T-Man here! OK, let’s get one thing straight: I’m a diehard Sonic fan. Sonic Adventure was my very first game. LOVED IT!!! Everybody else loved it and Sonic Adventure 2 all the same, until the release of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. That’s when people started to notice the glitchy camera, short length, and clunky controls. Indeed, sometimes when I’ve gone back and played those games, the camera and controls have gotten on my nerves, but only in certain places. People are overreacting about these things in my opinion. Neither is as big an issue as people make it out to be.
What?!! There's no sniper rifle in this game!
After the believe-it-or-not well-received Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog came out…and so did the bad scores. The complaints? Below average visuals, terrible controls, camera problems, bad level design, and the fact that the guns wouldn’t automatically lock onto an enemy, rendering them useless. Well, here’s my take:
I was unlucky enough to get the PS2 version. The visuals are even worse on it. Though it came out after Sonic Heroes, graphic-wise it’s either one or two levels below. Nothing that couldn’t have been done on Dreamcast. Like all PS2 games, this has a jagged framerate of 30 FPS. The textures are also lower resolution than that of the Gamecube and probably Xbox versions.
The story isn’t as bad as people make it out to be, and the branching paths are fun to take. I myself set a goal that I would complete all of the stages, though you don’t have to with some good thinking. Sadly, that is a relatively low 22. There are ten endings, however, so you’ll often have to play through the same stage more than once. Because you can only play through six stages at a time, there is a total of 60 stages, counting the times that you’ll have to play some of the stages more than once, 61 counting the stage in the Last Story, which you unlock after getting all ten endings. Too bad there’s more stages replayed than there are in the game, and not only that, but regardless of this “hefty” amount of stages, I beat the game in only three days. Not only that, but some stages have really annoying missions that are only annoying because they are not your traditional straightforward Sonic stages. They are the Super Mario 64-like stages that shouldn’t be in ANY Sonic game, aside from Knuckles’ levels in Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, because they were very fun. These stages are The Doom, Lost Impact, and Central City.
"In the end, we have a VERY underrated game"
The Doom’s Dark Mission is to defeat all the GUN Soldiers. Some of them are pretty hard to find because of that stage’s layout. Then there’s Lost Impact. It has the most annoying mission in the game. You’re supposed to kill 35 liquid creatures, but it takes a SUPER long time to do. Then there’s Central City. For the Dark Mission, you’ve got to detonate five giant bombs, but they’re hard to find.
Despite the fact that the guns don’t have auto-aim, they’re not useless. They’re stronger than the average homing attack and are good for long ranged attacks. You can also use swords, but they’re VERY stupid. Why? Because they have ammo! And a very small amount at that! They probably have ammo to influence you to change your weapon.
It’s not all guns and swords, though. There are also two weapons that suck things up. One of them is a secret weapon called the Vacuum Egg. It sucks up about twenty enemies. Then there’s some alien gun that sucks up things, boxes and capsules included, and allows you to throw them into things.
When I was first getting back into the game after a long period of not playing it, there was about a thirty-second period of me not being able to control it right, but after that it seemed to control okay. Maybe I got used to it?
And like all of the 3-D Sonic games, and most 3-D games in general, this game has an unruly camera, but it’s not really that big of a deal if you ask me. Sure, there will be some parts where you can’t see where you’re going, but it really isn’t that big a deal.
And in the end, we have a VERY underrated game, despite all of its problems. Despite no auto-lock, the guns are fun to use, and most of the time, it’s the same really fun high-speed gameplay Sonic games are famous for.
Rating: Awesome
This game has received the T-MAN’S GAMES T-MAN’S CHOICE AWARD.
What?!! There's no sniper rifle in this game!
After the believe-it-or-not well-received Sonic Heroes, Shadow the Hedgehog came out…and so did the bad scores. The complaints? Below average visuals, terrible controls, camera problems, bad level design, and the fact that the guns wouldn’t automatically lock onto an enemy, rendering them useless. Well, here’s my take:
I was unlucky enough to get the PS2 version. The visuals are even worse on it. Though it came out after Sonic Heroes, graphic-wise it’s either one or two levels below. Nothing that couldn’t have been done on Dreamcast. Like all PS2 games, this has a jagged framerate of 30 FPS. The textures are also lower resolution than that of the Gamecube and probably Xbox versions.
