Blog Archives
New Super Mario Bros 2 Review
Thought you had enough New Super Mario Bros, well think again as New Super Mario Bros makes its debut on the 3DS (its fourth different system!). New Super Mario Bros, is the 2006 series that started with the DS, bringing back Mario to his full 2D platforming adventures, rather than his newer open-world 3D adventures. The twist in this new New Super Mario Bros game is the race to collecting 1 MILLION coins. That’s right, you thought you always collected a lot of coins in your Mario endeavors, well it’s time to prove it with this new entry into the series.
Platform: 3DS/ Genre: Platformer
Developer: Nintendo/ Publisher: Nintendo
Sonic Unleashed Review
Well, we all know of Sonic Unleashed in a good or a bad way…mostly bad. Sonic Unleashed was supposed to bring Sonic back to his glory days and make us forget about the awful games of Sonic and the Secret Rings and, hold on let me barf, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006. Unfortunately, Sonic Unleashed has a dark side to the game….literally. If you haven’t guessed already by looking at the front cover, besides Sonic the Hedgehog, we get Sonic the Werehog; a ludicrous idea where Sonic becomes Kratos from God of War (in terms of gameplay of course).
Platform: PS3-Xbox360-PS2-Wii /Genre: Action-Adventure, Platformer
Developer: SEGA/Sonic Team / Publisher: SEGA
Mario Kart 7 Review
That’s right, just what the title says, there has been seven Mario Karts! Not only is it rare for a spin-off series to become a main series like its own, but to be able to keep each game fresh, fun, and most importantly quality (sorry Mario Party) makes Mario Kart a series to be desired.
Mario Kart 7 continues its legacy on the 3DS bringing back old features and familiar faces, while at the same time adding new karts, new features, and even new characters. You start off with eight characters (ranging from the usual Mario, Yoshi, Luigi, Peach, etc.) and go on to unlock eight more characters after beating the 150cc cups. Mario Kart 7 continues the new tradition, from Mario Kart Wii, of placing eight cups; containing 16 all-new tracks (4 cups) and 16 redone tracks from the previous six Mario Kart titles (including Mario Kart Wii). Last but not least multiplayer is back, online and local, with a few extras thanks to the 3DS and StreetPass.
NBA 2K13 Review
Another year means another round of NBA basketball in the 2K world. This one is probably even more sweet than even the infamous Jordan 2K11 due to NBA “Elite” (also known as NBA Live) officially shutting down their studios meaning there is only one basketball game in the market. 2K Sports once again adds more Legends to the NBA 2K franchise this time with three different type of games (the cover is Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, and Derrick Rose unlike the last two years where you can buy the regular Jordan Cover or the Magic Johnson and/or the Larry Bird Cover Edition) and new teams like the World Famous Dream Team, even Allen Iverson and his 2001 Sixers!
Let’s first look at the games Graphics aspect of things. Graphics in NBA 2K13 are usually very good for the game’s superstars and alright for the regular and role players; but in 2K13 I would have to say every character looks like themselves in real life. With the occasional impossible to do hair (i.e. Andre Miller) there are a few slipups, but with the crowd looking actually animated and not paper mâché, in addition to well-defined arenas/courts, the graphics are impressive.
Many changes were added to Gameplay with the MyPlayer probably being the greatest beneficiary. MyPlayer is the process all NBA 2K users must do when they boot up their disc in their Xbox/PS3 where they create a player at either of the five positions and determine what type of player they want him to play like (defensive, offensive, etc.). Most of this is the same, but what had changed was the efficiency of the MyPlayer. In previous games, MyPlayer was ranked very low (as most rookies are) but to an extension of where you literally were worse than high school basketball players in the NBA, and racking up experience (now dubbed Virtual Credit) points to build rating was nearly impossible. With these fixes, along with you starting near a normal rookie overall rating, the MyPlayer is fun experience where you go through the draft, build up your legacy on the court and off the court (using Twitter getting famous followers like Pauly D or NBA Legends like John Stockton), until you finally reach the Hall of Fame (hint: an achievement/trophy). Other little features of the MyPlayer include “Meeting with GM” where you can trash other players or coaches or be a nice guy and praise the job that is being done, or creating your own shoe from Nike.
