Video Game Review: The World Ends With You (DS)

"Listen up, Phones. The world ends with you. If you want to enjoy life, expand your world. You gotta push your horizons out as far as they'll go."- Mr. Hanekoma

One of the best games on the DS, The World Ends With You received high praises for its unique story line and gameplay.

Story- 10/10

Neku, the main character, wakes up on a busy Japanese street. He has no memories of his past, and is suddenly attacked by monsters called “Noise”. A girl comes by and makes a pact with Neku, allowing the both of them to fight the Noise. Neku finds out that he died, and he is now in a game. The only way to win is to make it through 7 days in the game.

At first, I thought the beginning was too generic. But as the story unfolds, the game becomes more like an anime. The twists and turns in the plot are predictable. But, the ending really wraps everything up. It was very satisfying, so good that a direct sequel to this game may ruin the series.

Character Development-10/10

The character development is on par with Chrono Trigger. Everyone had their own background, even the enemies.  You could see how Neku changed from being a loner to a guy that opened himself up to the world. There are even side quests, like Chrono Trigger, to get more back story on Neku and his friends.

Gameplay-9/10

The gameplay is a hit-or-miss. People were turned down by the steep learning curve. You control Neku on the bottom screen with the stylus. Neku attacks with pins, and every pin works in a different way. Some requires you to slash the enemy, and others require you to tap the ground. While Neku is controlled at the bottom screen, his partner will be controlled at the top. The partner is controlled with the D-pad or the A-B-X-Y buttons. Each partner has their own way of fighting, which was difficult for people. Controlling two characters at a time were difficult at times, but the game was nice enough to allow an A.I to control the top character. If the game was getting too difficult at some point in the game, you could lower the difficulty, and change your amount of HP. There is very little grinding in this game. While Neku does level up, his pins are able to level up too. Once the pins reached their maxed level, the pins are mastered, and can evolve into new ones. Sure this all seems confusing, but the game does a well job explaining everything.

Presentation-10/10

This game felt like an anime to me. Maybe it was the story, or maybe it was the art. Everything was colorful and interesting to see. The attention to the details of the surroundings, and the people walking in it is second-to-none.

Music-9/10

Again, another hit-or-miss. Japanese hip-hop songs are played throughout the whole game. I enjoyed the music very much, but some songs were overplayed too much for my liking.

Final Score-10/10

The story is original and unique. Gameplay is hard to learn, but eventually it will be easier after practicing. The anime style drawing with the Japanese hip-hop really sets the mood for the modern day Japan. I really recommend this game because it is perfect in every way.

The Good

-Interesting story

-Beautiful graphics

-Awesome soundtrack

-Very satisfying ending

The Bad

-Some people may find the game too short

-Again, some people may find the gameplay too hard

Final Fantasy Adventure (Game Boy)

 Final Fantasy + The Legend of Zelda= Final Fantasy Adventure

What a very misleading title. Final Fantasy Adventure has nothing to do with the Final Fantasy RPG from SquareSoft, but it is the first installment of the Mana series, such as Secret of Mana(SNES) and Legend of Mana(PSX). Final Fantasy Adventure had a remake for the Game Boy Advance called Sword of Mana.

Story-9/10

For a GameBoy game, Final Fantasy Adventure’s story was well done. Hero, whatever name you named him but will be referred as “Hero” in this review, is a gladiator that fights for the Dark Lord’s enjoyment.  Hero escapes from the fight one day, and he overhears Dark Lord and Julius talking about the removal of the Mana Tree. Hero is knocked off a waterfall, and realizes that he must protect the Mana Tree. Hero makes friends that help him fight on his quest to the Mana Tree.

There are a couple of twists and tragic moments that gives the story a high score. Minus one point from the awkward dialogue exchanged between Hero and others.

Gameplay-10/10

Imagine, from the gameplay of the Legend of Zelda mixed in with RPG elements, and the result is Final Fantasy Adventure. Final Fantasy Adventure has an overhead perspective like the Legend of Zelda, with the hack and slash system. From the hack and slash system, the player is given a power bar, or. The power bar fills up overtime, IF the player does not attack. When the power bar fills up, the player can execute special attacks with each different weapon given to the player. Unlike the Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy Adventure allows the hero to use magic, which is pretty simple. Magic is used by “equipping” it from the menu, and by pressing “B” the magic is used. Magic can only be obtained after certain events in the game.