The story isn’t as bad as people make it out to be, and the branching paths are fun to take. I myself set a goal that I would complete all of the stages, though you don’t have to with some good thinking. Sadly, that is a relatively low 22. There are ten endings, however, so you’ll often have to play through the same stage more than once. Because you can only play through six stages at a time, there is a total of 60 stages, counting the times that you’ll have to play some of the stages more than once, 61 counting the stage in the Last Story, which you unlock after getting all ten endings. Too bad there’s more stages replayed than there are in the game, and not only that, but regardless of this “hefty” amount of stages, I beat the game in only three days. Not only that, but some stages have really annoying missions that are only annoying because they are not your traditional straightforward Sonic stages. They are the Super Mario 64-like stages that shouldn’t be in ANY Sonic game, aside from Knuckles’ levels in Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, because they were very fun. These stages are The Doom, Lost Impact, and Central City.
"In the end, we have a VERY underrated game"
The Doom’s Dark Mission is to defeat all the GUN Soldiers. Some of them are pretty hard to find because of that stage’s layout. Then there’s Lost Impact. It has the most annoying mission in the game. You’re supposed to kill 35 liquid creatures, but it takes a SUPER long time to do. Then there’s Central City. For the Dark Mission, you’ve got to detonate five giant bombs, but they’re hard to find.
Despite the fact that the guns don’t have auto-aim, they’re not useless. They’re stronger than the average homing attack and are good for long ranged attacks. You can also use swords, but they’re VERY stupid. Why? Because they have ammo! And a very small amount at that! They probably have ammo to influence you to change your weapon.
It’s not all guns and swords, though. There are also two weapons that suck things up. One of them is a secret weapon called the Vacuum Egg. It sucks up about twenty enemies. Then there’s some alien gun that sucks up things, boxes and capsules included, and allows you to throw them into things.
When I was first getting back into the game after a long period of not playing it, there was about a thirty-second period of me not being able to control it right, but after that it seemed to control okay. Maybe I got used to it?
And like all of the 3-D Sonic games, and most 3-D games in general, this game has an unruly camera, but it’s not really that big of a deal if you ask me. Sure, there will be some parts where you can’t see where you’re going, but it really isn’t that big a deal.
And in the end, we have a VERY underrated game, despite all of its problems. Despite no auto-lock, the guns are fun to use, and most of the time, it’s the same really fun high-speed gameplay Sonic games are famous for.
Rating: Awesome
This game has received the T-MAN’S GAMES T-MAN’S CHOICE AWARD.
Ahh, handheld games. They were first introduced with some old handheld that I forgot what its name was, and was brought back by the Nintendo GameBoy. Since then, many have attempted to best Nintendo in the handheld gaming market, and all have failed. Here are my top ten handheld games.
Number 10: Sonic Advance (GBA)
Ah, Sonic Advance. The first 2-D Sonic game since the failed Knuckles Chaotix. ‘Twas a good game. ‘Twas a good game indeed. It’s fast n’ furious, like every Sonic game should be. It had four playable characters. All in all, it was just great.
Number 9: Sonic Advance 2 (GBA)
‘Twas better than the first, indeed. It introduced Cream the Rabbit as a playable character. ‘Twas a good game.
Number 8: Sonic Battle (GBA)
This was cool. Each character had his or her own attacks, and it was just all-around a blast to play. Sonic apparently makes a good fighter, because this was a good game.
Number 7: Sonic Advance 3
This totally expanded on the Sonic Advance universe. It gave you maps, and there were three acts on each map. You could have teammates, and different combinations had different team names. This was the second-best Sonic handheld.
Number 6: Sonic Rush (DS)
Question: Why are the first five games in my top ten Sonic games?
Answer: I LIKE SONIC!!!!!!!!
Anyway, you had a World Map, where you could go to any of the Zones. You have two playable characters, each with his or her own abilities. The soundtrack is awesome. The story rocks. It’s just great.
