Before 2010, I made a New Years Resolution that I would update my site more. I mean, let's face it. I only posted TWO reviews last year. Anyway, thanks to that promise you get to enjoy a review for not one, not two, but THREE games in one post. This is a review for the three Mega Man X games released exclusively for 32-bit systems. Oh, but I can't start a review without one of those silly intros that explain my history with the series, now, can I? Feel free to skip it. The actual review starts in the fifth paragraph of this post.
Anyway, my history with the Mega Man series starts with my getting into Icons. Of course, I had known about Mega Man before, but I didn't really get into the series until I had seen the episode of Icons about Mega Man. As soon as it was over, I KNEW I had to have Mega Man Anniversary Collection. I got it for my 10th birthday, and started with Mega Man 8. I loved it at the time, but got out of it once I found no conceivable way to get through the first stage of Wily's Tower. Pretty much the same thing happened with the original Mega Man. I didn't beat Mega Man 8 until three years later after getting back into the series, and though I've gotten to the Wily stages on Mega Man 1, 2, and 7, I've not been able to beat any of them. (I haven't even played the first Mega Man recently though)
Fast forward to April 2009, when Mega Man has pretty much moved to the back of my mind. I'm walking through the local GameStop when I spot Mega Man X7 for $10.00. Now, I knew about the X series as well, and I had actually intended to get Mega Man X Collection for my birthday alongside MMAC. Due to my experiences with the original series, though, and also that I had heard the X series' games had a high difficulty level in the very episode of Icons that drove me to get Anniversary Collection, I decided to pass it up rather than find myself screaming and breaking controllers left and right. Rather than passing MMX7 up, though, I decided to buy it.
I didn't play MMX7 until three months later. I wasn't exactly amazed. In fact, what Icons had said seemed to be very much true. It was hard. Horribly. Ridiculously. Unforgivably. Hard. I was screaming left and right, although thankfully no controller sustained any injuries (well, major ones, at least) during my first playthrough of MMX7. At the same time, though, after I had somehow miraculously beaten it, I was mildly impressed, and decided in spite of my horrible experiences to play through it again. I had a lot more fun on my second playthrough, having upgraded my characters on my first playthrough. Although I still wasn't exactly amazed, I began to feel as though I NEEDED the other games in the series. What I had seen looked more fun than X7, and eventually, on Christmas 2009, I had a moment of screaming with delight when I opened a present to find Mega Man X Collection. So, let's get started with this review, shall we?
(Note that this review is not going to cover all six games on the collection. Only X4-X6.)
Anyway, I started my Mega Man X adventure with MMX4. Call me an otaku, but I just LOVE anime cutscenes, even if the voice acting is ridiculous. I first played with X, and I liked it a lot, although on my second playthrough as X I had a lot more fun, probably because I actually knew the Life-up (or Heart, if you prefer) and armor piece locations. (I only found one Life-up and no armor pieces on my first playthrough of the Maverick levels, and had to go back later) Despite the absolutely terrible voice acting, the cutscenes were enjoyable to watch, but I can't help but feel that X himself didn't get enough screentime. His [girlish and ridiculous] voice was heard on the phone in one cutscene, but he wasn't seen until the ending of his story.
Zero, on the other hand gets plenty of screentime in his cutscenes...which makes one tragic scene that you probably know about unintentionally hilarious. I'm sure you know which one it is.
Anyway, I love Zero's gameplay, too. Zero is really just the definition of a POWERHOUSE once you start getting abilities for him. Rather than a gun, he uses the epic Z-Saber. Though more suited for close-range combat, Zero gains awesome moves with it, and even gets an improved version from one of the bosses.
Before closing this review, I'd like to mention the music. I have to say that I enjoy the music of this game. While it's not always memorable, it's fitting and does have one stand-out track. (The volcano's theme) I'd also like to mention the voice acting once again. It's mostly present in the cutscenes. Though it doesn't ruin them, the voice acting is pret-ty awful as stated before. X sounds like a little girl, and Zero's voice ranges from a somewhat high-pitched rebellious teenager to sounding like Emil in Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. Seriously, the only game that you could possibly hear worse voice acting in is Mega Man 8. It is THAT BAD and makes me wonder why no one at Capcom cared. I mean, didn't they want the English dub of a certain death scene in Zero's story to strike the same emotions as the Japanese version might?
So, anyway, I love Mega Man X4. It's awesome. It's not even horribly difficult. It provides adequate challenge, and that's it. MMX5 is the same way (MMX6 isn't, but more on that later). There is only one fatal flaw: the length. I mean, I know that, being a Mega Man game, it kind of needs to be short because of the whole "choose a stage, beat the boss and use that boss's power to beat another boss" thing, but I can't help but feel sorely disappointed that the game is over before you know it. It's a problem with all the other ones on MMXC, too. It was acceptable on SNES, but not on PS1. Well, can't be helped, can it? The plot's good, the gameplay's awesome, the anime cutscenes are fun to watch even though the voice acting is atrocious and the music wins. It's really one of the best 2-D side-scrolling experiences that I've ever had.
So What's Good About MMX4?
+ Anime cutscenes
+ Two different character stories, each featuring its own cutscenes and story
+ Fun stage design
+ Good plot
+ Good music
...But What's Bad About It?
- Voice acting is some of the worst you'll ever hear, next to Mega Man 8
- Far too short for my liking
So, yeah, MMX4 is great. But can I say the same thing for the other ones? In the words of Mr. Owl, "Let'sh find out."
Let's start with MMX5, since it was the second one I played. From the start, a definite minus is that it doesn't have anime cutscenes like X4! Not only that, but it has no voice acting! I mean sure, the voice acting of X4 is bad, but I still feel like that doesn't mean there shouldn't be any in MMX5. Let's press on, though.
MMX5 plays roughly the same as MMX4. There are some differences though. For one thing, there aren't two character stories. You are able to choose either X or Zero to play through a level.
There is also the thing that made the game seem highly interesting to me before I played it. You see, your goal in the game at first is to stop a space colony from crashing into the Earth. There are two means of doing this: the Enigma Cannon, which you gather parts for and try to use first, and the space shuttle, which you also have to gather parts for. Naturally, these parts all belong to Maverick bosses, so you'll have to deal with them. You CAN actually launch the Enigma Cannon and space shuttle before you collect all parts for them, but the probability that they will succeed will be much lower (it's actually completely random if they'll succeed or not; the cannon is most likely not to succeed whether you collect the parts of it or not, but as far as I know the space shuttle will most likely succeed as long as you collect all of the parts for it). If you don't succeed in preventing the colony from crashing, you don't have to start the game over. Rather, other events happen and you can get a different ending. But warning, Zero fans! Without spoiling why, Zero becomes unplayable if this happens.
Although you have those two means of preventing the space colony's crash, there are only 16 game hours before the crash happens. There's no timer while playing the stages, thankfully. Rather, each time you enter a stage or fight Dynamo, the game's new character, you lose one hour. Basically, this only means that if you want to keep the colony from crashing, you have to limit the number of times you revisit levels to get things you missed before until the crash has been prevented.
Another new feature that I have to say I think is kind of cool is that X has not one, but TWO unlockable sets of armor. We've got the Falcon Armor, which allows X to fly but decreases the width of his charged shot, and the Gaea Armor, which is slow, has a short-ranged shot and prevents X from using Mavericks' abilities but tries to make up for it by allowing X to stick to walls, making his shot more powerful, and allowing X to walk on spikes. Yes, TRIES. Though the Falcon Armor can be quite useful and is cool in general, the Gaea Armor is only required for two or three Life-ups and then you'll never want to use it again. If you don't like either of those armors, though, by starting the game as X, you can unlock either the Fourth Armor, the unlockable armor from MMX4, or, if you use a cheat code, the Ultimate Armor, which has all of the features of the fourth armor but allows you to use the Nova Dash move, which is practically required if you intend to beat the final boss as X.
In this game, if you defeat a high level boss, you will be allowed to select whether you want to get a health upgrade or an energy upgrade, another thing that is kind of cool because it makes it to where Life-Ups aren't the only way that you can get health. Also, through means that I don't actually know yet, parts can be completed that allow you to upgrade your characters. Finally, I have to mention is that X and Zero can duck in this game. I find that a good improvement. Though not as big of a deal in X4, it's a problem that I have with the old classic Mega Man games, because it makes it harder to kill enemies below you and to dodge attacks coming from below.
Anyway, like I said before, X5 plays pretty much the same as X4. Also like I said before, you can use either X or Zero to play a level. Their gameplay is the same as it was in X4, but it seems like I find myself having more fun playing as Zero than with X. The game is a lot of fun in general, though. I love it, but not as much as X4.
Again, unlike X4, X5 has no anime cutscenes or voice acting, which I personally believe stinks, even though X4's voice acting was atrocious. Though I'm not sure if that really has anything to do with it, there is something that is either a consistent translation error, typo, glitch, or problem porting it to MMXC that will occasionally cause letters in text to be a 0 or O or 8 or whatever the heck it is rather than the letter that belongs there. Besides that, I don't enjoy the stage design, plot or music as much as X4's. So, yes, MMX5 is great, but not as great as X4.
So What's Good About MMX5?
+ The whole thing about the colony crashing is interesting
+ Characters can now duck (FINALLY)
+ Fun gameplay
+ Two different playable characters
+ Two different armors to unlock
...But Then What's Bad About It?
- No cutscenes
- No voice acting
- Typos/glitches/whatever they are can make text hard to read sometimes
- Way too short
Though this post has run quite long already, I've still got one games left to review. Yeah, I know this is going to be a really long post, but hey, I didn't post many reviews last year!
Anyway, now we'll move on to X6, the last one released for the PlayStation. Like X5, there is no voice acting; only still frames and text (although I've heard that there was Japanese voice acting on the original version but was taken out of the MMXC version...). Though, it seems like they look less dated than the ones in X5 seemed, so I can let it slide. Anyway, so, yeah, the game plays pretty much the same as X4 and 5. Unlike those games, Zero isn't available from the start of the game, and has to be unlocked by defeating a Maverick called the Zero Nightmare (looks exactly like Zero except a different color scheme...yeah, I know, it's stupid) in one of the areas that can be accessed through the use of a teleporter.
X starts out with the Falcon Armor in this game, although it allows you to do an enemy-damaging air dash rather than fly. There are two other armors to assemble in this game: the Shadow Armor, which is pretty much the same in the area of advantages and disadvantages as the Gaea Armor from X5 except that it shoots ninja starts that are pretty powerful and the charged shot allows you to do a powerful Z-Saber swing, and the Blade Armor, which allows you to do an awesome Mach Dash and allows you to do pretty much the same thing with the charged shot if you hold up while doing it. I've also heard that you can get the Ultimate Armor in this game with a cheat, but I haven't tried it yet.
Yes, thanks to the events of X5, X ends up with the Z-Saber in this game, and is actually still able to use it once you unlock Zero. It's okay, but you'll generally want to stick to your guns (literally). Another change is that you can rescue Reploids for parts and health upgrades, rather than extra lives and health refills. (They still give you that, though) However, there is a disease called the Nightmare that will try to infect Reploids, so you have to be quick sometimes. Yet another new thing is the nightmare system. Each boss has a "nightmare," which will follow you into certain levels. These nightmares basically change the stages in some way. All of them are meant to damage you or hinder you in some way, and are a lot of times annoying, but one is, in fact, useful for getting a few upgrades in one stage.
