AoF's Review Café

[Alexisonfire]

Welcome back to "Alexisonfire's fairly ambitious video game related project that will more than likely fail miserably within a week or so"!

Sooo yeah. There are several games out there that I have played and completed in the last few years and I have left them to stew in my mind until I was able to chew on my thoughts, clearly look them, and produce a clear opinion. So I've made this thread to not only get these off my chest, but to give an opinion on games that people may not have heard of (unlikely), have yet to play (maybe), or are progressing/have progressed through them.

But really, I'm not pompous enough to think that everyone will want to hear my opinion. Thus, anyone can post a review of a game in here, but I'd like to put a few... loose guidelines on that one.

-Please don't post a review where the entire review is "I LIEK TEH HALOZ" or "I played Haze over the weekend. It was a bad game". These make Pandas cry.
-Please, please, please. No fanboy bias. If you hate a system for no reason and love another unconditionally, most won't care about your opinion. This also makes Pandas cry.
-A review of the full game, please. If you haven't played a very large chunk of the game, if not all of it, then you shouldn't be posting. The Panda waterworks will ensue if you do.
-If you do want to include the premise/story, make it brief. Spoilers make Pandas sad. Gameplay and story wise. Don't say specifics on the last temple, don't say that Aeris dies.
-Number scores are not necessary, but feel free to if you want. Just don't make them the centre piece. Pandas bawl uncontrollably at numbers without words.
-And remember what a review is. Forgetfulness = Panda tears.
-The last one is mainly for me, as I usually get out of hand. Pandas mourn over reading reviews over one post long.

Obviously, these "guidelines" deal with the reviews, not other replies and whatnot.

I'm hoping that this thread will be one of the only places on the internet (it's pretty rampant) that won't have people bashing or flaming others reviews. Also, I hope this will end topics being made for "Hello Kitty Adventures" and "Bejeweled", just so someone can voice their opinion on the game.

So have fun. Discuss. And don't hurt any panda's feelings.


As for a kickstart, I'll be posting one soon. Just a little under the weather still.
My to do list:

-Brawl
-Twilight Princess
-Radiant Dawn
-GrimGrimoire
-WoW
-Persona 3

[FreeViarga3524]

I'll probably post them here too, but I'm currently writing reviews and other stuff for this site as WS.

[Revan/anakinjmt]

Ah, nice idea AoF. I just finished re-playing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, so I'll post a review of that, and now or later a review of the other Ace Attorney games and of KOTOR.



Trials and Tribulations is the third and final game of the Phoenix Wright trilogy. It's not the end of the Ace Attorney series, but it is the end of the main part of Phoenix's story where everything is centered on him. As such, it needs to tie up some loose ends. Can it satisfy people that have played the other games while at the same time satisfy people that have never played an Ace Attorney game before?


First-timer friendlyness: 5/10: Honestly, yes, the game says "This is how you cross-examine, this is how you press people and find contradictions and use the Court Record, etc." So it gets high in that. But, these games are played because of their intricate story, and nowhere is the story more intricate than this game. The fact is, this is sort of like Return of the Jedi or Revenge of the Sith or Return of the King. You can just play this game if you want and you'll get things okay enough, but it's more of a payoff if you know what's come before. And the fact is, this is where you see characters that you've known for the past two games -- Phoenix, Edgeworth, and Mia -- get their start and see how they got where they are today. Story-wise, you really need to play the first two games before picking this game up. Also, the fact is, the first case here is a doozy. With each subsequent Ace Attorney game, the first case gets harder and more intricate. The first case of the first game is incredibly easy. The first case of the second game is a bit challenging. By contrast, the first case of the third and fourth games require serious thinking, and if you've never played these games before, you're pretty much going to need a guide.

Returning friendliness: 9/10: Story-wise, this game pays off everything you've gone through and experienced in the past two games. You see how Phoenix, Edgeworth, and Mia got their start, how Mia and Edgeworth and Phoenix first met each other. You'll see how Mia got to be the trusting mentor Phoenix needed. You'll be reminded of the old Edgeworth in one case, and see just how far he's come in another case. Not to mention, the difficulty rises. I recently finished the third case, Recipe for Turnabout, and I needed the guide, even though I'd beaten the game. The game is constantly making you have to think harder about what to do and how to solve the case. Perfect for any series.

Graphics: 8/10: Graphics are pretty much the same as the first two games, which isn't a bad thing at all. It's sort of a mix of anime and manga. The animation and drawings are superbly well done and detailed, especially crime scene photos and environments.

Story: 10/10: This game has every case linked to each other, specifically the first, fourth, and fifth cases. You'll see how events from the past have led to events in the present. There are some good twists in the game, stuff even the second time through I'd forgotten. It wraps up Mia's story very well, and everyone else's stories fairly well as well. Each case is incredibly well-thought out. It's like an episode of CSI and Law and Order all wrapped up in one. Things you find or notice early often don't make sense until the end. It's a great bit of foreshadowing. You always feel like you have all the pieces of the puzzle you need, but you're just waiting to get an idea of what the picture is, but once you know it, all the pieces fit together easily.

