Fair play to Xander for keeping this thread going long after I forgot about it.
I'll probably review Scribblenauts when it comes out though.
I'll probably review Scribblenauts when it comes out though.
The Redcafe Video Game Review Thread
- Thread starter Wonder Pigeon
- Start date
The Orange Box: Part 2
Good giant robo-dog.
Half-Life 2: Episodes 1 and 2 follow on the story from the original games cliffhanger ending. And in each of the episodes Valve focused on one particular gameplay aspect. In episode 1 you will find yourself fighting through wave after wave of enemy more often than not, and in episode 2 there is more of a puzzle and tactical aspect.
In both episodes you start off with nothing but the Gravity Gun and Alyx telling you whats just happened. In episode 1 you will see some familiar areas but episode 2 is based elsewhere, without wanting to give away anything about the story i can't go into much more detail than that. Needless to say you and Alyx fight and work out your way through various locations plugging in cables and jumping on boxes to your hearts content.
You also get introduced to some new enemies, mainly the hunters. These are smaller versions of the strider but every bit as deadly. Easier to kill as a few magnum shots will take them down, but can kill you pretty quickly too so when you hear that weird wailing, make sure you're ready for a fight. The graphics are basically the same as before, as are the weapons, and sadly as are the loading times. The AI though is much better, with Alyx, and in episode 2 a vortigaunt, being much more of a help than a hinderance.
Umm... hi?
The two episodes tie up a few loose ends from the original story but sadly leave you on another cliffhanger that leaves you feeling a little hollow, especially as the next episode is coming out... well no-one knows actually. Overall these are very welcome additions to the Half-Life game and you really feel the bond between the characters, there is also a little bit more humour in these including Dr Kleiner telling the entire population to get down and dirty.
Rating: 8/10
I actually thought these worked better than the original game, short and sweet but very well done.
Good giant robo-dog.
Half-Life 2: Episodes 1 and 2 follow on the story from the original games cliffhanger ending. And in each of the episodes Valve focused on one particular gameplay aspect. In episode 1 you will find yourself fighting through wave after wave of enemy more often than not, and in episode 2 there is more of a puzzle and tactical aspect.
In both episodes you start off with nothing but the Gravity Gun and Alyx telling you whats just happened. In episode 1 you will see some familiar areas but episode 2 is based elsewhere, without wanting to give away anything about the story i can't go into much more detail than that. Needless to say you and Alyx fight and work out your way through various locations plugging in cables and jumping on boxes to your hearts content.
You also get introduced to some new enemies, mainly the hunters. These are smaller versions of the strider but every bit as deadly. Easier to kill as a few magnum shots will take them down, but can kill you pretty quickly too so when you hear that weird wailing, make sure you're ready for a fight. The graphics are basically the same as before, as are the weapons, and sadly as are the loading times. The AI though is much better, with Alyx, and in episode 2 a vortigaunt, being much more of a help than a hinderance.
Umm... hi?
The two episodes tie up a few loose ends from the original story but sadly leave you on another cliffhanger that leaves you feeling a little hollow, especially as the next episode is coming out... well no-one knows actually. Overall these are very welcome additions to the Half-Life game and you really feel the bond between the characters, there is also a little bit more humour in these including Dr Kleiner telling the entire population to get down and dirty.
Rating: 8/10
I actually thought these worked better than the original game, short and sweet but very well done.
Cheers, i'm just bored is all. Everytime i finish a game, i thought i'd pop a review on here.
Scirbblenauts does look brilliant btw.
Shenmue is one of the best games i've ever played.
WHAT a game. Currently trying to find a Dreamcast to play it on this minute as mine is broke
WHAT a game. Currently trying to find a Dreamcast to play it on this minute as mine is broke
That's a game i've always wanted to play but i never had a dreamcast so never got round to it.Shenmue is one of the best games i've ever played.
WHAT a game. Currently trying to find a Dreamcast to play it on this minute as mine is broke
Dark Chronicle (Dark Cloud 2)
A game i played many a year ago and stumbled across a few weeks back, Dark Chronicle takes you on a journey through time following the adventure of Max and Monica.
This cel shaded game by studio Level-5, also responsible for Rogue Galaxy and Dragon Quest 8, is a fantastic RPG that will keep you engrossed for hours on end.
The story is about a man who travels through time to stop certain events from taking place, it is up to you to make sure that the future turns out the way it should. Monica is from the future, so luckily can tell you what you need to do to make things right. She's also a princess by the way. Max on the other hand is a wealthy boy who grew up in a little village where no-one has left for a long time. You both have medallions which can be used to travel forward and backward in time, conveniant.
Anyway enough about the story onto the game itself. The battle system is pretty simple, it's all in real time and enemies appear on the battlefield infront of you. You have four basic attacks, hit it with your wrench (you heard me) or sword, shoot it or use magic. Both main characters are easily interchangable with the click of a button, and you will be doing it often as certain enemies are weaker to certain attacks. That's about the basics of it, later in the game you can also transform into monsters and use their abilities or use your robot friend Steve (with added annoying sayings if you turn his voice on).
