Game Ranters

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (NDS Wii)

2009-04-08T12:53:00.002-05:00

Okay so here we have a came that came out for both of Nintendo's systems and function together in complete sync. Let's see how this did.

Game play: The game play is good, something like a dungeon crawler meets and action RPG. You'll create a character of one of the 4 available races and begin moving through the story. Later you'll be able to recruit or create additional allies. Another great feature is the Wifi for the 2 systems and the ability to play with friends any where with either system. ANother great feature is the upgrading of armors and customization. Like you're old starting armor think its cool looking well its possible to over level armor to extend its usefulness or break the armor down to aquire gems for new skills in your next set of armor. Also tthe game boast so good dugeon and puzzle design making the play more challenging. 5/5

Story: So there was the ancient race that used crystal to power everything and then all the crsystals went away. Now people are trying to alter time to stop that. That's the jist of it...you kind f just run from point A to point B in an attempt to further the plot but its mostly just to get access to higher quest dungeons and gear. 2/5

Graphics: Okay the game is nice looking not great but nice. Enemies are often pallet swapped but most of the gear and is unique adding to your characters individuality. The sad thing is the only visual difference in the characters is race and gender so all the same race and gender look the same. There's a way to change hair color later but that's it. For a DS game it looks great...on the Wii it looks like a DS game which is less than good. 3/5

Audio: The music is kind of blah. Nothing about it really stands out and the voice acting is good but not memorable. Some of the best audio moments are hearing the screams of a dying ally and then laughing at them for it. Otherwise the sounds just ambient noise. 3/5

Replay: The games engaging enough to make you want to play through its 3 difficulty setting and unlock all the shiney bonuses also later in the game you can aquire items for making a new character that would have a better stat growth than your current one. A nice feature if not a bit tedious. 4/5

Overall: on the DS the game is totally worth on the Wii not so much being its basically a straight port. The co-op elements of the game are done right and done well. Many puzzles and boss fights make you want to play with friends but at the same time they aren't needed to conquer the game. The replay is also good though you'll be forced to visit all the dungeon 2 or 3 times they change enough and are entertaining enough for in not to feel burdening. The quest system like the rest of the game is all well balanced making you want friends but not making it a demand for completion. Overall the games biggest draw back is that its not terribly long. A group of seriously players can beat the story in about 15 hours. On the upside the replay collecting and side stuff gives the game a good 30-50 hour play. Depending on how much you're entertained by all that. 4/5

Avalon Code (DS)

2009-04-06T17:17:00.002-05:00

Hello, peoples. Today we're going to be talking about the end of the world and the book that will bring about a new one.

Story: So, you take on the role of either a male or female who finds a book. The book appears when the world is about to end, and it is now your job to collect information for what the next world will be like. You slap the book on monsters and people and plants, and you develop maps (no work on your part) of the areas you visit. Of course, having the book is not enough, you must find the four elemental spirits to help guide you. And you must avoid having this Book of Prophecy taken away by the wrong hands. The story is interesting, while not the most developed, it will keep you going. You will want to know how everything plays out. 4/5

Audio: The music is nice and cheery, nothing spectacular. There is some voice acting, which is decently done, but again not the most amazing. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics of Avalon Code utilize the DS well. Environments look attractive, and the characters have a storybook art look to them. It's all very fitting for the game. 4/5

Gameplay: The gameplay is fairly unique. You can put a different weapon in each hand, and the X and Y button each control a hand. Your skills with different weapons increase as you use them, offering you stronger attack and longer special attacks. The A button performs a judgment link, which is essentially you knocking an enemy into the air. Then with timing you can keep pressing one of the attack buttons to knock the enemy higher and higher. Eventually the enemy will explode into HP, MP, and money. You can also alternate the attack buttons, keeping the enemy low to the ground, but easier to reach the hit count necessary for said explosion of goodies. The B button hits things with the book, which allows you to see their data. You can adjust the stats of monsters by altering their data. This is an excellent, and sometimes necessary, way to make bosses weaker. You can use the book to adjust your weapons and armor too, giving them elemental properties, or if you have the recipes, making them into stronger items. When you interact with people, you can give them presents and build their friendship towards you. This also can develop romantic relationships with certain characters. All of this affects how the new world (and game ending) will be. Now then, onto dungeons. This is an interesting area. Each room in a dungeon has some sort of challenge you must face (defeat enemies, hit switches, move statues) and often have bonus conditions. If you earn enough points, you have the possibility of getting a gold medal, which depending on the room might or might not provide you with a new recipe. If you die, then you have the option to continue in the room you are in (with everything reset of course). This makes it easy to forget to save often, and sometimes you will get caught in a boos fight, have to retry again and again, and if you have not saved recently, then you won't be able to turn off the game without losing data (because you cannot save during a boss fight). Boss fights are all about finding the key to winning. Usually it's playing with your new weapon, but sometimes not. One thing to note, altering codes and giving presents cost MP (as does teleporting but that's much later in the game), and the only way to really replenish your MP is using judgment links. Sometimes in dungeons you can find vases that will restore all HP/MP, but these are usually just before a boss fight. The other problem with the game scrolling though the book (the touchscreen). You can flip through the index to certain sections, but you cannot go to a particular page. And you will be flipping through pages often trying to find that particular code you need for any given situation. (*Note: you will need to use the stylus on this game. It's not overdone luckily, just for the moving codes and navigating the book.) The game play is simple enough, and even fun. Dungeons sometimes get tedious with room after room of challenges, but once done you do not have to mess with them again. Overall, good gameplay. 4/5

Replay: There are a lot of small things in this game that are easy to miss...a lot. And even if you find most of them, there are things you'll want to do differently. Replay is a worthwhile experience. 3/5

Overall: The game is cute and fun and a good way to spend time. It utilizes the DS well, both graphically and gameplay wise. If you want a fun, light hearted action RPG to play, this is a good choice for you. 4/5

Rune Factory: Frontier (Wii) and Rune Factory 2 (NDS)

2009-03-26T12:57:00.003-05:00

Long ago I reviewed Rune factory for the DS and recently I played the second one. The first one wasn't a bad game neither was it a good game, today I'll be looking at the improvements on both the DS and Wii version.

Rune Factory: Frontier

Gameplay: Alrighty, firstly the control scheme for the wii is good not just good its actually rather well designed. combat is fluid and easy to learn, tools and interactions as well as a nice arrow and hit box showing where you're aiming to what you're targetting are extremely helpful.
The monster play is definately been improved as you actually want to bring them with you now. Mounts and assisting fighter types make the dungeon crawling much more user friendly. A new addition that I find hurtful and tedious is the Runey system. They're little spirits that hover around and deending on if the 4 types are in balance makes crops grow faster...but they often aren't causing the player to take time to oftencheck and manage the population of one type or another... 4/5

Story: The story is at the great level of not being so important that it distracts you from all the fun farming, dating, and befriending of the game, but also key to progression, and interesting enough to make you want to actually care about it. The story is more of a true sequel to the first DS one than the actual RF2, You'l be takin on the role of the hero from the frist RF and having followed the possibly insane Mist to a new town where you'll once again be shoved into taking care of a dirt farm. A thin setup but none the less the rest of the story improves as you go from dungeon to dungeon learning about the new small town you've come to call home. 3/5

Graphics: The game is pretty many of the areas and dungeons are well designed with a very fatasy style. small wild flowers blooming in the corners and quiet little streams running throughout the town. Characters in silly completely non-functional clothing. The opening and several scene in the game are fully animated, specifically the opening and introduction of the bachleretes. The enemies and spells are well done though the reoccuring recolors of foes is a bit annoying it doesn't take away from the nice eye friendly design. 4/5

Audio: Yay voice acting, not only that but it doesn't suck! The game has a great opening theme that's fun and inviting all the characters also really are voiced well. and the music for the seasons really fits well adding to the already imersive feel of the game. Even the yells of battle as you axe monsters in the face sound good. 5/5

Replay: Like most games in the HM series there's always a good replay value in picking different girls to marry and such. RF takes it a set further giving you the option of not only your spouse but the design of you're home the weapons and magic you use and the skills you choose to make your living. 5/5

Overall: The game has few flaws, with controls that are easy to use, a thin story that's not demanding and a good balance in time management the game really does a good job of managing the fantasy and harvest moon elements well. The only complaint I have is that neither were expanded on too much from the orginal RF on DS but they were melded well which was a murdering fact for the orginal. 4/5

Rune Factory 2

Gameplay: OKay as the "true sequel" to the DS version it really does a good job of returning the good of the first version. Lots of fun dungeon crawling, girl wooing, and farming. 4/5

Story: This did a much better job of making you care about the story than the previous but the story was still just a means to an end. Progression felt more of a need that want. It also suffered from several forced haults for you to go do some tedious task to progress again. 3/5

Graphics: Good improvements here, the games is attractive and vibrant. Spells and attacks aren't just the same recolored fireballs from the previous version. 4/5

Audio: Voice acting (again) this one is eh...not the best. It could also do the dialogue being poorly done. but the music is nice, a good set of seasonal themes providing a nice immersion the game well needs. 3/5

Replay: This is hit or miss the game requires you to go into a second generation to continue the story this is bit tedious as the best things are in the 2nd gen. but having the choice of actually being pursuing your love interests twice is appealing. 3/5

Overall: This one did a much better job of merging the fantasy and HM aspects. Where it failed was neither were too great. Yes the 2nd generation was cool but having all the best things stashed in it took too much away from the first generation. Outside of the ability to move into the 2nd generation and be a boy or a girl the game brought nothing new and spectacular to the series either. 3/5

My World, My Way (DS)

2009-02-23T13:47:00.003-05:00

Remember when I reviewed Dungeon Master, the game about the boy with the talking shovel? Now take that game and redesign it with girls in mind. Meet My World, My Way.

Story: You play as Princess Elisa, who is a spoiled young lady in love. sadly, the person she fell in love with was an adventurer who didn't want a useless princess. So she did what any rational person would do, she became an adventurer. Because hr father can't say no to her, he lets her go, and sends someone to secretly guide and protect her along the way. I guess the story is nice because it involves a princess actually doing something rather than needing rescuing. 4/5

Audio: The music is forgettable. I can't remember what it sounds like at all. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics aren't spectacular, but they aren't horrible either. 3/5

Gameplay: The gameplay is relatively simple. You pick a region to go to, sometimes you are limited in your options, and you receive a mission from the villagers. As you level you earn Pout points, which you can use to help you in battle or change the environments (if you need different enemies to spawn). You learn magic by watching enemies cast spells, and hopefully your parrot companion will learn these spells. In towns you can eat meals which will increase your stats. The gameplay is very simple, but not bad. 4/5

Replay: I don't think there is much value in replaying. 2/5

Overall: It's a cute game,but it's nothing amazing. The gameplay is easy to understand, and the story isn't bad, but it becomes repetitive. 3/5

Ar Tonelico 2: Melody of Metafalica (PS2)

2009-02-10T13:16:00.002-05:00

I've had a tough time deciding how I want to review this. Most games I know how I feel, but Ar Tonelico 2 eludes me in terms of how much I love or hate it. So let's try to analyze this.

Story: I think this is the weakness of the game. The story is a confusing mess of "what's going on." You take the role of Croix, a soldier for Grand Bell whose jobs is to hunt infected Reyveitals (these are females who can use song magic). Shortly into this, you are asked to serve as bodyguard to the Holy Maiden, Cloche, who is a bit of a stuck-up...well anyway. Then you go and meet your girlfriend Luca, who you haven't seen in years, and seem to not care that she's your girlfriend at all. The characters are rather flat (actually I hate both Luca and Cloche, but the peppy nonlove interest girl is somewhat entertaining), and the story is a jumbled mess. 2/5

Audio: The game revolves around singing women, so I would hope the music does it credit, and i think it does. A lot of tracks have vocals in the background which enhance the atmosphere. The voice acting is average, but you don't have to wade through a lot of it. 4/5

Graphics: Graphically, the game isn't topnotch. It's light and pretty, but if you want realism or fancy graphics, this isn't for you. 3/5

Gameplay: The battle system in this is somewhat unique. You can have up to 2 reyveitals in your party and two warriors who serve as guards. The reyveitals spend the entire battle singing, while your guards will melee. You can change their style of attack by holding down up, down, or left on the directional pad. These styles will also affect the performance of the Reyveitals. On defensive turns you have to time hitting the X or Square button to protect your reyveital. The reyveital will always be the primary target of enemy attack if there is one in the party. Things to do outside of battle include: synthing in shops, bathing your reyveitals, diving into your reyveitals, or looking for fan club members. The bathing is necessary to level up the reyveitals, and requires you finding crystals in shops or around the world. The diving allows you to see into the inner psyche of the girls, but is mostly to unlock new costumes and spells for them. The fan club has a purpose in boosting one of Cloche's unique abilities. While the battle system is so-so, these other gameplay activies are particularly entertaining and make the game fun. 4/5

Replay: There is at points in the game where you have to choose between Cloche and Luca. This will determine a number of things that will happen, including who gets the most spells and where you go for certain parts of the game. Personally, I want to see what the other side of the coin looks like. 4/5

Overall: So, my review seems mediocre at best, but I'd like to say, I'm still playing the game and finding it entertaining. It's not as well done as some other NIS games, but it's entertaining. Still, I'd probably recommend renting it, unless you know you like NIS/Gust games. 3/5

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (Wii)

2009-01-26T12:41:00.002-05:00

I couldn't do it. I couldn't play the game long enough to give a full and accurate review. So, I'll just tell you about my experience from the first 3 hours.

Story: Two years after the events from Tales of Symphonia (GC), the two world have merged together, with one side dominating the other. This leads to a rise of rebel groups. The game begins with the town of Palmacosta being attacked by Lloyd (from the original game) who has apparently become murderous since his time saving the world. He kills the parents of this game's main character, Emil. Emil goes to live with his aunt, and meets Marta, a spunky girl who is trying to revive the king of beasts in order to restore balance tothe world. Apparently as long as this king is asleep all the elements of the world will go crazy. Anyway, that's about as far as I got. The two met with Colette from the original game. The plot, I'm sure given enough time it would make sense, but I just innately reject any plot where the idealistic and noble character of one game has become evil. 3/5

Audio: The music isn't bad, I don't remember it much. The voice acting has credible actors, but the dialogue is so painful. Still, not bad. 4/5

Graphics: The graphics feel somewhat minimized. The characters and environments are not as detailed as they could be good. 3/5

Gameplay: The game uses the 3D battle map that appeared in Tales of Symphonia, making reasonable use ofthe wiimote and nunchuck. Regular attacks are limited to the A button, but special attacks can be set to the B button and joystick. A major component of the game is to recruit monsters to join your party. For this you need to have the battlefield maintain certain elements, which can be change by using various artes. There is no interactive world map, instead you have a list of areas you can visit. The game has a crafting system and a cooking system, but these are more in the background, with cooking's purpose to be to feed the monsters you have captured for stat boosts. 3/5

Replay: ..../twitch /twitch 1/5

Overall: I'm not going to score an overall because it wouldn't be fair. i didn't see the overall of the game. instead, I'll tell you what I didn't like. I hated the direction the story was going. The main character made me what to kill everything around me, though I have read he becomes less obnoxious over time. The main female lead is, well, I think Misa from Deathnote. She has no common sense and is in love with the main character for absolutely no reason. It's nice to have characters return from Tales of Symphonia, though I feel if I were Colette and had to keep hearing people talking about how wonderful Mithos was, I'd go insane. I read a reivew that said this was a game for fans of the original, and only they would love it. I would lik to say I loved the original, and because I loved it, I couldn't handle the changes that occurred in this sequel. If you want a fan service game, pick up Radiant Mythology for the PSP. This game takes some serious dedication and patience if you want to get into it.

Upcoming Review

2009-01-20T21:44:00.002-05:00

I'm planning on reviewing Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, for the wii. I've started it. So far it's the most soul crushing experience ever. i've never wanted to kill a main character as much as I want to kill Emil. But out of fairness to the Tales games, I'm going to give it some more time. More painful painful time. And pray that suddenly the main character dies and a new, cooler person shows up. That and the story line stops making me want to kill the people around me. I pity my neighbors otherwise.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (PS2)

2009-01-11T21:37:00.002-05:00

Welcome back. So today we're going to learn about why TVs are so dangerous. That and demons and bottling up your emotions. Remember these life lessons kids.

Story: You begin the game as a young high school student who moves to a small town to live with his uncle. Shortly after arriving and starting school, a murder occurs. There is no evidence and no clues who the killer is, and soon after another follows. Determined to find out who is killing people, you and fellow classmates discover a secret world inside televisions. There you discover a truth, those who died had been sent and killed inside the tv world, leaving no evidence of their death in the real world. Not only that, but they are defeated by their inner selves, the secret personalities that they do not want to reveal to the outside world. The story is brilliantly written, and the characters are deep and realistic. It is by far one of the better game stories I have encountered. 5/5

Audio: The voice acting is well done, with well-known voice actors giving off excellent performances. The music is good as well; it's not deep and memorable but it fits the mood and doesn't grate. The hauntingly beautiful velvet room theme for Persona 3 returns as well. 4/5

Graphics: The graphics aren't terribly impressive. They aren't hideous, and the anime images of the character dialogues are certainly attractive. The dungeon designs aren't amazing either, but they serve their purpose and look distinguished from one another. Overall, visuals aren't perfect, but they don't detract. 4/5

Gameplay: There are 2 aspects to Persona 4: dungeon crawling and social interaction. When you're in the dungeons, it's fairly simple, you have up to 4 party members, which you can now set tactics or control completely. The main character is not bound to one persona, and can merge personas he finds to make even stronger personas. Outside of the dungeons is the real world, whic you need to level up stats such as knowledge, understanding, or expression in order to interact better with social connections you make. By increasing these social connections, you can make stronger different personas you make.The game is all about time management, and it isn't easy balancing all of these things. The gameplay isn't too difficult to understand, but it's a challenge to master. Still its a wonderful balance of dungeon crawler and social sim which keeps the player from being too bored with either. 4/5

Replay: While the overall doesn't change, you can do things differently, plus in a second play through some of your stats carry over. Also some new options appear that were not previously available. 3/5

Overall: The story is amazing, the music is good, the voices are great, the visuals are acceptable, and the gameplay is better than functional. I recommend this game to any RPG fan. Not only because it fits those basic criteria, but because on a number of occasions, I found myself laughing out loud because such entertaining dialogue. 5/5

End of 2008

2009-01-08T13:26:00.002-05:00

A few days late, I realize, but I wanted to say a few things about 2008. Mostly, this was a year of remakes, and I'm so happy that 3 of my all time favorite games were remade. This post is just to talk about the games and their remade versions and what I think.

Final Fantasy IV: The graphics were 3Dified and the script was changed. An augment system was added, which i think was for the worst. The difficulty curve didn't change, but it seemed like it was easier to level, and more necessary to do so. Personally I prefer the GBA port, or the original.

Dragon Quest IV: Also updated graphics and script. Th graphics aren't vastly improved, so a person with a need for fancy graphics wouldn't like it. For the most part, the game remains true to the original, it is just as old school turn based and level grinding as when I played it on the NES. Of course playing it reminded me how tedious level grinding could be, but still great to play one of my favorite games on the DS.

Chrono Trigger: Remaining almost entirely true to the original, with some updated script, this has been my favorite of the remakes. Graphics were not touched, butthe anime cutscenes from the PS version made it in. Also in the menu screen is a theater to rewatch the scenes, a music box to listen to the great music, maps to show you were treasures are (in areas you've already cleared), and a guide of all the endings you have completed. There are some buton options to play in DS mode, but I didn't use so I can't comment. I love when they dont screw with a classic, and this is a perfect a remake as I can imagine. PICK IT UP!!!

So that's my thoughts on a year of remakes. I don't know if you'll be affected by this, but i thought I would share my thoughts.

Eternal Poison (PS2)

2009-01-06T12:13:00.003-05:00

Eternal Poison, Atlus hurls another strat RPG at me. A note before I begin, This game was not design for your everyday time of gamer it was made to cater to a specific type of arty, mildly pretenious strat rpg player. So I will review it in that context.

Story: Alrighty happy little kingdom, it has a king and a pope and a princess yay! Bam giant evel demon world spews up from the bowels of god knows where and takes over a large part of the happy little kingdom. The Princess runs off the dungeon known as Besek, and is followed by her love the commander of the knights. A strange girl with a wolf companion appears and also enters. As well as a Priest girl looking for her master. Basically you'll run through the roles of these characters and one addition character if you can unlock him and their travels through Besek. each story progresses as you battle from stage to stage and release small details about the characters as you progress. Though in the end unless you clear the story all the pieces never fit which is an excellent motivator. 4/5

Gameplay: So the game plays like your standard tactical RPG. You progress from stage to stage entering a town that acts as your hub where you equip characters recruit charcters and use the demons you capture during battle to create items and skills or assign them as party members. Before battle there is a selection screen where you can chose your team and place them on the field. Enemy units which other than specified battles always consist of demons called majin, by injuring a majin beyond the point of death to a certain level causes overkill which allows you to capture them for said uses. Battles handle well and follow at a nice steady pace. You can easily select any unit to view their stats in a menu or scroll through to other units friend or foe. A designer note was that all the typical flashy animation and status icon we're made simpler. Status effects are displayed on the character window when you scroll over to them having a space for physical and magical effects. 4/5

Graphics: The game is intensely artisic designed to me more of a living painting than a flashy 3D game. The battlefileds, characters and scenes are all displayed in a muted toned almost oil painted set. It gives the game a sort of flare that's uncommon these days. Animations in battle are either cutscene style where the game cuts away to 3D graphics area where the characters interact. This can be toggled off to do a simpler animation to lessen battle times. The animation good have been done better and the characters not of the main story are a bit plain looking in-game. 3/5

Audio: The music is slightly limited but the stories are only a few stages long so you don't really see alot of songs being rehashed. The acts as your hub has an interchangeable them more which can be unlocked as you progress thru each story. Battles are fairly standard from normal, boss and important story. Voice acting was good tho the dialogue can be a bit dry. 3/5

Replay: There are several pathes you can take through Besek though as you play each story they don't differ to much you may get a view sparse dialogue changes but nothing grand. The nice feature is each story seems to be just right not too long and not too short and the story does a good job of making the play through of each character enjoyable. YOu may find one or two story worth playing through a second time. 4/5

Overall: All right this game has gotten alot of flack but like I said it wasn't made for everyone so be honest are you a pretenious tactical rpg player if so then get this game it's good. No its not flashy no the attacks are giant meteors consuming earth and no there's no blond hero saving the world with sarcasm and giant sword. There's simplicity and challenge. No grinding means you need to get things right so some stages you'll find youself doing a second or even third time but this never feels like its dragging the game down as you get a great sense of accomplishment for doing it better. There's a good about of unlockable arts and music just for the player to look back and enjoy. Either way take it ass it is and it's...4/5

Fable 2 (360)

2008-12-09T15:30:00.002-05:00

As promised, Fable 2.