As the player fights monster, experience points and gold are given. Eventually the player will level up, allowing the player to upgrade one of four stats: 1) Power, increases attack. 2) Wisdom increases MP. 3) Stamina, increases HP and defense. 4) Will, increase the speed of the power bar.  If, say power is selected, the power stat will be given 2 points, going from 1 to 3, while the other stats will be increased by 1, going from 1 to 2.

Presentation-8/10

For a GameBoy game, Final Fantasy Adventure looks better the other games for the system. Each enemy could be distinguish from an other. Some of the sprites are taken from the Final Fantasy game, such as the white mage and the moogles. Final Fantasy Adventure’s music was well done and catchy. Just like the Legend of Zelda overworld theme, Final Fantasy Adventure’s overworld theme was pretty good.

The Good:

-Familiar gameplay mechanics

- RPG elements

-Story that sets up Secret of Mana

-Implements the usage of the different weapons

The Bad:

-Way too easy if the player level grinds

-Some people may find the game too short

Overall score: 9/10

Hunted: The Demon's Forge Review

A highly anticipated game of mines, did it live up to my standards?

Story: 7/10

The story is straightforward. You play as either Caddoc, the human muscle man, or Elaria, the elven archer as you try to figure out what is happening to the world around you. Pretty much out of nowhere, demons start coming out and kidnapping humans and taking them as slaves and it's up to you to go rescue them and get to the bottom of the situation. To my surprise, depending on how you play the game, you'll get different endings. The one I got... let's just say I'm going to have to replay the game again in a different way.

Gameplay: 9/10

The third person cover shooter aspect of it is right on. I played as the archer for my first playthrough, and perhaps for everytime thereafter too. Even though each character is more geared towards a specific fighting style, both can still engage in either long range or melee combat just fine. The game seemlessly integrates strategic hack and slash with third person shooting and with it comes a very smooth experience. Both characters can use magic to either buff each other up, or to strike at enemies. All in all, the gameplay nailed it for me.

Performance/Presentation: 8/10

The game didn't look drop dead gorgeous, nor did it look so fugly that I'd turn on my monitor. It's average. The game ran very well at 60+FPS most of the time at max settings. There are a variety of enemy types to fight and the rare pieces of armor that you pick up can change your appearance as well as your stats.

The Good:

- Solid gameplay mechanics
- The Crucible adds remarkable replayability
- If you have someone to play with, you're in for a treat

The Bad:

- Graphics are a bit outdated
- Random bugs here and there
- Story isn't so original

FluffyBunnyPwn gives it 8/10.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Review

Words alone cannot describe what I just experienced... but I'll try my best.

Story: 10/10

The story is deep, engrossing, dark, and mature. It's not afraid to test your moral and ethical decisions by putting you on the spot between two very unfavorable choices and forcing you to choose. Every choice you make in the game has severe consequences, whether it be choosing to save one character over another, doing a certain quest and ignoring another one, or just flat out agreeing with one character and disagreeing with the other. The story spans across five lengthy chapters total, including the prologue and epilogue. You are Geralt, a witcher, otherwise known as a professional monster slayer. Your job was to protect King Foltest during his internal war with his wife's side of the family, however he was murdered and his blood was found on your sword. Framed for this regicide, you must escape the kingdom and pursue the real king slayer to clear your name. As you chase the murderer, you become engrossed in this fantasy world that deals with warring races with elves and dwarves trying to fight for their freedom from humans. As a witcher, you do not take sides in politics, but it is amusing how your decisions to help a certain side will lead to drastic results. I dare say this is the most epic western RPG that I've ever played in my life. Dragon Age Origins comes close at second place.

Gameplay: 10/10

This is not your average hack 'n slash. This game requires skill, tactics, and reflex in order to win battles. Just simply targeting enemies and clicking the mouse buttons will land you with a game over screen. Gameplay is simple enough for anyone to play and understand how to maneuver and control the tide of the battle, but demands strategy in order to master it. Truth be told, this game is hard, even punishing at some points. Because it is so unforgiving, you have to really pay attention to what you're doing, not just hack away at enemies like you would in most hack 'n slash games. There are wide variety of monsters and warriors to fight, along with an extensive skill tree that you can allocate points to gain the upper hand on the battlefield. This makes for fun and satisfying battles in which you feel like you've really accomplished something when you stab your sword into that last drowner.