Ninja Steve takes no prisoners!
This RPG is spilt into several dungeons, each one bigger than the last. There are a certain amount of stages in each dungeon and you can leave and heal and save before attempting any one of them, so there's no problem about having to fight beyond your ability. Each stage is randomly generated so no two are the same, and the enemies change as well depending on what stage you're on, but usually it amounts to the same enemy in a different colour with a different name.
The weapon upgrade system is a big part of the game, and you won't get far if you don't use it. Every item you pick up can be broken down into these shards that you can attach to your weapons and increase their stats in some way. Once certain stats reach a certain level you can upgrade your weapon changing it's look and it's power. There a hundreds of different combinations to find and some of them are pretty funny (running around attacking clowns with a frozen tuna is a favourite pastime of mine).
Another compelling arguement for the removal of gm crops
Another big part of the game is the Georama. A function that allows you to build small settlements in certain areas of the world. You can also take certain villagers with you and move them into these towns. This is the biggest part of the game as what you build directly affects the future. Build a church and put a vicar in it and in the future a chapel will be there, of course you are limited to the changes you can make to the future landscape and are given certain targets to meet so you can restore the future.
The graphics in this game were pretty damn good for their day. The cell shaded characters look great and the towns and dungeons all look the part to, with each individual dungeon having its own unique look that changes subtley as you progress through it. The music is very good as well, from the french sounding music of your home town, to the calm acoustic guitar that plays after you've cleared an area of enemies the music really adds to the experience and is some of the best on the PS2 in my opinion. The voices are all done well, with each voice really fitting the character (i really believed that's how a duck doctor would sound), they may grate on you after a while as the two main characters have a few sayings they will repeat ad nauseum.
But on to the fun part of all RPG's, the sidequests. And boy are there a few, you can go fishing, raise fish to race, play golf, upgrading and individualising your robot, inventing weapons or objects and attempting to beat certain stipulations in dungeons. These all add so much more playability to the game, oh yeah there are also alternate costumes for the main characters that you can purchase/find. All in all if you wanted to you could play this game for well over 100 hours without finishing it.
Dungarees are all the rage round here
Rating 8.5/10
Got to mark it down for annoying camera angles and button bashing combat but this is truly a must not miss for RPG fans.
A game i played many a year ago and stumbled across a few weeks back, Dark Chronicle takes you on a journey through time following the adventure of Max and Monica.
This cel shaded game by studio Level-5, also responsible for Rogue Galaxy and Dragon Quest 8, is a fantastic RPG that will keep you engrossed for hours on end.
The story is about a man who travels through time to stop certain events from taking place, it is up to you to make sure that the future turns out the way it should. Monica is from the future, so luckily can tell you what you need to do to make things right. She's also a princess by the way. Max on the other hand is a wealthy boy who grew up in a little village where no-one has left for a long time. You both have medallions which can be used to travel forward and backward in time, conveniant.
Anyway enough about the story onto the game itself. The battle system is pretty simple, it's all in real time and enemies appear on the battlefield infront of you. You have four basic attacks, hit it with your wrench (you heard me) or sword, shoot it or use magic. Both main characters are easily interchangable with the click of a button, and you will be doing it often as certain enemies are weaker to certain attacks. That's about the basics of it, later in the game you can also transform into monsters and use their abilities or use your robot friend Steve (with added annoying sayings if you turn his voice on).
Ninja Steve takes no prisoners!
This RPG is spilt into several dungeons, each one bigger than the last. There are a certain amount of stages in each dungeon and you can leave and heal and save before attempting any one of them, so there's no problem about having to fight beyond your ability. Each stage is randomly generated so no two are the same, and the enemies change as well depending on what stage you're on, but usually it amounts to the same enemy in a different colour with a different name.
The weapon upgrade system is a big part of the game, and you won't get far if you don't use it. Every item you pick up can be broken down into these shards that you can attach to your weapons and increase their stats in some way. Once certain stats reach a certain level you can upgrade your weapon changing it's look and it's power. There a hundreds of different combinations to find and some of them are pretty funny (running around attacking clowns with a frozen tuna is a favourite pastime of mine).
Another compelling arguement for the removal of gm crops
Another big part of the game is the Georama. A function that allows you to build small settlements in certain areas of the world. You can also take certain villagers with you and move them into these towns. This is the biggest part of the game as what you build directly affects the future. Build a church and put a vicar in it and in the future a chapel will be there, of course you are limited to the changes you can make to the future landscape and are given certain targets to meet so you can restore the future.
The graphics in this game were pretty damn good for their day. The cell shaded characters look great and the towns and dungeons all look the part to, with each individual dungeon having its own unique look that changes subtley as you progress through it. The music is very good as well, from the french sounding music of your home town, to the calm acoustic guitar that plays after you've cleared an area of enemies the music really adds to the experience and is some of the best on the PS2 in my opinion. The voices are all done well, with each voice really fitting the character (i really believed that's how a duck doctor would sound), they may grate on you after a while as the two main characters have a few sayings they will repeat ad nauseum.
