Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan Review

The third chapter in the Tales of Monkey Island series once again picks up directly where we left Guybrush at the end of the second chapter, about to get swallowed by a giant man-eating manatee. Well, he DOES get swallowed by it, and their ship ends up getting stuck in what appears to be the giant Manatee's ear.

Once again, I'm playing on the PC, and while the controls are not perfect, I'm getting more and more adapted to them. I still wish I could point and click for movement, but I honestly didn't even think too much about using WASD to move this time.

Now, let's talk a bit about the story, I'll try not to give too much away. After all of this searching throughout the past two chapters, you finally get to meet De Cava inside the Manatee and find out that he's crazy, You also get to meet DeCava's crew, who all have some pretty funny personalities, and there's also a very special appearance by somebody you might all remember from one of the other Monkey Island games. Needless to say, there's a nice amount of new characters in this Chapter.

However, the strong point of any monkey island game is the humor, and this is prevalent throughout. I'd actually have to say this is the funniest chapter yet. Without giving too much away, you get to make crazy pirate faces, give people voodoo-wedgies, and get to talk in manatee using a manatee horn. that last one is actually pretty funny, cause you only have a pre-set amount of phrases, and a lot of them are fairly ridiculous.

The length of the game is about the same as the past two chapters, clocking in at about 3-4 hours, 2 hours if you really know what you're doing. The ending cliffhanger in his one isn't quite as big as the past two, but it gets the job done, and leaves me anticipating the fourth Chapter of the game.

Overall, Lair of the Leviathan is the strongest in the "Tales" series thus far, and it delivers on pretty much everything you're looking for in a Monkey Island game, while being thoroughly enjoyable throughout for old fans and new fans alike.

For this, I give Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan a 5 out of 5

Trine PC Review

I recently had the chance to sit down and play through Trine with my friend Matt. We played on the PC, an Xbox 360 controller in his hand, and a keyboard at mine. Let me tell you, it was a great experience.

Trine is a game much like The Lost Vikings in that they give you three different characters to control. You can play single player, or you can have one or two more guys join in for co-op action. It's also a lot like LittleBigPlanet in terms of how the platforming feels, which I think is a good thing... Not to mention the difficulty of the platforming feels very old-school, and in fact, me and Matt spent an hour trying to master the final level.

The story is pretty generic, and at times, me and Matt were both jokingly comparing it to Lord of the Rings. However, it still gets the job done and gives you an excuse to go through the levels, not to mention it does flesh out the characters probobly the best I've seen any platformer do before. Even if they are just generic stereotypical characters.

However, let's not just sit here and compare it to other game and movies... Trine has some individuality as well. First and foremost, this is probobly the best looking side-scrolling game I've ever seen. A lot of developers try to bring things into 3D while keeping the 2D gameplay roots, but they usually end up creating some uninspiring visuals. Trine Proves you can do both, and do both well.

But enough about graphics, let's talk about gameplay. Each character plays differently, and has their own unique abilities, and you can switch between them at will. Not only that, but each character has their own little skill tree, much like Diablo. The size of the tree complements the length of the game, and you're not left feeling you missed anything by the end.

Let's go over each characters specific abilities now... The Barbarian can do various sword attacks, and also gets some charge moves, this is your main melee combat guy. The Thief has arrows, and also a grappling hook which is useful for getting places other characters can't reach. The wizard can draw lines and shapes to make various platforms, as well as move them around, and other objects in the world, simply by clicking and dragging, in fact he can't attack at all, in order to kill an enemy, you have to drop something on their head. On the controller it's made slightly more difficult using the stick and the A-button, making the keyboard the ideal way to use the wizard. All of the other characters seem to play better on a controller, however, making it kind of confusing what platform they were focusing on.

This didn't turn out to be too much of an issue, since Matt tended to stick with the barbarian or the thief, and I stuck with the wizard or the barbarian mostly. In fact, the character switching in two players lends itself to the puzzle solving as well, and you can solve puzzles differently than you would have to in single player. I think this works to the game's benefit and makes you want to go through the game multiple times with multiple players.

Overall, Trine is a fun charming little game with some old-school difficulty to it, and some cool new features that I haven't seen before, such as the wizard's box drawing abilities. The execution is solid, and while the story leaves something to be desired, I still had lots of fun with it and it's definitely worth checking out for anybody who enjoys platformers or action RPGs.

I give Trine a 4 out of 5.

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay Review

I had played the second chapter of Tales of Monkey Island a while ago, but I haven't had the chance to review it. Now, with the third chapter coming out I figured I'd review the second one before it's too late. Once again, I'm playing the PC version.

The second chapter picks up directly where the first one left off, which is good since the first game had a giant cliffhanger. It's nice to have an immediate answer to the question at the end of the first episode. We get introduced to some new characters, and without giving too much away... we also see and old one re-invented.

The story is a bit more large-scale than the first game, and since you now have the Screaming Narhwal, you can go more places than just the main island, Spinner Cay. Of course, this is probobly done just to make it feel as big as the old Monkey Island games, and it works nicely, even though looking at it for how much content is actually there, there's not an incredible amount of content and the game might take you 3-4 hours to finish.

The game still uses the same control scheme as the first game, which I hated at first, and it's still kind of awkward, but it's growing on me. That's not to say I wouldn't prefer the old style point-n-click controls, but this is a good alternative. The comedy is just as witty and refreshing, and I might even be inclined to say I laughed more at this chapter than the first one, not to mention early on in the game you get a book of fish jokes that, if you ever get stuck on a puzzle and don't know what to do, instead of quitting the game, you can just open up your book of fish jokes to get a new one!

Now let's talk about the puzzles. Most of the puzzles in the game are good, but some of them are just stretching it, and didn't really give you that many hints to solve them. For example, in one puzzle early on you can make two pirates turn around by pointing in a direction, and in order to solve it you need to have them do a staring contest and then make them turn around, so they turn in the right direction. These kinds of puzzles don't let you use your wit to solve them, making you just mess around until you accidentally figure it out. There's not many of these kinds of puzzles, but it's still annoying that some of them are there.