Like in most character driven games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age, The Witcher 2's story plays out according to the decisions that you make in the game. However, unlike said games, your decisions are vital. It could either lead to a betrayal of a close friend, or the death of a prince and has major consequences that will greatly shift the flow of the story. Because of this, there is great incentive to replay the game again and again to experience different consequences and turn of events.

Presentation/Performance: 10/10

This game is absolutely beautiful. So beautiful in fact, my computer can barely run it on the lowest settings. This was the first game that my beast couldn't handle. On low, I was getting between 20-50 fps at best. The voice acting is superb and the soundtrack is absolutely epic. The world is huge, and the details are amazing. Even on low, the game still looks great. To truly experience and appreciate the game's visuals, you're going to need a beast of a machine.

The Good:

- Amazing Story
- Satisfying gameplay
- Choices = Real consequences
- Beautiful graphics and soundtrack
- Great replay value

The Bad:

- It ends...

FluffyBunnyPwn gives it 10/10 overall.

Game Reviews: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (Nintendo DS)

"I'll save you again and again, as many times it will take."- Sissel

From the creator of the Phoenix Wright series, I had a very high expectation for Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. When it came out for the DS in January 2011, I was super excited for the game. As a puzzle game, the tense storyline, and the awesome animations of the sprite, how high of a score can this game obtain?

Story-9/10

The game starts out with the main character, Sissel, dead. With no memory of what happened, Sissel’s ghost watches as a girl is murder by an assassin. He is then told by a talking lamp, named Ray who is also a spirit, that Sissel is able to save the girl. Seeing that the girl is already dead, Sissel is told that he can go back into the pass to 4 minutes before the death, by touching the dead body as a spirit. Sissel is also able to manipulate inanimate objects, such as a toy car, to reach the goal. Sissel goes back in time, saves the girl, and thus, altering the future. But, Sissel also learns that he has until dawn to figure out who killed him, and why the girl was being chased.

The character development of both major and minor characters is well done. There are major twists in the game that keeps the player into the story. However, not many people enjoyed the ending of the game. I, personally, thought that the game left a few questions unanswered for a sequel. But, how the game wrapped the storyline up, left no room for a sequel.

GamePlay-10/10

 

Sissel using his abilities to move across the room.

Being allowed to manipulate inanimate objects is the puzzle part of the game play. Possessing objects is the only way for Sissel to move around the game. There will be times where Sissel is allowed to go into the phone lines in order to travel around the city. The use of correct timing will allow Sissel to set a chain reaction for him to prevent death, or help him reach his destination. Later in the game, you will be able to get a partner to help you move across the level, but saying anything more will give out spoilers. 

Graphics-10/10

 

The excellent animation of the characters in their environment.

The fluid animations of the sprites were well done in this game. Everyone had their own unique animation to perform. The inanimate objects performed what they would do if a ghost really did posses it. The music of the game was excellent, played correctly for the right atmosphere.

The Good:

-Unique storyline

-Superb gameplay

-Smooth animation

-Great characters to support the story

-Some resemblances to the Phoenix Wright series

The Bad:

-Short game with little replay values

Overall Score-9/10

Brink Review

I've followed this game for two years during its development. Was it worth the wait?

Story: 7/10

Like most first person shooters, don't expect a great story. I didn't, at least for Brink. You either play as the Resistance or the Security forces, each with their own reasons to fight to flee the Ark, or to save it. The Ark is a floating man-made island built as a last resort to save humanity from the depths of destruction. It's your choice whether or not you want to flee it or save it.

Gameplay: 10/10

Here's where the bulk of the game is. I just absolutely LOVE the gameplay. Combining parkour elements with a first person shooter, is genius. There are three body types to choose from including heavy, medium, and light, combined with four classes to fight with including medic, soldier, operative, and engineer. Each has its own weaknesses and strengths, and there's technically no wrong way to play, as it's just a matter of your own preference. Gameplay is very team-based. Going lone wolf will do nothing more than get you killed. You pretty much get experience points for everything that you do, from killing enemies to carrying out objectives, to capturing command posts. As you level up, you can unlock different outfits for your character, different weapons and attachments, and special abilities to use on the battlefield. There are many objectives that you can accomplish on the battlefield and they change dynamically as well, so you're not stuck just doing one objective for the entirety of the fight. Body types matter a lot. A heavy dude can withstand a lot of damage, but a light dude can trek the battlefield, leaping left and right and flanking his enemies with ease. Also, your body type determines what kind of weapons you can hold. If you're a light, you're only limited to light weapons whereas if you're a heavy, you can carry pretty much any weapon of your choice.

