Nigomonster's Artsy Blog

KIRBY’S DREAMLAND 2 Saving Popstar mouthful by mouthful Played on: 3DS Also available on:...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:13:33 +0100

KIRBY’S DREAMLAND 2

Saving Popstar mouthful by mouthful

Played on: 3DS

Also available on: GameBoy

Genre: 2d Platformer

Developer: HAL Laboratories (Adventures of Lolo, Earthbound 2, Pokemon Ranger…)

Publisher: Nintendo

Players: 1

Played for: around 4 hours

hello everyone and welcome to my new review! :D Today I’m gonna tackle and review the second installment of the Kirby series for the GameBoy: That’s right, Kirby’s Dreamland 2!

I don’t know if you know this, but Kirby’s Dreamland 2 is the first title in the Dreamland series to have given Kirby its power-absorbing abilities…that’s right, Kirby’s Dreamland, the first title, had Kirby being simply able to suck in and either swallow or spit enemies out without being able to absorb any power and had to rely on power-ups found around the stage (the spicy curry power up from Brawl had its roots in the first Kirby title). Kirby’s Adventure for NES had the honour to give Kirby it’s amazing absorbing powers. But enough talking about the past titles, let’s talk about Kirby’s Dreamland 2 now;

King Dedede seems to be at it again in trying to rule Dreamland, so Kirby is off to save the day again, this time with the help of its new absorbing powers and three animal friends who will aid him on his quest, also being the core gameplay reason of this title…but let’s get deeper into it!

GRAPHICS

The game features a very similar graphical quality to the first game, though more polished and with added details, making the levels more appealing to the eyes. The cutesy style is, of course, a charm for the title, asl well as the funny animations of Kirby and his friends between a level and another, depicting quite cute cutscenes showing the shenanigans of the group.

beside that there’s not much else to say, really. The game makes good use of the GameBoy hardware and also depicts a cutesy art direction wich fits well with the style of the game as well as offering a quite wide array of locations and powers to use and admire.

GAMEPLAY

While the first Kirby’s Dreamland was a more straightforward platform game, this new title features a save system for the first time, given how longer and bigger it is. It features actual worlds with different levels to explore in each, as well as a secret, true ending,w ich can only be obtained by getting star shards, hidden within every world of the game.

Kirby’s power absorbing abilities are of course quite fun to use, going from being able to turn into a heavy rock, a flaming meteor or being able to spit out ice or use an umbrella as a weapon. Another element is added into the mix though: Kirby’s friends. They’re three…a hamster named Rock, an owl named Coo and a quide derpy fish named Kite. Kirby can pretty much “ride” them by finding and rescuing them by minibosses in the levels of the game and they provide, not only an additional health bar, but also modify Kirby’s powers according to who he’s riding. Rick can use the fire power to spit out flames, while Coo can use the boomerang power to fling sharp feathers at enemies.

This adds quite a bit of variety and fun to the power-based gameplay and they’re also implemented in the simple, yet clever puzzles that hide the star shards, wich will need specific powers and, in most cases, specific animal friends to be solved and obtain the star shard. Puzzles get harder and harder along with the game progressing, wich also has an overall nice difficulty curve, resulting challenging enough for more seasoned gamers who want to get the shards, but also easy enough for beginner gamers to get into the game.

Kirby’s Dreamland’s gameplay is fun, simple and addictive and added enough to the series to feel quite fresh even to people who played Kirby’s Adventure. It still holds up well nowadays :)

STORYLINE

Not much of a story here, if you don’t count the secret ending and the funny cutscenes each time you enter a world for the first time…so yeah, no go for plot lovers XD

SOUNDTRACK

Kirby’s style is all over the soundtrack of course. Mostly happy, quick and upbeat music makes the full track of this game, as well as the quite particular boss battle themes, wich are strangely “badass” for a game about a pink marshmellow-like thing XD a couple of examples here as usual:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f7qgrZ32SA

grass land, the first level of the game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE5lSQ0SRFs

my favorite of the “animal themes” :)

FINAL RATING

Kirby’s Dreamland 2 is not only a very good sequel to the first title, but also a much much better game and one of the best GameBoy portables out there…charming cutesy style, simple and compelling gameplay, fair challenge and nice soundtrack, all for ya :D Wich is why I give this game a…

8.8/10

get it on the 3DS VC if you can :)

been a while since I posted, but I can say I’m at a good...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 18:22:43 +0100

been a while since I posted, but I can say I’m at a good point on my mega pic I’ve been working on for a few months XD hope to post it soon! :) for now enjoy those angle-shots of a friend’s character who asked for a bit of help :) I must say it proved to be quite the practice! XD

REVIEW: VVVVVV

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 16:05:14 +0100

VVVVVV

In another dimension no one can hear you flip gravity

Played on: 3DS

Also available on: PC

Genre: 2D Platformer

Developer: Terry Cavanagh (Don’t look back and other indie games)

Publisher: Nicalis

Players: 1

Played for: Around 4 hours

Hello everyone, welcome to my new review! Today I’m gonna review an indie game, a quite popular one, wich I recently had the chance to play on my 3DS, even though it’s also available on PC :) The game I’m talking about is VVVVVV! Yep, quite the weird name, but once you play it you understand why it’s named like that ;)

So, anyway, this indie game has a simple start, with a group of weird, coloured space people having an incident with their ship and ending up in another dimension, wich is quite unstable too if that wasn’t enough! Captain Viridian is left stranded somewhere in this dimension, separated by his other crew members and using his ability to flip gravity he’ll have to make his way through the game world and find everyone as well as going back home with their ship!

I have to say that I absolutely loved this game to bits, both for the visuals and the gameplay, as well as the concept, wich is simple, yet very effective and addicting! Let’s dwelve deeper into it though!

GRAPHICS

The graphic style of VVVVVV is really distinct, trying to be a sort of tribute to the very old games of the Commodore64 age and using very basic shapes for the sprites of the characters, but at the same time it feels very polished as look. The art direction is simple, yet it does its absolutely fine job with portraying an unique look for the game, giving it its own identity.

There’s not much else to say about the graphics. They’re simple, effective, charming…A little work of game art :)

GAMEPLAY

Like I mentioned earlier, Viridian, the main character of the game, is able to flip gravity. If he has his feet on the ground, that is…That way he’s able to simply flip between floor and ceiling, wich makes him able to make his way through spike-filled traps wich pretty much are scattered through the entire game world, wich is surprisingly quite open for being a 2d game.

The game world is composed of open areas and more linear areas, wich pretty much work as levels in wich Viridian will have to make it through. The “levels” or areas themselves are quite various in nature. Most of the dangers involve pits and walls filled with spikes to go over using the flipping abilities of the main character, but there also are examples of very odd and random enemies, like 8-bit ghosts, rotating squares, a bus that tries to ram you…pretty random stuff :D

beside that, there are also different elements varying the situation, going from lines that automatically flip the gravity for Viridian, who’ll have to constantly flip through incoming threats or spike-filled walls, or an ever-moving tower, wich forces Viridian to run for his life to survive and not end up in the spike-filled bottom. Everytime Viridian dies he spawns at the last checkpoint and there are quite a lot of them scattered through the game world. This doesn’t make the game any easier, if anything it’s a signal of how hard it is! several deaths will be achieved during many sequences of the game, wich is quite brutal in difficulty but also somehow addicting, managing not to be frustrating, but instead encouraging the player for “one more try”.

Also cute how the rooms of the levels are named, sometime in very hilarious or ironic terms to describe the room itself or what it represents. Plus, scattered around the world there are hidden shiny trinkets to find, wich are needed to complete the game. Believe me, it’s very satisficatory to do so, and encouraged ot enjoy the game sequences to the fullest!

VVVVVV is addicting, brutal and downright fun, with a very simple gameplay that uses a single button and yet it gets to have a level of depth that few games achieve to have. Only downside is the lenght as completing the game roughly takes about 4 hours…but they’ll be some of the best 4 hours of your gaming life :)

STORYLINE

despite the game being light on story, it does have an interesting concept to follow with the origins of the weird dimension and the strange messages scattered around the world. Very simple and light story, but it works in creating an interesting setting for the game.

SOUNDTRACK

The soundtrack is another strong point of the game, wich uses chiptunes to make one of the most charming 8-bit soundtracks I’ve ever heard. The tunes are all upbeat, pumping and absolutely catchy, from start to end. old strumentation with modernized tunes, works really well :) here are a couple of examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYANYGCgRz4

“Pushing Onwards” the first theme of the game :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0Jk94ri3W4

“Predestinate fate” another very nice one :)

FINAL RATING

VVVVVV is an exceptional game. Short and yet really addictive and fun, a worthy experience to play from start to end. It uses a very simple concept and controls and yet shows a very nice depth of variety and gameplay, as well as having a very particular art direction, a very good soundtrack and an absolutely fun and brutal level design

I give this game a…

9.0/10

Recommended to everyone, PC and 3DS owners!

REVIEW: Rayman Origins

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 10:55:11 +0100

RAYMAN ORIGINS

Lums, Lums everywhere!

Played on: Wii

Also available on: PC, PS3, X360, Vita, 3DS

Genre: 2d Platformer

Developer: Ubisoft Montpellier (Rayman series, Beyond Food & Evil, Rabbids Go Home…)

Publisher: Ubisoft

Players: 1-4

Played for: around 15 hours

I know that due to the latest news of Ubisoft executors acting like jerks (especially to their developers) you probably aren’t in much of a mood for Ubisoft reviews…But hey, games are games and I recently finished Rayman Origins and it must be judged for what it is, not for where it comes from :P

Anyway! Rayman Origins! I finally got to play it and I have to say…I’m totally mindblown. Rayman’s return to its roots is an amazing game! In this title, Rayman and his friends have to yet again start gathering lums and bring peace to the land of dreams (Kirby would be so proud <3 ) this time able to band all together kinda like in Super Mario bros. Wii/U. So let’s go into detail and see how it went!

GRAPHICS

Rayman Origins is a piece of artwork. There’s no other way to say it. The characters are drawn in a sort of Flash-like style, with the animations being absolutely goofy and toony as they should be, for both enemies and main characters. The animations and the expressions depicted are absolutely hilarious and the smoothness of the movements is top-notch.

