Dark Cloud

Dark Cloud, a game published by level5, and a small blimp on Sony's PS2 massive rpg lineup. The game wasn't revolutionary, but it sure was fun.

Story:

As....no it's pretty weird. Some guy releases an evil Genie that destroys the world, so you stop him. Simple yes? The weird part is the fact you build the world back together, and the twists at the end. 

For the most part, this is the bad guy:

Now, the downfall to the story is it's knee deep. Other than going into "how you rebuild it" or "what helps you" is irrelevant/spoilish to some, so this is all I can say.

Story: 75/100


Gameplay:


Half bland, half awesome. The weapon upgrading system of building up stats and leveling the weapons up is amazing. The redoing dungeons fifty million times to get jewels with really stale combat is terrible. That kills the game for me. Running around hitting stuff with X and hoping you get jewels, if not, exit and re-enter. It'd be one thing if the combat was fun, but...

It's not.

Building the towns back was a savior to the gameplay, though. The biggest reason probably being the townspeople had requests and favors, so you were a mini architect.

Dungeons as mentioned earlier, are very stale. Self-generated floors that look bland with few options of exploration besides back rooms that are rarely worth it. Not trying to hate on the game, but this made getting the weapons and stuff to have 100% evil.

Gameplay: 65/100


Graphics:


For an early Ps2 game, it looks great. The cel shade is nice, check the two pictures above. (The Genie in particular) It isn't FFXII material, but you have to remember how much older this game is. I saw no problems with the graphics.

Graphics: 100/100


Controls:


Again, no real problem, except for the fact they are stale. Run around, swing your sword, that's about it. The game had a lot of "square" feel too it as well, like everything was on a big grid. Nitpicky, but still.

Controls: 85/100


The bottom line:


It's not bad, but just an rpg. Nothing more, get it or don't

75+100+85+65=81, passable rpg game!




Next time (my day off), Pokemon Water Trio!

Another quick review...no? Update!

Pokemon will start up again on my next day off, followed by Dark Cloud review than SMG2. I know hardly anyone reads this, but it isn't dead. Just been really busy with the holidays.

Sorry~

Holidays

Not really doing much on holidays, just fyi. Next week will star the Water Trio one plus 2~3 more reviews!

Aiming for:

Super Mario Galaxy 2

Dark Cloud

Baten Kaitos

Final Fantasy VII (As a friend said, what we need now to revive jrpgs)

One of my personal favorites, a trend setter, constantly called "overrated" and above all, delivered. This game defines jrpgs, so let us take a look inside what made the game so stellar.

Story:

Quite simple, evil people killing the world, a good guy gone bad, Cloud is the apathetic main character who has a band of "heroes" who save the world. Of course it's much deeper than that, the evil people (Shinra) leading into the ancient history of Jenova and why Sephiroth (the now bad guy) is so bad. It's all confusing at first, especially the Cloud parts, but in the end I find it fitting nicely. Even better, the compilation's story lines actually help clear it up and further refine it. I could go much deeper into this, but unlike 95% jrpgs, this storyline is worth figuring out yourself.

100/100

Gameplay:

This is the main revolutionary point. The game play is an active time battle rpg with commands much like the previous Final Fantasy's. The biggest difference is Materia, which holds magic, skills, abilities, and even summons. You level this up, get new ones, and customize characters. This jrpg was revolutionary for having such a vast way of creating character builds unlike ever before.

As for the rest, it's an exploration non-linear jrpg that Square Enix needs to remember so they can create positive jrpgs once again.

I'd show pictures, but a game this old most know what they're looking at.

100/100

Graphics & Sound:

For the time, good graphics. Not much I can say for that, though I will admit the better graphics in XIII did leave most envious.

In terms of sound, amazing. The soundtrack was beautiful, every song having a special ring. 

100/100 Both

Replay Value:

Amazing. All I can say is, I've beaten it four times at least.

Total: 100!

Sorry for a quick review, need to get some of these out of the way, and well.. this one is a fairly simple one. Everyone knows FFVII, so all I can review is the basics really.

Till next time! 

Pokemon: Episode II

Sorry for the break, but onward with the latest installment of the Pokemon Episodes!