Now there's been a lot of mixed reviews with Brink to say the least. And I'm just going to address it with one line "If you play it like Call of Duty, then you're going to be disappointed, and that's a fact." Don't play this game expecting to down opponents in one hit kills, or being able to camp without them seeing you, or just going Rambo. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Play it like COD, and you'll suck.

At one point it was me and three other resistance members running together in a pack with a stolen can of gasoline. Damn it was epic. You don't hear anything other than footsteps and grunts as we vault over objects, slide under stuff, and wall-hop trying to get that can of gasoline to the vehicle. This was when, I was like "Damn... this is the game I've been waiting for."

Presentation/Performance: 9/10

The graphics look similar to Borderlands because of its comic book style art, but it's not cell shaded, so it's not completely cartoony. I'm getting between 45-60+ frames per second, though I heard it isn't so friendly with AMD/ATi cards.

The Good:

- Gameplay, it's freaking fun
- Parkour elements are great
- Customization is immense
- Objective-based and team gameplay promotes teamwork

The Bad:

- More maps please!
- More customization options please!
- Already looking forward to new DLC

FluffyBunnyPwn gives it 9/10

Section 8: Prejudice Review

The first was promising but failed to succeed. Will the sequel follow suit? Or will it outshine the first?

Story: 7/10

Cliche story is cliche. Let's be honest, most first person shooters are not known for great stories, and this is no exception. On the other hand games like Bioshock thrive on that aspect. You're a soldier, some shit happens, now you have to find the traitor and kill him. Beat the game, yeah yeah, end of story.

Gameplay: 9/10

Now here's where the game really starts to kick off. You can choose from 4-5 preset loadouts, or customize your own loadout, which is pretty spectacular to say the least, meaning that you're not confined to one certain class and can technically be a hybrid of multiple classes. You can choose 2 weapons of your choice, ranging from pistols to rocket launchers, and you can choose 2 abilities of your choice, ranging from being able to heal stuff to having special grenades to use. Basically the main objective is to capture and defend as many control points as possible. There are many primary objectives that randomly start during matches at random times and completing these side objectives will earn the team a lot of points. You also get currency for killing enemies and completing objectives which can be used to buy turrets or purchase vehicles and mechs to crush the enemy with. Matches are long and the size of the maps are pretty big, with 32 max players. I would've gave gameplay a 10/10 if it didn't take so damn long just to destroy vehicles. But other than that it was good.

Presentation/Performance: 8/10

The graphics are pretty outdated to be honest. If a person didn't know any better, they would think that I was playing Halo 3 on my computer, because of how the characters looked and the colors and the feel that it gives off. Ran very smoothly @ 60fps most of the time maxed out, but when there's a lot of action on the screen, it dips down to about 37-43, which isn't so bad as long as it doesn't go below 30, then it's bearable for me at least.

The Good:

- Fun gameplay
- Lot of replay value
- No two matches will ever be the same
- Character customization is great
- Lots of weapons and abilities to choose from
- Best spawning in a video game evarrrr

The Bad:

- Vehicles and mechs can be overpowered
- Story is crap
- AI isn't so smart

FluffyBunnyPwn gives it 8/10 overall.

Game Reviews: Dragon Quest 9

“Finally, the DRAGON and the QUEST makes sense now...”- domodragon53

Story-8/10

You are a Celestrain, an angel that watches over people, that collects the “happiness” of the people you protect. The “happiness” you obtain is given to the World Tree, located in the Observatory where the Celestrains are from. As the golden fruits that the World Tree comes to, called a fygg, the Observatory is attacked by an unknown force that knocks you out of the sky, along with the 7 fyggs. Thus the story begins with you, the hero, having to find the 7 fyggs to restore peace.