And should we talk about the environments ? I wish I could draw that kind of backgrounds. They’re colourful, luscious, full of life. You could pretty much take a screen of the game, take off the characters and pass it off as a piece of art. it’s just THAT good. Kinda makes you wish Sega and Nintendo went for those routes for their Sonic and Mario 2d games XD 2d graphics can still be absolutely impressive, no matter what vthe naysayers say :P

So, not much else to say here. The game looks and moves impressively and every bit of it is just a pleasure to the eyes of all gamers…unless you’re one of those who’s scared of colourful games XP

GAMEPLAY

Rayman Origins’ gameplay is fast-paced and addictive. I must really say that the developers did an astounding job with making the level design look always creative. Levels are various and challenging, full of traps and enemies as well as lums to pick. Lums play a key role in this game, as every level will have cages of them hidden around, You can easily found them by being careful and following the cries of help of the cute lil guys. At the end of every level, depending by the normal golden lums you got (wich are like rings or coins in sonic and mario games), you’re given the chance to get even more caged lums, with an additional one to get by replaying the level within a certain time frame, wich will really put the skill and speed of the player under heavy pressure in certain levels ;)

The game also features quite a few chasing sequences in wich Rayman will have to run at crazy speeds among death traps and enemies to try and get either a fairy that will give him new powers (and make him even more acrobatic for those chase sequences) or a chest that contains a tooth gem, wich can unlock a very special secret level at the end of the game.

There’s just so much stuff to do and the game pushes and encourages the player to get all the “lum badges” in each level. it’s really satisficatory to just complete all the levels and also a helluva fun doing it! The challenge is very high, so platform veterans will certainly be happy about this.

The choice of keeping boss fights until later in the game is interesting, but I can assure you that it’s worth it…the boss fights, even if few are very fun and very well implemented with the spirit of the game, as well as various in concept and battle pattern.

In the end…Rayman Origins has a fantastic gameplay, a high challenge and a lot of stuff to complete…the lenght of the game is quite good for a 2D game…only little nitpick ? some of the hardest levels depict certain moments in wich the player may lose for an element of the level “screwing him up” rather than him having jumped in the wrong way…luckily it didn’t happen in more than 2/3 levels for me!

Also! The side-scrolling shooter sequences are absolutely fun, though getting all the lum badges may mean tiring your thumb out quite a bit by quickly spamming the shoot button :P

STORYLINE

Well, don’t expect much of a story here, being a 2d platform and everything…expect a few interesting and hilarious cutscenes toward the end though :P

SOUNDTRACK

The music of Rayman Origins is…really “happy” sounding in most cases, also using a bit of acapella tunes here and there wich are, of course, hilarious like most of the games. Many tunes did just make me smile as soon as I heard them, so expect to do that a lot :)

Here are a couple of examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_m-50qXcLc

the main theme of the game already depicts the happy-go-lucky nature of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGvdfpkJVyM

the theme of the shooter sections is also pretty nice and distinct :D

FINAL RATING

Rayman Origins is an absolutely spectacular game, on all platforms. Astounding hand-drawn 2D graphics, fast-paced and challenging gameplay, crazy level designs and concept, toony and colourful art direction, a happy and crazy-sounding soundtrack…all of this makes for a very compelling experience from start to end, alone or with friends.

this is why I give this game a…

10/10

Let’s hope Rayman Legends is just as good…and that Ubisoft learns to treat its developers a little more respectfully, because they’re clearly talented :P

stepanda: Ninfia by *StePandy an adorable drawing :D

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 10:46:43 +0100

stepanda:

Ninfia by *StePandy

an adorable drawing :D

uploading a few early rough sketches for a personal project ^^...

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:27:52 +0100

uploading a few early rough sketches for a personal project ^^ hope you like :D

REVIEW: Mario VS Donkey Kong

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:24:58 +0100

MARIO VS DONKEY KONG

buy them all! buy them all! buy them all!

Played on: 3DS

Also available on: Gameboy Advance

Genre: Puzzle/Platformer

Developer: Nintendo Software Technology (Metroid Prime Hunters, Pokemon Puzzle League…)

Publisher: Nintendo

Players: 1

Played for: Around 10 hours

Hello everyone and welcome to my new review! So, today I’m gonna review the spiritual sequel to Donkey Kong 94, one of the greatest gems for Gameboy!

The spiritual sequel I’m talking about is Mario VS Donkey Kong! Developed by one of the most lesser known developement teams of Nintendo, the game proves to be quite the surprising title, both in presentation and concept. Donkey Kong gave up on stealing Pauline from Mario. This time his object of desire is the Mini Mario toy line constructed by the Mario Toy Company, advertised through an addicting ad wich makes our good old kong get infatuated with the desire to get one! Too bad they’re all sold out in shops! So what’s the most logical thing to do ? Rush inside the factory and steal all of them of course!

The big ape is soon caught by Mario and this starts a long chase through the levels of the game, in wich Mario will have to find keys to open doors and go forward and also rescue all the Mini Mario he finds! So let’s see how this game fares up!

GRAPHICS

The graphic style used for this game is surprising. It looks like NST decided to go for the Donkey Kong Country style, using pre-rendered sprites for the game, even if, by comparison to DKC, the game is much more simpler and colouful as well as using smaller sprites overall.

The thing surprisingly works. The sprite animations are really fluid and I liked the weird and kinky style of the environments, using abstract shapes to make the common environments like a lava-filled stage or a forest make somehow more unique, wich puts this game in its own identity, compared to other Mario games, even though the game worlds are way less various and surprising than the ones in the original Donkey Kong 94, I have to admit. The style is basic, but all of the elements put together work really well.

Just yet another example how art direction can make a game look good or at least unique in its own way. The graphics of Mario VS Donkey Kong aren’t anything mindblowing visual-wise, but they certainly do their work to make the game stand out from the crowd, wich is already a nice achievement to have.

It’s also nice to note how the enemies in the game are very simple in design as if they were created with a mindset of the 16 bit age…may not be a praise per se, but I did like the “vintage” feeling of those simplistic enemies :D

GAMEPLAY

If anyone of you played Donkey Kong 94, you may already have an idea of how the game plays. Every “world” of the game is divided into levels and in each one Mario will have to find his way around the traps and the enemies set in the level to reach the key and manage to bring it to the door to exit the level, all before the time runs out. This isn’t it though. Once Mario gets in the door there’s an additional phase of the level in wich Mario will have to find his way to the trapped Mini Mario to free and once that is done, the level is clear.

There will also be, in place of the three objects belinging to pauline, three surprise boxes…like in the old game, those optional items will trigger a minigame after the level is clear, to have a chance to get a few extra lives. And believe me, you’ll need them. The game tends to become quite brutal toward the end.

The game also features different kinds of levels in wich Mario will have to lead a group of Mini Mario toys to their toybox in a sort of Lemming-like levels in wich Mario will be followed by the toys and he’ll have to make sure they get to the box safe…each Mario toy will represent a life to use in the boss battles against Donkey Kong himself. The boss battles are quite fun if I can say and most of them are quite challenging too, demanding quick reflexes and lots of jumpings to do! Just like any good Mario game should, really! :D

The game also has an arcadeish feeling to it, given how every level can be mastered if you manage to do a good speedrun through it so that the score is enough for the level to be “starred”. Score-obsessed gamers will take quite a bit clear every level, it’s already hard on the easy first levels XP

Plus, the game is also longer than it seems to be…there’ll be a surprise waiting for gamers at the end as well as a few nods to the first game on Gameboy! So yep, gameplay works like a charm and the level of challenge is quite high.

STORYLINE

There isn’t much story as you may imagine and the 3d-rendered cutscenes kinda look silly on a 2D game, I must admit, but it’s also nice to hear Mario actually speak more than a single word now and then X3

SOUNDTRACK

The soundtrack of Mario VS Donkey Kong is as peculiar as it’s predecessor…it bases itself less on melodies and more on beats and both slow and fast paced rhythms…while some of the tracks are kinda forgettable, there are also some very good catchy tracks in it as well as the boss battle themes being quite epic, especially the final ones. A couple of examples, as usual:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBwf_kLL9hc

One of my fave tracks from the Mystic Forest level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSVWFqoKMcw

And another nice track :)

FINAL RATING

mario VS Donkey Kong achieves into being a worthy spiritual sequel of its original title, taking a quite different approach in concept of graphics and levels but keeping the same basic gameplay while adding whole new different mechanics, wich work really well and are healthy for the variety and the lenght of the game while also keeping the challenge high even for platform game veterans.

The graphic style is distinct even if it features less variety of locations compared to the first game andthe soundtrack features nice tracks as well as a few mediocre ones though.

Overall, the game deserves to be played, wich is why I give the game a…

8.5/10

give it a chance if you find it around :D

REVIEW: Pokemon Conquest

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 21:18:55 +0100

POKEMON CONQUEST

Go forth, my Pokemon! For Ransei!

Played on: DS

Genre: Strategy/RPG

Developer: Tecmo Koei

Publisher: Nintendo

Players: 1-2 (local and online)

Played for: around 20 hours

Hello everyone, welcome to a new review from yours truly!

Today I finally have the chance to review a game I’ve been playing for quite a while now and I finally cleared the story mode: the game, as the title says, is Pokemon Conquest! Known in Japan as Pokemon + Nobunaga no yabo (Nobunaga’s ambition), this game mixes two series that seemingly won’t ever be thought as a perfect match for a crossover, especially with how Pokemon is a fictional fantasy world,while Nobunaga’s ambition is a historical game, even if in this case we have quite the Samurai Warriors influence on the style of the characters.

Despite that, it looks like the games have been mixed into a nicely-crafted crossover that surprised many and that gave to players a genre that Pokemon still left untapped despite the potential left there, wich is the strategy/RPG genre. Fans of Final Fantasy Tactics, Super Robot Taisen and Disgaea should know what I’m talking about!

Anyway, let’s get deeper into the matter and let’s see just how this game turned out to be!

GRAPHICS

Visually the game presents itself with a mix of simple 3d for the environments and sprites for the pokemon and the warlords. It goes for a simplistic colourful style, wich works quite well with merging the Pokemon style with the style of the warlords, wich are drawn into a more animeish style in comparison to the SW series, without absolutely betraying the original art though. If anything it works surprisingly well!

The sprites are quite cute, even if they may look kinda pixelated during zooms on the action, but for the most part they are nice to look at and the “battle effects” are quite varied too and portray the action in a good way, mixed with the camera zooming or turning around to show the result of the attacks better. The environments don’t look like anything mindblowing, they could be compared to simple 3D versions of the Final fantasy tactics environments, style-wise, but in a way it’s better to portray clearly what goes on, on the battlefield. With many pokemon units on screen I do think that a simplistic, clear style is better to always have a clear view of the current situation…it IS a strategy game afterall! Still, this means the game isn’t anything of special graphically, so don’t expect mindblowing visuals, just the essentials for the game.

The dialogues are told through the usual anime cut-ins of the characters and I must say that the Pokemon art for this game is something I really enjoyed as it was caught perfectly while making them kinda edgier in a way.

