Review – Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (NDS)
Posted inNintendo DS

Review – Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (NDS)

If you’d have suggested to me twenty years ago I’d be a Castlevania fan I’d have laughed in your face.  I have zero interest in the whole Gothic Horror genre, I dislike the soul crushing difficulty of the NES games, and frankly, the whole Dracula thing is kind of derivative. Then I played Symphony of the Night on the recommendation of pretty much everyone in alt.games.final-fantasy.  Ok, I purchased it at the Greatest Hits price then it sat on me game shelf until halfway through college.  Eventually I needed something to play so I picked it up. Now I’ve purchased…
Review – Metroid Prime: Hunters (NDS)
Posted inNintendo DS

Review – Metroid Prime: Hunters (NDS)

Oh my dear Metroid, where did you go wrong? Ok, technically I’m not a Metroid fan in any sense of the word. I’ve barely played Metroid on the NES. Metroid 2 was a decent distraction for a while but I’ve since sold my copy. Metroid 3 is an outstanding piece of gaming, but one game does not a series make. I’ve pretty much skipped anything recent on the portable scene other than half an emulated game of Fusion. I don’t have a GameCube. Enter Metroid Prime: Hunters. I was leery of a FPS style Metroid game but people had good…
Review – Final Fantasy II (Dawn of Souls) (GBA)
Posted inGame Boy Advance

Review – Final Fantasy II (Dawn of Souls) (GBA)

SquareEnix – GBA – 1 Player It’s fairly common knowledge these days among gamers that the Final Fantasy II we got on the SNES in the US wasn’t actually the second game in the series.  It was actually the fourth.  The true second game was released on the NES.  It eventually and finally made it to US shores in the Playstation “Final Fantasy Origins” collection along side the classic Final Fantasy I. This wasn’t a straight port however, it was an updated version featuring updated 16 bit graphics.  These two games would be released together again in essentially the same…
Review – Final Fantasy I (Dawn of Souls) (GBA)
Posted inGame Boy Advance

Review – Final Fantasy I (Dawn of Souls) (GBA)

SquareEnix – GBA – 1 Player I has been brought to my attention that December 18th was the 19 year anniversay of the original Final Fantasy. I suppose a review for Final Fantasy, even if it is the Game Boy Advance remake, should start with the story of the Origin of the Final Fantasy Title. You see, 19 years ago, Square was a failing game company. Previous hits such as “King’s Knight” and “Rad Racer” just weren’t cutting it so Square put all of it’s development power into an RPG. A Fantasy RPG. If this game failed, which they apparently…
Review – Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2)
Posted inPS2

Review – Metal Gear Solid 2 (PS2)

Metal Gear Solid 2 Konami - PS2 - 1 Player I'll just start by being courteous. There may be evil story spoilers in this article, though at the same times things that seem like evil story spoilers may just be exaggerations or even just made up to confuse you. With that said, It seems a recent trend in video games anymore is to simply rehash some old classic. 90% of games today are remakes or sequels to sequels. Sometimes a game comes along and tries something new and fresh though. A game with such neat innovative features the moment you…