What about the terms of regular gameplay? Well the Association and Online Association is still there, so you can choose to play as the team or rather play a GM/Coach role, assigning players role’s, making trades, promising minutes, drafting rookies etc. Another mode of play is the Create a Legend mode where, unlike MyPlayer, you take a current NBA player and use him instead making your way to fame. Overall actual gameplay is very accurate and smooth flowing. There are less Out of Bounds calls where in previous games you can almost freely run out of bounds with little to no warning. Game sliders allow you to alter gameplay as in all previous 2K games, there are tips displayed constantly throughout the game to teach you how to post-up, do cross-overs, box-out, all the buttons you never really use. The Shot Stick has now upgraded to a replacement for buttons if you feel they hinder you performance, so the stick can perform cross-overs and of course shoot for you. Jump shooting accuracy is not displayed anymore in practice mode, so you must still figure out on your own where the sweet-spot release for each player on your own. Last but not least, three-point field goals have actually been changed where if you are just a little in front of the line, it still counts as a three rather than in previous games where you were taking a long two.
What kind of sports game doesn’t have Online Mode? Well don’t worry NBA 2K13 continues it’s online play with of course its head-to-head matchups. Head-to-head matchups are just basic online games where you are rewarded a ton of VC per each completion. Next is the MyPlayer matchup, where you do a “pick-up” game of 3-on-3 with your and other random players “MyPlayer” and play to 21 (street rules so: 1′s and 2′s).
Other basic things have to do with Music, which is fantastic and done by famous rap-artist and minor owner of the Brooklyn Nets, Jay-Z. If you don’t like Jay-Z don’t worry, there are some instrumentals and there are other musical artists to soothe your taste. You can customize music in the arena (impossible to hear anyway) or the main menu screen. Lastly the broadcasting team, ACTUALLY keeps up with you in this game. Unfortunately, the more you play the less clever and more annoying they become.
Overall: 8.8/10
NBA 2K13 is definitely the best game when it comes to basketball for any system (duh) and NBA 2K13 many new features keep the game fresh for a long time. If you aren’t a fan of myPlayer, create your own legend, or play an association, sometimes just play for fun against others or local, and achievements in the game give you a new style to play the game (like making you lose on purpose till the 4th quarter, etc.). Sports games are under constant scrutiny to change and not change at the same time and the team at 2K sports is definitely doing the right thing, so here’s to another year of basketball that isn’t locked-out!
_
Michael Troina writes features and reviews Nintendo games for Analog Addiciton. When he’s not writing or playing games or sports, he’s out at his job at the Daily Bugle taking pictures as the web-slinger we all have come to love…either that or he’s getting sandwich saving one world at a time. Find him anywhere with this flavors.me/michaeltroina
Street Fighter x Mega Man 25th anniversary Review
Whoa!? A new Mega Man game!! Well not exactly, alright at least Capcom released it….oh wait that’s not true either. WELL, at least we got a new Mega Man game for his 25th Anniversary all right!?
Street Fighter x Mega Man is a simple game paying homage to the 8-bit Mega Man using gameplay mainly consisting of Mega Man 4 (as you can charge and slide), with the occasional slips of other classic Mega Man elements. As in all Mega Man games you fight off on eight bosses, in which after you travel to fight three additional bosses, do a boss rush mode, and of course fight the final boss. Alas, it is different in this Mega Man game as Dr. Wily is no where to be found in this game, for the special is the Street Fighters have come out to play.
Story: As Mega Man is ready to kick back, relax, and enjoy his anniversary; Ryu and his fellow Street Fighters over here this as their anniversary is coming to an end and would like to do one last battle before they officially close the books on theirs. Now, Mega Man must take on the Street Fighters request and enjoy a friendly duel between Capcom icons….or is there more?
Gameplay: Well to compare to old Mega Man’s is a bit of stretch, as though it may look and sound like classic 8-bit Mega Man, gameplay wise it falls a bit short. First off, compared to recent Mega Man games (Mega Man 9 and 10) the difficulty is ridiculously easy, it took me an hour to beat the entire game. Secondly, there is hardly any Rush, just the beginning of one level where you use him as the Rush board. Third, the levels feel a lot shorter than classic Mega Man games and in addition there is no save function, so its playthrough or quit.
- HADOKEN
Other than that the game does adopt to any Gamepad put in the game, as long as you reconfigure it in the start menu, which I had no problems. Jumping and shooting, aka the premise of the game, flows smoothly, although occasionally sometimes when you want to jump with your controller/gamepad it will slide. All the powers added in the game, after you defeat each boss, are wonderful, from your Hadoken, to your…watermelons!? (Mega Man 8 soccer power homage). The visual is clear and crisp, the designs of each level are fantastic, it’s just missing the Mega Man “argh” factor.