Overall, Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2 is a charming, fun, and funny game, even if it does have a few stupid puzzles or a slightly unwieldy control scheme, and I recommend it to anybody who's a fan of the series or anyone who just wants a good laugh.

I give Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay a 4 out of 5.

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal Review

Tales of Monkey Island, as some of you may know, is a re-boot of the classic monkey island franchise. Like most adventure games today, it's episodic, and it's made by Telltale Games, who have pretty much dominated the adventure game market recently, and have a handful of staff that used to work at Lucasarts.

I played the game on PC, however it's also available for download in the Wii. As always, you play as Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™, and yes, they use that trademark symbol jokingly in the subtitles yet again. You start off aboard your ship and have to solve a puzzle to try and save Elaine. After that's finished, you're presented with a nice looking title screen, accompanied by the classic Monkey Island theme we all know and love. Then you end up on Flotsom Island, an island that has it's winds blowing inward, so no ships can leave from it, meaning you're stuck there. You spend the game trying to find your way off of Flotsom, and get into many various pirate acts.

The story in the game is fairly good, but the game really benefits from it's characters. Over the course of the game, you'll meet up with a local reporter that you try and impress with your pirate acts, a pirate glassblower who blows glass unicorns, a crazed doctor who wants to cut off your hand, and many others. These characters are all appropriately voice acted, and are fairly over-the-top. Not to mention, the facial expressions on both Guybrush and the other characters are simply FANTASTIC, and really add a lot of life to the game.

The only bad thing I can say about the game is it's controls. Instead of having standard point and click controls, they either let you walk around using the mouse, by clicking and holding in a direction, or you can walk around using WASD. Both methods aren't particularly good, however I did get used to moving around with WASD after a while.

The game will take you about 2 hours to beat if you don't get stuck, and don't skip past the dialogue, Which I find is a good length for an episodic game. I did manage to get stuck a couple times, however this was just due to me over-thinking what I was supposed to do. Some of the puzzles take a stretch of the imagination, while others are pretty simplistic.

Overall, Tales of Monkey Island stays faithful to the franchise, and is funny enough on it's own, without relying on references of past games for it's jokes. It's a genuinely great adventure game, and worth checking out if you like pirates, or adventure games, or if you just want to play a funny game.

I give Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal a 4 out of 5

Aaron’s Retro Reviews: Aero The Acrobat

Dear god…I don’t think….I don’t even…

*Sigh*

My buddy is having a get wasted night this week, and I don’t drink…but thanks to the suck of this game, I’m considering it. Drinking or smoking or something…something that would allow me to forget…ugh.

*Sigh*

This is my Aero the Acrobat for the sega genesis review,

If you’ve read my column before, than you may have heard me talk about the “Rad Mascot” years of the 90’s. This was in reference to Rocket Knight Adventures, A surprisingly great game despite the character Sparkster being an attempt to copy Sonic. I chose to go over that game because it was a rare cutesy/rad mascot game that was actually decent to play unlike well…every other attempt with rad mascots in the 90’s…ever. Aero the Acrobat is an example of your usual failed attempt at the rad character, I just happened to luck out that the rest of the game sucks too. The reason I chose Aero was sort of random at first, It was at the top of the rom list (I am not a rich vintage collector, I don’t have every damn Sega game ever, gotta play them somehow) and I vaguely remember the character from the Sega Channel days and seem to remember people actually enjoying it. So this is how It ended up being chosen, something I chose to make my work easier that turned out way worse than I thought.

The game was released by Sunsoft, and developed by Iguana games. Now I’m sure your thinking “Aaron, you’ve done your homework huh?”, well not by choice. The second you fire this turd up you are greeted by painfully blaring midi music and it begins showing company names. Now this is the kind of situation you want to press start and get into the game quickly to escape, but unfortunately this is one of the only games I’ve ever seen that will NOT LET YOU SKIP. You have to endure at least 30 seconds of blaring circus stock midi just to see the company names and title screens so you don’t miss them I guess. If you can’t tell by this point how much “fun” this is going to be, well you must be the kind of person that is a glutton for masochism. The game starts you out in, what else a circus, yay for stock circus midi. You are given five lives which at first I thought was generous. As it turns out you burn through lives like potato chips since primarily everything kills you fairly easily. Spikes and burning hoops kill you instantaneously that’s sort of a given, but when it comes to baddie clowns (clownies?) you have some sort of ambiguous health rate. I still haven’t been able to figure out how many hits kill you because there is no bar, and it always seems randomly sorted somewhere after three hits, yeah that’s not frustrating.


This is only made worse by Aero’s terrible controls. Aero’s primary attack is to spin at enemies (Sonic?) no not like sonic, sideways spinning. However this attack is terribly sort ranged and half the time doesn’t go where you want it to. I can be holding down,right and still manage to attack up,right. Aero can also pick up stars which he can use to attack using the A button, but they come up so few and far between and rarely hit their mark. Additionally both these attacks rarely ever kill certain enemies, in particular this super Franken clown who looks like he’s in cahoots with Satan. This guy can block stars and spin attacks, even from behind somehow and he attacks by throwing balls all over the place in random directions and kicking. Sound like a boss? No, he’s not, he’s an enemy that comes up in the first damn level and every level onward. Aero can also fly for a limited range, which isn’t useful since you can’t move anywhere while doing it. Power ups for flight allow him to actually move while flying and fly longer. The rest of the controls, I.E. Jump, directions are pretty straight forward, just dodgy (as the Brits would say).