Now, a lot of fans tend to dislike X6. Though I had a lot of fun with it, I do think it's more flawed than the other X games that I've played. This is mainly due to obvious poor level design. For instance, in the stage of one Maverick, Commander Yammarck, there is an area where you have to make a blind jump on to a MOVING robot that is on SPIKES, and if you've played a Mega Man game before, you know that spikes mean instant death. So, miss and you DIE. The only foolproof way to get to it is to take a hit from one of the nearby enemies and use the period of temporary invincibility to walk across the spikes and reach the robot. Similar bad level design (including poor placement of Reploids) makes the game highly frustrating in some places.
Another thing is that where the game was rushed out to the American market, the translation is HORRIBLE. Seriously, this is the sloppiest game translation in any game that I have ever played. The game might as well say "All your base are belong to us." It's that bad!
I also have a gripe with one of Zero's moves, which sends Zero crashing into the ground. The reason why is because you press up and B to do it, and I can't say how many times I ended up falling into a bottomless pit because of that move. The reason this happens is because in the game there are wires that you have to hold up while next to in order to move across them. I would jump up off of them to defeat an enemy, and when I would jump, I would hold the control stick up so that I could grab back onto it as I was coming down. Unfortunately, when I pressed be to attack the enemy above me, I ended up careening into a bottomless pit thanks to that accursed move!
But like I said before, the game is still a lot of fun. The Blade Armor is cool, and the Shadow Armor is FAR better than X5's horrible Gaea Armor. I'd still much rather use the Blade Armor, but I still think the Shadow Armor is okay. I also like rescuing Reploids to get parts and extra lives and whatnot, but I never understood the Hunter Rank system. Supposedly, if your rank is higher, you can equip more parts, but it seems like my characters' ranks never increased...
So What's Good About MMX6?
+ Fun gameplay
+ X gets to use the Z-Saber, which is kind of cool
+ Still uses still frames and no voice acting, but it looks better than X5
+ Once again, two unlockable armors for X
+ Rescuing Reploids is cool
+ Story would be good...
...But Then What's Bad About It?
- ...But the plot is somewhat obscured by Engrish
- Bad level design in some places
- One of Zero's moves is annoying
- Nightmare system is kind of a pain
- Like the others, too short
So, there you have it: what I think about MMX4-6. I can't play any of the others on my Wii because my disc is really scratched up. For whatever reason, though, X3 at least seems to work on my cousin's GameCube (I haven't tried it on mine because one of its fans is broken, which causes it to overheat after a while). I could have reviewed X3, too, but I think it's about time to wrap this review up. So, I'll be seeing ya! I might review New Super Mario Bros. Wii next.
I give MMX4, MMX5, and MMX6 a 4 out of 5 each.
Anyway, my history with the Mega Man series starts with my getting into Icons. Of course, I had known about Mega Man before, but I didn't really get into the series until I had seen the episode of Icons about Mega Man. As soon as it was over, I KNEW I had to have Mega Man Anniversary Collection. I got it for my 10th birthday, and started with Mega Man 8. I loved it at the time, but got out of it once I found no conceivable way to get through the first stage of Wily's Tower. Pretty much the same thing happened with the original Mega Man. I didn't beat Mega Man 8 until three years later after getting back into the series, and though I've gotten to the Wily stages on Mega Man 1, 2, and 7, I've not been able to beat any of them. (I haven't even played the first Mega Man recently though)
Fast forward to April 2009, when Mega Man has pretty much moved to the back of my mind. I'm walking through the local GameStop when I spot Mega Man X7 for $10.00. Now, I knew about the X series as well, and I had actually intended to get Mega Man X Collection for my birthday alongside MMAC. Due to my experiences with the original series, though, and also that I had heard the X series' games had a high difficulty level in the very episode of Icons that drove me to get Anniversary Collection, I decided to pass it up rather than find myself screaming and breaking controllers left and right. Rather than passing MMX7 up, though, I decided to buy it.
I didn't play MMX7 until three months later. I wasn't exactly amazed. In fact, what Icons had said seemed to be very much true. It was hard. Horribly. Ridiculously. Unforgivably. Hard. I was screaming left and right, although thankfully no controller sustained any injuries (well, major ones, at least) during my first playthrough of MMX7. At the same time, though, after I had somehow miraculously beaten it, I was mildly impressed, and decided in spite of my horrible experiences to play through it again. I had a lot more fun on my second playthrough, having upgraded my characters on my first playthrough. Although I still wasn't exactly amazed, I began to feel as though I NEEDED the other games in the series. What I had seen looked more fun than X7, and eventually, on Christmas 2009, I had a moment of screaming with delight when I opened a present to find Mega Man X Collection. So, let's get started with this review, shall we?
(Note that this review is not going to cover all six games on the collection. Only X4-X6.)
Anyway, I started my Mega Man X adventure with MMX4. Call me an otaku, but I just LOVE anime cutscenes, even if the voice acting is ridiculous. I first played with X, and I liked it a lot, although on my second playthrough as X I had a lot more fun, probably because I actually knew the Life-up (or Heart, if you prefer) and armor piece locations. (I only found one Life-up and no armor pieces on my first playthrough of the Maverick levels, and had to go back later) Despite the absolutely terrible voice acting, the cutscenes were enjoyable to watch, but I can't help but feel that X himself didn't get enough screentime. His [girlish and ridiculous] voice was heard on the phone in one cutscene, but he wasn't seen until the ending of his story.
Zero, on the other hand gets plenty of screentime in his cutscenes...which makes one tragic scene that you probably know about unintentionally hilarious. I'm sure you know which one it is.
Anyway, I love Zero's gameplay, too. Zero is really just the definition of a POWERHOUSE once you start getting abilities for him. Rather than a gun, he uses the epic Z-Saber. Though more suited for close-range combat, Zero gains awesome moves with it, and even gets an improved version from one of the bosses.
Before closing this review, I'd like to mention the music. I have to say that I enjoy the music of this game. While it's not always memorable, it's fitting and does have one stand-out track. (The volcano's theme) I'd also like to mention the voice acting once again. It's mostly present in the cutscenes. Though it doesn't ruin them, the voice acting is pret-ty awful as stated before. X sounds like a little girl, and Zero's voice ranges from a somewhat high-pitched rebellious teenager to sounding like Emil in Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. Seriously, the only game that you could possibly hear worse voice acting in is Mega Man 8. It is THAT BAD and makes me wonder why no one at Capcom cared. I mean, didn't they want the English dub of a certain death scene in Zero's story to strike the same emotions as the Japanese version might?
So, anyway, I love Mega Man X4. It's awesome. It's not even horribly difficult. It provides adequate challenge, and that's it. MMX5 is the same way (MMX6 isn't, but more on that later). There is only one fatal flaw: the length. I mean, I know that, being a Mega Man game, it kind of needs to be short because of the whole "choose a stage, beat the boss and use that boss's power to beat another boss" thing, but I can't help but feel sorely disappointed that the game is over before you know it. It's a problem with all the other ones on MMXC, too. It was acceptable on SNES, but not on PS1. Well, can't be helped, can it? The plot's good, the gameplay's awesome, the anime cutscenes are fun to watch even though the voice acting is atrocious and the music wins. It's really one of the best 2-D side-scrolling experiences that I've ever had.
So What's Good About MMX4?
+ Anime cutscenes
+ Two different character stories, each featuring its own cutscenes and story
+ Fun stage design
+ Good plot
+ Good music
...But What's Bad About It?
- Voice acting is some of the worst you'll ever hear, next to Mega Man 8
- Far too short for my liking
So, yeah, MMX4 is great. But can I say the same thing for the other ones? In the words of Mr. Owl, "Let'sh find out."
Let's start with MMX5, since it was the second one I played. From the start, a definite minus is that it doesn't have anime cutscenes like X4! Not only that, but it has no voice acting! I mean sure, the voice acting of X4 is bad, but I still feel like that doesn't mean there shouldn't be any in MMX5. Let's press on, though.
MMX5 plays roughly the same as MMX4. There are some differences though. For one thing, there aren't two character stories. You are able to choose either X or Zero to play through a level.
There is also the thing that made the game seem highly interesting to me before I played it. You see, your goal in the game at first is to stop a space colony from crashing into the Earth. There are two means of doing this: the Enigma Cannon, which you gather parts for and try to use first, and the space shuttle, which you also have to gather parts for. Naturally, these parts all belong to Maverick bosses, so you'll have to deal with them. You CAN actually launch the Enigma Cannon and space shuttle before you collect all parts for them, but the probability that they will succeed will be much lower (it's actually completely random if they'll succeed or not; the cannon is most likely not to succeed whether you collect the parts of it or not, but as far as I know the space shuttle will most likely succeed as long as you collect all of the parts for it). If you don't succeed in preventing the colony from crashing, you don't have to start the game over. Rather, other events happen and you can get a different ending. But warning, Zero fans! Without spoiling why, Zero becomes unplayable if this happens.
Although you have those two means of preventing the space colony's crash, there are only 16 game hours before the crash happens. There's no timer while playing the stages, thankfully. Rather, each time you enter a stage or fight Dynamo, the game's new character, you lose one hour. Basically, this only means that if you want to keep the colony from crashing, you have to limit the number of times you revisit levels to get things you missed before until the crash has been prevented.
Another new feature that I have to say I think is kind of cool is that X has not one, but TWO unlockable sets of armor. We've got the Falcon Armor, which allows X to fly but decreases the width of his charged shot, and the Gaea Armor, which is slow, has a short-ranged shot and prevents X from using Mavericks' abilities but tries to make up for it by allowing X to stick to walls, making his shot more powerful, and allowing X to walk on spikes. Yes, TRIES. Though the Falcon Armor can be quite useful and is cool in general, the Gaea Armor is only required for two or three Life-ups and then you'll never want to use it again. If you don't like either of those armors, though, by starting the game as X, you can unlock either the Fourth Armor, the unlockable armor from MMX4, or, if you use a cheat code, the Ultimate Armor, which has all of the features of the fourth armor but allows you to use the Nova Dash move, which is practically required if you intend to beat the final boss as X.
In this game, if you defeat a high level boss, you will be allowed to select whether you want to get a health upgrade or an energy upgrade, another thing that is kind of cool because it makes it to where Life-Ups aren't the only way that you can get health. Also, through means that I don't actually know yet, parts can be completed that allow you to upgrade your characters. Finally, I have to mention is that X and Zero can duck in this game. I find that a good improvement. Though not as big of a deal in X4, it's a problem that I have with the old classic Mega Man games, because it makes it harder to kill enemies below you and to dodge attacks coming from below.
Anyway, like I said before, X5 plays pretty much the same as X4. Also like I said before, you can use either X or Zero to play a level. Their gameplay is the same as it was in X4, but it seems like I find myself having more fun playing as Zero than with X. The game is a lot of fun in general, though. I love it, but not as much as X4.
Again, unlike X4, X5 has no anime cutscenes or voice acting, which I personally believe stinks, even though X4's voice acting was atrocious. Though I'm not sure if that really has anything to do with it, there is something that is either a consistent translation error, typo, glitch, or problem porting it to MMXC that will occasionally cause letters in text to be a 0 or O or 8 or whatever the heck it is rather than the letter that belongs there. Besides that, I don't enjoy the stage design, plot or music as much as X4's. So, yes, MMX5 is great, but not as great as X4.
So What's Good About MMX5?
+ The whole thing about the colony crashing is interesting
+ Characters can now duck (FINALLY)
+ Fun gameplay
+ Two different playable characters
+ Two different armors to unlock
...But Then What's Bad About It?
