A Dark Review

The Darkside resides within all of us, lingering below the surface, waiting, preying on our sanity. It is fueled by sights you wished you could un-see, actions you wish you could un-do and memories you wish we could forget.  
Our greatest mistake as humans is thinking only evil men do evil deeds because the potential to become what we are fighting is in all of us.

The telltale signs of fatigue can appear in the foundations of men stronger than you and the only way forward is through the darkness and into a past more terrifying than ever. Because this time around, you know whats coming.

Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles is a light gun or rail shooter game for Nintendo's Wii.  It acts as a sequel of sorts in the "Chronicles" series and follows 2007's Umbrella Chronicles.  My memories of Umbrella Chronicles are not all that fond.  While the game revealed some hidden parts of the Resident Evil story that I had been curious about, the game ultimately flopped in a number of areas.  Horrible soundtrack, iffy game play, and average story telling.  So, did this years "Darkside Chronicles" pass it up, meet similar results, or suck even worse?

First off, this game stars Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy.  Already, in case you are not familiar with the franchise, let me tell you that this is one heck of a recipe for a good game.  Darkside Chronicles covers the parts of the RE story left untold from Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil Code Veronica, and Resident Evil 4.  Because of the inclusion of an extra chapter of 4, that means you get to see a little more back story involving Jack Krauser who, as you may know, is a villain in 4.  In Darkside, however, he acts as Leons partner in the all new south American chapter.

As far as the rail shooter game play goes, Darkside is leaps and bounds better than Umbrella Chronicles.  This is mainly due to the fact that the co-op is also a heck of a lot more fun, and is highly recommended.  Though I must admit, I have a love hate relationship for the shared ammo pool.  I love it, because it forced me and my partner ( my lovely girlfriend Nicole) to work together a little tighter, but I hated the fear of losing all my ammo without personally ever firing a shot.  

Darkside is also loaded with content and thus, re playability.  You would not believe the amount of bonus content that is loaded onto that game disc.  My goodness, I am going to be playing this game for a long, long time.  From nicely acted voice files, to character and enemy profiles, to text and movie files, to dozens of alternate costumes and more, there is tons to unlock and discover.  Oh, and I should mention that these hidden bonuses are found by shooting certain objects in the games levels, resulting in that re playability mentioned earlier.

The games story is head and shoulders better than Umbrella Chronicles simply in the way it was told.  The outstanding voice acting and breathtaking musical score actually evoked tears on a number of occasions throughout the game.  Bosses were fun and decently innovated, though brutally hard if playing by yourself, yet far too easy when playing with a partner.  Darkside is also loaded with humor, from Steve's hilarious dialog to the bonus "Tofu Mode" in which players find themselves, in control of Claire, fighting off hordes of Zombie Tofu in Raccoon City.  

Funny is all well in good in Resident Evil, but what about the scare factor?  Well, for a Resident Evil game, Darkside is not all that scary, but for a rail shooter, I must say that I was surprised with the amount of times I found myself "jumping" out of fright.  I just can't picture a game being all that scary when presented as a rail shooter, but hey, I still have Dead Space Extraction to play right?  

The only real beef I found with Darkside Chronicles was the graphics.  The game was touted as being the prettiest game on the Wii with the only difference between it and a PS3 game being "The lack of an HD display." I disagree with this statement heavily.  Like, what the hell were they thinking when they said that?!  The pre rendered cut scenes were beautiful, no doubt there, and the in game environments were also decently pretty.  However, object in the environment, such as baskets of fruit or even characters ( such as when your partner is on screen)  look mighty awful in my opinion.  Due to the fact that this is a rail shooter, I kinda find these horrid graphical over sights hard to ignore.  However, I must admit to the fact that they were not so bad that it took me away from the game, or un-immersed me so to speak.

Darkside Chronicles is at its best when you look at all the bonus content, which is only interesting if you are a fan of the series.  Because of that, I would not recommend this game to anyone who was not already a mighty big fan of Resident Evil.  If you are a fan, however, this game is a must buy, no doubt in my mind.  Due to the fact that I am a big RE fan, this has become one of my favorite games of the year by far.  It is very polished, very fun, very emotional, and there is tons and tons of stuff to discover.  I think this may in fact be one of the best games available on the Wii, and is beaten only by a select few titles.  Because of this, I feel justified in awarding such a great game:

Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles: 9.5/10

Super Mario Galaxy Trading Card Contest Winner!

Well, it is December 1st, so that means the Mario cards have been one by someone!

Here are the Awesome Points results!

Inazuma: 12

Ike: 1

Tomorrow3mma: 18

Seismic: 3

That means that Tomorrow3mma is the winner!  The cards will be sent, or rather, hand delivered to you next time I see you, since, well, I know you and all!  Thanks everyone for participating.  Keep in eye out for the next contest, which is going to have an even better prize, and a few different rules and such.  Keep commenting!  I like talking with you all!  

Review for All!!!

 

I am on one heck of a Phoenix Wright kick right now, lemme tell you!  About five minutes ago, I finished my play through of Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Justice for All.  If you read two posts back, you can find my review of the first game in this series.  You will notice that I praised it quite highly, and I'm gonna be honest with you, expect similar praise in this post!  I won't be going over most of the game play detail though, as Ace Attorney, Justice for All, plays very similarly to the original Ace Attorney, minus the DS feature touting fifth case.  Ugh, I hated that case.  But alas, onto my Justice for All review!

 Justice for All takes place where the last game left off, and thus spoilers will be abundant in this review.  Keep that in mind if you ever plan on playing these games.  I will, however, try to be decently vague.  

As the first case begins, you are without your normal assistant, Maya, as she left to go train and hone her Spirit Medium skills at her home in Kurain Village.  This first case, which acts like a tutorial of sorts to those who have not played the first game, also introduces a new feature to the series.  You may now present peoples profiles as evidence, allowing for a crap ton of extra scenarios in the court room.  This is fun, yet difficult to keep track of if you are used to the last games system of only presenting items in the court record as evidence. 

During the second case, one more new aspect to the game is introduced.  You get an object from Maya in Kurain village, (yay, she came back!) that allows you to see peoples lies.  That may sound weird, so let me explain.  When someone lies out side of the courtroom, chains wrap around their body, and locks, called "Psyche-Locks" appear.  Each lock represents a layer of defense the person has over their lie.  each lock must be shattered by means of proving the suspects lies as what they are.  After all the locks have been removed, the person under scruttany will reveal the truth behind the chains.  It should be noted that, if you fail at breaking locks, you lose health, which is also restored upon a successful "Unlock." Oh, thats right, you now have  health bar!  gone are those 5 "!" marks in the top right of your screen.  You now have a green bar that represents 100% health.  If you screw up during a Psyche Lock challenge, or make a mistake in court, you lose a certain percentage of health.  The bigger the slip up, the bigger hit you take.  Some mistakes will completely wipe out the bar!  If the bar is depleted, its game over.  This is much nicer than the previous 5 strike system, as it is more challenging (the bar does not refil unless you finish the case or beat a Psyche Lock Challenge, where as the last game replenished your "chances" between segments of the trial) while at the same time giving you more chances to slip up.  It is an interesting and refreshing change to the series.  

Justice for All is also much more story based, despite the first game already having many plot points.  You may recall that Edgeworth "chose death over being a Prosocuter" at the end of the last game.  This fact comes back, along with an extremley intense scenario involving Maya getting kidnapped in the final case of the game.  Out of the 9 cases in the series so far ( 5 in the first, 4 in the second) this is by far the most dramatic.  Phoenix is forced to make some unbelievably morally gray choices, choices that will surely make the player question their own motives in the game.  It was very impressive how deeply the game makes you understand the weight of your choices in the final case, and I must commend the creators as there were points where I stared at the options screen for up to half an hour, debating a choice.  Whats more, the choices you make are not pre-determined, as there are good, and bad endings to this game, both are interesting and should be checked out.  The good ending, however, brought tears to my eyes, and is one of the best endings I have experienced in recent memory.