Story: The game starts with you as a poor boy or girl growing up in the slums with your older sister. You buy a magic music box which starts the process of your sister being shot and you being thrown out of a very very very tall tower. Somehow you survive, and are raised by a mysterious blind woman named Teresa in a gypsy camp. Years pass and Teresa tells you that you are the descedant of a hero long ago (the hero of Fable) and that you have a mission to save the world as well. Your job is gather the three other heroes and use their power to defeat the man who shot you. The storyline of the game is actually really short, but there are a lot of subquests that allow you to fill out your time. 3/5

Audio: The game music isn't bad, but it's not amazing. The main characters have reasonable voice-acting and some good dialogue. The townspeople are annoying with their 3 or 4 lines they like to repeat. About average overall. 3/5

Graphics: The game graphics are pretty good. Your character changes slightly depending on how you act and if you're injured. Most of the townspeople are randomly generated ugly mugs, but they are nicely details ugly people. The environments are attractive. 4/5

Gameplay: The gameplay is fairly simply. You have melee, ranged, and magic attacks all linked to different buttons. You spam these in battle with some "strategy" to avoid death. Monsters you kill give exp corresponding to how you killed them. In town you can do odd jobs (very boring and tedious but good money makers in the beginning). With money you can buy shops, stalls, and houses in order to earn real estate money. Money is slow at the beginning, but as you buy more real estate, you can become very rich very fast. You can also woo people and marry them. Which results in the production of children. Supposedly these kids act like you, but my children were just annoying little bundles that wanted to know why I wasn't home more often. Beside you is your faithful dog who does his best to annoy you with treasure that is buried at the most inopportune times. Overall, the gameplay is fairly simple and easy to pickup. 4/5

Replay: While the story remains the same, your actions can change. Want to be an evil mage next time around or a purehearted archer? easily done. 4/5

Overall: The game is very similar to the first with some nice tweaks. If you want something completely different, look elsewhere, but if you liked Fable, the this is worth picking up.3/5

Mini Reviews

2008-12-08T12:32:00.002-05:00

Alright stupid holidays have been causing me to work more so I went MIA...again >.> here are a handful of things I picked up and played in that time.

Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS) A remake of the SNES the did a good job in the cross over, not changing to much and simply expanding on the games already awesome features like co-op play and and generally entertaining story. THe game got some new stories added to it and few new minigames that unlike the SNES version are actually fun. Truly a good game made better. 4/5

Sonic Chronicles, The Dark Brotherhood (DS) This game sat on my desk for over a month unopened but I finally cracked it open and played it for awhile. Its was surprising entertaining the combat isn't to stylus heavy but it has some nice quirks. The story is pretty light hearted like most sonic games and the characters have some good interactions. A definate plus for the game was it was actually very simple and fun nothing deep or complicated so a great pick up and play at your leisure game. The drw back is its not for someone looking for a great long breathed game. 3/5

My Japanese Coach (DS) My DS saw alot of action >.> anyway I've been apprehensive of the coach games cause well I don't care about learning french or spanish but now I have japanese. The game does a good job or making you think with out...thinking about it if that makes sense. The games are design to make you start thinkin in japanese as you learn it which allows you to begin retaining information better. BUt its not for everyone the game let's you move on when you've mastered the ords from the current lesson but if you're good at the minigames you can spam thru and not learn anything. It relies on you the player to want to learn. 4/5

Okay in closing, Kirby was great but short lived as its not as fun without a second person. SOnic was good but it tried to hard to be a real rpg and not just a silly casual one. and My Japanese coached really do rely on the player to do things outside the game to help learn and is only good if you really want to learn. All good games but nothing too awesome.

Once again...Mini reviews

2008-12-01T21:02:00.002-05:00

As you might have noticed if you visit regularly, i haven't updated in a while. And as yuuki is even worse about posting than I am...it's been empty. So here are some games i've tried out for you.

Princess Debut: Cute dating/dancing sim that gets repetitive. I want a more dating sims to come over so I can see what they're like, but as this one centers around dancing, it gets tedious. Oh yeah, the story: your parallel self is a princess who hates dancing, so she trades places so you can dance at a ball in a month. You do so, meet 6 princes, dance dance dance. worth renting if you want something light hearted and plotless. Probably wouldn't buy unless you can handle mass repetition.

Master of Monster Lair: Hilarious dungeon crawler that becomes tedious quickly. Story: you accidentally take a shovel that you were suppose to deliver to people, making you in charge of the caves near your town. By the way, the shovel talks. Also, the mayor doesn't want you just to clear out the monsters in the cave, he wants you to dig deeper so the caves will become a tourist attraction. everyday you go in,dig walls, build rooms, and fight monsters that appear in the rooms. Fun and silly at first, though involves level grinding soon thereafter. Worth renting, possibly buying.

Time Hollow: Point and click mystery. Story: You play a kid who wakes up one day to find his parents are missing, and no one remembers them being alive. Discovering a weird pen, you discover that you can make changes into the past. It's an interesting story that i think loses cohesion at the end. Has the possibility of replay, but the story doesn't change. Worth renting. It's too short to buy.

Dokapon Kingdom: Cute party type game. Story: You are a hero who is sent to save the kingdom and earn money. The worlds are laid out in a board gametype design and you have to roll to reach you goals. You can save towns, fight monsters. your character levels up. It's a fun game, better with people. With any type of board game, there is a level of random luck. recommend if you have friends to play with.

So there are the games (DS, DS, DS, Wii). I'll put a full Fable 2 review out later this week, and Yuuki should put some more mini reviews up.

Tales of Vesperia (360)

2008-10-22T10:00:00.002-05:00

I've been M.I.A. but now I'm back and I bring with me Tales of Vesperia! I've always like the Tales series and this is no exception.

Story: The game throws you into the role of several characters, A vagabond and researcher with a short temper even a dog. You'll start as Yuri and as you go recruit the rest of your crew. THe characters all grow on you fairly quickly with a large number of voiced cutscenes even ones that don't totally pretain to the story that might just be intereactions with the characters. All designed to help move the story along and keep the player engaged. 5/5

Gameplay: An awesome feature of the game is the multiplayer co-op battle system. You and your friends can take control of your favorite characters an fight together. Previously the battle system with co-op had been clunky and near impossible but now its been polished and functions particularily well. Though the rest of the game plays like your standard RPG run walk poke talk its has no real glaring flaws. 5/5

Audio: The soundtrack is great especially the opening theme. Characters are voiced amazingly well and you can tell the actors were really enjoying what they were doing. Battles dungeons scenes are all well done. 5/5

Graphics: The game is bright and flush. No its not HD and realistic but its not meant to be. The game has a feeling of and heavy atmosphere of fantasy and immersion in it. Characters are very normal looking in feature but with outrageous clothes and costumes. this adds such a feeling of being in a dream. Nothing about the game isn't pretty and without making the game feel fluffy and kiddy. 5/5

Replay: Alright the game is long really long, there are plenty of missables and extras but due to the games length and being particularily story heavy you may not want to play through a second time. Though there are reasons to such as getting 100% clear if you're a crazy person or collecting all the costumes and such. 3/5

Overal: Alrighty, this game is pretty much gold if you like fun rpgs, The lack of slow turn based combat and the fluid and well done script keep the game moving so well. Adding friends only makes it better, you'll find yourself so drawn in by the characters and story you won't want to put it down. There are a few sharp curves on the boss fights but nothing that ever leaves you grinding for hours. a pretty much perfect game. 4/5

Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (Wii)

2008-10-20T14:29:00.002-05:00

Welcome back for another installment of reviews. Well only one review. And that's Harvest Moon for the Wii. So let's get started.

Story: You've decided to move to this island as a farmer because supposedly the island is highly developed and a dream to live in. once you get there, you discovered the mayor lied because while the town was once popular, now most people have left. Then you dream of the Harvest Goddess and decide to revive the island, you need to revive her. A lot of the story revolves around trying to find the harvest sprites and help them to revive the Goddess. For a HM game, that's a lot of plot, and while it's not amazing storytelling, it is nice to have some sort of goals to aim for. 3/5

Audio: The music in most HM games is repetitive, and this isn't different. There are more than just 4 tracks though, and they fit their surroundings well. 3/5

Graphics: The game is a wii game. And it looks like a wii game. Characters have that sort of mii look to them. The game in general looks nice and smooth, few if any jagged edges. It might not be a realistic 3D experience, but it's pretty whil retaining the HM feel, so I like. 4/5

Gameplay: You can play the game using the wiimote and nunchuck or you can use a classic controller. I use the classic controller myself. It seems to work out best. Harvest Moon games are all about farmer and building relations with your neighbors, and this one is no different. As you earn more money and ship more items you can expand your farm and well as the shops around you. By helping the harvest sprites you can unlock the ferry which will start bringing in more people each month. You also have the option to marry (and by option I mean you should do it) one of the bachelors or bachelorettes in the town. There are other stuff to do too, mining, fishing, festivals, all of which seem to be handled in easy to understand fashion. Tools increase power as you use them, and they cost less stamina to use as you upgrade them. It's easy to understand gameplay. 4/5

Replay: Once you "beat" the game, you can send your kid onto a new island for a plus game. It basically starts everything over, but you get all your money and certain items to come with you. It makes it interesting to try the game again from the opposite gender. 3/5

Overall: This is one of the better HM games, and worth picking up if you like HM and have a wii. 4/5

Multiple Reviews

2008-10-09T22:06:00.002-05:00

I've been very bad about updating. On one hand I've been telling yuuki to post a number of reviews for a while, but that shouldn't excuse my own failures. So here are brief, but not too short reviews on the last few games i've been playing.

Infinite Undiscovery

Story: You look like some great revolutionary, so when you're thrown in jail, the revolutionary's little sidekick rescues you. From there you are thrown into constant battles. You continue on this journy mostly because people wont let you do anything else. The story is more than just generic, it feels forced. It's unrealistic on a human level. 3/5

Audio: The characters have voice overs, most of which don't work that well. The music isn't bad, but it's not impressive either. 2/5

Graphics: The graphics on the game are well done. I've seen better, but I think the game made good use of the 360's capabilities. 4/5

Gameplay: The gameplay at first seems unique and entertaining, but as time goes on you realize it's not. you can only control the main character, so to makethe other characters do particular moves you have to go through a sequence of buttons to pull it off. This is nearly impossible in the heat of battle, so you rely on the AI to do what is necessary. Your menu occurs during real time, so if you go into it during battle, you can still be attacked. There is a crafting system, that is not bad, but not amazing either. 3/5

Replay: I don't see a point. 2/5

Overall: The story was meh, the gameplay meh, and the dialogue had some serious issues. not that it was bad, it just felt forced. I seriously wouldn't recommend this game, but if you're desperate for an RPG on the 360, go ahead and rent it. 2/5

Lock's Quest

Story: You play Lock, a young, well essentially he builds things, who lives in an isolated seaside town. One day an army of evil machines comes and attacks your town. The story isn't that great. 2/5

Audio: The sound is ok, nothing amazing. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics are very low key. It's teh DS so I don't expect a lot, but I know it can do more than that. 2/5

Gameplay: The premise of the game is that you build defenses to keep the enemy machines from reaching X goal. It's rather unique and kinda of fun. One problem is you only have a certain amount of time each round to build and repair defenses. Another issue I had was that sometimes when i just wanted to repair a wall, I'd end up moving it or rotating. 3/5

Replay: I don't see much need. 2/5

Overall: It's a cute game with some interesting ideas. I don't think there are that many flaws that break it, but i'd probably recommend renting first. 3/5

So that's all I have right now. it's possible there was another game I'm forgetting. Either way, expect a HM: Tree of Tranquility review soon.

Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness (DS)

2008-09-03T17:57:00.002-05:00

Is it really a happy island or is it an island of of tedium and doom? Read on.

Story: You play either a boy or a girl (your choice) who has decided to leave the big city and settle on a less populated island. Not much is said about this, I'm wondering if overpopulation has just gotten that bad. Anyway, while at sea, you hit a bad storm and the boat sinks, leaving you and a family on a deserted island that once used to be a bustling town. (No one seems to question why the old man in charge is perfectly happy with this arrangement, nor does anyone ask how people find this island immediately after you've landed....They just know you're there and so is business...anyway). So you end up somewhere unexpected but decide to set up shop. The old man with a family gives you the ranch because 20 year olds can obviously run a ranch by themselves with no obvious hint of skills. But then again, this is a Harvest Moon game, and you're probably not playing it for a deeply engrossing story. So we'll accept these little plotholes and accept that there is some form of reasoning for being on this farm and trying to get people to move into your town. 3/5

Audio: The harvest moon games aren't known for great audio. There are 4 or 5 basic songs that get recycled. You probably will tune them out within minutes of hearing them. 2/5

Graphics: Like audio, harvest moon does not invest heavily into graphics. In this game you get individualized main characters with anime faces and different expressions, and recolored subcharacters. The environments are pretty decent. But nothing amazing. 3/5

Gameplay: I'm not a huge fan of games that make use of the stylus, mostly because I find that they screw it up somehow. Harvest moon does a very unique blend of stylus and button control. In actuality you might never touch the buttons, but they do seem to speed things up. movement is handled completely with the stylus. You can set your tools or items to one of four directional buttons and the corresponding buttons on both the directional pad and the ABXY to use these. It takes some getting used to, but it somehow works. The traditional staples of harvest moon remain. You are to farm to earn money and woo someone into marriage. However, island of happiness adds some new elements. First off, you start off on the island with only a handful of people. In order to get more you have to fulfill certain conditions..fish often, mine, develop blocked off areas of the map, etc. This will brings in both main characters (those you really want to interact with) and subcharacters (those you don't care about except for the two that will teach you how to cook but you still need to have a good score). With the huge cast of townspeople, there is a lot more villager schmoozing that needs to be done to keep them all happy. For each gender there are 7 marriagable options, 5 with rivals and 2 without. Get them to love you and you can get cutscenes to learn more about them. Some new features are the wonderfuls, which are stones you can attach to your tool to make them stronger and cost less stamina. These, however, are incredibly hard to come by. My biggest gripe about the gameplay from past harvest moon games is the mine. You now lose stamina for dropping down pitfalls, and it is insanely difficult to make it down the floors. There are a total of 255 by the way. Until you can cook some really elite meals there is no way to make it down a decent length, although if you reach a certain point you can mine ore used to make accessories to boost your stats. Also, there is a new light/balance system for your crops. Each phase of crop growth needs a certain amount of water and light to continue. It is entirely possible to never successfully grow a crop in a season because you do not receive enough light. Other than that, and the constant needing to talk to people so they won't leave, the game play is really well done. 4/5

Replay: I think the game has some good replay possibilities. You can be the opposite gender, or go for a different marriage partner. Maybe not destroy all your crops in a season because of this new light/water balance system. 4/5

Overall: The game is worth picking up if you're a harvest moon fan. It's cute, and fun, and challenging. Of course if you don't like farming, fishing, and wooing, then you're better off with another game. 4/5

Cranium: Kabooki (Wii) and Warriors of the Lost World (psp)

2008-08-25T10:43:00.002-05:00

So, I'm not sure how old these games are, but I played them recently and thought I'd give some short reviews of each.

Kabooki:

Story: This is a family fun time type game. There is no story. 2/5

Audio: The sound isn't that amazing. It's not supposed to be a musically intense game, but the sound and effects don't really do anything. 2/5

Graphics: Low level of graphics. Enough that you can see what you're doing, which I guess is all that's needed. 3/5

Gameplay: The game is you split into 2-4 teams and attempt to get 24 points first. You get points by successfully doing different challenges. Each round you spin a wheel and get a challenge. Some involve answering questions, some involve drawing, some involve playing music. The challenges can be fun; however, the game provides very little in the ways of information on how to complete these. And some of the challenges, mostly those that utilize the wii motes motion sensors are incredibly difficult to figure out. For example, the acting ones require you to move the wiimote in the action shown. You're supposed to hold down A and do the action. Neither the game nor the guide saythat you release A after completing the action, and many of the actions are difficult to figure out or do just right. Another involved solving a word puzzle and shifting the wiimote around to impute the word. It was very difficult to manage to get the letter you wanted, in fact we never managed to get one letter right in the time limit given. But for the bad, there are some good challenges too. It's all a matter of patience and luck. 3/5

Replay: IT's worth playing again assuming the people you played with didn't riot from how difficult some of the challenges were before. 3/5

Overall: It's a fun game with lots of potential. If the guide would be more explanatory,things would be better. But it was cheap, so maybe your family or friends would like to give it a shot. 3/5

Warriors:

Story: You are one of four heroes who is sent to investigate a variety of maze like dungeons around this city. It's not an amazing plot, but what do you expect from a dungeon crawler. 3/5

Audio: The music is meh as are the sound effects and vocalizations. 2/5

Graphics: The graphics aren't bad, but I wouldn't call them stellar. The dungeons are your traditional standard square segments. The walls and enemies and people all look kind of grainy. 3/5

Gameplay: It's a dungeon crawler hack'n'slash. You will be spamming buttons to do various attacks. You will pick one of four characters that will have different abilities. You can also pick their outfit, but this basically means decide which of the 5 colors you like best. At the end of the dungeons will be a boss that you must kill. Sometimes in the dungeons there are traps that you can try to manuever enemies into for more damage on them. You also get special attacks that you can equip which level up as you use them more. Some are more useful than others. The center of the game is a small town square where you restock on items or attempt to upgrade your weapons and armor. You can also barter items you've found for more items. You also use this time to adjust any stats you might have earned through leveling. The gameplay is standard dungeon hacking, so it's not bad. The town aspect could use some cleaning up or better explanation, but it's not bad. 3/5

Replay: I guess you could, that's your choice. 2/5

Overall: It's kinda entertaining, in a mindless sort of way. I'd definitely rent rather than buy. 3/5

Final Fantasy IV (DS)

2008-08-16T10:25:00.006-05:00

Okay to a remake/port from the old days of when SE was 2 companies, not one hateful...anyway,
let's see how FFIV for the DS does.

Gameplay: Like any classic RPG the game is turn based on an attack gauge system. (a little bar that fills until its your turn) The battle system is fun and interactive enough to make it interesting. Where the game fails in game play is the ridiculously skewed difficulties. normal enemies go down pretty easily which is good since you'll have to grind constantly before each and every boss fight as each and ever boss is insanely overpowered most having simple mass killing move...You;ll do most fights 2 or 3 times before beating them and the fights that have specific gimicks to beating you'll either spend hours trying to figure it out or crack and look it up. 2/5

Story: The shining point of the game. The story is engaging and not overly so. It does a good job of drawing you in and carrying you through without being too full of itself. You'll take the role of Cecil the ark Knight from a kingdom once peaceful now expansionistic. The recent actions of the king will drive Cecil on a journey of self exploration and along the way you'll meet all kinds of fun and interesting characters from a spoony bard, a set of magical twin, too a sexy ninja. 5/5

Graphics: The graphics have been redone but really aren't anything spectacular they really could have done better. Dungeons and towns are all pretty generic. The characters have a kind of wonky big head model which takes away from the epicness of the game a bit. Magics, specials, and general battle animations are pretty nice a lot of classic FF there but this they really could have done better. 3/5

Audio: The game have good music its just the same 5 tracks, Town, Dungeon, Battle, Boss, Cinema...there's probably a few more than that but it really starts to drag on you to hear the same handful of songs over and over. The voice acting tho saves it here as it is amazing. Great choices oh voice actors they did a great job bringing life to the characters. 3/5

Replay: There's really not much replay being that half the game is a grind. If you're a classic FF fan this is a replay for you anyway. There's no real point in playing again unless you really like that game. 2/5

Overall: Okay firstly I know I'm gonna get hell for this but the game is really coasting on its already giant FF fanbase. Here's the problem though there are major design flaws A: the strong lack of direction more often then not you'll end up not knowing where you need to be which works for the next flaw, B: The insane difficulty which turns the game into a giant grind which really takes away from the games really strength being its story. Which though amazing and well done its not enough to carrying the game. 3/5

*Additional thoughts by Kit:
As this was the first play through for Yuuki, and a replay for me, I thought I should put in my own two cents on where the game differs from my beloved memories of it.

*Possible Spoilers*
First off, they've added a new summon for Rydia which is like a substitute for her in battle. To upgrade it, you have to do little minigames that make use of the DS capabilities. It's ok, but really I never summon it, so it's more of a "i'm bored" what else can i do to kill braincells" type of thing.

Next, there is the boss difficulty, as Yuuki mentioned. This is both new and old. While a number of the bosses were diffult in the original, and subsequent remakes attempting to capture the japanese original feel, they were never quite as insane as they are now. Bosses I remember killing in only a handful of turns now have new abilities that wipe out the party. On the other hand, while there is a grind, I don't find it too terrible. It's fairly easy to level, and only a handful of level can make the difference.

Which brings me, somewhat, to augments, a new thing where you can add abilities you've discovered in the world to your party and set them for battle. Besides Gil Finder, and possibly twin cast, I've rarely found any occasion for these. Of course, I've noticed the bosses have some new abilities as well, most notably the obnoxious counter abilities that screw over your party long before you have a chance to do the same to it.

I think that's it for my comparisons from my childhood.
*end Spoilers*

One other note, I'm definitely going to have to disagree with Yuuki's assesement of the music of the game. I think this is one of Uemetsu's finest soundtracks. Characters have theme songs, and in general the music does a good job of conveying the mood of the moment. I probably have more to say on that, but other things now distract me. So if you've never played ffiv and you like old school rpgs, go pick up this version, or find a copy of the GBA version. It's a great game.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift (DS)

2008-07-29T14:11:00.003-05:00

So Yuuki was supposed to review this awhile ago, but I'm guessing his comp troubles prevented him from doing so. Either that or I'm gonna have to hunt him down. Let's get down to it.