Music: Fantastic. The music is mainly original but some of the tracks have some of the scores from the original games (like Dhalsim stage has the Snake Man intro).
Replay Value: Depends. Seriously its not very high but its not very low. You can try all the hidden easter eggs in the game or you can do a Mega-Buster challenge only and best of all you can try to get the secret boss!
Overall: 7.5/10- Good
While SF x MM isn’t the best Mega Man game I’ve played (obviously) nor is it the worst, but I respect the game for what it is. A fan-made homage to the Mega Man series with a unique twist. The addition of Street Fighter characters was an awesome element and I really had fun playing this game for about the 3rd time now. The game is free to download as well, so my money was well spent (in this actuality it was time).
Now Capcom we’re waiting for a real Mega Man release, because we all know this doesn’t cut it!
- BISON!!
- _
Michael Troina writes features and reviews Nintendo games for Analog Addiciton. When he’s not writing or playing games or sports, he’s out at his job at the Daily Bugle taking pictures as the web-slinger we all have come to love…either that or he’s getting sandwich saving one world at a time. Find him anywhere with this flavors.me/michaeltroina
Halo 4 Review
Halo.
End of review that’s it I mean this is how the cool kids write blogs right?
Alright, but seriously, Halo 4, you know aliens, Master Chief, the thing everybody knows from the original Xbox. Halo 4 is no different from its predecessors in terms of overall gameplay but Halo veterans know and feel the differences once they pick up the controller and play the game (for example B to crouch!? *cough). From new enemies, to new weapons, to amazing visuals, and an unexpected story, 343 Industries does a great job taking a series many were upset Bungie to leave; integrating senior Halo players while simultaneously introducing the game to the new audience.
Story: Like all Halo’s, the game revolves around John-117 aka Master Chief and his partner/AI system Cortana and their struggle against an inevitable evil. Halo 4 continues right were Bungie left the game off at Halo 3, with Master Chief and Cortana waiting to be rescued on the ‘Forward onto Dawn’. About four year, seven months, and ten days pass* (explained below), before a disturbance on the ship causes Cortana to wake Master Chief from his slumber and thus your adventure officially begins as you step out of your sleeping pod. As you investigate the ship, wondering why the UNSC still hasn’t saved you from a distress single you’ve sent out from the end of Halo 3, you notice that Covenant (the aliens) have overrun the ship and are looking for something [oddly enough the treaty you have with the Covenant is of no help here]. Since there are new enemies to be introduced 343 takes the path of familiarity in the first two missions/levels, having Master Chief investigate a strange sound wave and try to contact a UNSC ship, while fighting off the Covenant. Because of this ‘strategy’ of 343 Industries you are left off just as confused as Master Chief and Cortana and just proceed to do what you think is correct while learning about Cortana’s condition, rampancy. The reason why there is an asterisk on the specific time passage is because due to the Chief’s long slumber, and Cortana being already alive for about four year before Halo 4, she has “lived” past her obsoleting date thus causing her to become rampant. Upon later circumstances (can’t spoil it but I’ll have you know the Covenant unify with the bad guy) you meet the new hoard of enemies replacing the Flood as the main antagonist called Prometheans, and their leader the Didact (pronounced Die dact). With this new menace a threat to the human race itself, it is up to Chief and Cortana to stop him and save our planet, while at the same time to get home to save Cortana before she becomes completely rampant and dies.
Gameplay: Halo 4 is obviously a First-person shooter and like I’ve stated before plays like its predecessors, although more towards Halo 3 rather than Bungie’s last game Halo Reach. Assassinations still exist, most of the weapons are still intact with a few new ones, and legendary is still a pain in the butt requiring you to become more patient than the Zen Master (any Laker fans out there?) There are three types of “gameplays” on Halo: The Campaign, Spartan Ops, and Multiplayer. The Campaign bit is fairly simple, choose a difficulty and fight your way through eight levels as Master Chief, aka the one man living army. Campaign is recommend for beginners because it teaches them the fundamentals of the game while at the same time teaching them about all the different guns in Halo and the different abilities.