The story of Dragon Quest 9 has been criticized for being too similar to Dragon Ball. Go into a new area, find out what is wrong, fix the problem, and repeat. This formula becomes way too noticeable after the 3^rd you get into. However, the problems of each town are unique but the stories that each town provides can be predictable. There is no character development at all. Some characters can become too annoying, such as the fairy that joins you, which is equivalent as the fairy from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Overall, Dragon Quest 9’s story is really simple, but too repetitive for my standards. The story pulls you in from time to time, but most of the time, you forget what your purpose really is.

Gameplay-10/10

The game play of Dragon Quest 9 is superb for an RPG on the DS. The battle mechanics are simple. The party system is similar to Dragon Quest 3. The class/jobs are more innovative, now with the point system.

The battle system is still your regular RPG turn-based battles. Like the previous Dragon Quest games on the DS, you can set your party members to attack the enemy, heal, or just use magic by themselves without you selecting them to. It takes a lot of time out of your hands. Now you can chain your attacks to become stronger by attacking the same enemy consecutively with each member from your party. Your damage will be multiplied by 1.2-->1.5-->2.0, depending how many people attacked. The tension system is still intact from previous Dragon Quest games. Similar to the other Dragon Quest games, only with a twist here and there.

Just like Dragon Quest 3, in this game, you are able to create your own party members. Each member is unique because you can customize how they look. You are able to give them a class/job, like Dragon Quest 3. In Dragon Quest 9, the party members you make never talk, and they are never in the cut scenes. Only in Dragon Quest 3, I think the party members were able to talk to you at one point.

 The customizable party members...

The class/job returns again in the Dragon Quest series. You can go to a certain town to change your class/job. 6 classes/jobs are giving to you in the start of the game, but a few more can be unlocked through doing quests. Like Dragon Quest 8, this game allows you to allocate points to different skills in your class/job. The skills you learn can be carried over to another class/job, but not the spells.

Multiplayer is a major plus. Unlike the other Dragon Quest games on the DS, Dragon Quest 9 allows the player to take their hero and go help out other players. If a player was in a battle, it does not affect the other players in the game. The other players have a choice to go into the battle, or just stay in the over world. Only the storyline of the hosting player will go forward, and the guest players have certain limits they can do in the game.

Presentation-10/10

The previous Dragon Quest on the DS cannot compare to Dragon Quest 9 in terms of graphics. The hero, party members, and important people to the storyline are in 3D, where as everyone else is 2D. The camera can be turned 360 degrees around the player, like the previous Dragon Quest, but the buildings in Dragon Quest 9 are in 3D instead of 2D. The battles surprised me at first. In Dragon Quest 4 and 5, the battles only allow you to see the enemy. But in Dragon Quest 9, the player is able to see the hero walk around the enemy and strike the enemy. Wearing equipments is a bigger factor in this game. Any equipment you wear can be seen in battles and the over world. This allows players to choose between fashion and stats.

 

Equipment affecting the looks of the character.

Replay Values-10/10

After the game is finished, there are still more to do. The player is able to do the hundreds of quest that is given to them. The player can collect items and try to complete the alchemy book. There are “Grotto Maps” that allows the player to find new randomly generate dungeons, each with a boss that is harder than the final storyline boss.

Analysis: Dragon Quest 9 is one of the best games for the DS. It brings back formulas from the previous Dragon Quest games and improves it. The storyline is not too bad, but could have been more engaging. But the game play makes up for that. The game play is one of the main reasons that kept me into the game. The graphics of this game surprised me because it looked different from the Dragon Quest games on the DS. Even after I finished the game, I still had more things to do, such as exploring the Grotto Dungeons, and completing the quests. Dragon Quest 9 is one of the best RPGs for a handheld.

The Good:

-Class/Job and skill point system that has been brought back from DQ3 and 8

- Character Customization

-Replayabilities

-Multiplayer

-Great Cutscenes and Graphics

The Bad:

-The storyline may get under your skin, due to the “repeating” formula, but it can be looked over…

Final Score: 10/10

Perfect Dark 64

Perfect Dark 64 was an amazing classic back in its days (last ten years). This single player or 4 player First Person Shooter was perhaps the backbone and model of other games. It offers over 30 weapons and devices that can be used as well as many game modes. This game perhaps was one of the best First Person Shooters of its time for the Nintendo 64 before online playing came along.

