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Post by 2hatsonehead on Jul 26, 2013 23:31:45 GMT -5
Nice review. I was thinking about getting the game and now I will.
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Post by Honeyman on Jul 26, 2013 23:38:11 GMT -5
What game shall I review next? I got a fairly nice game collection. I should post it, so you guys can decide from all the games I got.
Though in the meantime, I might review Playstation Allstars, seeing it gets a lot of hate.
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Post by Honeyman on Jul 27, 2013 23:24:21 GMT -5
Sorry for the double post, but I should adress this. I'm currently on vacation at the moment, so posting my game collection will have to wait. However, I'm going to write some buffer reviews, which I will post weekly. I already got two done, and a third is being written. Also, I have saved up enough money for a Wii U, so expect a NintendoLand review in the future.
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Post by Honeyman on Aug 3, 2013 16:24:09 GMT -5
I know I promised Playstation Allstars, but you can shut up.
Game: Pikmin Genre: RTS Systems: Gamecube/Wii Developer: Nintendo ESRB: E
I don't know what I was thinking giving the poll option of Pikmin 2 without reviewing Pikmin 1 first... I don't have much to say about the history of this game, or any little rants I may have, so I might as well start the review.
You play as the daring Captain Olimar, a starship pilot who lives on Planet Hocotate, and works for Hocotate Freight. One day, while you were cruising through the stars on vacation, your ship was struck by an asteroid. Your ship turned into a burning fireball of destruction as you crash on a nearby, uncharted planet. You awake to find your ship has been obliterated, missing 30 major parts that has scattered across the planet. Worst of all, the planet is heavy with oxygen, a poisonous gas to your people. With your ship destroyed, you have no way to survive. You only have 30 days of air left, leaving you pretty much for dead. But. You come across an alien species you call Pikmin. With the Pikmin's help, you try to recover all 30 ship parts, in only 30 days...
Can I just say that this story is fucking dark for a Nintendo game? You have death slowly creeping up on you, not to mention to prevent your own death you take control of an entire race or your own sorry ass. Props to you Nintendo, here's me typing my clap: *clap* *clap* *clap*. This is a very good story, and a good way to introduce you to an entire series. I should also bring up the more subtle storyline. This world is a post-apocalyptic Earth. Spoiler warning, because if you never knew this, I'm about to blow your mind, because it blew mine. In this game, you see little remnants of what was civilization, like huge cans and other smaller things (btw, Olimar is only a couple inches tall...), but the biggest thing is one of the parts you collect is the Geiger Counter. It is constantly pinging, meaning the entire planet is covered in intense radiation. Holy shit Nintendo, you just made the darkest game I ever played. This, and the main plot, is only ONE of the things as to why I love this game. The story is great, but the subtleness of the other side of the story just makes it all that much better.
Gameplay is another thing I love. You have the choice between five worlds, each with a lot of parts within them. You have a 30 day time limit, with each day lasting 15 minutes. Meaning you only have 450 minutes to complete the game. Though to help you complete the game in the time limit, you control an army of Pikmin by your side. You can have your Pikmin carry stuff, kill stuff, break stuff, build stuff, almost anything. You get more Pikmin by having them carry spoils or pellets back to their onion, which is pretty much a place you get your Pikmin from. You have three different colors: Red, Yellow, and Blue. Red Pikmin deal more damage than others, and can survive fire. Yellows can be tossed up higher, and can carry bombs to deal heavier damage to enemies and break down walls. Blues can swim in water, allowing them to reach places others can't. Each Pikmin color also has their own respective onion. You move around the map like your basic RTS. No turn based crap or anything. Behind you is your Pikmin. You can toss them, disband them, and control the army's movements. Enemies will try to attack your Pikmin mainly. They will eat them, squash them, burn them, blow them away, almost anything. They will kill your Pikmin, and you will have to grow your army. Each day you start off in a little safe haven, protected from enemies. You can go to your three onions to get your Pikmin you have already grown. You can only have a maximum of 100 in the field, unfortunately. From their, you can pretty much do anything. Want to work towards building that bridge today? Sure. Want to collect the already available parts? Sure. Want to focus on growing your Pikmin? Sure. This game allows some much freedom, even if you have a time limit. You can also multitask in any way. You can have a group of Pikmin carry back a part, while a another group tears down a wall, while the group with Olimar can fight a tough enemy. The shear strategy in this game is ridiculous. You pretty much cannot beat this game on your first playthrough. You have to plan your day out, and what you can do in the amount of time you have. This goes hand in hand with what I said about multitasking. If you can multitask well, you can win this game. The game is very short, if you couldn't tell. I managed to beat the game in only 12 in-game days IIRC, and all of that was in one real day. Though this length does help with the replayability of the game, allowing you to try to beat your best number of days and how much Pikmin you grew/lost. Gameplay=Amazing is what I'm getting at.
