Today on Gaming with Killatia we take a look at the latest Tales game to hit the US market, Tales of Graces F. Is it the best game in the franchise, or is it another blow to the Japanese style Role Playing Games? Watch to find out!
Click here for my Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City review!
For many people, I have a feeling this will be moreimportant than the
actual gameplay. The story is a mixed bag. There are some contrived
moments, some eye-rolling moments and some serious cop-outs (wait till
you find out why the DeLorean is still there despite being destroyed).
But considering it’s an original story for a video game written by
people who didn’t write the movie (Bob Gale only served as an advisor) I
think they did agood job. They certainly did better than Backto the
Future: The Animated Series. There are funny moments, emotional moments
and a few clever twists. However, since thestory is divided into
episodes, I think it’s best to review it episodically.
(Warning: Mild spoilers.)
Episode
1: “It’s about Time” – Having been gone afew years, and his stuff is
being sold to sell his outstanding debts. However,Marty gets a message
from the past because Doc has been framed and arrested fora crime in
1931. The only person who can save him is Doc’s younger self. Thisis a
really good start. The writers really captured the pain Marty feels
about Doc’s absence. Once Marty travels to 1931, the game really
immerses itself in the time period. Like I said before, the puzzles are
pretty easy, but considering it’s the first part, that’s to be expected.
One positive is that the plot really lends itself to the puzzle format
as Marty has to figure out what time Doc ended up in. And as the story
progresses, there are some clever puzzles. Overall, Part 1 starts the
game on the right foot.
Episode 2: “Get Tannen” – Because of their
interference in the timeline, Doc and Marty accidentally set up a chain
of events where Kid Tannen – Biff’s father - is going to murder
Marty’sgrandfather, Artie. And I think we all know what that means. Not
to mention, without Marty’s grandfather, Artie, to testify against Kid
Tannen, the Tannens have become a powerful mafia. So Doc and Marty cook
up a plan to get Kid Tannen behind bars.The 1930’s atmosphere is just as
fun as it was in the last episode, and I think this part has some of
the more interesting puzzles. Without giving anything away, I really
liked how you convince Tannen’s girl to turn against him.Overall, this
was my favorite episode.
Episode 3: “Citizen Brown” And we follow
my favoritepart of the game with my least favorite. In the past, young
Doc struck up arelationship with Edna Strickland, and – stop me if
you’ve heard this next part before - this somehow caused Hill Valley to
become a dystopian city (despite the rest of the US being okay). In this
version of Hill Valley loud music is banned, dogs are banned, alcohol
is banned, and PDA is banned (okay, that last one is no big loss, but I
digress). I disliked this part because that’s such a cliché – the
dystopian world where“cool” stuff is banned. Before anyone rags on me
for knocking this when I like BTTF Part II so much, I want to point two
things out: 1.) That wasn’t a dystopian world. 2.) I just found it a
little more plausiblethat Biff Tannen could use knowledge of the future
to make himself rich andpowerful than Doc marrying someone very
conservative creates a dystopian world. Maybe if it were a spoof, I
would have accepted it, but it's played pretty straight. (Then again,
this kind of dystopia is a spoof of 1984.)
As some of you may know (at least you will now), Back to the Future is my favorite movie.
I’ve probably watched it more times than any other movie, and it’s up there
with Ghostbusters, Batman, and The Big Lebowski for movies I’ve quoted the most. So I’m sure you
can imagine my excitement when I heard there was a Back to the Future game… a better Back to the Future game. No, I don’t have the tortured memories
that a lot of people have about those horrendous NES games. However, much like Batman Forever, I rented both games as a
kid, and I distinctly remember getting stuck on both of them. (And although I
was able to find it, no I haven’t played the Japanese Famicom game.)
It was sort of like history repeating itself in a
good way. It was only a few years ago, Atari released its excellent Ghostbusters game (and before you ask,
no I did not play that lousy NES game, but I did have Ghostbusters 2, and I’ve recently played the decent Genesis game).