Story: 7/10

You are Joanna Dark, an operative for the fictional Carrington Institute, as she attempts to stop a conspiracy by the rival corporation data Dyne. Well, no one pays attention to the story line in this game anyways, its all about the action and finishing the objective. Some of the missions can be played out of order so there is no real story line. You just have to finish all 17 missions in order to obtain new weapons and other unlockables.

Gameplay: 8/10

This seems like your generic First Person Shooter, but this game makes up the definition of a generic FPS. In this game, you can play with 3 other players as well as 8 computers. The difficulty of these computer/sims can be changed up so they pose a challenge. Whether its teaming up with your friends to fight hard computers, or going against each other, this game is really fun. There is a wide variety of weapons classified from explosives all the way to handguns. Each weapon has its own unique ability as well as a regular firing mode. The computers arent as intelligent as you hope, but the ability to command other computer Sim teammates makes up for it.

Presentation/Performance: 8/10

The graphics of this game is good for the year it had arrived. Although the graphics look like the pixels were smudged around overlapping each other, there are many other aspects of this game that make up for it.

The Good:

-lots of weapons to use
-All computer sims respawn so you can keep playing
-Maps are large and there is multiple access to rooms
-competition against friends is great
-colors determine teams


The Bad:

-You move to slow
-The Sniper is one of the weakest weapons
-The graphics don't compare to games from today
-Enemies are everywhere and they always appear behind you like a ninja
-Some weapons are useless, and some weapons in the same category top other weaponry for example, one machine gun is obviously stronger than the other.

OmegaliskX79's Rating: 8/10

Borderlands Review

A 4-player first person shooter RPG co-op with hundreds of weapons and a wide array of enemy types to kill? Sounds like a dream come true.

Story: 6/10

You are one of four characters searching for the vault which contains an infinite amount of treasure on a planet called Pandora while a blue spirit girl guides you along the way. That's it. What? You expected more? Story is the weakest part of this adventure. But in this game, the fun isn't about finding what treasures lay hidden in the vault, the fun is about your adventure in getting there.

Gameplay: 9/10

A solid first person shooter at first glance with some RPG elements, Borderlands boasts character-specific abilities, hundreds of weapons to choose from, and many enemies to kill them with. Four players can play together at any given time, dropping in and out as they wish. There are four classes to choose from: a heavy melee guy named Brick, a tactical girl who can cloak named Siren, Mordecai, a gunslinger with a hawk as his pet, and Roland, a soldier who can deploy turrets. While each character has their own abilities, the first person shooter aspect of the game still plays similar to each other. The RPG elements include gaining EXP and leveling up, and being able to allocate points to power up your character in simple skill trees.

Presentation/Performance: 8/10

With simple cell-shaded graphics, this game ran flawlessly with 60+ FPS maxed out on my rig. The cell-shading art is really a hit or miss, some loved the comic aspect of it, some loathed it.

The Good:

- So many things to kill and loot
- FPS + RPG is always welcome
- Dropping in and out feature is useful
- Open world freeplay seem endless
- Multiple DLCs adds replay value
- Epic boss battles and set pieces

The Bad:

- Can get boring after a while if you're playing alone
- Crappy gun sounds
- Missions can get very repetitive
- High latency can be frustrating when trying to join games
- May require grinding in order to pass certain levels

FluffyBunnyPwn gives it 8/10 overall.

Shining Soul 2(Game Boy Advance)

Shining Soul 2 is the Diablo 2 for the Game Boy Advance(GBA). It is a action-RPG game that involves dungeon exploration and boss fights.



Story-7/10
During a tournament, the king is told that his daughter is kidnapped. He sends his most trusted warrior, Deatharte. While Deatharte is away, the king is still concerned about the goblins gathering near the castle and he sends the player to investigate. The player goes into the goblin camp, and finds out that they had captured the princess. After going through the castle, which holds the princess, it is revealed that the Chaos Knights are planning to conquer the world. That leaves the player as the only hero to stop them.

The story is very simple and linear. On my first playthrough, I didn't really care much about the story. It is not intresting and doesn't keep the player involved.