Music, it's not bad... This game has a couple memorable songs (the Credits theme is one of my all-time favorites), but the songs are mostly atmospheric, rather than good. They are very peaceful songs, but you won't see yourself downloading the entire soundtrack any time soon. That Credits theme? Here:
The game has pretty annoying bosses. I'd say the game treats itself like there are only two bosses, but there are definetely more. The bosses are either very easy (Armored Cannon Beetle is a joke), or very hard (fucking Burrowing Snagret... Doesn't help there are three of them... Right next to each other).
The game is beautiful, and I mean beautiful. The game has the most amazing graphics on the entire system, and they can really stand up to the graphics of today. Everything just looks very realistic for some reason, even the more cartoony things. I hope this game gets the Wind Waker treatment and gets a HD remake on the Wii U. I would pay for that shit.
Final Verdict? 4/5 Jars of Honey Simply amazing game no one should pass up on. If you like RTS games, I'd be surprised if you don't have this game already.
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Post by Honeyman on Aug 11, 2013 9:37:08 GMT -5
Game: Playstation Allstars Battle Royale Genre: Fighting Systems: Playstation 3/Playstation Vita Developers: Superbot Entertainment/Santa Monica Studios/Bluepoint Games (Vita) ESRB: T
I fucking love that intro.
Released in November 2012 it was met with some positive feedback, but mostly negative. The negative feedback stated that it was nothing but a Super Smash Bros clone, and nothing else. Bullshit. This game does have similar gameplay style to Smash Bros, but I say it is different enough to warrant it being not a Smash Bros clone. It's like comparing Mortal Kombat to Street Fighter. They both involve two fighters in a stage, trying to decrease their opponents health bar. They play very differently however, warranting them to be their own game series. So why the hate? Nintendo fanboys, that's all. I should stop ranting and move into the review...
Story... Story... What story? I hate having to start a game I previously praised and starting with the most negative aspect of it. Might as well get it out of the way. A roster of 20 characters hear about this energy or something, and they approach it to see what it is. Like Rachet and Clank think that it might be a huge supply of Gold Bolts, or Sackboy thinks it's a great evil threatening all that we know. Some characters have other reasons as well, like Sly Cooper is missing a map, which Nathan Drake somehow acquired and is trying to follow it. The energy is actually the final (and only boss), who got all these characters to come together for a tournament. The DLC characters, however, learn about the fighting going on and goes to break it up/compete in it. Throw in the rivals and you got a plot. It is pretty much your basic fighting game arcade mode.
Gameplay is where the game shines. It is pretty hard to describe fighting games however, so I'm going to be comparing the fighting to Smash Bros. Call me a hypocrite, but it is the only way I can do it. Basically what is similar to Smash Bros is you got your characters from all these different universes, in a four player fighting game. Though the way to kill someone is entirely different. There are no health bars, no damage percentages, no coins. The way you kill someone is to rack up combos to build your AP meter. Once your AP meter gets full, it grows a level and gets empty. This level shows how strong your Super will be. A Super is a strong move ranging from three levels, and it's the only way to kill someone. Level ones are a short range attack, level twos are pretty diverse, and level threes. Oh man, level threes. They start off with a cutscene. The cutscenes last about 2-10 seconds, depending on the super, but they are long enough for however the victim is to lament over what they did wrong. They start to panic. They start getting worried. They see Sir Daniel pulling out that Shield Thing from that chest, and they know the skeletal knight is about to fuck their shit up. The cutscenes makes the game all that much more epic. I love it! Level threes can range from you having to chase the opponent down and hit them, to having to shoot them Snake's final smash style, to a full-on screen clear. Enough about how you play, let's talk about the stages. I never knew about where to put what I wanted to talk about stages, so here might be good enough. Each stage at first seems like your basic Smash Bros stage. You have a Metropolis stage from Rachet and Clank, a Franzea stage from Locoroco, and whatnot. But. As the fight progresses, the stage changes. Elements from other games starts to merge into the stage. Soon you see the fucking Hydra from God of War eating Captain Qwark in Metropolis, a Metal Gear Ray blasting missiles at you in Franzea. The sure awesomeness of this makes this game all that much more great. It was a brilliant decision on the developers part, and it really helps differentiate it from Smash Bros. Aside from that, you have your items, time matches, stock matches, teams, etc. Unfortunately, this game has a problem that most fighters have... Unbalanced characters. They released a patch to fix that, but it doesn't help much. I still notice Kratos, Raiden, and Dante kicking my ass all the time. I play as Sir Daniel, who is pretty slow (not as slow as Big Daddy), so I'm bound to get my ass handed to me by the faster, more powerful characters.