That game was awesome, and now my other favorite movie was getting a decent
game. Unfortunately, it was a genre I’m not normally wild about. Assuming you
didn’t know, this was a point-and-click puzzle game, and I haven’t played one
of those since The Neverhood on PC (a
game I got into because I was a fan of Skullmonekys
as a kid). How long ago was that? Let’s put it this way – DVD’s were the
new strange technology at the time.
However, I had my birthday recently, and I figured
since the game was in a reasonable price range (only $20 new) and because I
heard so many positive reviews, it was fair to ask for it for my b-day. And… I
liked it. But what worked, and what did not? Good question, but to be honest,
there a lot of things that go into a game like this, so let’s talk about them separately.
Note : This review previously posted to Blistered Thumbs.
A person's opinion of Skyward Sword likely depends on their expectations. If you're looking for the next game in the Zelda series, you'll find it handily captures the spirit of its predecessors, while at the same time making several solid improvements to the formula.
If, like me, however, you were looking for a good, well-made game, you will be disappointed.
Pros :
- Interesting Developments in Story and Gameplay. - Beautiful Art Style - Epic Boss Battles
- And now Groose has a catapult. When did this become a thing?
Story :
Skyward Sword opens up on the floating island of Skyloft, where the people live content in the knowledge that nothing exists below the clouds . The young Link has just graduated into an order of knights, each with their own giant bird, or Loftwing, and must descend into the wild and untamed “surface” world in order to rescue his childhood friend Zelda, who was swept away by a mysterious force. Along the way he must hone his skills and become a true hero, lest the world fall at the hands of an ancient evil.
That provides an interesting hook to start the game off. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long to realize that this story is executed in the most generic and least-interesting way possible. I'd shun to call it bad, because it's not. While there were a few things that had my crying fowl (“Why am I going back to this temple again”), the game had its moments. Some scenes, in particular at the Temple of Time, were well-directed and interesting. Unfortunately, they were few and far between, and completely incapable of carrying the game on its own.
After the first 2 hours, which are actually fairly interesting and generally well-constructed story segments, Zelda, whom you are pursuing, is essentially removed from the story for around 6-8 hours. She appears in-game for less than 2 minutes during this time, and this segment climaxes with her giving you an item. Copy and paste that 2 more times, and you have this game's story in a nutshell.
It doesn't completely fall flat as a narrative, but there is nothing compelling about it. The villain Ghirahim is something straight out of a saturday-morning cartoon, and just as threatening; despite going on and on about all the things he's going to do to Link, he never follows up on any of these threats, and his hordes of evil minions are little more than cannon fodder.. Similarly, there were hintings at the beginning that there might have been some more complex feelings between Link and Zelda, an idea barely even teased later on. So the villain isn't threatening enough for his defeat to be urgent, and Zelda is neither compelling enough, on her own, or in relation to Link, for her safety to be important.
Presentation :
If there is one place where Skyward Sword takes a strong stab at excellence, it is here. Graphics, while not visually impressive, are rendered in such a way as to give them a unique style. Favoring bright, vibrant colors in the enemies and duller, less distinct backgrounds, characters and enemies really pop-out, drawing your eyes away from the rough, jagged textures and static models that the Wii can't quite make look good.
An interesting way these ideas are combined is in the desert segments, which feature time-manipulating crystals, literally turning desert to ocean in a splash of color. It's a striking transition, and while not the most visually impressive thing I've seen on the Wii, I have no complaint with how it was implemented.
There is something to complain about, however, and that is the animations. Characters jerk and flail like they're on strings, and enemies adopt static, unnatural poses in combat. Of particular note is the animation of Link opening a chest, which, I'm completely serious, I believed looked more natural on the N64 games.
In terms of sound design, I must say that many of the item sounds were pretty well done. The whip and the claw-shot in particular were suitably visceral and sharp, and the sword-fighting sound as well. Other items, however, were less so. Things like the slingshot, and especially the beetle, sounded a lot akin to toys, rather than tools. Dialogue grunts (that's what I call them, at least, since that's what it sounds like), were okay for some characters (Link, Zelda, Impa, and maybe Ghirahim), but the majority of side-characters were downright grating, especially the shop owners.
