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Friday, February 13, 2009 |
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Worst... Game... Ever... Well not really but then the joke would not work.
There were times in my childhood where I thoroughly enjoyed the Simpsons games available on the SNES, and it was not until I grew older that I realized just how bad they really were. Bad graphics, bad controls, and mostly bad gameplay.
However, that did not stop me from playing the ones that were released in the last few years. Such as Simpsons Road rage a Taxi Driver Ripoff and Simpsons Hit and Run, a Sorta Sandbox GTA style game while not the best game ever it was not bad.
The Simpsons Game for the Wii is the latest in the line of Simpsons Licensed games, the first thing that I noticed when I booted up the game was the fantastic animated sequence. That is where I picked my jaw up from the floor and kept it in a half smirk for the rest of the time I spent playing.
I noticed right off the bat just how awful the camera controls really were, it made some jumps much harder than they needed to be, and in a platformer that is a bad thing. I soldiered on hoping that maybe the camera was just not well built for the first level (which is a clever creation based on a dream sequence from an old episode)But that was not the case each level to follow the camera just failed harder and harder, and sometimes it just got downright frustrating. The combat, while manageable to some extent, is still pretty bad.
The sound is probably the only area of the game that I have no major complaints about, the music is taken from the show for the most part and fits in well. And the voice acting is spot on. The graphics for the characters at least is pretty good, but the environments are pretty phoned in and aside from a few levels most are plain and boring.
So, to sum it up. The game is manageable and worth a rental but it is in no where near worth 50 dollars. It just feels to much like a budget title.
Oh and I forgot to mention the Wii controls, well lets just leave that alone.
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Thursday, February 12, 2009 |
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Shake it. Shake it hard.
From the moment I saw screens of this game in Nintendo Power, I knew that I had to own this game. The graphics looked great and well Hell it was a new Wario Land title! A series that I am a huge fan of.
Wario Land shake it is the first game in this series to appear on a Home Console, the first 3 all appeared on the Gameboy and they were great. The fourth appeared on the Gameboy Advance and that was also great, so suffice to say I had high expectations for this game. And in short, they were met.
On the gameplay side of things it is your basic Platformer, with added in special controls for some small actions wario can do like spin on poles and control mine carts by tilting the Wii remote to the side. The playstyle of the game is simple you run to the right for the most part and try to find the little guy stuck in the cage you simply shake him free and run back to the beginning of the level. Now this idea is kind of neat for the first few levels, but after that it gets a little tired. Running back from the start although sometimes taking interesting new routes most of the time it ends up being just another run against the clock.
Now the gameplay itself is pretty great,aside from the constant shaking of bags to get ample amounts of treasure. It plays just as you would expect a wario game to play, he can shoulder charge and butt stomp his way through all the levels this game has to offer you. There really is not much else to say about the gamplay other than it is good and straightforward, the controls work great and everything feels fluid.
The graphics that this game has to offer are awesome, they are cartoonish and full of character just the way you would want them to be. In some ways the game does look like a DS game with a few added Wii touches, so in other words a little dated. But it still has great style, and I would not have taken it any other way.
Now that is not to say that I do not have any solid complaints about this game, because I do I really really do. The first complaint would be that when I finished the first world, I found myself not able to buy the map to go into the second world. I do know also, that I was not rushing my way through and just missed alot of the gold. It just felt like it was forced, I actually had to go through a previous level again just to get more gold, which was mildly annoying. A second complaint I would have is the inconsistent difficulty of the bosses, they start off easy but then one is mildly frustrating and the next is easy it just screams Schizophrenic design choices.
When it all comes down to it, this game is good. But it is really not anywhere near worth 50 dollars, it is definitely warranting a rental and it is definitely manageable in a weekend due to its rather short length.
Unlike every other game in the Wario Land series, this game really gave me no reason to play through it again. In a way this game met my expectations and in a way it did not, it did meet them by being a fun game and a good addition to this subseries, but it did not meet them in the way of time played.
But even with the negative things I have said, I will repeat. Give it a try, you may find yourself having fun. Or a cramp.
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Thursday, February 12, 2009 |
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Sonics Sad State.
Over the last 10 or so years, sonic has been slipping. At one time he was one of the most loved characters ever, and in so little time he has managed to become just one big joke. When at one time his games were considered among the best his current are now considered among the worst. I guess for me being someone who grew up in the 90's I grew rather fond of Mario and Sonic, while although alwasy being a bigger fan of Mario. That never did stop me from loving Sonic as well. I am hoping with the release of Sonic & The Black Knight, I am hoping that it is at least a little good, because maybe that is what Sonic Team needs to boost them up to create a great game again. Sonic Unleashed was so close to being a good game, The daytime levels had so much going for them, but the Night levels just hamstringed the entire game which is truly sad.
Im not going to hope too hard that The Black Knight is good, but I am definitely going to cross my fingers.
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