetic final level; but the boss does not disappoint. Super Mario Bros 3's final boss was quite a letdown, as were bosses at the time, but Bowser basically says "Welcome to hell" when you enter his lair. It took me a few tries, and was a very fun boss to fight. So my main problem? The game feels like taking a dog out for a walk. It's like the game is in a walk for the first four worlds, sees a hot dog stand and breaks into a run, and then goes back to a walk again. It feels like the game is always restrained from what it's fully capable of, as if it didn't want to make itself too difficult. Perhaps the unlockable levels will prove me wrong, but I doubt it. I know I'm focussing on negative here, because, well, the game's a masterpiece but for these tiny problems which were so easily fixed. Like another one; the lack of suits. Again, Super Mario Bros 3 had LOADS of suits and the powerup system was really fun. This game gives you the Cape, Fire Flower and Yoshi. Yoshi is fun, Fire Flower is fun, and the cape has a nice float ability but it's flying is almost impossible to control. The camera has to scroll up whenever you fly, and you have no indication of where the floor is, leading to you plunging to your death time and time again. So the bottom line is: if you don't own this game, you need to buy it. If you own this game, you need to play it again. This game is a joy to play, and will be for years to come. Rating: 9.7 |
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| Snowman | May 15 2011, 03:57 PM Post #22 |
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Berserker
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^ I have the GBA version of SMW. Fun stuff. I don't think I ever finished it. I should probably do that. Also, umm, I still plan on doing that Portal 2 review... My friend and I are planning to finish up co-op mode today. So far co-op has been kinda easy, but I want to finish it before reviewing it. I don't know how good my review will be though. |
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| King of Spades | May 15 2011, 05:25 PM Post #23 |
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Seven Asses
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oh derp I was planning on reviewing Portal 2 as well. I think I might review Pokemon Black next. |
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| Romanticide | May 15 2011, 05:59 PM Post #24 |
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Cult Leader
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Beating the main game is easy, I'll grant you that. But when you get to Tubular/Outrageous (hell, ANY Special World level; I just picked the two hardest IMO) for the first time, I think you'll eat those words. They're all "what the fuck is this shit" tier until you figure them out, at which point they're still difficult but doable. |
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| MrMarill | May 15 2011, 06:12 PM Post #25 |
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I'll do them at some point, I like me some Mario challenge :P Speaking of which, my next review is Pokemon Black because I'm satisfied I've completed EVERYTHING in-game. In other words, nou King of Spades, MAI POGEYMANZ |
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| King of Spades | May 15 2011, 06:41 PM Post #26 |
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Seven Asses
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nou MrMarill. Why don't you review Pokemon White? TROLOLOLOLOL |
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| MrMarill | May 15 2011, 07:09 PM Post #27 |
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Because I have Black? :P We can both review it, it's hardly like IGN and Gamespot only review one game each :P |
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| King of Spades | May 15 2011, 07:11 PM Post #28 |
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Seven Asses
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OK. That's a deal. : ) |
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| Snowman | May 24 2011, 01:17 AM Post #29 |
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Berserker
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I forgot that I was going to review Portal 2 after I finished co-op. Well, I finally did, so I'll do a Portal 2 review soon. Probably by the end of this week. I also plan to do a Deus Ex review. It's an older game, but it's easily one of the best games I've ever played. Possibly the best. |
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| MrMarill | May 24 2011, 04:35 PM Post #30 |
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Pokémon Black Version Nintendo DS/DSi You may have noticed from my name, but I'm a huge Pokémon fan. I have been since the very original, and ever since Diamond and Pearl I've been playing competitive quite a bit too. Understandably, I was unbelievably excited for the new Pokémon game. I hadn't looked up any of the Pokémon beforehand (except the starters and Zoroark when he was first announced) so I would be constantly surprised. Well, the game certainly is surprising. By this point, I would expect everyone to have played a Pokémon game. To be honest, it's obvious Game Freak think the same. The start of the game is the exact same cliché'd intro they always have and the game's plot is explained within seconds. The main objective is, of course, to get all eight gym badges, defeat the Elite Four and the Champion and become the Pokémon master. However, it's very different this time. Your character is a 15-year old, which makes the game a lot more mature. The game has dark undertones, and the sideplots from before (Team Magma, Team Galactic) takes over as the main plot for this game. Team Plasma are your main enemies this time round, and they believe all Pokémon should be liberated from trainers as it's cruelty. The way the story is told is very good. To be honest, I was starting to believe their ideals at the start of the game, but as the game progressed it became clear they were being misled. The character development of your two friends, Bianca and Cheren, along with the mysterious N is incredibly good and for once in a Pokémon the plot takes centre stage. This is not a bad change. On the contrary, this change is one of the