- No cutscenes
- No voice acting
- Typos/glitches/whatever they are can make text hard to read sometimes
- Way too short
Though this post has run quite long already, I've still got one games left to review. Yeah, I know this is going to be a really long post, but hey, I didn't post many reviews last year!
Anyway, now we'll move on to X6, the last one released for the PlayStation. Like X5, there is no voice acting; only still frames and text (although I've heard that there was Japanese voice acting on the original version but was taken out of the MMXC version...). Though, it seems like they look less dated than the ones in X5 seemed, so I can let it slide. Anyway, so, yeah, the game plays pretty much the same as X4 and 5. Unlike those games, Zero isn't available from the start of the game, and has to be unlocked by defeating a Maverick called the Zero Nightmare (looks exactly like Zero except a different color scheme...yeah, I know, it's stupid) in one of the areas that can be accessed through the use of a teleporter.
X starts out with the Falcon Armor in this game, although it allows you to do an enemy-damaging air dash rather than fly. There are two other armors to assemble in this game: the Shadow Armor, which is pretty much the same in the area of advantages and disadvantages as the Gaea Armor from X5 except that it shoots ninja starts that are pretty powerful and the charged shot allows you to do a powerful Z-Saber swing, and the Blade Armor, which allows you to do an awesome Mach Dash and allows you to do pretty much the same thing with the charged shot if you hold up while doing it. I've also heard that you can get the Ultimate Armor in this game with a cheat, but I haven't tried it yet.
Yes, thanks to the events of X5, X ends up with the Z-Saber in this game, and is actually still able to use it once you unlock Zero. It's okay, but you'll generally want to stick to your guns (literally). Another change is that you can rescue Reploids for parts and health upgrades, rather than extra lives and health refills. (They still give you that, though) However, there is a disease called the Nightmare that will try to infect Reploids, so you have to be quick sometimes. Yet another new thing is the nightmare system. Each boss has a "nightmare," which will follow you into certain levels. These nightmares basically change the stages in some way. All of them are meant to damage you or hinder you in some way, and are a lot of times annoying, but one is, in fact, useful for getting a few upgrades in one stage.
Now, a lot of fans tend to dislike X6. Though I had a lot of fun with it, I do think it's more flawed than the other X games that I've played. This is mainly due to obvious poor level design. For instance, in the stage of one Maverick, Commander Yammarck, there is an area where you have to make a blind jump on to a MOVING robot that is on SPIKES, and if you've played a Mega Man game before, you know that spikes mean instant death. So, miss and you DIE. The only foolproof way to get to it is to take a hit from one of the nearby enemies and use the period of temporary invincibility to walk across the spikes and reach the robot. Similar bad level design (including poor placement of Reploids) makes the game highly frustrating in some places.
Another thing is that where the game was rushed out to the American market, the translation is HORRIBLE. Seriously, this is the sloppiest game translation in any game that I have ever played. The game might as well say "All your base are belong to us." It's that bad!
I also have a gripe with one of Zero's moves, which sends Zero crashing into the ground. The reason why is because you press up and B to do it, and I can't say how many times I ended up falling into a bottomless pit because of that move. The reason this happens is because in the game there are wires that you have to hold up while next to in order to move across them. I would jump up off of them to defeat an enemy, and when I would jump, I would hold the control stick up so that I could grab back onto it as I was coming down. Unfortunately, when I pressed be to attack the enemy above me, I ended up careening into a bottomless pit thanks to that accursed move!
But like I said before, the game is still a lot of fun. The Blade Armor is cool, and the Shadow Armor is FAR better than X5's horrible Gaea Armor. I'd still much rather use the Blade Armor, but I still think the Shadow Armor is okay. I also like rescuing Reploids to get parts and extra lives and whatnot, but I never understood the Hunter Rank system. Supposedly, if your rank is higher, you can equip more parts, but it seems like my characters' ranks never increased...
So What's Good About MMX6?
+ Fun gameplay
+ X gets to use the Z-Saber, which is kind of cool
+ Still uses still frames and no voice acting, but it looks better than X5
+ Once again, two unlockable armors for X
+ Rescuing Reploids is cool
+ Story would be good...
...But Then What's Bad About It?
- ...But the plot is somewhat obscured by Engrish
- Bad level design in some places
- One of Zero's moves is annoying
- Nightmare system is kind of a pain
- Like the others, too short
So, there you have it: what I think about MMX4-6. I can't play any of the others on my Wii because my disc is really scratched up. For whatever reason, though, X3 at least seems to work on my cousin's GameCube (I haven't tried it on mine because one of its fans is broken, which causes it to overheat after a while). I could have reviewed X3, too, but I think it's about time to wrap this review up. So, I'll be seeing ya! I might review New Super Mario Bros. Wii next.
I give MMX4, MMX5, and MMX6 a 4 out of 5 each.
Ahh, parkour. A sport involving getting from point A to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible, no matter what obstacle stands in your way. I, myself, have never attempted it (and most likely never will), but there is one girl who makes her living off of it. Her name is Faith, and this is her story--er--game. Well, game AND story, but you get the picture.
Faith is one of the "Runners," people who run, jump, climb, and whatnot from place to place in order to relay messages without the unnamed city's corrupt government finding out. The story of the game involves Faith attempting to save her sister, who is taken into custody after being framed for murder.
Anyway, that said, the game is based around getting places efficiently and through any means possible, so you'll be doing things such as climbing up pipes, swinging across gaps by poles, wall-running and then jumping up to a ledge, climbing over fences, vaulting off of objects to reach a place too high to jump to, riding a wire to get from one building to another…yeah, a lot of awesome stuff. And, of course, you'll be doing a lot of running. The game is really fast-paced, meaning that it won't get boring, and most obstacles aren't too hard to overcome. The game even highlights usable objects! This makes the game highly accessible. Did I mention that all of this is done IN FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE? And there ARE some shooting segments thrown in for the hardcore gamers, but since when did that hurt anyone? (Besides the in-game enemies, of course.)
Sounds awesome, doesn't it? Well, a game with this type of gameplay would be completely broken if it didn't have simple and intuitive controls. Thankfully, this game perfectly succeeds in that department. The control stick is used to move Faith around. Besides that, the L1 button (this is based on a PS3 controller, and yes, I have a PS3 now) is the button you'll use the most. Almost any action can be performed with the L1 button--grabbing onto things, running up or along a wall, grabbing onto a ledge, even jumping is performed with the L1 button. That's not literally the ONLY button you'll use though. The L2 button is used to roll when landing from a fall to prevent damage, and to slide under objects. The R1 button allows you to whip around quickly, and the R2 button is used for combat. While it may seem odd at first that buttons that are usually treated as peripheral buttons are the buttons that you'll mainly be using, you'll realize why the controls are like this. In the first animated cutscene of the game, Faith mentions "the Flow," which keeps the Runners moving, and with these intuitive controls, I can actually feel the "Flow" myself.
PARKOUR!!!
But, just as any game, Mirror's Edge isn't perfect. There are certain areas that keep you wondering where to go and what to do, causing gaps in the game's pace. Not only that, but combat in the game is frustrating. While, much of the time, you'll be running from the enemies (usually referred to in game as the "Blues"), even then, you'll die about five times before you finally succeed in escaping. There are some areas, though, where you're actually almost required to kill them to proceed. In some places, they come in such large numbers, though, that even if you use the guns for long range combat, you'll easily be overwhelmed. In addition to that, the game's areas aren't nearly as expansive as they could have been. Worst of all though, the game is too short. There are only nine chapters (counting the prologue) in the game, and none of them last very long if you don't dilly-dally.
Aside from that, though, the game is great, with fun, fast-paced gameplay and simple, accessible controls. Sure, the combat is hard, but Mirror's Edge is a first-person experience that should be had by anyone. Overall, it gets an 8 out of 10. It is truly the ultimate parkour simulator. So remember…
PARKOUR!!! PARKOUR!!!
Faith is one of the "Runners," people who run, jump, climb, and whatnot from place to place in order to relay messages without the unnamed city's corrupt government finding out. The story of the game involves Faith attempting to save her sister, who is taken into custody after being framed for murder.
Anyway, that said, the game is based around getting places efficiently and through any means possible, so you'll be doing things such as climbing up pipes, swinging across gaps by poles, wall-running and then jumping up to a ledge, climbing over fences, vaulting off of objects to reach a place too high to jump to, riding a wire to get from one building to another…yeah, a lot of awesome stuff. And, of course, you'll be doing a lot of running. The game is really fast-paced, meaning that it won't get boring, and most obstacles aren't too hard to overcome. The game even highlights usable objects! This makes the game highly accessible. Did I mention that all of this is done IN FIRST PERSON PERSPECTIVE? And there ARE some shooting segments thrown in for the hardcore gamers, but since when did that hurt anyone? (Besides the in-game enemies, of course.)
Sounds awesome, doesn't it? Well, a game with this type of gameplay would be completely broken if it didn't have simple and intuitive controls. Thankfully, this game perfectly succeeds in that department. The control stick is used to move Faith around. Besides that, the L1 button (this is based on a PS3 controller, and yes, I have a PS3 now) is the button you'll use the most. Almost any action can be performed with the L1 button--grabbing onto things, running up or along a wall, grabbing onto a ledge, even jumping is performed with the L1 button. That's not literally the ONLY button you'll use though. The L2 button is used to roll when landing from a fall to prevent damage, and to slide under objects. The R1 button allows you to whip around quickly, and the R2 button is used for combat. While it may seem odd at first that buttons that are usually treated as peripheral buttons are the buttons that you'll mainly be using, you'll realize why the controls are like this. In the first animated cutscene of the game, Faith mentions "the Flow," which keeps the Runners moving, and with these intuitive controls, I can actually feel the "Flow" myself.
PARKOUR!!!
But, just as any game, Mirror's Edge isn't perfect. There are certain areas that keep you wondering where to go and what to do, causing gaps in the game's pace. Not only that, but combat in the game is frustrating. While, much of the time, you'll be running from the enemies (usually referred to in game as the "Blues"), even then, you'll die about five times before you finally succeed in escaping. There are some areas, though, where you're actually almost required to kill them to proceed. In some places, they come in such large numbers, though, that even if you use the guns for long range combat, you'll easily be overwhelmed. In addition to that, the game's areas aren't nearly as expansive as they could have been. Worst of all though, the game is too short. There are only nine chapters (counting the prologue) in the game, and none of them last very long if you don't dilly-dally.
Aside from that, though, the game is great, with fun, fast-paced gameplay and simple, accessible controls. Sure, the combat is hard, but Mirror's Edge is a first-person experience that should be had by anyone. Overall, it gets an 8 out of 10. It is truly the ultimate parkour simulator. So remember…
PARKOUR!!! PARKOUR!!!
Ahh, Klonoa… His games are often hailed as some of the best platformers in existence. He's fun, furry…and extremely overlooked. Despite receiving good reviews and high praise, Klonoa's games are never (or at least rarely are) very successful. I was introduced to Klonoa through his second console outing, Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, which I loved and still love to this day. The only Klonoa game bought for me other than that was Empire of Dreams, which I have never beaten (although I like it).
Oh, I beg your pardon! I didn't mention why I haven't updated my site in the past six months! Unfortunately, I was torn apart by vicious bears and was sent to the hospital. Doctors had to work on completely reconstructing my body for six months. Finally, I got out of the hospital, and then it was time to play Klonoa! Also, I will mention that, during my absence, I began my adventures in teenhood, as well as completed all of the schoolwork that my parents required of me, and, thus, got on summer vacation.