Musaks. Musaks are good. The main theme Finale by Madeon is pretty awesome, and it gets you pumped to play the game. Aside from the main theme, the stage themes and the final boss theme are simply jaw dropping. Most stages have remixes tracks from the game they come from, and the music also changes to match the stage mashup. Dojo is a Parappa the Rapper stage. The tune that plays at first is a hip hop, city tune that really fits. But when a giant mech from Killzone storms into the background, the music from both Parappa and Killzone almost collide in a way, and then the music gets into a pure War theme. Here is the song that plays during then, just listen. In fact, listen to the full soundtrack. Is rly good.
I won't beat around the bush here. Spoiler warning bitches. If you don't want spoilers than skip the boss section. The one and only boss in the game is Polygon Man. Who's Polygon Man? The very first Playstation mascot, before Crash or Spyro. His fight is in three phases. First phase is h summons a character that looks like they were ubercharged by Team Purple. During this, Polygon Man transforms into one of the background stage hazards, like Hades or Dollface. After you defeat the character, Polygon Man slams his himself onto the stage, trying to hurt you. Hit him a couple of times, and he's down for the phase. Repeat two more times, adding an extra character each time, and you got a boss. May I just say I love this fight. It can be quite difficult, the music is amazing, and the boss has much more history than, say, Tabuu. Polygon Man was the first mascot, and he has long since been abandoned for the likes of more friendly and recognizable characters. He has a reason to be a villain, he has a point for being in a game about the history of Playstation, he makes much more sense than fucking Tabuu. I love this boss fight, even though it's the only one in the game.
The art style... The game does look pretty good. Almost each stage an character looks like they were ripped directly from their games and placed in there. They look like their original selves without much tampering. Parappa is flat like he always was, Big Daddy is still incredibly intimidating, Fat Princess... Oh... Fat Princess looks nothing like her original counterpart. In the original Fat Princess, she was far and cute in a way. Here she's just fat.... Don't give me that excuse that it was the game's processing. Kat from Gravity Rush is cellshaded, so I don't see why Fat Princess isn't. Besides the point, the game has great graphics. Everything is pretty to look at, except that.
Final Verdict? 4/5 Jars of Honey Disappointing story and unbalanced characters. That's all I can complain about. Aside from that, this is a very good game. A lot of people complain about the character selection, and that it contains no true playstation characters. I disagree, the roster is great. They have characters representing all generations of playstation, from PS1 to PS3. Sure, there isn't Spyro or Crash, but complain to Activision, not Sony.
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Post by aquason on Aug 11, 2013 16:47:35 GMT -5
Good review. I've heard mixed things beforehand from others. Some really like it others not as much.
One interesting point I've heard is that the unique art styles for each character detracted from the experience compared to Brawl - which had every character fit well in the same style.
People have said that they don't mesh well and it feels very disjointed, along with how third-party characters seemed to be added mainly for the promotion of their upcoming games.
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Post by Honeyman on Aug 11, 2013 18:59:35 GMT -5
I can clearly see those points. The mixed art style, I admit, it irks me only a little, but not enough to become a problem. But how can you fit Parappa or Spike in the same style with the likes of Sweet Tooth and Cole? The characters solely added for upcoming games was very obvious to me though. Big Daddy for Infinite, Dante for DMC (never even had his classic look as an alternate costume), Raiden for Rising, and the Isaac Clarke DLC for Dead Space 3. Sure, they were only in the games for advertising, but it isn't really a bad thing. It adds variety to the mix, and I very much enjoy that.
