Game Reviews

[cin]

Super Smash Bros.: Brawl



Formats:
Wii
Genre:
Action
Origin:
Japan
Publisher:
Nintendo
Price:
$49.99
Release:
Players:
4

There have been other Super Smash Bros games and they have been very successful such as Super Smash Bros: Melee.

Rating


This game is a wonderful game and is proven if you play it. It has great graphics and phenomenal reviews. The characters are taken from other successful games. The characters take are very famous and popular. Nintendo, the publisher of SSBB is a big and popular company. This game is one of the best games it has ever made.

Storyline
The storyline starts off with Mario and Kirby fighting in a stadium. As they battle, a purple cloud appears where the Ancient Minister and his Subspace Army appear and detonate a Subspace Bomb, which transports part of the world into Subspace. While the Ancient Minister's army goes across the Smash Bros. world, some heroic characters team up to destroy the Ancient Minister and his army. Later, it is revealed that the Ancient Minister is a subordinate to Ganondorf who is under order of Master Hand. Sonic the Hedgehog appears in the story to help later.

[cin]

BioShock
BioShock



-Formats
PC, Xbox 360
-Genre
Action/FPS
-Origin
US
-Publisher
2K Games
-Developer
2K Boston/2K Australia
-Price
$56.99 for Xbox 360, $29.99 for PC (Amazon.com: Online Shopping for Electronics, Apparel, Computers, Books, DVDs & more)
-Release
August 2007
-Players
1

Rating


This is a review for the PC version
Must buy for someone that wants to try a new, original game.
The story takes place in 1960, where the player(Jack) survives a plane crash and stumbles upon a lighthouse in the open ocean. The player enters and finds a bathysphere(a deep sea vessel) which takes him down to the underwater city of Rapture. As jack reaches the city, he sees a man get killed by a gruesome figure. Jack picks up the radio and a person named Atlas tells Jack that he wants to do everything to keep him alive. With no other choices, Jack follows Atlas' commands to stay alive and find out what is going on in Rapture at the same time.

The atmosphere in the game is just amazing, giving you a creepy, erie feel while traveling through the city. The graphics are top-notch too, giving you a better feel of the environment. But to play on high, you need a pretty good graphics card.

The sound is absolutely amazing too. While there aren't many real face to face conversations in the game, there are plenty of voice diaries that gives information on what happened to Rapture before you arrived. The voice casting is phenomenal too. The music is amazing too, great musical score. The music where you enter Rapture really makes Rapture feel like a underwater city filled with mystery

The AI in the game is pretty good, they chase you until you are killed, hides when reloading. But they fall for your traps too easily. Some of the splicers would just charge at you though there is a mine on the ground.

Gameplay in this game is exceptional. The storyline is frikin amazing. IMO i think this is one of the most original storyline in a game. The game isnt just a plain fps game. There are many items and stuff u can pick up in the game. With many weapons and powers to choose from, there is no one way to kill an enemy. You could shock an enemy, then bash him with your wrench, or lit up an enemy and watch him burn. The possibilities are endless. The customization is also great, you can choose your powerups and decide what weapons you want to power up. There are also vending machines and other things which you encounter in the game, which you can buy health packs, ammo, and special things. The game is a bit on the easy side though, with Vita - Chambers that auto revive you when you die, but you can those off though. The game does have a lot of technical difficulties on the PC also.

- Pros
Storyline, Sound, the atmosphere, the variety in gameplay

- Cons
some techincal stuff on the PC, and the vita chambers make the game a little bit too easy

Overall, this is an awesome game. 5/5

[cin]

Assassin's Creed | Official Site | Ubisoft

YouTube - Assassin's Creed
^--- Short Trailer

- Formats
PC
xbox360
Playstation 3

- Publisher
Ubisoft

- Developer
Ubisoft Montreal

- Genre
Action-adventure, stealth

- Price
$49.95 (For PC)

- Release
April 9th (For PC)

- Players
1

- Rating
8/10

This is a review for the PC version

"Assassin's Creed is a third-person stealth game in which the player assumes the role of Desmond Miles, an average bartender who is the last descendant of a long family line of assassins. Desmond has been taken to a facility where he is forced to use the Animus, a machine that traces and recreates the memories of his ancestors during the Third Crusade." You mainly play as Altair, an assassin in the year 1191. The game takes place primarily in the Holy Land. It consists of four main cities: Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus and Masyaf.