Story: You're a young boy in the real world. You get sent to the library as punishment, and apparently you think it's perfectly reasonable to start writing in a book because it was there. This done, you are sent into another realm with moogle and baanga and viera, oh my! Various adventures ensue as you join a clan and provide services to the people of Ivalice. Not bad, but certainly not the deepest plot ever. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics are ok. Not terribly impressive but not bad. The dual screen is utilized, but i don't think to the best potential. Overall, average on the visuals. 3/5

Audio: The sound isn't bad. Music and sound effects match the mood, but battle tracks are only so long, so it's a lot of the same. 3/5

Gameplay: As the name suggests, this is a tactical game. There are a number of different races, each have different jobs that are available. Certain jobs are unlocked by leveling other jobs. Other jobs are learned by getting skills in them, which you learn through equipment. Besides the storyline, you can take missions to earn items, AP, and maybe exp. These missions can be battle or dispatch missions. You can also do clan trials which earn you more clan rewards. Clan rewards are bonuses you get during battle as long as you follow the laws set by your clan judge. If you break the law you lose the clan priviledge and character who die in battle cannot be raised until after the battle is over. Another area of importance is the bazaar. You take items earned in battle to a shop. If you have all of the items needed, you can make new weapons or armor. Once you have made this new gear, you can then buy it from the shop. The gameplay is fun and easy to understand. my only problem is that opponents do not have to follow the laws like you should, so if you're law is to not target allies, then you can't do anything for your friends, but they enemy white mage is most likely curing up a storm for them. 4/5

Replay: There's no real point to replay. It's all a matter of how much you want to play with the story again. 2/5

Overall: It's a good tactical RPG worth picking up. The story isnt going to move you, but that's not why you pick up the game. You pick it up for some fun strategy. 4/5 It was a debate between 3/5 and 4/5, but I decided to round up.

Lego Indiana Jones (all Systems except PC)

2008-07-22T11:16:00.002-05:00

I apologize. We've been really lazy about getting the reviews out. I'm going to try and get back on schedule, but I make no guarentees. So today I'm going to review Lego Indiana Jones.

Story: The game follows the story of the original Indiana Jones trilogy. If you liked the movies, you'll like the story here. Plus, the cutscenes are entertaining. 4/5

Audio: Sounds taken from the movies. 4/5

Graphics: Nothing amazing, but it looks good. The environment is very lego-riffic. 3/5

Gameplay: Gameplay is very simple. Each button does one thing. Each character has a special item that lets them do whatever action the item specializes in. Sometimes these items are lying around letting anyone do the actions. The game features drop in and out co-op, which i highly recommend. Though AI is not as completely useless as in the Lego Star Wars, the computer controlled characters still cannot defeat enemies, leaving it all up to you. Overall, very simple to pick up. You go through story mode, and then can return to stages in free mode being able to switch between different characters to unlock hidden areas. 4/5

Replay: Once you've beaten a stage and unlocked everything from freeplay, there's not much left to do. 3/5

Overall: The game is fun and worth picking up. 4/5

Summon Night: Twin Age (NDS)

2008-07-02T21:02:00.002-05:00

Yay a Summon Nights game! I'm a big fan of Atlus and I've rarely been disappointed by them so let's see how the new installment in the series did.

Gameplay: The game handles like most action RPGs on the DS. The top screen displays maps and other information while the lower touch screen controls and shows all the action. You'll move fight and manage party related abilities and items. The touch controls handle well as you move between the 2 main characters. Its fun and interactive. 4/5

Story: The story differs slightly depending on which of the 2 characters you choose as your main. The main plot goes along the lines of the spirits that exist in the world and their relationship to humans and to the more spiritual clan of what I can only assume are rabbit/wolf people. The Humans subjugate the spirits causing them to eventually go berzerk sending the world into turmoil and its upto you to fix it. 4/5

Graphics: The art is attractive if not a bit fluffy, but the general graphics of the game feel a bit lacking. There's a lot more they could have done. Areas look attractive but they start to all bleed together and stop really popping out as you progress through them. The spells and special attacks are good but there really is only a few of them just recolored or slightly altered. 2/5

Audio: The game has the occassional voice acting and some good music but it also seems to lack. The music flows well but quickly ends up more fluffy and annoying than anything. After a few to many squeaks and war calls from the characters you'll most likely turn the sound off all together. 2/5

Replay: The game has a pretty good story and a good game system and despite some unattractiveness its still fun, but I wouldn't say beat it more then once. 3/5

Overall: The game is fun and is definitely worth picking up, but I don't see a reason to add this to any collections, but if you like a fun light heart RPG with low difficulty and you can forgive a few audio and graphic errors its a pretty god game.

Mini-reviews

2008-05-19T17:00:00.002-05:00

I'm still not ready to jump back into this weekly review thing. Maybe it's laziness, maybe it's that there is drama going on right now, maybe it's because I want to piss off the 5 readers we have. Whatever the reason, I'm going to give you brief reviews again for the games that I have been playing. Maybe I'll poke Yuuki and make him do the same. So here it goes.

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis: You're Vayne, a young alchemist with no memories who is going to his first day at alchemy school. And his second and his third. I imagine you'll keep going until you graduate. Typical light hearted NIS story. If you've played the Atelier Iris games, you should know what to expect, especially 3. New twist is that you don't level up by killing monsters, you earn AP, which can me used to purchase stat boosts. However, these stat boosts are not available until you're synthesized certain items. I highly recommend if you like NIS games, especially the Atelier games.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology: PSP title that lets you create a character. You run around doing missions with characters from various Tales games. The game is entirely mission based, meaning you take a mission, go to a dungeon, kill, maim, slaughter, rinse, and repeat. This happens to appeal to me, plus with the Tales fan service thrown in, I'm in heaven. It's certainly not going to make you think, but if you've played the Tales games, you'll enjoy the dialogue and random conversations that occur. Oh yeah, there's some crafting thrown in too. Simple and fun.

Monster Hunter Freedom 2: Besides the game seeming to go out of its way to not explain things to you, it's a good game. if you like the Monster Hunters, I recommend. Of course, expect to be yelling at your PSP, your cat, and your apartment because clearly it's all their fault that you couldn't avoid Kut-Ku's attack in time.

Baroque: I played this briefly to do a review, and never played enough for a review. Also, never got around to doing a true review. You're a guy who keeps going into a tower and killing things. In game tutorials suck, and you have an energy bar that depletes unless you kill things fast enough an suck out their insides (not literally). It seems like a game that once you get past the first hour or so, it really picks up and becomes great, but who wants to wait that long?

So there you go, some mini-reviews. I realize I didn't put what system they're on...so: PS2, PSP, PSP, PS2/WII.

Delays, breaks, and the rest

2008-05-05T11:37:00.002-05:00

So I promised reviews last week, and never gave, and I intended reviews yesterday and never did. More than that I plan on continuing this sabbatical for a bit, so I apologize. Here is a brief summary of the games I had intended to review but never did:

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Rings of Fate (ds): It's cute, and not as bad as feared. Kinda entertaining for a dungeon crawler. Pick up if you're bored, but not if you expect a lot.

Obscure: The Aftermath (Wii): I died within the first few minutes, not to a monster but to a ledge that never warns you that you have to rush through climbing. Uses wiimote which is haphazard to control. Nothing about the game appealed to me.

Mariokart Wii: Fun installment of the mariokart series, now with bikes. Different controllers allowed. Good with friends. Silly that you can't do grand prix with them though. And the CPU cheats in battle mode. Still, if you like mariokart, and have a wii, pick it up.

So there you go, really short reviews. Again I apologize. I'll let you know when we're back on schedule.

PSP

2008-04-23T19:07:00.002-05:00

As a surviving the semester gift to myself, I bought a PSP. So if you have PSP requests, feel free to send them.

Culdcept Saga (360)

2008-04-23T15:08:00.003-05:00

Today boys and girls I have a review of Culdcept Saga for the 360.

Gameplay: The game plays like Yu-gi-oh meets Monopoly and that works well for it. Roll the dice move about the board taking land by placing monster you summon from cards to guard them and fight for them when your opponent attempts to take them. Along with monster you get some nifty item and spell cards to make the game a bit more interesting. The goal of each board is basically the same being collect X amount of gold total. Pretty fun in its simplicity. 4/5

Story: You take the role of a young boy sold into slavery who becomes a cepter by chance and ends up fighting in the arena while coached by a mysterios girl who spouts the typical your destiny garbage...the story for the most part is just a way of moving you from fight to fight...and thus isn't very good. 2/5

Graphics: Graphically the game is pretty nice. Not the best for a next gen or a 360 but still pretty good. The art for the cards is top notch but the animation for battles are a bit lacking. It seems to be caught in the middle. 3/5

Audio: Voice actors do a surprisingly good job of drawing you in...which for as sub-par as the story is really helps the whole point a to b-ness of it. Music is forgettable but the general sound effects are nice. 3/5

Replay: The multi-player is fun if you have like-minded friends who enjoy this kind of game or you can go online and find some. The story isn't all that great for playing through twice unless you are looking to unlock the little bonus items you can use to change your characters appearence.

Overall: A pretty good game if you like things like yu-gi-oh or monopoly but if you don't you should prolly try it anyway its pretty fun game in its self. Nothing like collecting a horde of treasure or screwing out your opponet early on and crippling them for the rest of your match...muwhahaha...just me? 3/5

Delay

2008-04-20T13:09:00.001-05:00

hey, was gonna have a review up, but I'm in finals week, and I'm a horrible procrastinator. That said, I'll try to get Yuuki to post something. Either way, double review next week.

Lost Odyssey (360)

2008-04-13T13:28:00.002-05:00

Well, my mind isn't functioning, so no preliminary stuff here.

Story: You are Kaim, an amnesiatic immortal soldier. You are only of the few survivors of a massive magical energy explosion in the middle of the battlefield. Because of this you have been thrown into the middle of political intrigue. With the help of another amnesiatic immortal and a wise-cracking mortal, you are sent to discover the cause of the magical energy. It soon becomes clear that there is a lot more going on than you ever realized. There is a lot going on the story from character development, to political intrigue, to the dreamlike memories of the immortals you can find. 5/5

Graphics: This is an amazingly beautiful game visually. The environments are detailed and vibrant. The characters are realistic no matter where you view them (well as realistic as characters can be with crazy hair and outfits). My favorite visual thing is accessories. When you equip certain accessories, you can see your character wearing them in battle. You can also see your character wearing them in cutscenes. I am always impressed when there is a continuity in how a character looks. 5/5

Audio: Like the graphics, there was a lot of effort put into the audio of this game. The voice acting is well done with well chosen actors. There is not a character whose voice does not suit. Besides the wonderful voice acting, the background music is also beautiful. It is well done and suits the environments well. 5/5

Gameplay: There are a lot of things to discuss in gameplay. First, let's discuss the difference between immortals and mortals. The immortals cannot die, so if they are knocked out in battle they will revive in a few turns. The mortals can and will die, but they come back after battle. The mortals learn skills as they level up. The immortals do not learn skills for themselves, they must learn skills by linking with a mortal in their party or equiping accessories. While the immortals can learn all the skills, they can only set a certain number to use at a time. So you have to change out these set skills to fit the situation. You can also equip everyone with rings which you make through monster drops. In battle when attacking the ring comes up and you must hold and release the R-trigger to align the rings. Doing so increases the bonus of the ring. Failing eliminates the ring bonus. Rings are very important for doing extra damage to enemies, and came be switched in battle to suit the monster. Battles are turned based, and you can look at the bottom of the screen to see who is next in line. Generally the flow will go: Item using, Melee, enemy, magic users. Some spells take more than one round to cast, so the caster will sit out concentrating until the spell is ready. There are two rows in battle, back and front. Damage to the back row is severely reduced as long as the front row is healthy. But as the front row takes damage the protection of the backrow decreases. This can be seen with a bar on the top right of the screen. There is no world map, just a picture of a map with a list of areas you can go to. You can however explore the map slightly on the boat. There are a number of mini-games such as unlocking all of Kaim's dreams or treasure hunting. The gameplay isn't difficult to pick up, but it isn't so simplistic to turn people off. 5/5

Replay: While the game is amazing, there's no reason for replay. 2/5

Overall: I think by the scores and my tone you can tell that I really loved this game. I highly recommend it for any RPG fan. It might be slow at parts, but it is worth it. 5/5

Professor Layton and the Curious Village (DS)

2008-04-07T00:04:00.002-05:00

Well, I could have churned this out later. It would have been on time if I hadn't remembered to do it at midnight on Sunday. Then I got distracted by various things. I'll try to give this game all the attention it is due though.

Story: Professor Layton, a lover of puzzles, and his Assitant Luke are called to the town of St. Mystere in order to find the location of the Golden Apple, the key to a vast inheritance. While they are there, a number of mysteries occur, such as murder, kidnappings, and a mysterious figure in black. The story of the game is really interesting. The dialogue is well-written as well, making the characters more believable. 5/5

Graphics: This is a visually appealing game. The scenery is detailed, the characters are realistic, in an exaggerated animated style Throughout the game there are animated cutscenes which are particularly beautiful. It was like watching a Miyazaki film. 4/5

Audio: The music is very atmospheric, and very lovely as well. There are scenes with voice acting, which is perfect. I loved everything about the audio in this game. 5/5

Gameplay: If there is a game that has utilized the DS touch screen well, this would be it. You tap the shoe icon to move to different areas. In each area you can click on random things. Sometimes you will find hidden puzzles. Sometimes you will find hint coins that can be used to purchase clues to puzzles. Everyone in the town has a puzzle, or a lot of puzzles for you to solve. There are even moments where the professor or Luke will question if it is necessary to solve said puzzle. This is definitely a game to use your brain on, not some action packed shooter. Besides the main puzzles, you can get bonus items which when you have them all will unlock bonus puzzles from the start screen. There are a large variety of puzzles which will challenge different people differently. It is always a thrill to do a puzzle successfully without too many hints. There are a number of puzzles that are extremely difficult; and I admit, I had to look up a few answers. It's all welldone though. 5/5

Replay: There is not real reason to replay. You can go back to unlock puzzles you might have missed. And the bonus section has a number of interesting things, such as music, profiles, and movies from the game. 3/5

Overall: This is an excellent game, and I highly recommend it to all owners of DS's. Be aware that this will make you think occasionally, so if you can't do that, don't bother picking it up. Otherwise enjoy. 5/5

Dragon Quest: the Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors (wii)

2008-04-01T12:12:00.003-05:00

Hey all. Late review, I know. No excuse. Oh well, suffer and read.

Story: So you're the son of a hero, and on your 16th birthday (apparently in DQ world 16 means time to save the world) you are sent on a trial to prove your manhood. Bad things happen, a great evil threatens the world. You and your band of friends go to save the world. Generic rpg plot. Nothing amazing about it. 3/5

Audio: The music has that standard DQ soundtrack, which is of course beautiful. Also certain characters are given vocalized lines. They all have European accents. The sound is good. 4/5

Graphics: They are well done cell-shaded graphics, that suit the atmosphere well. The environments are well-developed too. 5/5

Gameplay: The gameplay is based entirely on the wiimote. Not the wiimote and nunchuck, but the wiimote. This makes movement tedious, as you have to use the directional pad to move. Going forward isn't so bad, you can use the B button too, but you have to use the right and left buttons to turn around. Combat isn't too bad. You basically point and slash. You can set a point as the area you'll attack as well. Holding down the B button pulls out your shield, which can wear down eventually. The game focuses on one town where all your needs are met. You will go to the weapon shop and temper your weapons in order to make them better. Overall the gameplay isn't bad, but it's not great either. 3/5

Replay: There might be some benefit to replay, but I don't think enough to make it worthwhile. 2/5

Overall: The game isn't bad, but your arm will get tired with all the wiimote swinging, you will get irritated at the movement, and you will want more. Still, for some casual slashing fun, it's not too bad. 3/5

Samurai Warriors: Katana (wii)

2008-03-26T12:26:00.002-05:00

Alrighty so let's see first apologies for the late review been real busy with easter weekend and the what not. So today we have Samurai Warriors: Katana for the Wii as typical to most wii games nowadays its wii-mote based, so...

Gameplay: So you'll take the role of one of your mii's never mind the fact they don't seem like feudal Japanese warriors because you'll never actually see them. The basics are you're put on a track like an arcade shooter and you go along killing enemies at regular stops...this works for arcade shooters because it simply requires spamming a button. It fails for this game because it requires overly precise aiming and well timed button mashing and arm flailing and after all is said and done it lacks any feeling of accomplishment. 1/5

Story: There really isn't one the battle are just misc. historical skirmishes and lack any sense of epicness. These games profit from the free roaming and the optional missions and what not. So being on a track where your choices (if any) are go here and swing until x number of people are dead or go here and sing till x number of people are dead, kinda drags things down. 1/5

Audio: Well its all the same music and voices from SW2 which is nice that had good music. but its nothing special or new or even remotely engaging do to the fact you are busy bandaging your wrists. 3/5

Graphics: Graphically the games good areas look just like the SW2 as do characters and that's cool cause you get to see them from a first person view. But the aren't spectacular or anything really special. The game also has a general lack of cinema. 3/5

Replay: if you can physically replay the short game you are in far better shape than me. If you can bear to play through the game you are in far worse mental shape than me. 1/5

Overall: Motion sensor controls is a dangerous edge to skirt and seems to be hit or miss. Some games profit well from it and it makes them all the more fun other games fail miserably and make you want to harm the people who came up with the idea. All in all this was a failed attempt in all forms there's little that could make this game better and even still it be a bad game. 1/5

Super Smash Bros. Bawl (Wii)

2008-03-11T12:54:00.002-05:00

Oh my god! Yay Smash Bros! I know everyone has been really excited for this so let's get going.

Gameplay: You'll have the choice of multiple controllers but I believe in unlikely that anyone can actually play with the wii-mote. So all the controls are the same if your using the GC controller with the exception of the C-stick no longer throwing items which is a double edged sword. There are some other nice new features including several solo or co-op modes and challenges. Characters now more fluidly catch edges, items are auto pick up (double edged again) and combo have been improved to a make them more user friendly. Special remain the same B + directions or while standing and A for general attacks. The addition of Stale move modifer prevents spamming a single combo to win a definate improvement. 5/5

Story: The story is some horrible evil is blowing chunks of the world into another dimension while the villians of the game go around trying to to turn all the characters into trophies. You'll play through all the characters as you go from stage to stage unlocking characters as you go until you've collected them all for the final boss fight. For not being very in depth it displays the game and the characters well. 5/5

Graphics: I wouldn't go as far to say as that they are the best around but they are nice and with lots of fun bright flashed that may cause brain damage, but it wouldn't be as cool if they didn't. An improvement and perfectly set for the wii and the game itself. 5/5

Audio: The collection of music is immense and fun. Lots of your favorite songs from you favorite games and you can set which songs you want to appear on which stages. Characters have the best voices and screams they've ever had. Nothing like hearing pikachu or peach scream as they fly into the distance to no doubt splatter on the backdrop. 5/5

Replay: With so many characters and so much content the game hosts hours upon hours of playtime. You'll likely be spending hours or even days playing the game. If you are true smash fans you've been play the previous since you got it fairly consistently and this will be no different. 5/5

Overall: Okay there are more characters than ever tho some have been removed they are hard to miss. A general balancing has made some of the worst and best characters more even allowing you to win more by skill than by simply being a crazy character. A nice horde of stages and musics. more customizable rules and item settings. The ability to build your own stages all in all this game deserves its score. 5/5

Nobunaga's Ambition: Rise to Power (PS2)

2008-03-04T12:58:00.002-05:00

So here we have a port of an older game from Koei. A stratedgy and tactical game from a couple years back. This is really a retro review since the game is couple years old so keep that in mind.

Gameplay: You'll be taking control of one of the many feudal lords of ancient Japan during the warring states period. You'll have to build up your land and millitary, form alliances and petition the court for ranks and support. You can create your own officers but you can't place them as rulers. Battle are fun but they are all basically the same thing. Even for its time the game feel limited. 3/5

Story: Not much here...it follows the history rather well and you'll see some nice scenes depending on which ruler you choose. Though if you play game for a compelling plot based story well then your in the wrong genre. 2/5

Graphics: Sub-par even for its time. The scenes are nice but nothing spectacular, battles are rather dry and the main saving grace is looking over your fief and being able to see all the buildings you've built as well as the activities going on around them such as people farming or troops training. 3/5

Audio: The music is good, lively and fun but its also very limited...you'll hear all the tracks in the first 45 minutes and after awhile it just starts to bleed together. Good for its age though. 3/5

Replay: Playing through a complete game and conquering all of japan is fun enough but the game quickly becomes repeative and loses its glory fast. 2/5

Overall: Even for its time the game wasn't amazing and if you are a fan of the genre or the series' counter parts the Romance games its probably worth picking up when it goes down in price otherwise the game isn't really that great and has no real outstanding features. 2/5

Dynasty Warriors 6 (PS3/360)

2008-02-24T21:45:00.003-05:00

Hurray Koei brings us another gem in the bread basket of their sales we call the Romance Era of China. Technically the 6th of the seires (actually more like the 411th or something like that) the game has a good amount of new features.

Gameplay: So the basic control of DW games is kill maim slaughter, and hack slash shoot and beat...until all the bad people are dead or running away to be killed later. Normally you'd go through getting weapons or level to earn you a new series of combos which is still there but now there is the Renbu system. Which works like this...the more combo you build up the higher your rank goes allowing you to get new moves if you've purchased the ablility to rank up to add to your maiming attack string. This means the more people you beat up the more people you can beat up which is a fun system. 4/5

Story: The story is the same as always a twisted version of the novel and historical events. So I'll talk about Story mode or Musuo mode which you'll take controll of a various historical character and play through 6 stages...the funny thing is some characters are little more than do nothing second player or free mode characters despite their historical weight...Koei gets weird somethimes... 3/5

Graphics: The graphics are at there best and a true test of the systems capabilities. Enviroments are alive and active. Character models are bright flush and interesting. Animation and cut scenes are on the same graphical level as the game which adds a nice feel to it. 5/5

Audio: The music is a little random some stages having a heavy metal theme with changes to a triumphant march as soon as your team starts when and then to Oh my god save me! as soo as they start losing all in all tho is rather good. 4/5

Replay: The stages and objectives can be tricky adding alot of replay value for those who like a challenge. The multitude of stories from the various characters and the ability to see history from different angles also helps. Though not as much in previous titles the game does have a good amount of reply. 4/5

Overall: The game is good definately one of the better in the series and with fresh and fun gameplay elements it has a lot to offer but at times it feels like they rushed it out half finished. Many of the characters not having stories the greater lack of the normal giant library of unlockables and this and that here and there make you wonder if they didn't just wanna get it out on time. Either way its a fun game worth getting for fans of hack & slash or the Romance era of china or people in silly crazy clothes hurting other people in silly crazy clothes. 4/5

The Simpsons Game (all systems except PC)

2008-02-17T14:12:00.002-05:00

So I know it's been out for a while, but today I'm going to review The Simpsons Game.