Spartan Ops is basically multiplayer meets Campaign, without Master Chief. You play as ‘your’ Spartan (the guy you customize for online play) and work for the Infinity (an important ship in the Campaign) clearing out short missions. You can either play by yourself or with your friend, but are REQUIRED to have Internet/Live to play. Each Spartan Ops is broken up into Episodes with five Chapters; but at the same time they are about 20x shorter than any campaign mission.
Multiplayer (dubbed War Games) is…well multiplayer, nothing new and nothing old at the same time. From team slayer, to regicide, to oddball, to TONS of games; Halo multiplayer proves once again why everyone loves this game long time. New additions to multiplayer have been that off a pseudo Call of Duty loadouts (allowed a maximum of 5 loadouts), where you choose what ability you have, what your primary and secondary weapons are, and what perks you want (called Support Upgrades and Tactical Packages).
To break it down the Primary and Secondary weapons are standard issue weapons from all three sides (UNSC, Covenant, and Prometheans) so no ‘special’ weapons like shotguns or rocket launchers. Support Upgrades vary from Ammo, Awareness, Ordance Priority while Tactical Packages range from infinite sprint, faster reload, etc.
Music: Halo has always had an amazing soundtrack and Halo 4 is no different. While not as memorable as Halo 2 or Halo 3’s soundtrack, the OST in this game is something that never leaves your head while running through mission campaigns.
Graphics: The game pushes Xbox to its very limits and all I have to say is WOW. I had to play the game in standard 360p output and I was already blown back. Once I saw it in 720p I have to say Halo 4’s graphics are pretty close to just looking out the window and holding up your Xbox 360 Controller.
Replay Value: Very High. If you aren’t replaying the campaign because you were too noob to run through it the first time Legendary Solo, or you just want that one co-op achievement; I’m 100% sure you are playing Spartan Ops and War Games till 3am in the morning…oh wait that’s me.
Overall: 9.6/10 Halo 4 game out with guns blazing and I still feel like this monumental success still has room for improvements. 343 Industries has exceeded my expectations (along with many others) and has proven to us, the Halo community that they can be trusted with a series we all have come to love. Here’s to Halo 5…wait I mean 4 it isn’t even a month old yet!
_
Michael Troina writes features and reviews Nintendo games for Analog Addiciton. When he’s not writing or playing games or sports, he’s out at his job at the Daily Bugle taking pictures as the web-slinger we all have come to love…either that or he’s getting sandwich saving one world at a time. Find him anywhere with this flavors.me/michaeltroina
Final Fantasy IX review
Final Fantasy IX, the ninth installment to the main series spanning 4 discs. The game was originally planned to be for the Playstation 2, but was released at the end of the PSX/1′s life span and because of this is generally overlooked by the mass.
The game introduced new features to the series like the ‘Active Time Event’, ‘Mognet’ and a unique equipment and skill system.
Final Fantasy IX‘s plot centers on a war between many nations. Players follow a young thief named Zidane Tribal, who joins with others to defeat Queen Brahne of Alexandria, the one responsible for beginning the war. The plot shifts, however, when the characters realize that Brahne is working with an even more threatening person called Kuja.
Final Fantasy IX was developed alongside Final Fantasy VIII, but took a different approach by returning to the more traditional style of the early Final Fantasy games. Consequently, Final Fantasy IX was influenced significantly by the original Final Fantasy game, and features many allusions to other titles in the series. The game has been subject to extremely positive reviews, receiving 94% on Metacritic, making it the most critically acclaimed Final Fantasy game on the website
Leading up to its release, Sakaguchi called Final Fantasy IX his favorite Final Fantasy game as “it’s closest to [his] ideal view of what Final Fantasy should be” (and the one he believes should have a direct sequel, unfortunately it was X who received a sequel.
A fun fact before I start is, FFIX release was delayed due to RIVAL ENIX’s Dragon Quest VIII coming out. [Don't forget Squaresoft developed this]
On to the review:
Gameplay- FFIX uses mainly traditional RPG elements with each character having specific jobs and learning of more advances skills as the player progresses to a higher level. Let’s break this down into the two types of gameplay FFIX has to offer: hubworld/main world adventuring and battling.
Main World Adventure- IN FFIX you control the main protagonist Zidane at most times during the game and are able to interact with NPC’s, travel around to different towns, play mini-games, and go to various shops or inn’s. In addition, sometimes you can interact with your teammates (be on a ship or before a big battle), you can watch ATE’s (*Active Time Events-where you can see what is happening with other characters while you complete certain missions or on the other side of the planet [thus giving life to you and all your characters]). The mini-games are found in different towns and offer rare prizes, my personal favorite mini-game is the Jump Rope Game for Vivi. Card battling is done by pressing select and you face anyone at anytime.