Difficulty: 9/10: As I said before, this game raises the difficulty level. If you played the first two games, don't expect a joyride here. You will be thinking and scratching your head trying to figure out what to do and what really happened, and often times, to quote Sherlock Holmes, "When you've eliminated all other possibilities, whatever is left, no matter how absurd it may be, must be the truth." I remember in the third case thinking how something seemed off. I saw where Phoenix was heading and I thought, "No, it couldn't be that. That...that's crazy!" And yet, that's what happened.

Sound: 8/10: I'm more a fan of the music from the first and fourth games, but this one had good music as well. On my iPod I have Courtroom Lounge, Courtroom, Cross-Examination #1, Godot's Theme, Godot's Ringtone, and Cornered Music from this game. Voices are top notch, even though all you hear is Objection!, Hold It!, and Take That! Other sound effects are very well done. Only reason this goes down is I wasn't as big a fan of the music in this game as I was of the first and fourth, but it is better than the second I think.

Overall: 9/10: If you've played the first two games, there is zero reason not to pick up this one. If you haven't played the first two games, play them before picking this one up. Either way, you won't be disappointed, period.

[The Dark One™]

Though I'm sure most of you have at least played one of the Soul Caliber titles in your life, I'm going to review the third game of the series, the one exclusive to the PS2 for some reason.

As the game starts off, we find out that some evil sword named Soul Edge is trying to take control of people to get souls and stuff, and the only thing that can beat it is Soul Caliber. Aside from the names, both swords can be used by all characters, because for some reason it changes to whatever weapon the character knows how to use. So it's up to you to slew your way through lots of dudes to either destroy Soul Edge, take it as your own, or get Soul Caliber, depending on which character you use.

Like the others in the series, this one added a lot of characters for you to use, each with their own fighting styles and combos, etc etc. The gimmick about this game is the newly added character creation feature. You can choose your own class for the character, ranging from the regular giant swordsman, to samurai, to the strange (and my most favorite) class, the dancer. They attack with tambourines. I'm dead serious. That's one of those situations where you're facing one of your friends who has a giant sword or something, and you're a dancer, and pwn them. It gives it a in-your-face kind of victory.

The main game mode is the also newly added Chronicles of the Sword. It starts off as a sort of RTS game, where you move your units across some linear paths to different little towers and bases, in which they attacked them to get inside. Anyone inside would be attacked by your guys one by one, then after that you would control it. The towers ranged from a Lvl 1 to Lvl 3. This added to it's health I might say, and Lvl 3 and up were used as respawn points. The only places that were 4 and then 5 were the main strongholds you were trying to get into in which the guy you had to kill loitered in, waiting for you.

All the characters in it were made from the character creation thing, including your starting characters.

If your units met, they would auto attack them based on their unit class, which was Knight, Cavalry, Solider, and Bandit. Each had a different purpose, whether it be slicing dudes up, getting into bases, or defending your bases. If you didn't want your dudes to slice the others up, you could go into an encounter where you would attack them in the 1 on 1 battles that make up all fighting games.

I started my downhill race into craziness when I started to CotS mode in which you had to make your first character. Choose gender, class, then you're off to the creation screen. You had a small selection of clothes to choose from due to starting out, but you could buy them from the shops with gold you earned by beating chapters of the CotS. The clothes and armor did nothing but just look sweet. I always found it funny when I would use a girl character wearing a mini skirt and tubetop and in turn beat this dude wearing full plate armor. And that is what I did. I choose the dancer class as well.

You shoulda seen her. These one dudes I was facing were wearing armor and wielding sharp items, while my girl was wearing a sort of bra thing and a miniskirt, smiling and jumping up a little, shaking her tambourines around. I beat the whole mode like that.

To spice it up a little, some of the bases holding stronger people usually had an effect in it, anything from hitting the ground made you explode, to them not faltering from damage. Once you beat them and if you achieved certain extra objectives, you'd get lots of money to either upgrade bases or buy those clothes you've always wanted to see your character in. You could also buy different classes and weapon demos, and weapons for your characters and the regulars as well as new faces in the game.

Each weapon, besides the starting one, has at least one effect. These range from strong attack power, or defense, or healing you over time, or healing when you attack, to breaking defense or getting through defense, etc etc etc. Each character and weapon for them plays in a different way. Pressing the same combo for one character could be completely different for another.

The graphics have been upped a bit, as well as I think the framerate. I felt like attacks were a little bit faster and guard impacts took a bit more timing. This is also one of the titles were you can't just mash buttons in the later levels. Pressing square and triangle over and over without guarding can get you sorta far, but near the end, the enemies guard more often, do grab attacks, guard impact you, blah blah blah. There is a quite a difficulty curve in this game. You start off with the slap these guys in the face easy enemies to the guys who own you with crazy combos that you would never be able to do in your life. I remember going back to a boss after most of my guys died to try and beat him again. My characters would auto revive, all the while he healed to full before I could break down the doors again to kick his sorry butt once more.