It isn't only a "Here's your target, go kill him now" game, as you first need to gather information on your targets by interrogating people who work for them, or pick pocketing notes etc about their where abouts, what they're up to and when a good time to strike would be. It's a stealth oriented game, however if you chose to do so you can do it the harder way (and more fun in my opinion) and slash/kill anything that carries a weapon (Dare I say it's Metal Gear esque?). You get some different weapon choices such as a sword, throwing knives, short blade and my personal favorite the hidden blade for those sneak attack kills.. to name a few. The counter attacks for the sword and short blade are a nice touch. The graphics in this game are quite stunning and do require a high(er) end rig to be able to run the game properly, but well worth it. The go anywhere environment is definitely a very nice feature in this game, as it can really vary how you play the game each time.

One of the bad things about this game is the enemies AI. When you can walk up to two guards within five feet of each other, kill one, stand there and have the other guard not notice it was you there's something strange going on. Sword fights even when there's 6 guards versus you it's still basically a 1v1 fight as they'll only attack you one at a time, which makes walking into a area with multiple guards and attacking them not a bad thing to do. As fun as killing random guards and Templars is, it does get quite repetitive after awhile.

[cin]

Mario Kart Wii


Details

Formats
#Nintendo Wii
Genre:
# Racing
Origin
# Japan
Publisher
# Nintendo
Developer
# Nintendo
Price
# £29.99((Amazon.co.uk: low prices in Electronics, Books, Music, DVDs & more)
Release
#2008
Players
#1-4 (12 online)



Now while some may find any racing game boring, i challenge anyone to not play this game with a huge grin on their face. Its fast, fun and full of so much craziness you just cant stop playing it.

Mario Kart Wii is probely the first Wii game with a proper online service, from the ability to challenge friends and strangers alike to 12 person race you can also complete in competitions, time trails and battles. All of which grant you a continental and worldwide score and rank so you can see just how good you really are. Also updated are the games graphics, new and improved from Mario Kart Double Dash (NGC) the game really shows off what the WIi can do, while not HD quality its still amazing to watch the crazy and strange stages as you drive through them.

Now this game as up to five different controllers scheme, yes you heard me five, these are the Wii Wheel, controller, controller and nunchuck, classic controller and a NGC controller...but how would i rate them...well:

Wii Wheel = Its fun and simple to use, takes a bit to get used to but makes the game that much more fun.

Controller = Same as the Wii Wheel, but harder to use as you cant really determine how to move it.

Controller + Nunchuck = simple and easy to use controller, nukchuck to streer and controller for tricks, speed and brake.

Classic controller = simple controller, button based.

NGC controller = The same controllers as from Mario Kart Double Dash on the NGC.

Now as for the game itself, well everything you expect from a Mario Kart game is here, 2-4 player multi player single and battle races, 1-2 player online mode and the Mario Kart Channel (allows you to easily manage your Mario Kart Wii stats), Now while this game does have a Grand Prix mode, it lets its self down by being only single player...meaning that you can no longer do 1-4 player GP races anymore, which takes away a bit of the fun from the game. Another added feature which was first seen in the DS Mario Kart is old stages from past Mario Kart games, in this game expect to see various courses from the SNES, DS, GBA, N64 and NGC versions of Mario Kart for you to play on, all with the same graphic style and music from the original with of course an update.
From Mario to Bowser all your old fav characters are back for more mayhem and madness with a few new faces such as Funky Kong (Donkey Kong Country series) and Rosalina (SMG), but this time the action just doesn't take place on four wheels, oh no. Mario Kart Wii comes with not only four wheeled rides but also two, yes thats right bikes and plenty of them, from stander dirt bikes to themed Bowser and Bullet Bill bikes are is a huge range of rides to chose from.

