GameSpotting!

Sonic the Hedgehog Review

Posted on December 29th, 2006 by MASA.
Categories: Gaming, PS3, Review, Xbox360.

I know that this game is arleady out but I decied that it needed a review anyway. Sonic the Hedgehog is a much needed improvement from SEGA’s last sonic games. Sonic the Hedgehog is the best sonic game we have seen for a long time.

The story is that Doctor Eggman is looking for these things called “The Flames of Disaster” which is some sort of mystical weapon that will do something secret (I don’t really want to give it away [SPOILERS] but I am pretty sure it is linked to this huge evil molten dragon thing in a huge flaming whirlwind [/SPOILERS]). The key to this mystical secret is a girl named Princess Eliese, a 17 year old who rules over the City of Soleanna (The game calls it the City of Water even though the name suggests that it is the City of the Sun). All of the old characters (except for Big the cat, Cream and Cheese) appear in the game as well as a new character named Silver who is another foe of Sonic. Silver thinks that Sonic is going to distroy the world so he goes back in time to stop Sonic. Each character (as always) has a background story to how they are related to the story line.

The graphics are very detailed and the levels you play in are huge and very nicely done. Even to the point to say that they are beautiful. The game can be quite annoying when you are rope jumping. Sonic can jump on ropes like they are trampoleans to get somewhere. However you can fall off the rope if you push the control stick up and the problem is that using the control stick will not move you towards the land but rather push you into oblivion, however no other direction does this, for some reason. The voice acting is well done, they finally got rid of Omochao as being the one who gives you hints and tips. Naration is normally done by Dr. Eggman with a few exceptions where it’s the person who plays Dr. Eggman’s voice. Another great improvement to the game is that there is mulitiple ways to complete a level. There used to be just one and if you didn’t follow it, you would die.

This game is not like Shadow the Hedgehog which some people feared where it was heading. However it has some elements of Shadow the Hedgehog, like shadow can drive a jeep that has been tricked out with weapons and such and a motorcycle.

As with all games this one has a few downsides. Sega has fixed a lot of problems with the Homing Attack, like the problem of homing things that are not really there (this appeared in Sonic Heroes) or homing jump pads rather then enemies (Sonic Adventure Battle 2 and Sonic Heroes) but now the homing attack now has a shorter distance (making it harder to rope jump) and if you push forward and homing attack you miss your target while in the air. The game feels like you are doing missions for everybody (Like Sonic Adventure Battle 2). Another downside is that camera doesn’t move around so well and is pretty slow when you hit the camera buttons (LB and RB). The controls are a bit too simplified. With the player only really needing the A and X button. The problem with this is that the X button has 3 features and the game often chooses the wrong one. The X button is your attack, light dash (sonic will go in the direction of a line of rings) and regular dash. Another problem was that the pause menu wouldn’t let me start over. It kept on skipping the start over option and went directly to quit. Now to the ratings.

The Ratings:

Sound: 8/10 -The music and sounds were great and are an improvement to songs with lyrics in them (which never sounded good for Sonic type games).
Graphics: 9.2/10 - Graphics have severly improved since Sonic Heroes and other Sonic games
Controls: 5/10 - Major problems with the X button. This could have been fixed. Also the forward on the control stick while rope jumping was really awkward (you would think that it would move you towards land).
Playback: 6.7/10 -For some reason I don’t want to play this game over and over again, which other sonic games have made me do. No unlocks maybe?
Improvement: 7.9/10 -Sonic the Hedgehog is a huge improvement to Sonic Heroes but still lacks a few minor things.

Overall Score: 7.6/10 - If controls were fixed and the playback was better then this game would have gotten an 8.2. Some levels could have been worked on more.

Wow, that was long.

Top | Trackback URL | 3 Comments »

Need for Speed:Carbon Revisited

Posted on December 8th, 2006 by MASA.
Categories: DS, DSL, GBA, GCN, Gaming, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Review, Wii, Xbox, Xbox360.