definitive things about Pokémon Black and White. The main game has so much to do, and you're going to enjoy doing it. Unlike Gold and Silver, or any other game in the series, the game is not a simple "Gym 1 to Gym 2 to Gym 3" progression. Every town you enter will have a sidequest to tackle first, and between each town a long route, with many other sidequests. You can play for at least a couple of hours between towns, simply exploring. In addition to this, defeating Gym Leaders gives access to new abilities in the field, so returning to old places may reward you with new areas to explore. To add to this, Game Freak add new Pokémon to nearly every route you enter, leaving you constantly on your toes. At first, I'll admit, I thought the new Pokémon were dumb but they're ridiculously awesome; comparable to Gen II or Gen I. Their typings are also great; it'll take you a good bit of logic to work out a Pokémon's type and for me that's fun. Anyway, if you don't know Pokémon's battle system, I should probably explain it and you should get out from under your rock. You can have a team of up to six Pokémon, which you find in the wild. The faster Pokémon goes first and you have four moves to choose from. As you level up, you learn new moves. Every move and Pokémon has a type. Some types are super effective on others and do double damage, or not very effective and do half; like Fire is super effective on Grass, but not very effective on Water. It's an interesting system made even more interesting with the fact you can change Pokémon mid-battle. They could predict your Fire move, and switch to their Water-type, so you use an Electric move; but what if they predicted you would predict that? It's very complex for such a simple system, and the stat system is so deep I won't even bother trying to explain it. It's a very fun system, and very fun to construct your team with types to cover each other's weaknesses. The battle screen itself has changed from old games; both Pokémon now jump around the screen, fully animated. It's a nice touch and really adds something new to battles. There's also the highly entertaining Rotation and Triple Battles which are criminally only used two or three times in the game. As I mentioned before, the game has dark undertones in its story. Some of the stuff said is really quite scary and all the characters are well-designed. The climax to the game actually had me in tears and is one of the most incredible endings to a game I have ever seen. After you beat the main game, the post-game seems huge. There's places you haven't even BEEN yet, surely it's huge? Sadly not. The opponent's Pokémon are suddenly twenty levels higher than you, leaving you wondering why the hell YOU had to save the world. This is obviously to just throw more play time into the game, as they ran out of things to do. The game's post-game story is non-existant and to be honest, you'll probably plow through the battles it offers in about five hours. Add this to the fact it is horribly inconsistent. You enter Black City and talk to a person. He suddenly challenges you to a battle against your low-HP team and sends out... a Level 30. You sigh in relief, destroy the puny enemy and move on to the next NPC, who suddenly attacks you with a Level 60. This happens constantly post-game and is incredibly frustrating. Even the legendaries post-game are minimal, which sounds hypocritical to complain about, but if they're trying to make the post-game longer surely adding more legendaries rather than just boosting everyone's levels ridiculously is more exciting? Now, the main problem I have with the whole game (besides post-game, but to be honest the main game more than makes up for that) is that it's not very hard. After the fifth gym, you get given a Lucky Egg which doubles the EXP of any Pokémon holding it. I swapped it around my party so the first Pokémon in my team always had it and I got to the sixth gym and completely obliterated it. At this point I stopped using the item and still faced no problems in the game until Elite Four, and this is bearing in mind I used the Lucky Egg for two routes. This item is completely unnecessary and should be given ONLY as an item post-game to give you a chance to level up, maybe, but giving it this early is ridiculous and unfair. Now, the problem which probably won't affect you, but is ridiculously annoying nonetheless. Multiplayer battles automatically set you to Level 50. No if's, no but's, Level 50 for everyone. Either that, or Open Battle, but that's not the point. The difference between Level 50 and Level 100 is huge. Did you know that Dusknoir can take two hits before being KO'd by Salamence's Draco Metoer at Level 50 as opposed to Level 100's one hit? It's a huge difference, and incredibly annoying. There's not even an option to set it Level 100 like before. If you want to do Level 100, you better get training. In addition to this, on Multiplayer, you get to see your opponent's team before the battle and re-organise your team if you wish. Now, this is an awesome system in some ways, and not in others, as teams that use a definitive lead are kinda screwed. AFAIK, there is no option to turn this off. Game Freak destroyed multiplayer this game, and it's no wonder everyone uses Pokémon Online. I could go on and on about the great things in this game, such as the Rotation Battles, or the ridiculously high quality of the game, but I think you understand. This hasn't been much of a proper review as it was a song, with no real meaning behind it, other than the fact it was good. It's hard for me to review a Pokémon and not just go on about how perfect the battle system is, how fantastic the exploration is and how great the Pokémon are. The story really adds to the game this time and the twists and turns continue right up until the end. The game has its faults, such as the dull post-game, but when you close off your DS after seeing "The End", you'll have a grin on your face. Is this the best Pokémon game? Definitely. Pros -Great Story -Fantastic Pokémon action -New Pokémon -Huge campaign -...Fantastic Pokémon action Cons -Meh post-game -Annoying multiplayer Score: 9.6/10 Must Buy (As I'm doing a lot more reviews now I'm going to try and keep this kind of structure to them for the ending) |
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8:18 AM Jul 11