The game maintains all the humor of its predecessor, and brings back a few old characters, as well as introducing new ones.  The game, despite having one less case than the last one, is quite long, and thus gives a lot of play time, making it worth the money you would pay for the game.  

This game is a must buy for the DS, though I highly recommend picking up the first Ace Attorney, as it is pretty important to understanding a lot of the story elements in Justice for All.  Still, if I could suggest any game that a DS owner just has to play, it is this one.  Ace Attorney, Justice for All, is probably the second best game I have played on the DS, second only to the unbeatable and outstanding "Lost in Blue." Don't Object to this one, please, give Phoenix Wright a chance, and I promise you shall not regret it!  

See you soon for my Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Trials and Tribulations review!

But for now, I suppose I should give this AWESOME game its score...

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney, Justice for All: 8.5/10

... I hope to get that 4th piece of evidence soon ...   

Commenting

As of posting the Phoenix Wright review below, commenting should be a bit easier for everyone!  You can now comment without logging in to blogger, and you no longer have to do that stupid word verification thing!  Just make sure that if you are posting as a guest, you write a user name in the post, or a name, or something, so I know who to assign the "Awesome Points" too!  

Phoenix Wright is Guilty of Being Amazing

The first game in the Ace Attorney series was originally only released in Japan and on the GBA!  It was not until the DS was released in America that we were lucky enough to get this title, and with a bonus level unique to this DS version!  I had always been interested in this franchise, especially when its popularity began to grow in Japan, and than in America.  Before I knew it, three games were released in the US, and I still had not bought even one of them!  One day, GameStop had a sale on a bunch of games, and I was fortunate enough to find all three Phoenix Wright games for under 30 dollars!  That is one heck of a deal!  Last summer, I played through and beat the first game in the series, and am currently playing through the second and thoroughly enjoying it!  Today, however, I am only talking about the first game, Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney

Ace Attorney is similar to a text based adventure, straying only slightly from the genres roots.  You assume the role of, guess who, Phoenix Wright, a defense attorney and a very wacky court system.  The game is presented in a chapter format, giving the players 5 cases to solve.  Each case is separated by a few weeks or months in the story line.  Throughout the case, the player goes through two main types of game play: Investigation and Trial.  During the Investigation, the game plays much like a point and click mystery, like Myst on the PC, or other games similar to that.  During this portion of the game, you investigate crime scenes via the touch screen, and interrogate suspects and witnesses.  Once enough evidence has been collected, the "Trial"phase of the game starts.  This is probably my favorite part of the game, and it involves cross examining witness testimonies, presenting contradictory evidence, and doing whatever it takes to prove your client innocent.  

As the court system in fictitious, many of the cases can get quite zany, and thus pretty hilarious.  All of the characters have very colorful personalities to match the strange crimes that can be committed.  Anything goes in this game, from harassing the judge, to badgering witnesses.  Its pretty crazy, and pretty fun.

What is particularly interesting about the Ace Attorney game, and the franchise as a whole really, is the fact that it is deep.  The characters all have complicated back stories, and intriguing personalities.  The on-going story that unfolds in the background of all the cases is equally deep and provides unity to all the characters.  This game was by no means meant to be a one time court simulation.  Rather, it was carefully designed to be a long franchise with characters interesting enough to truly care about.  This allows for some intense scenes, and moments where the game even jerks a few tears from the player.

The music matches the fun, and sometimes epic feel to the game.  If anyone knows where I can download this soundtrack, let me know, as it is awesome.  it can be funny, sad, intense, or epic depending on the scenario. 

The downside to this first Ace Attorney game is the DS only 5th case.  Regrettably, it is a bonus that should have never been created.  As it is unique to the DS, many of the objects in the case are presented with 3D animations, and the puzzles utilize the DS's unique function like the microphone and the touch screen.  While these are interesting, they feel tacked on and gimmicky like the DS's launch titles in 2004.  Not only this, but this case is rather uninteresting compared to earlier cases, and it is the longest in the series, making it very difficult to complete.  The previous 4 cases took me roughly 2 weeks to complete, though I was playing through very slowly.  The fifth case took and additional 2 weeks by itself!  I am amazed I ever managed to get through it. 

This leads me to my final point.  As Ace Attorney is about reading, and more reading, it should be played in small sittings, or when the player is in the mood for what essentially is a novel.  As each line of text can prove vital in saving your client, you must be attentive.  Phoenix Wright is, by no means, an action title, so make sure you are aware of that.

The Ace Attorney franchise has always been an interest of mine, and now that I am almost done with the second game, I can tell you that I see a bright future for the series and I.  It is very fun and hard to put down.  Pick this title up if you want a fun, lengthy game that will make you laugh, fall in love with new characters, and challenge your wits!  Its super cheap at most game stores, so check it out!

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: 7/10

Note* This review was originally more in depth, but my computer decided to restart itself without informing me first...  I was much to lazy to re-type the entire thing...  So there you have it.

Mario Galaxy Trading Card Give Away!

In order to perhaps gain a little more interest in this blog with friends of mine, and people I do not even know, I am going to start giving crap away!  Heck yeah!  Since this first give away will most likely not spread out past my group of friends, it is a tad small.  HOWEVER!  As I continue to give junk away, each time it will be a little bigger and grander than the last item!  

I plan on having one a month, and the give away will last the entire month.  I will normally post the new give away item on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd day of the month, and the results from the last months contest on the last day of the month, or the first of the next month.  

I have some fancy rules though!  Here is how it goes down.  You are automatically entered JUST for commenting on one of my blog posts here!  For every comment you post, you get one point.  OH!  I should name these points!  Okay, we are gonna call them, "Awesome Points" cuz that is just, well, awesome.  Anyway, for each comment you post with a time stamp dated anytime AFTER the giveaway post is dated, you earn one Awesome Point.  This can be a comment on any blog, no matter the contents, even the blog that the giveaway is listed in!  So comment away!  The winner is the person with the most "Awesome Points" at the end of the month, on the last day, at 11:59: P.M.

One last rule, if you tell someone else about the competition, anyone really, and they post a comment here, you can earn 2 awesome points!  All that user has to do is post a comment and type who referred them anywhere in the post!  People who were referred by someone cannot refer who referred them.  Wow, thats a lot of refers.  This "refer system" resets after each giveaway, so feel free to exploit it and work together with your friends.  

Oh, and when commenting, make sure it is slightly relevant.  Any comments that could be considered "spam" or anything like that will not be considered.  

LASTLY, if I do not know you directly (and I am hoping to eventually get support from people I do not know) make sure to post an e-mail address or something that I can use to contact you if you win, or e-mail me privately at:

coconutman1616@yahoo.com

I hope this works out well for everyone!  And remember, each month there will be a new prize, and I promise it will be a little bit bigger and better than the last!  If lots of people play, I will keep doing this for who knows how long!  The prizes could get huge!!!!!  Let's all have fun!

This months prize is a pack of Super Mario Galaxy Trading Cards.  The cards have never been open, and still remain in their original package!  Granted, this is a small prize, but like I mentioned earlier, I am testing this contest stuff out, and dont wanna give a freaking console away to the one kid that comments...  Play, and next month, the prize will be bigger and better!  

Good luck to all that enter!  Please have fun!

Sometimes in Fallout, _____ Floats

I thought about adding these gems to my Fallout 3 review, but thought it best to seperate them into their own post.  Anyway, these are a few of the non-game crashing glitches I discovered while roaming the Fallout world.  Sorry about the bad quality, they were taken with a DSi.  

Enjoi

Sometimes in Fallout, doors float independently from walls!

Sometimes in Fallout, weird frog people float!

Sometimes in Fallout, mountains float!

Sometimes in Fallout, trees float! 

Sometimes in Fallout, dead bodies float!