GAMEPLAY

f you played games like Final Fantasy Tactics you should know what to expect from this game. The game action takes place on a large map with different kingdoms around the player to conquer and in each conquered kingdom, the player can manage things like money gathering, pokemon training or raising the affinity between the pokemon and their warlords. The battles themselves take place on an arena divided into grids, kinda like chess, but with various levels of height and different types of terrain and traps, wich can influence the ongoing battle negatively or positively depeding by the actions of the players on the field.

the battles are always one team versus another team and each team has a max of 6 Pokemon on the field, kinda like how in Pokemon games one has a max of 6 Pokemon in total. I must say that the battle system surprised me. In a way, it’s a simplified version of the normal strategy/RPG game, with each Pokemon unit having one specific attack that has a specific field of action on the grids of the battlefield, as well as a pokemon power. In turn each Pokemon has a warlord in his command, wich means the warlord can have an equipped item wich can be a single-use item or a passive item that raises a stat, as well as each warlord having a special power they can use once during each battle, wich in some occasion can really turn the tides of battle. This, mixed with the amount of Pokemon available in the game, the amount of warlords, the very different and varied battlefields, each with its own shape and its own sets of terrains and traps, makes for quite the compelling, strategic experience.

Despite the concept of the battle system being simpler than the usual strategy/RPG game, Pokemon Conquest finds its own way to do things, offering quite the challenging battles to the player as well as entire armies of pokemon to handle, train, evolve and so on. It’s quite addicting for people who love this kind of games and the game is also quite good at introducing new players to the concpet of strategy games, so people qho never played this genre may find themselves at ease with this title. The main story campaign is lenghty enough being around 20 hours of gameplay, but for who wants more there will also be more episodes focusing on different warlords, as well as the online multiplayer being an incentive to play more and improve the pokemon troops!

In the end, the game mixes the strategic elements of Nobunaga’s ambition with the rules of the Pokemon games pretty much perfectly, making the game a nice experience for both veterans and beginners.

STORYLINE

The story of the game is quite easy to follow and there isn’t much character developement in the play, just a couple of twists toward the end. The plot simply serves the purpose to push the game forward, even if Nobunaga still manages to be quite the charming villain. The extra episodes also make further work to let the player know the other characters and warlords a bit more deeply for anyone who wishes so. Still, nothing mindblowing :)

SOUNDTRACK

Really good job on the soundtrack, wich mixes traditional japanese instruments with more modern tunes. Each battlefield, most of them are themed after Pokemon types, got its own tune and pretty much all of them distinct themselves from each other, some of them featuring calm tunes, some presenting more epic ones, but somehow always working very well with the strategic action on screen. One of the best soundtracks on DS in my opinion! Here are a couple of examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8BYina0o04

The fire battle is an example of the epic tunes :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ii5ObEMWOk

The grass battle is an example of the calmer ones…they both work very well ^^

FINAL RATING

Pokemon Conquest is a surprising game. It mixes two series that didn’t have anything to do with each other, creating its own totally new world, mixing rules from both games and featuring simplistic but effective visuals, a battle system wich is quite simple to learn but also has a hidden depth within itself for more veteran players, pretty much like the normal Pokemon games as well as featuring a quite varied set of battle tunes and a fun story campaign and an online/local multiplayer mode, wich will increase the lenght of the game for strategy lovers. One of the best spin-offs of the Pokemon series for sure. Wich is why I give this game a…

8.8/10

I’m secretly hoping for a sequel on either 3DS or Wii U…a game like this with the modern online infrastructure and Miiverse compatibility would be an absolute blast! :)

REVIEW: Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:54:00 +0100

NINJA GAIDEN SIGMA 2

The work of a ninja is never done

Played on: PS3

Also available on: Xbox 360

Genre: Action

Developer: Team Ninja (Ninja Gaiden series, Dead or Alive series…)

Publisher: Tecmo Koei

Players: 1-4 (multi is online only)

Played for: around 10 hours

Hello gamers and welcome to my new review! So, it has been a while since I reviewed the port of Ninja Gaiden for the PSVita and who followed my reviews knows that I judged the game a decent action title, but quite a few design and technical problems holding it back as well as a lack of a good art direction backing up the otherwise good graphics of the game.

Ninja Gaiden 3 is now on Wii U and to prepare for it I hunted down Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 for PS3. Let’s see how the sequel to the first Ninja Gaiden held up against the first title! Be reminded that this is an enhanced port from the Xbox version, so it has changes compared to the Xbox version.

This time, Ryu Hayabusa, the best ninja of the dragon clan is facing a world-wide crisis, with the black spider clan reviving ancient elemental demons all around the planet to try and revive an archdemon that will supposedly give them great power. So, naturally, Ryu is out to get them! >:D let’s get into detail though and see how this game fares!

GRAPHICS

Graphics-wise the game is pretty well-done, with character models standing out especially, while some of the environments can look kinda blocky and there are a few instances of ugly textures here and there, but it isn’t always the case, plus it’s a bit of a compromise to have the game running at smooth 60 FPS all the whole time without slow downs.

There also have been quite the improvement over the art direction…levels look more impressive and a lot less generic and the enemy design improved too, as well as the variety of them. A good word goes out to the bosses too, most of them being quite impressive-looking, both for graphic level and simple art design.

There is still room for a lot of improvement though as some locations are more bland-looking than others, but for the most part it’s quite the better job compared to the first title. I should mention though that the sigma version of the game lacks blood on human characters, wich is replaced by a purple mist instead…this “lack of violence” may or may not be a turn off for some players, though it didn’t stop me from enjoying the game, even though I prefer to stand my ground against censorships of any kind.

Anyway, yeah, good job on the art direction and nice balance between graphics level and framerate.

GAMEPLAY

The game plays pretty much like the first title, with of course, lots of combos as well as a few new weapons to find and use for our fave dragon ninja! you can call shame on me, but given how afraid I was of the absolutely cruel difficulty in the last game, I went for the easy mode XD wich is pretty much around the level of a normal mode of a normal game, so still challenging enough.

Yep, the game is still very hard, so it depends by what kind of player you are…you can go for the very hard normal mode or play a still quite challenging action title on easy mode, you won’t be disappointed in either case, as the gameplay is frenetic, addicting and absolutely fun to play out! There’s also a quite better checkpoint placement this time around and the game also gives you the chance to retry boss fights without being pushed to the last checkpoint or going through cutscenes again, wich were a few of the complaints I had in the last game, so I’m glad to see those problems fixed in this sequel.

The weapon variety is quite nice and every weapon is pretty much a whole new fighting style, so it gives players the ability to choose their fave one and master it…if you’re curious, I go for the staff and the two-handed sword :P The game also lets you level up the weapons, as well as magic (really useful in crowded fights) and the levels have secret items hidden around that can increase the amount of life or magic Ryu can have. Really nice use of the d-pad too, wich can bring up a quick-use meny that lets you switch through healing items, magics and weapons without annoying menu transictions.

Kudos to the boss fights too. Epic, various, challenging and quite satisfying to clear!

STORYLINE

In the first title, the plot was a mere excuse to push the game forward, with not many of the events being clear…it gave the idea the plot wa ssupposed to be a bit deeper, but never really bothered to be. In the sequel, the plot follows the same simplistic style, but executes it a whole lot better. It doesn’t pretend to have a sense, it doesn’t want to be logical…it wants to be a game based on being a badass Ninja! Who cares if the engine of a flying ship is a huge magma-filled armadillo ? it’s cool and satisfying to defeat! Somehow, I felt like I was playing a game of the NES/SNES/GENESIS days while playing this…it wasn’t the game being at the service of the story, it was the story being at the service of the game. It didn’t have to make total sense, it had to be fun and surprising to the player and bring a constant flow of epic challenges to overcome, even if they were random or over the top! that’s how it was fun back in the days, right ? :)

SOUNDTRACK

There has been a big improvement over the soundtrack too…most of the tracks of the first game were quite a bit bland and forgettable, but in this game, we have quite the cool-sounding main theme as well as a nice array of energy-pumping tunes and even if we still aren’t at memorable levels, it looks like a lot more work has been put into it, touching epic orchestral themes mixed with electronic music and rocking guitars. A couple of examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mv8eAMy99g

the main theme of the game, one of my fave tunes of the game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-BE4yIDzKE

Momiji’s theme is one of the other tunes I really liked :)

FINAL RATING:

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 feels like a huge improvement over the first title, as well as being a good port with a few additional missions and extras, even though the removal of certain violence levels may annoy some player. Despite that, the game is very fun to play, has a good level of graphics, stable framerate, very epic and fun boss fights, high-level of challenge as usual, a plot that is simple but fun to follow as well as a better soundtrack to back it all up.

This is why I give this game a…

8.5/10

Congrats Team Ninja, this is how you should do stuff :)

REVIEW: Wario Land II

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 19:38:03 +0100

WARIO LAND II

Captain Syrup’s greedy revenge!

Played on: 3DS

Also available on: Game Boy, Game Boy Color

Genre: 2D Platform

Developer: Nintendo R&D1 ( Wario Land series, Super Mario Land series, Kid Icarus…)

Publisher: Nintendo

Players: 1

Played for: around 15 hours

Welcome to a new review, gamers! Today I’m gonna review the second title of Wario’s adventures, Wario Land II. This time, our fave treasure stealer, will find himself in quite a pinch, as Captain Syrup, the villain of the first game, decided to get revenge on Wario, stealing all of his gold, causing ruckus in his castle and flee as fast as possible.

Wario, of course, won’t have any of this, so the player will have to lead him in levels full of coins and secret treasures to find, as well as facing a game with multiple endings and routes to follow, wich makes for quite the unique approach for an old-school 2D platformer. let’s see how it came out!

GRAPHICS

This is the first title to make the jump from Game Boy to Game Boy Color (still having a Game Boy version though). So the result is quite the leap in graphical quality, not only in regard to having colours, but also in terms of better spriting and animations.

The sprites are all well done, looking a lot more polished than the ones in Wario land, Wario being more refined as character design and the animations being better than ever. Boss design improved too as well as the overall looks of the levels, wich are now a lot more various-looking if compared to the previous title, helped by the fidelity of the colours but also by a better handling of the art design.

So overall, Wario land II is a nice big improvement over the first Wario land, as well as being one of the most polished “Land” games ever made graphic-wise. Kudos for the variety of the settings too, as well as the toony looks of the bosses.

GAMEPLAY

Wario Land II keeps being a platformer like its predecessor, but also adds a lot of emphasis over making the levels full of platform-themed puzzles to solve, as well as making the levels more open, full of secret rooms, walls to smash down and similar where to find hidden stashes of coins and giant coins or secret rooms, leading to more coins or even treasure rooms wich, instead of just containing a chest, will start up a minigame in wich the player will gamble a certain amount of money to change the difficulty of the mini game, adding a bit of thrill to this element.