But on to the fun part of all RPG's, the sidequests. And boy are there a few, you can go fishing, raise fish to race, play golf, upgrading and individualising your robot, inventing weapons or objects and attempting to beat certain stipulations in dungeons. These all add so much more playability to the game, oh yeah there are also alternate costumes for the main characters that you can purchase/find. All in all if you wanted to you could play this game for well over 100 hours without finishing it.
Dungarees are all the rage round here
Rating 8.5/10
Got to mark it down for annoying camera angles and button bashing combat but this is truly a must not miss for RPG fans.
True Crime: The Streets of LA
Premise: Nick Kang is a smart-ass cop who plays by his own rules. After a no nonsense African-American police chief gets him on her side, he has to team up with a sassy Latino lady to bring down the Russian mafia, and maybe learn the truth about his father's murder, making wise cracks all the while. A real creative stretch from the writers, this one. Also, a dragon inexplicably shows up at one point.
Rating: 4/10. I thought that I had traded this GTA clone in, but apparantly not. It's just as bad as I remember, apart from the clichéd premise, it is quite dull, short, has a crappy rap soundtrack and a dragon inexplicably shows up at one point. Avoid it if you see it in a bargain bin somewhere.
Premise: Nick Kang is a smart-ass cop who plays by his own rules. After a no nonsense African-American police chief gets him on her side, he has to team up with a sassy Latino lady to bring down the Russian mafia, and maybe learn the truth about his father's murder, making wise cracks all the while. A real creative stretch from the writers, this one. Also, a dragon inexplicably shows up at one point.
Rating: 4/10. I thought that I had traded this GTA clone in, but apparantly not. It's just as bad as I remember, apart from the clichéd premise, it is quite dull, short, has a crappy rap soundtrack and a dragon inexplicably shows up at one point. Avoid it if you see it in a bargain bin somewhere.
After replaying Dark Chronicle i thought i'd dust off another RPG by those lovely guys and girls at Level-5.
Rogue Galaxy
You are Jaster Rogue, a young man from the desert slave planet of Rosa. One day beasts attack the town and you meet a stranger who gives you a sword. It turns out said stranger was Desert Claw, a hunter of high repute, and with his sword you slay the beast and get mistaken for your fleeting comrade. This leads to a robot and a mole-man thing taking you aboard their masters ship and you're off to travel the galaxy!
This is another very well made and great to look at game from Level-5 (must get ps3 for White Knight Chronicles). The game itself takes place on numerous planets around the galaxy as you and your pirate friends hunt for treasure. You have the grumpy one, the girly one, the foreign one, the neurotic one, the big guy, the tough girl one, a robot and you.
Come get some
The combat system is simple yet varied, you use the X button for primary attack and square for secondary, with the circle button being used for jumping. Some enemies require certain perameters to be met though before you can defeat them. Some have armour that can only by broken with a certain gun, or can only be hurt on certain areas of their body. This keeps you on your toes and makes the battles a little more taxing than just button mashing.
Each character has different weapons and the customisation of them is very similar to Dragon Quest 8, you meet a small toad early on who has the power to combine weapons to make better weapons and you'll use him a lot. Every level-5 game seems to increase the number of weapons available tenfold and this is no exception, there is a lot of variety, from giant axes to missile launchers you can find it here.
The graphics look great, as a latter day PS2 game you would expect no less, and the cel shading works very well for the over the top story this is portaying. The towns are littered with people (amongst other things) and although a lot of dungeon crawling is required, the scenery is almost constantly changing.
Jungle is massive
The voice acting is very good and the variety of minigames and sidequests, as i've come to expect now from these guys, is huge. All in all a very neat little game to help make the time pass until Final Fantasy XIII arrives.
Rating: 7.5/10
Not as good as dark chronicle and dragon quest but still pretty damn good.
P.S sorry about the image sizes.
Rogue Galaxy
You are Jaster Rogue, a young man from the desert slave planet of Rosa. One day beasts attack the town and you meet a stranger who gives you a sword. It turns out said stranger was Desert Claw, a hunter of high repute, and with his sword you slay the beast and get mistaken for your fleeting comrade. This leads to a robot and a mole-man thing taking you aboard their masters ship and you're off to travel the galaxy!
This is another very well made and great to look at game from Level-5 (must get ps3 for White Knight Chronicles). The game itself takes place on numerous planets around the galaxy as you and your pirate friends hunt for treasure. You have the grumpy one, the girly one, the foreign one, the neurotic one, the big guy, the tough girl one, a robot and you.
Come get some
The combat system is simple yet varied, you use the X button for primary attack and square for secondary, with the circle button being used for jumping. Some enemies require certain perameters to be met though before you can defeat them. Some have armour that can only by broken with a certain gun, or can only be hurt on certain areas of their body. This keeps you on your toes and makes the battles a little more taxing than just button mashing.