I have never liked the Need For Speed series for various reasons. One because I never liked the crash effects, steering and the controls. However the cars were cool. Carbon seems to have made me reconsider a very bad review. Personally, I liked this game alot. I think it was well done. The game has a new feature called “call a crew member”, but I rather call it “SIC EM!”, since you are really just sending your crew car to get the guy. You call up a buddy who is constantly giving you radio help (like a real crew member) and telling you when other racers are about to crash you up. This is probably the best improvement in NFS. You got your little helper guy to help you out in tough jams. But since you have a helper, EA decided that the game would have to be just a tad tougher. But it really makes the game more fun to play.

I liked the idea that you could also customize your ride’s body. In previous NFS games you could only change how the car looked decal and color wise. This game in the series allows you to customize the body of the car. And modify things from rims, tire depth, hood depth, and all that other good stuff that I can’t remember right at this moment. And your car looks awesome on the track. Speaking of tracks, NFS: Carbon has a really cool track system. You have to earn tracks by defeating others but until then they are under the control of a rival Car Crew/Gang/Mob. That makes the story line a lot more exciting.

Now graphics in this game have improved from the blocky car designs seen in NFS: Underground 1&2 (I think they both look blocky, maybe cause I didn’t change the default settings). Anyhow, the graphics have really improved and they are great with the night time atmosphere. Overall, Carbon is way better then any of the other NFS games. This game is awesome, but still not as good as the Burnout series also made by EA. The controls have inproved but they aren’t perfect yet. The steering is better but it’s still really annoying. You will still spinout if you counterstear, and hear the stupid tire screaching noise when you are going really fast and start to turn. NFS:C has great motion blurs, that make you really feel the action. Now let’s get to the ratings.

The Ratings:

Sound: 8/10 -This is super! The talking that the crew member gives you doesn’t seem like it was recorded previously and seems like he is really saying it. Music was N/A, I just didn’t pay attention to it.
Graphics: 8/10 -Graphics have improved since NFS: Underground 2
Controls: 7/10 -The controls have moved to somewhere where they are more accessible but the Respawn button seems to be on the other side of the controller. No support for joysticks.
Playback: 8.5/10 -Great game but it can be a bit frusturating. Story is really interesting.
Improvement: 8/10 -Lots of great improvements.

Overall Score: 8/10 - Controls were okay, but they needed to be improved. Other wise if they were this game would have been an 8.5

An offtopic cool thing about this game: the loading screens have the best animation, and cool effects that I have ever seen (the ones that Burnout has are cool but they are kinda boring as they never change, it’s always the same 4 transitions).

Top | Trackback URL | 3 Comments »

Sonic Riders PC Review

Posted on October 24th, 2006 by MASA.
Categories: Gaming, PC, Review.

I am a big fan of Sega, I really like the Sonic series. It has its ups and downs and sometimes its major downs. Sonic Riders for the PC isn’t really much of a down. On the PC Sonic Riders isn’t very diffrent compared to its brothers on the console.

BUT THEY FIXED A BUG THAT WAS DRIVING ME NUTS! In the console version of Sonic Riders, if you went back to the menu after the race, progressed through the story line, viewed a replay, went to the “black market” it would save the game. The problem was that the game often forgot that it saved after the race and would save again. This would cause the game to save multiple times when it didn’t need to.

Anyway, Sonic Riders for the PC has some great controls, they are very simple and flow well. If you are going to play this game, it would be better to use a control pad then a stick (it will come in handy for those very tight turns you are normally required to make). All the levels are exactly the same as the console versions (despite the more detail in the graphics area).

But during their improvements Sega fell short on quite a few details. One the sound sucks. At certain points the music would stop and you could hear noise like the save noise, the menu sounds (not sure why this is). Drifting Controls and the Restore Air controls (when you lose control of your character just before the next lap line [if you have played the console version before you will know what I mean]) should have been fixed to support joysticks. When trying to map controls to my joystick I noticed that Sega accidentally typed in all caps…again. And oddly there is no option to shut up the stupid announcer (like there is in the console version) only, the option to make him (it’s actually an omochao [so it has no gender..somehow..]) quiet also kills all the character’s voices, sound effects, and menu noises.