Musically, Skyward Sword suffers. I can't call it bad, because aside from the Eldin Volcano music (which will get drilled into your head long before you get up that damn slope) none of the tracks actually served to damage the experience. But it's so painfully generic that I couldn't possibly appreciate it. If you listened to this music, without knowing which track it was, or even what game it was, you'd say “Oh, that's a forest theme,” or “Oh, that's a desert theme.” Some might call that a good fit, but the music ends up being so toneless that you could swap it into or out of almost any other game and not lose anything. Admittedly, the “Sky” theme and the “Ballad of the Goddess” were frankly fantastic, but that's all I can say stood out.
Gameplay :
Between the big three of Story, Presentation, and Gameplay, the one best described as a “mixed bag” was the latter. Before I dig into that, though, I should get this out of the way.
In the case of this game, it is virtually impossible to discuss this game without discussing the motion controls, which are used for everything from swinging your sword to selecting dialogue. Which is a shame, because I honestly could care less. Some out-of-place anecdotes aside, I really didn't have a problem with the motion controls, taken as a whole. Having to re-calibrate was a pain, but I also recognize that to be a result of my stubborn refusal to use the controller properly (i.e. to point directly at the screen whenever I wanted to use an item). Some of the motions I needed to make were tiring or awkward (Ascending the Loftwing, for instance), while others were actually an added convenience (Thank you, Radial Menu! You're completely unnecessary, but I love you anyway!).
For the record, yes, I thought that the game didn't always read my movements correctly. And no, I don't think it was that big a deal. Lots of people, myself included, scream at perfectly good controllers when they don't do what we wanted (“I pressed the F@#$ing button you @#$!@%”!!!), and while on a critical level, the fact that this wasn't just in my head is appalling, it didn't cause me to rage at the game more than I would any other.
All that, in the end, rather pointless, because the game managed to cause me to rage for completely unrelated reasons.
From the start, the enemy of this game is its pacing. The game has three distinct “levels”, each consisting of 4 or 5 open areas and two dungeons. The thing is that there isn't much difference between the open areas and the closed-in dungeons. The former has you running around, attacking enemies and overcoming obstacles in order to gain access to the dungeon, and the latter has you running around attacking enemies and overcoming obstacles, very much like the ones outside, in order to reach the boss. Sometimes the designers bring comic-relief characters into the dungeon, incidentally destroying any measure of tension present up to that point. You'll be trudging along at the same pace through each area, and the dungeons, which seem to be built up as some sort of climax, are just the place where you fight a boss.
This leads to a separate, but equally irritating problem, which is that this game's difficulty curve is utterly flat. Enemies simply aren't aggressive enough to deal the kind of damage needed to kill you, and the AI is too easily exploited to be much of a threat. Before I left the first dungeon, I'd already found an exploit that let me kill the most common enemy in the game without ever coming into range of it. I still had to fight a few enemies the old-fashioned way, but at one point, I started running into enemies that took, and I'm not joking, 25 hits to kill. Who thought that was a good idea, honestly? Also, suddenly doubling the health of all enemies on the map, then immediately giving me an upgrade that doubles my damage, doesn't actually have an effect on difficulty. Throughout the entire game, I can only recall dying twice : The first, because I was too lazy to backtrack to recover my health, and the second when I tried defeating a boss with the wrong kind of projectile.
Speaking of upgrades...I actually don't have much to say about the upgrade system. It's pointless and more trouble than it's worth to gather the necessary components from fallen enemies, but I still upgraded my bow fully so I could snipe enemies across the map in a single hit. Which, incidentally, took what was left of the difficulty and snapped it over its knee. Still, it was fun, but what wasn't was having to watch the same exact 10-second animation every time I came across a new component for upgrading. And who was it that decided to put things like rupees and common components in the same chests, and with the same chest-opening animations, as quest-critical items? I enter a room, see a huge chest, expect a new item or at least a map, and find a piece of ore. Yay...
I will say this, the game does take an interesting approach with some elements. The stamina bar, while not entirely necessary, was used in some interesting ways in certain puzzles. Similarly, dowsing helped keep me on track in the large open areas, and the ability to place way-points was surprisingly well-implemented, especially when you have to navigate over a series of invisible paths. There were some interesting and even challenging puzzles in this game, including a clever (but WAY overused) mechanic where shooting a crystal would change the environment you were in.