Story: You're the Simpsons. You go on various escapades. It's nothing deep and thought provoking. 3/5

Audio: The sound is from the tv series. Also characters will randomly start spouting lines. Not just the characters you control, but the people walking around in the streets. All of it using the Simpsons' voice actors, so it feels like you might be in Springfield. It's good audio. 5/5

Graphics: There are moments where the graphics look great, just like an episode of the game, and then there are times when they look like hastily drawn cartoons. Still, the environments are fully drawn, and there are lots of references to the show. It looks good overall. 4/5

Gameplay: The gameplay is fairly straight forward. It's all running, jumping, climbing, punching, special abilities..etc etc. Special abilities need items to be used, and when they reach a certain point you can charge them for extra strength. It's easy enough to master. 4/5

Replay: The levels all have hidden items, as does Springfield itself (which you explore between levels) and there's a time trial too. So it's worth going back and playing the levels again. 4/5

Overall: The game is a great fan tribute, and if you like the Simpsons, this is worth picking up. If you're not so fond of the Simpsons, you probably wouldn't like it as much, and if you've never watched the Simpsons, a lot of the references wil pass you by. 4/5

No post

2008-02-10T21:03:00.001-05:00

I'm having a bad week, and the game I have to review doesn't interest me, so there's no post this week.

Nights: Journey into Dreams (wii)

2008-02-03T18:39:00.000-05:00

So, Superbowl Sunday, and I have a non football related game for you. Today's game is Nights.

Story: You are either a boy or a girl and are drawn into the world of dreams. There you meet Nights, a carefree androgynous being who likes to fly around. He gets in trouble, you rescue him, you fly around trying to save the dream world. Not exactly story of the year. 3/5

Audio: The music has a surreal, cutesy, dreamlike feel to it. i can't explain it exactly, but it suits the game so no complaints. 4/5

Graphics: The game has cutscenes which look good, and the non cutscenes aren't bad, but they aren't amazing. Still, the environment is fully developed and looks good. 4/5

Gameplay: Nights offers you the choice of controller. I made due with the wiimote, but shortly in i seriously considered switching to a gamecube controller. When you play as the little kid, the game isnt' too hard to control, but then you merge your kid with Nights and you fly. Flying is not that intuitive. Supposedly you are suppose to point where you want to go and you'll go. This happened sometimes, and then my sensor sent me to the other side of the screen and i started flying the the wrong direction. Of course you might say this is a wiimote issue or sensor bar issue, and so it might be and i'm not gonna complain too much. What did annoy me while flying was trying to do this one attack which name slips me now. Basically you're supposed to loop the cursor around and Nights does a vortex that sucks in enemies and items. Often when i told it to circle i flew back and forht and did not do the attack. Sometimes I'd od the attack without knowing why. I think a gamecube controlle would make it much better. Anyhow, the game basically has you walk around as a kid or fly around as Nights, going through loops and hunting down enemies. It's nothing deep or thought provoking. 3/5

Replay: I don't see a point. 2/5

Overall: The game is bright and colorful and friendly, so if you have a wii and want something to distract kids, this might be it. But I wouldn't recommend it for most people. 2/5

Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law (PS2, Wii, PSP)

2008-01-27T13:50:00.000-05:00

Hello again. So, it's Sunday, and I have a review for you. Today's game is Harvey Birdman, based off the Adult Swim cartoon.

Story: It's a series of trial cases in which you guide Harvey into finding out who did what. Not a lot of story overall, though of course each case has a cute little story. 3/5

Audio: The soundtrack is ripped from the show, so there's a nice feel like you're watching the show. 3/5

Graphics: Like the soundtrack, it gives the appearance of the show. 3/5

Gameplay: The gameplay on this is almost hands off. It is like watching the show with the occasionally throwing in of informtion. Sometimes you'll be asked to investigate stuff. Sometimes you will listen to a witness tesitmony and have to decide if they lie or have more information to give. Sometimes you will present evidence you find to the witness. you have a certain number of times you can do this incorrectly before you fail. It's very simple gameplay, and what I found annoying was that you had to hit accept after every little thing happened. 3/5

Replay: The game is short, and there's no benefit to replaying. 1/5

Overall: It's a fun fan service, but not really that great. Definitely a rental over owning since there are only five cases and they don't take more than thirty or so minutes. If you liked the show, this might be worth renting, but otherwise, don't bother. 2/5

MMOs

2008-01-26T13:37:00.000-05:00

Long time no see Readers...I was out for awhile with a sever case of deadness but now thanks to some voodoo I have returned! Yay Zombification! So we all know about the big time MMOs like FFXI and WOW but how about the small time ones...The ones people ignore and skip over.

Flyff-(Fly for Fun) This is a bright and colorful game and a port of a Korean MMO. Its basing is that you go through the game doing fun cute quest usually involving killing x number of monsters or getting x number of items. They story is pretty bland but the main fun comes from the go anywhere do anything feel the game has. With the ability to run jump and fly you can go anywhere in the game...even if it kills you. The problem being the game is constantly struggling to catch up with its Korean counter part and runs on donations...so some parts of the game are buggy and/or unfinished but none the less it has a good community and a fun playtime with lots of class and character choices. 3/5

9Dragons- An MMO made by Acclaim based in ancient china you start out choosing which faction you would like to join of the starting 6. These factions are based upon actual ancient houses of martial arts. Each having a unique style of combat and attire. A good point of the game is that its visually attractive. It also boasts a large roster of spells, abilities and and combat styles. The latter being the main focal point you can chose a large number of different combos as you advance in level for you character to use as well as finishing and special attacks. There is also a large variety of weapons to be used to compliment you choices in style. Spells tend to feel generic early on as there is little variance between the factions and the amount of time and energy required to skill them up is exhausting. 4/5

Dofus: A windows mode based cute little MMO which gains its uniqueness from being a tactical MMO. The game does have a small fee of like 3 bucks a month or an annual 15...though it may have changed. The games interface is friendly the battles though something long can be alot of fun enemy AI though is questionable or divine...The main focal point tho is gathering a large group of friends and fighting together against an equally large force of mobs much like a Tactical RPG with you entire party being AI only smart...Once the Novelty wares off the game gets grindy though and takes a good amount of effort to find the gems of entertainment but they are there. 3/5

Silk Road: This game bases itself in the ear of booming trade in the east following like the name the Silk Road. You start in China and chose you weapon style and magic styles, you aren't confined to your choices but leveling them all up equally is tricky and tedious. Later you'll have the option to become a Merchant, Hunter, or Thief...you can choose all 3 but it follows the same lines of the magic and weapons. Merchants trade goods between the ancient cities and Hunters protect them while thieves try to rob them and steal the goods. The concept lends itself to give a uniqueness to the community but with no restriction to prevent high levels from raping all the low level is extremely disheartening and the questing gets exhausting. Another case of X monsters or X items greatly increasing with each level. 3/5

Perfect World: This game is maddeningly pretty with a good graphics card you will tear up and the beauty of this game. Character customization is at the peak giving you the ability to tweak your avatars looks to the smallest detail. You'll have the choice of 3 races and 2 jobs for each. These have a good amount of worth and uniqueness. Quest have a good amount of variances and aren't solely kill X monster blah blah blah. The world is a twisted fantasy version of China...quite popular setting. The game also boasts a go anywhere do anything feel but do it at your own risk. The game is free and runs on donations for rewards system. Donate money get something cool like a flying mount or an elephant. The game lacks a true excitment and the story seems to have a direction but its slow. 4/5

Dragon Quest Monster: Joker (DS)

2008-01-13T22:31:00.000-05:00

It's still Sunday, so this review isn't really late. Sure, the game has been out for a while, but oh well, I wanted to review it anyway.

Story: Your dad is the head of a secret organization, and he tells you that you should compete in the monster competition. Of course he has his own agenda, and his own restriction is that you will obey any orders he gives you. Shortly after you arrive on the island where the competition is being held, there are seven main islands in the world, by the way, you are told that the opening ceremony is delayed and you should go capture some monsters so you have a fighting chance. Stuff happens, you meet a strange monster who decides to call you master, and you have to help him on his quest too. It's not an amazing story, but it's not bad, and while you generally have a path, you ahve given leeway in how you want to invest your time. 3/5

Audio: The music takes tracks from older Dragon Qest games, so fans of the series will enjoy the reminiscing. Besides nice music, there are sound effect to give the game a more realistic feel (footsteps, etc). 4/5

Graphics: I loved the graphics. i think it's probably some of the best on the DS. They could be a little cleaner, but they were by no means unattractive. The game has that anime cartoon look which suits it well. Characters and monsters are distinct, and the scenery looks good. 4/5

Gameplay: If you've played any of the DQM games before then you know that the concept is to tame wild monsters and have them fight for you. After a certain level you cna merge your monsters together to create an even stronger monster with traits from its parents. In order to progress in the contest, you have to collect darkonium, which can be found in a variety of ways. But the main focus of the game is getting monsters which will fight for you. When you want to capture a monster, ou scout it. This means that the monster(s) already in your party will attack the monster you want, and depending on how much damage they do will depend on the amount you impress the monster. This leads to a percentage amount which will determine the chances of the monster joining you. 4/5

replay: There's not a lot of reason to replay. 2/5

Overall: The game is fun, attractive, and worth picking up. Especially if you like monster raising/fighting type games. 4/5

Mario VS Sonic at the Olympics

2008-01-09T13:43:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't love the Olympics and who doesn't love Nintendo and Sega characters competing for for things. Someone I'm sure but they are important so let's begin.

Gameplay: Here's how it works you take a host Mario and Sonic characters and go to the Olympics and with your wii-mote and nunchunk in hand you fail about in and attempt to get a high score. Really that's it and typical to Nintendo its actually really fun if not entirely exhausting. The events range from easy and friendly to complicated and frustrating, you'll either be flailing widely trying to build power of speed or you''ll be preforming complicated timing maneuvers...sometimes both. 4/5

Story: You're at the Olympics with Mario and Sonic...the end. 5/5

Graphics: Graphically the game is flush and pretty everything is smoothly tailored and quite enjoyable to look at. Characters all have a unique feel and motions are most unique to the many characters. 5/5

Audio: Cheering crowds and overly excited annoucer make the game feel more real but there's no real music or theme to be found. The game tho doesn't really need one so its not a minus. Characters also all have funny hoots and calls, as well as some cute things they say or in Bowser's case roar when they win a medal. 4/5

Replay: The game is definately a party game tho it will give you muscle pain after about an hour so it takes away from your ability to play for long periods. Also every so often messages pop up at the end of a match advising you to take a break and about the third one you start listening and go fine an ice pack. 3/5

Overall: Well this is like I said before a genuinely entertaining game playing with friends or family is a big plus for it and you'll laugh and cry just like the real Olympics minus the steroids and tendent slashing in parking lots...The main problem the game has is that it's exhausting to play for more than and hour and there is always going to be that person who is really good at the event naturally and you'll hate them. All in all I wouldn't pay full price for this game wait awhile and get it used when it drops in price. 4/5

2 Years

2008-01-07T03:48:00.001-05:00

So, we apparently hit our 2 year marker and I didn't even notice. So happy 2 years to us.

Ranting by Yuuki

2007-12-18T13:18:00.000-05:00

So I just finished reviewing Mario Galaxy hurray it was a glorious success at nothing and will most likely net Nintendo millions and millions of sales. Don't get me wrong I have nothing against Nintendo or really any of the companies...which is a lie but we'll come to that later. Yes Galaxy you are a glaring rehash of all your previous installments and once again you rely on 20 minutes of novelty and being a gaming icon to keep people entertained. Maybe I am jaded or maybe this is a load of horse **** but can we try to not rely on past success and maybe go somewhere slightly more original. Next on my list is the Wii-mote at first I hated it then I loved it then I hated it...Here is the problem far to many games are being forced you use the wii-mote all for the sake of using it. Games that could easily benefit much more from not using it. Strikers is one of them the only real use for the wii-mote was the free tackling which was impossible to do and would more likely send your hand flying then the opponent. The tackling being one of the best features in the first one if not an over powered one...losing by point...but yes point...I believe it was made the sole wii-mote related command because they knew people deeply desire to smash annoying nintendo characters into electric fences. Hence why everyone S***s a brick over smash brothers and justly so its an amazingly entertaining game. For those who don't know I have begun working at a game store now so I get to experience the mass forum of gamers. Which brings me to my next point...a customer came in ranting about games being bad I wasn't really paying attention to him as he wasn't attractive enough to gain my notice until he mentioned that the only reason people ever play RPGs in the old days was for the graphics and now there was no reason to because all games have about the same level of graphics...In which I had to think to myself how long would I spend in jail for braining him with the 360 he had just purchased. For starters RPGs now a days do seem to be more about competing graphically with other games rather than doing what they are supposed to...Role Playing Games thats what that stands for not Really Powerful Graphics...RPGs are meant to draw people in with the characters and story giving them something to relate to. Its my honest belief that playing RPGs growing up helped me understand not only myself but others not because I thought to myself hey this character is like me...because I thought to myself someone designed this character to identify with people like me that someone out there either knew someone or they themselves felt the same way I felt and that gives people a sense of worth knowing that maybe even just one other person out there in the world is liked minded. So F*** all your shiney graphics and hire a writer whose lived the last 6 years of his life bumming around the world to turn his stories into something people can feel like they are a part of. Sony...screw you and your lack of common sense...backwards compatibility made you original Blue Ray is worthless and to expensive for anyone, bring it back in 5 years...and for god sakes find the corporate spies who are trying to run you into the ground...Square Enix...you are bad people very very very bad people and I gleefully await ff13 knowing fully well that there is a 90% chances it too will be garbage. Microsoft...I have no idea what you think or do all of your choices baffle me both in there utter lack of thought and their vaulting success...you really do just stand behind your consumers injecting dopamine into there spinal columns...Finally you the readers and gamers...Most don't want to admit it but we've all become slaves to the industry Nintendo will pup out mediocre Mario games and SE will pup out FF games and microsoft will vomit up a new halo and everyone will buy them respectively and think they are golden magic happiness in a plastic case. But nowadays we all buy these things out of habit we don't know any better its a sad truth but gaming is a way of escaping the hardships of life and allowing us to have our own experiences within a safer and more comfortable place. RPGers play them to feel like they belong to something bigger to feel a sense of not being alone and being able to feel and experience things that maybe they never could in the real world. MMOers play them to feel connected to other people something all people feel deep down...that desire to be connected to another human being if only in a digital sense. Sports gamers play them to give themselves a sense of control and satisfaction much like fighting games it gives people a sense of value if only to themselves. Action Adventure games follow the same lines they give you a sense of accomplishment when they figure out that puzzle or collect all those small little w/e's. Then you have smaller genres like horror games and things of that nature which allow people to do live out deep seated fantasies that they'd normally be shunned for...which again is the true reason for gaming allowing us to experince things we can't or haven't yet experienced here in the real world weather it be a grand journey thru a fantasy world gather companions and making life or even world altering decisions. Maybe its to take you team to the play-offs even tho in reality you know they suck and never stood a chance. Maybe its just to have a way to connect with you kids and leave them something to remember you by. Just remember you are the consumer don't settle for crap if you find a game you love and enjoy play the hell out of it. Don't let yourself be tricked into thinking something is good because its pretty or novel, or maybe because its a squeal to something you like think hard about the games you play and voice your opinions then take that lesson to life.

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

2007-12-18T12:38:00.000-05:00

Okay here we have the newest installment of Mario. So let's see how it did.

Gameplay: First off you'll quickly discover the camera is clearly glued to Mario's back side except on the occasions you need it to be. The wii-mote and nun-chunk will be your tool for this one and for the first bit its not bad, but after about 20 or 30 minutes of twisting your wrist into knots you'll hate it. The game boasts a fully 3D enviroment and you can move around in all sorts on weird ways as you walk straight, left, right, and any other direction. 3/5

Story: I'm betting everyone can guess the story Bowser finds the most recent form of huggy squishy love power in this case stars (sound familiar) and corrupts it for his own goals i.e. kidnapping the princess. So mario runs off to collect the huggy squishy lovey stars and his favorite damsel in distress. 1/5

Graphics: The game is bright colorful and the stages have inventive designs. Graphically the game is extremely pleasing but once again seems like another case of the pretty girl being not so pretty inside. 5/5

Audio: The audio to is actually really good classic and new mario themes play all of which are catching and entertaining. Hearing Mario hoot and woop as he jumps around or brains enemies is nice too. 5/5

Replay: The game is long depending on how you play it. If you try hard I am sure you could squeeze 40+ hours out of it and is you are a crazy person with amazing wii-mote skills and a short attention span you'll get around 20. 3/5

Overall: Alright here it is the game is another successful and depressing success for nintendo once again they have released another game and said looks its Mario ignore all its flaws because its Mario. Once you take away the shiney graphics and look at the fact that its basically the game as all the last Mario games in its line its really not that exciting. If you are saying what about the cool multi dimensional movement...well if you think about it hard enough you'll realize you aren't actually moving in some bizarre 5th dimension but you really aren't. So in terms of a Mario game this deserves a 5/5 but in actual gaming...3/5

Orcs & Elves (DS)

2007-12-10T12:45:00.000-05:00

Hello, sorry it's late, I've been busy this weekend. So here it is, the review of Orcs & Elves.

Story: Orcs and dark elves teamed up against dwarves and elves and had a huge long war. With your handy talking wand, you must trudge through dungeons to help the kingdom. Generic dungeon crawler plot. 3/5

Audio: The music isn't bad, but it's nothing special. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics look a bit blocky, but theyr'e decent. You can see what you're looking at and get an idea of what's around you. Mood decor is added to the stages, like insects near corpses and goo splatter from dead monsters. it's not amazing, but it works. 3/5

Gameplay: It's a first person dungeon crawler. The bottom screen is dedicated to your menus, the most useful being the map, while the top screen shows what your character sees. You walk around killing monsters, destroying objects, and solving puzzles until you make your way through the dungeons. Occasionally you'll fight a boss, shich means you needs lots of potions. Between levels you can go to an area known as the dragon's lair and buy equipment and items from the dragon. She'll even let you negotiate the prices. The game goes like that, explore dungeon, use potion, talk to dragon, rinse and repeat. 3/5

Replay: It's a fairly short game with a linear progression. I don't see much point in replaying. 2/5

Overall: It's not a bad game, but I'd recommend renting over buying. 3/5

Kit's Thoughts

2007-12-08T20:53:00.001-05:00

I probably should call this Kit's Rant #whatever, but I can't remember what rant I'm on. Besides, it's mostly thoughts than yelling at anyone person.

I've been reading a lot lately about Lost Odyssey. Not as much as some of you I'm sure, but enoguh to notice a trend. First, let's talk about a brief blurb on this game. It's an up and coming game by Mistwalker studios which will make use of the unreal engine. For those of you not aware, Mistwalker is compromised of what I'd like to think of as the best of the old school game designers. Their first game on the 360 was Blue Dragon.

So, what do I have to say about this? Well, I haven't played the game as we're not famous enough to get to preview these games. Common trend I've seen in previews have been discussion on the cinematics, turn-based battle, and the story line. One preview spent a lot of time comparing Lost Odyssey to the Final Fantasy series, going into how exactly like FF it is, from the turn based battle system to the fact there are air ships...because no other game has ever used airships....certainly not a game like Skies of Arcadia, or something. Comparison with FF aside, if you're an RPG you can't escape being compared to FF no matter what you do. Be different and you're breakin away from the FF formula, be the same and you're just a FF clone. Let's move on to the cinematics discussion. I heard that the game has 40 hrs of cinematics. One preview marks this as a good thing, all beautiful and story driven, etc etc. Another one matches my own view on cinematics, surethey're nice, but i'd rather not have one every time i step out of battle. This trend towards long cinematics, or frequent cinematics annoys me because I want to play a game, not watch a movie.

ok, I've lost my train of thought, but My points are in there, somwhwere. People need to stop comparing Mistwalker games to Final Fantasy. People need to stop making games that are more movies than actual gameplay.

Puzzle de Harvest Moon (DS)

2007-12-02T10:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I have lots of things I need to do, so I'll make this as short and sweet as possible.

Story: This is a puzzle game, hence the title. There is no story. 2/5

Audio: The music and sound of the game is somewhat light and cutesy like all HM music. It doesn't really stick in your head when you're done. So it's neither good nor bad. 3/5

Graphics: The graphcis aren't horrible, btu they're not somethign to write home about. On the other hand, this is a puzzle game, and you don't need amazing graphics to play. As long as you can see whateverythign is, and you can, you're in good shape. 3/5

Gameplay: In theory Puzzle de HM is a very simple game. On the right hand side of the screen you have inventory that randomly appears including seeds, watering can, fertilizer, baskets, and animals. You plant the seeds on the field, then water them, then fertilize them, and once it's become a vegetable, you harvest it with the basket (or running the stylus over it quickly). If you were playing by yourself this would be completely simple. However, you play against 3 other characters. They are all doing the same thing as you. Which means while you're panicking to figure out what to do, they're using their computer brain to handle it all. So, I found it was easier to let them do all the work and steal the vegetables when they sprouted. One game takes you through the four seasons and the person with the top score wins. You can also play this with friends, which might be more fun than the computer, if only because they'll be as confused to what they're doing as your are. 2/5

Replay: As a puzzle game you're expected to play again and again. As a tedious game, you're expected to lpay a handful of times and then throw it away. 2/5

Overall: I had played a demo of the game and liked it, so when I got my hands on an actual copy I was very sad. What seemed simple and human-paced turned into somethign simple and so fast-paced that I couldn't figure out what I was doing. Of course there are those of you who might like the fast-paced challenge of this, and if so, more power to you. I'll stick to my games that I have an idea of what is happening. 2/5

Bladestorm: The Hundred Year's War (360, PS3)

2007-11-18T10:19:00.000-05:00

Hey boys and girls. Today we're reviewing the latest game by Koei. And since I have nothing to say here, let's start the review.