All in all, your other modes come back. Classic arcade, as well as two others. Tales of the Sword (Or something like that), a mode that went across the story of how a certain regular character got to the sword, and a challenge mode. The challenge mode had different little challenges that ranged from beating a bunch of dudes in a time limit to trying to beat a totally impossible boss, just like in Kingdom hearts where you faced Sephiroth.

In the end, I recommend this game if you like a fighting game with a great story and intricate fights.

[Sonic the Werewolf.]

I finished Grand Theft Auto IV recently, so that gives me the right as an American citizen to review the crap out of it....in an incredibly boring Gamespot-esque way. Enjoy.

Graphics- Grand Theft Auto has never been a series that had cutting-edge graphical technology. Probably because most of them were running on consoles that couldn't properly handle the scope of the game (Xbox and PS2).
Rockstar tried their hardest to turn this around in GTAIV, and mostly succeeded. During the pre-rendered cutscenes (you know, the ones you can't pause?), the facial animations and lip sync are some of the best I've seen in this generation of gaming. The cars damage model is INSANE, and is easily the best I've ever seen. Pieces of your car will chip off if you rub against a wall, the front end will appropriately crunch up if you get into a head-on collision, and you can even see blood on the hood if you get into a little 'accident'.
The physics engine is the star of the game, however. Ragdoll physics abound- when you fly off of your bike or through the windshield of a car, you can tell that the landing is gonna look extremely painful. And it does. I'm sure you've heard about the game being uber-realistic when it comes to pedestrians, and it is. Every person walks a different way and reacts with an almost eerie realism depending on the situation, and where you shoot them (shot to the leg will make them limp, for example). You'll see them listening to mp3 players, drinking coffee, conversing with each other, begging you for change, playing saxophones, etc. The physics engine drew me into the city more than any other GTA ever did.
The only thing I can ding this game on graphically is the pop-in. It is toned down a lot from the previous games, but quite a few times you'll see stuff pop up out of nowhere, especially when walking into buildings. Still, it looks great for the world being so huge.

Story- I'll keep this short and sweet, because I don't want to go off and spoil anything.
Voice acting = excellent
Humor = hysterical
Writing = Oscar-worthy
This game's story is like a major Hollywood blockbuster. It'll draw you in and make you care about (or hate) the characters. You can even alter the story in some parts by choosing to either kill or spare key characters. The payoff is one of the top 3 storylines in video games, and I did not hesitate to play throug the game AGAIN to make different morality choices and see the alternate ending.

Playability (or, how the controls work)-
Perfect. No, seriously. Everything feels natural, every button does what you'd expect it to do, and there's no odd combinations to remember.
Sure, half-pulling the left trigger for Free-Aim is...weird, but I opted to turn off lock-on all together so I could free aim all the time. The shooting system is perfected.
The only truly broken aspect is shooting while driving. On Xbox 360, shooting while in a vehicle is mapped to LB. It gets really wonky trying to accelerate and brake with RT and LT (respectively), and use LB to shoot. But besides that blemish, the controls no longer feel clunky like they did in the other GTAs.

Gameplay-
Where do I begin? There's almost too much to do. San Andreas had a MASSIVE game world...that you spent most of the time just traveling across, doing nothing. GTAIV scales down the size, but packs in so much stuff to do that it's almost overwhelming.
Not doing a main storyline mission? OK. You can watch the various TV stations in your safehouses (my personal favorite program is Republican Space Rangers, which trashes our current president with unabashed glee), surf the hundreds of sites on the internet, call up a friend or girlfriend to hang out, go do some Assassination missions, take out criminals as a police officer (for hire), meet random characters on the street and do missions for them, go take out some pigeons (GTAIV's Hidden Packages) with high-powered weaponry...there's always something to do. And the side missions and dating aren't just canned experiences. They have full dialogue AND cutscenes. They feel more like real missions than simply sidequests.
All that ranting, and I haven't even discussed multiplayer yet. Multiplayer is the most fun I've ever had in an online game. Not only are there 15 modes, but they can all be edited to fit your evil whim. My personal favorites are GTA Race (a race with guns and grenades, basically. They usually start off easy, but get hectic QUICK), Team Mafiya Work (Mafiya boss calls you to do stuff, and your team must do it before the other team), and of course, Free Roam, where you and your friends can just goof off in the entire game map. The multiplayer has very little lag, but it feels just like GTA with more human players. A great addition to the series.