Gameplay-9/10
As stated before, this game is a Action-RPG dungeon crawler, like Diablo 2. Move witht the control pad, "A" is hit and "B" is the hotkey for using items, like herbs. With very simple controls, how did this game get a 8/10? Its skill system and class types. Before every new game, you are offered to choose 8 different classes. Everytime you level up, you can allocate 4 points to your 4 stats attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Vitality, and Intellegence. You are also given 1 point to upgrade 1 skill. If you want to upgrade a spell, it will be upgraded to Lvl 2, but if you upgrade it again, you must have 2 points for the next level. With these elements, it gives the game a lot of replayability.




Also, in this version, there is a "special" that can be used on enemies. You need to equip a soul item and defeat enemies to build up the bar.

Presentation-8/10
Everyone looked different. All the classes had their own 10 colors. Unique designs for each classes. THe monsters looked well drawn out. Everything else in this game was just average.



The Good:
-Diablo-like expierence
-Replayability
-Great Multiplayer
-New Game +

The Bad:
-Boss Fights maybe hard
-Hard to earn money in the beginning

Final Score:8/10

Scribblenauts Review

I was very excited for this game when it was released. The concept of this game is "Imagination is the Answer". Write down an object of any kind and it will appear in the game.



Story-N/A
Well, if you consider collecting Starites the story then... thats the story. You play as Maxwell equiped with the best weapon of all time, a notebook. This notebook creates objects from words Maxwell writes in there. There's nothing for the story.



Gameplay-8/10
Remember when you were against a dragon, and all you had was a sword. Well what other weapons would you choose? What other creatures would you create to fight the dragon? These questions are up to you and your imagination. Scribblenauts is broken into 2 parts: Action and Puzzle. The Puzzle part requires for you to think of objects that best fits the situation. For example, there is a whale stuck on land that needs to be back in the sea. You can create a bulldozer and push the whale back into the sea. Or, you can create a helicopter with a rope attached to it and carry the whale into the sea. The options are endless. After you complete the required objective, the starite appears for your taking. The Action part requires Maxwell to go and retrieve the starite. For example, the starite is under the sea and Maxwell is on an island. You can make a submarine and ride in it to get the Starite. Or, you can make a Loch Ness Monster and ride on the monster to get the starite. Besides the Action and Puzzles, there is a sandbox level before you enter the menu screen. This sandbox level allows you to make anything you want. You can make a showdown of a knight fighting a Yeti, or ride a dragon while fighting three giants.

What lowers the score for the gameplay is the controls. You can only move Maxwell with the stylus. If you tried to select an object and miss-tapped the screen, it can send Maxwell off a cliff or into lava. The camera is a bug problem too. If you wanted to make two creatures fight, Maxwell must be away from the fight to not disturpt it. Because Maxwell is away, and the camera is focused on the fight, if there is no activity from Maxwell or the camera movement, the camera will move itself from the fight and back to Maxwell. These flaws angered a lot of fans, but the developers were nice enough to change the flaws for the next game.



Presentation-7/10
With over a thousand words, your would think that every word would have a different sprite, right? Wrong. There are many words that have the same sprites, which lowers the score. However, the sprites were well drawn out and designed. Every "living" sprite had a reaction to other sprites. If you made a robber and a cop, the cop would chase the robber, or if you made a bee and a flower, the bee would fly around the flower.



The Good:
-Very innovative
-The use of imagination to solve puzzles
-The sandbox level to try out objects

The Bad:
-The controls and the camera flawed the game
-The use of same sprites with different words

Total Score: 8/10

Chrono Trigger Review

Chrono Trigger is an amazing game. With a superb storyline, beautiful gameplay, and just looking gorgeous, Chrono Trigger is Square Enix's "Hero of Time".



Story-10/10
The story starts off with Chrono going to the Millennial Fair, in 1000AD, to meet his inventor friend, Lucca. While Chrono is in the fair, he bumps into the princess of the kingdom, Marle. They both meet up with Lucca, while Lucca is presenting her newest invention, teleportation machine. Marle steps up as a volenteer to teleport, but her neckalace disturbs the machine and throws Marle off into the past. This is where the adventure begins, timetraveling to different eras on the planet. The best part about the storyline is the alternate endings. The alternate endings provides "What if" scenerios. The story kept me playing until the very end of the game.