So I know what you’re thinking, Circus Screeching and Terrible Controls aside, what about the game play. This is a platformer right, run from left to right and complete the stage in the allotted time? Nope, this game is a platformer/quest completion game in the lightest sense. Each stage has a special goal such as…destroy all the star platforms…or jump through 40 magic hoops. I’m sorry, how is this supposed to stop an evil clown bent on destroying your circus? After completing each inane task you move on to the next one. You know, it’s nice they tried something different, but it makes for a boring game when your running around the same areas looking for that platform you missed. This coupled with the fact that it’s so easy to die, and the fact that when you do die anywhere before the next stage which is 5 acts and a boss away you return to the first act will make you glad Iguana games is defunct, otherwise you’d be strangling them. Actually, I’m in the process of finding their current residences.

Finally, let’s touch on the graphics. This game is a visual eyesore, everything about it is ugly. Aero is hideous in his design, and you get to see giant blown up shots of his ugly mug at the title and stage screens. Looks like he is wearing a little bat toupee. The stages are visually unappealing, even the choice of backdrops and fonts is just irritating to the eyes. It seems as though the staff was working from the book of bad Graphic Design, or more realistically this turd was shat out quick to get the name out there. Everyone wanted a piece of that Sega mascot pie, and Iguana was no exception. Whereas RKA took the Sonic idea and went in it’s own direction resulting in an enjoyable direction, Aero took it and went in the wrong direction.

I have to be fair, after multiple deaths, quick saving and careful stepping, I made it through the first world and boss. However, once greeted with the same objectives in the new stage, I just couldn’t go on…I was done with the game right there. There are still three other worlds, but seriously, it’s not worth it. Don’t buy, don’t download, don’t play this game…it’s abysmal.



Oh, and due to Geeksquisites insistence on a numbered rating system, I’m giving Aero a 1 out of 5.

I wish I could somehow delete the rom harder than I did...maybe like a Delete Plus key.

Aaron’s Reviews: Monster Hunter Freedom Unite

Let’s get this out of the way first; I am a huge monster hunter fan. I’ve been playing since the first PSP incarnation, but I’m not exactly a veteran as there was a ps2 version before I got into it. But I’ve been into it for a while and it accordance with my reviewing games that our other hosts have yet to review policy I will review “Monster Hunter Freedom Unite”.

Monster Hunter has a long history, and I will touch on it briefly. When monster hunter was released for the Playstation 2, it became a huge hit in Japan. America also got its own version, but it didn’t catch on in the same way. Capcom, the company that put the game out although concerned with the American market put a majority of the backing into the Japanese market considering the success. So while America still would get the occasional upgraded version, the Japanese would get double the content. This was the case with monster hunter freedom 1 for the PSP. In America this was all we had until MHF2, but in Japan they released Monster Hunter Freedom G, which featured new monsters and missions. There were also some PC versions that came out. After MHF2, Capcom decided that the time had come to try to boost interest in the American market. So they decided to start bringing the harder “G” expansions to the U.S. and begin a marketing campaign in the U.S. Thus the expansion to 2, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite made it to American shores, and the commercials began. This review will sort of encompass all the incarnations of MH or at least at the start since I’ve never reviewed the series before. So let’s get to the game itself shall we?

In the game you start out as a new to the scene hunter in some small town. You begin your training with the first level missions which are mostly gathering quests to teach you the ins and outs of the game. Here you learn how to cook meat to increase you stamina, and how to combine items to make healing drinks and different battle aides. When you’ve built yourself a basic weapon/armor set and have learned how to manage health and trap items you are finally introduced to the hunting aspect, after all the game is named “monster hunter” for a reason. This is where my favorite feature of the game comes into play, which made me a fan since the start. The major monster battles are in real time, this isn’t turn based at all and you need to keep on your toes to not die. It not only adds to the realism of the game and the hunting aspect, but it adds a level of perfection to strive for. If you get really good you may never get hit, or you could get horribly maimed. Each monster you come to face is unique, and range from dragons to giant crabs, to things as bizarre as monkey’s that throw their own feces at you…yes I’m serious. As you work your way up the mission ranks the parts you’ve collected from other beasts allows you to craft better armor and weapons. You’ll also learn as you defeat monsters and look up the armor sets made available what elements certain beasts are more weakened too than others, and begin working on elemental attributed weapons.

As you rank up you’ll also unlock missions at the “training school”, which will teach you better tactics to use on each monster as well as how to use each of the six weapon types on each monster. Then again there are really two weapon classes to worry about, each requiring a different armor set. The Blade masters can use Great Swords ( a giant sword), sword and shields, Hammers ( a giant hammer), and hunting horn ( similar to hammer but can grant status effects), and can wear heavier, more defensive armor. Gunners use Guns and Bows, and must wear lighter weaker armor sets which allow for easier movement. But I digress, after clearing out the required quests for a level; an Urgent Quest appears that upon completion allows the player to move up to the next level bracket. When you become a strong enough hunter, you get access to elder dragon quests which feature super strong dragons of the games lore. One of my personal favorites is the Lao Shin Lung, a dragon the size of a mountain whose name literally translates to the same thing. But if you still don’t find these monsters challenging enough, there are the guild hall quests boasting even stronger beasts and mission combinations. The guild hall quests are the quests available to play with friends and this is where the game really shines.

However if you are a social outcast…or just don’t have any friends who have monster hunter, (considering its sales in America) even these missions can be accomplished by yourself, but the fun is really working with friends and coming up with effective strategies to down the stronger beasts more quickly. So what else is there? Well this is where the G expansion changes things up a bit. If you had MHF2, MHFU will load in your previous character and his accomplishments into the new game so you can continue where you left off. For the friendless, this expansion allows you to have “cat” assistants that help you in offline fights; it also adds harder mission levels to the guild hall and offline missions as well as new items and a few new monsters. MHF2’s flagship monster was the Tigerex, a primitive crawling dragon that lived in the mountains and in my opinion was a bastard. Unite’s flagship Monster is the Nargacuga (monster in my image up top) which is a subspecies of Tigerex that looks like a giant bat…he is also a bastard. Other new monsters include the Hypnocatrice (a turkey-like dragon), and my favorite of the additions the Yamatsukami (basically cthulu). But the most important addition is the “G” difficulty missions in the guild hall. Some of these missions are so hard you can’t do them without the help of a friend. It’s not that you’re not strong enough, but mostly each mission is timed and you usually find yourself out for time just before the monster is even on the ropes.