Sure, this game isn't perfect. No game is (except for Banjo-Tooie, and I will stand by that statement to my death). The 'classic' GTA pop-in still exists. Online can get pretty laggy at times. And the main missions' difficulty curve is totally out of whack.
So why am I, and so many other reviewers, giving this game such high marks? It's how all the good elements of the game tie together.
Mowing down a major rival's squad, but sparing his life when you come face to face. Speeding down the highway with Smashing Pumpkins blaring out the windows in a high-speed race. Getting drunk and yelling at taxis (which is pure hilarity, go try it). Driving to meet 'that special someone' in pouring rain. Winning a bet on a pool game, and the subsequent knife fight under a bridge. Picking up a friend in a military helicopter to go bowling.
This may sound like a day in the life of Shia LeBeouf, but it is indeed just a small list of things you can do in GTAIV. Rockstar opted for realism, and it paid off so much, as you can tell just by looking at the people walking down the streets of Liberty City. I think I said this before, but this is the type of game that I will be playing this month, next month, and past New Years Eve.

So, is it perfect? No.
Will you want to stop playing it? Nope.

[Revan/anakinjmt]

Sonic, two questions for you.

What do you mean by "pop-up"?

Since you think Banjo-Tooie is the perfect game, are you going to review it? Because I'm seriously curious how you put that game above all others. For me personally, I didn't think it was as good as the first game, and not as good as a good number of games I've played. So, yeah, youve really piqued my curiousity with that.

[Sonic the Werewolf.]

Sonic, two questions for you.

What do you mean by "pop-up"?

Pop-in is a common graphical glitch in free-roaming games (and poorly made platformers). Basically, you can't see things very far in the distance, and as you're walking into buildings details will "pop-in" out of nowhere. It was REALLY bad in San Andreas, as you could see cars appear right in front of you as you were driving down the highway.

Since you think Banjo-Tooie is the perfect game, are you going to review it?

Don't hold your breath on that one.

[Revan/anakinjmt]

There currently is two series of games that I am such a huge fan of that I will find a way to own and play games of that series. The Ace Attorney series, and the Knights of the Old Republic series. I firmly believe a KOTOR III is coming at some time, but until it does, I shall review the first game, and the best game in the series, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic.



Graphics: 8/10: Graphics certainly aren't anything to sneeze at, but for such a huge game from 2004 on the Xbox and PC, they do just fine. The pre-rendered cutscenes are really well done, and the gameplay graphics are pretty smooth. Nothing like GTA IV, obviously, but this is four years ago, and so in their day and age, the graphics were very good.

Sound: 10/10: The sounds really sell that it's Star Wars. Lightsabers, blasters, spaceships. All the sounds you'd expect from Star Wars are here. Music, while not at the level of John Williams, nevertheless is good and fits somehow in the Star Wars universe. But it's the voice acting that really shines. Kevin Michael Richardson, who voiced the Joker in The Batman, voices Jolee Bindo and does an absolutely fantastic job (incidentally, Rino Romano, who voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman in The Batman, does the voice for your character if your character is male, though it's really only grunts and little things like "Ready" and "Yes?" when you switch back to your main character). Bastila is voiced by a veteran actress who off the top of my head voiced Felicia Hardy/Black Cat in Spider-Man: The Animated Series and the female agent in Where On Earth is Carmen Sandiego. Bastila is the character, besides your own, that I think you really get to know the most about, especially if your character is male, and that means a lot of dialogue. Each time it really feels like Bastila is speaking to you, and because you meet her and many other characters so early in the game, the fact that the quality of voice acting never changes with all the dialogue that is spoken is astounding. You're able to pick up on nuances in character's voices that you wouldn't be able to with simple text (hello Zelda!), and it really makes the characters more believable and seem more real, and thus having you care more for them.

Story: 10/10: Having the story take place approx. 4000 B.B.Y. (Before Battle of Yavin, or before the events of Episode IV) means they can't screw up the story of the movies. They're free to tell the story they want to tell. And what a story it is. I listed in the Top 5 OMG moments of gaming one of the moments in the game. I won't give it away, but it still shocks me to this day thinking back on it. What's more, you NEVER see it coming. It is definitely a "Luke, I am your father" moment, which I didn't think Star Wars could pull again. But it's not just the main story. The backstories of the party members that you meet is not only fascinating but helps enrich the characters and the main story. Carth's, for example, makes things more personal when you face off against his old mentor. It wouldn't be so personal if you didn't know Carth's story.

Ability to understand this game for fans and non-fans of Star Wars: 8/10 for non-fans; 9/10 for fans of movies, 10/10 for fans of EU: It's probably a good idea to know basic things about the Jedi and the Sith and the universe of Star Wars (things like lightsabers, blasters, and hyperspace), but really, even if you're not really a fan of Star Wars, you will still enjoy this game for the story. And aside from a few scenes that are reminiscent of events from the movies (beginning of the game with a crashed escape pod) and answers to a few random questions from the movies (where did Jawas get the sandcrawlers), there's really nothing that connects the game to the movies. It's 4000 years prior to the movies instead of after. No referencing of future events. There are references to things from the Expanded Universe (EU) such as Old Sith Lords on Korriban and Exar Kun, and you do see the planets of Dantooine (mentioned in Episode IV) and Kashyyyk (seen briefly in Episode III and visited often in EU) so fans of the EU will be able to make connections, and in turn later EU things (Darth Bane: Rule of Two) make connections to KOTOR, but KOTOR works perfect on it's own too feet. You can have knowledge of only the movies and totally get everything, and you can not be fans of the movies and still enjoy the story.