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Post by Honeyman on Aug 22, 2013 10:54:44 GMT -5
Game: Katamari Damacy Genre: Um... Uh... I don't even know... System: Playstation 2 Developer: Namco ESRB: E
What the fuck is this... Like seriously... What the fuck am I even playing. I bought this alongside Psychonuats thinking "Oh, I'm probably going to be picking up this game once or twice, but I really want to see what I'm missing out with Psychonauts!"... I only played Psychonauts once... This game I played to death... Help me... Save me... The King of the Cosmos scaaaaares me...
Im reviewing this game? Ok...
The story is that The King of all the Cosmos is drunk and wild, and he ain't stopping for no one. He is flying through space, and accidentally destroys all the stars and the moon. Seeing what he has done, he appoints his 10cm son down to earth, armed with Katamaris. A Katamari is a ball that can make anything smaller than it, attach to it. The King wants you to roll up as many objects as you can with the Katamaris to recreate the stars, constellations, and the moon. Very... Original story. It is very quirky, charming, and original story to fit this quirky, charming, and original game.
Notice how I never put a genre in the info up there? That's because I have know idea how I can classify it. You control a giant ball known as a Katamari. Your goal is to roll it into smaller objects, stick them onto the Katamari, and build the Katamari's size. Your goal is usually to get the Katamari as big as you can, to picking up as many objects in a group (like crabs, women, etc) as you can, to picking up the biggest you can in a group (like bears and cows). If anything, I guess you can call it a puzzle game, but that is kind of a stretch. You use both control sticks to move your Katamari. I don't way to get into the details of the controls, cause they are kinda confusing to explain. Let's just say they take a while to get used to, but it shouldn't be hard once you do. I recommend watching some footage online to see what exactly I'm talking about.
Music is GORGEOUS. The tracks that play are full of energy, yet they are be peaceful at the same time. Most songs are sung in Japanese, but there are some exceptions. There is pretty much no song I hate in this game. They are all great, and some are even in my favorite game songs of all time. My favorite track has to be Katamari of Love:
There are no bosses in this game. It doesn't need bosses.
Graphics.... This game has to be one of the best looking on the PS2. I see that generation as the start of the brown and gray generation we have today, so I love this game for having so many colors. Everything is vibrant, and full of personality. I also love the little details they put everywhere. You can find so many little secrets here and there. There is so much to explore, and so much beautiful colors. I want a HD re-release. I would pay money for that.
Final Verdict? 5/5 Jars of Honey There is absolutely nothing I can find bad about this game. It is somewhat short, but that is only nitpicking because there's the replayability of trying to improve your scores. It gave me a lot of entertainment, and I'm making it my favorite PS2 game of all time. Now, to get back to playing Psychonauts...
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Post by aquason on Aug 22, 2013 12:51:43 GMT -5
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Post by Honeyman on Aug 22, 2013 13:17:22 GMT -5
Thanks. I can definitely see that as the genre. I wanted to put puzzle down, but I was not entirely sure that was what it was.
Also, I have no idea what to review next.
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Post by aquason on Aug 22, 2013 14:28:38 GMT -5
Try something 3DS.
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Post by Honeyman on Aug 22, 2013 21:00:50 GMT -5
I will. Uprising, maybe?
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Post by aquason on Aug 22, 2013 23:20:59 GMT -5
Summary: KI: Uprising is good.
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Post by Honeyman on Aug 28, 2013 11:33:51 GMT -5
Review is done, yet I'm having some trouble posting it. It might be late so if you were waiting for it, wait a little longer.