Pokemon Episode II: Fire Trio (4, 5, 6)


4: Charmander(4)

In Game:

In the early installments (the generation he was a starter), Charmander had a rough time being useful in the beginning, but towards the end opted to be quite useful. Brock & Misty frankly would destroy him, and didn't fare too well against Lt. Surge. The gyms after that, however, we're a cake walk for him.(As he evolved!) Anything past Gen I you had to go out of your way to get him, and I can't imagine why.

Aesthetics:

One of the cutest starters to date. You can blatantly see where they got Agumon from, too.

Etc.

Not much else to say, get him evolved and it's pretty straightforward.

96/100

5: Charmeleon(5)

In Game:


Again, anything past Gen I there was no need to get him. The path in Gen I is the same as Charmander, too.

Aesthetics:


I actually never cared for Charmeleon that much. His colors and design do not fit the Charmander>Charizard part of the evolution line.Still, looking at some Gen IV Pokemons, he definitely holds up.

Etc:


Again, not much left I can add except he is my least favorite of the this trio.

75/100

In Game:


In Gen I, he can arguably be the best starter to go with towards the end. Anything past Gen I you'd need to go out of your way to get, which I totally recommend. Now, this is where we can get into Metagame. Due to Stealth Rock he fell down to NU during Gen IV (being decent pre-that), and now in Gen V it seems he may be of use yet again. Stealth Rock appears to be dying out, and dreamworld offers him a new ability.

Aesthetics:


Best looking fire starter Pokemon, hands down. From the wings,  to the facial features, the the flame on his tail, Charizard is a pinnacle of badass in Pokemon.

Etc:


Not much else to say, except in Metagame I hope to see his usefulness rise. I also would like to add Charizard and Jaroda are tied as my favorite starter of all time.

100/100




Overall: 90/100


Until next time (review)~

Metroid: Other M

I was so excited for this. Despite the Prime series being completely epic, I still hungered for a old time Metroid game. And with today's game play and mechanics, this was the closest thing too it. Sadly, with lack of content, odd difficulty settings, and minor define flaws this Metroid makes itself one of the weakest installments in the decade.

Story: 85/100

Really I had no problem with the story. It explains a lot of things that lead into Fusion, and Samus is portrayed as a human being. Most fans say that she acts like a wimp, especially during a certain scene...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPQ5GDld-5w

Regardless if you watch it, Samus freaks out about Ridley. It makes it seem like even though she never had a problem with him in the past 5 fights, why now? I can see this argument, but she's also never had emotion, so I think it fit alright. Also seeing old members of the military probably stirred memories up, but whatever. 

More into the story, it explains a bottleship that was used to create another Space Pirate Army, and the game is about crushing that ship and stopping the revival of a new AI similar to mother. (Revival..more like warfare)

The story is quite simple really, and takes place after Super Metroid..

Metroid > prime 1 > prime 2 > prime3 > M II > SM > Other M > Fusion (for those who didn't know)

All in all the story is an 85, didn't wow me, didn't have Prime's scan feature to figure it out yourself, but it was okay.

Sound: 94/100

Amazing as usual. I love the Metroid themes, though they did sound a bit different on this game compared to Prime, but still. The Ridley theme was as awesome as ever. Memorable music, if you ask me.

Graphics: 100/100

Some of the best on the Wii. I'm stunned the Wii can even go this far...

That looks absolutely beautiful, and flawless for the Wii in my opinion.

Gameplay: 90/100

It has the great third person I wanted, yet it feels too much like Ninja Gaiden (wonder why) I love it, but I wished there wasn't invisible walls everywhere (common Ninja Gaiden theme back in the day, no?) I also wish you didn't stand still in FPS mode. I wish you could just fire the missiles in third person. Other than that, the combat is smooth and flawless. The game's difficulties were also a bit off for me, making the hard runs very different, and not very inspiring.

Value: 60/100

This is where they dropped the ball. It takes twenty hours max for 100%, which is pathetic. Most Metroids take way more, Prime takes around 40 for all three difficulties (55 for me). The Trilogy takes 100+, etc.