Sidequests: 9/10: A big part of RPG's is the sidequests. Each planet you visit, in addition to the main story, has numerous sidequests. On Tatooine and Manaan (which are COMPLETELY different worlds, Tatooine being a desert world and Manaan being a water world) has swoop racing, which is sorta like drag podracing. Taris, the first world you visit, lets you collect bounties on people. Korriban sidequests are really part of the main story, because you have to get prestige to continue, but you don't need to do everything to get enough prestige. You can visit the tombs of ancient Sith Lords like Marka Ragnos and Ajunta Pall. Dantooine even has one where you solve a murder by interviewing the suspects and examining evidence (a bit of CSI and Ace Attorney!). Sidequests are a lot of fun and are often quite profitable in terms of equipment or credits.

Gameplay: 9/10: You walk around and attack enemies. But you can do this in several ways. You can use blasters, melee weapons like swords and vibroblades, lightsabers, or Force powers, which range from defensive and support like Heal to offensive like Force Storm and Choke. You can also plant mines and use grenades. You a straight up attacker? Put points in your strength and concentrate on melee weapons or lightsabers. You want to be more of a scoundrel? Plant mines and then lure your enemies through the minefield. Whatever strategy you want to use there is a way to make it work.

Overall, KOTOR is a truly fascinating experience well worth the time and effort, and now you can get it pretty cheap for no more than $20. There's also a downloadable bonus area of a station above Yavin IV which has the opportunity to receive the two most powerful lightsaber crystals in the game, and they are powerful. That and a gripping story that culminates in an epic final battle, Knights of the Old Republic is totally worth the bang of your buck.

I give it a 10/10 or a 5...out of 5.

[The Dark One™]

Being 16, jobless, and white enough to blind somebody just by taking my shirt off, I haven't had much money to buy games. The best I have now is a Gamecube and five games from 4 years ago. Since I'm sure most of you have played a Final Fantasy game, I'm going to review the only FF game (I think) for the GC. FF: Crystal Chronicles.

As the theme in every FF game, there has something to do with nature and the planet. This time around, a poisonous miasma fills the whole planet, though only monsters and those darn moogles are immune for some reason. It's up to you and your stupid friends to save the world. Er... I mean your town. You are caravaners who venture out into the world to find a myrrh tree and get one drop of myrrh to fill your big ole chalice thingy. The chalice also has a crystal that staves off the miasma in a big circle, roughly the size of your TV scene. It takes 3 drops to fill your chalice. And guess what? The myyrh trees are guarded by a map full of enemies and a boss.

To drain the wallets of children everywhere, the only way you can play this game on multiplayer is to have you and your friends to have Gameboy Advances and linking cables to the Gamecube. That is, if you have friends. If you don't have friends, you can just use a controller. One person needs to carry the heavy chalice around, so if you play solo a moogle named Mog carries it around for you. This guy was so whiny. Every five minutes he would cry out that he was tired, making you carry it for a while. This also happened in times where I needed him not to be stupid, like when I was running from like, 10 baddies.

You can start off as one of four races, either male or female. The very short but really strong Lilties, the tall and mysterious magic use Yukes, the average looking human type Clavats, and the scantily clad thieves the Selkies.

You can choose what your parents job is like, your 8 letter name, and your 8 letter town name. Each race and gender also have 4 different clothing styles. Then you're off on your really long adventure.

And now for the boring review type things. I'm not into numbers, so if you want those, well, go rot in a sack.

Graphics: The graphics were pretty good for the hardware of the Gamecube. The last boss area was one of the coolest, and if your GC can't handle it, it'll probably explode. The magic effects were very nice looking and the little effect of watching the miasma move away as you moved the chalice around just added to it. There was a sort of physics engine on a certain part of a certain female race which I won't speak of on this forum for fear of getting shivved. Even for four years ago, the graphics are good.

Sound: The sound is wonderful. The magic sounds are great, and the growls/snarls/grunts of the monsters is good. One of my favorites was the opening and ending songs. They were just perfect. I had them once downloaded onto my computer. There are no voices in this game. Even at one point in the game where two selkies as you how it's going, your character mouths a few words (With no text box either!). For dramatic effect, they used quick zoom ins among others, which went pretty well.

Story: This is one of those stories you kinda need to piece together. I won't spoil the ending, but it's great. As you go on, you'll hear stories of things that were supposedly just myths, and you'll get more and more as the years progress. Speaking of which, after you get three drops of Myyrh, one year passes. Your character doesn't get any new stats, aside from areas being new and getting some cash from your dad and a gift from him depending on what job you choose.