There are also “epic hunting quests” which are my personal favorite additions to the game in which you fight multiple different monsters in one play through receiving only health items when you kill one to continue fighting. All and all I’d say they took an already great game and made it even better. However just because I’m a fan doesn’t mean I should pad this game for you out there who haven’t played it before. I’ll say this, it’s a remarkably hard game to get started in, and you really have to work hard to get up to the point where you have decent enough weapons and armor to handle most beasts. Also, some of the game is almost unplayable if you don’ have friends to play it with, and because of the need to play in the same room with you PSP’s instead of playing via the internet those without friends can’t even arrange to play with random players online. If you want to play multiplayer you have to know other people with the game and be able to hang out often to play it. However, even with these downsides I will still highly recommend it, and rally those who play to convert as many non players as possible. This game is fun, time consuming, and feeds that underlying wish that most nerds have to go slay dragons. So get out the AND BUY MONSTER HUNTER FREEDOM UNITE, ITS AMAZING! DO IT! DO IT NOW!...Ahem….erm…thank you, we now return to you regularly scheduled blogs…

Battlefield 1943 Demo Impressions

In the Xbox Live Arcade store, 1200 points is expensive, and the game better be really good to earn that price. There is a very big judgement difference between a game worth 800 points and one worth 1200, Battlefield 1943 is a heavily online multiplayer oriented game. So how does it shape up?

Battlefield is actually pretty damn decent, so decent that the only reason it is not on my hard drive is because I am not fiscally sound at the moment. It is that good, especially considering it turns something as simple as a 3 island area into a fun and chaotic warfare ground.

With the ability to choose what type of soldier you want to be, there are different weapons given to you with different strengths. Your character can drive turret mounted vehicles around the island, and when neither plane, boat or bridge exists you can simply swim across to another island. The planes are especially regarded as fun by most players, so fun that I could not ever get in one in the 30 minute demo I had. Although the plane seems cheap because it has nuclear bombing capability that pretty much covers half the island.

However the game definitely is not your run of the mill shooter either, you cannot just shoot and run. It has a much slower killing rate than other games, and I unlike some actually appreciate the amount of attention you DO need with your health being that resilient. If there was any trouble I had, its the difficulty to keep up with friends if you lose them. The mapping and lack of a good hud to indicate friendlies caught me off-guard at times.

Aaron’s ... Reviews: Fallout 3 Point Lookout DLC

Alright, not exactly a retro review, but I am both a fan of Fallout 3 as well as I think the only one of our journalists to regularly download the expansions. This review would have come sooner except my x-box had to be repaired yet again and thusly put off playing the expansion. I’m not going to review Fallout as a whole, but I will run through the previous expansions quickly.

Operation Anchorage: Very fun, takes place in an Alaska VR simulation before the war, plays entirely differently from the normal flow of the game and also has an amazing exclusive suit that allows you to become invisible while crouching. That alone warrants buying this expansion, and holds it’s 2nd place position as my recommended must downloads for Fallout 3.

The Pitt: Enjoyable, takes place in a post-apocalyptic Pittsburg, fun for the sake of a new area to explore. But be warned you also get stripped of all your weapons on entry only to have them returned at the end of the story arc, this puts it as my number 4 on Download recommendations for Fallout 3.

Broken Steel: Actually takes place still around D.C. and most importantly raises the level cap and allows you to live past the main mission…oops…spoiler alert? Yes you live if you DL this expansion. You also get your hands on a weapon capable of destroying those annoying Enclave verti-birds that drop off enemies among your travels about the wastes. If you can only get one Download expansion, this is the one to get and holds the number 1 spot on my recommendation list.

You may have noticed there wasn’t a number three on my recommendation chart; well that brings us to this review of “Point Lookout” Download expansion.

This expansion drags everyone’s favorite post apocalyptic savior/sinner who speaks in text only to rural Maryland on a quest to loot and pillage the abandoned mansions…all two of them, for treasure. Let me stop right there by saying there ain’t much “treasure” In this expansion. The weapons, though unique struck me as relatively un-impressive…and they have that issue that while in the hands of an enemy they do way more damage to you than you can do back with the exact same weapon, but that’s the same with every enemy in Fallout. But the missions and the visuals really make it worth the download and put it over the Pitt in enjoyment standards. The non-arch quests have you blowing up a Chinese Submarine, fighting in a ghoul arena, and even making moonshine among other things. By the way, don’t drink the moonshine…I took one swig, and immediately became addicted, that’s a first in this game…it’s not usually so easy to become an addict.

SPOILERS AHEAD! SCROLL TO END OF SPOILER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SURPRISED!
The main missions lead you to a mansion to fight off an invasion of tribal humans from killing a ghoul. After you aid him he asks...well demands as most characters do in fallout, that you help him. He sends you off to infiltrate the tribal’s, who immediately trust your plead to join them without a question and tell you that in order to enter you have to go partake of this giant fruit in the swamp to become enlightened. Once you make it to the fruit, well…the best part of the dlc begins. You go on a crazed over the top drug trip back through the swamp trail. This is not the “Oh the room turns purple and you have weird memories for a few moments” like vault 106 in D.C. This is full out psychedelic acid trip, with giant saws cutting through the landscape, soda bottles falling out of trees and exploding, and even an upside down swamp section. Then, you recover finding yourself outside the swamp. When you return you are allowed into the tribal church and find out that their god is the hologram of a brain commanding them to kill the ghoul, you also find you’ve been partially lobotomized, but it doesn’t seem to affect you and you assume the tribe did it. Returning to the ghoul you find that the brain and him have had a rivalry going since before the war, and you need to stop the brain because…well lets face it, brains that are alive in jars are usually evil. Anyway, at this point you choose who your going to help and return to the mansion to see it nuked from orbit.