And last but not least, sometimes in fallout, your Pipboy screen floats without a pipboy on your wrist!!!

Oh and how many more glitches I stumbled upon....

I... Can't think of any semi-clever review names for my Fallout 3 review...

Bethesda makes big games.  It's kinda their thing.  They are most famous for working on the Elder Scrolls series and making the recent "Oblivion" which would be the fourth title in that franchise.  In 2008 they released a game, slightly similar in game style, called "Fallout 3." The first 2 games in the Fallout series were released in the late 90's by a different developer, and thus it should be noted that Fallout 3 has some pretty drastic departures from those two originals.  

I am, by no means, a diverse gamer.  Well, at least when it comes to specific platforms.  You see, I like to picture myself as the type of gamer that will try anything, from the bloody Madworld, to the cute Harvest Moon Tree of Tranquility, to the sexually questionable Japanese sim date game, Duel Love.  My only rule?  It has just got to be on a Nintendo console.  As many of you know, I recently purchased a PS3, and you can find reviews for a number of games on said console here on this very blog!  This purchase is, for better or worse, opening up to many new different titles that I may have never tried previously.  Fallout 3 is one of those titles.  As the game takes place in a massive, and I mean MASSIVE open world, the Wii and its small memory and power capabilities, simply can not handle it.  A game of such magnitude that allows such freedom has always interested me since I watched my brother play through Oblivion on his XBox 360.  I simply couldn't bring myself to touch one of those 360 controllers...  With the purchase of my Ps3, I was finally able to play such a large game.  And thus, my 90+ hours with Fallout began.

Fallout 3 takes place in post nuclear war Washing D.C. which now sports the name, "The Capital Wasteland."  The player assumes the role of a "Vault Dweller." Vaults were installed in mountain sides and underground by "Vault-Tec" to house residents from the nuclear fallout.  They were built to withstand whatever bombs may be dropped so as to preserve humanity.  Your character lives in Vault 101, in after an hour or so of game play, escapes into the Wasteland in search of his father.  From the moment you step foot outside, you have total freedom to do whatever you would like.  The game presents to you a plethora of "quests" that, upon completion, reward you with experience, weapons, armor, etc.  These quests, however, can be completed at your own pace, and are even discovered at your own pace.  Chances are, while playing Fallout, you will most likely over look an NPC or even kill someone that is vital in giving you a quest.  That is the point of the game though.  Total freedom, and everyones experience is different.

Following that trend, the game boasts a "karma" system that "rewards" players for doing good or bad things.  For example, pick the lock to a friends safe and you will earn yourself negative karma.  Save a captive from a Super Mutant, one of the games many enemies, and earm yourself some good karma.  Your karma determines what kind of quest and companions you will be able to pick up as the game goes on, as well as interactions with certain NPC's.  

The story ( a set of quests that make up a "main story") is average at best.  Simple story telling at its finest.  Than again, in a game like Fallout, most players are not seeking a beautifully crafted novel, but more of an experience.  That experience is definitely delivered, with hundreds of characters to meet along the main quests and side quests, many with fun and humorous personalities.  Anyone meet that robot that thought he was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence?  He was fantastic.  The downside to all these characters though, is that Bethesda took the liberty in hiring roughly 20 voice actors to play the entire cast.  Whats worse is these voice actors did not even attempt to alter their voices between characters.  You can be talking to the mayor of one town, turn around, and talk to a random citizen, and they sound exactly the same!  This really pulls a player of the game, and lessens the experience tremendously.   I understand that hiring more actors would be far to expensive for a game of this size, but the actors could have put some effort into altering their voices.  On that note, Bethesda could have altered the voices in post production, by simply changing pitch and volume. Anything would have been better than what they did.

Not only were the voices bad, but, on par with all other Bethesda games, the character models were awful.  There is nothing more to say on that matter.  Everyone was friggin ugly, and they moved like dolls, or clay models, or something...

As mentioned earlier, Fallout 3's main attraction is the exploration value, and thus it supports a huge map to explore.  This is where the game shines.  The environment is beautiful (for being a war ravaged wasteland) and everything is, for the most part, rendered quite spectacularly when you consider the scale of it all.  Not only this, but when making a world as large as this, I would imagine making it feel "real" and "natural" would be quite difficult, but Fallout pulls it off.  The texture of the land, the rocks, the trees, everything, is placed in such a way, that the world becomes very believable and immersive.  making encounters with the wastelands many creatures and villains such as raiders feel real, and sometimes scary.  The game really pulls you into its world, and it is hard to leave!  Kudos here Bethesda.

 

The game also supports 5 downloadable add ons, each giving the chance to play about 5 more hours or more of game play.  I ended up downloading all 5 of these and can thus add them on to this review!  The DLC was a neat idea, and could have even worked well if they were more polished.  Point Lookout allows the player to explore a decently large segment of Maryland which resembles a swamp.  It is a very creepy add on with a lot of scares and lots of exploring.  Mothership Zeta allows the player to be captured by an alien spaceship, and pits him/her against a horde of aliens as they try to escape and return to the Wasteland.  This add on is quite humorous and is a deliberate and huge departure from the normal game play.  The final battle of this DLC, well, I wont ruin it, but let me tell you, it was probably one of my favorite gaming moments this year.  Hilarious.  The Pitt was one of my favorites.  The player travels to the remains of Pittsburgh to free some slaves.  There is a lot of exploring in this add on as well, which is probably my main reason for liking it so much.  Operation Anchorage was odd.  The player uses a simulation machine to emulate the events that took place in Alaska leading up to the war that would eventually devastate the world.  This DLC is much more mission based than the others, with little to no room for exploration.  Lastly, Broken Steel is the biggest change in the DLC packs.  Instead giving the player more to do in a new location, it's primary purpose is to raise the level cap from 20 to 30, allowing for more perks to be chosen, and adds new enemies and a few new quests.  

My biggest problems with these DLC's is the fact that they simple are not done.  They glitch, freeze, drop frame rate, and more constantly.  From what I can tell, this problem occurs on XBox and PS3, as well as PC, though the latter experiances much less problems than the former two.  A small bit of technical issues is to be expected, but some of these add ons were rendered almost unplayable at times.  Very very frusterating.

This leads me to my main gripe with Fallout 3 as a whole.  It is not only the DLC (though it was hit the worst) but the entire game that is buggy.  The game freezes fairly regularly, forcing you to reset your system or reload a save.  Either way, you can lose hours of game progress this way, and it is enough to make a player give up on the game all together.  Other issues involve completing quests.  Sometimes, if the player does something the game did not quite predict of understand, a quest can be rendered non-completable, despite the fact that you still did, in fact, complete the quest.  This is also very annoying, especially when you are trying to 100% the game.  If you ignore the fact that rebooting your console every couple hours is extremley annoying, the biggest problem with these glitches is that, you never know what is a glitch and what isn't.  For example, when playing a polished game such as, say, Resident Evil 4, when something "messes up" or you die and can not figure out why, you can assume that it was your fault, and not the games.  With this knowledge, you can continue playing the game and try again, usually succeeding this second time, or maybe a few tries after that.  In Fallout this is not the case.  When it appears the game is messing up, or you keep failing in a certain area, or you cannot complete a quest, you cant just assume that you messed up as a player and continue searching for the right answer.  Instead, you find yourself wondering if the game robbed you.  If the game DID rob you, it would be a shame to waste hours looking for a solution in game that does not exist.  Because of this, you look up a guide online (an act that I absolutely despise, yet found myself doing on multiple occasions during this game) to see if you or the game messed up.  What is even worse is when you find out that it was not in fact the game that messed up, but you, and now you spoiled a portion of the mission by looking the solution up online.  Understand that these glitches are MUCH more than just annoyances, they make players question the game, and thus un-immerse themselves from the experience.  This lessens the entire experience of the game immensely and essentially does not allow the player to play the game the way it was intended.