Story: You are a mercenary during the historic Hundred Years' War. If you know your history or not, this war is between France and England and lasted longer that a hundred years. Your job as a mercenary is to take contracts to help one or the other. You don't have to stay on one side; in fact, the game requries that you do jobs for both countries in order to move the story along. Story wise there's not a lot, but you don't really need a lot. Plus, you'll get some historical information about the war, which can be good. 3/5

Audio: The music during the battles has an epic feel, which I liked. There is also voice acting for most of the characters, and I believe this is really well done. The characters all have voices and accents that seem suitable for them. It's good audio. 4/5

Graphics: The graphics are amazing I feel. Battles take place across one giant field with no slow down as you run around. Your character displays any new equipment you put on, and cutscenes with your character show it in whatever outfit you have on. 5/5

Gameplay: The gameplay of Bladestorm has a very different style than most other games. Your job is not to pull off the most impressive combos with a series of buttons, it is to find a unit of soldiers that will best hurt that unit of soldiers over there. You can use any unit that you have a book for. These books allow you to upgrade the skills and equip items for the units. Each unit has strengths and weaknesses. my favorite unit is Poleswords which are strong or average to most things. The one thing i fear with them is knives...those little thieves will kill my unit in no time flat. When next to an enemy unit you hold down the right trigger to have your unit attack. Also, you can use the three special attack buttons that require recharge afterwards. If you have enough kills then your guage will fill up allowing you to go into zeal mode. This means everything falls before your troops. They are faster, stronger, and meaner. You can switch units at will be going near another unit and hitting the proper button. Battles are segmented into days. After a certain about of time, nightfall comes, and you have to deploy again. Any base you've already captured remains yours, but all officers return and that base you were workin on...not weakened anymore. Outside of battle you go to a tavern and can buy newe recruits, new gear, and hear rumors or advice. This is also where you accept contracts. It's not bad gameplay, but it really grows on you. 4/5

Replay: Whiel the story line remains similar, you can replay to try battles from the otehr side. 4/5

Overall: The game is something different from anythign else I've played. it took some time to figure everything out, but it was worth it. There's nothing like earning money for looking hot and claiming cities. 4/5

My Sims (Wii)

2007-11-12T11:07:00.000-05:00

Yay! Sims game make little Sim, watch little Sim go through daily activities, and finally burn little Sim to death for me boring. That's the idea behind a Sim game so lets see how this went on the Wii.

Gameplay: First off this is barely a Sim game to be honest. Its more like the illegitimate child of animal crossing, and Lego, and Sims adopted it. The main point of the game is to construct house and furnitures for yourself and you neighbors. This seems tedious or even boring to some but the game is actually quite entertaining. Parts for construction are awarded periodically throughout the game and you gather essence from flower fruit food junk basically anything and use it to paint your creations. Each Essence will fall into 1 of 5 categories and the more you improve those the more sims are drawn to the down that like that type. Definitely a fun for all ages. 4/5

Story: The story is that this little town was build by an amazing carpenter and everything was happy but then he left and so did all the towns people. So its up to you now as the new carpenter to put the town back to it former glory. Doing so give you more block types to use in your construction as well as access to new areas. Kinda dry but meeting all the unique Sims is fun. 3/5

Graphics: As I said the game is the illegitimate child...etc So the game is cute but the many areas you can travel to are large and very well done. Forest with twists and turns and hidden paths or a desert with giant skeletons and ruins all for your enjoyment. 4/5

Audio: Well let's start with the fact that each Sim you get to move has fun little music that plays whenever you get near there home. Sims talk in a squeaky version of the Sim talk we've all grown to love. Tho the music from the sim houses is fun standing next to one isn't practical. 3/5

Replay: The game seems to offer hours of fun kicking out or remodeling sims houses. Moving new sims in and just decorating your own place. Unlike all previous sim games the relationships have been dumbed down to a more mass friend level. This puts a slight drag on the game and it would great benefit from befriending and later marrying one of your fellow sims. 3/5

Overall: The over all of the game is good. Building and the collecting is not for everyone but for those who like it this provides hours of fun. Though playing for long periods of times takes its toll on the game as the more sims the longer the loading times. With few flaws and some really fun aspects I'd recommend this to any animal crossing harvest moon types. 4/5

Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)

2007-11-04T11:06:00.000-05:00

Today we're going to review the highly anticipated Zelda DS that we've been waiting for since forever it seems. Let's see how it stacks up.

Story: Shortly after the events in Wind Waker, you and Zelda, aka Tetra, are out sailing and run into a mysterious ghost ship. Tetra, being very impulsive, decides she wants to investigate and immediately disappears into the fog with a scream. Link, being the good hero goes after her, and falls into the water. he then washes onto land and meets his fairy companion who is very reminiscent of Navi from Ocarina of Time. On this island you meet and elder who doesn't help you, then find a boat and begin to explore in hopes of finding and saving Tetra. Helping you on your journey, and by helping I mean he hides in a corner and claims you're the coward, is Linebeck, ship captain. The story is your standard Zelda tale. Princess needs rescuing, you need to find certain treasures to rescue her. You rescue her. Nothing exciting. 3/5

Audio: The music was similar to Wind Waker. Nice and light and fitting with the atmosphere. Nothign to write home about though. 3/5

Graphics: Again, in the same style as Wind Waker. It works. 4/5

Gameplay: The game is on the DS, and as such Nintendo tried their best to incorporate everything the DS had to offer, whether this is a good thing or not. The primary issue, everything is done by stylus: movement, attacking, attacking while moving. There are a number of times when you'll want to attack and run around instead. Or talk to a person and slash at them. Targetting is supposed to be easy, just click on the monster and you'll slash at it. I've had a number of times where I'll do this and instead roll right into the monster's waiting mouth. Of course there are benefits to this too, the most cited being the boomerang. Now you can draw the path of the boomerang to where you want it to go. Another is that you can pull up the map and mark answers to puzzles you might have found or information that might come in handy later. The downside to this being you have to write small and be able to read your writing later. Besides making use of the touch screen, the game also asks that you blow or speak into the microphone. For all it's faults, it is an interesting way to handle the game. I think it would be better with D-pad use, but it's certainly not as bad as I feared it would be. Everything else is standard Zelda fare, solving puzzles in dungeons, fighting bosses with whatever new tool you found, and becoming the hero you already were. 4/5

Replay: I don't think there's any real value to replay. 2/5

Overall: For as long as we waited for it, I think that things could have been improved. While I'm glad they are taking advantage of the DS's unique features, I don't think it was necessary to limit us to them. So, for average plot, average aesthetics, and haphazard gameplay, I'm going to give this an average rating. 3/5

Soul Nomad and the World Eaters (PS2)

2007-10-29T11:32:00.001-05:00

Yay Nippon Ichi and NIS team up to make a fun little tactical fantasy game filled with entertaining characters and fun gameplay. Here we go.

Gameplay: So the game will start you will choose a name and gender. From there you will go about creating and sending units into battle against hordes of enemies and a few giant monsters all of which have the capability of laying you out rather quickly if you are careful. Units are made up of 4 to 9 characters 1 of which is a leader. The units leader has advantages and disadvantages against other unit types. With all the different units it'll take time to figure out but it makes the game all the more fun. 5/5

Story: The story goes basically you get possessed by the hilariously entertaining death god Gig. From there as you go through defeating the world eaters which once served Gig. So many of the characters and interactions through the story are just so entertaining though the scenes can run a little long. The game also has a lot of subtle depth as you watch the characters and world slowly shift around you. 4/5

Audio: The music is okay nothing great, few battle themes are truly that inspiring. But the game is almost fully voiced and so many of the characters were voiced amazingly adding more to their individual depth and development. 4/5

Graphics: This game is another sparkly animey game like all its priors. The game relies more on being entertaining then pretty and thus it leads modest graphics. Scenes are told through still of the speaking character and animation in magic and special attacks is at its best as always. 4/5

Replay: The game is fun and well rounded between story and gameplay. It has a few ending and some bonus content but the novelty has worn off by the second play through and bonus content won't be enough to drive everyone to play a second or third time through. 3/5

Overall: In the end this is an awesome Tactical RPG with great characters a good story and plenty of entertaining dialog. The game plus stuff may not be the best it the world and isn't for everyone. This though is a truly entertaining game for those that like tactical RPGs. 4/5

Eternal Sonata (360)

2007-10-21T10:38:00.000-05:00

Hello again. Now that we've gotten our vacation done, we're full of new games to review for your pleasure. Today I'm reviewing one of the handful of RPGs on the 360. Let's see what I think of it.

Story: While most people start with it being a dream of Chopin's before he dies, I don't think that is the best way to go. Mostly because that is not where the gaem starts. It starts you in this brightly colored world with a girl, Polka, coming home from market. Then it shows Chopin on his bed. Then it introduces Allegretto and his friend Beat as they steal bread for the poor. Then it goes back to Polka, then Retto (as he's known). Then Polka again, and finally Chopin is introduced into the world. Eventually you all meet and decide to go talk to the ruler of the land and discover why he's taxing everything so heavily, except for the cure-all known as mineral powder. They soon learn that mineral powder turns people insane and makes them mindless soldiers, which Waltz (the lord) wants so he can invade another country. Not only this, but Waltz is looking for ways to make the powder even more effective. The story has potential, but it is very very slow in execution. Also throughout the game you are given little tidbits about the life of Chopin. Most of what happens is going from point A to point B though. It is very linear. My biggest issue, and I think this is the best place to put it, is the cutscenes. Don't get me wrong, they're lovely. However, they are long, cannot be sped up, and happening too frequently. There was one time where there were about four cutscenes in a row that took so long my controller turned off. I like cutscenes, but I also like playing a game, and if I had to choose, the game would win. So, for too many drawn out dialogue moments, the story is losing points. It'sd a shame too, cause I really think the story had so much potential. 2/5

Audio: This is a game about a world in the mind of a composer. One would hope that the music would be amazing, and I think that it is. It's full of orchestral music that fits in with the game beautifully. Also during the parts about Chopin's life, they play music that he composed. The voice acting is pretty good, with some top name people involved. However, and maybe it's because of my new hatred of cutscenes, I could have really done with less of it. Still the audio shines. 4/5

Graphics: I love the graphcis with their cell shaded animated style. Somehow, though, the bright colors of the game make me feel like I've been eating tons of sugar. The game itself isn't all that light and fluffy, but the graphics seem to be. As beautiful as they are...they're almost too much. My other issue, the camera. It's fixed into place, which isn't horrible in dungeons, but it's annoying on the field. Especially since monsters appear on the field. I'm not sure what I want to give this. We don'd do halves; if we did, I'd write a 3.5. Since we're nice, we'll round up, but jsut keep in mind it was rounded. 4/5

Gameplay: The battle system is rather fun. It is a mixture of turn based and real time action. Each person has a turn and when it comes up they move as you direct and do what you say. They can attack, use a special, or use an item. As you progress through the game your party level will increase whick will shorten time you can use to plan your moves as well as add some more abilities. One such ability is the echo gauge, which increases with each successful attack your party does. It then boosts the power of whatever special ability you use next. Which special attacks will change depending if you're in the light or in the shadows, which adds a level of tactical thought. For example, Chopin has a healing spell when he's in the light, but when he steps into the shadow he has a powerful attack. As your characters level up you can learn more attacks, and you can set which ones you want to have in battle. Some monsters also change depending on if they are in light or dark. There's more, but that's all I can think of for now. As I said, monsters appear on the field so you can decide if you want to fight or not, and by approaching them from behind you can get a preemptive strike. I think that's about it. fairly easy gameplay with some good points. 4/5

Replay: Typical RPG, so no point in replaying unless you love it that much. 2/5

Overall: As muc has I loved the gameplay and the music and even the overall story, I can't give this game above a 3. The horrible cutscene length took away far too much of my pleasure to fully appreciate the game. I'd recommend renting it, to see what you think, but definitely don't buy it straight out. Not unless you prefer watching to playing. 3/5

Vacation

2007-10-11T08:38:00.001-05:00

We're off to the beach for the weekend. No post this week.

Orochi Warriors (PS2/360)

2007-10-09T09:27:00.000-05:00

All hail Koei owner of the Romance period of china and the warring states period of japan. Seriously they really do own it. So let's see how the newest installment did.

Game play: Like most of the warriors titles the main point of the game is to run around and maim everything. Occasionally you get specific missions to maim a certain person. Well in Orochi this hasn't changed much except for the fact that you don't play a single character you alternate through a team of 3 at will adding a bit more depth to the game. Characters also have some nice little specials tho these can either be useless or extremely over powered. 3/5

Story: The Story is that a crazy demon guy named Orochi yoinked up all the greatest warriors from the warring states and Romance periods of China and Japan respectively and then got them all to fight for his and your amusement. From there you follow one of the 4 stories through 15 stage 7 of which are side stages usually for unlocking characters. This is fine as koei never really cared about the story and its mostly about the violence. 3/5

Graphics: The game looks nice. Enemies don't randomly disappear because there's too much going on. The game doesn't freeze do to all the explosions and shiny special attacks. The only real flaw was that most of the cut scenes were just done in the plain normal game graphics. Unlike previous installments that seemed to be moving in a good direction with full CG movies.
3/5

Audio: Koei changes voice actors way to much and if you've played the other games it does take a bit away...that and some peoples voices are insanely annoying. The music is good though. Great battle themes and the return of the character specific themes makes them all the scarier. 5/5

Replay: There's a hand full of things to unlike more on the 360 but there's nothing there you can't find on the internet or another game. Once you beat a stories there's really nothing left but unlocking the few extras. 2/5

Overall: The game have a great concept but it wasn't taken to its fullest. Many characters suffered from a lack of balancing in the special abilities. The fact that if you played multiplayer you were forced to be the same team as the first player. The unlockables really weren't that interesting and getting the good ones usually happened in the course of playing anyway. All in all koei messed this up spending more time a on tuning up the specials and the multiplayer would have made this a much better game. Even though there are 4 60 stages none of them are very original most are overlapping in both plot and battle design. There really is alot more that could have been done here. 3/5

Growlanser: Heritage of War (PS2)

2007-10-03T08:33:00.000-05:00

Growlanser games have been around for a few years now and have picked up a good amount of popularity. So will Heritage of War keep pace?

Gameplay: The game spends a lot of time making you go from point A to B and back to A again. The joy of this though is that battles are fun and with the addition of the knack system your team can be whatever you want them to be. The knacks system is a board of zigzaging skill plates that when set and leveled up will teach your characters attack skills magic and passives. Allowing a high level customization. 5/5

Story: At first you might think that story is a bit dry and predictable as you play through several prologue stories to get to the main one. Sadly you're more or less right and the main story seemed to have a bit of that too. Then out of now where it throws you a curve ball making all that predictable dryness a lot more interesting do to the little things that seemed unimportant before. This is how the story works with high low fluctuating keep you more entertained. The story could have had a solid high drama plot but too much is a bad thing. 4/5

Graphics: Even though most of your time with you characters was spend watching their polygon forms run around the map it wasn't really a big deal the designers did a good job at making sure they all kept their uniqueness. The game also boast a lot of animated cut scene that tho a bit short are really good and help remind you how awesome all the characters look. Towns and Areas are nothing spectacular but they aren't bad either they could have been better though. 4/5

Audio: The game had excellent voice acting as well a good fluid sound track. The characters where really brought to life by an excellent voice acting team something that seems rare these days. It's always refreshing to find a game that probably sacrificed a little on graphics to make voices and other audio worth it. 4/5

Replay: There is a game plus and a lot of fun side things that are easy to miss or forget. The game's story is just enough to make you play it the first time but maybe not a second. So if you feel as though you missed out by not doing some of the sidequest you probably did go back and do them. 3/5

Overall: Let's see the A.I. for you team is amazing. The cut scenes combined with the amazing voices and soundtrack make the story and characters feel more real. The knack system especially later in the game allows complete control over your characters if you want one to be a fighter, healer, and more there a lot of possibilities. So all in all its another great game in a great series. 4/5

Mario Striker : Charged (Wii)

2007-09-24T13:31:00.000-05:00

Hey guys and girls let's see today I have Mario Strikers Charged the sequel to the GC version one of my most loved games. Let's go see how it did.

Gamepley: Kick the ball, pass the ball, and steal the ball. All in all the controls seem basic at first but as you go further in the game complicated methods and tactics become more necessary. The use of the Nunchunk is fun surprising tho it was rather useless in the grand scheme. The only glaring flaw to the gameplay is the tackling, there are to one which you tackle toward the ball no mtter what and it only serves to steal the ball. The other which requires you to throw your wii-mote arm in what ever direction you want to tackle which is exhausting and painful for little affect. 3/5

Story: Its a Mario sports game there really isn't one. Just beat your way through the tournies and unlock new people. 3/5

Graphics: The game looks nice all the characters even the supports have nice little details to them making the game feel a little more interactive. All the captains have awesome super kicks which are similar but all have a sort of unique twist on them. 5/5

Audio: The screams of being slammed into the fence aren't as good as they used to be which is a bit depressing and the audio in general is kind of bland with little to be said about it. 2/5

Replay: This will all depend on your thresh hold for annoyance. The computer characters are master of the tackling steal and exploiting all the games little tricks. You on the other hand will most likely give up the wii mote tackling as it difficult to both aim and time, not to mention it will quickly exhaust your wrists and arms. The recovering factor is the online play is mostly fun if you can find some good people or friends to play with. 3/5

Overall: Okay so the computers with in minutes become way better than you and will do things with little effort that would take a human player and insane skill level to accomplish. The actual tournies are long and you'll often make it to the final only to have the computer score on you in some sneaky way you which you thought of. The super strikes are you best option but by the third tournament even if you time it perfectly they're going to block it and then laugh at you. The real saving Grace is playing with friends and only is really fun, rent it or even buy it just for that. 3/5

Heroes of Mana (NDS)

2007-09-19T16:24:00.000-05:00

So today I have Heroes of Mana from the Mana series. The first RTS of the series let's see how is did.

Gameplay: Like any typical RTS the game requires you to go out collect resources and use them to fun your army. Build facilities and train troops. You also have hero characters which are well rounded and much more powerful then normal units but they usually require protecting as losing them will result in losing the battle. This aspect is fair at best. 2/5

Story: A good base for a story evil, heroes, and a good progression of the story and characters the main problem is all these things seem a little lacking in the depth department. Most of your characters are dry and lazily written. 3/5

Audio: Most of it I would simply call noise. There are some musics from the orginal games which add a nostalgia but even then its out of ear out of mind. 2/5

Graphics: They did good here with nicely rendered areas allies and enemies. Getting to see your favorite little rabites and what not prettied up a bit is again nostalgic. 4/5

Replay: The games battle are long and usually require you to simply wait around for the next wave of enemies to spawn and then run them over and wait for the next wave and this takes a serious tole on one's patience. 2/5

Overall: This game was really half way done. Most battle just require you to but the right types of units in the right place so that when the enemies spawn you run them down. SO you either get a guide and know whats coming or you luck out. On most battle fields if you are unlucky and lose your advantage of unit types you don't have the resources to make up for it and you quickly get over run. All in all the slow gameplay and general theme being make as many units as you can, run the enemy over again and again just doesn't satisfy. 2/5

Two Worlds (360, PC)

2007-09-19T11:35:00.000-05:00

Ah the joys of blogger, a few issues here and there, and had to sign up for a new gmail account, but it's all good. Anything to put off school work. That said, let's get to reviewing. This will be a short one, and Yuuki should have something posted later today as well.

Story: Your sister got kidnapped and your trying to save her by fighting off baddies and donig missions. It's very opened ended, the main plot isn't what you'll probably be focusing on. 3/5

Audio: The voices were painful. Very very painful. And they tried to do accents but clearly had no idea how. The music was fine though. 3/5

Graphics: The most appealing part of the game. they looked good, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they wowed me. Still, it's better than nothing. 4/5

Gameplay: What do you do in this game? Well you run around flagging quests and killing things with the single attack button. In the 360 case, it's the trigger button...*trigger trigger trigger* Very exciting. Of course that's not all there is to the game, you also ride a glitchy horse, craft potions, and enhance weapons. And as one reviewer said, there's two views to the map, too far and two close. Dont' depend on that if you're trying to figure out where to go. The quest screen in the 360 version is also horrible to figure out. I think it told me what to do and where to go, but it was so small and scrunched to the side, all I could see was the horrible map. Also, if you're playing offline, you get to pick between a male human and a male human...so many choices. There is customization, but it's haphazard at best. You pick eye color, hair color, hair style (all of which has a whopping 3 or 4 choices) and then you can do some minor work in changing the shape of the face. 2/5

Replay: God no! I could barely play the first time. 1/5

Overall: It tries to be a open ended non linear rpg where you get to do whatever you want. It fails miserably. While I don't want to compare it to other games, I'm sure you can think of another such game on the 360/pc...that one is much better, play that instead. 1/5

Blue Dragon (360)

2007-09-10T12:22:00.000-05:00

Today we're reviewing on of the few RPGs on the 360. Let's see how it does.

Story: You take the role of Shu, Jiro, and Kluke, three children who want to bring peace to their village. This source of problems in their home? A creature that arrives every year known as the land shark. It goes around and kills anyone it can find. This year, however, Jiro and Shu have a plan to catch the land shark and Kluke wants to help. Of course things don't happen as they should, the children end up in lost in some ruins. At some point they discover these spheres that allow them to use magic by giving their shadows power. With powerful shadows on hand, they set out to save their village and the world. The plot isn't the greatest. It is in fact rather generic for an RPG, but this game encourages the feel of an RPG, generic or otherwise. 3/5

Audio: The music is amazingly beautiful. It is done by Nobuo Uemetsu, so you might recognize it as having a Final Fantasy sound at times. The voice actors are also decent, though they don't talk al that often and their script isn't the greatest. 4/5

Graphics: At first glance you might notice how similar the characters look to something from Dragonball Z. This is because Akira Toriyama (Dragonball Z, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest) did the character designs. Of course this leads all the characters to be very stylized, but if you don't mind the style then it's all good. Background and environments are beautiful. I especially loved looking at the water visuals. Cutscenes and gameplay graphics are so similar they might as well be the same. 4/5

Gameplay: There are a number of areas to touch on in this section. First is battle system. It's completely turned based. You have the option of charging a lot of attacks or spells to boost their power, but this can make you go later in the turn. There is a world map and a dungeon map, and besides the level of zoom there's no real difference. Monsters appear on the screen so you can dodge them or attack them. Attacking from behind gives you a surprise attack, same if they hit you from behind. Also, a nifty features is monster fights. If you get two types of monsters close enough you can pull up your attack ring and fight them both at once. If they are competeing monsters they will fight each other for you. Not all monsters will fight when you bring them together. If the two parties of monsters don't fight then you will fight one party then the other. Between these fights you will be given stat boosts. Another feature is the class system. You can designate what class your shadow is. After so many levels you will have the option to buy more class options for your shadow. The classes will level up and gain abilities. You can equip skills from other classes to customize your character. Gameplay is simple and easy to pick up. 4/5

Replay: There's no real point to replaying. 2/5

Overall: This is a traditional RPG that has made its way on the 360. If you like old school RPGs and have a 360 I highly recommend it. 4/5

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2)

2007-09-02T17:57:00.000-05:00

Hello again. Today we'll be reviewing this disturbingly dark RPG, Persona 3. Yes, there's a longer title, but Persona 3 is what we'll call it.