Anyway, for a long time, I had been hoping that I would one day obtain the PS1 Klonoa game, Door to Phantomile. However, that search ended once I discovered that there was going to be a remake of the game for Wii. Fast forward to this month, with my younger sister's birthday coming up. Now, she isn't quite as much of a gamer as me, but she really likes games, including Klonoa. Well, we just so happened to find the Wii remake of Klonoa's first game at GameStop, so she got it for her birthday. Thankfully, we share our games, so I get to play Klonoa, too! If I may quote the titular character, "Wahoo!!" And Klonoa truly is a game worthy of shouting "Wahoo" over. Sadly, though, it doesn't last long…but we'll get to that later.
"Come on! Let's go!" - Klonoa
The story of the game centers on Klonoa and his friend Hewpoe attempting to stop a dark king named Ghadius and his servant, Joker, from reawakening the Moon Kingdom. The story is mostly played out through a series of in-game scenes, with one FMV at the very beginning. In the game, you either have the option of listening to the English voice acting, or the gibberish from previous games. The English voices are pretty good, and fit their characters pretty well, but could have been better (mainly Klonoa's). Some people who are already fans of the series may rather listen to the gibbering from the previous games, in which the voice acting (in many of the scenes I've watched with it) is much better. And really, Hewpoe's voice with that language on is truly adorable.
I don't really have much to say about the graphics. Although they are definitely good, with detailed environments and characters, they only particularly shine in three levels. In the first couple of levels you'll go through, you may notice that everything is awesomely bright and colorful in the outside areas. A little later on, in the fourth level, you'll notice the truly impressive water effects of the game. Other than that, the graphics are good, but bright, colorful graphics are the kinds that will a lot of times really catch my eye (I'm just like that). Besides, unless graphics are simply awful, they're not that important.
Anyway, with the exception of the handheld titles, the Klonoa games are played as 2-D platformers within 3-D environtments. That said, you can pretty much expect your usual platforming fair: running in one direction or another and jumping pretty much all the time, with a boss encountered every now and then. However, our furry cat friend has a large ring that gives him other abilities. With his ring, he can pick up enemies and hold them over his head. From there, he can toss them away into other enemies or objects, or use them to do a double jump. There are also a couple of enemies that can perform other functions. These are the Teton, which can carry him upwards for a short distance, and the Boomie, which will not pop on contact with a wall or other surface like other enemies, but rather explode after a certain period of time. This is useful in certain places. These cool, unique elements set Klonoa apart from many other games of the genre, and help to make the game very fun.
I think that I should mention that some exploration of the game's environments is also encouraged, usually to find the trapped Phantomilians (represented by golden symbols in prize bubbles, which can be broken by shooting them with the ring), or, if your perfectionism gets the better of you, Dream Stones (gems, basically). Finding Phantomilians is pretty easy. Before the fifth set of levels, levels usually range from small to medium in size, and the Phantomilians generally aren't well-hidden. When it comes to finding Dream Stones, however, things can get a bit trickier. Although you get a nice reward for finding all of the Phantomilians, finding a lot of Dream Stones only puts a green Dream Stone or a blue Dream Stone (depending on how many you got) under a level's name.
You can use the Wii Remote sideways, the Wii Remote with the Nunchuk, the Classic Controller, or the GameCube controller to play the game. When holding the Wii Remote sideways or when using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, there are a few minor gameplay enhancements with the motion sensor. If you shake the Wii Remote when holding it sideways, you can use Klonoa's new "Whirlwind" ability, which will slow down enemies. Likewise, when playing the game with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, shaking the Nunchuk will allow you to use that ability. Also, if you flick the Wii Remote while holding an enemy, you can throw it. These changes aren't very big, so, if you have one, you'd probably rather use the GameCube controller (which I generally use when playing the game). However, while I can't say the same for the Classic Controller, since I don't own one, the Wii Remote + Nunchuk and horizontal Wii Remote control styles work.
"Wahoo! Duparitheh!" - Klonoa (Phantomilian Language)
Unfortunately, as mentioned before, the game is short…VERY short. There are only thirteen levels in the main game, and only twelve if you count the final boss. Most of the levels aren't very long, either. This isn't helped at all by the fact that the game is pretty easy. Sad, but true.
Fortunately, though, you will have incentive to play through this meager amount of stages again. As mentioned before, you can look for the Phantomilians that you missed the first time through (if you missed any) to get an extra level. However, unless you just cut through the levels and don't explore them at all, you'll probably find them all on your first time through. If you're a perfectionist, you'll keep yourself occupied for a while attempting to get 150 Dream Stones in each level. Besides that, after you beat the game, you unlock new outfits for Klonoa to wear, a movie viewer, time attack for the bosses, and Reverse Mode. Reverse Mode allows you to play mirrored versions of each level, besides the extra one. These of these mirrored versions of the levels contain portals that take you to special challenge areas (I'm not sure about the Final Vision, though, since I haven't played it in reverse), most, if not all, of which are extremely hard.
The Good and the Bad (Good aspects have a + beside them and bad aspects have -- beside them)
+ Good graphics
+ Decent story, with a very sad plot twist
+ Unique and fun gameplay
+ Decent and fitting English voice acting, although voice acting with the gibberish is better
+ Extra content is unlocked after you beat the game
+ Four different control options, based on your preferences
-- Far too short
-- Too easy
Overall, Klonoa gets a 9 out of 10 score. Despite the short length and low difficulty, I could easily recommend this game because of its unique, fun gameplay. It's really one of those "short but sweet" games, and one of the best platformers ever, at that.
While I'm at it, I'll mention that you get a coupon for a free fish taco from Wahoo's (notice how it relates to Klonoa's catchphrase?). I could not point out the nearest Wahoo's to where I live, nor have I eaten there or have any desire to. However, those of you who enjoy fish tacos (and live near a Wahoo's) will get an awesome game AND lunch! So remember...
WAHOO!!!
Oh, I beg your pardon! I didn't mention why I haven't updated my site in the past six months! Unfortunately, I was torn apart by vicious bears and was sent to the hospital. Doctors had to work on completely reconstructing my body for six months. Finally, I got out of the hospital, and then it was time to play Klonoa! Also, I will mention that, during my absence, I began my adventures in teenhood, as well as completed all of the schoolwork that my parents required of me, and, thus, got on summer vacation.
Anyway, for a long time, I had been hoping that I would one day obtain the PS1 Klonoa game, Door to Phantomile. However, that search ended once I discovered that there was going to be a remake of the game for Wii. Fast forward to this month, with my younger sister's birthday coming up. Now, she isn't quite as much of a gamer as me, but she really likes games, including Klonoa. Well, we just so happened to find the Wii remake of Klonoa's first game at GameStop, so she got it for her birthday. Thankfully, we share our games, so I get to play Klonoa, too! If I may quote the titular character, "Wahoo!!" And Klonoa truly is a game worthy of shouting "Wahoo" over. Sadly, though, it doesn't last long…but we'll get to that later.
"Come on! Let's go!" - Klonoa
The story of the game centers on Klonoa and his friend Hewpoe attempting to stop a dark king named Ghadius and his servant, Joker, from reawakening the Moon Kingdom. The story is mostly played out through a series of in-game scenes, with one FMV at the very beginning. In the game, you either have the option of listening to the English voice acting, or the gibberish from previous games. The English voices are pretty good, and fit their characters pretty well, but could have been better (mainly Klonoa's). Some people who are already fans of the series may rather listen to the gibbering from the previous games, in which the voice acting (in many of the scenes I've watched with it) is much better. And really, Hewpoe's voice with that language on is truly adorable.
I don't really have much to say about the graphics. Although they are definitely good, with detailed environments and characters, they only particularly shine in three levels. In the first couple of levels you'll go through, you may notice that everything is awesomely bright and colorful in the outside areas. A little later on, in the fourth level, you'll notice the truly impressive water effects of the game. Other than that, the graphics are good, but bright, colorful graphics are the kinds that will a lot of times really catch my eye (I'm just like that). Besides, unless graphics are simply awful, they're not that important.
Anyway, with the exception of the handheld titles, the Klonoa games are played as 2-D platformers within 3-D environtments. That said, you can pretty much expect your usual platforming fair: running in one direction or another and jumping pretty much all the time, with a boss encountered every now and then. However, our furry cat friend has a large ring that gives him other abilities. With his ring, he can pick up enemies and hold them over his head. From there, he can toss them away into other enemies or objects, or use them to do a double jump. There are also a couple of enemies that can perform other functions. These are the Teton, which can carry him upwards for a short distance, and the Boomie, which will not pop on contact with a wall or other surface like other enemies, but rather explode after a certain period of time. This is useful in certain places. These cool, unique elements set Klonoa apart from many other games of the genre, and help to make the game very fun.
I think that I should mention that some exploration of the game's environments is also encouraged, usually to find the trapped Phantomilians (represented by golden symbols in prize bubbles, which can be broken by shooting them with the ring), or, if your perfectionism gets the better of you, Dream Stones (gems, basically). Finding Phantomilians is pretty easy. Before the fifth set of levels, levels usually range from small to medium in size, and the Phantomilians generally aren't well-hidden. When it comes to finding Dream Stones, however, things can get a bit trickier. Although you get a nice reward for finding all of the Phantomilians, finding a lot of Dream Stones only puts a green Dream Stone or a blue Dream Stone (depending on how many you got) under a level's name.
You can use the Wii Remote sideways, the Wii Remote with the Nunchuk, the Classic Controller, or the GameCube controller to play the game. When holding the Wii Remote sideways or when using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, there are a few minor gameplay enhancements with the motion sensor. If you shake the Wii Remote when holding it sideways, you can use Klonoa's new "Whirlwind" ability, which will slow down enemies. Likewise, when playing the game with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, shaking the Nunchuk will allow you to use that ability. Also, if you flick the Wii Remote while holding an enemy, you can throw it. These changes aren't very big, so, if you have one, you'd probably rather use the GameCube controller (which I generally use when playing the game). However, while I can't say the same for the Classic Controller, since I don't own one, the Wii Remote + Nunchuk and horizontal Wii Remote control styles work.
"Wahoo! Duparitheh!" - Klonoa (Phantomilian Language)
Unfortunately, as mentioned before, the game is short…VERY short. There are only thirteen levels in the main game, and only twelve if you count the final boss. Most of the levels aren't very long, either. This isn't helped at all by the fact that the game is pretty easy. Sad, but true.
Fortunately, though, you will have incentive to play through this meager amount of stages again. As mentioned before, you can look for the Phantomilians that you missed the first time through (if you missed any) to get an extra level. However, unless you just cut through the levels and don't explore them at all, you'll probably find them all on your first time through. If you're a perfectionist, you'll keep yourself occupied for a while attempting to get 150 Dream Stones in each level. Besides that, after you beat the game, you unlock new outfits for Klonoa to wear, a movie viewer, time attack for the bosses, and Reverse Mode. Reverse Mode allows you to play mirrored versions of each level, besides the extra one. These of these mirrored versions of the levels contain portals that take you to special challenge areas (I'm not sure about the Final Vision, though, since I haven't played it in reverse), most, if not all, of which are extremely hard.
The Good and the Bad (Good aspects have a + beside them and bad aspects have -- beside them)
+ Good graphics
+ Decent story, with a very sad plot twist
+ Unique and fun gameplay
+ Decent and fitting English voice acting, although voice acting with the gibberish is better
+ Extra content is unlocked after you beat the game
+ Four different control options, based on your preferences
-- Far too short
-- Too easy
Overall, Klonoa gets a 9 out of 10 score. Despite the short length and low difficulty, I could easily recommend this game because of its unique, fun gameplay. It's really one of those "short but sweet" games, and one of the best platformers ever, at that.