Bosses were actually a quite strong showing. One boss fight that I thought was very creative was one featuring combat on your Loftwing in order to cleanse a flying whale-like beast of a tentacled parasite. And if that sounds familiar to you, you're not the only one. Still, it was great, and made good use of the motion controls, as many of the other fights did. The game's willingness to overuse them, however, was a bit of a pain. More than a third of the boss fights in this game are repeats from earlier in the game.
Still, despite my complaints, this was still a pretty fun gameplay experience. The swordplay was satisfying, the items were pretty fun to use, and there was a fair amount to do in the world.
Or it would have been, if it wasn't so repetitive.
Let's consider one part of the game. I go to a temple to learn a song, resulting in a 3 minute cutscene, followed by a 3-minute trip to the surface, where I watch another 2-minute cutscene before I can continue with the story. After that, I do some story bits, complete a dungeon, and then watch another 2-minute cutscene, before flying, once more, back to the temple so I can learn another song. Counting cutscenes and travel time only, that comes out to around 13 minutes per trip, provided you speed through all the dialogue. And you have to do this, go to the same place, watch the exact same cutscene, go to a different place, watch the exact same cutscenes, and then go back again, a grand total of Three Times. Which means, on this segment alone, you waste almost a half-hour.
The game is full of such contrivances, and they will take up a deceptive amount of playtime. There are so many filler segments between bits of gameplay, and there is so much filler gameplay between bits of story, that this game comes across as seriously padded.
There were some glimpses of true inspiration here, as I saw in the art design, and the few interesting ideas scattered throughout. But the fundamentals of gameplay and story are so cripplingly neglected that it ends up a semi-competent and thoroughly mediocre mess. I can't recommend this to anyone.
Today on Gaming with Killatia we take a look at hit rpg for the Gamecube Tales of Symphonia. Now Granted its not often that we talk about role playing games on this review show but I enjoyed Symphonia so much that I wanted to play it once to see if I still enjoy it. The answer? Watch to find out
Even considering that this is a Wiiware game, it should not be inferior in almost every way to its predecessor. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that a game released in 2012 be better in some way to the game it's based off which was released about 17 years ago.
17 years! And not only did you not improve anything, you made it WORSE! Everything--controls, gameplay, graphics (debatable), story, design, the list goes on--is a step down. No wonder this shit only costs 500 Wii Points; it's a goddamn trap!
I am fully aware of how this sounds so far.
I'm not just pissed, I'm fanboy pissed.
I played the original Stonekeep when I was a kid, a game that came in a big tombstone-shaped box and had what were, at the time, pretty solid FMVs (albeit with really obvious green screens), but the dungeon-crawling, atmosphere, and allies fought with along the way progressed the story and game well enough to become a game that's memorable to a decent amount of people nearly two decades after its release.
I would know. I saw one of their rage-filled, 1-out-of-10 reviews as I was looking up images for this blog post.
Then this game came along from the same publisher (Interplay) as well as Alpine Studios, who proudly boast on their website that they're working on new PS2 and GameCube titles and list their newest release as a Windows 98-compatible Bible trivia game, and licensed by Bear Naked Productions Games, the same people who brought you Dance Sensation for the Wii.
This is it. The lowest of low standards. Trying to visit the sites for Alpine or BNP brings up webpages I swear I made on Geocities in the late-90s.
I really liked wolves. And using every color possible.
But wait, we haven't gotten to the game yet! For those who need a refresher, this is the intro to the original Stonekeep:
Oh, that robed figure that saved the protagonist?
Never explained who that is.
Compare that to the WiiWare game's ungodly epic... uh... wall of text. This is word-for-word what it said:
You have entered Stonekeep, the home of your ancestors. You are now in the dungeons.
An evil force has entered the keep and driven out most of the former residents.
Only a true descendent of the clans can solve the mystery of Stonekeep and give the restless souls of the dead peace at last.
To survive your journey you must pick an ally to guide your path.
Choose a door to pick your ally and begin your quest.
Everybody got that? Now here's what's wrong with this.