Also the cutscenes that make a movie make a very disjointed and annoying movie. So hardly any replay value is installed in this game at all.

Bottom Line:

If you don't mind it being short, or not living up to the other installments, it's a great game, but it's not worth 50 dollars. If it had more content it would've been amazing, but it just feels half made towards the end. Yet you still praise it, because what they did make was pretty okay. 

85+94+100+90+60

Score: 85.8


Next Time: Episode II Pokemon & then Metroid Prime Trilogy!

Pokemon: Episode I

Alright, so before we get into this, know I spent the last four days working/getting my sexy Black Wii installed with all my games files. Had to get an AR SSBB file to replace my 100% file, but ah well. Also finished those crappy hack-n-slash games. (AKA I got 100% on nothing but Dark Cloud) Still, looking good because the games coming up are good, so thats always a positive.

Pokemon I: Grass Trio (1, 2, 3)


So what's going to happen is I will review every evolution branch in Pokemon, and discuss their uses in game, aesthetics, and etc. I probably will skip metagame, as that's Smogon's deal.


1: Bulbasaur(1)

In Game: 


Well, this is the first project Pokemon, and is the first Pokemon ever put on the Pokedex! In Game, he always felt like the weakest starter to me, yet in the first games he was quite a beast. He bested Brock, Misty, and Lt. Surge right from the go. The downfall is that after that he loses his use fullness, and Charizard/Blastoise's stats tended to be better in the end. In the later games, he was obtained by other various methods, and rarely used. I can't recall myself going out of my way for a Bulbasaur.

Aesthetics: 


Bulbasaur is pretty cute. His name implies a sort of dinosaur, and the way he looks makes it out to be a herbivore/plant. I always felt he was the 2nd best looking starter Pokemon, and is the best starting Grass Pokemon until Smugleaf came on by.

Etc:


Not a whole lot to say on Bulbasaur. Get him evolved, and he is a pretty straightforward Pokemon.

80/100


2: Ivysaur(2)

In Game:

As I said with Bulbasaur, you will not go out of your way to obtain one of these in game in any generation past the first. In first generation however, Ivysaur can be the best 2nd evolution of the starters, mainly because he evolves at the early level of 16. That being said, it also feels like he caps out faster than the others in that game. Still, a pro choice for almost half the game.

Aesthetics: 


Ivysaur is my favorite 2nd evolution of the three starters, and my favorite 2nd evolution grass starter of all time. I love how his flower almost blooms, and how he looks more dinosaur than the others. His coloring is perfect, and all around, just an amazing looking Pokemon to me.

Etc:


Not much else to say, won't be used much post Gen I, but yeah. Kinda lacking on the Etc info until I get into Final Evolutions or things like Scyther.

90/100


3: Venasaur(3)

In Game: 


Not too useful in anything past Generation one, and even in Generation one his usefulness dwindles down fast.Usually by the time he evolves (lv32), you're at a grass gym, then poison, then psychic, fire, etc. You have no favor in any of these gyms, so he almost becomes a bad addition to the team. The one positive point is his use in UU metagame (and in Black/White, who knows what will happen). From what I know he can be quite defensive and stalling in UU.

Aesthetics:


He got fat and bland, in my opinion. It's not a bad Pokemon, but he went from a badass Ivysaur to a fatsack.

Etc:


Nothing much to say, but to point out his Metagame usage. That sets him apart from the next Gen grass starter, Meganium(sp).

75/100


Overall, the evolution tree I is:


82/100




Soon, probably Friday night, I'll have a review posted up, and Saturday/Sunday night The Fire Trio I. So stay reading!

Problems =/

Alright so, pictures may not hold on reviews (Goron went by by), so I'll start saving them and uploading from my computer. Guess Majora's Mask review wasn't perfect after all.

So, I had to buy a Wii. Yeah mine died. So I lost Brawl, but I used an AR Gamesave to get it back. (I had a 100%... I wasn't doing it over =/)

So anyways, later tonight or tomorrow I'll post the Pokemon I, I'd say sorry for the delay but the blog isn't really popular yet.