FFIX uses a random encounter system, so while you are in the hubworld you may cross a random monster at anytime. Later in the game you receive airships and/or chocobos so fighting in the hubworld doesn’t become a problem; but still in area’s that aren’t towns (say Forests, Caves, etc.) random encounters still exist. The hubworld does have sidequests for Chocobo’s as you can collect treasures and even upgrade your chocobo to a Golden Chocobo to fight the game’s secret boss. All in all the hubworld is separated into various islands, which you gain access to over time and you an added bonus is you have the ability to save at anytime; if you are in towns you must find a Moogle.
Battle Gameplay- In this area I will not only cover the battle section, but the ability and menu selection. Battling is the same as all previous Final Fantasy’s as you have a party of four (unless circumstances cause you to have less). You have basic weaknesses (fire to water, holy to undead, etc). Each character has a specific job such as Zidane being a Theif, Garnet being a summoner & white mage, Vivi being a Black Mage. Each character has special attacks in which they can in Trance (an ultimate form that builds up per battles you fight, increasing all your stats and giving you a new ability). Vivi gets Double Black Magic, giving him the ability to cast two spells per turn, Zidane gets a whole new skill called Dyne replacing the Skill area in your in-game-battle menu.
Equipment plays a major role in FFIX in not only stats, but abilities as well. Abilities are additional stats, for each character that most character can learn together. Say you gained a rare item like Feather Boots (not the real item) and the ability it has is Auto-Haste. So to equip Auto-Haste it takes 15 AP (listed right under your characters HP) and you have that ability to start each battle, the problem is you only have it while you have said item. So as you fight more, the item ability eventually becomes learned and you can unequip it, give it to another character and still have the ability.
Music- Music once again, and like all Final Fantasy’s is a series strong point. Some themes just go flawlessly with either the character or the level, while some are great scores, but easily forgettable compared to some of the more memorable ones like Beatrix’s Theme.
Story- The game is 4 discs long and the story only gets better as the game progresses. You think one thing and bam another thing happens and you’re just playing wanting to know what will happen. And to make matters worse (or better in this situation) the sidequests and ATE makes you love not only major character but minor character as well, like Zidane’s family of Tantaulus. Also on the plus side, you are usually rewarded after watching the ATE’s. (the game is quite funny in some aspects but mostly serious)
- Did I mention how funny FFIX also is
Replayability- It’s great, even for a Final Fantasy. You can run through the first time and realize how much you actually missed. The game is at least 50 hours (unless you speed run to get Excalibur 2, the best weapon in the game but you have to defeat Hades at/by 20 hours). Playing 50 hours makes you realize how little you missed too! You can get lost in playing card games, replaying the I want to be Your Canary, talking to townsfolks, or even just finding FF1 through 8 memorabilia.
Overall- 10/10.
[Available on PSN]
_
Michael Troina writes features and reviews Nintendo games for Analog Addiciton. When he’s not writing or playing games or sports, he’s out at his job at the Daily Bugle taking pictures as the web-slinger we all have come to love…either that or he’s getting sandwich saving one world at a time. Find him anywhere with this flavors.me/michaeltroina
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Review
Well, when I first got Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, it was back in 2006 when I didn’t have a blog so after a nice replay for about two weeks, I finally can write a review. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess “continues” off in the path of the Adult Link from Ocarina of Time; you know when you have to return the Master Sword after defeating him? Well you don’t do that for this timeline. Twilight Princess was originally created for the Gamecube, but was ported over for the launching of the Wii, which proved to be a fantastic move by Nintendo. [my review is that of the Gamecube version, which is a mirror to the Wii version]
Story: Since the mentioning of the Adult Hero of Time timeline, centuries have passed and the sages had tried to execute Ganondorf, but only failed and had him banned in the land of Twilight. From here, Link is a simple village boy from Ordon, working with others being known as a jack-of-all-trades. In this game, you already have Epona from the get-go (so no hassles there for newbies) and you are supposed to drop off a new sword to Hyrule castle, per request for Russel. Before your journey, your childhood friend Illa captures Epona to give him a bath, in which you go to her to only find her being kidnapped and you unconscious. Now your journey begins, as you are set to rescue her (and your horse may I mention) only to be confronted from some strange wall of light. Being thrusted into the land of Twilight, you transform into a wolf, and are soon approached by an imp named Midna, who claims she will help you for something in exchange. From there, you meet Zelda, collect pieces of a mask called a “Fused Shadow”, venture Hyrule, and meet the person who is causing the lands to be covered in Twilight, Usurper King Zant.