Another big change is in regard to how Wario plays, being a little less clunky than in the first title and not being able to die…instead, when he’s hit he’ll be bounced backwards, losing a little amount of coins and, given how coins are needed to complete the game, you could see how the consequences of being hit are just as bad as dying pretty much :P

Boss battles, infact, don’t kill you, but they simply push you out of the room and, believe me, they’re quite challenging and creative in concept and design, one of wich will have the boss and Wario try to turn each other into a basketball to score and win a basket match…a very fun idea, if you ask me ^^

Another big change is in regard to the power-ups. The hats are gone and instead Wario proves to be quite resistant to certain abuses like being squashed, zombified, put on fire or stung by a bee, wich will give him particular powers such as floating around, flat like paper, be able to break certain fire blocks or float around inflated like a balloon…all of the results of the physical abuses are quite hilarious and each power up got its own pros and cons of course, being specificly used for the platforming puzzles scattered around the game rather than real power-ups to keep and use.

As a result of all of this, the gameplay, qhile being quite different from the first tile is also quite more varied and quirky, taking its own real identity as platformer and detatching itself from the Mario Land series even more, wich isa good thing in my opinion ^^ The Mario land titles are good, but it’s also good that the Wario titles got their own way to do things.

Ah, another important fact…The game features different courses…there are secret exits in certain levels, changing the course of the game, leading to different “worlds” (called chapters, like in a story) wich can, in most cases, lead to a whole different ending. Once clearing the game the first time, the courses will be all shown, but it’ll be up to the player to find all treasures and map pieces, the latter of wich are unlocked through another minigame at the end of each level, still gambling money on it. this adds a lot of replayability to the game and the reward for it is a real final level, wich is pretty much the hardest level of the game (by a big leap too), wich will need all the skills of the players to be cleared..quite the nice reward for more seasoned players if you ask me :3

STORYLINE

As usual with “Mario” titles, not much story is shown, but some of the endings are quite cute, as well as the cutscenes between each chapter, showing the endless chase of wario after Syrup…still, not much story, you know the deal with those games :P

SOUNDTRACK

The soundtrack of the game keeps its “distorted” and clumsy style from the first game, but in a way, it polishes it, making for a better range of tunes to listen to…the main theme will be stuck in your head for sure and the themes for the “power-ups” are quite fun too…here are a couple of examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqhYgVQPDuY

this tune will be remixed in different ways through the game, but every time in very nice ways

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqdRrf1En8M

always loved the underwater tunnels theme for some reason, it’s very melodic ^^

FINAL RATING

Wario Land II reinvents itself, polishing the formula it started in Wario Land and adding a lot of new elements, as well as multiple endings, way better and more open level design, lots of secrets and a high replayability. I took around 15 hours to get everything and mostly just because I also remembered stuff from when I played this game as a kid, so it may take you a little longer than that.

I fully recommend Wario Land II, you can either get the old GBC cartridge or simply download it on the 3DS Eshop, it’s worth it, believe me! wich is why I gave this game a…

9.5/10

fully deserved!

REVIEW: NPC: Pikmin 2

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:51:00 +0100

NPC: PIKMIN 2

On planet earth, no one can hear you scream

Played on: Wii

Also available on: Gamecube

Genre: action/strategy game

Developer: Nintendo EAD 4 ( New Super Mario Bros. series, Pikmin 3, Super Mario 64 DS)

Publisher: Nintendo

Players: 1-2 (local only)

Played for: 27 hours

Hello gamers and welcome to a new review! So, Pikmin 3 is getting closer and closer despite the delay Nintendo gave to the game, so I thought I should get ready for it, so after playing the original Pikmin months ago, I decided to play the second chapter…and man, it was a true challenge, worth every second of it though!

Pikmin 2 takes the simple concept of Pikmin and expands on it, adding many other elements, new Pikmin and removing the time limit of 30 days…don’t think that this makes the game any easier though, oh no! Anyway, the story revolves around Olimar coming back from his adventure on the mysterious Pikmin planet wich is quite similar to planet earth and discovers his agency is in huge financiary troubles! So he’s sent back by his boss with his new partner Louie to try and gather treasures (wich are mostly garbage or common earth objects) to repay the debt!

So, let’s dive once again in the world of Pikmin and let’s see what they came up with! :)

GRAPHICS

Pikmin 2 didn’t change too much from its previous title, though it has more polished graphics obviously and better use of the art direction in my opinion. The models are better-crafted, textures and effects used better, but what really improved in my opinion, visually, was the enemy design. In the first Pikmin there was a quite high potential and despite not having a huge variety of enemies, the game did show quite a few examples of unique designs, mixing bug-like elements with either creepy or goofy looks, giving the game its own identity.

In the sequel, this is expanded greatly, the designers got braver and tried more extreme kinds of designs, coming out with some of the most unique enemy designs I’ve ever seen, some of wich are, not only quite creepy in looks, but also dangerous and overpowering in game! XD But I’ll talk about that later. Kudos for the bosses though, most of them are quite the impressive sights.

The distinct art style of the game is still there, with the levels looking like little gardens wich become huge landscapes for the small Pikmin and their captains Olimar and Louie. The caves do look quite basic though, not really having anything too distinct about them, wich is the only “lame” part of the game graphics-wise, they could’ve put a little more effort on that front.

GAMEPLAY

The game shares a similar gameplay with the first title. Olimar still has his Pikmin to follow him, wich can be increased by bringing back “Pikmin coins” or dead enemies to the lil Pikmin ships, depending by their colours and there are different kinds of Pikmin, red who are immune to fire, yellow who are immune to electricity and can be thrown further and blue who can go in water. This game does introduce two new kinds of Pikmin though. The Purple Pikmin, who are really heavy and can bash down on emeies when thrown, as well as being as strong as 10 Pikmin to lift heavy objects and White Pikmin, who are very light, quick and also immune to poison, as well as being able to poison enemies who eat them.

Now, about those new elements…While in the first game you had to find pieces of Olimar’s ship before the 30 days expired in the different areas of the game, in Pikmin 2 you have to find certain items that are rated as treasures…they can be bottle caps, fruit, a pencil and even nintendo-related objects in some case. This without any day limit and, while there’s still the pressure of the day itself coming to an end, the pressure of having a day limit is removed wich, in turn, means that to balance things, the game itself is more challenging now, as enemies are more aggressive and cruel, the areas are better designed and the element of caves was introduced.

The caves are pretty much dungeons…they can be found scattered in the larger areas and inside of them, the day time doesn’t run out and it has the player going through floors filled with enemies and hidden treasures to find…this is where things get the most cruel. Some of the dungeons will need very good Pikmin management, the player will be pushed to think and strategize before barging in, as, once inside, he won’t be able to recover the Pikmin he’ll lose, unless in rare occasions. Luckily the save system lets you retry individual floors if you ever happen to screw up, wich will be quite often, believe me. The game is cruel, sometime really unpredictable, and it features a lot of absolutely dangerous enemies, wich need caution and a certain level of thinking and strategy to defeat.

At the end of every cave there will be a boss fight, wich will give off special treasures wich will give special abilities to Olimar, like a radar to detect treasures or immunity to fire, or other very useful things. The boss battles are the peak of the battle system of the game…they need strategy, quick thinking, pikmin management and a good aim, as well as reflexes. While completing the main object of the game is quite challenging but not impossible, clearing the game to get the true final ending or completing the treasure list will be an absolute challenge.

The wide array of enemies, the cruel bosses, the level design and all the traps set around areas and caves are like the work of a meticolous master mind who made sure it’ll be absolutely hard to complete the game…It was an absolute pleasure to finish the game and mastering a cave or an area with all the treasures gives a great feeling of accomplishment and some of the bosses will probably stay in your memory for either the epic fights you had with them or just how cruel they are as setup and concept (I’m looking at you, Water Wraith). Also, the final battle was something of absolutely unvelievable and epic, as well as very pleasant to finish despite being quite hard!

This game is a true challenge for seasoned gamers, as the game makes sure you feel frail and in constant danger…no pikmin in safe…you’re so small afterall and anything in the game can potentially eat you quite easily :P The atmosphere work is astounding and the level of pressure on the player here makes you almost miss the pressure of the 30 days limit at times :P

STORYLINE

Not much story here, just like the first game, though it’s quite fun to read the letters sent to Olimar and Louie at the end of each day from their boss, family or relatives, it gives you the feeling that your planet goes ahead with the events while you’re away, wich kinda gives a sort of sense of isolation, quite surprising for such a toony and colourful game. Also, after all the adventures and perils you’ll face with your Pikmin, I’m sure the ending will make you shed a little tear…it did that with me :’)

SOUNDTRACK

The game features a soundtrack style quite similar to the first game, though also featuring qay more tracks, with atmospheric, quirky and particular tunes for the caves, nice boss fight tunes and a dynamic soundtrack system wich shapes and shifts depending by the events going on in games…quite quirky…let me share a couple of nice examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvOQFbK4jzc

the first area’s theme, starting the game on a quite cheerful note.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-NYNxyC6vU

you’ll never forget this theme…NEVER…it’ll haunt you in your dreams and nightmares… D8

FINAL RATING

Pikmin 2 is not only a huge improvement in lenght and content over the first game…it’s also a real example of true challenge and how a colourful toony game can still have an oppressive, isolating atmosphere and pressure over the gamer…the sense of satisphication is really nice when you find a treasure or defeat a boss or difficult enemy, the sense of anxiety, danger and panic great when a huge enemy suddenly pops up, feeling like you don’t know what to do, totally helpless…like a prey >:D The atmospheric music works very well, to complete the game fully, it takes around 30 hours, offering quite the nice lenght for players and the strategic elements make up for a very compelling experience. The game is quite unique and let’s just hope Pikmin 3 continues on this line of thought…from what I saw, the enemies seem to be quite as cruel as the ones in Pikmin 2, so thats a good sign ;)

I give this game a…

9.5/10

Be warned…this game may wipe the floor with you :)

REVIEW: Spy Hunter

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:37:35 +0100

SPY HUNTER

Played on: 3DS

Also available on: Playstation Vita

Genre: Racing/Shooter

Developer: TT Fusion (LEGO games series, Tle Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest)

Publisher: Warner Bros.

Players: 1

Played for: around 6 hours

I’m quite in a nice “finishing games” spree lately, it seems ^^ don’t worry though, I’m not slacking on drawing, most of my time goes toward that ;D

So, today I’m gonna review Spy Hunter, the 3DS version, precisely. What’s Spy Hunter ? Well, the original title was an Arcade game by Midway. The concept was really simple: the player had a view of the road from above and he had to play as an advanced spy car, making his way through enemy cars and copters and other enemies, using gatling guns and the good old oil puddles to send its foes off the road. It was your typical arcade game, where rather than completing levels, the point was to resist as long as possible while scoring as much points as possible.