While I'm at it, I'll mention that you get a coupon for a free fish taco from Wahoo's (notice how it relates to Klonoa's catchphrase?). I could not point out the nearest Wahoo's to where I live, nor have I eaten there or have any desire to. However, those of you who enjoy fish tacos (and live near a Wahoo's) will get an awesome game AND lunch! So remember...
WAHOO!!!
The Figure in the Shadows is OK, but I think I'm too old for this...
Published Wednesday, December 3, 2008 by T-Man.
A little while after summertime, my parents went to a bookstore. It was there that they found John Bellairs' books. Now, I've been looking for a good scare, certainly, but it was only since this Halloween that my parents let me start watching scary movies. For most of this semester of school so far, I was caught up in Halo: The Fall of Reach (I still haven't posted my review for that). I resolved that, when I finished that book, I would get started on one of my John Bellairs. Unfortunately, that wasn't such a good idea after watching The Ring and The Grudge (two of the scariest movies ever created by man, I might add). If I were two years younger, I would have probably enjoyed it more (I doubt I would have been scared, to tell the truth), but now that I've seen what TRUE horror is…well, let's just say I'm unimpressed…and that's a problem, considering that I have a crapload of them. Maybe my sister will read them...
The one that I chose to read was The Figure in the Shadows. This kiddie tale stars Lewis Barnavelt, an 11-year-old boy living with his magician uncle in the 1950's. His best friend is Rose Rita, a much tougher young girl that he envies. There's also another important character, Lewis's next door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmermman, who practices magic like his uncle.
While not scary *at all*, The Figure in the Shadows has an admittedly interesting plot. It revolves around a magical three-cent piece from the 1800's that is SUPPOSED to bring good luck to Lewis. While it does help him beat up the school bully, Woody Mingo, he starts receiving weird letters that say, in Latin, "I come," and this weird shadowy figure (literally, a figure in the shadows) starts stalking Lewis. While the plot is interesting, the plot DEVELOPMENT really isn't very good. No action happens until the last few chapters. The plot isn't resolved until the last few pages, rather than the mystery gradually being solved…which would have been much cooler.
Of course, this is coming from a person who is not only literally a month and 25 days away from being a teenager, but has watched some of the scariest movies ever made. If you're in the 8-10 range and have never seen a scary movie (at that age, I doubt you'll have), then I certainly recommend this book to you. I don't really think you'll be scared, but you'll like it.
The Figure in the Shadows gets a 3 out of 5.
The one that I chose to read was The Figure in the Shadows. This kiddie tale stars Lewis Barnavelt, an 11-year-old boy living with his magician uncle in the 1950's. His best friend is Rose Rita, a much tougher young girl that he envies. There's also another important character, Lewis's next door neighbor, Mrs. Zimmermman, who practices magic like his uncle.
While not scary *at all*, The Figure in the Shadows has an admittedly interesting plot. It revolves around a magical three-cent piece from the 1800's that is SUPPOSED to bring good luck to Lewis. While it does help him beat up the school bully, Woody Mingo, he starts receiving weird letters that say, in Latin, "I come," and this weird shadowy figure (literally, a figure in the shadows) starts stalking Lewis. While the plot is interesting, the plot DEVELOPMENT really isn't very good. No action happens until the last few chapters. The plot isn't resolved until the last few pages, rather than the mystery gradually being solved…which would have been much cooler.
Of course, this is coming from a person who is not only literally a month and 25 days away from being a teenager, but has watched some of the scariest movies ever made. If you're in the 8-10 range and have never seen a scary movie (at that age, I doubt you'll have), then I certainly recommend this book to you. I don't really think you'll be scared, but you'll like it.
The Figure in the Shadows gets a 3 out of 5.
Friends, citizens…whatever that other word was, I am pleased to announce that I, T-Man, have found the full experience of Halo!
What do I mean, you ask? Why, I've beaten both Halo: CE and Halo 3 by myself, of course! (I skipped Halo 2) Previously, I had cut through all three games with my cousin on co-op. Unfortunately, the co-op experience isn't as good as the single player experience. Fortunately, for the past two weeks, I've been working on Halo 1 and 3 again, and completed both campaigns by myself. My opinions have changed for both games; Halo 3 only slightly, but Halo 1 drastically.
For school, I've been reading Halo: Fall of Reach (Eric Nyland), and it's gradually been giving me a profound craving to play the games. So, one day, I got done with school (I'm home schooled), and played Halo. After going through the game on single player, I've finally realized how truly great the game is.
For starters: Holy Crap. Those two words, which I've never said for any other game at all. Holy Crap. The Halo games are the only games that deserve such a strong proclamation. One of the best things about Halo: CE is that it doesn't start out as slow as the other two games (Halo 2 and 3 don't necessarily start out "slowly," they just don't start out as excitingly as Halo 1). It puts you right in the fray. Almost immediately, you'll be showering Elites with pain or flipping Grunts over with headshots. Once that's done, you'll be looking for survivors of the crash on Halo, which seems much easier to me now.
In the next stage, you get a sniper rifle. The mother of all awesome weapons. You'll be picking off Grunts and Jackals from hiding, and it's so much fun. But by the time you're beamed aboard the Covenant ship in that stage, it'll probably be out of ammo.
To tell the truth, things don't really get hard until "Assault On The Control Room." THAT'S when things start getting REALLY tough, as hard as Heroic is on Halo 3 (I've started the campaign over on Heroic, and I'm not doing too well). Expect to die a lot from that point on, cause the stage you enter after that…serves as the introduction for the well-named Flood.
Too bad I've just spoiled a surprise for those of you who haven't played the game yet. I wasn't really that surprised, since I knew about the Flood before I even started playing Halo, and yet I could still admit that they are introduced in about the coolest way ever. It all starts with the Jenkins cutscene, during which Master Chief goes through the log of a marine he finds dead in a Covenant base. He fast forwards through his log, and at the end, he sees Flood feasting on people. Immediately after the cutscene ends, Flood start…flooding the room. The tiny ones aren't that hard…but soon the big ones start busting through the wall. Ominous, yet fast-paced and fitting music, starts playing as you try to destroy this new threat before it destroys you. From this point on, you'll learn to love the shotgun; melee doesn't do anything to the Flood, so you need a lot of firepower. After that stage, I faced a terribly degrading embarrassment: I had to play through the next stage on Easy. Thankfully, that was the only time I had to do that.
I've come to realize that Halo: CE isn't stupid hard…just hard. You'll be having a tough time throughout the final levels. Personally, I think that the Flood added an interesting new dimension for a game that wasn't even getting old in the first place. But don't think that the Covenant are gone just yet. They're back, too…and harder than ever. When it comes to Wraiths (their equivalent of a Scorpion), be afraid, be very afraid. Also, take note that you CANNOT ride them in this game, so don't go killing yourself trying to get in one.
Although CE is great, Halo 3 is better in every respect. Although the campaign is considerably shorter, co-op is better than ever. One of the reasons is that the story makes more sense with it; rather than playing with a clone of that stage's particular character, you play as the Arbiter if you're player 2. I've heard that that two other people can play, and they'll play as Elites. There is very little lag, and you can play co-op online now. Also, generally, vehicle interface has improved. Wraiths and Scorpions now have turrets for your friends to man. I know it was the case in Halo 2, as well, but most vehicles can boost. Did I mention that the Mongoose was super cool?
Then there's the multiplayer. Yeah, that's right. I've taken Halo online, and it. is. awesome. No more needs to be said.
So, there you have it. A second opinion on Halo 1 and Halo 3. Now, I would rate both of them a 5 out of 5. They're just so…awesome.
What do I mean, you ask? Why, I've beaten both Halo: CE and Halo 3 by myself, of course! (I skipped Halo 2) Previously, I had cut through all three games with my cousin on co-op. Unfortunately, the co-op experience isn't as good as the single player experience. Fortunately, for the past two weeks, I've been working on Halo 1 and 3 again, and completed both campaigns by myself. My opinions have changed for both games; Halo 3 only slightly, but Halo 1 drastically.
For school, I've been reading Halo: Fall of Reach (Eric Nyland), and it's gradually been giving me a profound craving to play the games. So, one day, I got done with school (I'm home schooled), and played Halo. After going through the game on single player, I've finally realized how truly great the game is.
For starters: Holy Crap. Those two words, which I've never said for any other game at all. Holy Crap. The Halo games are the only games that deserve such a strong proclamation. One of the best things about Halo: CE is that it doesn't start out as slow as the other two games (Halo 2 and 3 don't necessarily start out "slowly," they just don't start out as excitingly as Halo 1). It puts you right in the fray. Almost immediately, you'll be showering Elites with pain or flipping Grunts over with headshots. Once that's done, you'll be looking for survivors of the crash on Halo, which seems much easier to me now.
In the next stage, you get a sniper rifle. The mother of all awesome weapons. You'll be picking off Grunts and Jackals from hiding, and it's so much fun. But by the time you're beamed aboard the Covenant ship in that stage, it'll probably be out of ammo.
To tell the truth, things don't really get hard until "Assault On The Control Room." THAT'S when things start getting REALLY tough, as hard as Heroic is on Halo 3 (I've started the campaign over on Heroic, and I'm not doing too well). Expect to die a lot from that point on, cause the stage you enter after that…serves as the introduction for the well-named Flood.
Too bad I've just spoiled a surprise for those of you who haven't played the game yet. I wasn't really that surprised, since I knew about the Flood before I even started playing Halo, and yet I could still admit that they are introduced in about the coolest way ever. It all starts with the Jenkins cutscene, during which Master Chief goes through the log of a marine he finds dead in a Covenant base. He fast forwards through his log, and at the end, he sees Flood feasting on people. Immediately after the cutscene ends, Flood start…flooding the room. The tiny ones aren't that hard…but soon the big ones start busting through the wall. Ominous, yet fast-paced and fitting music, starts playing as you try to destroy this new threat before it destroys you. From this point on, you'll learn to love the shotgun; melee doesn't do anything to the Flood, so you need a lot of firepower. After that stage, I faced a terribly degrading embarrassment: I had to play through the next stage on Easy. Thankfully, that was the only time I had to do that.
I've come to realize that Halo: CE isn't stupid hard…just hard. You'll be having a tough time throughout the final levels. Personally, I think that the Flood added an interesting new dimension for a game that wasn't even getting old in the first place. But don't think that the Covenant are gone just yet. They're back, too…and harder than ever. When it comes to Wraiths (their equivalent of a Scorpion), be afraid, be very afraid. Also, take note that you CANNOT ride them in this game, so don't go killing yourself trying to get in one.
Although CE is great, Halo 3 is better in every respect. Although the campaign is considerably shorter, co-op is better than ever. One of the reasons is that the story makes more sense with it; rather than playing with a clone of that stage's particular character, you play as the Arbiter if you're player 2. I've heard that that two other people can play, and they'll play as Elites. There is very little lag, and you can play co-op online now. Also, generally, vehicle interface has improved. Wraiths and Scorpions now have turrets for your friends to man. I know it was the case in Halo 2, as well, but most vehicles can boost. Did I mention that the Mongoose was super cool?
Then there's the multiplayer. Yeah, that's right. I've taken Halo online, and it. is. awesome. No more needs to be said.
So, there you have it. A second opinion on Halo 1 and Halo 3. Now, I would rate both of them a 5 out of 5. They're just so…awesome.