I also did not like that upon completing the main quest, the game ends, and you can NOT continue exploring.  In an open ended game such as this, the player should be allowed to play indefinitely.  Granted, with the Broken Steel add on, the player CAN continue, however, one should not have to pay an additional 10 dollars just to continue playing a game, it feels kinda shady to me.  

This is one of the longest reviews I have written, and to be honest, I have only said about half of what I really want to say.  For example, I have not even mentioned the very neat cinematic combat style presented, called V.A.T.S.  In fact, I may edit and add onto this review as time goes on.  Though honestly, I am so ready to be rid of Fallout that I kind of just want to post this, and never return again!  Fallout 3 presents the idea of a type of game that would be incredible fun.  However, this game, to put it simply, is just not complete.  It feels as if it was released before it should have been.  It would not be crazy to assume that Bethesda got tired of working on such a massive product and essentially said, "Screw it, release what we got." The product is a game that showcases game play that makes the player feel empowered and excited.  It gives a feeling of unlimited game play and fun.  That feeling is watered down, though, by the constant crashes and bugs the game is littered with.  If a little more time was put into this game, it could have potentially been one of my all time favorites.  I love the exploration, the freedom, everything really, about this game.  It is so sad that a video game with such amazing qualities is dragged down not by its game play, like most things are, but by issues with the software itself.  A huge shame really.  A massive shame.  Regardless, the type of game that was presented with Fallout appealed to me so much, that I continued to play through countless system reboots and reloads.  I gritted my teeth and pushed through the bugs, resetting when I needed too.  I can think of no other game on the planet (honestly) that I would have done this for, especially for the 90+ hours that I did it with this game.  

Regardless, I did earn all the trophies possible in Fallout 3 and its expansions, and thus completed all the main quests, main side quests, and many of the unmarked quests.  I also discovered most of the areas in the game, and found many of the Wastelands hidden treasures.  I have not 100% completed the game, as that would be very difficult, and almost inmpossible.  However, I have played through it very thoroughly, and feel confident reviewing it and giving it a score.  And with that score, I wash my hands of this, my favorite, least favorite game of all time.  

My final words are for those that dislike the score below.  I would like to mention that I have a lot of respect for the developers of this game, as it was a massive project that must have taken countless hours to complete.  However, no matter how impressive a games idea is, no matter how large it is, if a game is not polished, it should not be released.  Just because we can think up such an amazing game, does not mean that we should release it to the public if in all honesty, we cannot deliver on our intent.  None the less, I still gave the game a relatively high score (in my opinion) simply because of how impressive the games magnitude is.  Like it or hate it, the score stands.  A game should never be as faulty as this one was.

Fallout 3:  4.5/10

Extra note: I love the ideas behind this game so much, and some of the humor and various ideas were so ingenious.  If they were to fix all the countless bugs with the game, a dream that will never be met, this game could merit as high as a 9, if not a 10.  A real shame really.  Odd though, despite giving it a "below average" score, I still look back fondly of my time spent in that Wasteland.  I still had fun.  What a strange game...

 

New Nintendo DS Update

Recently, I posted about a new Nintendo DS that would be on the way soon.  Well, there was a new DS recently announced, however, it was not quite how I imagined.  The new DS, called, "Nintendo DSi LL" is currently only being released in Europe.  What the hell.  Let me re-type that name for you.  Nintendo DSi LL.  Okay Nintendo, let's just keep adding letter to the the DS and see if we can stuff the whole gosh darned alphabet in there.  I am quite upset about this development, and let me explain why.  The LL is a DSi, with one difference. The screens are much, much bigger.  Now, they did not add any extra pixels, so the games will not look any better or anything like that, everything will just be bigger.  In other words, this is like those phones and calculators you get for old people when they cannot see the buttons or read the screens anymore.  Whats worse, they are charging 220 dollars for this crap!  Can you believe that?!  It is just nonsense if you ask me.  Still, it does support the business plan I mentioned in the last DS post, where I stated that it seems Nintendo is trying to make DS's of many variations, so that no matter what your demographic, you can get the perfect DS for you.  Still this really upsets me, as I am going to buy it.  Import it from Europe even, just to satisfy my insatiable hunger for Nintendo products.  Ugh.  At least it comes with 3 DSi downloadable games pre-installed.  Sigh.  

Anyway, keep in eye out for another DS, as that partnership with Nvidia has yet to bear fruit.  I still see a higher graphical quality hand held on the way from Nintendo.

In the meanwhile, here is a picture of the new (and, Ill admit it, pretty) DSi LL:

Resort Review

School gets tough, boring, and downright tiering.  Sometimes you just need a little vacation.  Well, I just got back from mine!  I took a vacation to a nice little resort on a small island somewhere in fantasy land.  Oh, the fun times that were had!  I went jet skiing, flew a plane over the islands volcano (even took a quick fly through inside!), sword fought with some good friends, played some ping-pong, and when the moon came up and things stared to cool down, I took a trip to the basketball court to shoot some hoops!  It was a great vacation indeed.So, this review cheesy enough for you yet?  Well, I'll stop with the vacation describing, and get into my review of Wii Sports Resort for the Wii!

Wii Sports Resort is the sequel to the oddly popular Wii Sports, that was launched with all North American and European Wii's.  I say oddly popular, because in all honesty, Wii Sports was kinda lame.  It was fun for a few moments, as you realized that the motion controls could in fact be awesome.  But, once you got used to it, there was almost no point in playing it.  Unless you were super casual about it that is.  

Resort turns that around.  While on the outside, the game looks as casual as ever, it really is not.  There are many elements that make this game hardcore... if you will.  (It is tough to call a game where your Mii is the main character "hardcore".)  There are a total of 12 "sports" games in total, all of which utilize the Wii MotionPlus, a new device released by Nintendo that improves to motion sensing capabilities of the controller to the point of 1:1 movement.  What you do with the remote, is mimicked exactly how it should be on screen.  Awesome.  This little device (packaged in with the game) is incredibly fun.  Granted, I think the Wii remote should have had these abilities to start with, but alas, but late than never, right? 

As for the games, they can be played for surface value alone.  For example, during the plane flight simulator, you could simply fly around the island, look at things you cannot normaly see during normal game play, quit, and pretty much never come back to it.  Now, if you are looking for a deeper experience, try finding all, what is it 40, 44, I dont remember to be quite honest, but try finding all 40ish hidden "locations", marked with a little token, around the map.  Not easy, trust me.  Also, each game has 5 "achievements" or "stamps" that you can earn through doing outstanding things during the game.  An example of this would be striking the bulls eye three times in a row during archery.  And that is one of the easier ones!  These little extras make Resorts replay value much longer than one would expect.  I have logged about 25 hours into it (more than I thought I would initially) and still am just over halfway done.  

I would talk about presentation, such as graphics, sound, etc., but on a game like Resort, that sort of seems pointless.  The aim of this title was to present Nintendo's new little device, the Wii MotionPlus, and along those lines, I can say from the bottom of my heart that I believe the thing shows a lot of promise.  I am not gonna lie, the MotionPlus did have some minor issues, such as needing to be recalibrated regularly, which really breaks the flow of the game, but I think those little problems can be ironed out by the time bigger titles start utilizing the Plus.  Regardless, for the most part, like I just mentioned, it felt pretty awesome to use the MotionPlus, and see it actually work.  I could not believe the smile that creeped up my face as I played Table Tennis.  Give it a shot, trust me on this one.

Wii Sports Resort is the embodiment of Nintendo.  They try to make games that appeal to the casual audience, something that Sony and Microsoft just can not do, despite their efforts.  Resort does that with the cute presentation and the ease of playing the games.  At the same time, Nintendo tries to cater to the hardcore audience at the same time, which Resort does with tough challenges that the casual player would never bother even attempting.  It is a shame that most hardcore players are too lazy to look past the cute graphics and kiddy appearance of the game to see a truly great game that cannot be experienced anywhere else but with Nintendo.