Story: The story begins that you are a recently transferred student at a new high school. On your way to the dorm you see some disturbing things, but apparently the main character isn't that phased. IGN.com has a video of the intro movie. I highly recommend watching it if you want to see the tip of the iceburg on creepy. Anyway, a few days after you move into your dorm you discover something known as the dark hour. A space in time that only a select few are aware of. In this dark hour, creatures known as shadows come out and attack anyone who is aware. Joining a group known as SEES, you develop your persona to combat these shadows and discover the origins of the dark hour. The members of SEES use a tool known as an evoker (which looks like a gun) to summon their persona. Which means, you shoot yourself in the head to use your special abilities. There is no blood, and it isn't any sort of death, but it is dark. I just wanted to warn you. When you're not in the dark hour you are living life like a high school student: going to classes, joining clubs, making friends. These activities are all important for the growth of your personas. There is a lot going on in the story, but that is the general gist of it. It might not sound all that interesting, but trust me, it is. Like most of the Shin Megami Tensei games, the story more than anything will draw you in. 5/5

Audio: The characters have voice acting for important cutscenes as well as when they are summoning their personas in battle. All of the voice actors are well chosen and suit their character very well. The music goes with an interesting choice. Outside of the dark hour, it is more modern than almost anything I've heard in an RPG. In the dark hour it becomes more subdued and fills the atmosphere well. A lot of tracks will just be background, doing its job of setting the mood. One particular track, heard in the Velvet Room (where you fuse personas), is particularly haunting and beautiful. Audio is well done. 5/5

Graphics: It's hard to pinpoint how to describe the graphics. On one hand the in game visuals seem much less than the PS2 can do. On the other hand, you become so used to them so quickly that maybe less is more. Major cutscenes, usually when introducing characters, involve anime art styles. These are lovely to look at, but almost seem out of place for all that they are more beautiful than the actual style. Background graphics are well detailed. The Tartarus (huge tower of doom) is simply designed, but also the most memorable place. A creepy place outside of time and space. 4/5

Gameplay: There are two aspects to the game, climbing the Tartarus or going to school. You can only climb the Tartarus at night. There you will combat monsters (which you can see on screen before fighting which makes avoiding easier). Every few levels you will be faced with boss monster. Usually on the floors with a boss is also a device which links to the first floor allowing you to return to that floor. As you get further into the game the devices become more and more spread apart. If you've ever played a SMT game then you'll remember the importance of finding and enemies weakness. In this game if you hit the enemy with its weak point, it will be knocked down. Knocking all enemies down allows you to use an all out attack (massive damage to all enemies by all allies). This is the strategy you'll need for defeating most enemies, and bosses if they have a weakness. Your party members work on AI, though you can set them to different tactics as you see fit. As the main character you have the unique ability to switch out your persona. Everyone else is stuck with one. All persona have strengths and weaknesses that can help or hinder. Also, having a weakness exploited will allow for a second turn. After battles you will sometimes have a card shuffle where you can earn money, items, healings, extra experience, or a new persona. Outside of the Tartarus you live like a regular person, and you have three stats that you can build: charm, courage, and athletics. These are needed to help you make friends. During the day you attend school which is not so difficult in itself. Sometimes you will have pop quizzes (answering correctly gives you a boost in your charm stat) or you will be offered the chance to stay awake through a lecture which boosts academics. After school you can make friends with people which will create a social link. Each social link is associated with a major arcana in a tarot deck. By boosting these, you can give more experience to any persona you create in the Velvet Room. There is a balancing act in the game. You need to build your outside stats and social links while also making your way up the Tartarus. If you spend too much time in the Tartarus you'll become tired and then sick. That said, the gameplay is easy to master and fascinating to make use of. 5/5

Replay: There is no real reason for replay other than love of the game. You might change how you handle your days, but in the end it will all pretty much be the same. There is a plus game available after you defeat the game. 2/5

Overall: It's an amazing game. I highly recommend it; however, it is a very dark and disturbing game, which means...if you like want light and fluffy, do not touch. Also, on my own little note, knowing a bit about the tarot deck, I find myself fascinated with the social links and how they line up with the meanings of the cards. 5/5

Rune Factory (NDS)

2007-08-26T14:02:00.000-05:00

Though the name is different this is a Harvest Moon title, yay Harvest Moon! Only this has swords and monster and hacking and slashing and magic with farming and marriage yay!

Gameplay: The game play similar to most other Harvest Moons. In that you select your tool and use it, you run, and you talk to people and give them things. Except now you also have weapons and magic in your selections. All in all the additions were nice making a good blend of action and fun. 5/5

Story: The premise is that you are a guy who has no memories and this girl cons you into working on her farm. Later you get access to some caves where you can fight or befriend monster which become your allies in combat or livestock. The story is thin at best but more then most Harvest Moons 3/5

Graphics: Being a DS game the best hand held ever I feel I don't think the graphics measured up to what they should. There is though a cool full length video for the opening that despite being corny is nice. 3/5

Audio: The people have voices and not just single word voices. Most events and important information from the locals is voice acted. Other than that though the music is nothing special and all else seems just up to standard. 3/5

Replay: I'd say its worth playing through at least 1 extra time but not beyond that. Nothing is too challenging and most people will probably get there fill the first time through and only replay to make different choices. 3/5

Overall: The game puts a fun new spin on Harvest Moon as a series and I'd like to see more game like this. The main problem being that the game seemed to not incorporate enough of the typical Harvest Moon things, like marital rivals more challenging management of your farm and relationships. I say pick it up and have some fun and here's hoping for an improved sequel. 3/5

Grim Grimoire (PS2)

2007-08-01T20:44:00.000-05:00

Hello, and as you might have noticed, we've been a bit late with the reviews lately. Expect this to continue. We've been moving around so things have been hectic. Besides that I'm about to go incommunicato for a while. We're also not going to bother with actually reviews for a few weeks after this. We're gonna do some retro reviews for filler. With all that out of the way, it's time to review this gem that is Grim Grimoire.

Story: You are Lillet Blan, a young girl who has recently enrolled into a wizard's school. After five days there, the school is destroyed, and somehow Lillet is sent back to her first night. No one else remembers what has happened before time reversed. The plot sounds a little bland, and I've sadly heard it compared to Harry Potter more times that I'd care. Don't believe it. The desire to know what was going to happen kept me up later than I should have been. The characters are wonderfully vivid. If nothing else, this is a great reason to try out the game. 5/5

Audio: The voices are pretty well done. The music is decent, some tracks more interesting than others. 4/5

Graphics: The graphics look good. They're an artfully done 2D style. When characters talk, they have full portraits that appear. These portrains will move slightly to immitate breathing as well as change expressions to match the characters dialogue. In battle the summoned creatures also retain this hand painted artistic look. The backgrounds aren't that noticeable though. 4/5

Gameplay: The game plays like a real time strategy. As you progress you will learn from four different classes of magic, and each class has three areas. This gives you a total of twelve gates that you can create to summon out monsters and boost their abilities. To fund these monsters, you need to harvest mana from crystals scattered around the map. Only one type of magic gatherer can use a crystal, but the gathered mana is not class specific so may be used on any type. Each magic type is strong and weak against another magic type. The nature magic is weak to alchemy but strong to necromancy. Each category of magic has a gate that will summon an especially strong monster. My favorite is sorcery's summon: a giant egg that hatches into an extremely useful, if slow, dragon. Battles have the option of normal, easy, or sweet. For the most part I played normal and easy, and while some battles were breezes, some were still very challenging. The controls on the units can be hectic at times. When you want an elf to harvest a mana crystal, it might get confused as to where you're pointing and follow around a unit that needs healing instead. It's also difficult to select groups. The game allows for controlling all the same type units on the screen, but you cannot control multiple units at once. Also, you cannot set spawn points, so troops that spawn all hang around the spawn point, clogging up traffic. Still, it's not badly done for being unique. Outside of the storyline, there are also bonus battles with various challenges you can do to test yourself. 4/5

Replay: After beating the game, you do create a save file, but there are no real bonuses to this post game that I could tell. The only unlockable I've heard mentioned is Hard mode if all battles are defeated in Normal mode. 2/5

Overall: The game has an amazing story with beautiful graphics and some fun if, at times, clunky gameplay. Sadly, it does clock in at about ten hours or so, which means, it's probably a good rental. While I absolutely loved the story, and if it were a book, I'd reread it many times, I'm not sure I can say the same for a game. Still, it's definitely worth a look by and RPG fan. 4/5

Hoshigami: Remix (NDS)

2007-07-28T09:51:00.000-05:00

Hoshigami is a remake of PSX classic that wasn't so classic. So let's go.

Story: The game's story is similar to the original with a few tweaks here and there. There is some good character development and a nice feel of depth without being to overwhelming. 4/5

Gameplay: The game plays like most tactical RPGs with an AP system different classes yada yada. Hoshigami though is a bit limited most characters and skills are all the same. There aren't really classes just whatever type of weapon you slap on someone. You can choose deities which help you learn magics but they don't do much for you in the long run. 3/5

Graphics: It's a nice looking game not the all time best but definitely nice. 3/5

Audio: Hmm...the audio didn't jump at you it was a little to background elevator music like. It could have lent itself to the development of the story so much better. 2/5

Replay: Hoshigami isn't too long and to my knowledge there is no plus game stuff and if there is there just isn't enough in the game to warrant playing it. 2/5

Overall: Hoshigami has 1 fatal flaw causing it to sink its par at best. It has no striking elements, nothing that jumps out and makes you go "Yay! I love that!" It falls short simply by being to average. 3/5

Etrian Odyssey (DS)

2007-07-15T10:18:00.000-05:00

Welcome boys and girls to another Sunday at Game Ranters. Today we'll be looking at this DS dungeon crawler from Atlus.

Story: The town of Etria has a mysterious and huge forest next to it that adventurers are invited to explore. You take the role of a new person in town who also wishes to explore this labyrinth. Your first step is make a guild where you can recruit as many people as you want, though your party can hold only five. After that you must receive an adventurer's certificate by performing missions for the main office in town. Once you have become a true guild, you do quests and missions and make your guild a great one. 2/5

Audio: There was nothing particularly inspiring about the music. It was there, it was decent, it was forgettable. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics are a bit lackluster at times, but they don't look bad. Every character has a drawn portrait that you picked when you created them, as do the NPCs. And these are all very attractive, in a cute sort of way. The dungeon is viewed in a first person, and while nothing is spectacular, you can see werhe you're going. 3/5

Gameplay: The game is a dungeon crawler, so you will view everything in the dungeon at first person. The game focus's on the idea that you will explore the map, which then fills in on the bottom screen of the ds. You can also add notations onto this map to indicate where events/treasures/gathering spots/certain monsters are located. Once you enter the dungeon, the only way out is through the entrance, which can be hazardous. Money is generally short, so after you stock up for the first time, be prepared not to have any for a while. You need money to rest at the inn and revive your fallen comrades. Monsters do not drop money, but rather they drop items which can be sold to the gear shop. These items in turn can be used by her to create new gear for you to buy. The monsters attack at random, and there is a time clock running in the corner that indicates day or night, or a new day when you can use your gathering skills again. The game runs on a fair steep difficulty. For the first few levels you should stick near the stairs because the monsters are less than friendly even for beginners. As your character's level up you get skill points which you can distribute to customize your character as you like. It's an interesting gaming style, but certainly not forgiving to those who are new to genre. 3/5

Replay: Replay would be based off if you wanted to go through it again with different characters, but as your guild can hold as many as you want, there's no reason. 2/5

Overall: The Game has some unique and interesting qualities, and I'm sure there are a handful of gamers out there that would truly appreciate them. I'm not one of them. I'd say if you're somewhat masochistic and want a good throwback to the old days of first person dungeon crawlers, this is for you. Otherwise, you might be better off finding something else. 3/5

Touch the Dead (NDS)

2007-07-08T12:16:00.000-05:00

So this game is called "Touch the Dead" and you do...the end.

Gameplay: You're basically a guy who apparently moves along a track like a Disney ride and while doing this you use your stylus to shoot zombies in the brain. Frequently you run out of ammo and have to drag the little ammo bar from one end of the screen to the other. You'll have to practice it to get it right because if you miss the ammo bar and attempt to fire your empty gun you have to go through the whole..."Crap! Why won't my gun fire I'm apparently to stupid to remember I burned up the clip killing these things..." animation and die. 1/5

Story: You're a prison inmate and suddenly all the doors open and you can escape...oh look conveniently placed gun and infinite supply of ammo. After that is just gets hazey and annoying. 1/5

Graphics: Not bad could certainly do a lot better but I'm betting this games production team was a small group of ducks...underpaid lazy ducks...2/5

Audio: Crap music, bad voicing, and the game had no real ambiance. I again refer to the team of ducks...1/5

Replay: I couldn't even bring myself to finish it the first time and I'm not that self destruction to ever play it again. 1/5

Overall: Bad games have two uses in my mind. 1 So I can review them and inform you how terrible they are in a colorful manner, again the ducks. 2 So you can feed them to an annoying neighbor kid, pet, or salesman in hope that they mistake it for candy and choke. 1/5

Dawn of Mana (PS2)

2007-07-01T14:42:00.000-05:00

Welcome back, and let's begin with today's review of Dawn of Mana :D

Story: It all began when the elementals started telling each other the story of the world and the mana tree, though they had lived through it already. They tell of the boy who possessed the mana sword and the girl who became the mana goddess. You take on the role of Keldric, or as he's annoyingly known as, Keldy. Yes, he is the boy with the mana sword. He and his friend Ritzia wander the forest when their village is attacked. Deciding to go find the sacred beast that protects the petrified mana tree, they wander into a dungeon. Stuff happens, Kelpy fights monsters. They find a weird seed that attaches itself to Kelpy and turns into a sword. They fight a monster that is not the sacred beast, and Ritzia is taken prisoner by the invading force. So Keldy goes on a journey to save his little friend. Of course you are aided by a magical fairy who will cast spells for you when you need them. The story has some interesting aspects, and there's certain appeal to the background of the mana series. 4/5

Audio: The voice acting isn't bad, but I found the accents for all the mana spirits a bit unnecessary. Apparently the mana spirits all emmigrated from Europe. The music is also nice. Nothing outstanding, but soothingly beautiful. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics are 3d and manage to look good. The characters are well detailed as is the interactive world. Almost everything on the map can be messed with in some way (usually destroying or throwing) and the graphics seem to have accurate physics on it all. 4/5

Gameplay: And this is where it all comes crumbling down. As I mentioned the world is interactive, and you're expected to make use of it all. Use your somewhat awkward to control whip to grab objects and throw them at monsters. Push logs down hills, though they seem to turn before hitting the monsters more often than not. Besides your sword turning into a whip, you can shoot seeds from your hand, and when you meet some of the mana spirits, they'll give you more seed types to help hurt monsters. Finally you can fight with the sword, which is really just spamming the attack button. Each dungeon is laid out like a stage, so your accomplishments in each don't really carry over. You're expected to panic monsters but hurting them with the environment. This way you get medal drops that restore hp/mp or increase stats. The camera is awkward and it's hard to get good views sometimes. After each dungeon you're rated. To get prizes you must do really well on the stages. I found the whip horrible to control, and the panic mechanism annoying. It was almsot always easier to just attack than to try and send rocks at the enemies. 2/5

Replay: No thanks. Awkwardly making my through the first time was enough. 2/5

Overall: The plot of the game is somewhat interesting, at least the parts where the mana spirits are talking. Keldy isn't interesting and neither is Ritzia. The music is decent as is the voice acting (again...foreign spirits). The visuals aren't necessarily impressive but definitely appealing. But as said before, the gameplay kills it. If you like it, more power to you, but I wouldn't recommend it. 2/5

Naruto Ultimate Ninja 2 (PS2)

2007-06-25T09:11:00.000-05:00

Oh Look a game ruined by bad translations...okay not really its still a freakin awesome game despite the bad english translations the removed content and the in general raping and converting of the game's culture.

Gameplay: It doesn't play like you average fighting game sliding the diretional button and spamming attack doesn't really get you anywhere. The game requires you to go to your opponent and stab them in the face. It's not as simple as it sounds. The giant host of items, teammates, secret and special attack, stages traps, and so much more make each match engaging and fun. 5/5

Story: The game does have a story in the psuedo story mode...it follows the anime and orginal manga for a bit then goes off on a line of story that never happened and is total crap...making them total ***holes...2/5

Graphics: Graphically the game is only middle of the ground. It is bright and areas are vivid, characters too. The main problem is the game is acutally kind of old like 3 years old so it wasn't made to the best graphical standards but its no less cool. 3/5

Audio: The music has been given an...."edgey" feel...you edgey make you wanna go on a killing spree...and the voice acting combine with the translations will eventually make you hate life. I may just be bitter but I feel it shouldn't be hard to translate something with out crapping on it and trying to make it more american friendly...1/5

Replay: Hahaha if you have any friends at all this game will have serious replay value. You can spend hours murdering your friends and making any of the characters teammates to be used in battle. The game all has a couple of annoyingly oddd yet fun minigames. 4/5

Overall: It conclusion if you have never seen then japanese or you are a moron and think this game was made in the states then give the audio another point...If you have seen the japanese and attended high school then you understand how much translators suck at their jobs...Other than that the game is perfect and unchanged. Minus 2 stages and 1 ice ninja from the movie they didn't know was coming out...most likely because they're all morons...

Wii

2007-06-20T21:05:00.000-05:00

So I've caved into the marketing pressure and buoght a Wii. We can now do requests for Wii games.

Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm (PS2)

2007-06-17T10:52:00.000-05:00

Hello, boys and girls. Yes I am reviewing this game on time. It's a miracle, I know. So let's begin, shall we?

Story: You control Edge and Iris, a pair of young raiders. To be a raider means that they will hire themselves out to do various quests for the people of their town. Such quests often bring them to places known as Alterworlds, which are different planes of existence. During one quest, they come upon a glowing orb and light, which is sucked into Iris's special book she holds. They come to believe this is the Escalario, a fabled book said to grant any wish of whoever possesses it. Along the path of collecting all the pieces necessary to complete the Escalario, they meet variety of interesting people, including Nell, who later joins you as a raider. It's not the greatest plot, and some might say it's generic (not me, but some), but I find it's enough to keep me interested. 3/5

Audio: The characters have voice actors for important dialogues which suit their roles well. None of them seem overdone. The music itself isn't the greatest, but again, it's not bad. it's just there in a light hearted and cute sort of way. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics aren't terribly impressive. They are relatively simple, but the artwork is beautiful. If it's not completely stunning with gorgeous art, it is keeping with the light hearted attitude the Atelier games seem to strive for. 3/5

Gameplay: This is the area that will completely turn a person on or off the game. It is not told in the typical RPG fashion where you go from Point A to Point B to Point C until you've found the great evil about to destroy the world. Instead you center the game around your hometown and the alterworlds that connect to it. Everythin in the game is done through quests. Each time you rank up as a raider, a mission will appear, requiring that you complete it before you can continue with quests. The mission is an important story point. Doing quests for people will earn you alchemy recipes (did I forget to mention Iris is an alchemist who makes things from the items you find in the worlds?), money, guild points, items, and the affection of the different peopel you are assisting. By helping out others you will gain insight into their backgrounds and their personalities. Along the way you will run into the Elementals. Iris can make a pact with them and summon them in battle, while Edge and Nell can bond with them to make themselves a different style of fighter. With new fighting moves, Nell and Edge seem like completely different characters when bonded. Battles are turn based. The game calls it "active cost card battle", but really this just means you can see the order of who attacks at the top of the screen. Abilities in battle are based off a bar at the top that can fill up to 9. It fills by the characters attacking regularly or by the characters being hit. Needless to say, the strongest of the abilities cost more. Also there is a burst gauge that is filled by the number of hits the enemy takes, while being reduced by the number of hits the enemy gives. When the bar is full you go into burst mode, which allows skills to do much more damage, count combos, and instantly fills the skill bar to 9. When in the alterworlds you have a time limit to being there. You can find items in the field that will extend this time, and if you beat an enemy in about 2 rounds (everyone going twice) battles are considered fast and don't count against your time limit. I think that's all the key points. many people have issues with the quest style set up and the time limit in the alterworlds. As to the quests, that's one of the things I loved most about the game, as well as the class changes Edge and Nell can do with elementals. I'll play so much longer than intended because I just want to complete one more quest. As for the tiem limit, I've never really had an issue where it ran out too soon. The worlds aren't too difficult to navigate, the maps are autodrawn once you've explored a room, as it were, and you lose nothing by running out of time other than you have to start at the beginning again. Monsters that are too weak to you, you can slash outside of battle to get rid of them. Monsters that aren't, it's fairly easy to avoid if you want. As said, the gameplay will turn you on or off. For me, it was a winner. 4/5

Replay: There isn't a real reason to replay. 2/5

Overall: I think it's an incredibly endearing and entertaining game. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who likes NIS games. At the same time, if you're someone who likes constant action and fighting the great evil and getting to the end as fast as you can, this probably isn't for you. Atelier Iris 3 is a game designed for enjoyment, for looking around and exploring, and for stopping to smell the roses (which you can grow in certain alterworlds). 4/5

Shining Force EXA (PS2)

2007-06-12T17:33:00.000-05:00

Hey guys and girls its time for a review of another Shing game, Shining Force EXA. A game about taking over the world with a a cast of half animals, annoying mages, and a zombie. All while tucked safely inside a giant death fortress.

Story: The bulk of it goes boy finds sword of ancient power, boy uses sword to attempt to change the world, alas everyone else wants the sword so taking over the world will be a bit hard. Its not a bad story but its not an amazing story that keeps you wanting more. 3/5

Gameplay: The gameplay's not bad its actually pretty good AI allies are customizable to a point and tend to do their job for the most part. The main heros are kind of basic. Toma a fighter that's it that's all he does hit things...Cyrille a Mage thats all she does...burn zapp freeze things. She can use crossbows but she's not very good. All in all the gameplay is a bit basica but oddly addicting. 4/5

Graphics: It's a cute game not an amazing awesome game but definately cute and egaging enough to watch. The game does suffer so slow down when you get flooded with enemies pr spam magic and skills. Not the best it could be but still pretty good. The good thing is all wepsons and armors for each character change their respective appearances. 4/5

Audio: There is a hefty amount of voice acting and the music is really good. Probably the best part of the game is the music and voice acting. Most areas are enjoyable to be in thanks to the music. 5/5

Replay: There is a game plus and some nifty things to do in it but Ican't say for sure its worth it. Its really a toss up and mostly about personal preference. 3/5

Overall: The best thing sbout this game is music and the fact that even tho the battling running around its all that good its still addicting enough to play through the game. It really is a middle of the ground game. It has not glaring faults or sparkiling gems its just okay. If you like the shining series pick it up. 3/5

Odin Sphere (PS2)

2007-06-03T17:11:00.000-05:00

Hey boys and girlstime today for another review of Atlus gold :) with Odin Sphere. A game based around Norse Mithology so let's begin.