Gameplay: Twilight Princess continues to use the formula built down from Ocarina of Time, which includes auto-jump, Z-targeting (L for the gamecube), and many other old features revamped. Many advancements have taken place though in Twilight Princess, starting first with sword-and-shield battle gameplay. Firstly, now you can direct your sword attacks from a thrust, to a vertical or horizontal swing (by moving the stick in said per motion). Next, you can learn new Sword Art Techniques, be it one of the ‘Helm Splitter’ to that of the back-roll and slice. This idea, was first put the Minish Cap handheld game, and was implemented for the first time in a home console.
Basic home-world traveling is the same, though days and nights last a little longer than they did in Ocarina of Time. Once you acquire Epona, you can see the real major change they placed in the game, because you can do so much more with Epona now. Not only can you use your bow-and-arrows but you can use all your items while on Epona, and even sword fight! (which plays a major role in your quest). This game also introduced the first time bombs and arrows can be combined in a home-console version, the idea of dashing while swimming, and the double hookshot (named Clawshots). One, last thing about Link gameplay is that of your character’s speed. You travel much faster than previous games, including your roll, and once you get later in the game you can warp to checkpoints, like the Bird did in Link to the Past.
Now, for wolf-gameplay. Wolf Link is generally simple, you don’t learn new skills, you are a wolf who can dash, dig, and sense. Although it sounds simple, Wolf Link plays a vital role in the beginning of your journey and is a key to many puzzles. Sensing is that of seeing areas where you can dig, checking for Poe’s, and lastly seeing what was there in the past. As weak as Wolf Link’s gameplay is, you need him on your adventure, especially his technique to attack all enemies in his ranged circle, it kinda helps against those Twili Beasts.
Music: The music is fantastic in Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, although I feel most of the songs were rehashed and redone from Ocarina of Time. My favorites in the game include the Hidden Village, Hyrule Field, and Midna’s Lament.
Replayability: Well, while this was my second replay of it I am probably done with this Zelda game, but it does have a pretty good replay value considering all the mini-games that are available in the game, from snowboarding, to the clawshot game, to the collecting all 60 poe souls, or getting all the golden bugs. So the value is pretty high moderate or low-high.
Overall: 9.5/10
Twilight Princess does everything you wanted to Ocarina of Time and more! From the addition of many new items, even the ball in chain(!), to just the masterful gameplay of you on Epona fighting hoards of enemies on Hyrule field, the additions are something to appreciate. Not only that, but the main world is much larger and there are many secrets to be found so this 25-35 hour game can keep you going for a long time!
Not only that if you remember this is my replay and the reason why I love this game a lot more was because I played after playing the trash that is named Skyward sword. My appreciation for this game, which I already enjoyed, had gone up further (as did most of the other Zelda’s…even Majora’s). While this game didn’t have the greatest bosses, it still far outclasses Skyward Sword in every way from gameplay to it’s dark story, to it’s great dungeons.
read full skyward sword hate here <3
_
Michael Troina writes features and reviews Nintendo games for Analog Addiciton. When he’s not writing or playing games or sports, he’s out at his job at the Daily Bugle taking pictures as the web-slinger we all have come to love…either that or he’s getting sandwich saving one world at a time. Find him anywhere with this flavors.me/michaeltroina
Mega Man X4, X5, and X6 reviews
It’s been two weeks hasn’t it? So that means I’ve at least beaten a game or two….or maybe three. And the lucky game is: the Mega Man X series (again!?) but this time for the Playstation 1 our very own Mega Man X4, X5, and X6. Mega Man X4, X5, and X6 play similar to its predecessors on the SNES except for the fact you can now choose to play as Zero (in X4 the whole game but in X5 and X6, you can select per mission). Another fact is this is Mega Man X5 is the first game to allow you to unlock multiple armors, in addition, to that of not allowing single armor equips and giving Zero an armor. This series still sticks its root with the action-platform genre with 3D character models and shades, with 2D adventure.