The new reboot seems to take the concept of the spy car and extend it, adding proper missions and levels, a story and a lot of customizable equipment for the Interceptor, as well as making it able to transform for off-road and sea-mode .

So, how did it go ? Well, let’s just say…very good concept and ideas but poor execution…let’s see why…

GRAPHICS

We aren’t starting on a good note. Both on 3ds and on Vita, the game doesn’t really do much to impress the player with high-quality graphics or a nice art direction…The Interceptor itself is well-designed and the transformations look nice, but the game looks pretty much like an early PS2 game and even the PS2 had better-looking games early in its life.

Models are quite poorly-done and, like mentioned, beside the Interceptor itself, the rest of the game just doesn’t have any visual charm, the art direction being relaly bland. The only nice-looking thing I can mention is the water effects, wich are “kinda” nice, nothing special, but not a punch in the eyes either.

I should also mention the repetitivity of the settings used for the game…the game very rarely tries to use different-looking assets for the levels and the missions and overall the game just doesn’t look nice…it’s blandness all around, with the exception of the car that, again, stands out enough, with all the weapons coming out of it and stuff looking cool enough to at least give a little bit of a good thing graphics-wise

GAMEPLAY.

The gameplay concept is quite fun in itself as we have to play as this absolutely amazing spy car running through the roads and decimating cars, trucks, copters and doing other badass things. The array of weapons unlockable for the cars is quite varied too…it’s nice how the buttons are mapped in a way that they represent the area of the car they activate. X is for front weapons, A is for side-weapons, B is for back weapons and Y is for weapons on the roof of the car. There are gun turrets, flamethrowers, mines, stun guns, shotguns, razor blades, exploding rosters, they were creative with it and finding the perfect combination is quite fun.

The problem is that the game itself has a lot of technical problems…bad collisions, messed up physics and the controls for moving the car around re REALLY floaty, so that you have the constant feeling of racing on ice. The floaty controls are somehow manageable after a bit, but sometime it’ll happen that the game problems will get into the way, making you lose for something that wasn’t (not fully at least) your fault.

The missions themselves are varied enough for being a spy car game…simply reaching a spot before time runs out, fighting against invisible cars, transporting a nuke and being sure not to get too much damage. Another nice thing is how the game slows down to show whenever you get rid of an enemy in a quite nice and cinematic way…quite a cute addition, yep, but doesn’t get rid of the other problems.

Don’t get me wrong…the base concept is fun and despite the clunky controls there’s still quite a bit of enjoyment to find in the game, but the blandness of it all as well as the glitchy and technical problems hinder the game quite a bit…it doesn’t help that completing all the missions takes quite a short time, around 6 hours or so.

It’s a real shame, because the idea IS fun, but it wasn’t executed that well.

STORYLINE

The story is pretty much just an excuse to push things forward, don’t expect complex plots or twists, though I have to mention I liked the presence of a villain with a cloaked voice, wich gave a feeling similar to the one of Claw from Inspector Gadget, this super powerful villain who always tries to get you, but you always get to outsmart…cute stuff :)

SOUNDTRACK

Not much to say about the soundtrack…there’s a nice remix of the classic Spy Hunter theme, but beside that, the musics are quite forgettable and get repetitive quite fast…can’t even show you an example of the remix because no one put it on youtube XD

FINAL RATING

Spy Hunter has a really fun premise…the armed spy car idea is something I’d like to see in a more polished game, because it has a lot of potential. And it does show through this game, but lots of problems like collisions, bugs, floaty car physics, repetitive settings and music, as well as bland art direction doens’t make this a recommended purchase, unless if found at a REALLY low price. Wich is why I give this game a…

6.5/10

a wasted opportunity. let’s hope Warner Bros gives the Interceptor another chance…from what I know they’re working on a movie, so maybe that’ll be a nice chance to change things around.

REVIEW: Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 23:59:56 +0100

PAPER MARIO: STICKER STAR

Played on: 3DS

Genre: adventure/RPG

Developer: Intelligent System (Fire Emblem series, Advance Wars series, Pushmo/Pullblox…)

Publisher: Nintendo

Players: 1

Played for: around 25 hours

Hello everyone and here I am with yet another review for you! XD

So, today I’m gonna review the new title in the Paper Mario series, wich this time, has been moved onto handheld. The game is quite different from the usual outings of the series, but it’s also different from Super Paper mario, wich was still a fantastic game in my opinion, by the way. But enough of that, let’s see what the guys of Intelligent System cooked up this time around!

We have the overall theme of the game being Stickers this time around, as a legendary Sticker Star wich seems to be able to grant wishes, comes to visit the Mushroom Kingdom every once in a while, Bowser takes this chance to steal the Star, kindp Princess Peach and gain a great power to make an entire mess of the Mushroom Kingdom! So, let’s go into more detail!

Review time, go!

GRAPHICS

It looks like in this Paper Mario title, the developers gave their best with trying to make the game world look like made of real paper, any kind of paper, really, even cardboard, you know, the one you use to make boxes and stuff.

Art Direction is the keyword here as the game looks like a carefully made papercraft, with characters being flat sheets of paper, houses and constructions made out of paper or cardboard and even going as far as having powerful enemies shown as shiny paper, like the one you find on rare Pokemon cards wich are, infact, more powerful than the usual ones.

The paperish art direction doesn’t stop here though. Many puzzles, when triggered or solved actually cause absolutely fun and pleasant paper-related shenanigans that will make the player smile all the way until the end, going from having a simple flat piece of ground unfolding to reveal an entire construction to in-battle stuff like enmies having a “crumpled” status wich makes them look all ruined and, in return, weaker to attacks.

Absolutely gorgeous if you ask me. Plus, the implementation of real life, non-paper items used as some sort of mythical objects and summons to use in puzzles or battles is a simple, yet absolutely awesome concept, showing a great creativity on the developers’ part.

The animations are quite basic for the characters, but being made of paper, that’s something that won’t bother you.

GAMEPLAY

Like I mentioned earlier, Paper Mario: Sticker Star isn’t your typical Paper Mario title. While it still is an RPG instead of being a platform with rpg elements like Super Paper Mario was, the differences are of other nature. First of all…There is no experience.

The battle system of the game is structured to be based on coins and sticker alone…what does this mean ? It’s simpler than it sounds. Playing the game, the player will be able to find or purchase stickers around the entire gameworld, taking them from shops, pulling them off walls or even winning some by defeating enemies. They pretty much work as “ammo” in battles and there are different kinds, with the main types being the Jump and Hammer stickers, for different types of enemies. There are, of coruse, other kinds too, like flower types, healing mushrooms, multiple types of jumps and hammers and all of them are organized in an album with limited pages, wich means the player will need to put a lot of thinking into the battles to better organize and strategize his moves and the room in the album, as there also are stickers of varying sizes depending on their powers. Also, rest assured, the battles still have the feature of attacks being more effective and powerful if one presses the A button at the right time ^^

The coins are instead used, not only as currency in the game, but also as a gambling currency in battles to trigger a slot machine, wich can unlock more attack slots, letting Mario be able to use multiple stickers in one turn…the slot machine also rewards you with a special effect depending by wich tris of items you got (three coins will make a rain of coins go down on Mario for extra income).

I also mentioned real life objects earlier: They can be found in the different levels of the game (yes, it’s structured in levels, rather than a full world…the thing works surprisingly well though, with a very cute world map and all) and can be turned into stickers to use either as very powerful summons in battle or as solution to certain puzzles in the game.

This is where the bad part comes. The game is absolutely amazing gameplay-wise, the battle system is quirky and fun, making the player think before acting and manage his stash of stickers well…luckily the game is also balanced in a way that, if he plays well enough, he won’t run out of stickers to use. Anyway, this is about the way the puzzles and hints are managed…it doesn’t happen everytime, but sometime, to overcome a certain puzzle you’ll need a specific sticker of a real life object (called Things in the game). The problem is that the game doesn’t give you any idea of where the Sticker is, in wich part of the game or even in wich level. Wich makes the player wander around aimlessly unless he gets lucky or reads a walkthrough.

A similar problem comes with boss battles…Bosses have a very specific weakness, wich is suggested just after three times the player loses against the boss…too much if you ask me. Sure, the bosses are still defeatable without knowing the weaknesses, but it just triggers a “trial and error” process that may come as annoying to some players, making the game kinda unbalanced in difficulty in certain parts…so, be warned, if you get stuck, don’t feel ashamed to read a guide, you won’t be the only one who did XD

It’s a shame becaus ein some parts it can be quite a problem and yet the rest of the game is so much awesome and wel-polished that it makes you wonder why they didn’t put in a better hint system…After all, your partner in the game can be asked for hints, but they rarely help you with what you’re looking for.

This hinders the game quite a bit, because without this problem, it’d just be a great game, but this “calculation error” makes the game harder than it was meant to be unless you use a guide.

STORYLINE

The story in this Paper Mario title seems to be a lot simpler than the usual. It was confirmed that Miyamoto suggested to cut down on the story, since the team wanted to opt for a plottier plan, instead. This, in my opinion, was a mistake, since it’s true that the story doesn’t make a game, but since the mario RPGs always had quirky, nice plots within them I don’t see why cutting on them. I love you, Miyamoto, but I’m of the opinion that this time around you didn’t take the right choice.

Still, everyone can take a mistep sometime, so it’s funny seeing enraged PM fans insulting him and demanding that he gets fired for a mistake :D criticizing is alloweed, overreacting is retarded, my friends ;D

Still, the game does still have a couple of interesting characters and quite a few interesting and Paper Marioish situations to enjoy, so it isn’t a tragedy, unless it becomes a trend of the next titles.

SOUNDTRACK

The soundtrack is, as usual, top-notch. It features many nods to classic tunes as well as lots of original tracks. This time around, the soundtrack seems to be quite Jazz-styled with lots of trumpets and other details of this musical genre, though it also touches other styles.

another gem to put among the best Nintendo-related tracks, if you ask me :D a couple of examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yVOxni0aO0

The theme of the main city of the game :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftXlVwzsjWc

and the battle theme, catchy and upbeat as usual!

FINAL RATING

Paper Mario: Sticker Star features great art direction graphics-wise, a step up compared to the previous series, a fun and unique battle system and many levels to explore, full of secrets and paperish shenanigans. The story isn’t as thick as previous titles, but still nice to follow. The only real drawback is too much of a lack of hints dropped at the player to solve puzzles or deal with certain boss fights, especially the final two.