Gameplay-10/10
Chrono Trigger's game play mechanics were superb for its time. Instead of walking around to for random encounters to occur, you can see the enemy on current screen. The battle occurs on the screen also, so no transitioning into and out of battle. In Chrono Trigger, there are skills called "techs". Each character has their own unique techs, according to their element type, and can use "double tech" and "triple tech". These combo techs were amazingly thought out so no character would be useless. The game play mechanics, alone, is enough to make this game a classic.

Presentation-10/10
For a Super Nintendo game, Chrono Trigger was beautifully drawn out. Each character had their own expression, and unique animation, designed by the man who also made designed the Dragon Quest characters and Dragon Ball Z characters, Akira Toriyama. The battle animation is awesome, along with the combo techs. The music for this game is a masterpiece. Look out for my personal pick for Chrono Trigger's music.



The Good:
-Epic Storyline
-Great Gameplay mechanics
-Beautiful looking game
-Lots of replayability

The Bad:
-Nothing...

Final Score:10/10

The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening

One of my top ten favorites, just above Phoenix Wright series, Links Awakening has a special place in my heart. Released for the Nintendo Game Boy and again for the Game Boy Color, and now a port to the 3DS, Links Awakening offered many new innovations for Zelda games to come.



Story-9/10
Links have crashed onto the shores of Khoto island after sailing his boat in a thunderstorm. Rescued by Marlin, Links retrieves his sword at the beach where he washed onto, and activates a chain of events. Links needs to get off the island, but the mysterious owl tells him that Links needs to "awaken" the sacred Wind Fish in order to go. The story has a darker side as the player progresses, and the ending made me shed a tear.



Gameplay-10/10
Links Awakening offers new gameplay elements for the series. The first is the trading system. You had to obtain a Yoshi doll and trade it for another item, that would be traded again until the last item is obtained. The trade system forces the player to explore the world. Another new element is the side-scrolling view. Unlike Zelda II for the NES, this view played out like Mario, where Links was able to move with more precisely. Stealing from the shop was new to the series. If Links stole an item from the shop, the next time Links enters the shop, the shopkeeper will automatically kill Links and change Links name to THEIF. The most innovatice element is the A and B buttons. For the first time, the player is allowed the unequip the sword for another weapon. With all these new elements mixed with the old gameplay for the previous series, Links Awaking deserves a 10/10.



Presentation-9/10
For a Game Boy game, the world of Links Awakening is large. The bosses are well done. The overworld looks fantastic. Links Awakening is appealing to the eyes of the gamer.

The Good:
-New elements of gameplay that was later added onto Ocarina of Time.
-Excellent storyline.

The Bad:
-Gets a little difficult every now and then.

Final Score: 9/10

Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier

Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier is a good game. It has an amazing game play, good fan service, and a great soundtrack. But what drags this game down is its story.

Story-6/10
The story follows Halken Browning, a space cowboy, with his robotic female partner, Aschen Brodel that explore an old spaceship. As they explore the ship, they encounter the "Cow" princess, Kaguya Nanbu, that has a bounty on her for her return to her own world. As they arrive to her world, strange crystals begin to appear and the team must find out why. With this linear plot, it doesnt catch on to the gamer. The story gets a low score for its lacking story and low character development.



Gameplay-10/10
Ahh... the gameplay... where do I start... It is superb for the Nintendo DS. The only reason (and "others") why I kept continuing this game was its gameplay. When the player engages into a battle, the player is allowed to have 4 party members in the front and 4 in the back. When the player attacks the enemy, the player must execute a chain of attacks to make a combo by pressing the respective moves that were set on the buttons. To add-on to the chained combos, the player is then allowed to switch the character, for another, to chain more combos. As the combos get chained, a "limitbreak" gauge is filled. Each character has their own "limitbreak" which, of course, deals a ton of damage. This is the main reason that kept me throught the game.



Presentation-10/10
With an anime-style presentation, Super Robot Taisen OG Saga: Endless Frontier looks amazing. Except for the overworld movements, the game is well drawn out. During the battle, each move have their own amazing animation, especially the limitbreaks. Like any anime, the character will name their attack, and proceed to an awesome devastating animation. Watch the clip below for an example of a limitbreak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut5TjDqFXvg

The Good:
-Fan service
-Amazing gameplay
-Beautiful Presentation

The Bad:
-The simple storyline with little character development

Total Score: 8/10