Story: In Mega Man X4, the story revolves around the Maverick Hunters (Mega Man or Zero) and an army called the Repliforce. The Repliforce are Maverick Hunters such as yourself, but when the incident of “Sky Lagoon” happens and rumors of the General of the Repliforce meeting with a mysterious cloaked figure, the Maverick Hunters declare the Repliforce and are forced to fight them. The story alters a bit choosing between the two characters (as you fight a different sub-boss before Sigma), but all in the all it’s the same ending.
In Mega Man X5, Sigma is revived again (spoiler or shocker….but not really) but this time, he changes his plan. Instead of going after the hunters and trying to eradicate mankind, he creates a virus dubbed the ‘Sigma Virus’ and uses it to try and unlock Zero’s true potential. Mega Man X5, utlizies alternate scenes and endings to the max. Beginning with Enigma, a large laser to stop a colony from falling on Earth, (it either fails or succeeds, you can’t determine that), then depending on who you play as you fight either X or Zero, but there are 3 forms of Zero. Maverick Zero, regular Zero, and truly awakened Zero; which in turn leads to many different scenes. In addition, there is a good and bad ending.
In Mega Man X6 (fun fact Keiji Inafune wanted the series to end at X5 but Capcom decided to make an X6 anyway), Zero is proclaimed dead since he has been missing ever since the end of Mega Man X5. In addition, something new called the “Zero Nightmare” is spreading chaos around the world and X goes to research this Maverick and restore his former comrades name. Once it is found out that researcher named Gate was the one using this title and X and (a recovered) Zero go to stop him.
Gameplay: The easiest part of the review, the gameplay! In Mega Man X4, X5, and X6 the gameplay is similar to the SNES predecessor. You can still dash, wall jump, charge shot, gain special abilties etc. The difference in these games besides receiving various armors, is Zero can also learn moves as well. While, most of his abilities do revolve around sword movements, he can sometimes use his seldom used Z-buster. The ultimate armors, are only a cheat code able to used in the beginning of the game (except for X5 you can actually unlock it). Both in X5 and X6, you can find two set of armors besides original X and whatever Armor you start from the previous game (so in X5 its Fourth Armor and in X6 it’s falcon). Also, in X5 and X6, you can equip ability parts, to allow your character to move faster, shoot faster (i.e. Speed Shot), have more life, and much more.
Graphics: Graphics and animation are very smooth in this game. From its nice 3D landscapes or platelets (X and Zero) to its 2D backgrounds. There are no glitchy areas, no over-vibrancy of color and best off, blowing up bad guys is just as fun to look at.
Music: As usual, the music for Mega Man games are great. The themes go with most of the levels and bosses, they are catchy, and really never annoying. While in X4, they use the hilarious FMV and english dub and Mega Man sounds like a 10-year-old girl, you learn to live the AHH and more AHH’s to love the game.
Replayability: I’d say all these games have very good replayability. In Mega Man X4, you definitely will want to play both ways (obviously to see the other cutscreens). In X5, you will love seeing all the alternating endings and scenes, because at first the story is pretty confusing. Lastly, X6 may be the least likely to replay, but the game has so much to offer and the usual two endings (Zero and X) you may just give it another go.
Overall:
Mega Man X4: 8/10
Mega Man X5: 9/10
Mega Man X6: 8.5/10
Mega Man X4 receives the lowest score, because I felt it was the weakest of the three (in addition to being the funniest for the wrong reason). The game X4 didn’t change that much from X-X3 and actually felt dumbed down from X3. Mega Man X5 is the best in the series, smooth gameplay, alternating Zero-X option, a lot of secrets, and heck the multiple scenes was actually addicting in this game, Mega Man X6 I really enjoyed because it is one of the tougher Mega Man X’s. Levels were a bit longer, there were a lot more spikes (to my streaming watchers Gate’s Lab Level 1 when i was blade armor Mega Man) and not to mention tougher bosses. Seriously, Nightmare Mother was hard as crap but Gate’s no pushover either.
I thought Mega Man X’s for the PSX/PS1 was a great game and if you’re bored and looking for a new game to play, this game may fill that need.
_
Michael Troina writes features and reviews Nintendo games for Analog Addiciton. When he’s not writing or playing games or sports, he’s out at his job at the Daily Bugle taking pictures as the web-slinger we all have come to love…either that or he’s getting sandwich saving one world at a time. Find him anywhere with this flavors.me/michaeltroina
Kirby Return to Dreamland [Wii] Review
Kirby Return to Dreamland, a long awaited project for the Gamecube that was pushed back for a couple of years, which was supposed to be the next home-console Kirby game…a better Kirby 64. As time passed and passed and then we were tricked for another Kirby Wii-home console game (Kirby Epic Yarn), we were finally delivered one of the Wii’s swansong games.