[cin]

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem



Format
Nintendo Gamecube
Genre
Psychological Horror game
Publisher
Silicon Knights
Origin
Canada
Developer
Nintendo
Released
2002
Players
1
Rating


For all those who have been wanting to play a game inspired by HP Lovecraft's writings or for anyone that wants to play a very original and unique horror based game then Eternal Darkness may be your type of game. The game starts out as Alexander Roivas's investigates the murder of her grandfather in a mansion located in Rhode Island. What she ends up discovering in a room hidden in the mansion is a book called the tome of eternal darkness. Through reading the book she discovers the journey of all those who have come in contact with the tome and by reading this she discovers a great plot that is going on that could very well end the universe as we know it.

In Eternal Darkness you play not only as the main character, Alexander Roivas, but also a wide cast of characters ranging from the time periods of the Roman Empire to the present. This changes up the game a bit as each character will have their own individual sets of stats and weapons. Another thing to note is, when it comes to the spells known as "Magick", you share these spells with all the characters you find since they are written in the tome of eternal darkness. What really makes this story great and captivating is how the fates of these characters intertwines and fits in to the schemes of the Gods and of the plot itself and most often you will find yourself going through hours of game play just to get through as much of the story as you can.

What really makes this game unique would be the added status bar to your characters. While you have the typical HP bar and the MP bar for spells, you have a green bar for sanity. This bar basically how much your character's grasp on the real world is and when it starts to deplete it affects the game play. Some examples of this would be as in the screen will start to tilt, your character will randomly explode or will randomly sink into the ground (they won't actually die) and the lower the sanity bar, the more bizarre the effects are. While having a low sanity bar can reduce how well you can get through the levels it's sometimes entertaining to keep it low just to see what happens.

This game does have its flaws however. For instance, although the combat system does highlight the part of the monster (body, arms, head, torso) you want to strike which is very useful it is not without its problems. The combat system is pretty basic, as in for some monsters you just hit them until they die while the more strategic ones require you to hit them in the head repeatedly. The combat is also troublesome when you're in narrow hallways because your weapon will, instead of hitting the monster, hit the wall leaving the monster unharmed. This can be tedious and troublesome in situations when you have multiple foes. Another flaw relating to the combat is that, once you get more powerful magick spells near the middle of the game, the difficulty curve of the game seems to take a real nose dive as you can not only use a spell that summons a shield around you damaging any monster that attacks but you can heal your own HP, Mana, and Sanity on whim with the spells. While there are still a few remaining challenges most of your encounters you can succeed at without breaking a sweat.

Also another flaw is, although you can choose another god at the beginning of the game and go through the game again with different enemies and a different order of spells, there isn't much replay value to the game past that. However, the game play and the story from the first time around is more than enough to justify having the game. Overall though this would probably have to be one of my favorite games available for the Gamecube and it is a game that you will want to play, even if it may be tricky tracking down a copy of the game.

[cin]

Just because I couldn't resist doing another review:

Sin and Punishment: Hoshi no Keishōsha



Format
Nintendo 64 (Japan), Wii Virtual Console
Genre
Rail Shooter
Publisher
Treasure Co. Ltd.
Developer
Nintendo
Origin
Japan
Price
$12.00 (Virtual Console)
Released
2000 (Japan) 2007 (Virtual Console)
Players
1-2
Rating


Sin and Punishment, which was originally a Japanese only game has been recently released on the Virtual Console. It's a Rail Shooter game meaning your character moves by itself and your basic controls are to move left or right, jump, slash, and shoot. The game uses the Classic Controller as well as the NGC controller and costs 1200 points (200 more points than the other N64 titles available on the Virtual Console)

The story of the game is that Japan is being slowly taken over by a group of mutated beasts called the "Ruffians" as well as a group called the "Armed Volunteers" who, instead of taking care of the Ruffians like they were intended to, decide to suppress the people in Japan. Out of all this a rebellion faction came about called the "Saviour Group" who are headed by a powerful woman named Achi. In the game you play as Saki Amamiya as well as Airan Jo who are both apart of the Saviour Group as they, along with Achi, fight against the Ruffians and the Armed Volunteers.