--------An Overview of My Rating System---------
Remember when I used an unwieldy Word system for rating games? Starting with my review for Halo: Combat Evolved (see July, 2008 archives), I switched to a 5-place rating system. However, my rating system is mostly affected by personal preference. So, let's say I thought a game was very good, but fell short of a 4 out of 5 (such as this game), in which case I would give a game a 3 out of 5. That doesn't mean I didn't like the game that much. I think that the easiest way to explain my rating system is to compare each rating to ratings in a standard 10-point rating system.
5 out of 5 (10 out of 10): The cream of the crop! It doesn't necessarily have to be perfect, or revolutionary, or whatever, but it's a really great game that I definitely recommend.
4 out of 5 (8 or 9 out of 10): A really great game. A few flaws here and there, or maybe it's just not "fun enough" to earn a 5, but still recommended, especially if you like its genre.
3 out of 5 (6 or 7 out of 10): A good game that will either have some flaws that detract from the experience or just not be really fun. I would recommend this to you if you're a fan of its particular genre, don't think you'll mind the game's flaws (considering that I'll inform you about the game's flaws in the review), or find it in the 10-20 dollar range.
2 out of 5 (3, 4 or 5 out of 10): An OK game with its fair share of major flaws that can seriously detract from the experience. In the rarest of cases, I could possibly be in a bad mood and give an otherwise fun game a 2 for major flaws. That's not happened yet, however. Also, remember that my reviews are mostly based upon personal preference. 2 out of 5 can be like 3 out of 10 when it's a game that I didn't like, but didn't think was necessarily terrible. I don't recommend games given this rating for full price, but if you ever find it for 10 bucks or less, it's a fair purchase.
1 out of 5 (1 or 2 out of 10): I've never given a game a rating this low and probably never will, considering I only get games I want. However, it's in my rating system, so I'll make it short and sweet:
Don't waste your money on this crap!!
A 1 out of 5 can be likened to 2 out of 10 if it had SOME redeeming qualities, but was otherwise crap.
0 out of 5 (0 out of 10): I simply hope that I never have to give a game this rating. Games rated 0 have no redeeming qualities, and are simply worthless pieces of junk. If I ever rate a game 0, that means that they should find the landfill where they buried the E.T. cartridges, and pour a truckload of this game over it like whipped cream. I think the recommendation here rather speaks for itself. You want advice? If you see someone about to buy it at GameStop, swat it out of their hand and give a good, nice finger-wag.
Although my rating system is mostly based on how fun I thought the game was rather than how "flawed" it was, the amount of flaws in the game may effect the final evaluation. Also, I never let the fact that a sequel is similar to its predecessor count towards or against a rating (unless, of course, its predecessor was crap).
Okay, so, now that that's over, enjoy the review.
--------------------------------------------------------------
A few months ago, I got a Wii game called Elebits…and I'm finally reviewing it. Yayyyyyyyy…whatever. So, why didn't I review it a long time ago? Well, my friends, anyone who's played the game will know that the second-to-last level is extremely maddening. I lost on it several times, and…I didn't play the game for months. But a little while ago, I decided to get back into it, and I beat it! Yay for me!!!
To tell you all the truth, Elebits isn't a game that I would normally buy. Games like Elebits, Raving Rabbids, Katamari Damaci…that kind of stuff that at first glance seems like crap but turns out to be wildly popular. I may have seen the trailer (it's in the game, and may have looked a little familiar), and that didn't make me think any different. Then, I saw the game on Cheat!, thought it looked interesting, and the next thing I knew, my cheap wooden swingset came crashing down with me on it and my middle finger (go figure) ended up in a pompous splint. I wasn't in agony, but my sister gets a toy whenever something's wrong with her, so shouldn't I get a game for my troubles? I wanted Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, but unfortunately, that, for whatever reason, was still 30 bucks at Wal-Mart (ALWAYS low prices?). So, instead, Elebits, which was ten dollars cheaper, was what I ended up with.
To start out with, I'll talk about the presentation. The title screen is fairly bland; just a white background with Elebits walking across the screen and the game's title. Upon selecting your file, things get a lot flashier, with the background of a town and an Elebit-shaped cursor to select things. Upon starting up story mode, you are greeted with a flash animation scene to start up the story (the story will mostly play out in flash scenes every now in then, although a stage-by-stage story is given with a memo you can access from the screen when you pick "Story Mode"). The animation is pretty nice…but then again, the voice acting is terrible. It's some of the most emotionless, fake voice acting you've ever heard. Yet, this game's story isn't really its selling point, so…
The game's graphics are fairly decent. The artstyle is great, comparable to games like Katamari. However, the environments are somewhat bland, with dull colors, and the framerate starts to fluctuate badly in the later levels, which are bigger and have more going on. You still didn't come for the graphics, though.
You came for the gameplay, didn't you? In the game, you move around objects, pick up stuff, and turn on appliances to collect Elebits, which allow electricity (and plumbing, evidently) to be used. You use a capture gun to do this; however, it doesn't blow their tiny heads off in the process of collecting the cute things, thankfully. There is a certain amount of watts worth of Elebits you need to collect to restore electricity to a certain area. Your gun has a preset level of power from the beginning of the stage, and can only lift objects within that weight range. To upgrade your gun's power, turn on appliances (which you can use once enough watts are collected) to get Power Elebits, which upgrade your gun's level if you collect enough. The Wii Remote controls your crosshair for your gun, and you press A to shoot an Elebit or object. While holding an object, use the Wii Remote to move it around. Elebits are often hiding under or in objects; sometimes breakable objects need to be broken to find Elebits, but be careful not to break too many objects in stages that limit it! Some stages also have a limit to how much noise you make, so be weary of that, too. The gameplay is fun, although the only downside to it is that you have to do certain things, such as open drawers, closets, and doors with the capture gun's beam that you could just as easily do by yourself. It normally wouldn't be a big deal, albeit stupid, but it's a downside because they'll often try close on you while you're about to enter the room/look in the closet or drawer, making it a nuisance. It would be much better if you could do that stuff with your hands.
There are several temporary upgrades strewn about the stages, such as the Homing and Vacuum lasers, which let you pick up several Elebits at once, as well as a shield to protect you from Elebit attacks (and, in several stages, even toy cannons and tanks), an Elebit radar, an Elebit cookie to attract Elebits…a lot of stuff.
One of the most fun things about the game is the sense of extreme power that you get as you level up your gun by collecting Power Elebits. When your gun gets to a high level, you can lift just about anything; cars, trucks, bulldozers…if you get enough Power Elebits before the stage ends, you can even lift whole buildings off their foundations! Unfortunately, most stages end before you can obtain this sort of power. The good part? You can edit stages, and set your gun's power level to as high as you want, but that's another story.
Throughout the first few levels, you'll mostly be in your home. They'll be relatively small and easy, and there won't be many hazards; all you do is walk around collecting Elebits and activating appliances to upgrade your gun. But later in the game, you'll notice that there ARE Elebit bosses, and they're pretty fun. The first one is harmless; just a big Elebit. The next bosses will actually pose a bit of a threat, not to mention hazards like small cannons and toy tanks manned by malicious, evil Elebits threatening to kill you at every turn in several levels. Well…they don't KILL you…they just try to break your gun so you can't capture them. Gray Elebits (they look more purple to me), and Big Yellow Elebits will also try to attack you, so beware. Also, throughout the game, the stages get bigger and harder. The last few stages, taking place in the amusement park, are the biggest and hardest in the game.
A neat feature of the game is the Edit Mode, which allows you to edit stages. When editing stages, you can place objects from other stages, Elebits, and items and change the whole layout of the stage. The problem is that objects have a cost to them, and the cost of the objects and Elebits you can have in a stage cannot exceed 1,000. Still, you can have some neat level designs. I, myself, have only created ONE good stage, and tried many, many times. I call it "Cleanup Time" (you don't actually get to name it). It has a 30-second time limit, and one vacuum laser, which you use to pick up 30,000 watts-worth of Elebits, and they're everywhere. It's okay, but it's really short.
So far, my review has been mostly rainbows and lollipops, talking about the good things about the game. Thing is, the game can actually be really frustrating. Now, you are entering the more critical part of the review….MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
YAY!!! At the end of the game, you go to the amusement park! Or is it yay? No, my friends, it is not yay, for now, you shall be introduced to…Yellow Elebits. These things are extremely annoying. At first glance, it's just a normal, cute, tiny puffball. But if there are other Elebits nearby…you're in for it. It will start to glow and make wooshy noise, and then all the other Elebits will join with them to form the Big Yellow Elebit. They're so annoying to deal with, considering you have to knock them into floors and ceilings every which way before they separate. That's not the worst of it.
The worst of it is cannons and Gray Elebits. In the levels before the amusement park, cannons were there, but to a small degree. In those levels, though…cannons are everywhere, as well as mobile tanks. Plus, your gun has to be at least to level 2 to pick them up. This is a problem is stage 28. That stage…is so long…and so hard. Several times, Elebits or objects you NEED are thrown outside of the stage to where you can't get them. At the beginning of the stage, you are confined to a small area FILLED with cannons. Only when your gun levels up to 3 can you get out. Also, there is quite a large portion of the stage which is inaccessible, forcing you to zap/grab things while overlooking it…and there's a lot of stuff there to grab. There's also a very large "Circle Ride" there, which I never figured out how to operate (it's supposed to have some significance). When and IF you beat that stage, though, the final one isn't that bad. In fact, it's one of the best stages!
Still, there's the matter of the final boss. Even though the story isn't that important to the type of game Elebits is, I don't feel I should spoil WHY you're fighting it. I will only say that it's a fairly big Elebit. The premise of the first phase is simple: smack it silly with surrounding objects by using your capture gun, avoid its lunging attacks, and pick up the smaller Elebits it drops whenever you hit it.
Then, there's phase 2.
Now, me and my also-gaming dad both agree that something that can really kill a game is a stupid hard last boss. You can get to the end, having tons of fun…and then there's that ridiculous boss that makes you want to break the game in half.
In phase 2, the giant Elebit fuses with an amusement park robot that resembles a Transformers robot (namely, Optimus Prime). To defeat it, you must use your Capture Gun to unscrew the screws holding the body together. Doesn't sound too bad, right? WRONG!!!!
OK, to pull the robot's screws out, you have to hook onto it, and rapidly twist the Wii Remote left to unscrew it. Of course, it makes sense, considering you turn a screw left to unscrew it. Unfortunately, when you're right-handed, at least, rapidly moving a Wii Remote in a counterclockwise manner causes cramps. Quickly. These cramps will often cause you to turn the Wii Remote right by accident, thus screwing it back. Not to mention, it takes FOREVER to unscrew it, regardless of whether that happens, and there are several screws. Aaaaaand he moves around a lot, meaning you'll lose your grip quite a lot. Stage 29 was a brief reprieve from the hardship of stage 28, and the first phase was fairly simple, but then THIS…this fated boss fight… Just power through it, and once you're done, you never have to relive it again…
The Final Conclusion:
+ Decent graphics; great artstyle despite bland textures
+ Fun gamepay; certain flaws involving holding doors and drawers open with your Capture Gun, but other than that, it's fun
+ Stage editing feature is neat
+ Elebit bosses are fun
-- New types of Elebits introduced later in the game can cause trouble
-- Stage 28 is evil! EVIL!!!
-- The final boss is painful…quite literally, in fact
So, in the end, Elebits gets a 3 out of 5. Although it's not awesome, it's still a fun game, and I recommend it to you if you find it for 20 dollars or less. Stage 28 and the final boss really don't hurt the game enough to not buy it, but it never hurts to warn anybody about things like that.