Kirby Return to Dreamland is a 2.5 side scroller with cooperative player similar to the New Super Mario Bros Wii. In the game Kirby retains his ability to copy and inhale with the side bonus of now “super inhaling” where you can inhale multiple objects or enemies and fire a larger star out of your mouth. The game ranges from 7 worlds with 5 levels and a boss in it and in addition to the ship parts there are 120 gears to be collected in each level, which lead to mini-games and bonus challenges for Kirby. The multiplayer let’s you choose to being Kirby (for 2P-4P) or Meta-Knight, King Dedede, or some sort of like pirate Waddle-Dee. The only problem with multiplayer is the sharing of lives, but there are enough free/1-up’s in each level to make sure you don’t strangle your partner. There are no camera problems and all-in-all there is enough “space” for four players thought I find the game played ideally with one or two players.
Difficulty- The game is not overly difficult but compared to Epic Yarn where you couldn’t die in basically every level, it is much harder. Some of the real challenges coming to getting 100% (clearing all challenges and getting all 120 gears); some of these gears actually make you think, but other than that it is fairly easy game for a seasoned-pro [and its cake walk for Super Mario Bros: Lost Levels players lol].
Gameplay- Gameplay in Kirby plays like many of Kirby’s games that aren’t his side adventures so basically like Kirby Superstar with new features. In this game besides inhaling and copying abilities, you get multiple moves with each ability compared to say the Amazing Mirror where each move was limited. If you would get the Fighter Ability, you can hadoken, uppercut, Akuma downkick, rapid punch; as for getting the sword many Zelda homages are in it such as charged sword spin (SSBB-Link) and a laser for a full-health swing (Link to the Past). One of “easy” aspect of the game is the fact you can fly forever (in which other Kirby games you get tired from SuperStar to Kirby 64), but other than that no changes are made to mainstream gameplay. Multiplayer was discussed; many levels played similar to Kirby 64 and Superstar as mini-bosses featured during each level with a set bar of health, in which you can inhale them after defeated.
One new aspect though is that of Ultra Abilities which allowed you to inhale a glowing enemy and do “ridiculous” attacks. Say you received the Ultra Sword, Kirby would pull out a Giant Sword, a Giant Meta-Knight Sword, or a fan and it would swing across the entire screen destroying not only enemies, but parts of the area as well. The Ultra attacks all vary from launching a fire dragon to becoming a giant snowball you control.
Compared to Kirby 64, which allowed you to mix abilities to create new ones, the abilities seem a bit downgraded, as you had a lot more possibilities in K64, but with all the new attack additions, you feel like you have discovered a new power; or this how you always imagined Kirby would be.
*sidenote I think this game was created with Melee or Brawl’s engine which helps
Music- Music is classic Kirby, there is no real words to say on that being an either you like it or you don’t. But you will recognize some old tunes, remixed of course, and you will hear new tunes. I for one am a fan of Kirby’s happy melody’s so this was a win.
Overall- Overall the game is pretty quick, but getting all 120 gears and fighting some classic bosses, with the addition of multiplayer makes this another Kirby game worth its buy. This may be a game for fans to start getting into the Kirby series as it is no Kirby 64, Amazing Mirror, Superstar or Dreamland 3 (with the animals), but it still a great Kirby game. Compared to Epic Yarn the game completely dominates in all aspects. While Epic Yarn felt like a Scribblenauts mixed with Kirby to try and make a new formula, Return to Dreamland returns to its roots and adds more for the modern day gamer, showing sometimes games don’t need to change to be good, maybe just a few additions.
8.5/10
_
Michael Troina writes features and reviews Nintendo games for Analog Addiciton. When he’s not writing or playing games or sports, he’s out at his job at the Daily Bugle taking pictures as the web-slinger we all have come to love…either that or he’s getting sandwich saving one world at a time. Find him anywhere with this flavors.me/michaeltroina
Tony Couto
Eric Pepper
Frank Margarella
Hugh Simmonds
Jamie Briggs
Nathan Manning
Robbie Key
Rob Gisbey
Jaime "Paco" Sifontes
Jideobi Odunze
George Sinclair
Michael.Troina
Vlad Pintea