Story: There is one large story focusing around 5 main characters. The valkyrie Gwendolyn, The Pooka Prince Corneilus, The Fairy Mercedes, The Shadow Knight Oswald, and The with Velvet. Each character has a mostly unique sotry with a few ties to te others stories. Completing one character will unlock the next so on and so forth making the epicness of the game even grander. 5/5

Gameplay: Each character has similar move styles up attack, down attack, etc. Though each character preforms these moves differently the main bread and butter are the Magics and unique skills. The valkyrie can fly and dive bomb people while the Fairy can rapid pound into an enemy with her gun. Each character has a good balance of similarities and differences making the game even more unique. 4/5

Graphics: Graphicly the game is pretty though you wouldn't think side scrolling through a circular stage could be that cool looking but it is. Spells skill and characters are all done very we'll the only problem is the occasional lag. 4/5

Audio: Voices are awesome though they like to pause without reason sometimes. The music is fun too and helps to get you into the story. Besides whats more fun then hearing your enemies scream as you hurl napalm onto them. 4/5

Replay: This depends...the game has difficulty settings but this doesn't change the story and though the game is really good you may not want to play it again but for me there is enough to warrant another play. 3/5

Overall: Definately another gold Atlus title. I'm a raving fan of most of their games and this won't be an exception. Odin Sphere has a great story good character design and development. It's just plain fun and I recommend it to all you out there. 4/5

Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (DS, PSP)

2007-05-28T08:13:00.000-05:00

Another day, another slightly late review. Well, part of it is I've been busy lately. Most of it is I'm lazy. Let's get on with this then.

Story: You play the role of a young hero (gender and class chosen by you) and must help save the world from a great evil, the walking dead and all that. Of course you don't start out saving the world. Slowly you are drawn into it by doing missions for your Queen. It's not a great story, but you won't really notice the loss of good plot too much. 3/5

Audio: The tracks are completely forgettable. 2/5

Graphics: The characters all have art portraits which look nice, but the map is rather lackluster. This game isn't a graphics heavy game because it does not need to be though. 3/5

Gameplay: And why do graphics not really matter? Because this game is really an eleborate version of Bejeweled with a plot and some RPG elements. During combat a board appears with red, yellow, blue, green, purple, coin, and skull icons on it. You damage your enemy by lining up skull icons, while th read, yellow, blue, and green icons will fill your various mana stores when you match them up. By collecting mana you can use different skills that you have learned. Your character levels up by defeating opponents or by lining up purple icons on the combat board. You can also earn money through missions and combat. Outside of combat you can use the money to buy new equipment which will have various effects during battle or to upgrade your keep. If you have a dungeon or stable you can capture monsters and learn skills from them. The game operates by quests. There are the main quests, and there are side quests which you can take to help level up or gain more items. If you are defeated in combat, which you can expect to happen, you don't get a game over. Instead you keep the experience you found on the board and reappear on the world map. 4/5

Replay: You might try playing as a different job class, but in the lnog run I don't think it makes any difference. 2/5

Overall: Though the story, graphics, and audio are lackluster, this is a terribly addictive game. you will find yourself playing and losing track of the world around you. It does get frusterating sometimes as the computer seems to get lucky a lot, and battles can be very hard to win. Still it's a good game and I recommend it. 4/5

.Hack//G.U. Vol 2//Reminisce

2007-05-22T16:56:00.000-05:00

Hey all, sorry for the late review, but I was just being slow like always. So let's get on with it.

Story: This is part 2 of the new .Hack series, so it follows directly after the first. You take control of Haseo, a somewhat gruff player in the World. In this volume Aida has become more prevelent and hints that there is something else out there fighting Aida show up. Also players are becomign infected with Aida and starting to infect other players. It's just a continuation of the plot frmo the first one, which isn't to say that it's bad. in fact the game is very engrossing, constantly making you wonder what's gonig on and who you can really trust. 4/5

Graphics: The graphics are much in the same as the first, a lovely cell shaded look that isn't too overdone. 4/5

Audio: Much of the music is of course the same as the first game. There are some new tracks that are very well done. Overall the music is great. 4/5

Gameplay: I can go into it all again, but it's basically the same as the first. There are a few more mini games that can be played now, including bike races and the Crimson Vs card game. The bike racing is fun, it just takes some time to figure out how to best manage, and as you race more you can earn more parts to upgrade your bike. the card game is both extremely simple and very difficult. You make yourself a four card deck: one general and three people to will battle against other decks. All battles take place while you're runnign around in the world so you don't have to do anything; however, there is strategy in figuring out what the best deck combination is. many of the little issues from the prior game have been fixed as well. you can now change your party member equipment instead of having to wait until they are the proper level to give them new gear. Also there is a new group attack that becoems available taht is insanely powerful and wonderfully beautiful. Overall, I think it improves the already great gameplay of the first game. 5/5

Replay: I can't be sure now what replay is like, but since I've started this, I've thought about playing the first game again and finding all the little hidden things that I had missed. 3/5

Overall: The game is an entertaining and at times deep piece of work. If you played the first one, you should definitely pick it up. if you haven't, then you should play that first or you'll probably be confused as to what is happening. 4/5

To read the first review again, go here:

http://gameranter.blogspot.com/2006/11/hackgu-ps2.html

Brave: Search for the Spirit Dancer (PS2)

2007-05-15T14:35:00.000-05:00

Alrighty guys and girls here is what they call a tragedy. Brave had potential but falls sadly short.

Gameplay: Basically run around charge up whack stuff in the face move on. Get an ability use it once to get a certain item move on. Find a strategic series of dangerous jumps and get killed by the camera...eat game. The abilities of the game are good like charming animals or doing magic but they weren't developed to their fullest and feel short. 2/5

Story:Little native american village peaceful and quiet...Giant poorly design flaming skeleton appears turns everyone into zombie and our hero Brave must go find a spirit dancer so defeat the skeleton and return everyone to normal...that's really it there's nothing else the end. 2/5

Graphics: Again something that needed to be polished. Most of the time I felt as though this was just a top notch PS game but no its a crappy PS2 game. Everything seems to just be done at the minimum. 2/5

Audio: To be honest I'm not sure there was if so it wasn't audible over my cursing the game and its camera. What audio I did here was good not great but an acceptable tone for a sub par game. 3/5

Replay: Plainly and frankly I didn't wanna play through it the first time. So I doubt anyone will play it a second. 1/5

Overall: The game is only truly suited for younger players. Those who are still innocent enough to not get annoyed with the terrible cameras and go on a killing rampage. Every ability you learn is quickly abandoned for something new and equally underdeveloped...So is you have some one young and innocent with free time hand it to them otherwise avoid it like the plague. 2/5

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl (NDS)

2007-05-08T08:35:00.000-05:00

Hi guys today I have a true gem. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl! *cricket noises* okay that was a bad pun and I know it, forgive me. Anyway let's get into this.

Gameplay: Holy flying orange sea otters there is so much stuff in this game! Obviously there is the traditional capture, trade, and battle your pokemon within the game and with friends. There also the rebirth of the pokemon contest where you can dress up your pokemon and compete to see who looks the best in 1 of 5 categories. It seems silly but its really addictive. There's also a mass network of underground tunnels that form a close range wireless home to you and your friends. Here you can build secret bases lay little annoying traps for one another and mine for items. To be honest there are so many things to do in this game. 5/5

Story: Apparently pokemon games have stories...I mayhave forgotten that due to the fact that they are always the same. Team *something space related* comes abd tries to use uber pokemon to destroy and or rule the world. This time its a group called Team Galatic and they want to remake the world...ignore them. 2/5

Graphic: It's pokemon so it can't be that good, but surprisingly it is. They really made the most out of the DS without completely changing the style of the series. All the pokemon look cute and cool and they've added subtle differences between males and females. All in all the its a brushed up more 3D version of the previous games. Definately still good. 4/5

Audio: Pokemon songs are annoying and addictive at the same time. That said the music is all in all good. I've actually sat in a few of the areas and hummed the little tunes. I can't stay they are spectacular but they are pretty nice. 3/5

Replay: There is so much to do in this game from the battling to dolling up your pokemon to win a contest. I suggest you grab as many people as you can rob something and all get the game cause its just plain fun. 5/5

Overall: Here it is the final say and this is what I think. Seriously go get some freind and get these games. They are just fun and they get better the more people you play with. Definately a grade A game for the DS I've said it alot but there really is so much stuff in this game and its just simple clean fun. 5/5

Wario: Master of Disguise (DS)

2007-04-29T09:13:00.000-05:00

Another day, another review. Today is a DS game staring everyone's (or at least someone out there) favorite villain, Wario. Let's see how it goes.

Story: Wario is trying to find ways to get rich when he comes across a brilliant idea. He makes himself a helmet that sends him into the tv. Once there he goes into a show about a thief. Stealing the thief's magic sentient wand, Wario then gains new abilities. He can change his outfit to do different things. Deciding he can now become the greatest thief ever, Wario begins his rampage. 3/5

Audio: The music wasn't much. I can't remember the tracks off hand. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics aren't bad. Very 2D, but it works. The bottom screen is for interaction and gameplay, while the top screen is the map. 3/5

Gameplay: A very stylus heavy game. You use it to move, attack, or change outfits. The outfits are neat with their special abilities, but as you get more you'll be expected to switch between them at a moment's notice, and sometimes the game has trouble distinguishing which outfit design you've just drawn on the screen. As you run around the world, you'll find treasure chests. Sometimes these have treasure for Wario's greedy heart to steal, sometimes these have outfits. Either way, you must complete a puzzle before it will open. Some of these puzzle tasks are more annoying than others, but none are terribly difficult. At the end of each stage is a boss fight, where you must utilize the different outfits to find the weak point and exploit it. Your wand will give hints in the corner as to which outfit you need at the time. The gameplay isn't bad, though it can be annoying having to switch outfits quickly. 3/5

Replay: There's no real point to replay. 2/5

Overall: The game has some neat ideas and it works together well, but it's just not an outstanding game. It's fun if you're bored, so pick it up if you have lots of free time or if you can just rent it. 3/5

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales (DS)

2007-04-22T10:11:00.000-05:00

Good morning everyone. Today we'll be reviewing this cute little games that stars this cute little yellow bird. Is everyone ready? Then here we go.

Story: The chocobos all live on this farm with a white mage Shirma and her friend the black mage Croma. One day while Shirma is reading a story Croma comes and insists that his very strange and dark book be read instead. The only one who can open it is a small yellow chocobo, the player. Once the boko is open, it reveals that it is sentient and wants to devour the world, starting with all the chocobos and books in the area. Once done, all that is left is Shirma, Croma, and the little bird. It is now the chocobos job to stop the evil book and rescue his friends. he does this by finding magical storybooks that will alter his world. It's not the greatest, but it's entertaining and has some amusing dialogue. 3/5

Audio: This was my favorite part of the entire game, mostly because all of the music is old final fantasy tracks. Not just recent games, but older ones too. It sounds decent on the DS too. 5/5

Graphics: the graphics aren't the best, but they're not bad. Edges might be at times jagged. The storybook art is given a hand drawn look that is appealing. 4/5

Gameplay: The game is stylus heavy, but it isn't clunky or anything. You use the stylus to move and point and click on objects you want to interact with. The game revolves around three aspect: mini games (the storybooks), microgames (puzzles found in the world that will yield you cards), and popup card duels (necessary to progress the game). Mini games and microgames can my fun or obnoxious depending on what challenge you must overcome. most of the minigames involve both time trials and battle modes, where you have to earn more points than enemy chocobos. Succeeding in the areas of a mini game will provide you with a story ending (which will alter the world around you), yield you a card, or free a chocobo pal. The card games involve finding cards around the world and building your deck around it. There are two types of cards, defenders and attacks. Along the edges of the card will be symbols denoting if they attack or defend or have nothing to do with one of the four elements. your challange is to build your deck that will allow you to anticipate how your opponent will play. The gameplay is fairly simple to handle. 4/5

Replay: There isn't much need to replay. 2/5

Overall: The game is terribly cute, and rather fun. Towards the end, the challanges become much more difficult. It's definitely a good rental, and if you love final fantasy or chocobos, probably nota bad buy. 4/5

Izuna: Legend of the unemployed ninja. (DS)

2007-04-16T12:20:00.000-05:00

Hey guys today I bring you a game from my one of my favorite groups, Atlus. Izuna is a classic dungeon crawl with a ninja spin on it. Let's get started.

Gameplay: They game handles pretty easily just run around the town till your ready to go to whatever dungeon you need to. Then in the dungeon run around more whomping monsters and finding treasure. Dugeons are made up of randomly generated floors with monsters of different type and level. On the last floor of each dungeon you'll find a boss which can usually be quite nasty if you are unprepared. Luckily you have a a nice selection of weapons and items from sword and claws to ninja arts and shurikens. 4/5

Story: The mai nstory is that after the wars are settled and a time of peace occurs ninjas have nothing to do. So they move to this little village where our hero Izuna gets everyone into trouble by stealing a sacred stone belonging to the gods of the village. She must then go out and find the gods and get them to reverse their curses. Each god will give you an orb that will uncurse all the people they cursed if you show it to them. 4/5

Graphics: Graphically the game is cute though at times looks a little squished. But the characters a bright and the landscape is mostly well designed. Though it doesn't really draw you in like it could. 3/5

Audio: The music if very typical of these games if you've ever played a game involving a small japanese village then you know this music. I could be better a lot better honestly. 2/5

Replay: After you beat the game there's not a lot left to it. I can't say I'd have a strong desire to play the game twice and I don't think you will either: 2/5

Overall: Okay the game's story is pretty engaging and the characters are humorous and lovable. The gameplay if simple and fun and even though you'll often get maimed in the dungeon by a horde of monsters its not really that disheartening. The game lacks where it seems most games today focus all their time. The musical and graphical aspects. So if you want a game that's engaging because its pretty and shiney this is not the game for you. If you want a game that is fun at the gameplay core and not to time consuming this is the game for you. 3/5

God of War 2 (PS2)

2007-04-11T13:12:00.000-05:00

We've finally decided to give each of our names separate accounts into the blog, so from this post on, just see who the poster is to see the reviewer. That said, let's begin the review.

Story: You play as Kratos, who after having killed Ares is now the god of war. He's managed to piss off the other gods of Olympus, which makes Zeus decide to betray Kratos. Seekign revenge for this injustice, Kratos receives the aid of Gaia, and goes about gaining the powers of the fates to change history. The game incorporates a lot of Greek mythology, some of it even accurate. Kratos isn't a warm and fuzzy loveable character, but he is what he is. 4/5

Audio: The characters have voice overs at parts, which sound good. The music itself is mediocre. I can't really remember it that well other, though I seem to have some recollection of it sounded intense during battle scenes. 3/5

Graphics: The cutscenes have very nice looking FMV, while the game itself is pretty too. The stages aren't horribly detailed, but they look decent. The camera is fixed, which annoyed me some, but it's not bad, and it does suit the genre. 4/5

Gameplay: The gameplay is rather simple. You attack with square and triangle, grab people with circle, and jump with X. R1 lets you interact with the world, L1 blocks, L2 casts magic, and R2 switches weapons. There are three main areas of focus in the game: fighting, puzzle solving, and boss fights. The fighting isn't terribly complicated, hit monsters with attacks. The puzzle solving usually involves interacting with the world so you can move on. Kick a block here, hit a pendulem there. The boss fights involve a little of both. Obviously there's attacking, but there is also solving puzzles to figure out the best way to attack. Occasionally you'll also get prompts to hit certain buttons. Successfully doing this allows you to be successful in a special move, failure means the monster will probably hurt you. Defeating enemies will give you red orbs which you can use to upgrade your weapons and magic. It's nothign too difficult to handle, and you'll usually get prompts when you're supposed to do a particular action. 5/5

Replay: You could replay to try the game at a harder difficulty, but it's not necessary for any reason. 2/5

Overall: The game is a good action play. If you like runnign around killing things while jumpign around and climbing walls, this is for you. 4/5

delayed review

2007-04-08T11:51:00.000-05:00

Don't expect the next review until Wednesday

Lumines Plus (PS2)

2007-04-01T18:05:00.000-05:00

Reviewed by Kit

Another day where I don't feel like writing out a long review. Luckily this game isn't deeply in depth, so we should be okay.

Story: It's a puzzle game, so there is no story. Nor does it need it. 1/5

Audio: The music isn't great, but it keeps up upbeat as you play the game. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics aren't that impressive, but again, it's a puzzle game. you get the general idea of what you need to do and the background graphics fill the background. 3/5

Gameplay: The purpose of the game is to drop multicolor squares in hopes to make squares of the same color. It is much more difficult than it sounds. There is standard mode, multiplayer mode, and puzzle mode. In puzzle mode you are given a shape that you have to make using colors. The game is simple to do, and difficult master. 4/5

Replay: It's a game designed for replay. Whether you want to increase your top score or unlock more backgrounds and music, there is always more reason to play. 5/5

Overall: It's a good game with good replay value. I'd recommend it for peopel who like tetris and similar shape forming games. 4/5

Dance Dance Revolution Universe (360)

2007-03-25T10:37:00.000-05:00

Reviewed by Kit

Just a long day, so let's get this over with.

Story: For the most part, there is no story. You just get on your dance pad and dance. However, in quest mode, there is a bit of a story where you are trying to be the greatest dancer in the country. This is also a way to unlock more songs. Not much of a story, not much of a story needed. 2/5

Audio: Music is an essential part of the game, and this one delivers. Not all of the songs are that great, but there is a variety, and everyone should be able to find at least one they like. My favorite is the one that remixes Castlevania music. 4/5

Graphics: The graphics aren't great, but you don't need stellar graphcis to enjoy. All you really need is to be able to read the arrows as the scroll over the screen, which is easy enough to do. You have the option to change your dancer, or get rid of the dancer completely. 3/5

Gameplay: If you've played one DDR, you'll have no problem with this. Basically get on your mat and do as the arrows indicate. The actual moving requires some effort and skill, but after time you to will be able to jump around without looking completely foolish. You can adjust the difficulty and settings from the song choice menu, so you won't have to worry about going back and forth. Besides the game mode, there is also quest mode, workout mode, and others. All of them involve dancing around, of course. With this DDR you can go into xbox live and play against friends as well. Simple, yet addictive. 4/5

Replay: It's a great party game, good for friends, and a nice workout as well. Plus with the 360s gamer acheivement records, you'll want to play again and again to unlock them all. 5/5

Overall: I recommend it for peopel who like videogames and want to do some sort of physical activity. So if you like DDR and have a 360, this is a good buy. 4/5

Samurai Warriors 2 Empires (PS2/360)

2007-03-20T12:03:00.000-05:00

Alright its Yuuki here with a review of Samurai Warriors 2 Empires. A game with a lot of fun and a really long name.

Gameplay: If you've ever played any of the Dynasty or previous Samurai Warrior games you know how this is handled. You basically run around maiming all the enemies until you own all of Japan. There are also these nifty little tactics that function in a Rock Scissors Paper sort of way that you can use to get a jump on your opponent by trumping there's. 4/5

Story:There really isn't to much of a story mostly because, though you can follow the first bit of the game historically someone is going to mess it up. Normally its you and sometimes the A.I. just gets bored and goes on a killing spree. 3/5

Graphics: Not much of an improvement on either systemns though the 360 looks quite nice. The flip side of that is the graphics are only minorly important to the joy of the game. 3/5

Audio:Great music and some pretty cool voice actors. But its nothing that wasn't in the games less strategic counter part. 3/5

Replay: So many things to unlock from art to movies and events. Weapons, characters, and so much more. The game can provide hours or even days of fun. 4/5

Overall: Alright here it is. The game is fun and theres a good amount of content to unlock and play around with. The main problem is that its not much differnt from any of is dynasty counter parts. It falls short on uniqueness and sadly the good gameplay doesn't pick up the slack. 3/5

Rogue Galaxy (PS2)

2007-03-11T12:28:00.000-05:00

Hey boys and girls its Yuuki here and I've been up all night playing Rogue Galaxy. A nice little Rog about space and pirates from our friends at Level 5 or as some know them "The Makers".

Gameplay: Let's see...well basically it plays like any other RPG. Run around get into fights and kill things. Though the game has a nice real time fighting arena most of the time you'll find yourself wondering where you actually are. The AI is well programmed and even helpful definately a nice change of pace from previous games in general. 3/5

Story: A main point in RPGs. Here you are a kid of gets wrapped up in being a space pirate and then in some destiny, world saving events. Here in Rogue galaxy you'll notice the story is relatively predictable and the most of the story feels tired and used. Characters also seem a little thin and lacking in the background. 2/5

Graphics: As with most games of these days the graphics are actually really good and give you a feeling of playing an anime of some other actiony cartoon. The game does a good job of spacing out its graphics not to many crazy over the top cutscenes that make the less programmed cutscenes look like claymation. 4/5

Audio: Yay audio that's not sickening. Here's why the music at first is kinda blah but then starts to get really cool as you run around space and be all piratey. Also you have the joy of hearing some of your favorite voice actors from other games an animes. They really have a pretty good cast. 4/5

Replay: The games isn't exactly short and I never determined if there was a plus game but do to the story not having that much merit I wouldn't suggest a replay atlest not anytime soon. 1/5

Overall: Okay here are the goods and bads of this game. Its fun but the plot is dry. Characters are entertaining and exciting at first but soon lose their luster. The graphics and audio are both pretty good but they should have been used to a little better for character develpment and general plot touch ups. So here's what I say The game is actually fun but I wouldn't pay full price for it. There are better things to do with your money but if you see it used I'd pick it up if for no other reason than because it has Xiahou Dun in space. 3/5

Diddy Kong Racing DS (NDS)

2007-03-07T09:56:00.000-05:00

Hi boys and girls its me Yuuki here with Diddy Kong Racing for the DS. Though basically a remake there are a few new things that make it acceptable.