On a good note, Sega finally rendered the cut scenes. Which before they looked like they looked like graphics from the beta version. That’s good. So to the ratings:

Sound: 3/10 -This is so unexceptible, the game sound and music don’t work well togther
Graphics: 7.5/10 -Better then the console versions
Controls: 9/10 -Fantastic!
Playback: 7.5/10 -Great! but it loses value over time
Improvement: 6/10 -Not much changed from the console versions

Overall Score: 7/10 - Sound was a big problem as well as new content (improvement).

Top | Trackback URL | No Comments »

LEGO Star Wars II Review

Posted on September 11th, 2006 by MASA.
Categories: DS, DSL, GBA, GCN, Gaming, PC, PS2, PSP, Review, Xbox360.

Lego Star Wars 2 is a great game, I love legos. I like Starwars. It’s a great mix. In Lego Star Wars 2 you play through the “old school” movies with many references to the recent movies. Like the first game, it’s jam packed with humor. From Han Solo kissing Leia and then winking to the camera to things like the stormtroopers in a spa, or them acting like models to open the gates of doors. New to the game is the ability to customize your own character, bringing the true spirit of LEGO to the game. At times the game is really frustrating due to controls (I play with a joystick). And the game keeps repeating that you must press “J1_Button 1″, which I have no idea what that is since there is no button 1. The ability to change the controls is nice but the descriptions for what the buttons do are very very vague. I like the special powers some characters have, like chewbacca can rip other characters arms off or greedo (some weird bounty hunter) can throw thermal detonators as well as shoot you.

The graphics are really good for a lego game, in fact they improved from the last game. Better reflections (as seen in the photo above) and much more. The game has pretty good voice and sound. However most of the talking is “Blah blah blah”. But it makes the cut scenes a lot funnier. That aside, let’s get to the ratings:
Graphics: 8/10 - A nice improvement from the last game
Sound/Music: 9/10
Controls: 6/10 - Yeah it kinda failed here, with terrible button descriptions and the annoying messages
Playback: 10/10 - Awesome makes me wanna play again
Improvement: 9/10 - Great improvement except the controls are a step back from the first game.
Overall Score: 8/10 -Awesome game just needs better control functionality.The best version to get is the Xbox 360 version as it’s controls, sound and options for graphics are way better then the PC version.

The DS version is the game that you should pass on. Do not get this game. It’s not even fun. It’s a terrible port and is filled with levels that were not finished, terrible graphics and the whole game is pretty much a glitch. So many that you will go insane.

Top | Trackback URL | 4 Comments »

Sly 3 review

Posted on September 27th, 2005 by MASA.
Categories: Gaming, PS2, Review.

Considering that Sly3 has came out and that I am a fan of the Sly series (yeah I know). I couldn’t wait to play this game. Which is really good game. Once again you play as sly who once again has to pull off a major feat of stealing something. This time it’s Sly’s family vault. But in order to do this he has the “bad guy” (police officer who sounds like a bad guy) join his team. Which is really desprate attempt by the people at sucker punch. I think the most major change that was made to Sly 3 was the introduction of 3D. With each retail copy of the game comes a pair of 3D glasses inside the manual, which you can cut out and use whenever the game calls for it. The 3D sequences in the standard playthrough are few and far between, and each time you encounter a 3D level, the glasses are vaguely incorporated into the story. For example, in one instance, you’re heading into a dark cave and are told that you can use optical enhancers to see more clearly (even the characters inside the game can be seen wearing them). However, it’s entirely optional, because before each sequence you’re prompted with an option to play in 3D or not. The game is really fun and very enjoyable. But however is not as great as Sly 2. I like the feel of control from Sly 2 better then Sly 3. And the story is better played out in Sly 2

I rate this game a 4.5/5

Top | Trackback URL | No Comments »

Nintendogs

Posted on September 25th, 2005 by MASA.
Categories: DS, DSL, Gaming, Review.