Remember when I used an unwieldy Word system for rating games? Starting with my review for Halo: Combat Evolved (see July, 2008 archives), I switched to a 5-place rating system. However, my rating system is mostly affected by personal preference. So, let's say I thought a game was very good, but fell short of a 4 out of 5 (such as this game), in which case I would give a game a 3 out of 5. That doesn't mean I didn't like the game that much. I think that the easiest way to explain my rating system is to compare each rating to ratings in a standard 10-point rating system.
5 out of 5 (10 out of 10): The cream of the crop! It doesn't necessarily have to be perfect, or revolutionary, or whatever, but it's a really great game that I definitely recommend.
4 out of 5 (8 or 9 out of 10): A really great game. A few flaws here and there, or maybe it's just not "fun enough" to earn a 5, but still recommended, especially if you like its genre.
3 out of 5 (6 or 7 out of 10): A good game that will either have some flaws that detract from the experience or just not be really fun. I would recommend this to you if you're a fan of its particular genre, don't think you'll mind the game's flaws (considering that I'll inform you about the game's flaws in the review), or find it in the 10-20 dollar range.
2 out of 5 (3, 4 or 5 out of 10): An OK game with its fair share of major flaws that can seriously detract from the experience. In the rarest of cases, I could possibly be in a bad mood and give an otherwise fun game a 2 for major flaws. That's not happened yet, however. Also, remember that my reviews are mostly based upon personal preference. 2 out of 5 can be like 3 out of 10 when it's a game that I didn't like, but didn't think was necessarily terrible. I don't recommend games given this rating for full price, but if you ever find it for 10 bucks or less, it's a fair purchase.
1 out of 5 (1 or 2 out of 10): I've never given a game a rating this low and probably never will, considering I only get games I want. However, it's in my rating system, so I'll make it short and sweet:
Don't waste your money on this crap!!
A 1 out of 5 can be likened to 2 out of 10 if it had SOME redeeming qualities, but was otherwise crap.
0 out of 5 (0 out of 10): I simply hope that I never have to give a game this rating. Games rated 0 have no redeeming qualities, and are simply worthless pieces of junk. If I ever rate a game 0, that means that they should find the landfill where they buried the E.T. cartridges, and pour a truckload of this game over it like whipped cream. I think the recommendation here rather speaks for itself. You want advice? If you see someone about to buy it at GameStop, swat it out of their hand and give a good, nice finger-wag.
Although my rating system is mostly based on how fun I thought the game was rather than how "flawed" it was, the amount of flaws in the game may effect the final evaluation. Also, I never let the fact that a sequel is similar to its predecessor count towards or against a rating (unless, of course, its predecessor was crap).
Okay, so, now that that's over, enjoy the review.
--------------------------------------------------------------
A few months ago, I got a Wii game called Elebits…and I'm finally reviewing it. Yayyyyyyyy…whatever. So, why didn't I review it a long time ago? Well, my friends, anyone who's played the game will know that the second-to-last level is extremely maddening. I lost on it several times, and…I didn't play the game for months. But a little while ago, I decided to get back into it, and I beat it! Yay for me!!!
To tell you all the truth, Elebits isn't a game that I would normally buy. Games like Elebits, Raving Rabbids, Katamari Damaci…that kind of stuff that at first glance seems like crap but turns out to be wildly popular. I may have seen the trailer (it's in the game, and may have looked a little familiar), and that didn't make me think any different. Then, I saw the game on Cheat!, thought it looked interesting, and the next thing I knew, my cheap wooden swingset came crashing down with me on it and my middle finger (go figure) ended up in a pompous splint. I wasn't in agony, but my sister gets a toy whenever something's wrong with her, so shouldn't I get a game for my troubles? I wanted Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, but unfortunately, that, for whatever reason, was still 30 bucks at Wal-Mart (ALWAYS low prices?). So, instead, Elebits, which was ten dollars cheaper, was what I ended up with.
To start out with, I'll talk about the presentation. The title screen is fairly bland; just a white background with Elebits walking across the screen and the game's title. Upon selecting your file, things get a lot flashier, with the background of a town and an Elebit-shaped cursor to select things. Upon starting up story mode, you are greeted with a flash animation scene to start up the story (the story will mostly play out in flash scenes every now in then, although a stage-by-stage story is given with a memo you can access from the screen when you pick "Story Mode"). The animation is pretty nice…but then again, the voice acting is terrible. It's some of the most emotionless, fake voice acting you've ever heard. Yet, this game's story isn't really its selling point, so…
The game's graphics are fairly decent. The artstyle is great, comparable to games like Katamari. However, the environments are somewhat bland, with dull colors, and the framerate starts to fluctuate badly in the later levels, which are bigger and have more going on. You still didn't come for the graphics, though.
You came for the gameplay, didn't you? In the game, you move around objects, pick up stuff, and turn on appliances to collect Elebits, which allow electricity (and plumbing, evidently) to be used. You use a capture gun to do this; however, it doesn't blow their tiny heads off in the process of collecting the cute things, thankfully. There is a certain amount of watts worth of Elebits you need to collect to restore electricity to a certain area. Your gun has a preset level of power from the beginning of the stage, and can only lift objects within that weight range. To upgrade your gun's power, turn on appliances (which you can use once enough watts are collected) to get Power Elebits, which upgrade your gun's level if you collect enough. The Wii Remote controls your crosshair for your gun, and you press A to shoot an Elebit or object. While holding an object, use the Wii Remote to move it around. Elebits are often hiding under or in objects; sometimes breakable objects need to be broken to find Elebits, but be careful not to break too many objects in stages that limit it! Some stages also have a limit to how much noise you make, so be weary of that, too. The gameplay is fun, although the only downside to it is that you have to do certain things, such as open drawers, closets, and doors with the capture gun's beam that you could just as easily do by yourself. It normally wouldn't be a big deal, albeit stupid, but it's a downside because they'll often try close on you while you're about to enter the room/look in the closet or drawer, making it a nuisance. It would be much better if you could do that stuff with your hands.
There are several temporary upgrades strewn about the stages, such as the Homing and Vacuum lasers, which let you pick up several Elebits at once, as well as a shield to protect you from Elebit attacks (and, in several stages, even toy cannons and tanks), an Elebit radar, an Elebit cookie to attract Elebits…a lot of stuff.
One of the most fun things about the game is the sense of extreme power that you get as you level up your gun by collecting Power Elebits. When your gun gets to a high level, you can lift just about anything; cars, trucks, bulldozers…if you get enough Power Elebits before the stage ends, you can even lift whole buildings off their foundations! Unfortunately, most stages end before you can obtain this sort of power. The good part? You can edit stages, and set your gun's power level to as high as you want, but that's another story.
Throughout the first few levels, you'll mostly be in your home. They'll be relatively small and easy, and there won't be many hazards; all you do is walk around collecting Elebits and activating appliances to upgrade your gun. But later in the game, you'll notice that there ARE Elebit bosses, and they're pretty fun. The first one is harmless; just a big Elebit. The next bosses will actually pose a bit of a threat, not to mention hazards like small cannons and toy tanks manned by malicious, evil Elebits threatening to kill you at every turn in several levels. Well…they don't KILL you…they just try to break your gun so you can't capture them. Gray Elebits (they look more purple to me), and Big Yellow Elebits will also try to attack you, so beware. Also, throughout the game, the stages get bigger and harder. The last few stages, taking place in the amusement park, are the biggest and hardest in the game.
A neat feature of the game is the Edit Mode, which allows you to edit stages. When editing stages, you can place objects from other stages, Elebits, and items and change the whole layout of the stage. The problem is that objects have a cost to them, and the cost of the objects and Elebits you can have in a stage cannot exceed 1,000. Still, you can have some neat level designs. I, myself, have only created ONE good stage, and tried many, many times. I call it "Cleanup Time" (you don't actually get to name it). It has a 30-second time limit, and one vacuum laser, which you use to pick up 30,000 watts-worth of Elebits, and they're everywhere. It's okay, but it's really short.
So far, my review has been mostly rainbows and lollipops, talking about the good things about the game. Thing is, the game can actually be really frustrating. Now, you are entering the more critical part of the review….MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
YAY!!! At the end of the game, you go to the amusement park! Or is it yay? No, my friends, it is not yay, for now, you shall be introduced to…Yellow Elebits. These things are extremely annoying. At first glance, it's just a normal, cute, tiny puffball. But if there are other Elebits nearby…you're in for it. It will start to glow and make wooshy noise, and then all the other Elebits will join with them to form the Big Yellow Elebit. They're so annoying to deal with, considering you have to knock them into floors and ceilings every which way before they separate. That's not the worst of it.
The worst of it is cannons and Gray Elebits. In the levels before the amusement park, cannons were there, but to a small degree. In those levels, though…cannons are everywhere, as well as mobile tanks. Plus, your gun has to be at least to level 2 to pick them up. This is a problem is stage 28. That stage…is so long…and so hard. Several times, Elebits or objects you NEED are thrown outside of the stage to where you can't get them. At the beginning of the stage, you are confined to a small area FILLED with cannons. Only when your gun levels up to 3 can you get out. Also, there is quite a large portion of the stage which is inaccessible, forcing you to zap/grab things while overlooking it…and there's a lot of stuff there to grab. There's also a very large "Circle Ride" there, which I never figured out how to operate (it's supposed to have some significance). When and IF you beat that stage, though, the final one isn't that bad. In fact, it's one of the best stages!
Still, there's the matter of the final boss. Even though the story isn't that important to the type of game Elebits is, I don't feel I should spoil WHY you're fighting it. I will only say that it's a fairly big Elebit. The premise of the first phase is simple: smack it silly with surrounding objects by using your capture gun, avoid its lunging attacks, and pick up the smaller Elebits it drops whenever you hit it.
Then, there's phase 2.
Now, me and my also-gaming dad both agree that something that can really kill a game is a stupid hard last boss. You can get to the end, having tons of fun…and then there's that ridiculous boss that makes you want to break the game in half.
In phase 2, the giant Elebit fuses with an amusement park robot that resembles a Transformers robot (namely, Optimus Prime). To defeat it, you must use your Capture Gun to unscrew the screws holding the body together. Doesn't sound too bad, right? WRONG!!!!
OK, to pull the robot's screws out, you have to hook onto it, and rapidly twist the Wii Remote left to unscrew it. Of course, it makes sense, considering you turn a screw left to unscrew it. Unfortunately, when you're right-handed, at least, rapidly moving a Wii Remote in a counterclockwise manner causes cramps. Quickly. These cramps will often cause you to turn the Wii Remote right by accident, thus screwing it back. Not to mention, it takes FOREVER to unscrew it, regardless of whether that happens, and there are several screws. Aaaaaand he moves around a lot, meaning you'll lose your grip quite a lot. Stage 29 was a brief reprieve from the hardship of stage 28, and the first phase was fairly simple, but then THIS…this fated boss fight… Just power through it, and once you're done, you never have to relive it again…
The Final Conclusion:
+ Decent graphics; great artstyle despite bland textures
+ Fun gamepay; certain flaws involving holding doors and drawers open with your Capture Gun, but other than that, it's fun
+ Stage editing feature is neat
+ Elebit bosses are fun
-- New types of Elebits introduced later in the game can cause trouble
-- Stage 28 is evil! EVIL!!!
-- The final boss is painful…quite literally, in fact
So, in the end, Elebits gets a 3 out of 5. Although it's not awesome, it's still a fun game, and I recommend it to you if you find it for 20 dollars or less. Stage 28 and the final boss really don't hurt the game enough to not buy it, but it never hurts to warn anybody about things like that.