Nintendo has been often scolded by fans for too much hand-holding, but in my opinion, a lack of instructions or hints on what to do next on a modern game may be even worse, with absolutely nothing in the game being able to tell the player how to solve it, not even by simply logical thinking. This hinders an otherwise awesome game, wich still has a lot of many very good points to back it up and make it a worthy game to play, not without a guide though…that’s why I give this game a…

8.0/10

could’ve been one more vote without its big drawback, but it still can’t be rated as a bad game at all :)

REVIEW: New Super Mario Bros. U

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 21:03:50 +0100

NEW SUPER MARIO BROS U

Played on: Wii U

Genre: 2D Platform

Developer: Nintendo EAD 4 (New Super Mario Bros. series, Yoshi Touch & Go, Pikmin 3…)

Publisher: Nintendo

Players: 1-5 (local only)

Played for: 16 hours

Two reviews in a row! well, given how I delayed the Nintendoland one it’s normal that I had two games to review piled up! XD

So! Today I’m gonna review New Super Mario Bros. U! Afterreviewing the title for 3DS, wich was developed by a team of young developers at Nintendo EAD, I was eager to see what the main team was working on. It looks like the wait was worth it! But let’s see that into detail.

GRAPHICS

One of the big complaints about the New series was that the game pretty much always used the same assets and never tried anything new with the art direction. While this title doesn’t seem to stray off too much from the formula of the previous title, it looks like the art designers managed to make the game world way more appealing and vibrant.

Beside the obviously superior HD assets, with the 3d models of enemies and players looking crispier than ever, the backgrounds of many levels have a stunning sense of depth and the designers tried to impress the player a lot more with flashy graphical effects or even with special level designs.

There are absolutely beautiful levels such as the “painted” one, wich looks like it has been ripped off a picture painted by Van Ghogh. Sure, the overall art direction can still be improved a lot, but it’s quite obvious that it looks like there’s an overall improvement on the art assets, beyond the simple HD power of the console.

Oh, won’t spoil anything, but Bowser looks gorgeous in this game, I warned ya ;)

GAMEPLAY

Nothing much has changed here. The Mario gameplay is still the same, tight as ever, fun and endearing, especially in single, or two-player…beyond that, things get a little chaotic, so keep the 4 players for when you simply want to mess with friends, wich isn’t a bad thing.

Beside that, it looks like the developers improved, not only in the creativity of the levels themselves (even better than NSMBWii, my former fave NSMB title), but also in the difficulty curve, with the last worlds reserving quite a few difficult surprises for the more seasoned players…and if you want to get the star coins ? Prepare to rage a lot, Star Coins and hidden exits are hidden quite well in this game, or put in very difficult places. It’s like the developers made this game by keeping in mind both casuals and seasoned players.

While the main adventure can still be cleared easily enough ignoring all the rest, completing the game will be quite the big task, with quite a nice reward too, wich some Super Mario World fans will probably drool over ;) This without counting the entirely new modes added…The challenge mode, the coin rush mode and the boost rush mode are all specificly developed for experienced Mario players. Believe me, if you complained about the NSMB games being too easy, this title will probably be what you’re looking for.

The team at Nintendo packed this title with content, way more than the previous chapters of the series and many nods to the Super Mario World and Bros series will probably make the old-school fans smile more than once.

Also, Baby Yoshis are adorable and also nice additions to the gameplay :P

STORYLINE

Well, as I say every time, Mario games shouldn’t be played for the story, even though this title has one lil, slight change in the plot that will probably make some of you pull a smile ^^

SOUNDTRACK

This is probably the least improved aspect of the game, since, for the most part, the game reuses remastered tunes from the old games…the castle and tower themes for example, are still the same, as well as many other tunes…wich is a shame, because there ARE new tracks, like the main theme and a different remix of the underground theme, as well as others, wich do sound quite awesome in my opinion…wich makes me wish they did more, pretty much! XD Come on, Nintendo, try a bit harder with this one in the next title, ok ? don’t rehash :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV0jmjYIZ7w&list=PLD132FFD4295AB670&index=1

the new overworld theme is quite nice and catchy ^^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c2pZ4Opvwg&list=PLD132FFD4295AB670&index=17

a lil remix that never hurts ;3

FINAL RATING

New Super Mario Bros. U uses pretty much the same formula of the old titles, but this time around the game is, not only packed with content that will make both casual and hardcore players happy, but it’s also an overall improvement, especially regarding the art direction, creativity and gameplay elements, feeling like a more solid and fresher title than the others ever did. This is why I give the game a…

9.0/10

The best New Super Mario Bros. title yet. heavily recommended as one of the first Wii U titles to get, along with Nintendo land, of course ;)

REVIEW: Nintendo Land

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:51:36 +0100

NINTENDOLAND

Played on: Wii U

Genre: Arcade

Developer: Nintendo EAD 2 ( Wii Sports, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Wii Music…)

Publisher: Nintendo

Players: 1-5 (local only)

Played for: 17 hours

Well, would you look at this ?? My first Wii U review! Sorry if it took so long but I usually have this ritual to get the soundtrack of the game right after beating it, but the music ripping of the Wii U is still under progress, so I decided to just go with the review, otherwise I’ll prolly wait for a good while! XD

Anyway! I’ll start off with saying that the Wii U as console is great and, despite a few flaws, it shows great potential for the years to come! Nintendo Land, as game, is the perfect example of how the gamepad can be used really creatively as well as offering a deep experience and not feeling more like an enhanced tech demo (kinda like Wii Sports, wich was still very fun, mind you!)

At first sight Nintendo Land might look like your usual minigame collection, kinda like mario party but with more Nintendo franchises…well…WRONG! D8< Nintendo Land seems to be more of a tribute to the old arcades of the 80’s, being a huge reminder of the first wave of titles that hit the NES in its first moments of life, with lots of arcade ports from Nintendo and other software houses…but let’s explain the game in more detail!

GRAPHICS

Nintendo Land could be considered a perfect showcase of how art direction wins over hardware power…Don’t be fooled, Nintendo Land does show quite a bit of power of the console already, with very impressive effects of shadows and light, as well as very nice textures, but what really shines in this game is the art direction itself.

The 12 games available in the park have all their distinct style wich tries to really mimic the “fake” feeling of the attractions in different ways. Balloon Trip is entirely made of stitches and fabric, as well as the Zelda attraction, though in a more detailed way, with little fan service bits like the trees looking like reproductions of the 16-bit trees in A Link to the Past.

The Pikmin attraction makes the player feel like he’s playing on a field of toys, with fake toy bulblorbs coming out of little balls like the classic Gashapon toys wich are very popular in Japan, Captain Falcon’s car is pretty much a huge toy car, with the charging key and everything and the environments of Takamaru’s castle are entirely made of wood. it’s a great little package showing off lots of different styles of art directions and the main plaza of the park isn’t anything less than awesome, especially when you start filling it with attraction pieces and miis start walking all around the place!

it’s all like a huge party and celebration of Nintendo’s first HD outing…and the end game credits…I won’t spoil the surprise, but I said wow :D

GAMEPLAY

This is where I’ll explain how the game is not a minigame collection, but rather an arcade collection. See Wii Sports could be rated as minigame collection, given how, every game, albeit fun, still didn’t have a sense of depth beyond a certain point, or a feeling of progression and game growth that went beyond just getting better at the game. In Nintendo land, things feel different.

Both multiplayer and single player games have a whole other feeling and depth to them and only the simplest ones like Mario Chase could count as minigames, being only little multiplayer games focused on short games with no real progression beside the unlocking of a couple of extra stages. Mind you, they’re still absolutely fun, taking simple concepts such as the chase or the stalking and making them the focus of the game, with the gamepad owner having his own special role, while the rest of the players will have to work together to try and defeat the gamepad player or survive to him.

The gamepad is used very differently in each game…in Mario chase we have the players dressed as Toads trying to get the gamepad player, who, dressed as Mario, has a bird-view over the current map, so that he can try to avoid the 4 other players more easily..in Luigi’s Mansion, the gamepad player is the ghost who has to stalk after the players being careful not to let them stun him with their torchlight, while Animal Crossing makes use of the twin sticks, with wich the gamepad player must use them to move two characters after the other players who are trying to gather a certain amount of candy.

Then there are the other games, some of wich are single player only and others also have a multiplayer option. The single player games, can pretty much count as stand alone games on their own, like I said, reminding of the early NES days, with games like Balloon Fight, Ice Climbers and Mach Rider being all ports of Arcade games of that time. Nintendo land here offers games such as Balloon Trip, Takamaru’s Castle or Captain Falcon’s Twisted Race, as well as others, all of them being pretty much like arcade games of survival, just like old times, in wich the main point of the player was to survive and get bigger and bigger scores…of course, the Miiverse integration makes the player able to boast about it online with others :P But yes, they’re dangerously addictive!

The single/multi games are no less fun, being still arcadeish in nature, but with an actual progression of levels for games like Pikmin, Zelda and Metroid, all of them featuring very challenging stages to go through as well as bosses and final bosses…if that’s not enough, once beaten you can unlock even harder levels, for all of you who love harder challenges :P

One game alone can keep you entertained for one entire day, that’s the power and depth of this game, featuring a level of polish that so few games show nowadays. Only bad thing is the omission of the online…while I do vastly prefer playing multiplayer locally I can understand how people would’ve loved to go challenging friends online or play in co-op with them…let’s hope Nintendo learns to implement such things in the future, because this is admittedly a big omission for an online-focused console like the Wii U, even if the Miiverse integration is quite cool.

STORYLINE

There’s no story, really XD

SOUNDTRACK

The soundtrack features lots of classic Nintendo tracks totally remixed for the game, as well as a few original tracks made for the park itself, always catchy and unforgettable, like a good Nintendo song always is most of the time ^^

Classic tracks from Metroid, Zelda, Pikmin, Mario and others can be heard in this game, all of wich feature their own musical style, kinda like the different art directions, with Metroid taking an orchestral approach (divine ;) ) or Zelda playing around with flutes and xilophones…If you’re a nintendo fan, you’ll love them, I assure you! And here are a couple of examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l_lceQ0iEo&list=UUTcQllglSlkXYdlNm6KZNKw&index=16

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-X3FrH2Rw8&list=UUTcQllglSlkXYdlNm6KZNKw&index=51

FINAL RATING

Nintendo Land proves to be quite the surprising game, showing a level of depth that Wii Sports never achieved despite the novel controls. It shows off how the pad can be used, both for simple concepts, or more complex ones, as well as giving a taste of the asymmetric gameplay, with players taking totally different roles depending by the game, as well as being a tribute to old 80’s arcades, with score-based games and level-based ones, offering something for everyone, both for casuals who don’t know Nintendo franchises that much and for seasoned players who love their bit of challenge in their games.

believe me, Nintendo Land is a must have for fun evenings with friends and the only thing keeping it from being a “perfect” (because there’s no perfect game) is the lack of an online mode, wich may hinder people who don’t have lots of friends to play with. This is why I give this game a…

9.0/10

Welcome to the new generation, Nintendo ^^

hey everyone! it’s been a (LONG) while, uh ? XD well,...