Once again someone else on the internet reviews nintendogs. This time its me. Nintendogs is like the cutest game ever but the downside is trying to find it in stores. In nintendogs you get a puppy in which always stays as a puppy. In this game you get to walk the dog, feed it, play with it, put it in competition, and more. You get to do lots of things. The other downside is that it isn’t built on the Harvest moon time engine but on the Animal Crossing. And you know what that means…..you have to at least play the game 1 a day. There are no real bad things to happen except for you will lose “trainer points” which is the game’s reward system. Nintendogs comes in three versions each with their own dogs but you can unlock all of them throughout the game. The game uses the DS’s WLAN (Wireless LAN which allows them to link together without cables) feature to share items and play with the other person’s dog. Nintendo EXTREMELY improved on how the game uses the mic since “Hey You, Pikachu” (please don’t get “Hey You, Pikachu” it’s not fun). In fact the game takes a sample of your voice (you DON’T have to hold the DS right in your face, which is good.) and then modifies the Dog to that voice. That’s cool. You can change your voice setting to the dog if needed. Also the dog responds to voice commands. You can also talk to your dog when ever you want. You teach your dog commands when a little lightbulb appears inside a small talk-bubble in the upper right hand corner of the screen. The dogs have been animated impressively. So much detail! If you need help with nintendogs you can download this guide in PDF format. Note you will need Adobe Reader.

If you have a DS and are really looking for a game, then I suggest Nintendogs.

I rate this game a 5/5.

Note: if you don’t have a DS you can wait and get it bundled with a special nintendogs version (see below) which releases October 24 with a price of $149.99 that includes either a pearl pink or teal-colored system, and a special “Nintendogs Best Friends” game that lets gamers start the title with the six most popular breeds from the three existing Nintendogs games: Labrador retriever, Golden retriever, German shepherd, Beagle, Yorkshire terrier, and Miniature dachshund. Other bonuses in the package include a Nintendogs-branded, bone-shaped screen cleaner and a paw-print-riddled Nintendogs skin for the system.

Top | Trackback URL | No Comments »

LA Rush Review

Posted on August 12th, 2005 by MASA.
Categories: Gaming, PS2, Review, Xbox.

Yes I know this game isn’t out, yet. But I beta-tested it so I know. They tried those midway guys but failed…miserably. The game starts out ok..you get a cool car and get to drive around a big open space. Then it gets weird. You must run into 7 yellow light beam thingies from heaven before the CPUs do. Unfortunately they have the special power of going through buildings. Other cars are on the road and the car models are terrible. They look like cars from the Micro-Machines game for the N64. And that’s bad. When you crash you get to see this weird foggy screen with your car hitting another car and then exploding but then you car becomes perfect again and all the cars you hit are ok. Very odd. Don’t get me started on the Cops. Oh too late. The cops in this game are EXTREMELY annoying! They spawn from everything. Semis, Buses, other cars, buildings, etc. The turn on their siren when you are even going the speed limit and are in the right lane. The cops also use (the terrible horrible…I hate to say it…….EA games…….Hot pursuit……..engine. This means they are really dumb and like to swarm in on you. In unfair numbers like 40.) Also your boost is terrible (max speed of 100, the cops go 120). And the cops are dumb…..Like take this. I was just driving along with 2 cops on my trail one blew up randomly and the other was still following me. We smashed into a brick wall in the middle of a hill next to the hollywood sign. His car was upside down. The guy inside was dead (There are people in the car. And their faces change). Guess what happens. I start to back up and the cop car siren goes on. Next thing I know there are 12 more cops on my tail. Unfair. The car models are horrid and you can see through the terrain. The programming guys have another 36 more bugs they need to work out (I counted). DON’T BUY THIS GAME AT ALL. DON’T EVEN CONSIDER IT. This game is for people who liked the game: Big Rigs Over the Road racing (which is so bad it is the only game to ever get a score under zero [later the score was changed because it didn't fit the "range"]). LA Rush comes out 10/10/2005 for the PS2 and Xbox. The final version sucks. The game is horribly unrealistic. I rate this game a 1/5.

Top | Trackback URL | No Comments »

« Newer