Number 5: The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA)
Yeah, this rocks. Great graphics. Great gameplay (like every Zelda game). It’s awesome. Of course, you’d expect to find a Zelda game on my list.
Number 4: Metroid Fusion (GBA)
The fourth Metroid game delivered. The graphics were great. The gameplay is great! It’s also really fun, of course. This game is awesome.
Number 3: Metroid: Zero-Mission (GBA)
Honestly, I feel this is more fun than Metroid Fusion, although most regard it as the inferior. It’s a bit on the short and easy side, but it’s really good. It deserves a higher place on my list.
Number 2: Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA)
Of course this isn’t as good as the other two games, but it still is one of my favorite handheld games. It’s a great game overall from the story to the graphics. It’s worth a buy for any Kingdom Hearts fan.
And now, da-da-da-da-da-da-da da-da-da-da-da-da-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
NUMBER 1: SUPER MARIO 64 DS (DS)
The best handheld game I own. Nintendo took the best Mario game ever made, and the second best N64 game, right next to Zelda Ocarina of Time, and ported it to the DS, better than ever. It had 150 Stars to get, and four playable characters as opposed to one. Overall, it was great.
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Number 10: Sonic Advance (GBA)
Ah, Sonic Advance. The first 2-D Sonic game since the failed Knuckles Chaotix. ‘Twas a good game. ‘Twas a good game indeed. It’s fast n’ furious, like every Sonic game should be. It had four playable characters. All in all, it was just great.
Number 9: Sonic Advance 2 (GBA)
‘Twas better than the first, indeed. It introduced Cream the Rabbit as a playable character. ‘Twas a good game.
Number 8: Sonic Battle (GBA)
This was cool. Each character had his or her own attacks, and it was just all-around a blast to play. Sonic apparently makes a good fighter, because this was a good game.
Number 7: Sonic Advance 3
This totally expanded on the Sonic Advance universe. It gave you maps, and there were three acts on each map. You could have teammates, and different combinations had different team names. This was the second-best Sonic handheld.
Number 6: Sonic Rush (DS)
Question: Why are the first five games in my top ten Sonic games?
Answer: I LIKE SONIC!!!!!!!!
Anyway, you had a World Map, where you could go to any of the Zones. You have two playable characters, each with his or her own abilities. The soundtrack is awesome. The story rocks. It’s just great.
Number 5: The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA)
Yeah, this rocks. Great graphics. Great gameplay (like every Zelda game). It’s awesome. Of course, you’d expect to find a Zelda game on my list.
Number 4: Metroid Fusion (GBA)
The fourth Metroid game delivered. The graphics were great. The gameplay is great! It’s also really fun, of course. This game is awesome.
Number 3: Metroid: Zero-Mission (GBA)
Honestly, I feel this is more fun than Metroid Fusion, although most regard it as the inferior. It’s a bit on the short and easy side, but it’s really good. It deserves a higher place on my list.
Number 2: Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (GBA)
Of course this isn’t as good as the other two games, but it still is one of my favorite handheld games. It’s a great game overall from the story to the graphics. It’s worth a buy for any Kingdom Hearts fan.
And now, da-da-da-da-da-da-da da-da-da-da-da-da-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
NUMBER 1: SUPER MARIO 64 DS (DS)
The best handheld game I own. Nintendo took the best Mario game ever made, and the second best N64 game, right next to Zelda Ocarina of Time, and ported it to the DS, better than ever. It had 150 Stars to get, and four playable characters as opposed to one. Overall, it was great.
Like my site? Let me know! E-mail me at tmansgames@gmail.com !
Hello, and welcome to the final chapter in my Eragon Week review trilogy. This is for the game.
Almost completely last-gen!
Please note that I am reviewing the Xbox 360 version of the game. I have no intent on getting the other versions just so I can review them, so suck it up!!!! Anyway, this game’s graphics are bad for 360 graphics. They look almost completely last gen. I swear Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland looked better! The characters’ hair looks like hay! Though, I must admit, whenever you hit enemies with arrows, arrows stick out of them, which is cool. I think this game’s graphics are so bad because its release was to (or did) coincide with the PS2 and Xbox versions. This would have looked okay on them.