Majora's Mask, the Black Sheep of Zelda

Note: I played Wii download content. (As if that makes a big deal)

The first four reviews are now labeled as Crap I, II, III, and IV. This (as well as Project Pokemon, which starts tomorrow, is what the blog is about.

This game came after Ocarina of Time, which meant it had big shoes to fill. Part of the problem with Zelda today is it's always compared to Ocarina of Time, which is one of the best adventure games made. Taking a different direction in playability, Majora's Mask sets itself as the Black Sheep of Zelda. It also never lived up to Ocarina of Time, but then again no Zelda has. (Go, Skyward Sword!)

Onward with the review...

Story:


Alright, the story takes place right after Ocarina of Time. If you know anything about Ocarina of Time, Link is sent back as a kid after Ganondorf's demise, and is looking for Navi. This journey (with Epona, who is now young again) allows them to stumble into...

Now, this skull kid leads you into Teramina, an opposite world of Hyrule, and turns him into a Deku Scrub. The white fairy (follows skull kid as well as the black one) helps Link, in return she gets to find the black fairy again, and get the mask of the Skull Kid. Yes, that mask is "Majora's Mask", a mask made of evil and corrupts the skull kid.

So you go to a mask dealer in Teramina, who wants the Mask (turns out the skull kid stole it), and the journey begins. You get healed so the Deku Scrub is a mask, and begin to search Teramina, setting free guardians to get their power to vanquish Majora's Mask (or defeat it to give it to the dealer, however that worked) The only catch to this game, and quite a pessimistic one, is this:

So, there is a moon that will crash and engulf Teramina in only three days. So the whole game you play your ocarina to set back time. (meeting races you met in Ocarina of Time) You can also play it to fast forward, allowing to do some quests only done on certain days. 

In the end, you get all the masks (or not), vanquish the mask, save skull kid, and go home to Hyrule. My only complaint as how Link got there and back, and wheres Navi?

* The Moon relevance did bother me, until I realized it was a legend in Termina for that to happen, and the gods were meant to save Teramina from the moon *

The biggest plus I can say was a Lack of Ganondrorf/Zelda, I realize they are icons of the Triforce, but not every game needs them.

Story: 90/100 

Gameplay:

The game play is the same as Ocarina of Time, in controls that is. You get to ride Epona, get a sword, shield, various items, etc. The only new add on is the mask feature. Masks can transform you, give you abilities, or make you dance. Heck, you get to turn into four beings, first being the Deku Scrub:

The Second being a Goron:

Third, and second favorite, Zora:

And my final favorite, for getting all the masks: Fierce Deity: 

As you can tell, I absolutely loved the mask addition to the game. This made the game play very engrossing, and I could put an hour into just using the masks' special abilities. That is right, each mask had special skills, such as bubbles, hopping over water, rolling into a ball, swimming like a shark, and carrying a two handed blade with immense power. (Fierce Deity made the game so worthwhile)

My only true complaint to this game was all the side quests. Due to only four real dungeons, the game seemed short, yet to get all the heart pieces and items, there were numerous side quests. Not to mention half of them were in time limits for the next day to pass, and a lot were overly challenging. I also missed Adult Link, but was overall happy with the additions to not care

Gameplay: 88/100

Controls:

I've never really had a problem with Zelda Controls, but there is really nothing I can say on this. The masks count as items in the equip slots (where bow, bombs, etc went in Ocarina of Time), and other than that it's exactly the same as Ocarina of Time. There really was no glitches or control failure, so it ran pretty smooth for me.

Controls: 100/100

Graphics:

Graphics had a better coating than Ocarina of Time. It felt like they pushed as hard as they could on Majora's Mask, yet I felt myself still wanting a cut scene with higher res graphics. Still, if you read Ocarina of Time review, I'm still content, but being later in the N64's cycle I felt they could've added maybe one Cut scene.

Graphics 92/100

Value:

If you have read anything I've been saying, the value of this game is high. It's not a game you will play and hate, if you are a true adventure fan. All in all, I think this was a N64 Classic.

Value: 100/100

Overall: 90+88+92+100+100 = 470 / 5 = 94

The ending:

This game is downright amazing. There is no reason to hate on this game, and it is definitely an epic challenge.