#1. What dungeon? The only thing close to a dungeon in Stonekeep from the first game was the sewer. Unless you're talking about the various places BELOW Stonekeep, which, you know, aren't Stonekeep.
#2. How did we get to the dungeon? Did we just waltz through the other parts of Stonekeep before this point?
#3. What evil force? Is it the Shadow King from the first game Khull Khuum? (Spoiler: ha, no)
#4. "Driven out most of the former residents?" That sounds about as threatening as a cranky 70-year old landlord. This evil force can't get rid of and/or kill everyone/anyone?
#5. What clans?
#6. Souls of the dead? I thought the resident were "driven out." This becomes even more unclear later on.
#7. Pick an ally? Why just one? In the original Stonekeep up to three other people could tag along. This becomes even more appalling later on.
#8. This plot is go generic and nondescript that I can summarize it in two sentences without leaving out any major details: Evil is attacking your home. Find a random person to help you do something about it.
So now it's time to actually play the game and, instead of taking the role of a particular character like Drake in the original, Bones of the Ancestors offers two generic-looking character models with their only significant differences being name and gender. One is named Marcus, the other is named Sheena. Which one do you think I picked?
What were you expecting, a Gears of War reference?
Now the journey begins with standing in a room with three doors, each leading to a different ally. Before I could even do this, though, I was instantly baffled by the design of the game itself. For one, the interface is horrible. The bottom quarter of the screen is blocked by a massive gray slab with a huge compass wedged in the middle, which is useless thanks to the map function. On either side are a red and blue canteen-like thing which are supposed to display health and mana. Had I not accidentally looked down by tilting the Wiimote and nunchuk forward (...) I wouldn't have known my character had a sword in her hand.
Even worse were the controls. It's strange to say this about a game released so many years after the Wii launched, but this is easily the worst-controlling Wii game I've ever played (yes, worse than Escape from Bug Island), largely because it's awful on both possible fronts. Not only is the responsiveness of the controls sluggish or at times nonexistent, but the control scheme itself is like something thought up by a seven-year old. Or a bunch of forty-year old men who are trying way too hard to seem edgy.
Want examples? Oh don't worry, there are plenty of bullets left in this magazine.
Hold on, this is way too good for this game.
That's better.
The simple act of moving is a chore, with every turn feeling less like a person walking down a hallway and more like driving an 18-wheeler through a slalom course. Oh, quick turns aren't like that, though. Quick turns are in fact so quick that there is no animation for them; your character goes from facing one direction to another in a single frame.
But let's say you want to attack something. Good for you! You might try doing the obvious thing and swing the Wiimote to absolutely no effect, as well as hitting every button to no avail (except for discovering jumping and the map). What you have to do is hold A, swing the Wiimote up, then release A while bringing it down, or doing the same thing from side to side. This causes an attack that's delayed by almost half-a-second and, sometimes, will glitch on the upswing and not complete its animation, resulting in no attack at all and likely getting you hit by whatever is attacking you.
Spells are even worse. Each spell involves some combination of holding a D-pad button, aiming it up, down, or at the screen, and performing some kind of motion. Some require aiming at the screen and doing a "rainbow" motion. Others require aiming at the floor and making a clockwise circle. Throwing objects require holding B and either slinging the Wiimote, making a lasso, or doing some other movements which register about 60% of the time.
And I'm rambling now so here's a picture to break up the monotony.
Guess why I chose this one?
But what about choosing an ally you say? Well, you open one of three doors, walk up to them, and teleport to somewhere else entirely, which still looks like the same old generic dark dungeon. The thing is, you're actually choosing an ally the moment you open a door, so if you can't see the small, crudely-drawn picture on the door showing which ally it is, you're stuck with whichever door you accidentally open first.
Then the game becomes outright insulting to my intelligence:
I know where the A button is, thanks.
After that the ally says you have to strike him/her five times before he/she can strike you once. After getting hit about eight times I hit five non-consecutive slashes and completed the objective. Wow, we've got a winner here folks!
I got what is supposed to be a Sharga as an ally. I say "supposed to be" because it looks like someone took the Shargas from the original game, dressed them up like medieval Christmas elves, and made sure they were constantly stoned out of their minds.