Hacking and slashing with Eragon
characters. Not too bad.
The gameplay on this is okay. This game is set across 18 levels and one secret level. There are several combos that you can use to take down enemies and you can use your bow. There are also a few stages where you are flying on Saphira. This game is also quite fun. As for replay value, you might have to replay some levels to get some of the Secret Eggs, but after that, I don’t think you’ll have much motivation to play again, but I’m not sure, because I haven’t finished it. There might be some kind of cool replay mode…
Retells the movie with even more
changes from the book than the
movie had!!
Yeah, you heard right. This retells the story of the movie, but with a lot of changes. Sometimes it’s more faithful to the book than the movie (Eragon names his dragon Saphira because of her sapphire-like eyes), but sometimes has even more changes (“Reisa” is the first spell Eragon learns in the game, while in both the book AND the movie, the first spell he learned was “Brisingr”). And some of the dialogue is so cheesy I literally laugh at it (i.e. “Pain,” or “I regret nothiiiiiiiiiiiing!”).
Orchestra!
The music in this game is highly orchestral, which is good for a game with a fantasy setting. And who knows? Maybe Keep Holding On plays in the end like at the end of the movie!
T-Man’s Pros and Cons:
Pros:
+ Decent gameplay
+ Decent fun factor
+ Decently difficult
+ Good music
+ Some of the effects are nice
Cons:
- Graphics stink
- Little replay value that I know of
- Even more changes from the book than the movie!
- Some of the dialogue is extremely cheesy
Buy It/Rent It/Skip It/Smash It:
Big fans of the hack n’ slash genre can purchase this in good conscience. Others (especially fans of the book) should proceed with caution, because I haven’t seen a single good review for this game aside from my own. Se onr sverdar sitja hvass!
Rating: Pretty Good
Almost completely last-gen!
Please note that I am reviewing the Xbox 360 version of the game. I have no intent on getting the other versions just so I can review them, so suck it up!!!! Anyway, this game’s graphics are bad for 360 graphics. They look almost completely last gen. I swear Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland looked better! The characters’ hair looks like hay! Though, I must admit, whenever you hit enemies with arrows, arrows stick out of them, which is cool. I think this game’s graphics are so bad because its release was to (or did) coincide with the PS2 and Xbox versions. This would have looked okay on them.
Hacking and slashing with Eragon
characters. Not too bad.
The gameplay on this is okay. This game is set across 18 levels and one secret level. There are several combos that you can use to take down enemies and you can use your bow. There are also a few stages where you are flying on Saphira. This game is also quite fun. As for replay value, you might have to replay some levels to get some of the Secret Eggs, but after that, I don’t think you’ll have much motivation to play again, but I’m not sure, because I haven’t finished it. There might be some kind of cool replay mode…
Retells the movie with even more
changes from the book than the
movie had!!
Yeah, you heard right. This retells the story of the movie, but with a lot of changes. Sometimes it’s more faithful to the book than the movie (Eragon names his dragon Saphira because of her sapphire-like eyes), but sometimes has even more changes (“Reisa” is the first spell Eragon learns in the game, while in both the book AND the movie, the first spell he learned was “Brisingr”). And some of the dialogue is so cheesy I literally laugh at it (i.e. “Pain,” or “I regret nothiiiiiiiiiiiing!”).
Orchestra!
The music in this game is highly orchestral, which is good for a game with a fantasy setting. And who knows? Maybe Keep Holding On plays in the end like at the end of the movie!
T-Man’s Pros and Cons:
Pros:
+ Decent gameplay
+ Decent fun factor
+ Decently difficult
+ Good music
+ Some of the effects are nice
Cons:
- Graphics stink
- Little replay value that I know of
- Even more changes from the book than the movie!
- Some of the dialogue is extremely cheesy
Buy It/Rent It/Skip It/Smash It:
Big fans of the hack n’ slash genre can purchase this in good conscience. Others (especially fans of the book) should proceed with caution, because I haven’t seen a single good review for this game aside from my own. Se onr sverdar sitja hvass!
Rating: Pretty Good