~ The Reviewed ~

- Pokemon Platinum

- Crash: Warped

- Drakengard

- Ocarina of Time

- Majora's Mask

Next time: Pokemon I: The Green Trio I

Two Games; One Crap: Part Two(Coming next day) + Project Pokemon: Briefing

So... I never covered Majora's Mask, making my title incorrect. The reason was, Majora's Mask deserves a very thorough review, and with Drakengard I couldn't be asked to do a good one. The first couple of reviews, the imported ones, suck and will suck because they're merely imported data I choose not to do over.

Drakengard... I just couldn't go more in depth. It was bad. Yet I feel bad, because why blog if I'm not going to give it my A game. Though, like anything, earlier work always sucks. Look at Angry Video Game Nerd, his first videos suck, but now he rocks?

So Pokemon Platinum, Ocarina of Time, Crash Bandicoot: Warped!, and Drakengard will be Crap I, II, III, IV. But no more crap, the rest shall be gold eggs (or turds if they fail)

Also, a brief on Project Pokemon. I will analyze each evolution set of Pokemon and rank how I see them fit. (Are they good, bad, ugly, etc) I will go extremely depth, so don't expect something mediocre.


Bad news, this is an intro. Monday (Today now..) I shall post the review of Majora's Mask. A very nice one, not Crap V.


Then, Tuesday the Pokemon will air.


Then, Wednesday, another review.


Friday shall mark another Pokemon set, and that's it for this week!

Two Games; One Crap

Alright, so, my completion rate is 60'%. Yeah, how crappy. 6/15 Games are not a 100%. Today we'll see an unappreciated game, and a game that was so dull I couldn't achieve perfection.

So, lets start with the dull one.

Wait....Wait...That doesn't look dull.

A Red Dragon. Flames...Chaos? This looks pretty cool!

Well that's what I said when it was only 8 dollars, but honestly, it's a pretty bad games. I will say right here and now the only pro to this game is the Aerial missions, in which you fly your dragon and do Barrel Rolls Wyvern Style. Aside from those short lived missions, and watching your dragon growing as the story progresses, that's it.

Actually wait no, there is one more factor! The story. The story of giving an element of your body (Caim's voice) to make a pact with something, the situations of violence, adultery, corruption, and poverty, and the themes laced within this dark tale. Overall the finality of the story is quite thin and barely connects to Drakengard 2/Nier in my opinion, as the story feels like it could easily fall apart. The redeeming factor, however, is how messed up the tale truly is. A Serial killer for a main character, with a stereotype dragon an a party consisting of a grief-drought man, a young child, and a mad woman is pretty interesting. Still, every turd has gold chunks in it if you look hard enough, eh? And I know you might think "What's the story about?" in this review, but honestly I don't know, it's so...weird. Just go read it on Wiki or something.The Watchers!

Now for the bad, and believe me, there is a lot. 

I can't include many Screenshots, as this game isn't popular (unlike Majora, it has many pictures), but the graphics are stale, and the backgrounds are boring. The enemy designs are pathetic, and the only redeeming graphical positive is the Cinematics/Voice Actors.

Gameplay wise, you only need Square/Triangle on the right side of the PS2 controller to play effectively, making the game incredibly boring outside of Aerial missions.There are Allies you can call, but for the most part you won't care. Leveling weapons is boring an repetitive, like the whole game. And grinding to lv99 is something I'd only do if I had no brain. Yes, I didn't get a 100% on this. I got everything beat/won/collected, but finished @lv75 with only 20/65 weapons leveled to lv4 max. Why? Because it's so damn boring! You fight 1.2k+ solders to level one weapon, do the math...it's ridiculous. All the 5 games I have exceptions on are JRPGS because I've missed stuff, but this game is truly too dull to fully beat.

The Sound. Oh boy the sound. Outside the intro, I'd say it's terrible.

Duhderduhderduhder. Imagine that for 32 hours of playtime and you're good.

Controls...Again, so easy, so stale. That's the problem with this game. It's literally so boring you can't help but want to quit. 