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Post by Honeyman on Sept 1, 2013 20:25:55 GMT -5
Game: Kid Icarus: Uprising Genre: TPS/Rail shooter System: 3DS Publisher: Nintendo Developers: Project Sora/Sora ltd ESRB: E10+ Because Aqua asked to review a 3DS game, I might as well do so. So what game? Mario 3D Land? Mario Kart 7? Sticker St-oh wait... Well as one can clearly see, I am reviewing the third, and the latest, game in the Kid Icarus franchise. It has been 20 years since Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters, the last Kid Icarus game. During E3 2010, they showed the reveal trailer. It was met with much appraise, everyone was cheering. A new Kid Icarus game was finally coming out! And then the game came out... It's sublime, it's godlike, it's gooooooooooooood. In the Kid Icarus universe, it literally has been 20 years since Medusa has been defeated. The underworld armies have been vanqiushed, the reign of Medusa has ended, the last of the Komaytos were in captivity, the universe is at peace. But, 20 years after the events of Myths and Monsters, Medusa has returned. The Goddess of Light named Palutena has sent her best warrior, Pit, to defeat Medusa and save the world again. The plot has many twists and turns, many new and interesting characters get introduced, some allies, some villains. Trust me, you will get sucked into the plot of this game. My one complaint, my one tiny complaint, is that this game has it's fair share of filler. Spoilers people, but I need to get this out. There is full on subplots that take up filler space. My greatest example has to be the Aurum chapters. Don't get me wrong, the Aurum are pretty creative, and I find Pyrrhon (the self proclaimed Sun God) to be a very funny character introduced in these chapters. But you can take these three chapters out of the story and it probably wouldn't leave much of a difference. The chapters are still fun, however, so it doesn't seem that bad in my eyes. Oh boy... The controls. If you heard about this game, chances are you heard about the controls. This game is said to have some of the worst controls on the 3DS, maybe even the worst of most Nintendo games. I'll leave that for later, I'll get to how this game is laid out. You have a total of 25 chapters, each being divided into two sections. Usually the first section is an on rail shooter, having to fly through the sky and mow down underworld forces with your weapons. The second half is when you land on the ground, and have to run and shoot enemies, all the while having to get to a specific destination. The on rail part plays beautifully, with you using the circle pad to move Pit and the touch screen plus the R button to aim and fire. If the game was just this, it would probably get better recognition for the controls. However, the second half is abysmal. You run with the circle pad, no problem. You fire with the R button, no problem. You aim with the touch screen, ok. You control the camera with the touchscreen as well... Not ok. If you are surrounded by enemies, and you have to concentrate on both shooting your enemies and changing the camera to get a good look, you are going to have a bad time. Doesn't help that the multiplayer in this game (which is one of the best on the 3DS) is only this playstyle. Enough about controls, let's talk about the weapons. This game has many, many weapons. The weapons you can equip falls under several different categories ranging from blades, staffs, clubs, claws, and cannons. This gives the game much more depth to it. No two weapons are the same. Sure, you might have two Tiger Claws, but they can have entirely different stats and effects. Stats effect basic stuff like range, while effects can make enemies give more hearts (the currency), can petrify them, can improve your melee damage, and stuff like that. It gives the game a lot of replayiblity to make the perfect weapon to rock in multiplayer, or to complete the chapters in the excruciatingly hard level 9 intensity. There is so much to do in this game. You have little challenges to complete to get yourself new weapons, music tracks, and much more. You can try to get all the abilities, which let you heal yourself, or deal extra damage to enemies when activated. This game is both a completionist's dream and nightmare. I still haven't completed everything I can in this, there is just so much I can do... Oh my god the music. The tracks can range from orchestrated to full on rock. There is not a single song I don't like in this game. There is remixes of classic tunes like the Skyworld and Underworld theme, and amazing original tracks. If I could, I'd link the entire soundtrack... Oh wait, I can: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD267B8CC48D06DF5 If you don't have the time, here's one song: The bosses are plenty. There are the downright amazing ones, the good ones, and the few horrible ones. Let's just say you will downright despise the boss of Chapter 23, to not give away spoilers. Some bosses I love and not hate are definitely the final boss, the chapter 18 boss, and the chapter 9 boss. All three of these fights are filled to the brim with action, story, and great music. Avoiding talking about spoilers as much as I can, so I won't be saying who these bosses are. Just take my word for it. This game is probably one of the best looking games on the 3DS so far. The graphics are beautiful, and can really show off what the 3DS is capable of. I should also bring up the writing and voice acting. Pretty much any character that speaks has a voice actor. These actors do a very good job of capturing the personality of the characters they are playing as. The writing is even better. The jokes are funny. The dramatic moments are well written and paced. They even throw in many references to other Nintendo games such as Zelda. Metroid, Star Fox, and even Brain Age and Nintendogs. Final Verdict? 4/5 Jars of Honey Holy shit, this is a good game. The only thing that keeps this game from getting a 5/5 score has to be the controls. Otherwise, this is an amazing game, and I recommend BUYING a 3DS to play this. It's that good.
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