Gameplay: Gets repetitive at times. Unless you're a yuke, magic takes forever, so you'll be using your 3 hit combo thing over and over and OVER again with your weapon, or a focus attack that takes a long time unless you're a selkie. There is no leveling up, only artifacts you get after beating a boss. Each one gives you either strength, defense, or magic. You have hearts as health (Ripped from Zelda!). Each one represents two hits and you start off with four. You can get artifacts that give you another heart or a sort of quick slot thing that allows you to use magic and stuff. You start off with four, the first two are permanently attack and defend, the others can be whatever. You can combine different magic to make them more powerful or something useful, like gravity to ground flying enemies, or slow to cripple those fast enemies. Cure can only be combined in multiplayer I think, and it heals you fully. Magic is targeted in little circles, roughly the size of your character, and then depending of the magic used, would be a large or small radius. The only way to get new weapons and armor is to find plans for them dropped from monsters or in treasure chests, and then you have to find materials for them in the same way. The only way to get the really awesome weapon for your race was to get rare boss drops. And I mean rare. SUPER RARE. I spent hours upon hours going to the same dungeon OVER AND OVER until I finally got it! GAH! *regains composure* After getting a drop of myyrh, you got to choose what artifact or rare item depending on how hard the boss was, you wanted. You would get a letter from your parents, family, or random people who somehow knew you from the mail moogle who somehow came to these remote places to get it to you. The only way to get really pwnsome is to go through the same dungeon place over and over again to get new artifacts which adds to the boredom, though is also one of the ways to get loads of money and things. As you travel, you'll find a cast of characters you'll meet many times. Most of them are on caravans themselves, though they never seem to actually be getting myyrh. I don't question it though.

Overall, the game is pretty good, besides the repetitiveness. I would recommend playing with friends for the full experience, since most of the characters refer to you in plural even if you're alone. Aside from it's faults, it's a pretty fun hack and slash adventure type thing with some good story and action.

[Mr. Teatime]

Since you think Banjo-Tooie is the perfect game, are you going to review it? Because I'm seriously curious how you put that game above all others. For me personally, I didn't think it was as good as the first game, and not as good as a good number of games I've played. So, yeah, youve really piqued my curiousity with that.

I'm currently replaying through Banjo-Kazooie, and plan to replay through Banjo-Tooie after, in anticipation for Banjo-Kazooie 3, despite the fact that it looks totally disappointing compared to the first two. I have to agree that Banjo-Tooie is better in just about every regard, and that the two games are two of the best games of all time. Perhaps when I'm done playing through them again, if no one else has gotten to it, I'll write up a full review for 'em.

[Extra T]

I wrote this review for another site, but I really like it, so I'm posting it here:

Every once in awhile a game comes along that redefines a genre. This game raises the bar in every possible way, from the graphics to the audio to the story, and most importantly, the gameplay. This game tries to do everything in a way that hasn't been done before, and it succeeds. The World Ends With You is that game.

The World Ends With You is a quirky action RPG from Square-Enix, the developers behind the well known franchises of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. The company has consistently delivered outstanding games in the RPG department, and this one is no exception.

In this game you play as Neku, a boy who wakes up in Shibuya with no recollection of his past. You find a pin that allows you to read the minds of others in your area, as well as a cell phone. As you wander around you meet up with a girl named Shiki, who hurriedly asks you to make a pact with her. You bewilderedly accept, not understanding where you are or why you were just forced into this pact.

After you play around a bit, you figure out that you are a Player in The Reaper's Game. To win, you must face one challenge each day for seven days. Failure to complete a challenge results in Erasure, or the equivalent of death.

The storyline of this game is very unique, which is a word you will learn to use a lot when describing this game. Neku is very dry and sarcastic about everything, and because of this makes him seem very human; much more so than other RPG protagonists. You immediately fall in love with Shiki, who desperately tries to get Neku to like her. It's all very intriguing, and you'll be entertained throughout.

As the story begins, you will also notice how incredible the game looks. To put it bluntly, the game is gorgeous. The style in this game is like a Japanese Manga, but at the same time it is unlike any other art I have seen. The city of Shibuya looks amazing, with all the cool buildings and billboards. It's easily one of the best looking DS games available.

Not only are the locations breathtaking, but the characters themselves looks awesome. Neku and Shiki each have their own unique looks, and during cutscenes you will find yourself staring at each character and admiring their intricacies. Not to mention that their clothes look incredibly stylish.

Believe it or not, style is a very important part of this game. As you wander about the many districts of Shibuya, you must pay attention to the latest fashion trends. By wearing clothes that fit the latest trends, you are rewarded by getting extra boosts in battle. It's a neat distraction, and it's pretty cool that you have to constantly be aware of what people are wearing.

