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Turbo Review: Killer Instinct (SNES)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want to see just a quick summary? Check out the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Killer Instinct Platform: SNES, Arcade(Not in this review) Genre: Fighting Publisher/Developer: Rareware *This is a review for Killer Instinct on the Super Nintendo, not the arcade version or the new Xbox One reboot Killer Instinct is another wonderful game from my childhood. With the new Killer Instinct reboot on the Xbox One and season 2 for that game on the way, I feel it is necessary to go down memory lane with the Super Nintendo version of the original Killer Instinct. Killer Instinct is a 2D fighter that takes inspiration from the more popular fighting games of the time, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. The gameplay is a bit stiff like MK and the graphical style is like MK's, though sprites and pre-rendered backgrounds are used here. The fighting moves themselves are more like a Street Fighter game. You have the basic move motions and even Jago, the obligatory Ninja, is very inspired by Ryu/Ken. The game uses a light/medium/heavy attack system and there are no throws in this one. Blocking is done by holding back. While these work fine, the thing that makes this game unique and fun though, is the combo system. "Whoa! Look at those graphics! I'd like to get my hands on that game!" The combo system is like using a special move, but chaining them together. So with Jago for instance, you can do a wind kick, which will then give you the opportunity to chain more moves after the wind kick is done. This allows you to pummel your opponent with very satisfying combos that really separate KI from other fighters at the time. Combos can also be broken by the one on the receiving end if they input a certain command at the right time. Learning each character and seeing their combos makes the game incredibly replayable, even with the lack of modes. Another huge thing about this game are the match finishers, which are the Fatality-like Ultimates and the ever so popular Ultra Combos. The Ultra's are one of the most satisfying parts of the game and each character has a different one. This was easily one of the most satisfying ways to defeat your opponent in any game at the time. As I just said, the game does lack in modes. You get a standard arcade mode, vs mode for multiplayer battles, a tournament mode and a practice mode. These are pretty much standard and they all work very well, though maybe one or two new modes would have been nice too. These probably would not have fit on the SNES cart so it isn't a huge deal. "SHORYUKEN!! Wait..." The graphics for the time are absolutely superb for the SNES. The 3D rendering of the stages and sprites looks great for a 16-bit system and in my opinion it looks better than any other fighter on the system and other than some very minor slowdown that can happen, the game runs smoothly as well. This is definitely a good technical showcase for the Super Nintendo. They may not look as good as the very technically impressive Arcade version, but for the system it is on, Rare did a fantastic job. Another great aspect about this version is the difficulty balance. In the options menu, you can select from 5 stars of difficulty. The higher the star number, the harder the game. This definitely sets the game apart from the arcade version as here the game feels far more balanced and player friendly, whereas the arcade version features insanely cheesy difficulty and cheating AI in order to drain you of quarters. This home port does not suffer from this and it makes the game a lot more enjoyable. Many think that this game was a butchered port from its arcade counterpart, yet this is the version I always enjoy more. One last thing, the characters here are quite varied and play differently. Each one is pretty much an early 90's dream. We have the obligatory Ninja, an icy T-1000-like alien, a boxer, a friggin Raptor, and more. A lot of the cast feels like stereotypes, but they work fine given the time. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! Been reviewing quite a few Awesome games lately. Sharing good games is, well, good. Until next week, Turbo out!
Turbo Review: SUPERHOT (Xbox One, PC)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!SUPERHOT Platform: PC, Xbox One Genre: FPS/Puzzle Publisher/Developer: SUPERHOT TEAM ESRB: T Price: $25 USD SUPER. HOT. These are two words you will be saying after playing this game. SUPERHOT is a First Person Shooter, but not like you have ever played. SUPERHOT is actually a really simple concept. You play as a nameless character, seemingly supposed to be you, in a sort of virtual reality game, where you dispatch with 'red guys' as they are called, by various means. Shooting them, punching them, even going at it with a katana. Guns have limited ammunition and the baseball bat weapon can break, but you can also throw your weapon to get the jump on the enemies. Here is where the twist comes in: SUPERHOT only movies when you do. While you are motionless, the game slows down drastically, to near stopping point, so you can strategically fight all of the enemies, as you die with 1 hit. Being shot once, be hit with a sword once, even being just punched once, is instant death, so patience and situational awareness is an absolute must with this game, but wow, is it fun. Your enemies all die in one hit as well, except for melee hits which takes 3, so the odds are also in your favor if you are careful. While a simple concept on paper, it is incredible how well executed it all is. The thrill of getting a huge kill chain while not be touched is exhilarating beyond belief, especially since this game doesn't mess around. Even the visuals and sounds are simple, with a very crisp look consisting mostly of white for the background, black for weapons and objects and red for the enemies. It is simplistic but works flawlessly for the concept. IT keeps everything easy to see and once you get the hang of the way the game works, if you are patient enough, this game will keep you coming back again and again. There is a story mode surprisingly enough and this is actually what you must start with. You play through about 27 levels where you are given all that you need to get the hang of the game. This story mode, while incredibly short, was actually quite engaging, as there are some really interesting undertones to the entire thing and it will have you wondering. Like I said it is short though, it can be beaten in about two hours, so sadly the story just doesn't last long. Once you complete it though, you unlock a plethora of new content, such as endless modes with different arenas and variants, challenge which has you going through the story mode with specific conditions and more. This, a long with the addicting gameplay, makes this one of the most fun experiences I have had in a game in a long time, let alone an FPS. To me, this game has very little in the way of flaws. Firstly, the hit detection can be a tad finicky in you are close to a wall's edge. Sometimes a bullet will hit the empty air right next to the edge or when you throw a weapon, the weapon might go at an angle that causes it to hit a wall unexpectedly. This is something that is not a major issue mind you, but it is something I experienced. Other than that, perhaps a slightly longer story would have been nice, but this just doesn't detract from the overall package. Say what you will, but I would take this $25 unique FPS experience over any generic COD title with it's $60 price tag AND $50 season pass any day. Final Verdict: And there you have it. This is one of the best games I have ever played.