Gameplay: Well its the same as previous versions of the game. Go, stop, shoot giant missle and steer. Now though there is a little moment before each race where the mic and the touch screen are used in order to get a little boost. You use the stylus or blow in the mic depending on the vechicle to obtain a boost at the begining of the match. 4/5

Story: Other than a few new characters its the same as the last one you race to beat the evil pig monster and at the end you race him. The only real difference now besides the characters is the miny games that you are required to do to progress. Some are fun most are annoying tedium. 2/5

Graphics: Being a port from the 64 it doesn't look very different. Nothings changed much here other than the glitches of the 64 have been removed. 2/5

Audio: Okay like the orginal all the themes outside the races are the smae song repeating in different tempos...its cute at first then its freaking annoying. The race themes though are fun and its nice to hear your opponents curse at you in there little animal talk. 3/5

Replay: Well if you played the orginal then this is a replay or more like an expansion pack and if you haven't then you'll prolly only play through once. The saving grace is the mulitplayer is almost on par with Mario Kart. 3/5

Overall: Okay the game is good except for the fact it just a port with touch screen friendly stuff added on most of which are just tedium and not really that enjoyable. Beat the game design your own vehicles and racetracks and race with your friends and you'll find your value in this game. 3/5

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (DS)

2007-03-04T18:46:00.000-05:00

Reviewed by Kit

So then, hi and welcome. Today we'll be looking at this unique DS game that is stylized like a film noir. Let's get to reviewing, shall we?

Story: You take on the role of Kyle Hyde, an ex-New York cop who quit his job 2 years ago and desperately searches for his former partner while working as a salesman. One day he is sent to Hotel Dusk in order to retrieve some lost items for a client, a side job of his. Once there he discovers that everyone has a secret, and some secrets are connected with his former partner. The entire game is extremely plot heavy, and it's an interesting mystery plot to get sucked into. 5/5

Graphics: The characters in the gameare all given a hand drawn sketch look while the backgrounds are more 3D style. Each of the characters has a series of poses to reflect their mood as they're talking. Overall the graphics aren't so much as impressive as they fit the game atmosphere perfectly. 4/5

Audio: The music for the game is gritty. It fills out the detective story plot well. Like the graphics, the audio not perfect in itself, but with the game, it's good. 4/5

Gameplay: In order to play you hold the DS on its side almost like a book. With the touch screen you control where you walk and if you interact with your surroundings. You can also go into your inventory screen and notebook screen from this menu. The right screen will show you what Kyle is looking at. When in conversation, Kyle will be on one screen and the other person on the touch screen. Occasionally you will be able to hit an icon on the touch screen to indicate you have more to ask the person about that topic. The challenge of the game is the puzzles, which often involve using the touch screen. These puzzles are sometimes easy and sometimes insane to figure out what the game wants you to do. 4/5

Replay: There is a plus version of the game, but other than a few changes, it is essentially the same thing. 2/5

Overall: This is a text heavy game that is very good. if you like puzzles and mysteries I highly recommend it. if you want action or can't read, this is not for you. 4/5

Ar Tonelico (PS2)

2007-02-28T12:20:00.000-05:00

Reviewed by Kit

Hello, boys and girls, today we're looking at the most recent gaming gem from NIS/Gust. So let's begin.

Story: You take the role of Lyner Barsett, a young man who serves as a knight of Elemia in a beautiful city near the top of the tower. Maybe I should do some back story. People in this world live around a giant tower known as Ar Tonelico. Some live on floating lands near it (these are the lower lands and are generally looked down upon by the upper lands) and some live near the top. In the middle are a tribe of people known as terus that prevent upper and lower landers from meeting. There are also people known as Reyveitals whose job it is to sing and provide backup to the warriors they serve. The tower occasionally has issues with viruses, which the knights of Elemia kill. One day though, new unstoppable viruses appear, and Lyner is sent to the lower lands in an airship to find a crystal that can wipe these new threats out. Once there he meets a some new friends who can help him on his mission. The basic story is the usual overused fare, but this doesn't make it any less fun. 3/5

Audio: The voice acting is bad, I won't lie. The voice actors themselves are fairly well known, so why they mostly fail, I just can't say. The worst in my opinion is the voice of Jack, which is somewhat highpitched and whiney for his older veteran role. Luckily, it's easy to skip through the dialogue without having to listen to it, or you could adjust your sound settings. The music, on the other hand, is beautiful. Generally the background songs are soothing. Some tracks even have vocals to bring to mind the reyveitals that are singing. 4/5

Graphics: The character sprites are a bit on the lower end of the spectrum. They're not unappealing, but they're certainly not absolutely gorgeous. All the characters have anime portraits that usually alter in the face to display emotion, and these are very lovely. The backgrounds as well are hand painted art that look beautiful. 4/5

Gameplay: There are quite a few aspects that must be brushed on in this section. First, we'll talk about Reyveitals. A lot of reviews call this a dating RPG, and while I'm not sure that's the best classification, there are some similarities. As Lyner, you must dive into the subconscious of the girls to learn their inner feelings and help them learn new song magic. The deeper you dive, the more the girls will coem to like you. In order to dive into the girls you need two things: dive points, which you earn in battles, and conversations, which you have with the girls while staying at inns or camping. Diving deeper also unlocks alternate costumes for the girls which you can wear in battles. The costumes have different bonuses, but it's mostly fun just to cosplay. Another aspect with the girls is installing, where you put crystals into their body to boost various song magics. Both diving and installing have the most hilarious dialogue involved because both are talked about as if they're sex. It's all so delightfully dirty sounding. Once you have learned song magics, you will find the girls very useful in battles. Most songs have a limit to how many times you can sing them, which refills as you fight more battles. At the bottom of the battle screen are two bars. The blue and purple one is the harmonics bar, which fills when the warriors or reyveitals act. The red bar above it fills when the reyveital uses song magic, and it is vitally important for getting good drops. To the left of the red bar are little harmonics crystals, which if you fill all of them (only one is there at first, more appear as you fill the red bar) you get more drops. Battles are turn based, with the reyveital working in her own little world. You can command her at any point. The warriors are also responsible for guarding the reyveital, should an enemy have an attack that would go over the warriors. After battles you are allotted experience and dive points depending on your performance. Another aspect of the game is grathmelding. It is essentially a crafting system. You find recipe cards, gather the ingredients, and make the item. The best weapons and armor are made from these recipes. The gameplay is simple, but it's also very fun. 5/5

Replay: This game offers some replay value with alternate endings and various choice paths throughout the game. 4/5

Overall: It's not the greatest game out there, but it's entertaining, cute, and time consuming. I'd recommend it for anyone who likes the Atelier games as well as anyone who likes just plain fun RPGs. 4/5

Romance of the Three Kingdoms 11 (PS2/PC)

2007-02-26T14:02:00.000-05:00

Yuuki here boys and girls with a truly amazing game. Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI which is also entirely to long to say so it will be referred to as ROTK. Truly a diamond in the rough for Koei. The game is based on the Romance era of China focusing around the later Han and the empires to follow it. The games true basing ifs from the Novel of the same name, much like the games Dynasty warriors and Dynasty tactics. So let's begin...

Gameplay: A large part of the game is the strategy behind running a kingdom. You must employ and pay officers, recruit and train solider as well as outfit them with weapons. Research technologies to stay ahead of the competition. The combination of millitary, political, and domestic options makes the game very expansive. The game offers a huge variety of options in how to play and rule making it and excellent play. 5/5

Story: The story itself is pretty much optional. You can play through where real historical events take place and enjoy the thrill of living history. Then there is a more fictional play where the events don't happen and things are a little more in your control. Though you can always run up and take out someone and send the events into chaos. 4/5

Graphics: Well the game is much more brushed up then its previous incarnations. The art style of the terrian has a feel of the painting of that era. With defined outlined and long brush strokes. Officer portraits are amazing more so for the PC of course. Battle and skill animation give you a great sense of accomplishment when the succeed. 5/5

Audio: ROTK has always had excellently composed music. Amazing battle themes that make you want to pick up your halberd and march off to war. Soft melodies that make you fill like your in a zen garden and others that make you long for the all the Romance of the Romance era. 5/5

Replay: The game has amazingly expansive variety. In the Officers you play from history or the ones you create. Building you build and cities you siege. There is really to much to do in one play through and add the multiplayer and your good to go for a long while. 5/5

Overall: Here it is this game is awesome for those of you who love strategy. Hours upon hours of playtime between creating officers getting events and everything else and to be honest there is even more than I've talked about here. Officer to Officer relationships...marriage children...tactics, ploys and so much more. Truly an epic game. 5/5

Inuyasha: Secret of the Divine Jewel (DS)

2007-02-22T16:01:00.000-05:00

Reviewed by Kit

A day late, but that's ok. I'm sure you all weren't dying of anticipation.

Story: A new classmate of Kagome's finds herself drawn into the well and appears in feudal Japan. Shortly thereafter she discovers she has the power of a god locked inside of her, and demons are hunting after her. With the help of Inuyasha and friends she goes in search of what all of this means. The story's not great, but it gets you moving from place to place. 3/5

Audio: The music is taken from the anime, and sounds very nice. 4/5

Graphics: The graphics aren't spectacular, but characters all have their own anime portrait which is nice. Also, special attacks have brief animated clips which are appealing. 4/5

Gameplay: You can use the stylus for the game but it isn't necessary. The map is kept on the top screen while your status/inventory menu is kept on the bottom. You have HP and EP. EP are a number of bars and doing actions in battle will drain them. Each round you will restore a EP back. There is also a moon err...thing that shows the phasese of the moon so that when it's new, a certain half demon turns human. Though there probably isn't more than an average RPG, it feels like random battles are very frequent. You'll occasionally pick up items that you can use, but there is no descriptions of them, so you don't know what they do. 2/5

Replay: No reason to replay, I wouldn't recommend it. 1/5

Overall: The game is another failed attempt to make a videogame out of an anime. I'd pass on it, if I were you. 2/5

Paws & Claws Pet Vet (DS)

2007-02-18T19:25:00.000-05:00

Reviewed by Kit

So, we're trying to catch up on the reviews that got delayed. Today is the only day we'll do two at once, but we're going to do reviews on Wednesdays again for a few weeks until we've gotten to that equilibrium point. Anyway that said, let's review this game.

Plot: You are a young female vet out to become a great vet by expanding your business. it's not a great plot, but really it doesn't need to be. 3/5

Audio: The music was ok. Nothign special. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics are fairly decent. The main character walks around her grounds. You can see customers coming in and out. When talking to people, they each have drawn graphics. The graphics are pretty decent for the DS, realistic and well done. 4/5

Gameplay: The purpose of the game is to improve your vet practice. You'll have to buy medications for you patients and wait for clients to arrive at your office. Treating each pet will earn you some money. As you earn enoguh you can grow your practice in a variety of ways. You can increase your building sizes, add new buildings, or take courses to be able to treat more animals. The days work on a clock, clients will show up only at certain times during the day. When treating a pet, you will have some dialogue discussing the symptoms and treatment. You will then treat the pet according to the guide. Once you build pet houses you will have some patients that stay multiple days, which means you must remember to treat them daily as well as feed them. The gameplay is simple, but not necessarily easy. 4/5

Replay: While the game is involving and entertaining, it's not necessarily something you'd replay after you unlocked all the achievements. 2/5

Overall: The game is surprisingly compelling. It is definitely aimed for young girls. The balancing of pet care and running errands and working in the vet clinic make the game something worth playing. 4/5

Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles (PS2)

2007-02-18T10:21:00.000-05:00

Hey guys Yuuki here with my review of Naruto: the Uzumaki Chronicles. A fun game in a fun seires which seems to have a bad habit of ruining excellent Japanese games. Did they ruin this one? Let’s find out.

Gameplay: Ok you will be playing Naruto as well as an assortment of his ninja buddies. As you run around beating up bad guys you have a couple different abilities, these include Ninjitsu and Taijitsu. Each character has different skills and you’ll have to balance them to make them work to your advantage. You also have a skill chip system. Using these you can customize your characters to be the Ninja you want with tougher attack or better Techniques. 4/5

Story: The basic Story is your Naruto and you run around going through the everyday life from the anime. You’ll go on missions meet and recruit your ninja buddies and in general beat things up. The story is hit or miss at sometimes especially in relation to the anime and manga and sometimes a bit kiddy. 3/5

Graphics: The game is like a living version of the anime. Areas and landscapes look just like the show and are fun to run around in. Characters and enemies look good too though at times can feel a little generic. 3/5

Audio: As everyone knows I hate when US companies ruin Japanese products with bad voice acting. This is no exception simple put even if you had never heard the Japanese the English are still terrible. Otherwise the game is still only sub-par at best the music is drool and the voices are only worse. 1/5

Replay: I can’t seem this game really being that replayable. In all truth most people will just either get bored or annoyed a quit early. 1/5

Overall: Here it is. The game is fun but the novelty wears off and the characters become annoying. The main fun of the game is being the different characters and seeing all there techniques but this wears off soon. I’d say just rent this if you’re a fan you’ll get bored with it soon enough. 3/5

Blogger Issues

2007-02-15T14:58:00.000-05:00

Sorry for not being around, we've had some issues with our lovely blogger site here. Things should be good now, so we'll have some more reviews coming soon.

-Yuukit

Thrillville (PS2, PSP, X-Box)

2007-02-04T10:22:00.000-05:00

Reviewed by Kit

So, as always, I'm not in the mood for a long introduction. Let's see what this week brings us.

Story: You eccentric genius uncle has decided to leave the running of his theme park in your hands while he goes into a small little shed and invents things. Not a bad story, more than is needed certainly, but it's nothing great either. 3/5

Audio: The background music is some punk/rock stylings that might actually be famous songs, but if they are I didn't recognize them. They fit the mood that the game seems to be going for, which is, we're cool and hip and everyone should love us. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics are pretty good. Not compeltely realistic but everyone looks like a person with distinguishing features. Riding the rides is neat looking too. 4/5

Gameplay: As the manager of a theme park you have five important tasks. First you must invest in ride development. You must also talk to the customers to learn opinions, train the staff, and palce and test the rides as they become available. You are limited to a power bar which means that you must have power to make all the rides work, and you cannot place any rides that would put you on a negative power gauge. At the beginnings of the game you are allowed to design what your character will look like, from age to clothing to colors. Once in the park you walk around as your charactertalking to people and performing your duties. Each of the five categories of duties has challenges to become available. By completing these challenges you are able to earn money to improve your park. The gameplay is fairly simple, but it's not terribly exciting. 3/5

Replay: As the game is open-ended already, I doubt there is much need to replay it at all. 1/5

Overall: Overall, it's not a bad game, but I think it could be better. What annoyed me most about the game was it's seeming need to be cool. Where it could have been a fun sim game that allowed console players to make a themepark, it turned into something that was not terribly thought provoking and allowed console players to walk around talking to customers and riding rides. It's not bad, but it could have tried a little harder to not be just a little mindless. 3/5

Yoshi Island DS (NDS)

2007-01-29T11:19:00.000-05:00

Hey you boy and girls out there its Yuuki here with Yoshi's Island on the DS. Not to be mistaken as a remake the game is more like an expansion or a fun sequel. Ok here we go.

Story: You take on the role of our favorite multi-colored heros the Yoshis. The evil Koopa are stealing babies from all over the world and its up to you and the your baby friends to stop them.
Along with the many Yoshis you'll have a few babies with unquie abilities to lend you a hand. Just don't lose them cause that crying sound could wake the dead. 4/5

Gameplay: Your Yoshi and what's Yoshi's best ability. Hurling its unborn young at people. Although a bit creepy it is quite effective to pelt your foes with eggs made from their allies. You also have the elp of the babies who all have unique abilities to help you get around. Like Peach and her parasol allowing you to ride gusts of air to new heights or baby DK and his vine swinging. Switch babies and unlock all the fun. 5/5

Graphics: The game is a brushed up version of its older counter part. So the graphics haven't improved greatly but they do still look pretty good. Though its hard to make the game amazing looking but it really game through for what the game needed. 4/5

Audio: Turn it off if you tend to get hit alot vause thse babies are really annoying. Otherwise its acutally pretty cool. All the level have awesome little themes that make you feel warm and fuzzy. 3/5

Replay: There are some unlockables but not many the game falls short in its ability to hold your attention for more than 1 play through. 2/5

Overall: OK here's the whoel thing the game isn't terribly long but it is fun. Though the sound of screaming babies will make you want to tear out your ear drums but if you can get over that and the creepy egg thing its an awesome game. Good fun without all the crazy blood, gore, and general ridiculousness of most games. 4/5

Cartoon Network Racing (PS2)

2007-01-21T12:37:00.000-05:00

Hey guys and gals its Yuuki here with Cartoon Network Racing. Let me say this...its cartoon network mario cart.

Gameplay: The game actually plays almost exactly like mario cart double dash. There are items and you can have a teammate who rides on the back of your car. There is drifting and the only unique thing is a toon gauge. The toon gauge works by filling when you drift and when you hit onther racer and when its full you can use your special which varies from speed boost to a super attack. Not to bad though if you can get past the faact its a rip off. 3/5

Story: There really isn't one but its also a racing game it doesn't need one. Just race your way through some of your favorite CN shows and play as your favorite characters. These include Courage the cowardly dog, Powerpuff girls, Dexter's Lab, and many more. 2/5

Graphics: The game isn't exactly pretty but the characters are tried and true and look like they've been taken straight from your TV and made 3D. Specials are unique enough and weapons basically all just blow something up. 2/5

Audio: As far as I could tell there isn't any music during the race. There is though all the characters actual voices, which is funny cause like in the show Mojojojo never shuts up. Other than the voices the Audio is kinda not there literally. 1/5

Replay: Being its a a novelty game its all a matter of how quickly that wears off. I'd say if you had younger sibling or family play it with them and score some brownie points with you parentals. Other than that there is no reason to keep this game long. 2/5

Overall: The game really is just a novelty game and for most of you its going to wear off fast. That being said, it seems they disn't put a great deal of time into the programming as no matter what your car stats are they all work about they same. Most racer, support character, and car combos do all the same thing. All in all avoid it or use it to entertain the younglings. 2/5

Brain Boost: Beta Wave (DS)

2007-01-15T14:41:00.000-05:00

Reviewed by Kit

Hmm, nothing to introduce this, so we'll begin.

Story: It's a game designed to boost your brain activity, what story could there be? And yet, they made one. Why? Sheer stupidity I think. The story, what I paid attention to anyway, is that you're some weird little creatures that are going from planet to planet solving puzzles to help the people of the other planets so they'll help you. It was completely unnecessary and not remotely entertaining. 1/5

Audio: The music was uninteresting. It was occasionally obnoxious, but I really didn't pay that much attention to it. 2/5

Graphics: The graphics are those brightly colored overly childish looking style. Since the game is basically doing puzzles. 3/5

Gameplay: This game relies on the stylus, but it's useful in this case. One annoyance is that you can't just click something to go into that option/game/etc. You have to select the object then hit the select button at the bottom of the screen. Gameplay works like this, you go to one planet, are told you have to find something, and to find it you must do the five types of puzzles and get high enough scores on each. After succeeding, you move to the next planet and do the same. It's by no means difficult, though it's very boring. 3/5

Replay: Sure you can replay if you want to keep boosting your abilities, but I wouldn't recommend it. 2/5

Overall: It's not a good buy. If you want something like this go with brain age or big brain academy. 2/5

Out of Town!

2007-01-12T15:46:00.000-05:00

Gone for the weekend, expect late review.

Baten Kaitos Origins (GC)

2007-01-07T13:37:00.000-05:00

Reviewed by Kit

Today we're reviewing Baten Kaitos Origins, and because I have nothing to say, let's move on in this.

Story: You play the guardian spirit to Sagi, a young spiriter who recently joined the private army of a noble. Your first assignment is to kill the emperor, when things go horribly wrong. Someone else already does it, and your friends in the army decide to double cross you and arrest you instead. As you're fleeing, your machine friend Guillo goes psycho and beats into a boss you just decide was unbeatable. And with each punch your head hurts more until you can't take it anymore and you wake up in some other place. After some following people around you discover you were in a dream of sorts, and things are still pretty bad in reality. The story progresses as such with twists and turns along the way. Occasionally you'll meet character who appear in the original Baten Kaitos, which takes place 20 years after Origins. Another important character who later joins you is Milly, who steps in to save you. The story is good, thoguh it takes time to get into. 3/5

Audio: The voice acting is mediocre. they try their best, but it's nothing outstanding. The music itself isn't bad. I can't remember any off the top of my head though. 3/5

Graphics: The graphics are well done. The backgrounds are beautifully rendered and the characters each have a special portrait. 4/5

Gameplay: From what I gather, this is the part where it's hit or miss with people. They've altered the battle system from the original, and for the worse I feel. Your characters still controls a deck of cards to make his moves, but instead of being able to use a certain number per turn, you must chain the cards. That is, if you want a combo you begin like this, usign a 0 card (weapon or armor) the using a 1 card (weak attack) then a 2 (medium attack) then a 3 (strong attack) then a 4 (special attack). Of course you can skip some parts in the chain, but you have to make sure you are constantly increasing. Using items or random skills will prevent any linking. After each battle you are fully healed....and an annoying voice tells you that you've won. Outside of battles you still collect magnus from the areas around you. Some are quest items, and some just give you stat bonuses while you hold them. There are sidequests all over the place to do. Some are interesting, and many are fetch me this particular item on your magnus. 3/5

Replay: No reason for replay. 2/5

Overall: It had lots of potential, but I think it fell short. I'd highly recommend the first over this one. 3/5

Guitar Hero 2 (PS2)

2007-01-03T21:04:00.000-05:00

Hey boys and girls it's Yuuki with my review of Guitar Hero 2. Not much is changed here so there isn't alot to talk about.

Gameplay: Alright the game is simple. Just hit the notes when they come by. The notes are either cords on the guitar attachment or the shoulder buttons and "x". As you play through you unlock more songs and difficulties. It's all the same as the last one. 3/5

Story: The story is basically nothing. You can pick a character and go through the career mode which takes you from venue to venue. 2/5

Audio: This is where the game shines but thats because its the focus point. The songs are fun tho today's audience may only know a few of them. But even though the songs are different its still the same as the previous version. 4/5

Graphics: The graphic are sub-par at best but they don't really need to be flashy. The games general fun overlaps them pretty easily. 2/5

Replay: After you unlock everything its fun to get family and friends together to play and sing along all these great and obscur songs. It's got good party value but sometimes feels stale. 3/5

Overall: The game is basically an extension of its previous version. No real new content other than a few characters and songs. It's just the same and if you've played the first one the novelty of the new songs wears off quick. 3/5

Happy Birthday!

2007-01-02T17:38:00.000-05:00

Game Ranters is over a year old now. I can't believe it. Seems like only yesterday when someone told me that I might as well write reviews for games since I play so many. And here we are, a year later, still palying games, and still writing reviews.
Now as for our typical Sunday review...because of the Holidays and general celebratory laziness, it didn't happen. Expect Guitar Hero II review up tomorrow, and then back to Sundays. We'll probably end up only doing 1 review a week for a while.

Thanks for stopping by,
Kit and Yuuki