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 23:24:24 +0100

hey everyone! it’s been a (LONG) while, uh ? XD well, don’t worry, I wasn’t dead! I’ve just been working on a quite large pic lately and work and real life slowed things down quite a bit ^^; but I’m still active, even if it doesn’t seem like it! since I’m at it though, I wanna post a little design I came up with ^^ This “little” guy here is supposed to be a Kaiju, aka a giant japanese monster for a game the team of the Godzilla games is doing through a kickstarter. Thing is, from what I heard, they don’t seem to be accepting new ideas for the roster anymore, but since I liked how the design was coming out, I wanted to finish it and post it here! ^^ who knows, maybe one day this big guy will be able to slip into a game or a cartoon! but heh, for now just enjoy the pic of this demonic/draconic rodent who likes to trash cities around XD

REVIEW: Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 15:59:05 +0100

EPIC MICKEY: POWER OF ILLUSION

Played on: 3DS

Genre: 2D puzzle/platform

Developer: Dreamrift (Monster Tale, Henry Hansworth…)

Publisher: Disney Interactive Studios

Players: 1

Played for: around 9 hours

Hello everyone and welcome to this new review from yours truly! 8D

Today I’m gonna review Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, the first portable spin-off of the Epic Mickey series, wich had a quite nice title on Wii, with its few flaws, but a nice and epic experience indeed!

Now there’s a sequel, wich I got for Wii U, but I’ll cover that further down the line…For now, let’s review this portable title, wich is slightly detached from the story of the mainline games, having Mickey being called back to wasteland to help Oswald get into the Castle of Illusion (the same one from the 16-bit games) to defeat Mizrabel who’s kidnapping cartoons for her own gain, but this time, rather than having the appearance of the Evil Queen from Snow White, she got the appearance of Maleficent and is planning to get her revenge on Mickey.

The premise of the game is certainly a nostalgia trip for old-school gamers, but how does this game hold against those immortal classics ? Unluckily…it doesn’t…but let’s go into detail about it…

GRAPHICS

Graphic-wise there’s nothing bad to say. The game actually looks gorgeous. The sprite work is absolutely excellent, as well as the animations being very fluid, above the average sprite-animated game…Mickey especially moves very well, his sprite being a little work of art and the sprites of the enemies, bosses and of the other disney characters aren’t half-bad either.

The backgrounds aren’t any less beautiful and actually depict very impressive works of background art, some of wich may as well be fitting as actual paintings on a wall! So yep, Dreamrift shows its skill at sprite works, like it already did with its previous games.

The graphics are vibrant, colourful, well-animated and do their best to impress the player and throw him in the very nice-looking disney worlds…the problems come with the other elements of the game though…

GAMEPLAY

The game takes the simple commands of the Illusion series, with Mickey being able to run around, jump and butt-smash his enemies, just like in the old games, but the magical paintbrush of Epic Mickey is added to the mix, with Mickey being able to throw paint and thinner balls at the enemies, who give items depending by what they are defeated with.

There are also “puzzles” to solve, wich are pretty much the player using the 3DS stylus to draw along some simple lineart to bring out secret characters to free, use special items, make stuff appear or disappear by deleting them with the thinner. Problem is that, not only all of the puzzles involve the player simply drawing along simple lineart, but the game is filled with them to the point that the gameplay pace is slowed down to awkward levels.

Now, don’t get me wrong, a slow gameplay can be good for me, wich is why I like pokemon and strategy/rpg games like super robot taisen and final fantasy tactics, but when a game is slow, it must be slow for the sake of the game itself. Power of Illusion, unluckily, is unbalanced in this and has the gamer stop too many times just to draw a few lines. If the puzzles themselves had more variety, it wouldn’t be a problem, but being just the same thing over and over, they are just an annoying chore to go through. And it’s a shame, because the actual platforming, while not being mindblowing is mildly fun and the challenge curve is good too, starting from the first simple levels before going to levels filled with many death threats to avoid and fight. Everything is slowed down by the puzzles though.

The game could’ve been so much more, but it’s like it has been plagued with bad ideas, not something that is a habit of Dreamrift, so the game was either rushed or someone put an unwanted hand into it. Another problem is with the side quests…freeing Disney characters will unlock rooms in the castle map where the characters stay and can give you side quests…completing them can make the player upgrade their room…the thing would’ve been cute, but unluckily, the side quests are pretty much down to the same three things…either look for a chest or another character in the levels (wich lead to a lot of level replaying and backtracking), draw a puzzle (again) or go talk to another disney character that can help the quest-giver…there just isn’t the push to finish and I did do all the quests just to see if there would be a reward…wich isn’t there at all.

The boss fights are also VERY few and still plagued by puzzles, wich is a shame, because the concept ideas behind them were quite nice too. And to top things off ? completing the game 100% took me barely 9 hours. Wich means that simply ignoring side quests and playing the levels will take very few hours as the game pretty much has just three worlds to explore…too short for a game like this. I get that the main target of the game may have been the kids, but then why reference the Castle of Illusion games from 15 years ago ?

STORYLINE

Forget about the story, it’s as relevant as the story of a Super Mario 2D game…wich would have been good if the gameplay wasn’t as flawed as it is :/

SOUNDTRACK

The soundtrack can be called a mixed bag…Some tracks are forgettable, some are REALLY nice (just 2/3 of them though) and the rest is all reused music from the first Epic Mickey title…wich is a shame because due to the graphic look I would’ve expected nice music too and the Epic Mickey tracks kinda feel out of place in a 2d platform game.

FINAL RATING

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion is a missed opportunity…It can still be enjoyable for young kid gamers, but more mature platform fans may prefer to wait for a better chance, as Power of Illusion does have a hint of a good thing within its gameplay, but the pacing is broken, the puzzles are the same thing repeated over and over, the side quests are useless and repetitive and the game lenght just isn’t worth it. it’s a game that just doesn’t leave you with anything…a real, real shame, I must say, especially since the game did look great graphics wise…wich is another example of how graphics don’t make a good game :/ this is why I give this game a…

5.0/10

REVIEW: Pokemon Black/White 2

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:48:54 +0100

POKEMON BLACK/WHITE 2

Played on: DS

Genre: RPG

Developer: Game Freak (Pokemon series, Pulseman, Drill Dozer…)

Publisher: Nintendo

Players: 1-4 (local and online)

Played for: 50 hours

Well, folks, it looks like I finally played this game long enough to review it! XD As my friends know, it’s a game I’ve eagerly awaited for months and also took my sweet time in playing, not having any rush and enjoying it all the way until the end (or at least the end of the story) before reviewing it! well, that time has come! ^_^

Pokemon Black/White 2 is the first ever direct sequel to a mainline Pokemon game. Instead of making a simple enhanced third version, Gamefreak decided to step the game up and make a full-fledged title to continue the events of the first game, just with a new main character. After the fall of Team Plasma it looks like another threat is falling on Unova, so our new hero will be the new chosen who’ll take the destiny of Unova in his hands…Now, let’s see if the developers of Gamefreak managed to pull this off! :)

GRAPHICS

Graphics-wise the game looks very similar to the first title, though Gamefreak got a little more daring with the views, seeming to offer more impressive scorches of the environment and I must say that the new locations of the game are very good, both as concept and look…The old locations are either kept very similar to the looks of the old titles or totally changed, wich results in quite the surprise for who played the first games.

The battles look pretty much the same, minus an improvement in certain pokemon sprites and animations, wich is always welcome…Still, the game looks very similar to the first title, so don’t expect any graphical leap over the first, afterall the title is still on the DS, let’s wait for a proper 3DS title before expecting that ^^

Plus, the game really does its best to push the DS hardware at its limit, with both the 3d models and 2d sprites being top notch, so it isn’t like we aren’t getting anything nice :P

GAMEPLAY

Talking about the gameplay, there isn’t much new in terms of Battle System or how the game plays out, it pretty much follows the same additions of Black and White versions, though I did notice an increase of the difficulty for the trainer encounters and gym battles, this time around I really had to work hard to gain a badge XD There are also way more rotation and triple battles to find around, wich is a welcome addition for me.

Don’t think, though, that just because the game doesn’t try to innovate the formula, you’ll find yourself bored…If anything, Black/White 2 versions got way more stuff to do than Black/White ever did! a common complaint for the first game, was that there wasn’t too much to do beside following the story (wich is still my fave, mind you :P). The sequels rectify this by pretty much adding tons of things to do, from the simple addition of lots of optional places to explore and find secret items and rare pokemon in, to more different stuff, like the quite peculiar addition of Pokewood/Pokemon Star Studios, wich is formed by puzzle-themed battles in wich hints are dropped to tell the player how to go forward and make movies wich also got very interesting themes…from Bug pokemon ruling the world, to alien invasions. It can entertain you for hours, believe me, it did with me XD

Beside that, of course, there are lots of other additions and there’s always something to do, wich can help with pokemon training or just be a welcome distraction from the usual grinding…it’s also worth noting that the Battle Tower now can give experience :P

What’s best is that this doesn’t stop here…Even post-game there’s a lot of stuff left to discover as the game opens up to a lot of new areas previously being unavailable, as well as secret legendaries to get or very nice story events. And I can’t avoid mentioning the Pokemon World Tournament, wich pits the player against famous trainers, gym leaders and champions from the previous games, all along with their respective battle themes, wich is quite the nostalgia trip and also a nice challenge!

With many of the old pokemon back into action and many many things to discover you’ll never get bored!

STORYLINE

The game features a very interesting way to tell some very special tidbits of story that happened during or after the previous game. By linking the previous game to the sequel, the player will unlock special flashbacks to find around the game, most of wich, I admit, are very touching for who took the story of the first game in their heart.

Beside that, the story seems to be a bit slimmed down in comparison to the first game. Mind you, the game still has quite a few interesting characters, the rival is one of the best I’ve witnessed in the series, Colress is quite the fascinating character too and, while the climax of the story doesn’t reach the levels of epicness and emotion of the first title, it’s still quite nice and interesting to play, especially since, after the league, there will still be a few story events to go through to also get a few interesting possibilities, game-wise.