Even if the game weren't so incredibly stylized, it wouldn't matter, because the battle system is so unique (yep, I said it again). While scanning to read minds, you may notice floating icons on the screen. These are called "Noise" and they are your enemies. To battle, you have to use both screens, each screen containing one character. To control Neku, you have to use the touch screen and use specific inputs for different attacks, which are based on the Pins that you are wearing (more on that later). On the top screen you fight as Shiki using the d-pad to pull off combos.

At first this may seem like an incredibly difficult concept, but after a bit of practice it's easy to manage the two. Once you get really good, you can pull of combos by passing the Power Puck between characters. The longer you keep the puck, the more powerful your attacks become.

If you happen to be focusing on Neku for an extended period of time, don't fret, because the game is forgiving. If Shiki is neglected for too long the computer automatically takes over and controls her for you. This is especially helpful when Neku gets in a bind and you have to get him out or face death.

Like I mentioned earlier, Neku's attacks are based off of the pins that he is wearing. These pins are acquired throughout the game, and give Neku the power to use "Psychs," or attacks. Some are projectiles and are executed by touching an empty part of the screen. Others require more advanced motions, like drawing a circle around Neku. It's very fun to experiment with different combinations, and finding a combination that works really well is very satisfying.

Along with clothing boosting your stats, you also have the ability of eating food. Each food is a certain amount of bytes, which are digested as you fight in battles. Each character can only digest 24 bytes in one day. After the food is digested, you get the stat boosts of that particular item. It's nothing fancy, but it's definitely a neat addition that can really help in the long run.

I was also pleasantly surprised by audio in this game. Instead of slow, emotional etudes like in other RPGs, The World Ends With You features a full soundtrack of Japanese Pop-inspired hits. Each song has a different feel, and reflects a different area of Shibuya. I only disliked one song throughout the entire game, which is odd because I am not usually a fan of that type of music.

I think the developers realized that the soundtrack was good, because as you play through the game you can unlock and buy all of the songs featured in the game. This is definitely a good addition, because you will find yourself wanting to listen to each song over and over again.

My only problem that I found with this game is the lack of multiplayer. I was really hoping that eventually I would unlock the ability to have someone play Co-Op via Multi-card play, but there is nothing like that included in this game. The closest thing you will get is Mingle Mode in which you can connect with another player who owns the game. Unfortunately, all you do if you find them is fight their "Alien" to earn experience, and shop in a store that sells the pins that they have equipped. It isn't a terrible addition, but I was left wanting more.

Overall this is the best DS game available on the market. Everything about the game is so unique, and it all comes together to create the most stylized and fun game I've ever played. It's unfortunate that the game is not receiving much attention from the media, because anyone who has played the game has fallen in love. Please, do yourself a favor and pick up this game. You won't regret it.

[FreeViarga3524]

It's a bit on the short side, but whatever.

Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Chunsoft
Genre: Roguelike
Number of Players: 1
ESRB Rating: E
Content Descriptors: Mild Fantasy Violence

    Back in the early days of PC RPGs, three games were released that would influence most of the games to follow in their footsteps. You can thank Wizardry and Ultima for your Final Fantasy's and Dragon Quest's, but Rogue was a bit more niche then these two, despite the fact that it has created an entire genre. Roguelikes are RPGs which share several qualities. First, the game is entirely turn-based, meaning nothing will move or attack until you move. Second, the areas in the game are entirely random. From enemies to item placement, nothing will be the same between two playthroughs. Finally, when playing a roguelike, you will die. Many, many times. This serves as a deterrent to many people, but if you can get over this fact, you will be in for a good time.

    The Mysterious Dungeon series has been around since 1993 and has used characters from such series as Dragon Quest and Pokemon. Shiren the Wanderer is a port of a Super Nintendo game that was never released in the US. It has another Japan-only sequel on the Nintendo 64 and another that has yet to be released for Wii.

    The graphics and sound in the game are nice for a SNES game, but they aren't exactly mind-blowing today on the DS. The character and enemies designs however are great. The game is very colorful and diverse.

    The gameplay is what sets this game apart from most of its contemporaries. Your progress through the game is measured in how many floors you have reached in the titular dungeon. You pick up randomly placed items along the way, which you will need to utilize in order to survive, rather than relying on your melee attacks alone. Every now and then, you will reach a town which can include many different stops and services, from inns, which will restore your fullness level, to blacksmiths who will upgrade your weapons. But you must be careful with these weapons, for when you die and restart at the beginning town, you lose all items and weapons. Items in the game include herbs, scrolls, and staves. These all have many different effects, from switching the places of you and an enemy or using a knife to retrieve an enemy's meat, which can turn you into that enemy. These can be stored in warehouses to be picked up during later playthroughs, because though Shiren is going through the same routine every time you begin a game, the world around him remains with all the changes you have made to it. However, if you have a great item that you want to hold on to and you die, you can call out for a rescue over Wi-Fi connection. Anyone playing the game can accept your request, and if they make it through your dungeon to you, you can continue on. All of these elements give the game a solitare feel, where you are constantly restarting your game until you get the right combination to finally finish the game.