All in all, they had good intentions, but SE/Cavia fell short with this game. It's to repetitive, it's too simple, and it seems it's sequels failed to learn and create a better game as I've read.

Graphics 8/10

Sound 2/10

Contrsol 6/10

Story 9/10 High Point~

Gameplay 3/10

Total 80+20+60+90+30/5...56....F!

This game flat out failed in my book.

Sorry for the lack of pictures on these reviews, I wanted to port the three good ones, and this game lacks any good screens. But your not missing much, trust me.

Reviewed~

Pokemon Plat.

Crash Warped

Drakengard

OoT

What's coming up

My Game Ratio (Completion, that is), is 15 Games, 6 games with Exceptions of not being 100%. Guess what, 5 are JRPGs. Haha.

Drakengard... I just couldn't get a 100% on it though. Too. Damn. Boring.

Ah well, anyways in a few days, a double review is coming!

Majora's Mask annnnddddd

Drakengard!

Then, soon after a big review on two games:

Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M!

I apologize for the first 3 reviews looking crappy, but I didn't want to re-do all of them, and those were saved.

~Reviewed:
-Crash Bandicoot
-Poke Platinum
-Ocarina of Time

This is my game review blog.

Welcome, you either came from Smashboards, Gamespot, or ...somewhere else? Facebook? Ha!

Anyways, these are reviews I'm dumping on here from my previous areas, so enjoy!~:

Ocarina of Time:


The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time


Short Summary:

     I think the smartest thing to do before I even give this review out is to give out some background information. There are usually three types of reviews: fanboy, flaming, and good reviews. The third is always the rarest to find, especially with games like this. This game is a very delicate and special classic, so I feel its review should be handled with care.
    That being said, I can assure you I am the third category. Though I think Zelda is an amazing series; I never played Ocarina of Time until this summer. I played it for the sole sake of having it done to play Majora's Mask, and honestly I have only heard praise from this game. I do tend to believe the latest DS releases of Zelda show examples of games "riding the titles", however I do not believe this game was the case. Placed in the 1998 setting and technology, this was a example of beauty created by man, and a game I could easily play and enjoy a few months from now yet again...

Storyline:

   Typical Zelda storyline is to thwart Ganondorf's evil ambitions. The game itself includes being a child and finding your way to the temple of time, as well as being an adult to confront the final battle. Along your journey you meet several friends, several hardships, and gain several ambitions. By the end of the game your desire to see Ganon fall in his own failure rises to a climax no other game of that decade could deliver. The power of the story (no pun intended) brought the N64 into competition in terms of games, and probably helped seal the deal of Sega's demise.

Gameplay:

    The most notable thing would be the gameplay. A new feature was added where you can hold three items on display, which until streamlining was recently brought about, this was still the item section used in Twilight Princess. It looks a little bit like this:



Take a look at the item section on the Northeastern section of the screenshot. Those item selections allowed up to three items to be displayed, a very valuable addition.

Being 3D the gameplay was also vastly upgraded. Now you could grab onto ledges, and the environment was much more real and not just placed to be there. The game itself not just ran well, but made an excellent transcend into 3D.


    On top of that, it also had various good sidequests and minigames aside from the main game itself. The gameplay is what makes or break the series, and Ocarina of Time was not short on the deliver.

    Aside from channges and expectations, the gameplay brought back several classics. Items like Hootshot, the Bow, Slingshot, and Bottles were brought back with additions like an Ocarina, a Horse, and cloths/sword upgrades. The new additions as well as  the old being rebirthed made the Zelda feel as great as ever. The gameplay is what makes or break the series, and Ocarina of Time was not short on the deliver.

Graphics:

If you play a 1998 game and expect 2010 graphics, you're obviously a fool. If you are mature and/or capable of playing the game with a 1998 mindset however, the game is stunning. The transcend to 3D could be rivaled as more outstanding than the gameplay. When I saw my mother play this among others, we all were wowed with Cinematics and Cutscenes that never really existed in the Zelda series. This game not just ushered these to be repeated in the future, but set the bar for how lush and expansive the games would appeal and be. Now you could run through Hyrule Feild and see the day change to night while riding a horse, and it's all in the 3D.