Each character has different weapons and the customisation of them is very similar to Dragon Quest 8, you meet a small toad early on who has the power to combine weapons to make better weapons and you'll use him a lot. Every level-5 game seems to increase the number of weapons available tenfold and this is no exception, there is a lot of variety, from giant axes to missile launchers you can find it here.
The graphics look great, as a latter day PS2 game you would expect no less, and the cel shading works very well for the over the top story this is portaying. The towns are littered with people (amongst other things) and although a lot of dungeon crawling is required, the scenery is almost constantly changing.
Jungle is massive
The voice acting is very good and the variety of minigames and sidequests, as i've come to expect now from these guys, is huge. All in all a very neat little game to help make the time pass until Final Fantasy XIII arrives.
Rating: 7.5/10
Not as good as dark chronicle and dragon quest but still pretty damn good.
P.S sorry about the image sizes.
I still own 1 and 2. Haven't played them in years.Shenmue is one of the best games i've ever played.
WHAT a game. Currently trying to find a Dreamcast to play it on this minute as mine is broke
Bloody hell Xander, they're low ratings for the Half Life games.
Far and away the great FPS I've ever played.
Far and away the great FPS I've ever played.
I like his reviews, because he seems at least to use the whole scale of 0-10 (scale his 8/10 to say a normal 5 star rating for films, and you get a 4 star game, which should be excellent). Too many now dump crap games around 60% and not so great games above 90%. Then you get magazines like Edge where you don't actually have a clue who is doing the review, that give games like GTAIV and Halo3 a 10, yet on the other hand give some high quality original offerings a 7.
I'm going to do a few reviews for some old weird shit.
I call it how i see it. It's hard to give any game a 10/10, just as it's hard to give any game a 0 or a 1.
There's always imperfections or merits but i just try to give my opinion on what it was like for me, again it'll be different for everyone. Personally, as you can probably tell, i have a soft spot for RPG's and know a lot more about them than other genres and feel i can give them higher or lower marks as i've played more and know more about the range of games. I would review Enchanted Arms but i'd rather not remember that experience. I can't possibly give Half Life a 10 if i find a game that's better what do i give it?
I am in a quandry though, i forgot i gave Persona 4 a 9.5 out of 10, might have let my heart get the better of me there, not many decent JRPG's been released for a long time. With that said if i reviewed Final Fantasy 8 i probably would have to push the boat out and go for a 10. Bit of a fanboi.
I just want to say that the FIFA 2010 demo is bloody brilliant.
Thank you.
Thank you.
In light of the nostalgia threads i would now like to post some reviews of some classic games from the past. These will have no score.
XENON 2
Welcome to a time when scrolling shooters involving spaceships and aliens was the pinnacle of gaming. But this is my personal favourite, mainly thanks to the great music that's probably more recognisable than the game itself!
The game has you fly upwards through different terrains, avoiding deadends and all sorts of nasties before reaching a boss and blowing him to pieces. There are enough powerups and different types of ammo that the screen will be flashing so much it'll give the whole family seizures. Put simply, sod your r-type i'll stick to Xenon.
If you want you can download Xenon 2000 for free here
Snake, Rattle and Roll
Just the name brings back great memories, stuck infront of that big box with a controller that nowadays would be laughed out of the room. Grey and red is the future people! Anyways, Snake, Rattle and Roll. You play as either Rattle or Roll, two (you guessed it) snakes who have set out to... well they never really go into much detail on that, but it's not important. You have to get to the exit, and on the way you can eat these little blob things that fly out of cannons on the wall. The more you eat the heavier you get and then you can stand on the scales and open doors, but beware the giant foot. If it get's too close give it a good licking (literally) and that should get rid of it.
If truth be told i never completed this game, i always died on the ice level when i'd just slip off left right and centre and watch my snakes spinning head squeal in agony. But nonetheless i loved it! Now watch some bastard complete the game i never could in 5 minutes.
So we've had Amiga, then NES. Onto the next in my line of consoles, the super nintendo in al it's 16 bit glory
Illusion of Time (or Gaia)
After playing Zelda:Link to the Past, my love for RPG's was just beginning and this was the next on the list. You start off as a young boy at school who stumbles into a portal (as you do) and finds he has to save the world from a comet. So he sets off on a journey to find "mystic statues" and destroy the comet.
Along the way you find that you can transform, into a knight (with glorious hair if i may add) and shadow, a weird blue thing that i can't really remember what it does. You must use these versions of yourself to get through various dungeons and beat all the weird little enemies that get in your way. In the dungeons there are a set amount of enemies, and this is where the levelling system comes in. If you kill every enemy in a dungeon you receive an upgrade to either health, attack or defence.
You also have some friends that tag along, but never help fight, who you develop the story with. One moment that i always remember is being stranded on a raft for about a month doing nothing but catch fish, good times. Oh yeah and you can use your pink stick to move things without touching them (insert penis joke here).