Feels good man.
After apparently teleporting to a new dungeon (a new dungeon that looks remarkably like the last dungeon) my ally was missing. That's because allies in this game, instead of following you, simply appear in certain areas and never leave them. Usually you'll have an ally, they'll follow you around a room and halfway down a hall, then disappear for awhile. After entering another room they'll either walk out from around a corner up ahead or simply appear in front of you. Make no mistake, these allies can die, but the enemies are typically so incompetent or so weak that the ally will mostly be killed by your accidentally hitting him/her/it.
Speaking of, the enemies in SK:BotA (I am not typing out all of that again) are shockingly stupid. Most of them are skeletons that either have swords, swords and shields, or rocks/spears to throw. The ones with melee weapons slowly walk up to you and attack at the rate of roughly one sword or axe swing every three seconds, leaving lots of time to attack even with the botchy control scheme. If one enemy of a group is attacking you, the other one will either attempt to use magic, throw things or, if it's another melee monster, wander around wondering what it's supposed to do. Hell, even the allies will do the latter at times.
This bad AI can lead to the enemies killing each other without your having to attack, especially in the case of magic users. If they have a projectile magic attack, just stand so another enemy is in the way and not only will they happily block the spell with their bodies, but the casters will happily cast the spell over and over until their friend dies.
Just trying to stay thematically appropriate.
But not to worry, because if you do take damage there are healing potions and mana potions aplenty all over the map. You can only carry about ten of each, and the game helpfully reminds you of this every damn time you step over one of them when your inventory is full. It does the same thing for when you pass by a door you don't have a key for yet, so the game will almost constantly be treating you like this is not only the first game you have ever played, but that it's the first game you have ever played every second you spend playing it.
Oh, and by "inventory" I don't mean "collection of items you can use," I mean "items you have which the game uses and you have no control over." Health and mana potions are used automatically when the bar/lantern/jug/thing runs out, and keys are used automatically when near the right door. The player doesn't even have control over things like equipment, as the hammer and sword are used according to different Wiimote motions and magically change in the player's hand when switching.
As if my intelligence hasn't already been insulted enough, I got one key which unlocked a door leading to a room with nothing but a treasure chest in it. In the treasure chest was another key. Did I get a Wiiware title or a bullshit point-and-click Flash game?
Even the act of saving the game is horrendous. Save points are little circles on the floor that look like teleporters from a Looney Tunes cartoon. You step on them, the game saves. It's simple, but that's the problem. It's actually too simple. There are no multiple save slots, so you're running only one game at a time. And if you accidentally hit a save point when you didn't want to, which is incredibly easy to do as they're sometimes in the middle of a narrow hallway, well...
What he said.
Maybe I should clarify a bit: things do technically change in this game. The levels do technically look different and the enemies aren't technically all the same... technically. However, they're all so dull, monotonous, and ultimately similar to each other that their appearance is virtually the only difference between all of them. The second level has brick walls and the same pictures of ponies (what?) showing up, but that's just about the only thing separating it from the first level. The dwarves look like dwarves and sometimes have different weapons, but they still attack in similar patterns to all the skeletons from earlier. BotA is simply blandness piled on top of blandness.
But that's not what ultimately drove me over the edge. No. Take a look at this quote from Interplay's website about this game from some time ago:
"The new Stonekeep is expected for initial release during the third quarter of 2010 and is planned for electronic distribution through Nintendo's WiiWare™ service"
-Interplay.com news release
This game was delayed for over a year.
Over a year!
OVER!
A!
YEAR!
And not one person in that time said, "Guys? How about
we fix the, um... everything?"
What in the hell did we--"we" meaning Wii users, Stonekeep fans, Interplay fans, dungeon crawler fans, humanity in general--do to deserve this? This is the kind of game I wouldn't wish upon those guys in high school that tried (and failed) to stuff me in a garbage can.
And I'm aware that because it's 500 Wii points I could technically do a Five Dollar Gaming on it, but fuck that. This is the kind of game that needs to be quarantined.