Sound:

     I can't really post any clips of the sound to attest to it's success, but this is by far one of my top five soundtracks. Only rivaled by Nobue Umetsu's success with Final Fantasy, this soundtrack can stand alone. All of the songs burn in your heart, especially the temple access songs. You will spend hours trying to find these songs on playlist, and even longer finding the soundtrack. I'm not usually picky about music, but I'm rarely impressed, and this knocked me off my feet.

Everything Else:

    Controls are fine, as mentioned in gameplay. If games had value like art, I'd say it's priceless. I can't add much more, except if you haven't played this play it, it easily gets a 10.

The Facts:

10/10 100%

Rank: S (S/A/B/C/D/F)




Crash Bandicoot: Warped


He is back and better than ever.

Short Summary:

This game was the peak of the Crash series. 1 and 2 were good games, nothing I have yet to complete yet, and everything after Warped spiraled downhill to the point where the games today are jokes.

That aside, this game was a perfect platformer, and a must have for anyone who loves that line of games.

Storyline:

Cortex is back again for one final attempt at world domination with the evil mask's help. You must get all the crystals again and defeat them both to final solve this trilogy like storyline. Well written in a comical way, but nothing special.


Such a creepy little man.

Gameplay:

Very good gameplay. It is a basic definition of platforming/sidescrolling, and will give you something to do for hours and hours. There are time races and gems for getting all the boxes; so in a sense there is a sidequest factor of this game. The time races come in 4 time trails, two of them being possible and required for 105% The last two are merely for crazy people (I obtained 105%, but the last 2 are mad-crazy-hard)

Sound, Graphics, Controls, and pretty much everything else:

Sound: The Soundtrack for Crash Bandicoot is the kind of soundtrack you'll listen too, but you will not remember the music. It's not bad, it's okay.

Graphics: For it's release the graphics were great. It was never a problem, and there were very few graphical glitches.

Controls: Note that my previous two reviews did not cover controls. It's because games like the ones I reviewed they are never a problem. PS1 games have been noted to have bad controls though, as well as N64 games. I can reassure you though the controls were fine. My only complaint was brief lag every here and there, but it was so few and far between it didn't bother me.

All in All:

8.5

It can't beat Mario, it just can't. It does come close though.

What held it back from a perfect score was mainly the lag here and there, as that annoys me, and the length.

It appears to be a long game, but without trying I got 105% in two days, playing casually. You may say, 8.5 is harsh for only two notable flaws, but I hate lack of length.

Pokemon Platinum:


Pokemon is the only rpg I know that is truly the master at being subtle. There are at least three layers of Pokemon. Pokemon for children, Pokemon for older people, and Pokemon for competitive people. That being said, this 4th generation game is quite possibly the best yet. (Until Gold/Silver remakes) The graphics are the best the DS can offer so far, and the music is the same nostalgic tunes that have been played since the R/Y/B days. The gameplay is of course, the same to Diamond/Pearl, and it all fits the same old pokemon mold. So what makes this game so great? Well if you're a kid your going to love the Pokemon aspect, 'nuff said. If you are an adult or a competitive, you are going to love the in depth aspect of how well this rpg truly is. Look up IV, EV, nature, anything, and you'll see just how amazing and indepth this game is. I could write a multiple page report just on how this game functions, if I were to try. Most games are not that complex, so I'd say the rpg aspect even surpasses that of the almighty Final Fantasy series. I've been a Pokemon and Final Fantasy fan all my life, so I'm allowed to say that! Really though, there is nothing else to say about this game, if you like rpgs you'll love it, and if you want something that is deep, you'll like it even more. If you're looking for storyline though, it's a waste of time. Lack of storyline and the fact other forme pokemon (Deoxy's att/deff/speed, Rotom, Shaymin Sky forme, etc) can't be used in online play is my reasoning for 9.5

Calling all trainers, get this game!






A lot of reviews were lost along the way, but expect these upcoming titles:

Drakengard
Final Fantasy XII
Metroid: Other M
Metroid Prime Trilogy
Pokemon: Soul Silver (4th gen tie up)
Majora's Mask