XENON 2
Welcome to a time when scrolling shooters involving spaceships and aliens was the pinnacle of gaming. But this is my personal favourite, mainly thanks to the great music that's probably more recognisable than the game itself!
The game has you fly upwards through different terrains, avoiding deadends and all sorts of nasties before reaching a boss and blowing him to pieces. There are enough powerups and different types of ammo that the screen will be flashing so much it'll give the whole family seizures. Put simply, sod your r-type i'll stick to Xenon.
If you want you can download Xenon 2000 for free here
Snake, Rattle and Roll
Just the name brings back great memories, stuck infront of that big box with a controller that nowadays would be laughed out of the room. Grey and red is the future people! Anyways, Snake, Rattle and Roll. You play as either Rattle or Roll, two (you guessed it) snakes who have set out to... well they never really go into much detail on that, but it's not important. You have to get to the exit, and on the way you can eat these little blob things that fly out of cannons on the wall. The more you eat the heavier you get and then you can stand on the scales and open doors, but beware the giant foot. If it get's too close give it a good licking (literally) and that should get rid of it.
If truth be told i never completed this game, i always died on the ice level when i'd just slip off left right and centre and watch my snakes spinning head squeal in agony. But nonetheless i loved it! Now watch some bastard complete the game i never could in 5 minutes.
So we've had Amiga, then NES. Onto the next in my line of consoles, the super nintendo in al it's 16 bit glory
Illusion of Time (or Gaia)
After playing Zelda:Link to the Past, my love for RPG's was just beginning and this was the next on the list. You start off as a young boy at school who stumbles into a portal (as you do) and finds he has to save the world from a comet. So he sets off on a journey to find "mystic statues" and destroy the comet.
Along the way you find that you can transform, into a knight (with glorious hair if i may add) and shadow, a weird blue thing that i can't really remember what it does. You must use these versions of yourself to get through various dungeons and beat all the weird little enemies that get in your way. In the dungeons there are a set amount of enemies, and this is where the levelling system comes in. If you kill every enemy in a dungeon you receive an upgrade to either health, attack or defence.
You also have some friends that tag along, but never help fight, who you develop the story with. One moment that i always remember is being stranded on a raft for about a month doing nothing but catch fish, good times. Oh yeah and you can use your pink stick to move things without touching them (insert penis joke here).
Is there any chance this could get stickied so it's used again and more frequently? Always wondered why there hasn't been a thread like this as it would help for the games where not a lot of people play them so a seperate thread isn't made.
Cool thread! Didn't knew about it. Will add a review on Tales of Graces f (PS3) soon enough.
Great thread, definitely deserves a sticky. Will write a few reviews on games I've played recently at some point.
Is it SilentWitness who started the Grid 2 thread?
I might post a line or two on all the games that I own. Maybe... 
No! That was Sarni. But that thread is one of many that has made me want this to be stickied.
Would have expected Sarni to have resurrected this tbh.
It'll probably take off more when the next gen consoles are launched.
It'll probably take off more when the next gen consoles are launched.
I had never played the original Tropico Games but i was in for a treat when i decided to pick this up. It's never going to be the upper bandwith of CMS games but it's definitely worth playing through. The gameplay is pretty enjoyable and there is mostly always something happening but sometimes in a mission you can tell you will be on course to completing it which takes some of the fun out. The missions are well spread out with difficulty with some being a harder challenge than others, and challenging you in different aspects of the game. There is a thorough spread of humour within the game as the Tropico radio which pops up now and then during missions commenting on what El Presidente has been doing. The music however can get a little annoying so i usually turn it off, put on my own but keep the sound effects and voices on. There is a lot of content to be playing around with too. Once you have finished the in game missions there are challenges which other users have created but also a sandbox mode to be playing around with.
Rating: 7/10
I didn't even know it existed.
Good idea, most big games deserve a separate thread probably because you don't really want to be discussing GTA5 here but it'll be very useful for getting an opinion on newly released games. I can promise to contribute to this thread.
Super Mario World
Premise: Mario and Luigi must travel across 7 parts of Dinosaur Land with Yoshi, a young dinosaur that they hatched from an egg they found, freeing each area from the tyranny of BOWSER'S CHILDREN and rescuing the ever imperilled Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser himself.
Rating: 9.8/10 - Simply the best 2D platformer ever made, and my favourite game of all time.
Everything from the art style, music, sound effects and game mechanics work together to create a fun experience in a world where any crazy thing could happen. The game introduced one of the best characters of the Mario series- Yoshi, he granted Mario access to new 'abilities' and added a new layer of complexity to the game. The game remained true to the series roots with multiple ways through some levels to give you a shortcut through the game if you find the right exit. The music is among the catchiest ever published, I would speculate that anyone who has played this game could remember at least 2 tunes from it and probably has one in their head right now. I would say that the difficulty was a little on the easy side for the main quest line, although there were some gnarly special levels that were a little more difficult.