WOW, I didn't even think I could drop the ball this badly. How did I miss not one, not two, BUT THREE WEEKS IN A ROW? This is especially bad considering that this would be my last update. Anyways, to wrap up my catching up, here are the last episode, up until the one uploaded this past Saturday. Starting this weekend, I'll be uploading the episodes on this blog as they come out, with both text and audio format on this site. Hope you'll follow along!
These episodes would have played from August 27th 2011 to... Well today I guess.
Remember, constructive criticism over insults (and I do always like hearing different opinions on video games).
Level Up 85 - Spider-man: Shattered Dimensions (Note: Final review in Spider-month)
Once again, hello members of TGWTG, hope I'm getting some of you into following my podcast. For those of you who have just stumbled upon this and haven't read/seen/listened to my previous blog, this is my podcast called Level Up: a weekly random video game review. I've been doing them for a while, and decided to start posting them here 7 at a time (you can listen to one each day until I post again next Wednesday!). We're now approaching the recent episodes... or at least ones from this year. These episodes would have played from December 18th 2010 to March 12th 2011.
Remember, constructive criticism over insults (and I do always like hearing different opinions on video games).
Level Up 57 - Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Genesis) (Note: My first negative review!
Once again, hello members of TGWTG, hope I'm getting some of you into following my podcast. For those of you who have just stumbled upon this and haven't read/seen/listened to my previous blog, this is my podcast called Level Up: a weekly random video game review. I've been doing them for a while, and decided to start posting them here 7 at a time (you can listen to one each day until I post again next wednesday!). These episodes would have played from August 22nd 2010 to October 10th 2010.
In this period of time, I passed my one year mark of making these podcast. At that point, I made some changes that have stuck (just things like a new intro, longer time frame, etc...). This is basically how I still do my show, but things do of course change slightly.
Remember, constructive criticism over insults (and I do always like hearing different opinions on video games).
Level Up 43 -The Adventures of Batman and Robin (This continued Bat-month: the first of my August theme months)
Hey there members of TGWTG, I missed last week. Didn't notice? Thought I was going to forget this week? Don't know who I am? Well all that matters is I'm posting now and you're reading. If you haven't seen them already, check out the other episodes in my blog archives. Originally these shows were produced betwee July 4th 2010 and August 15th 2010.
Remember, constructive criticism over insults (and I do always like hearing different opinions on video games).
Level Up 36 -The Death and Return of Superman (Note: Canada Day special!)
Level Up 37 - The Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass
Practically anyone you meet will always mention Nintendo as a great influence in home gaming. When I was a kid, just buying the NES felt like a life changer. Being the first to play Super Mario Brothers gave me no doubt that this system was going to change things. Then came Super NES which made me drool. But then they topped themselves again with Nintendo 64. It really gave new aspects of gameplay. Nintendo then change once again with GameCube. It finally entered the gamedisk era. But then Nintendo totally redid how one played video games when it released its Wii system. So what is going on today?A recent article posted the lackluster sale of its Wii system and also the recently released 3DS and it's not a good sign for them. Though Nintendo is hopeful it will come back with its Wii U, it may be DOA. Why? Well for one there are rumors going around about xbox is going to release its next gen system next year and PS4 might be coming soon after. The price of Wii U is still not yet known but either a huge price will drive people away or they will save it for the next xbox/ps4 system. Either way I think Nintendo needs to redo again how one plays video games. Remember when the iPhone and iPod Touch first came out? They became a video game platform. Many people were able to buy that game app when it became available. It was more affordable and it generated money to those who made it. For me, Nintendo can really take advantage of that. Can you imagine Mario game app?. I think Nintendo said its passed on it but game companies have made themselves know in the game app world. We will see though what move Nintendo makes. Will they be happy if in fact Wii U succeeds or will they have to change their business outlook if it fails?
Hey there members of TGWTG who happened to stumble across this blog, this is my series of video game review podcasts. If you haven't read my previous blogs, then I suggest you check them out for the other 14 episodes. Here's the next 7 (listen to one a day until next week, or all at once if you like, just giving you that option).