The final battle takes place in point lookout’s Iconic lighthouse, which…well spoiler alert, but if you want the fight to be shorter, side with the ghoul the brain will turn on you. After completing this quest, when you return to the ferry boat it is revealed that the operator was the one who lobotomized you, and you can even find the jar with your brain chunk in it and carry it around. After disposing of the ferryman, you are free to ride the boat between D.C. and Point Lookout.

END OF SPOILERS, WRAPPING IT UP HERE...YOU MISSED ALOT

So all in all it’s a pretty good DLC, and has earned it’s place as my 3rd place recommendation, it doesn’t really bring a new aspect other than location, or a super cool weapon to the table so it remains beneath Anchorage and Broken Steel in my opinion. But if you’re a Fallout addict like myself, your gonna download it anyway.

That’s all for this review, next time I do a non-retro review it will be for Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, so keep your eyes peeled.

Game Review: Overlord 2

Let me get a few things out of the way. For starters I never played the first Overlord so I won't be able to judge this game compared to it. I have played the demos for both games and hated both. It wasn't until I rented Overlord 2 that I realized that the games don't really demo all that well. It isn't the combat that makes the game entertaining to me it's the characters, story, and humor.

The first thing that really jumped out to me was the game is. Especially this recurring Link sort of character played as a flamboyant animal loving tree hugger. It's incredibly over the top but I couldn't help but laugh. The humor almost has a Fable sensibility to it, just more outlandish. The minions have a couple of great lines which sadly repeat over and over. They are really good the firs time though.

Many people have described the combat here as basically being Pikman for adults. For the most part I'd say thats pretty much dead on. Even down to having to get 10 minions under and item in order to move the object. Nothing about Minion controlling mechanics really blew me away. They worked but never as precisely or effectively as I would have liked. They try to give the illusion that there is some kind of strategy to how to move your different colored units but for the most part I never saw a reason for it. Other then a few certain situations I usually found that I could just send in all the minions and they would get the job done. This isn't a particularly challenging game and so using strategies becomes more tedious then necessary.

I think the game is a really great experience and pretty different then most modern games. It doesn't always quite click with gameplay but the humor and atmosphere really make up for it. It's definitely worth giving a chance or if you just want a change of pace.

4 out of 5

Game review: Fight Night Round 4

Anyone who knows me will tell you I am a HUGE fan of Fight Night Round 3 from EA Chicago. I have never had any interest in boxing but I love Fight Night because it's the best fighter I've ever played that I felt competent at. It's a game that's easy to play but hard to master. Mashing buttons will get you through a couple of fights and maybe even a handful of online fights. To really be competitive you really need to strategize and pick your punches. Fight Night Round 4 has all of this but upgrades almost everything to give us a incredible product.

The biggest change gameplay wise comes from the new physics based fighting system. Fight Night Round 3 was mainly played with awkward animations. In Fight Night 4 because it's all physics based there is no longer any collision detection problems. There also is more diversity in how hard you get hit. When you used to throw a punch it was either a hit or a miss with no calculation of glancing blows. In this new title every little touch of on an opponent will register and with be calculated depending on how hard the punch hit and the angle the opponent is at when hit. The game is also a lot faster paced. The best part of the the last game was playing featherweight matches because they were very fast while the heavy weight fights were slow as hell and not responsive enough. Here the fights are fast and have you make a lot more decisions in a much shorter amount of time. The fights also seems to go the distance more which is nice. It used to be that I either lost the match or won by KO in the first 5 rounds. Now I've had a pretty good balance of knockouts and the occasional match going 12 rounds. It makes for a much better boxing simulator which is how I always played the games but until now they didn't quite function right.

The corner game has been completely revamped and is not longer an awkward game of rubbing my boxer's face. It is now done with a points system where you alicate points to either health, stamina, or damage. This works a lot better and with the option to skip this part, it keeps the game from getting to slowed down after the bell. The standing up game is the one thing that I preferred in the previous game. While the new system makes more sense for what it would be like to get up by balancing and then standing up. I feel like it doesn't function as well as I would like, this might change though with getting more used to this feature.

Last but not least the online fighting modes are fantastic and work better then they ever have before. The fights I had the most fun playing though were against people that played like me "a boxing simulator", when people just mashed buttons to win it wasn't nearly as fun. I play almost as if it's a role playing game and enjoy fighting people that play like that. This is just a personal preference of mine so this would depend on how you want to play the game. The online here is where the game is really going to have it's legs and it doesn't disappoint. Fight Night Round 4 vastly improves on all the issues of the previous title giving us a fantastic sequel in a genre filled with a lot of crap, I'm looking at you facebreaker.

5 out of 5

Warlords on Atari 2600 Review

Since no one else has touched on the greatest classic gaming franchaise that is Atari, i'd finally taken my time to review one of my 50+ games for my Atari 2600.

Warlords is copyrighted for 1981, and uses the paddle controllers that oddly come as two tied together into one hub like this



Warlords is one of those games that could use as many as four paddle controllers to play the game, it is essentially an enhanced version of breakout. Yes you bounce a ball at other blocks, but your also trying to hit the "fortresses" of the other players whether they'd be A.I. or your friends behind the blocks, you also have your own fortress to defend as well. And by holding in the button of the paddle controller you can hold on to the ball instead of bouncing it and aim it somewhere else as necessary. The winner is the last one with a fortress and declares a winner after a set number of wins for one player.

Here is some gameplay for readers who are curious and want a second opinion ;)



Warlords appeals to me greatly, it is currently my undisputed favorite Atari game. It isn't easy to appreciate these games with an Xbox 360, a Genesis, and a NES in the same room. But games like warlords puts you back into that era, it's a great game to begin with and drive you to play more games like it does for me.