Everyone should have played this game, but if you for some reason haven't.. find a way to play it. Tubular.
Premise: Mario and Luigi must travel across 7 parts of Dinosaur Land with Yoshi, a young dinosaur that they hatched from an egg they found, freeing each area from the tyranny of BOWSER'S CHILDREN and rescuing the ever imperilled Princess Peach from the clutches of Bowser himself.
Rating: 9.8/10 - Simply the best 2D platformer ever made, and my favourite game of all time.
Everything from the art style, music, sound effects and game mechanics work together to create a fun experience in a world where any crazy thing could happen. The game introduced one of the best characters of the Mario series- Yoshi, he granted Mario access to new 'abilities' and added a new layer of complexity to the game. The game remained true to the series roots with multiple ways through some levels to give you a shortcut through the game if you find the right exit. The music is among the catchiest ever published, I would speculate that anyone who has played this game could remember at least 2 tunes from it and probably has one in their head right now. I would say that the difficulty was a little on the easy side for the main quest line, although there were some gnarly special levels that were a little more difficult.
Everyone should have played this game, but if you for some reason haven't.. find a way to play it. Tubular.
Oh God, that level
There were some good ones on that special world road. Some cracking names too.
Yep, some of them were Way Cool
This thread is now stickied. Have at it.
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Premise: While being carried across the sea by a stork, Baby Luigi has been kidnapped by the evil Kamek, and Baby Mario has fallen down to Yoshi's Island. The Yoshis that this island is home to, must help guide and protect Mario through six worlds, to rescue his brother Luigi and finally finish their journey home.
Opinion: Must play. This is probably my favourite game of all time. Every single thing about it fits together perfectly and creates one of the best atmospheres you could ask for. The various themed worlds accompanied by music ranging from the cheerful flower garden, to the relaxing and mysterious caves or dark castles. Mixed in with the hand drawn styled sprites and environments, with animations around every corner from waterfalls and sparkling rocks in caves, to butterflies flying amongst the grass, help bring the game to life and draw you in.
Yoshi's Island offers more challenge than Super Mario World, and if you're trying to collect every hidden item to get 100 points on each level, it probably pushes it up a little bit past Super Mario Bros 3. However, unlike those games, rather than simply trying to make a big jump or land on a small platform, you'll have to think about some things and be on your toes to make it through certain levels. But most importantly, you'll probably want to carry on and do as much as you can. Even if Baby Mario's crying can get annoying at times, the way you're drawn in makes it a pleasure to play, and you'll want to help him through.
Premise: While being carried across the sea by a stork, Baby Luigi has been kidnapped by the evil Kamek, and Baby Mario has fallen down to Yoshi's Island. The Yoshis that this island is home to, must help guide and protect Mario through six worlds, to rescue his brother Luigi and finally finish their journey home.
Opinion: Must play. This is probably my favourite game of all time. Every single thing about it fits together perfectly and creates one of the best atmospheres you could ask for. The various themed worlds accompanied by music ranging from the cheerful flower garden, to the relaxing and mysterious caves or dark castles. Mixed in with the hand drawn styled sprites and environments, with animations around every corner from waterfalls and sparkling rocks in caves, to butterflies flying amongst the grass, help bring the game to life and draw you in.
Yoshi's Island offers more challenge than Super Mario World, and if you're trying to collect every hidden item to get 100 points on each level, it probably pushes it up a little bit past Super Mario Bros 3. However, unlike those games, rather than simply trying to make a big jump or land on a small platform, you'll have to think about some things and be on your toes to make it through certain levels. But most importantly, you'll probably want to carry on and do as much as you can. Even if Baby Mario's crying can get annoying at times, the way you're drawn in makes it a pleasure to play, and you'll want to help him through.
Xandra no Daibōken: Valkyrie to no Deai
Premise: One day in the Land of Marvel, a huge explosion causes toxic dust to come down, killing people of the land. Xandra's son is one of those affected by the illness, and hearing about a cure, Xandra sets on on an adventure to find it.
Opinion: Well, you play as a guy made of jelly wielding a huge pitchfork to kill your enemies. Great start right? The game feel like a standard action platformer to start with, and that's probably because it mostly is. You jump around the level swinging your weapon to kill any one who gets in your way. You also have some jumping/flying attacks to help you attack, complete certain tasks and get through certain parts of some levels.
Challenge? Oh boy. This game is hard. It's hard, and very very long. Luckily it uses a password system so you don't have to play it all the way through each time, if it didn't I doubt you'd have the patience to make it all the way through. There are a lot of different bad endings, so you might want to play it a few times to see the different ones. The controls at times make it a little trickier too. Generally they're ok, but if you fall in a certain way, you can't control Xandra for a fraction of a second after landing, so at times if there are enemies around it can be annoying.
Looks wise it's nice and colorful, and each level has a nice feeling of it's own. Compared to something like Yoshi's Island it can look a bit simple at times, but still rather nice. The music also helps with the atmosphere, and at times is very nice, especially the forest music.
