Review – Final Fantasy IX (PS1)
Posted inPS1

Review – Final Fantasy IX (PS1)

It’s amazing how something so good (FF8) can be followed by something so bad. Rumor has it, people complained about FF8 a lot. They complained because it was so different from the “classical aspects of the series” that Square decided to give the fans what they really wanted. In reality Square (hopefully purposely) created a bad remake of all of thier previous FF games all rolled into one. Pretty much every aspect of this game is based on some other game. Surprisingly it seems to draw the most from FF1. The biggest setback in this game was the return to…
Review – Final Fantasy VIII (PS1)
Posted inPS1

Review – Final Fantasy VIII (PS1)

Playstation 1 – Squaresoft – 1 Player Sometimes you play through a game, and for some reason you just know you’ve played a really good game. One good way to know that a game has got to be at least marginally good is if over the course of playing it your opinion of it completely changes. With little or no effort, you find a game you expected and did hate suddenly becomes something you enjoy playing. That is the case of Final Fantasy 8. Before playing this game, as far as I could tell from what others were saying ti…
Review – Pokemon Magikarp Jump (Android, iOS)
Posted inMobile (Android & IOS)

Review – Pokemon Magikarp Jump (Android, iOS)

The Good Charming visuals and art work Magikarp Magikarp The Bad Very repetitive game play Weird overpriced Microtransaction Model Shallow Gameplay In Depth Pokemon Go isn't the only mobile Pokemon Experience available on mobile, Pokemon Magikarp Jump is a much more traditional mobile game with all of the usual caveats that come along with that.  At it's core, Magikarp Jump is just your traditional old school Tomagotchi only with Pokemon.  You fish up a Magikarp, you feed it food and train it, and then take it off to compete in a Jumping contest against AI Magikarp opponents.  That's 100% of…
Review – Super Mario Run (Android, iOS)
Posted inMobile (Android & IOS)

Review – Super Mario Run (Android, iOS)

The Good Solid Mario style Game on Mobile Smooth graphics and Gameplay Fun Gameplay in some modes The Bad Regular price is too high ($10) Repetitive Gameplay Toad Rally is Lame In Depth Nintendo is slowly making their way to mobile with a few of their flagship series, namely Pokemon and Super Mario Brothers.  They still aren't putting out straight ports of the classics yet, but hopefully they will come around.  Hopefully when they do they don't flub it and overprice everything the way Square has done with it's Final Fantasy ports.  Mario's first mobile foray is Super Mario Run,…
Review – Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA)
Posted inGame Boy Advance

Review – Metroid: Zero Mission (GBA)

After wrapping up the remake of Metroid II with Metroid: Samus Returns, it seemed like a good idea to look back a bit on Metroid Zero Mission, the remake of the original Metroid put out for the Game Boy Advanced. Previous to Metroid Zero I had just finished Metroid Classic, the GBA remake of the NES game. The best part of the Classics series is that they are pretty true to the original titles. I’ve previously played bits and pieces of Metroid but the sheer massive randomness of this game has always kept me away. Also it’s “really hard”. Or…
Review – Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)
Posted inNintendo 3DS

Review – Metroid: Samus Returns (3DS)

The Good Solid game play from a solid franchise Nice little additions and changes from the original Metroid II Good visuals The Bad Repetitive enemies and play mechanics Bosses are disproportionately difficult compared to everything else Very linear game play for a "Metroidvania" style game. In Depth Metroid: Samus Returns is a 3DS update and remake of the original Metroid II on Game Boy.  It's essentially to Metroid II, what Zero Mission is to the original Metroid.  The maps in Samus Returns are a little closer to the original Metroid II maps than Zero Mission and Metroid, but there are…
Review – Saints Row the Third (PC, Xbox360, PS3)
Posted inPC

Review – Saints Row the Third (PC, Xbox360, PS3)

2011 – Volition – 1 Player (Campaign) Multiplayer (Online)
PC, PS3, Xbox360

The Good

  • Loads of fun Gameplay
  • Reminiscent of classic GTA
  • Amazing custom character creation with voices and interactions not just “faceless”

The Bad

  • The missions are kind of just a repetition of a handful of mini games
  • Kooky level may be too much for some people’s taste.

In Depth

Saints Row really has a comeback story behind it. The first game is apparently rather terrible. the second game is better but not great. It’s already saddled with being a “GTA knockoff” by default no matter what it does. Somewhere Volition has managed to get something really right because Saints Row the Third seems to be quite a hit among gamers. So much of a hit that THQ had decided to focus more on games like Saints Row over things like it’s failing Wii Tablet thing (U-Draw).

This thing is pretty long and image heavy, so you’ll have to click through to get the whole thing.