Wii Sports Resort: 7.5/10

New Nintendo DS

The Nintendo DS was released in 2004 and was more popular than anyone had expected.  Its popularity led to Nintendo releasing a newer, slimmer, brighter, sleeker DS in 2006, called the DS lite.  Once again, sales of the device were off the charts.  Most recently, in 2009 Nintendo put out the third version of the uber popular hand held, the Nintendo DSi, which supports music playback, larger, brighter, screens, two cameras, one external and one internal, downloadable games, and SD card support.  

So what is next?  The Gameboy Advance, Nintendo's previous hand held, also had three iterations: the Gambeboy Advance, the Advance SP, and the Micro.  Is this where the DS stops, or is it just getting going?  Could there perhaps be a fourth DS in the works?  Most of the evidence points to: yes, there will be another DS.

What would lead crazy ol' me to think this?  Well, a few things.  Nintendo just gave Nvidia rights to power the next DS console.  Keyword, "next."  After this announcement, it has been made pretty clear in a number of publications that Iwata will announce this next DS late 2010.  Seems a bit too soon, but than again, that is just the announcement, it would probably be released a little less than 3 years after the DSi, which is plenty long enough to wait.  

There are a number of reactions to this news.  Some of you are probably pretty dang upset about this, and may even be wondering if you should bother upgrading to the DSi, or if you should just hold out for this next model.  Others of you are probably happy as a clam to see Nintendo giving you more innovation, as they surely will add all kinds of neat things to this new model.  I fall into that second category, though i must admit, I am a little upset about this whole thing.  I would much rather see Nintendo give us a whole new experience, something brand new.  Thats where they are most talented anyway, right?  However, the happy part of me also likes to see that the DS, which is in fact my all time favorite game machine, is far from dieing.  This means that games will be getting made for the system for years to come.  This makes me really happy, and I am excited to see what they will add onto the already content-packed machine.  

It should explain what this Nvidia chip is.  First off, I believe it is called "Tegra" and it is what you could call a computer on a chip.  The first product it was used on is the Zune HD, and has been put into a number of smart phones.  Point is, it seems to be a very powerful little chip, meaning this next Nintendo DS could be a power house... and very pretty graphically.

For all of you that are strongly against this movement, try looking at it this way.  There is a new cell phone or iPod announced every hour it seems.  This is essentially the direction Nintendo is taking their hand held.  With the DS being as popular as it is, Nintendo does not want to end its life, why would they?  Instead, it seems obvious that they intend on following trends set by Apple and the cell phone industry.  By releasing a slightly different model every few years, their intention is to provide a number of different models for different demographics.  I do not believe they are trying to get every consumer to buy each type of model, but instead, pick the one that fits their personality best.  

...

Though I must admit, I have, and will buy every model they put out...  (^_^);;

Well, wherever you stand on the topic, I am pretty sure we will see another DS in the near future, so keep that in mind if you are planning on buying a DSi anytime soon! 

Just Sayin'...

This Fallout 3 "Lightning Challenge" as I have dubbed it is killing me.  Its all I play, and not even because I want to, but because I have to if I am ever gonna finish this.  UGH!

Happy Birthday!

Before I went to bed tonight, I wanted to give a big Happy Birthday wish to the NES and Super Mario Bros., as today, 24 years ago, they were both released!  Wow, what a long road Nintendo has paved!  From the NES, to the SNES, to the Nintendo 64, than the Gamecube, to the most recent, Wii, Nintendo sure has come up with some unique and fun consoles, and cant wait to see what they have up their clever sleeve next!  Iwata, drop the bomb-omb!  

Kind Code... Or Super Guide, Whatever

Some of you may have heard of a little something called "Kind Code" in development for Wii.  Well, as you also may know, it was confirmed toe be real, and is going to be implemented for the first time in New Super Mario Bros. Wii.  More details were released on the thing earlier, and I figured I would share them with you here, in case you don't already know about them.  First off, the name Kind Code has been officially changed, and it is now called "Super Guide." I like Kind Code better too, but oh well.  Anyway, here is how it works for you hardcore fans that are a little nervous.  

Super Guide lies dormant in the game, unusable even if you want to use it right off that bat.  That is a good thing.  However, once you lose 8 lives on a single level, an OPTION appears on screen asking you if you would like to utilize Super Guide.  For most hardcore players, you are going to want to say "no" to this option, but for arguments sake, lets pretend we choose "yes." What happens then?  After starting up Super Guide, the computer will take control of the character and run through the level for you.  During this process, you as the player can take over the controls at any point in time as well, meaning if you only want help on one certain area, than you want to play again, you can do that.  Thats right, the game will play itself, jump all the pits, avoid or kill all the enemies, defeat all the bosses.

 Lame.  Super lame.  Lamest thing ever.  However, their is an upside if you look hard enough.  For one, as I mentioned earlier, you have to lose 8 lives on a single level.  That is a lot of lives, heck, you only get 5 per continue, meaning you would have to have used at least one continue in order to activate Super Guide.  Next, the game will track how many times Super Guide was used, so this prevents your ego centered friend from using it, beating the game quickly, than claiming he did it all on his own.  His record will state that he used Super Guide, and tell how many times he did.  Lastly, many developers, well, okay, thats a lie, a FEW Nintendo developers have expressed their love for Super Guide for one simple reason.  It allows them to make games insanely hard.  Obviously, with a system that allows you to hold its hand as it guides you through a level, game developers could make it as hard as they want.  This is spectacular for those of us who miss the days of super hard games that we only knew of way back in the day...  Or with Trauma Center...  Dang you Trauma Center...  

Either way, it should be a pretty huge accomplishment to beat these newly challenging games without the use of Super Guide, and heck, maybe if Nintendo is smart, they will add bonuses at the end of the game for those who did not use the Guide!  Just an idea!  

Well, that is Kind Code, er, Super Guide for you in a nutshell.  Let me know what you think about it!

Welcome Back to Where You Always Belonged

Recently announced, Nintendo is the "best business in the world" according to business weekly.  Awesome.  The whole dang world.  Way to freaking go Nintendo.  

Everyone has their qualms with all of the video game companies, heck, even I have my dislikes towards Nintendo, though I will rarely vocalize them.  Regardless, for this one moment, you must push aside those dislikes, and realize what Nintendo has done as a corporation.  Back in 2003 and 2004, they had nothing but bad things being said about them in the video game industry, in the business world in general.  Nintendo was almost dead in the water.  A few people claimed that the Wii would even be Nintendo's last shot at a successful gaming console, a rumor I refuse to accept.  Regardless, after being the most unpopular video game provider of the 6th gen, and having abysmal sales, Nintendo seemed doomed.  

The release of the Nintendo DS gained Nintendo a little momentum, however, and they started to move again.  Their creativity began to saturate the gaming market.  This built up to the release of the little white box that could, the Wii.  After the Wii was released, Nintendo sky rocketed to the top, and have sat there, number one of generation 7, without faltering.  This is an incredible comeback.  This is all from a fan boys point of view, though.

What is truly impressive, and what nailed them that number one spot in the business world this past weekend is something different, and very incredible.  One must realize the risks Nintendo took when releasing the Wii.  It uses last gen technology for the most part and favors the never before tested motion control over high def graphics and power like the other two consoles were.  Along with this, they appealed to a different demographic, opening up gaming to people who had before never played video games.  Try and fathom the size of this accomplishment.  Video gaming is aimed at a very select type of person today.  It is difficult for someone completely new to the hobby to be competitive.  That is, unless they own a Wii.  Nintendo did what is literally impossible for Sony and Microsoft.  They opened up gaming as a hobby to everyone.  It is not just a slogan, they actually did it.  

Granted, this is not always a good thing for the hardcore gamer as we have all found out, however, it is a very impressive accomplishment, and now that they have opened the market up, I believe they will, and already are, going to to cater to the hardcore just as much as they have in the past.  