If you're a fan of action/platform games, and have a bit (lot) of free time or just like a nice challenge, then this is a good game for you to try out.
Premise: One day in the Land of Marvel, a huge explosion causes toxic dust to come down, killing people of the land. Xandra's son is one of those affected by the illness, and hearing about a cure, Xandra sets on on an adventure to find it.
Opinion: Well, you play as a guy made of jelly wielding a huge pitchfork to kill your enemies. Great start right? The game feel like a standard action platformer to start with, and that's probably because it mostly is. You jump around the level swinging your weapon to kill any one who gets in your way. You also have some jumping/flying attacks to help you attack, complete certain tasks and get through certain parts of some levels.
Challenge? Oh boy. This game is hard. It's hard, and very very long. Luckily it uses a password system so you don't have to play it all the way through each time, if it didn't I doubt you'd have the patience to make it all the way through. There are a lot of different bad endings, so you might want to play it a few times to see the different ones. The controls at times make it a little trickier too. Generally they're ok, but if you fall in a certain way, you can't control Xandra for a fraction of a second after landing, so at times if there are enemies around it can be annoying.
Looks wise it's nice and colorful, and each level has a nice feeling of it's own. Compared to something like Yoshi's Island it can look a bit simple at times, but still rather nice. The music also helps with the atmosphere, and at times is very nice, especially the forest music.
If you're a fan of action/platform games, and have a bit (lot) of free time or just like a nice challenge, then this is a good game for you to try out.
Jumping Flash
Premise: I have no idea. I think you're a robotic rabbit thing who is trying to blow up aliens. By jumping on all sorts of shit.
Rating 8/10: Jumping is fecking fun. And we're talking some serious jumping here, higher than you can imagine. You also get weapons to blow up things. I think you had to collect stuff, I'm not sure, I wasn't very good at completing levels, but level 1 is damn fun, I can tell you that much.
Premise: I have no idea. I think you're a robotic rabbit thing who is trying to blow up aliens. By jumping on all sorts of shit.
Rating 8/10: Jumping is fecking fun. And we're talking some serious jumping here, higher than you can imagine. You also get weapons to blow up things. I think you had to collect stuff, I'm not sure, I wasn't very good at completing levels, but level 1 is damn fun, I can tell you that much.
Hogs of War
Premise: A collection of islands known as Saustralasia has been found to be a source of swill, and you and you're team of pigs must fight nations of other pigs in order to conquer the region.
Opinion: If you like games like Worms, then you might find Hogs of War to be something you'll enjoy. The game has aged quite a bit due to it's typical blocky PS1 style graphics and occasionally awkward controls, but if you manage to get used to those then the game is pretty damn fun, especially when playing with a friend. That's not to say you can't enjoy it alone, as you definitely can, but the humor in the game, such as commentary and pig voices provided by Rik Mayall, mixed with the competitive nature of the game, really come out more in the multiplayer mode.
There are quite a wide range of weapons and attacks in the game, and are exactly what you'd expect. Rocket launchers, grenades, TNT... etc, with some pig themed ones thrown in, such as the trotter. Some of the attacks will need some practice, but they're generally pretty easy to use.
The sounds in the game is plus point. The music does a good job of fitting in to the various themed teams and regions, and the voiced of the pigs are entertaining and give character to each of them.
The game can be quite challenging, especially trying to figure out attacks withing the time limit. At times it can be a bit repetitive, but if you enjoy these kinds of games then you'll likely enjoy replaying the stages trying different ways to win, and trying to beat your previous times.
Premise: A collection of islands known as Saustralasia has been found to be a source of swill, and you and you're team of pigs must fight nations of other pigs in order to conquer the region.
Opinion: If you like games like Worms, then you might find Hogs of War to be something you'll enjoy. The game has aged quite a bit due to it's typical blocky PS1 style graphics and occasionally awkward controls, but if you manage to get used to those then the game is pretty damn fun, especially when playing with a friend. That's not to say you can't enjoy it alone, as you definitely can, but the humor in the game, such as commentary and pig voices provided by Rik Mayall, mixed with the competitive nature of the game, really come out more in the multiplayer mode.
There are quite a wide range of weapons and attacks in the game, and are exactly what you'd expect. Rocket launchers, grenades, TNT... etc, with some pig themed ones thrown in, such as the trotter. Some of the attacks will need some practice, but they're generally pretty easy to use.
The sounds in the game is plus point. The music does a good job of fitting in to the various themed teams and regions, and the voiced of the pigs are entertaining and give character to each of them.
The game can be quite challenging, especially trying to figure out attacks withing the time limit. At times it can be a bit repetitive, but if you enjoy these kinds of games then you'll likely enjoy replaying the stages trying different ways to win, and trying to beat your previous times.