At this point in the reviews I knew more what I wanted my show to be like, but wasn't quite in the groove of making it each week, so they're pretty hit or miss as far as I'm concerned. Quite frankly, a lot of this selection is pretty good, especially since a few coincide with specific events, so I can tell I was improving. Originally these shows were produced between May 15th 2010 and June 27th 2010.
Remember, constructive criticism over insults (and I do always like hearing different opinions on video games).
Hey there members of TGWTG who happened to stumble across this blog, this is my series of video game review podcasts. If you haven't read my previous blogs, then I suggest you check them out for the other 14 episodes. Here's the next 7 (listen to one a day until next week, or all at once if you like, just giving you that option).
At this point in the reviews I knew more what I wanted my show to be like, but wasn't quite in the groove of making it each week, so they're pretty hit or miss as far as I'm concerned. Originally these shows were produced between March 27th 2010 and May 8th 2010.
Remember, constructive criticism over insults (and I do always like hearing different opinions on video games).
I have a Xbox 360. I'm very happy with it, and I will never regret that I sold my Wii and bought it. But for some days ago, I started to read rumors about the Wii 2. "It'll be for hardcore gamers!" and "They will drop the Wii name!" was things that i read on the internet. I really started to have hope for Nintendo. Then came the days that I had waited for; E3 2011! i was so hyped. Then came Wii U. I got so disappointed. It looks like a Wii. The controller looks like a Wii fit board with a screen(that plays draughts!!!!1), and has HD graphics(-_-). I didn't really lost all hope. I lost all hope when Reggie answered the question "What are the system specification?" with "The system specification isn't important, its just a box". I'll keep my xbox for a while. A big controller with a screen ain't worth buying a new system for.
Thanks to IMaximusDMI for making the highlight video:
Microsoft has pretty much changed their strategy for the Xbox 360 and it’s not necessarily for the better.Rather
than try and give a balance towards their devoted fanbase as well as
the new audience with the Kinect, they’ve pretty much focused most of
their resources on the Kinect.While it may be
understandable from a financial standpoint as the Kinect is a very
expensive piece of hardware, from a videogame sale and creativity
standpoint the Kinect is a really bad direction to put it all in.
Yeah, yeah... another guy with his own opinion on Nintendo's E3 2011 conference. Oh, and an in-depth analysis of the new trailer for Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is coming soon, but will it really be all it says it will be? Tough call, considering Nintendo hasn't told us anything about it.
This was originally supposed to be Yojimbo with No More Heores, but the trailer was too slow to really be funny. Luckily, Beat Takashi came and saved the day!
Due to technical issues, last weeks video has only just been upload, but along with it is this weeks so things don't fall behind! So, Big Cal finally brings the final 2 parts of his 3 part wrestling video games special, along with his top 5 wrestling games ever at the end!
I get all philosophical and analyse Shoshana Felman's reading of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan for clues about how meaning is created when we read a work, and how that relates to the ultimate lesson of Metroid Prime.
In which I descend once again to the surface of Tallon IV to look back on why Metroid Prime was such a landmark title, both to the medium and to me personally
A couple years ago I did something incredible in Tetris Party (Wii) First I break the clock. Second I get over 13,000 lines in one game. Here are the videos that document this feat. :)
High definition-branded graphics and sounds. The massive proliferation of online multiplayer games. Motion-based controls. This console generation is like no other before it. This is the generation of developer's discontent. This is what makes them uncomfortable. This is where they must change their modus operandi, and not for directly because of any of the above. For the majority of the history of the video game, console makers touted how many objects, colors, and layers their console could put on screen at once, and the console that could do more was the superior option, so they told us. For the most part, this was probably true. But now with this current seventh console generation, technological capabilities are irrelevant. And developers have no idea what to do with themselves.
Think back to 2006, when the Wii was first released, and we were all getting our first taste of motion controlled gaming. While you were playing those games, were you thinking, “This is so great, I bet Sony and Microsoft will release their own motion controllable games within five years!” as you haplessly swung your Wiimote attempting to hit a digital golf ball only to see your armless, legless grinning-like-he's-catatonic avatar flailing between half it's backswing and lining up the shot as if it was taught golf by Charles Barkley?
on Thursday, 05 April 2012
in Video Games