All that future stuff aside though, the point is, right now, this very moment, Nintendo is on top in every way.  They have won the 7th generation console wars, and they are the number one business in the world.  This is Nintendo's moment, and whatever happens next is up to God.  Leave Luck to Heaven right?  

Congratulations Nintendo.  I'm with ya till the end!

 

Write a Review, Solve Everything!

Scribblenauts was by far one of the most anticipated DS titles in recent memory.  Lets face it, if you were not living under a video game rock, you knew about this game, and had heard the rumors that it held the potential to be one of the most innovative games of all time.  

The basic idea behind Scribblenauts is that you can "Write anything, and solve everything." What does that mean?  Well, the game consists of over 100 puzzles in which you must earn a "starite" which is a weird sparkle covered star like thingy.  The catch of the game is that you can write (or type) anything into the game, and as long as it is a noun, not vulgar, and not copyrighted, it will appear in the game with its proper functionality!  This means a black hole will suck up everything, a shark will eat a fish, a magnet will attract metal, etc.

Now, the above scenario would sure be impressive in a game, but also very difficult to pull off.  So the question is, did the developers at 5th Cell succeed?  Believe it or not, yes, they did.  There is virtually everything in the game, and it all does what it would do in real life.  It is quite incredible really, and I found myself with a massive smile on my face as I typed words that I thought would surely not be in the game yet they still appeared before me!  Very cool.  Even cooler are hidden items in the game such as Internet memes like "keyboard cat" etc.  I have found countless items that are normally just found in popular culture.  This game is very "hip" if I dare say.

So, does this game have a downside?  Yup.  A mighty one at that.  The controls are horrid.  Perhaps some of the worst I can recall in any video game ever.  One flaw is that the camera returns to Maxwell, the main character, after a certain period of time.  This really sucks, as at times you are focused elsewhere on the screen, summoning an item to do a task, when the camera whips back to Maxwell.  One of two things happen here: 1: you tap the screen where the item you just summoned should have been.  However, since the camera is moving back, you accidentally tap the screen on a blank spot of the map, causing Maxwell to run in this direction, usually resulting in him running straight into something that kills him.  This forces you to restart the level.  2: You notice the camera moving before it is too late, and thus do not accidentally kill Maxwell.  However, you find yourself constantly re-adjusting the camera, centering it on what you want to be giving attention to.  

Granted, option two sounds less severe, but it sure is annoying.  Also, option one can get extremley frustrating as some of the levels take a tremendous amount of time and planning out, and it really blows when all of your careful planning is ruined by a camera shift and you have to replay the level.  It has been annoying enough that I have shut off the game for some time before returning only to be punished some more...

Also, it seems that Maxwell does not always do what you want him to.  Sometimes, you tap something while holding a gun, in hopes that you will shoot it, as the games instructions say you will, but instead you go walking right up to it, usually getting attacked and dieing in the process.  Also very annoying.

Lastly, I would like to mention the glitches in this game.  There are alot of them.  Some of them simply freeze your game, some of them just do weird things...  really weird things.  Try dropping a meteor on a T-Rex, see what happens.  Not pretty.

The combination of the atrocious controls and extreme amount of glitches makes this game feel like it is in its alpha stage of development.  The fact that you can summon everything imaginable, and it does what it should is incredible, and 5th Cell should be commended for this effort.  However, this fantastic game element cannot succeed when the game itself is so bad.  I was one of the fans that was stoked beyond belief for this game, so believe me when i say it pains me to admit that Scribblenauts really does need a lot of improvement.  The fact that the summoning is so perfect, the character is adorable, and the music is fantastic however, mean I love this game.  I really do.  I have spent hours on the title screen summoning object after object after object.  I have discovered some truly interesting things, and cant wait to discover more!!!  Just because I enjoy this game does not mean I can not see its flaws though, and thus, though I will continue playing the game with much joy in my heart, I must give (a very generous) score to the Nintendo DS game

Scribblenauts:  6/10

Little Mac is Back!!

Well, this is a very belated review, but Imma do it anyway!  I actually picked up "Punch Out!!" for Wii on it's release date and played it pretty heavily.  However, as you can tell, I have never gotten around to reviewing it.  The reason for this is because I have not played through the entire game all the way through, so keep that in mind as you read this short review.  Punch Out!! is a boxing game that is played nothing like a boxing game.  The camera is fixed just behind Little Macs head, looking directly at your opponent.  Little Mac cannot withstand many hits, as he is the smallest boxer in the game.  A couple good whacks from your opponent knocks you out, just like in the original games on the NES and SNES.  Because of this, the game play involves learning how to predict an opponents movements via predetermined animations that lead up to you getting smacked.  For example, an opponent may twitch his eyebrow before delivering a punch.  After you read these "tells" you must block, duck, or dodge the attack, and follow up with a series of attacks of your own.  Time your counter just right, and you earn a star which allows you to preform a star punch, Little Mac's strongest move.  The game progresses by beating boxers and moving on to the next one.  

Punch Out!! transitioned into 3-D beautifully and the art is as much fun as it could possible be.  The quirky art style works wonderfully with the quirky characters.  This splendid presentation is perhaps Punch Outs strongest point.  Aside from that, the game is brutally hard, thus I never finished it!  (^_^)  After beating the main "campaign" you enter "defend your title" mode, in which you must participate in a re-match with every opponent.  This second time around though, they are insanely tough, and I never could beat the final contender.  Either way, if you like a challenge, than give this game a go, cuz it is one tough cookie.  Think Ninja Gaiden or Trauma Center.  The downside to this difficulty, however, is where Punch Outs biggest flaw is found.  The gameplay is not all  that fun, and winning feels very un-rewarded, making it difficult to convince yourself to sit down and play a game you know is going to rape you.

Lastly, I would like to mention the size of the game.  There are so many extras, secrets, and easter eggs in this game it's unbelievable.  I must give credit to the game in that aspect, as I simply love bonus content and uncovering little secrets and such.

I know this review seems sorta rushed and gimped, but still, I did not finish defend your title mode, so I feel a little funny about writing one in the first place...

Regardless, Punch Out!! for the Nintendo's Wii earns a:

6.5/10

Leave it out on the Street...

Street Fighter 4 is a pretty popular fighter for the PC, XBox 360, and PS3.  As a semi-ashamed owner of a PS3, I figured I would finally give the game a shot.  Now granted, I devoted very little time to the fighter.  Roughly 4 hours total...  Regardless, in that 4 hour time period, I came to realize something, or rather, something that I had once believed was re-confirmed for me.  I hate fighting games.  I simply never liked traditional, 2-D fighting games, they just don't cut my mustard, or something like that...  As you may know or assume, I love Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which is technically a fighter, though the term is used loosely.  In Brawl, your character has a specific move set, but what you do with that is left to your imagination.  Brawl is about creating your own combos, and there are thus an almost infinite amount of them to be discovered.  I felt with SF4 I was limited to what the game offered me.  Combos were essentially mapped out for you: Down, right, square, repeat.  Granted, there is nothing particularly wrong with this formula of two opponents trading blows via predetermined combos, however, I find the fact that many people play it competitively a little odd.  I don't see how you can take your "game" past a certain point in Street Fighter, or other fighters like it, where as with Brawl, I find myself and others constantly finding new ways to advance our play style.  Eh, either way, once again, this is all simply opinion, and not in anyway a review for the game.  

Just letting you know that as far as I am concerned, I shall not be buying Street Fighter 5 when it inevitably is released.

Lightning Challenge!!!