If I had to complain about anything, its that sometimes you hurry and turn your paddle controller too much to reach another side. Why is that a problem? well if you go off a certain amount with the paddle controller, you can have a dead area where turning does nothing at all. This isn't a good thing since the movement is extremely sensitive, but in my experience with the game just fidget the knob impulsively to keep control and check to make sure it'll move.

A great game for any Atari collection.

Game Review: Shadow of the Colossus

This is yet another case of later is better then never. In 2005 "Team Ico" came out with their second game Shadow of the Colossus. The game was heavily praised at the time and continues to be talked about as one of the best games of all-time. I sadly never got into the Playstation 2 and never got the chance to experience this game. This all changed when I bought a used copy at my local Play N' Trade.

The first thing I noticed in the game was how beautiful and yet pixilated the game was. The art design and it's ambition is clearly on display but it also seems to be a victim of an aging platform. While the pixelation bothered me at first after I ran into a Colossus I completely forgot about it and just focused on the artwork. The colossai are just stunning to look at and animate with some real weight to them. You play a character with no name that has become popularly referred to as "The Wanderer" and because He and his horse Aggro are the only characters in the majority of the game the animation work on them is unparalleled on the Playstation 2.

The whole premise of Shadow of the Colossus starts when "The Wanderer" approaches this temple carrying his dead girlfriend to an alter. After which an ominous voice lets us know that we need to kill 16 Colossai in order to bring her back. For the majority of the game this is all I ever knew story wise. The games story is one of it's weak points and is never really engaging. The story has one or two interesting hooks but from a 10 hour game that feels like it should be story driven the 20 minutes of story we do get feel a bit lackluster.

So far nothing I've said has given the vibe that the game is a classic and that's because I haven't mentioned the gameplay yet. At first the controls were a bit to loose and unconventional for me but after the first boss they became very intuitive with only a few minor flaws. The hardest part was getting used to controlling the horse and the camera at the same time using different analog sticks. The camera appeared to be really poor until I figured out how to use it, what I found is that the camera gives you some incredibly cinematic angles that you don't see in other games. The confusion comes from understanding the difference from angles in typical third-person games and film. Once I understood that the camera worked really well and almost always gave me the optimal view to be awestruck by the giant Colossai.

Defeating a Colossus isn't very hard the difficult part is learning how to make the Colossus vulnerable to your attack. Each boss fight plays like a moving breathing puzzle that you have to solve. Once the puzzle is solved executing it becomes fairly easily at least until some of the final bosses. I have mentioned many times before how much I dislike puzzles in action games but here it is never an issue. The reason being that they blend the two into one mechanic, it isn't a puzzle section and then a fighting section. They meld the two in such away the fighting and problem solving are done at the same time, seamless. The bosses might at first feel too repetitive but I feel that the diversity in how the different Colossai function was more then diverse enough to keep the game enjoyable throughout my playthrough. Only twice did I ever get stuck on a boss, but my determination to defeat it was enough to get me to finish the fight and feel accomplished when I did.

Shadow of the Colossus is certainly flawed but undoubtedly fun. It was a wonderful experience that I'm only sad I never played before. From the sprawling landscape to the Colossal Colossai this game really is the classic people say it is. I can only wait with baited breath to see if The Last Guardian lives up to Shadow of the Colossus.

5 out of 5

Killzone 2 Review

Killzone 2 had some big shoes to fill when it came out. Between all of the trailers we've seen up til then, and the infamous pre-rendered trailer from 2005, people were expecting that world and more from the game. Putting all that aside, let's take a look at the game as it is, for what it is, and put aside all of the hype surrounding it.

Graphically, the game is amazing, if you go back and take a close look at the 2005 trailer then you'll most likely agree with me when I say the final game looks even better! Not only are the textures insanely high-res, not only do the models have near perfect bump mapping, not only is the lighting amazing, but we also have great animation. Characters move realistically, flags blow and sway in the wind, facial expressions are done with such pristine quality that you can see the ripples of flesh moving on their face. If there is ever a prettier game than this, then let that game be called the best looking game, but for now, Killzone 2 holds the title.

In terms of gameplay, it's pretty much your standard First-Person shooter fare, you run, take cover, pop out, shoot someone in the head, go back in cover, rinse, repeat. The controls seemed a little awkward at first, and they definitely take some getting used to, but once you do, it's all good. The gameplay is really amplified just by how nice everything looks, it creates a great sense of atmosphere, and the game does a great job of making you feel like you're actually there.

The story is pretty basic, you go here, shoot some dudes, go there, shoot some bigger dudes, go somewhere else, blow up a tank, get on a turret, shoot some more dudes... basically, it's your standard First-Person shooter fare. However, it definitely benefits from the well done presentation and the intoxicating atmosphere of the game. They do try and make the story as compelling as possible, but the characters are pretty forgettable. Later on in the game, some big events happen that they want you to care about, but you end up just being like "whatever, I'm just gonna shoot some more dudes". Overall, though, I enjoyed the single player for what it was, and it definitely didn't come off as a bad story, and it even had a solid ending to it, but the best part of it wasn't the cutscenes, it was the action. When your commander radios in and tells you some Helghast are coming your way, and then they all come out after you, it's always really cool, and pretty intense.

The multiplayer component is no slacker either, and is probobly my favorite part of the game. Each room can support up to 32 players, and all of the maps are just the right size so you feel not too close to each other, but not too spaced out either. After each match, you rank up. Staring at the lowest rank and working your way up, earning different badges for doing specific things, like a certain number of melee kills, or a certain number of headshots. The whole thing feels very much like Call of Duty 4's online play, but there's more to it than that. Each multiplayer game has a few different modes that it will switch through, and depending on what happens in one mode, it will tie it in with what the next mode will be... for example, both sides are trying to place propaganda speakers on the other team's side, depending on who wins the round, the mode will switch to seek and destroy, and one team will destroy the propaganda speakers that were placed in the last game. This all happens in a single game, without taking any round breaks or anything like that. Also, after ranking up enough you begin to unlock new abilities, like a medic gun, or a cloaking device, or even a saboteur ability, allowing you to disguise yourself as the other team. This gives the online some more depth, and makes it feel a little bit like Team Fortress. This is all topped off by a complete lack of lag, and graphics that match the single-player campaign.