    This brings me to the length of the game. A runthrough of the game from the opening hamlet to the final floor of the dungeon will only last about 2 to 3 hours, yet I have put over fifteen hours into Shiren.

    The final part of this game to consider is simply all of the crazy things you can do. It is almost like the Grand Theft Auto series in the way that you can mess with the game to your advantage and have many interesting stories. One of my favorite moments was picking up all of a store-keeper's inventory, waiting for him to run to block his door until I paid, then using a switching staff to go to the door and walking out with many great items for free. It's moments like these that make this game worth picking up for anyone who enjoys challenging RPGs.

[FreeViarga3524]

My Rez HD review, in which controversial statements are made.

[Alexisonfire]

My Rez HD review, in which controversial statements are made.

I agree with this review in full.

No, I have not forgotten about this topic. It's just my motivation to write reviews about the games I was intending to sort of dried up, probably by me not playing them (Twilight Princess, Skies of Arcadia, WoW), and/or properly finishing them (GrimGrimoire, Radiant Dawn, Persona 3).

EDIT: Actually, with the pace I'm going at, I should be done Eternal Sonata by the end of the day. Hopefully I can get a review down for that one. I've got a lot to say about it.

EDIT: Cancel That. I have severely underestimated the length of Mysterious Unison. I think this is the 6th hour of me in this place. At least I have the game until thursday...

[Depressio]

This is my first time in this thread, apparently. I figure I have a good game to start with, though.

Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner
Telltale Games
Platform: Wii/PC

Graphics: Inconsistent is probably the appropriate word to describe the visuals in this game. Strong Bad himself looks pretty good: compared to the others, he has made the least-awkward transition to 3D. Other characters, however...not so much. Some of the models seem jagged and crooked (again, likely the result of moving away from 2D),  while others just look bizarre (Pom Pom especially...his head seems detached from his body at times). There are definitely some issues with textures, as well: items in the background often appear blurry and out of focus, a problem that reminds me of the Nintendo 64 days. The environments themselves look pretty decent, however, capturing the look of the show while still working in the context of a game.

Gameplay: Again, this is kind of hit-or-miss. Homestar Ruiner is a point-and-click adventure game: the Wii remote serves as your mouse, allowing you to examine items and interact with the world around you. It's a little archaic, yes, but it works for this type of episodic gaming. Gameplay pretty much amounts to gathering/using items and talking to other characters. Traditional point-and-click shortcomings are apparent as well: (expect lots of repeating dialogue and stationary NPCs to interact with). Control can be surprisingly shoddy at times, though this could be attributed to the Wii remote's inaccuracy. Clicking a spot on the screen guides Strong Bad to that location, but this can often result in a clumsy mess if any sort of obstacle is nearby. It is oddly hilarious to click on Marzipan, only to have Strong Bad go in a convoluted series of circles before he actually encounters her.

Puzzle solving was not nearly as difficult as I anticipated. I've read that some reviewers were bewildered by how to proceed through the story, but I found the challenges to be pretty reasonable. Compared to the complex and intricate puzzles of something like Grim Fandango, Homestar Ruiner is pretty manageable.

What was particularly interesting is that the game makes no attempt to introduce you to the world of HomestarRunner. While this is fine by me, it really limits the accessibility of the product. Inside-jokes are all over the place, and some of the game's optional content can be completely overlooked if you don't "know" the characters already.

On a frustrating note, I encountered at least two glitches in my few hours with the game. Strong Bad clipped through a few walls, and there was one instance where a character simply dissapeared. Odd.

Sound/Music: All of the characters sound great, with Matt Chapman and Missy Palmer keeping up the same level of quality you would expect from the site. There is some great delivery here, and Strong Bad's quips are consistently funny throughout the entire game. The music is synthy and peppy, just like on the site. (The Chapmans themselves provided the music for the game)

Value/Replayability: The game is certainly lacking in this department. The main quest itself takes about 3-5 hours to complete, depending on how fast you catch on to the puzzle solving. Completing the game unlocks a sort of Extended Play, where you can continue exploring Free Country, USA. There are some optional items to pick up on the side, but there isn't really a whole lot of reason to do so. It would have been great if perfect completion netted you some sort of bonus/reward in future episodes, but that's probably wishful thinking.

Overall: Homestar Ruiner is sort of like a birthday card you get from a young relative. It's rough around the edges and crudely assembled, but you can tell the love is there. 

If you're a fan of the Chapman's brand of humour and want to see how the site's characters hold up in game form, you will likely find yourself amused by what you get in Homestar Ruiner. Conversely, there is literally nothing here for you if you're not interested in HomestarRunner.com. It's not a particularly glamorous gameplay experience control-wise, and the visuals aren't particularly engaging. The game has heart, but whether or not that's worth ten dollars is up to you.