  A few posts back you may remember me talking about my Mario Kart Mission.  You know, the one where I set out to get the max amount of points in Mario Kart DS versus mode.  As you may remember, I discovered that the counter maxed out at 999.  It took around three to four thankless hours to uncover this useless bit of knowledge, but the enjoyable time I had working my way to that number encouraged me to ask you all a question: "Do any of you have any other pointlessly long video game tasks you would like me to carry out?" A received one reply from one "Inazuma" who asked if I could essentially, 100% complete the game "Fall Out 3." After this request, I noticed a sense of regret grow inside of me.  Maybe I shouldn't have asked that question, haha!  Still, I have decided that I am going to go for it!  I am currently occupied with a game named "Cross Edge" for the PS3, but as soon as I beat it ( you will see a review for it here I am sure) I shall embark on a quest to explore every nook and cranny of Fall Out 3, to earn every single trophy, to complete every single side quest!!  Throughout this challenge, I will post periodic updates here to let you know how I am faring.  Also, I will let you know when I have officially started the challenge, as, like I mentioned before, I must first complete Cross Edge.  Anyway, get ready for me to waste a good chunk of my life that I will never earn back!  Send me food or something to help me get through it!

Gamestop and the Rooster Hats

Gamestop sucks.  We all know that, we all think that, and some of us choose to boycott the game giant because our passionate hate for them is so strong.  Me?  I dislike them greatly, enough so that I would rather not shop with them, but generally do anyway simply for convenience.  Plus, lets face it, they give away some pretty awesome stuff with video game releases if you pre-order the game through them.  An example of this awesome stuff is the "Rooster Hat" that customers could get for pre-ordering the video game "Scribblenauts."  In case you had not heard, Scribblenauts is going to be the greatest game of all time.  (^_-)  That being said, I was going to reserve it no matter what, but when I saw that they were giving out a replica of the main characters hat WITH THE GAME if you reserved it, man did I get excited.  Awesome game, awesome collectible, what more could a guy want?!  So as Scribblenauts drew closer and closer to its launch date, I became more and more excited for the game that would be AWESOME and my hat.  Oh how I longed for that beautiful hat.  Jumping forward to today.  Today, September 15th, Scribblenauts was released!  I awoke from my slumber as if it were Christmas!  I leapt out of bed with much glee!  After getting ready for the day, I hopped down the stairs and out the door with joy in each step!  I went to all my classes, endured the boring lectures, with a massive grin on my face!  I didn't mind the lectures, for I was going to be playing Scribblenauts with my lovely Rooster Hat in just mere hours!  My final class let out, and I sprung out of my chair like a kangaroo!  Hopping all the way to my car, I bobbed my head back and forth with happiness!  I jumped right into my car and began the five minute drive to Gamestop!  Just a few more minutes and OH WHAT JOY I WOULD HAVE!!!  Arriving at the mall, my stomach got tense as the excitement grew!  No longer could I walk!  I RAN into the store faster than humanly possible!  As I slid into the gamestop, I cried out with all my heart, "I am HEEEEEERE FOR SCRIBBLENAUTS AND MY WONDERFUL HAT!!!!!!!"  The employee greeted me with a smile, understanding the importance of today.  He joyfully handed me my game and bid me good day. I chuckled and said, "Why thank you good sir, but I believe you forgot my Rooster Hat!"  An understandable mistake, I did not mind!  Nothing could break my euphoria!  

"UP YOURS DIRT BAG!" Was the reply of the Gamestop employee.  

"B..but sir..  M..my rooster hat?" I stammered.

"I SAID UP YOURS!  NOW GET OUT!" He repeated with anger.

"B...b...but...  Sir...  I was promised...  Promised a hat...  Promised sir..." I said as tears began to well up in my eyes.

"How many more times must I tell you?  Get the heck out of my store you naive fool!!!!" 

This man was clearly serious.  He intended on ruining my perfect day.  I slowly walked out of the store, defeated.  With my hat-less head bowed low, I tried to remember that I at least had the greatest game ever, hat or no hat...  This did little to comfort me on my tear filled ride home.  Christmas was ruined...

BUT WAIT!  What if another gamestop had some hats they were willing to give me?!?!  I called the store I had just visited and pretend to be another gleeful kid, looking forward to picking up his copy of the game.  When the store owner said they had no hats, I would ask for another stores phone number.  He answered the phone,

"Gamestop, where we crush childrens dreams, how can I help you?"

"Yes, I was wondering if I could come pick up my copy of Scribblenauts today?" I said with false happiness in my voice.

"Yeah sure, come on in." Satans helper replied.

"Great, I cant wait!  You guys got those totally awesome hats too, right?!" I asked, already knowing the dreadful answer.

"Yeah sure, we got one left, did you reserve the game early?" He said.

I could not believe my ears!  The employee lied to me!  He said they had none, and now that he thought I was someone else, he said they had ONE!  I told him the truth and said,

"I reserved the game in August!"

The employee said that I had reserved it early enough, and that I could get my hat!  I rushed back to the store, infuriated!  Boy would they be surprised when I walked in again!  

I made my grand re-entrance and looked the criminal in the eye.  He seemed to be expecting me as he immediately said 

"We must see your receipt as proof if you are to obtain our final Rooster Hat!!!  MWAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!!" 

I told the man with much confidence that I would return a third time, receipt in hand, and than he would be forced to hand over my beloved hat!!!!  I sped home as fast as I could, angry, and saddened.  I had not admitted it to the jerk, but I had thrown my receipt away.  Still, I would not give up!  I would search through all the trash in the world for that hat!!!  I arrived home and began shuffling through all the trash I could find!  The sheer nastyness of this situation was unbearable.  I dug through feces, urine, dead kittens, and more!  But alas, I found the filthy receipt!  I had won!  I rushed back to the store, handed the man the gross receipt and demanded my hat!  He obliged, with a look of defeat on his face.  As I walked out of the store, Rooster Hat upon my head, I grinned, turned back slightly, shadows across my face and whispered, "There is poop on that receipt..." And walked out of sight, leaving the employee to mull over the fact that he just touched a poo covered piece of paper.  

Today, joy and happiness has triumphed and evil has lost!  I received the Rooster Hat that was PROMISED to me after an arduous battle.  Though I still think I should have gotten it from the start.

Now, granted, a lot of that epic tale of sadness and victory written above is a little... exaggerated.  However, the basic plot remains the same.  I did go to gamestop, they did tell me there were no Rooster Hats, and they did NOTHING to compensate for my lack of said hat!  They basically told me to shove off and enjoy my game, and the employee did get upset with me when I got aggressive about wanting my hat.  I DID return to the store three different time for the reasons listed above.  Today Gamestop treated me not as a customer, but as a piece of trash, and I shall never shop with them again.  However, I can say with much much much much MUCH joy that I did get my game, and it is just as amazing as we had hoped, and that I DID get my hat, and it is just as awesome as I had hoped.  Check out my victory pictures below!

 

Review on the Edge

That's a wrap!  Just beat Mirror's Edge on the PS3 today, and wow, I must say that I am shocked that I am doing two PS3 game reviews in a row!  For those of you who do not know, I did not take my Wii down to college with me this semester as I get far too distracted with it, and thus my grades were slipping...  So I am borrowing a bunch of PS3 games from my friend Slater to help relieve some boredom!  I'm still Nintendo, don't worry!  (^_-)  Anyway, onto the review:

Mirror's Edge is one of those unique titles, one of the ones that stands out from the crowd if not for any other reason than the fact that it is different than it competitors.  If you have ever seen a trailer for the game, you know what I am talking about.  Mirror's Edge is unique in that it is a FPR, or a "First Person Runner" game.  You play as main character "Faith" (which I found to be a highly entertaining name.  Faith, as in a Leap of Faith, brilliant) who is a "Runner" in a semi-futuristic city.  Runners are rebels of sorts in this city.  It is difficult to explain their position any further without spoiling elements of the stories rather dry plot.  Regardless, Runners, um, run across the roof tops of the city in which the game takes place.  Highly acrobatic, these Runners leap from building to building, sliding down wires, jumping over air conditioning ducts, etc.  All of this is done in first person view.  The city is GORGEOUS.  Not in the sense that is is highly realistic, but in that it is like a piece of art.  The graphical style is cartoonish, yet realistic, very strange indeed.  The beauty of the environment makes running around that much more fun; and that is an accomplishment considering it is already REALLY fun.  It is hard to imagine running in a virtual world as entertainment, but believe me, when you get some speed going, the game does such an impressive job at simulating running, you feel as if you ARE in danger as you leap from building to building.  At one point, I was in a subway station, and a train came rushing towards me.  As it neared, I froze, not able to react.  The train hit and killed my character, and as it did, I jolted as if awoken from one of those dreams you have where you fall from a cliff.  It felt so real, and that fact impresses me greatly.  Lastly I would like to mention that there is no HUD.  This helps tremendously at immersing you in the experience.