Overall, Killzone 2 is an amazing game with stunning visuals, intense action, compelling multiplayer, and is definitely something any PS3 owner should pick up.

I give Killzone 2, a 5 out of 5.

Game Review: Ghostbusters Co-Review

Ed's Review:

Ghostbusters hasn’t had a memorable game in quite some time, so when you get the original actors and minds involved with a game you hope for good things. This game did not disappoint.

The design of Ghostbusters is visually beautiful, for all the complaints by developers that the current systems are maxed out this game proves some of the potential the big developers are blind to. The open franchise that is Ghostbusters offers many different approaches that the developers took in terms of missons and the ghosts, nostalgia is clearly there with the original Ghostbusters sizing you up as their trainee. The games pretty creepy at times too, not on the Dead Space level, but when you have ghosts sprinting at you around corners, it gets pretty creepy. The Hotel had a pretty creepy moment, but the Library is probably the best level with its visuals, moments of creepiness, and puzzles. Yes I said puzzles, there are moments where you have to be inventive to get through the level.

A big element of this game is the controls, you’re a ghostbuster with a proton pack. So obviously catching ghosts should be a satisfying experience, it’s not like a shooter where you just shoot and the ghosts disappear. It’s an extreme tug of war to bring the ghosts in, it requires teamwork even with the A.I. to slam the ghosts down and put them in your trap. For me the control is good, it has some variety, and the health and pressure monitors on your proton pack turned out good. I thought having your health on the side of your pack would be hard to read during the hectic moments, I was surprised at how easy I got used to it.

There are other good things, good humor moments, the nostalgic characters and ghosts you meet. The missions are decent, the gameplay is good. So is there anything wrong with this game for me? Well, SOMETIMES the gameplay is repetitive but not too much. The Multiplayer is currently having connection issues, yet I haven’t had them. But I am really being nitpicky about this game when it comes to the negative elements. It’s about 6 to 7 hours of gameplay from start to finish on medium difficulty, I wish there was more. I guess that’s all I can say against this game, it’s going to be a classic game. But the multiplayer is not going to make it as replayable as say, Call of Duty 4, the developers did acknowledge lacking in that department. I’m glad they devoted their time to the fanbase cry for a true ghostbuster’s feel.

I give it a 4 out of 5

TJ's Review:

I think Ed did a solid job of explaining this game I wouldn't say it's classic however but definitely nostalgic. For me the game had a few peaks and valleys where the game was either fun or frustrating Luckily is was fun most of the time but not without it's faults.

I'd totally agree though with Ed that the visuals are pretty great. Especially the library level where the ghost world and our world collide. It was really refreshing to have a game come along that wasn't just varying shades of grey and brown. The levels are full of color and it really makes for an appealing game for the senses. The only thing that is a bit stale visually is some of the level design that seems a bit dated. I'm sure some of that comes from the fact this game should have been out a year ago. Overall though its very nice and the hud on the proton pack is nice although not as good as Dead Space's hud.

I've heard reports of some reviewers thinking the 360 controls for wrangling ghost get a little boring and tedious after a while. I can say that for me that never really was the case. I always had fun capturing goes from beginning to end and thought it was actually the best part of the game. The one thing this game does do perfect is giving you the ultimate experience of what it would be like to be a Ghostbuster and that is something that never gets old. The characters really made you feel at home like this really is a third story. All the performances were really good and while Bill Murray did seem a bit bored even he was better then most of the voice acting out there. A great atmosphere and characters can make a game go a long way.

Aside from the ghost catching and story the rest of the gameplay and design choices don't seem as well executed. Some of the navigation of levels can be a bit unclear at times. About twice in the game I came across places where I would walk in circles for 20 minutes before I figured out where to go next. Some of the weapons also seemed pretty useless and added in to give the illusion of depth. 90% of the game the default stream did the trick. I would definitely look forward to a sequel if the game sells well.

4 out of 5

Classic Game Review: Mega Man 2 (NES)

After the giant success Capcom had with Mega Man, they decided to make a sequal. For this game they would ramp up the difficulty, and make it even harder than the first game, coming out 2 years after the original Mega Man, Mega Man 2 looks a lot like the first game, but does it live up to expectations?

The short answer to that is "Yes". Mega Man 2 gives us more of the same side-scrolling hardcore platforming that we now expect from the series, while giving us a bunch of new robot masters to defeat, and in turn giving us a bunch of new weapons to acquire from them.

The game is tough, probobly a little bit harder than the first game, and I got pretty frustrated with it. But that just makes it better when you get past a stage, or beat another boss. I got up and danced more than once while playing through Mega Man 2, because I felt so accomplished at some points.

Overall, Mega Man 2 is a great game, and definitely a classic. Anybody who hasn't played it yet should, especially people looking for a great side-scrolling platformer. The game holds up today just as well as it did back then simply because, like most NES games, it doesn't rely on graphics to be good. For this game, it's all about the gameplay.

I give Mega Man 2 on the NES a 5 out of 5.

Game Review: Mirror's Edge

Mirror's Edge came out in the fall of 2008 to mixed reviews. Some considered it revolutionary and some thought it was shallow and unfinished. At the time all I had played was the demo and was pretty public about my dislike for the game simply based on that demo. Flash forward 7 months and I found myself staring at the game in Best Buy. the game was marked down to 30 bucks, so I thought to myself "Why not?". I brought the game home and played all the way through it. so here are my thoughts on the first-person free running game Mirror's Edge.