For lack of finding a better title, I simply said "SA2 Review" in order to have something there. I'm hoping that my readers don't immediately boycott my site.
For those of you who are still sticking around after seeing the dull title, I've finally decided to review one of my favorite games of all time: SONIC ADVENTURE 2!!!! Can't you hear the crowd cheering?
It is one of my favorite games because the original Sonic Adventure was the first game I ever played. It set me on a path to loving Sonic, resulting in extreme obsession from ages 3-5, and then reasonable love from ages 6-12. I've liked every Sonic game ever released, even Sonic '06. Yes, Sonic '06. Some of you may be staring at the computer with your mouth wide open, others may be shaking your head in despair. But it's true. So just sit back, relax, and enjoy the review.
There are two stories from which you can choose from: Hero and Dark. Throughout each story, you will alternate between three different characters. On the Hero side, you will play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, and on the Dark side, you will play as Shadow, Rouge, and Eggman. Sonic and Shadow make for high-speed levels, Knuckles and Rouge are treasure hunting, and Tails and Eggman make for shooting stages. There's also an obvious rivalry between the characters and their equivalents; physical confrontations are not uncommon.
For those of you who are still sticking around after seeing the dull title, I've finally decided to review one of my favorite games of all time: SONIC ADVENTURE 2!!!! Can't you hear the crowd cheering?
It is one of my favorite games because the original Sonic Adventure was the first game I ever played. It set me on a path to loving Sonic, resulting in extreme obsession from ages 3-5, and then reasonable love from ages 6-12. I've liked every Sonic game ever released, even Sonic '06. Yes, Sonic '06. Some of you may be staring at the computer with your mouth wide open, others may be shaking your head in despair. But it's true. So just sit back, relax, and enjoy the review.
There are two stories from which you can choose from: Hero and Dark. Throughout each story, you will alternate between three different characters. On the Hero side, you will play as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, and on the Dark side, you will play as Shadow, Rouge, and Eggman. Sonic and Shadow make for high-speed levels, Knuckles and Rouge are treasure hunting, and Tails and Eggman make for shooting stages. There's also an obvious rivalry between the characters and their equivalents; physical confrontations are not uncommon.
Fight! Fight! Fight!
Sonic and Shadow make for speed stages in the game, and, as such, they are the most fun. Also, a new element has been added: grinding, and it is put to good use. As usual, you have to get your upgrades by yours. Sonic's secret upgrades from the first game--the Light Shoes, and the Ancient Light--return, and he also has new upgrades, such as the Bounce Bracelet, Magic Glove, and Flame Ring, which adds a fire effect to his new somersault move. Shadow's got all of Sonic's upgrades except for the Bounce Bracelet and Magic Glove (which really aren't that useful, anyway). Shadow's stages are usually a bit harder than Sonic's, but at the same time, he's often more fun. Maybe I'm just a Shadow fan?
Don't mock Shadow!
Knuckles and Rouge make for the infamous treasure hunting stages from the first game. However, since no characters share levels in this game, it doesn't feel as tacked on as Knuckles's stages from the first game. Also, the stages are bigger, making for harder, more fun Emerald hunts. But if things get too tough, you can always get a clue from one of the monitors.
Tails and Eggman make for E-102 Gamma-style shoot-em-up missions. Thankfully, there's no time limit anymore; you're free to take as long as you like. Also, you've got a much-needed health bar, so that you won't get killed if you get hit without any rings. Also, there's a new bonus points system: the more enemies you lock on to at once, the more points you get. Although Tails and Eggman are the least fun to play as, it's still stinkin' cool to play as a super-powerful mech!
While this game has a lot of the same stuff as its predecessor, it has something that SA1 seriously lacked: multiplayer. There are three modes: racing with Sonic and Shadow, hunting with Knuckles and Rouge, and shooting with Tails and Eggman. The main problem here is that the multiplayer has only a few stages, and gets old fast. However, if you have a friend, you can get some enjoyment out of it.
Sonic Adventure 2 gets a 5 out of 5. Although I usually regard SA1 as better than SA2, I guess it really ends in a tie. Both games have a distinct feeling to them.
Hey, here's something different! A manga review. I bet you weren't suspecting that after the game and music reviews I do more often. (I have posted one movie review, actually, and a few book reviews) This review is for the first volume of the series +Anima.
To start the review, this is what +Anima's are: people who have somehow gained special, animal-based powers and are considered misfits. The story of the series chronicles the adventures of a young crow +Anima accurately named Cooro, as he and his +Anima friends, Husky (fish), Senri (bear), and Nana (bat). Although they're the main group, I've done research and found that they will meet others like them.
But what got me interested in Japanese manga, you ask? Well, I was at a bookstore one day, and found manga—and, among them, Kingdom Hearts books. That day, I got the second volume of Kingdom Hearts and the first volume of Chain of Memories, and they were both really good. Then, one day, at Books-A-Million, they had a buy-two-get-one-free deal. I got both Kingdom Hearts manga they had that day and +Anima as a bonus.
I chose well.
The story starts with a circus ringmaster and his assistant, who caught a fish-tailed kid (Husky) in his net while fishing one day. Wanting to capitalize on this, he hires him to pose as a mermaid princess in exchange for pay. Watching from the opening of the tent, Cooro finds himself in trouble with the ringmaster, when he shows off his powers. Later, Husky threatens to leave with Cooro, which causes the ringmaster to tie Husky to a pole and tells Cooro that it’s a play in which he, the "Messenger of Death," captures the mermaid princess. Instead, he took Husky and flew out of there, and that's where the rest of the book ensues.
Overall, I give "+Anima" a 4 out of 5. I highly recommend it to any manga fan.
To start the review, this is what +Anima's are: people who have somehow gained special, animal-based powers and are considered misfits. The story of the series chronicles the adventures of a young crow +Anima accurately named Cooro, as he and his +Anima friends, Husky (fish), Senri (bear), and Nana (bat). Although they're the main group, I've done research and found that they will meet others like them.
But what got me interested in Japanese manga, you ask? Well, I was at a bookstore one day, and found manga—and, among them, Kingdom Hearts books. That day, I got the second volume of Kingdom Hearts and the first volume of Chain of Memories, and they were both really good. Then, one day, at Books-A-Million, they had a buy-two-get-one-free deal. I got both Kingdom Hearts manga they had that day and +Anima as a bonus.
I chose well.
The story starts with a circus ringmaster and his assistant, who caught a fish-tailed kid (Husky) in his net while fishing one day. Wanting to capitalize on this, he hires him to pose as a mermaid princess in exchange for pay. Watching from the opening of the tent, Cooro finds himself in trouble with the ringmaster, when he shows off his powers. Later, Husky threatens to leave with Cooro, which causes the ringmaster to tie Husky to a pole and tells Cooro that it’s a play in which he, the "Messenger of Death," captures the mermaid princess. Instead, he took Husky and flew out of there, and that's where the rest of the book ensues.
Overall, I give "+Anima" a 4 out of 5. I highly recommend it to any manga fan.
"You've got a plasma pistol, and I've got an assault rifle, and you won't beat me because you've got a plasma pistol, and the plasma pistol stinks, because I've got an assault rifle! HAH HOO HAH!!!"
YAY!! YEAH!!! WOOHOO!!! ...Can I stop floating now?
"Mustn't...stop...smiling... Try...to...ignore...flaming thumb..."
Y'know, E.T. was good for something; its case could easily be used to store complimentary Rece's pieces once the game was thoroughly cremated. Then again, you could probably do that with any case.
Use this alien-related case instead. That way, they won't get defiled by E.T.'s awfulness! ZIM cases can also be used for storing rubber piggies, spooky chihuahuas, and even moose!
One of my last game reviews (in the midst of at least half a dozen music reviews) was that of Halo 2. You see, as I have mentioned in three separate articles (this will make four), my mother had recently let me play Halo, and I wanted to beat each game in the trilogy. Actually, so far, I have completed each one on co-op mode with my cousin (with the exception of the last few levels on the first game, which I had to complete the rest of the way on my own because he got tired of it).
Like Halo 2, Halo 3 brings some new weapons into the mix. The game has flamethrowers, Brute spikers, gravity hammers, and many more. There are even different types of grenades! The assault rifle returns from the first game. It's more powerful, but only uses 32 shots per clip. The magnum is now much more powerful, with a four-headshot kill going for it. Dual wielding returns, which really isn't a surprise. However, the same "no melee and no grenades" rule applies. There are also several new vehicles, such as the Chopper and Prowler.
Rather than both players using Master Chief or the Arbiter in co-op, depending on the stage, one player controls Master Chief and the other controls the Arbiter, since they are now allies. Master Chief respawns with the Battle Rifle and Assault Rife, while the Arbiter, when he dies, respawns with the [rather crappy] Plasma Rifle and Covenant Carbine. The co-op runs much smoother than in previous games, with no slowdown whatsoever.
The game is no longer unbearably difficult when it comes to Flood missions. Melee simply OWNS them, not to mention that they're only in the last few levels of the game. In fact (spoiler), in one level they side with you. In that stage, it's best to hang around and let them kill the Covenant. They're also not nearly as abundant, also helping to make Flood-infested levels easier.
So What's Good?
+ You get to "finish the fight"
+ New weapons
+ Assault rifle is back
+ New vehicles
+ Co-op makes more sense story-wise
+ The Flood levels are easier
+ Great multiplayer and online play
+ Overall just more fun than the others
+ Phenomenal story, although this can be said for all the Halo games
…But Then What's Bad?
- Very minor, but the Arbiter always respawns with crappy weapons
Overall, Halo 3 receives a 5 out of 5. Sure, it's got all kinds of improvements, but it's overall simply more fun than the others. It is one of the greatest games I've ever played, just like its predecessors.
Like Halo 2, Halo 3 brings some new weapons into the mix. The game has flamethrowers, Brute spikers, gravity hammers, and many more. There are even different types of grenades! The assault rifle returns from the first game. It's more powerful, but only uses 32 shots per clip. The magnum is now much more powerful, with a four-headshot kill going for it. Dual wielding returns, which really isn't a surprise. However, the same "no melee and no grenades" rule applies. There are also several new vehicles, such as the Chopper and Prowler.
Rather than both players using Master Chief or the Arbiter in co-op, depending on the stage, one player controls Master Chief and the other controls the Arbiter, since they are now allies. Master Chief respawns with the Battle Rifle and Assault Rife, while the Arbiter, when he dies, respawns with the [rather crappy] Plasma Rifle and Covenant Carbine. The co-op runs much smoother than in previous games, with no slowdown whatsoever.
The game is no longer unbearably difficult when it comes to Flood missions. Melee simply OWNS them, not to mention that they're only in the last few levels of the game. In fact (spoiler), in one level they side with you. In that stage, it's best to hang around and let them kill the Covenant. They're also not nearly as abundant, also helping to make Flood-infested levels easier.
So What's Good?
+ You get to "finish the fight"
+ New weapons
+ Assault rifle is back
+ New vehicles
+ Co-op makes more sense story-wise
+ The Flood levels are easier
+ Great multiplayer and online play
+ Overall just more fun than the others
+ Phenomenal story, although this can be said for all the Halo games
…But Then What's Bad?
- Very minor, but the Arbiter always respawns with crappy weapons
Overall, Halo 3 receives a 5 out of 5. Sure, it's got all kinds of improvements, but it's overall simply more fun than the others. It is one of the greatest games I've ever played, just like its predecessors.