While running, you see certain objects in a very vibrant red.  While you can jump and climb on almost all the object in the game, the ones that shine red are object that are particularly useful, and usually advance the current objective.  For example, a metal bar hanging above you highlighted in red would allow you to jump up, grab, and swing off of it.  This, "Runners Vision" as its called is really useful, and while it acts as a hint system, it actually acts as a contributing factor to the games super bright environments.  Rarely are hint systems implemented so well.  And if you still don't like the idea of it, you can play without it in "Hard Mode." Nice.

As the game progresses, combat elements are added to the game, and while you are supposed to try to avoid confrontation as much as possible, sometimes you simply have to fight enemies.  Faith dies after only taking a few shots from most guns, so you must be careful when engaging in combat.  You can fight using melee attacks, or disarm enemies and use their guns against others, effectively adding an FPS element to the game.  This is where the game loses a bit of its value.  Later in the game, the story forces you to fight more and more.  This really sucks, because it is almost impossible to stay alive, and thus you are constantly being forced back to a checkpoint from a billion hours ago.  When a game is about overcoming obstacles, running, jumping, swinging, I found it very annoying to have to fight so often later in the game.  

The games story was incredibly dull, and I felt no emotion what so ever when certain important characters died.  This made me very sad...  I like it when games make me love characters so much that I cry at their deaths or hardships!  The fact that I had no desire to see the end of the story, and that the fun part of the game (the running and climbing) was replaced with a lame combat system halfway through the game made it very difficult for me to complete Mirror's Edge.  I almost gave up numerous times at a few very frustrating points.  

Overall, Mirror's Edge is a very unique game, that delivers it's strange game play very effectively.  It is extremley fun when you first pick it up, but that fire quickly dies out as the game goes on.  I think positively with my experience with the game though, simply because it was so different, and it was so fun.  It shows that games still can stray from the norm and be fun.  Good news.  (Though this is proven time and time again on the Wii...)  

PLEASE take the time to watch the short trailer below!  It shows off the pretty graphics and game play.  The entire trailer that is shown in first person is actually playable, exactly how you see it!!

Mirror's Edge - 7/10

Mario Kart Mission Part 2

Well, I finally hit the Mario Kart DS point limit after what I believe to be about five hours.  Ugh.  Anyway, the counter does NOT roll over, nor does it go to a fourth digit.  Instead, as you can see in the blurry picture below, it stops at 999.  Anyway, that was a nice waste of time, lemme know if there is any other time wasting video game fact you were wondering about, I just may test it!

Mario Kart Mission!

This past weekend, my friend Jake, and my lovely girlfriend Nicole played quite a few rounds of Mario Kart DS.  Man was that game fun.  Am I the only one who remembers how fun that was?!  Anyway, after playing for a long time, one of the DS's battery died, and thus we ceased racing.  By the time we had finished, however, my point total had breached 200!  You get 10 points for every race you place first in, and this high score led me to remember that the highest I had ever gotten was back in High School with a friend of mine.  I got all the way to 312 points.  Now, here is where the story comes in.  All of this gave me a burning itch to see how many points I could get before I would become totally bored.  Once I hit 400 points, I realized that I just couldn't stop!  What a waste of time!  

Well how better to counter a waste of time then to waste MORE time?!  With this, I have set out on a mission.  A mission to see if I can get the max number of points which I assume to be 999.  Or is it higher?  Will a fourth digit come into play?  Will the counter roll over?  Who knows!?  Only time will tell, and when it does, I shall post pictures here!  Keep an eye out for em!

Well, off to keep playing Mario Kart DS!  

As Mario says on the title screen; "Vroom vroom!  Here we go!"

This train is starting to pick up speed!

In the interest of keeping busy (I need something to do down here in Pueblo or I'll lose my mind) I have decided to pick up the post count for this blog.  You should start to see at least one post a day from here on out, regarding SOMETHING video game related.  If there is nothing of interest to write about, no reviews to publish, than I shall MAKE something to write about!  As Haruhi Suzumiya once said "We need to make life more interesting!" ...Or something along those lines.  Anyway, thanks again to everyone who keeps up with me!

Here's To You... Snake.

My first review on Blogger!  Finally, lets get this started!

Just finished playing Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots for the PS3.  You know, every so often you come across a game that dwarfs everything else.  A game that is so spectacular, that you begin to wonder if a video game can be perfected any more.  MGS4 is one of those games, without a doubt.  The game has been called more of a movie than a video game, and this criticism is deserved.  Some of the longer cut scenes carry on for longer than half an hour, and I believe the last one ate up a good hour and a half of my time!  Is this a bad thing though?  I think not.  In my humble opinion, the cut scenes bring a level of importance and epicness to the game.  By the time you finish watching one, you are so hyped up and ready to play, you are so emotionally drawn into the game, that you are Snake, or at least you feel what he does.  

On that topic, Snake is a wonderful character.  It is hard not to love the guy.  I found myself so engrossed in him, in the game, that every bullet I took, every rumble in that Sixaxis controller sent chills through my body.  Hideo Kojima, the games director, did a splendid job at immersing you in the story, in the characters, and in the Metal Gear world.  

The plot is intense, as it concludes the Metal Gear series, however, it can be a tad confusing as there are so many elements to keep track of.  Regardless, this minor confusion is usually cleared up by following cut scenes, and can be forgiven by the sheer emotion the plot regularly provides.  I have never gotten and adrenaline rush from a video game before Metal Gear Solid 4...

An area that seems to be lacking a little in my opinion is the game play itself.  While the sneaking system MGS fans are familiar with is still there, I found a lot of focus on combat as well.  This is all well and good until you discover that the combat is a little... slow.  In a largely populated area, I found myself under impossible odds to defeat enemies with my slow moving aiming reticule.  This coupled with the long cut scene- short level- long cut scene system made for some minor flawed game play.  Regardless, the game is still insanely fun, and these are just minor quirks.  

The last issue I will mention is the games content.  It is loaded with it.  Similar to how I talk about Super Smash Bros. Brawl, I noticed that the more I played MGS4, the more I discovered I could do!  No expenses were spared in making MGS4.  The developers set out to give players a very large, robust experience, and they succeeded.  

From the opening cinematic, to the tear jerking, never-forgettable ending, Metal Gear Solid 4 is, what I would consider, a perfect game.  I am a Nintendo fan.  Always have been, always will be.  Most of you know this, and thus it might come as a surprise that for the first time ever, I will be awarding a non Nintendo game a perfect score.

Metal Gear Solid 4: 10/10

One final note: I spoke with a few of you upon beating the game and mentioned that MGS4 had potential to be my favorite game of all time.  That feeling has passed.  While the game was amazing, and flawless in almost every way, the lack of game play drops it from being a contender of my favorite game.  Not that the game play was bad, it just was not AMAZING.  MGS4 excels in story telling, not game playing.  Brawl and Prime 3 will remain on top for now.  The fact that I considered allowing a Sony game to be my favorite though is testament to it's greatness.  Please world, if you have not played this game, give it the chance it deserves.  It is one of the most amazing, one of the most beautiful games of our time.