While the plot does progress fairly well with its shares of twists, the plot can be confusing and can be hard to understand what is going on. This is especially true because the game will immediately plunge you into a dream sequence where you're killing ruffians and when you wake up you're spit out into the real world to kill ruffians as well as armed volunteer soldiers with little back story explanation (although this stuff is explained in the N64 version's manual). When I first played it I had no idea what was going on until I got to the end of the naval boat level especially since the game delves into some real sci-fi concepts.

The weapon used in this game is a gun with a sword attachment on it. While the gun is pretty straight forward as you are pretty much pointing your cursor at the enemy and shooting, the sword has some unique aspects to it. The sword can be used when an enemy is at melee range by hitting the attack button when they're at range. More interestingly, the sword can also be used to send any projectile sent at your enemy back at them to do some good damage. Along with the controls, which are intuitive but can be a bit hard to pick up, makes the game really fun when it comes to shooting and defeating enemies.

The game is a pretty fast paced game as your character is constantly running through what feels like waves of enemies. Also the cut scenes that explains the plot doesn't slow down the game as well, especially since it only takes 1-2 hits of a button to instantly click off a cut scene if you're the type that's impatient. The difficulty curve is a fair one, as in while the game may be easy in the beginning (especially on easy difficulty) it progresses to more challenging boss sequences as well as more challenging sections without completely spiking up the difficulty curve or lowering it. Not to mention for the more hardcore gamer, there are harder difficulties to the game if you're the type who feels like replaying the game while having more of a real challenge.

While I'm not a big fan of ratings but one of the reason why I give this game a three out of five is the audience this game appeals to since it's pretty much a love it or hate it game. Some may find this a very interesting game and will have plenty of fun while others will find this game too weird for their taste and won't play it that much if at all. One way you could tell what group you fit in watch a few minutes of the game play. If you find yourself interested then get this game but if you keep going "what the hell is this?" in your head then you may not want to play this game. I can safely say if you found Star Fox 64 to be a fun game then this is a game you should check out, especially since it's only 12 dollars. Personally I loved playing the game the first time around and IMO that justifies the price of the game enough. If you're not sure what to do with your extra Wii points you might want to get this game as it's a real fun and fast paced game.

[cin]

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey



Details

• Formats
• PC
  Genre:
• Adventure
  Origin
• Norway
  Publisher
• Aspyr Media
  Developer
• Funcom
  Price
• $24.49 (Amazon.com)
  Release
• Out Now
  Players
• 1

Rating


Dreamfall is a 2006 game that tried to revive the almost dead Adventure genre. As the sequel to "The Longest Journey" one of the icon games of the genre, you will see many characters and locations from the previous game.
In Dreamfall, you play as Zoë Castillo, a girl who lives in Stark, a world much like our own where technology plays an important role in its inhabitants lives. There's another world though, a world where magic is the moving force and the only machines that can be found are powered by it. This world is called Arcadia.
At first you are just a common character in the world but thanks to Zoë's ex boyfriend Reza, a journalist that's working on a mysterious story, you get involved in a conspiracy by one of the most powerful companies of Stark. At the same time, April Ryan (the main character of the first game) is struggling in Arcadia to release the people from military occupation. However, the fate of Arcadia and Stark is menaced by something bigger than both of them and they will need to work together to keep the Balance between the worlds.
With a fascinating storyline and characters, Dreamfall does a nice job at keeping the Adventure genre alive, in fact, the goal in this game was to add some action gamplay features to attract a wider audience. Unfortunately, this wasn't done in the best way and sometimes the gameplay (specially fighting) is uncomfortable or weird, besides the overly simplistic puzzles.
As most adventure games, Dreamfall's strongest point is its story, be prepared to listen to long conversations between the many characters.
If you are a hardcore fan of the genre you might not like Dreamfall for its simplicity but if you are interested in what these kind of games have to offer, Dreamfall can help you to go from the simple to the more complex later on.