Let me get the story out of the way by saying, "What just happened?". All I can tell you is that Faith's sister gets kidnapped or something by this organization that wants the runners to stop making deliveries or something along those lines. Faith must then go through buildings and jump rooftops to save her? Look the story here is a waste and is just there to give some reason to why the game plays the way it does. Honestly they could have just given me the levels and withheld the absurd story. The cut scenes in this game are just laughable and really make the package as a whole feel a bit cheap.

Lucky for Mirror's Edge the game succeeds because of it's excellent level traversal. When you're moving forward with full momentum the game is excellent. At first the controls seemed hard to understand, which is why I hated the demo. Once I had a little more time then the demo, I was able to fully understand the controls and everything came very easy to me. The challenge came from being able to perfect the tools they give you. I've never been a time trials guy, but with Mirror's Edge I kept finding myself wanting to get the fastest time and smoothest play through I could get. There were two occasions where I was frustrated with how to get through a portion of a level. Some times the areas are not well enough explained and can be hard to figure out. I couldn't imagine playing this game the first time through without keeping the red indicator on to show you the way.

While the game succeeds when it's full speed ahead it fails miserably when it tries to be anything else. The combat is completely broken, they try to add depth by having counters and timed events to over take the enemy but it's all very clumsy. The moves they offer never seem to combo as smoothly as I would like.

Mirror's Edge is a game that does one thing practically perfect and a bunch of smaller things very clumsily. Luckily the majority of the game and the fun come from the free running aspect of the game which is executed brilliantly. All in all Mirror's Edge is a good game that has great potential.

4 out of 5

Geeksquisite Gaming Diary 6/9/09: Star Wars

Ed share's his thoughts on Star Wars from the Nintendo Entertainment System. ITS ADVENTURE OF LINK, NOT LINKS AWAKENING GAHHH I KNOW T_T

Batman on NES

Earlier in the week we briefly mentioned Batman: Arkham Asylum on our podcast, and touched on the fact that most Batman games have sucked. Because there isn't a memorable Batman game that stands away from the large amount of poor Batman games, I decided to delve back to Batman on NES to see if the first attempt on a console worked. It didn't

Batman on NES has "messy" graphics, I'm okay with that. But when enemies come after you, all you have to fight with is your fists. And it is a pain in the neck when you have those robotic contraptions at your feet hurting you every time you kill one. I've avoided taking damage a few times, but mostly have gotten hit. What's even more stupid is that the enemies don't represent any henchmen like resemblance to any Batman enemy I can think of. The enemies are so stock and random. 

Only later do I realize that because select is start, start changes your attack from punches to bataarangs, a gun, and other stuff. The sad part is most of the weapons are useless, the gun only shoots straight, the bataarangs are okay, and I don't like punching everything unless its one guy repeatedly. 

So does this Batman game stand out as good? I think it's easy to say it doesn't. It's really flawed, but i'll try to beat it without getting too annoyed. 

I give it a 1 out of 5

Am I saying Batman: Arkham Asylum will suck too? No, but gamers have played enough of them to be uninterested. I hope it defies expectations to suck. 

Captain Skyhawk on NES Review

The one game I didn't feel like playing, all because it was made by Milton Bradley. For some reason I didn't think they could make a good NES game. Holy Mother of God was I right about Captain Skyhawk. 

This game is terrible. The music is good, the intro is pretty good. When you start firing at enemies with a choice of simple firing and mass firing you'd think your all set. But some things are really messed up about this game. 

First the geography, never before in my life have I forgotten frequently out of frustration that you can't slow down or go backward. You can only steer where your lead footed pilot is going, and it doesn't help that the hills and mountains seem to be below you. But when you touch the area where their pixels are, the mountains kill you. There's no graphical design to make them look level with your plane, if you touch them, your dead. And it's weird because you can dip down with the plane, but when you start at max height you're still able to be hit by the mountains; so it's pointless. 

So being you can't slow down you have to really dart around the map, and at first I had no idea the map moved side to side. When I did I was relieved to avoid hitting a mountain close to me, but you are touching the side of the screen to move the view. It'd make more sense to allow a little space when flying to the side so you can see other hills and mountains before you hit them. Nope, this game had me hitting a mountain without knowing it as i tried to steer away from mountains and enemies. 

On top of that the enemies are almost 100 percent of the time moving on the areas without the mountains, and once again the lack of being able to slow down or stop makes me shoot wildly to get them out of the way. 

I can't last two minutes on Skyhawk, it frustrates the heck out of me. This game is worse than Fester's Quest. It's so bad, here is my score.

I give it a 0 out of 5

Avoid this game, if you get it for free or have to take it along with other games. Use it as a dissection project to learn the contents of an NES game as to what's inside. Use it for smashing. Use it to prop up something. But don't play it. 

N+ Review on Xbox 360

A while ago Rob got me to buy N+, it was a free game online but needless to say the idea of multiplayer on N+ is about 80 percent of my motive to buy any game. I like playing with my friends plain and simple. 

Now about N+ in case you don't know the game its where you aim to reach a door or go back to your starting point after you activate a switch. Your time limit is never reset in this game so it depends on how fast you can scale the different rooms that have different archways and traps to kill you. You can jump in an anti gravity fashion when you hold the Green A button for a few seconds, yellow dots represent "gold" to increase your time limit in case you take time to reach your goal or simply want to add time. Up to four people are allowed.

The control is good, i'd imagine some will complain but when the control is designed to be sensitive to challenge you, especially since you can slide against walls and double your jump height if you build momentum. The thrill of it makes me love this game for how simple it is, and the challenges get harder. It starts slow with some gaps, then some enemies that try to kill you, bombs that try to home in on you. It's a really fun game, and it made me think whether it was worth paying for since its free online. Well they added more room designs and the multiplayer experience is enjoyable, when your friends mess up and you watch their body parts scatter and bounce as they hit bombs is more entertaining than it should be. 

This game is worth the money and worth trying, it's a game for when you don't want to really "get" into the game. It's simply a Point A to B adventure game that has that surreal feel, especially with the music that doesn't repeat too much I think. 

I give it a 3.5 out of 5