Still, it’s just a shame that the story didn’t have the same focus of the first title, even if admittedly, the levels of the first title’s story are hard to reach, at least with a sequel, so I can’t wait to see what they cook up for the new gen :3

SOUNDTRACK

The game had way more new tracks than I was expoecting…while for the most part the game does feature slightly rearranged music from the first game, the new tracks are very nice, I’d say that, for some of the tracks, even better than the first title…and how can you not love the remixes of the old gym leader and champion themes ? 8D ahem, anyway, here are a couple of examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufFyzDbZALc

the new rival theme is a track I absolutely love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVPIxu4tTrA

it’s also quite nice how every gym leader got his/her own version of the gym theme, this one being one of my faves in its climax :)

FINAL RATING

Pokemon Black/White totally shatters the fact that Gamefreak can’t make proper sequels…The game does not only offer a totally new adventure to play out, but also improves on the amount of content for the player to do, also slightly increasing the difficulty and offering some of the best post-game stuff the series ever received, as well as very nice new musical tracks and only slightly falls short on the story, at least compared to the excellent story of the first title, but at the same time making it up solely with game content and with still very fun characters. Therefore I give this game a…

9.5/10

Being Gamefreak’s first real sequel of the Pokemon series, I’d say it isn’t half-bad :)

REVIEW: Wario Land

Sun, 18 Nov 2012 04:15:15 +0100

WARIO LAND: SUPER MARIO LAND 3

Played on: 3DS

Also available on: Game Boy

Genre: 2D Platformer

Developer: Nintendo EAD (Super Mario Land 2, Donkey Kong, Super Mario 3D Land)

Publisher: Nintendo

Players: 1

Played for: around 6 hours

Hello everyone and welcome to my new review! So, today I’m doing yet another retro review, reviewing Wario’s first ever adventure as the “hero” of the game!

Wario Land is fondly remembered by many gamers as one of the best platformers for the classic Game Boy and for good reasons too, I can say, now that I played it! But let’s talk more about it!

Wario, since his defeat in Super Mario Land 2 still didn’t give up on his dream to have his own castle, but instead of trying to get a revenge on good old Mario, he decides to go after the crew of Captain Syrup’s pirates, to steal their wealth and get closer to his dream…with this incipit, let’s get deeper into the details of the game :3

GRAPHICS

Wario Land pushes the Game Boy quite well, being even slightly above Super Mario Land 2 in terms of graphics, wich, as usual in the GB Mario games are pretty cute and feature nice themes for the levels. There’s also an improvement on the sprites being slightly more detailed than in SML2, especially for Wario and the boss sprites.

So, overall the game looks nice, has a nice art design, a bit darker than Mario’s games„ hilarious-looking or creepy-looking bosses, as well as a nice stage design and Wario’s demented grin looks absolutely hilarious, in a good way. The game also features a nice looking world map, even if it’s less in-detail, compared to the prequel, even if it is because the island is shown in a much bigger scope than Mario’s island.

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay, while being, as usual about jumping on platforms and over dangers, is quite different in feel. Playing as Wario means playing as a much less agile character, so the gameplay is all focused on Wario’s sluggish and heavy movements, wich in turn permit to be more powerful. Wario can shoulder-bash enemies, grab them and throw them at other enemies, going for a more rude approach than mario, even if the good old jumping on enemies work too.

Wario’s power ups are really fun, even if a few, with Bull Wario bing able to cling to ceilings and butt-crash enemies, Dragon Wario being able to breath fire through the nostrils of the Wario-shaped hat and Jet Wario being a very fun power up wich makes Wario able to fly for long distances and be overall faster.

The game is also quite more challenging than the previous Land titles as, even with being a platformer veteran, I ended up dying quite many times during my playthrough, though not to frustrating levels.

Boss fights are also short, but fun and also challenging enough. I also like how they added a lot of secret routes and even a whole secret world and also added the quite fun idea of giving the player the choice if to use the halfpoint checkpoint of the level spending 10 coins on it or to keep the money for yourself but risk having to do all the whole level again in case of loss.

The game is also filled with secret ways leading to keys and locked doors to open to reveal treasures, wich play a lead role in getting the best ending of the game. Finding them all will be challenging, I assure you ;3

So, very good and tight gameplay, with a fair level of challenge, wich features just a very small bug problem of enemies and coins ending up stuck in walls if knocked into them now and then, but just in one occasion it prevented me from getting a coin, so no big deal in my opinion.

STORYLINE

The story is as relevant as in other Mario games, pretty much…though the ending of the game does give quite the nice surprise wich will at least make you smile, I’m sure ^^

SOUNDTRACK

Wario Land does share a bit of style of music of the previous Land title, but in a way it feels…kinda distorted…not in a bad way of course, but more akin to Wario’s style, so that rather than outright happy, it feels happy, yes, but also kinda goofy and “weird”, following the style of the heavy and fat nemesis of our fave plumber. here’s a popular example of the game’s music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylc8A3JYMic

FINAL RATING

Wario Land feels quite different from the previous Land title, sharing just the use of a world map and the basic platforming gameplay…for the rest of the stuff, wario Land gets to be its own thing and a great addition to the Game Boy library…it features a catchy tune, tight and heavy gameplay, nice challenge and good Game Boy styled graphics…platform lovers will dig it ;) that’s why I give it a full…

9.0/10

get it, folks! It can be found on Virtual Console!

REVIEW: Lunar: Silver Star Harmony

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 12:46:43 +0100

LUNAR: SILVER STAR HARMONY

Played on: PSP

Genre: RPG

Developer: GameArts (Grandia series, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete…)

Publisher: XSeed Games

Players: 1

Played for: Around 40 hours

Well, today I’m gonna review a game that, in a way, stole my heart during its playthrough. I always heard of Lunar as a great and fun RPG series to play, with a touching story, so when I spotted the limited edition of this PSP remake (the original was made for the SegaCD) I was really happy to get my hands on it.

What I found was a true RPG gem and today I’m gonna share this tale of Dragonmasters, Magic Emperors and Goddesses with you :3

So, let’s embark in this adventure and see if this tale is worth following!

GRAPHICS

While the original game and the subsequential remake on PSX kept around the same classic RPGish look, the PSP remake gets a whole new lick of paint, almost litterally, as the environments of the game are absolutely made gorgeous, looking like they were hand-drawn and coloured by the artists, almost not giving you the impression to be just sprites on screen, but real works of environmental art.

The cities, the dungeons, the battle scenes and the different locations seem to all take life of its own as they’re drawn to look all completely different from each other, completely erasing any danger of the environments getting repetitive by going forward in the game. The same attention for the detail seems to be put in the sprites of the characters and the enemies, using chibi-ish looks, less chibi than the original titles though, wich makes for more detailed battle scenes, wich, by the way, feature quite impressive animations, flashy attacks and magics for both enemies and main characters of the game, so that each battle becomes a show of fleshes, colours and well-made sprites running around, slashing and hitting at each other.

The game’s look itself is a work of art taking the classic 2d RPG look and overhauling it completely, making it look and feel somewhat modern, wich makes me wonder if it’d be possible to develope another classic rpg like this…it’d make for an interesting experiment, if I can say that ;)

The game also features animated cutscenes, wich, while not reaching Gainax levels of animations look fairly nice in the overall story of the game, but I’ll talk about that later ^^

GAMEPLAY

The game differs slightly from your usual classic RPG gameplay…While the battle system is turn-based like your most classic RPG, the battles use a quite nifty system based on the characters’ placement on the battle grid, the player being able to change the standard position of his allies, so that he can have, for example, the stronger melee-based characters on the front and the weaker magic-based allies in the back of the grid, protected by the others. This of course affects certain things, as different kinds of weapons have a certain range of action and magic does have an area of action too, so that there are magic spells that can cover the whole area, spells that can hit one specific enemy, or enemies on a line. It all makes for a nifty, strategic implementation in the battle system.

The game doesn’t feature random encounters, wich makes it nice for the people who prefer to be able to avoid battles when they are in a pinch, even though the enemies on screen will be quite fierce in chasing you down in the hostile environments of the game…another lack of a classic rpg element is an overworld, as the game features a world map itself, from wich the player can select the next destination…Don’t let this trick you, though, the game doesn’t feel like it’s lacking content for this…on the contrary, the dungeons and the cities are quite large to explore and get through and the fact I managed to complete the game in the quite long playtime of 40 hours, should give you an idea ;)

so, the Battle System is fun and satisfying and the leveling system works well too, though the game, overall feels like it goes fairly easy on the player…it isn’t a breeze to get through the game at all, but it feels easier than your usual final fantasy or tales of game, though this didn’t make the game any less enjoyable to me…plus, a few of the dungeon layouts were quite cruel in pushing me toward getting lost and having to survive toward the exit or the next recovery point, so there IS challenge in the game, do not worry ;P

The only real problem I encountered is the fact that entering or exiting a house, or an area does trigger frustrating loading times, wich, while not too long by themselves, they can slow down the exploration quite a lot when you want to explore every house of a city to gather information about the place or the lore of the game.

STORYLINE

The story…While not reaching the plot of a Final fantasy game or the sheer awesomeness of Xenoblade and Xenogears, this game has an inner strenght that managed to draw me in and make me simply fall in love with it…The focus of the game story is all on the characters of the main group…While most of the revelations of the game can be foreseen fairly in advance, there are a few unannounced plot twists that quite surprised me, but the real strenght of this game’s story was in two elements…the characters and the spirit of adventure felt through the whole game.

It’s very easy to fall in love for the different characters of the main cast…Alex, Nall, Luna, Nash and the others manage to have an attitude that brought together as a group is just really charming, it’s like meeting a group of beloved friends that make the player feel at ease in the group and in the story itself. This, coupled with the amazing spirit of adventure that the game tries to push from start to end, makes for quite the impressive trip of simple, yet strong emotions of joy, as the game strongly pushes for values like friendship, justice and responsibility, while still being light-hearted and fun…The sarcastic, yet innocent remarks of Nall will get the player to smile more than once, so unless the player is a really cynical guy, or outright hates rpg characters, the game is bound to draw him in with its charm, as the whole story of the game feels like a mix between a small adventure and an amazing fairy tale, managing to be both soothing and emotional.

An example of how the cliches can often be used to make a compelling cast and a very nice and fluid story :)

SOUNDTRACK

The soundtrack is part of what makes the game so charming in its story and characters, as it features quite a nice selection of tunes, many of wich will probably stick in the player’s mind for a very long time, ranging from the catchy and epic battle tunes, to the absolutely amazing opening sequence, wich feels like the intro to a wonderful anime. But hey, since I’m talking about it, time to show a few examples!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC-xdA1zeqk

the absolutely amazing intro <3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C2G0E-5OQ0

the main battle theme

FINAL RATING

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, while being easier of its original title and featuring a few technical problems with its loading times during the transposition between areas, is a fully deserving game, featuring a fun gameplay, gorgeous graphics, awesome and flashy animations, a dreaming and epic soundtrack as well as bing a charming tale speaking of adventures, friendship and other important values, with a quite fun cast of characters wich will surely take a place in every gamers’ heart.

I give this game a…

8.9/10

missing just one point for the technical problems, Lunar is FULLY recommended to every RPG fan out there and I encourage you all to try and get a copy for yourself…let’s hope that one day GameArts will decide to maybe remake the second title and even perhaps make a real Lunar 3 someday…it’s a series that deserves it! :D