[cin]

FIFA 09


Details

Formats
#Nintendo Wii
Genre:
# Soccer Sim
Origin
# Canada
Publisher
# EA Sports
Developer
# EA Canada
Price
# £32.99((Amazon.co.uk: low prices in Electronics, Books, Music, DVDs & more)
Release
#2008
Players
#1-8 (+ online multiplayer)



More like the championship of gaming rather then the premier league.

Well here we are...another year and wow shock and horror yet another fifa game, (Fifa 2010, already in development one would guess). While very different to the PS3 and Xbox360 versions this game can still hold its own...barley

Now as for the game itself, well gone is the goal to goal view and back in is the length view, making Fifa 09 much more playable, with the added option of being able to use the gamecube or classic controller it makes the game more easily available to gamers who were turned off by the awful motion controls. So how does it play? were good, just you expect it would. Simple passing and shooting abilities make it one of the most enjoyable Fifa games in recent years, but this is were the joy ends. To say this game looks dated would be an understatement, while the stadiums and pitches all look good, the player models are no different then those of Fifa07 on the gamecube, in fact the Fifa07 game looks and plays much better then this version of game.

Now while all the game features you would expect are back such as full licensed teams and leagues and manager mode some new additions have been made. The first of these would be the new 8 vs 8 Footii Match Mini-Game:
Play 8 vs. 8 in a completely unique mode where you can play an arcade version of football with the focus on fun. Populate your team with your Mii characters captained by one of our FIFA 09 cover athletes created as customized characters. Make outrageous shots and steal the ball by simply waving your Wii Remote. while it sounds like fun and can hold your attention for about an hour...developers have to start to realize that gamers are getting sick and tired of seeing Miis thrown into games as a cheep ploy to sell them.
Another new feature is the improved online abilities such as interactive leagues, were you pick a team and play matches against others. If your team can get more wins over the opposition then you get the over all win and climb the interactive table, now while this sounds good...it doesn't work, go online and shockingly the top clubs in the world (man utd, Chelsea, Barcelona, AC, Inter, etc...) are all taken up meaning its almost impossible to get an opponent if you chose a mid to lower table team.

And as for online single player? well it works well in principle but fails on several levels making it frustrating and very trying at times. The first thing you will notice is that after choosing your team and kit (which is all you can do) you are then thrown right away into the game, never given the chance to change tactics or swamp players around, in fact only when you have the ball in your possession can you make any changes, and then only for a few times, meaning enter the game menu while playing online to many times...and it stops you from using it, i mean whoever thought it a good idea to not let you chose your players and tactics before a match and then limit the amount to time/actions on making changes in game made a HUGE mistake. Also get ready for the other play to "disconnect" (i.e turn off their console) when ever they let in a goal or are losing, now while this problem as be addressed on the official EA forums, it seems unlikely they will do anything about it at all, so get ready to be disconnected whenever you are winning or a goal up, leading to much frustration.

While better then Fifa08 this game is still lacking a lot of things, no player creation or editor mode, tacky use of Mii's and dated graphics means that while a vast improvement over the Fifa08...this is still a miss then a hit.

[GP.]

Great post, but like you said there's a lot of console games. You could of just made separate threads in each console linking them from this thread.

[cin]

yeah, i guess i could, but i forgot these were reviews of
all kind of games instead of just pc games. i found that
out after i posted em all >.<