Olly you absolute hero!Hogs of War
Premise: A collection of islands known as Saustralasia has been found to be a source of swill, and you and you're team of pigs must fight nations of other pigs in order to conquer the region.
Opinion: If you like games like Worms, then you might find Hogs of War to be something you'll enjoy. The game has aged quite a bit due to it's typical blocky PS1 style graphics and occasionally awkward controls, but if you manage to get used to those then the game is pretty damn fun, especially when playing with a friend. That's not to say you can't enjoy it alone, as you definitely can, but the humor in the game, such as commentary and pig voices provided by Rik Mayall, mixed with the competitive nature of the game, really come out more in the multiplayer mode.
There are quite a wide range of weapons and attacks in the game, and are exactly what you'd expect. Rocket launchers, grenades, TNT... etc, with some pig themed ones thrown in, such as the trotter. Some of the attacks will need some practice, but they're generally pretty easy to use.
The sounds in the game is plus point. The music does a good job of fitting in to the various themed teams and regions, and the voiced of the pigs are entertaining and give character to each of them.
The game can be quite challenging, especially trying to figure out attacks withing the time limit. At times it can be a bit repetitive, but if you enjoy these kinds of games then you'll likely enjoy replaying the stages trying different ways to win, and trying to beat your previous times.
This was such a pearl, like worms but in 3d and great fun when you had 3 friends over.
We spent so much time on this back in the day, a fantastic game if you can look past the graphics.
Gets a 9/10 from me!
Yep, it's a fun game! I keep meaning to get it out and give a play through, hopefully now I'll finally get round to it
I downloaded it for pc a while back, but playing it by yourself with a keyboard isn't the same as playing it with a few mates on console.
Yeah, I can't really imagine playing it on a PC, doesn't really seem like it would compare with sitting on a couch playing it. Although I tend to feel that way with most games 
Amazing game! Remember spending way too much time round my mates house playing it as a kid.
So, i caved in and bought this.
Gameplay: During the first few races i was apprehensive at first as to whether this would be any improvement on the first Grid but once you get into the game it really comes into its own. The handling is sweet, and when you commit to a corner and get it perfect it feels awesome as with a keyboard which i'm using it can be a bit tricky sometimes to handle with a RWD car! I really like the little cut scenes they've put together too, really brings the game to life rather than a standard "do this race, now this race, now that race" like GT5. Damage is well put together, but your car can get bashed up a bit very quickly if you aren't careful. There is always the flashback system in place if you need it which is a great feature when you are getting to grips with the game. The features i do think can be improved on are customisation of your car, whether that be liveries or the performance area. Graphics wise I've been playing on Medium and it looks super, when i put it up to High you can see the difference but unfortunately my computer isn't up to that and it lags a little.
8/10.Sound: The cars on the game really do sound fantastic. That raspy engine noise always gets me pumped on the starting line. The music on the game is awful as usual because it's the same tracks over and over again. It would be great if they implemented a proper sound track into the game, even just as background noise when you are in your garage/showroom. 6/10.
Online: I have only played an hour or so online but it plays very well. The cars are ghosted around the track to avoid constant noobs and smashes (Hello F1 2012), and the corner cutting system where you get a 3 second 20 mph limit generally stops people from doing it. It's also got a very neat feature where you are able to build your own car up performance and livery wise. You have to pay for the upgrades with money you have won in online races and it means the Online play is like a whole new game rather than the generic Race/Race/Race that other racing games have. 8/10.
Overall i'd give this game a solid 7.5/10. I was apprehensive at first about paying £23 for it but i think it's worth that by far. Best racing game i've played in a while.
Tales of Graces f
Bought this game some year ago after hearing good things about Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360) - being a fan of Tales series I expected a good, solid JRPG.
Story: Asbel Lhant and his friends encounter a mystical girl who has suffered from amnesia and cannot recall her name nor where she's from. Being Intrigued by her, they head out for a journey throughout the kingdom to find her origin while encountering a lot of odd stuff.
Gameplay: The world and quest paths are almost exclusively linear while the combat is much more diverse. You gather items and whatnot and you can vendor these or use the mixer to created/enchant various things. The mixer is a neat tool that adds a bit of depth and really suited for those who enjoy hoarding stuff (who doesn't?). The combat is not traditional turn-based action but real-time fighting with some strategic elements (swapping members/targets on the fly and assigning roles/strategies via menu). There's also a fair few puzzles to solve and they get a bit more complex as you go. You gain levels and you learn titles which gives you access to attributes and abilities based on your gathered XP - Like any RPG really.
What you can expect from the combat once you've learned a thing or two
My verdict: Tales of Graces f is a noob friendly JRPG with its simple approach to story and character development. It's a bit a downer though. There's much to be desired from the this side of the game - which is a sad thing especially for the fans of the series. However, the excellent combat really shines here though, and is arguably the best you will come across in any RPG this generation. There's a good 50h+ to invest into this game depending on how much you want to complete.
Final score: 7/10
It's not sticky anymore. Don't know if it was intentional but I just noticed.