Turbo Review: Rocket League (XBONE)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Rocket League Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PC Genre: Driving/Sport Publisher/Developer: SNK Rocket League was welcomed with praise and gamer love when it first launched for PS4 and PC. It took YouTube by storm and became one of the most popular games ever in its genre, even winning Best Sports/Driving game at the 2015 Game Awards. Now the game makes its way to Xbox One so Xbox gamers can now see if the hype and praise is justified for the title. I can simple say; Yes, yes it is. Rocket League is a deceptively simple game on the surface. It is a game where you drive RC-like turbo charged cars, collecting boost and trying to hit a soccer ball into the opposing team's goal. So essentially, it is soccer. With super-charged RC cars. You can play 4 different modes online, these are all just player amount variants. 1v1 duels, 2v2, 3v3 and the ultra crazy 4v4. Each of these have their own sort of feel and I think that 3v3 and 4v4 are the most fun of these. Then you have splitscreen online offerings and up to 4 player splitscreen locally, as well as exhibition games with AI and players and a single player season. All of this revolves around the same premise: Crazy RC cars, playing soccer. Does this sound like it can feel samey and repetitive? Well, it doesn't. The best phrase I can use to describe Rocket League is this: Simplistic Perfection. While the game is simple at the surface, what makes it work so well is how perfectly it is crafted. The cars feel incredibly fun to drive, being able to boost and jump around and hit the ball at extreme speeds never gets old. It might take a while to get used to the physics and how they work here, but they soon become second nature. There are tons of things to unlock, the sheer amount of items available will keep you unlocking things for hours and hours on end and all of these things are unlocked as you play, so there is no focus on trying to get them, you will eventually either way. The rewards are also handed out randomly so nobody unlocks the same things at the same rate. So you and someone else at the same rank will not get the same exact item at the same time. The sheer amount of content to unlock and use is incredibly impressive for a $20 title. There are a bunch of new car bodies, tires, paint jobs, paint types and even boost visuals that you can get, and there are also tons of different things from other games here too. These are a treat to see and I would love to see even more come to the game in future DLC. The balance here is also so beautifully done that it pains me to see so many military shooters nowadays that have balance as an afterthought. Here, everyone is on an even playing field. The skill gap is relatively small compared to most games and this allows many players, casual or not, to jump right in. There also is not much skill that is needed to play the game well. While one can learn the ins and outs of the angles needed to make some really good shots, the extreme chaos of the gameplay makes it to where skill becomes an afterthought and it becomes pure madness and fun. Seeing all of the players boost towards the ball and slamming into it and crashing into each other in such a frantic pace makes me think of a bunch of five year olds that have just received an immense sugar rush and here, that works! Even the matchmaking works incredibly well. It does not take long to get into a game and if the game is taking a bit to find a certain player, it will just replace him/her with an AI car that is there until a player joins to replace it. This completely eliminates any team balancing issues and the AI, while kinda dumb at times, knows how to make some great saves and defend the goal. I did have a couple of instances where, for some reason, the AI pushed the ball towards our own goal, resulting in the other team getting an advantage, but this happened very rarely. Speaking of happenings that are rare, I have rarely experienced any lag issues in the game, save for a few moments and I have experienced absolutely no disconnections whatsoever. With huge shooter franchises like Call of Duty that charge you $60 for the game AND an additional $50 upfront for DLC, it is insane that this $20 game experiences less network problems than that franchise. Honestly, I find myself enjoying this game more and more the more I play it and it is difficult to find any major flaws. I suppose the A.I. can be finicky at times, but this is very few and far between. I suppose another slight gripe is the lack of play-field variation. While there are a lot of environments in the game, each one is built upon the exact same field, with no changes in elevation or overall style. This could be to help the balance out though and thus, it doesn't bother me much. I am just too busy having fun and going crazy in the game to care. I do highly recommend that if you can play it with a friend, take that opportunity, as playing with a friend was some of the most fun I have ever had in a video game. Also, I have experienced a couple of crashes in the game, but only while playing splitscreen online. Final Verdict:
Turbo Review: Overwatch (XBONE)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Overwatch Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4 Genre: Class-based Multiplayer FPS Publisher/Developer: Blizzard Entertainment ESRB: T Overwatch has rapidly grown into the biggest multipalyer gaming sensation since the release of Team Fortress 2 way back in 2007, and it is from that game that Overwatch takes inspiration from, attempting to be the new multiplayer game that survives for many years to come. Blizzard comes into the genre swinging and hoping to make a lasting impression. Overwatch is at its most basic, a multiplayer shooter, with 21 characters dubbed as 'heroes' to choose from, each residing within their own class, of which there are 4, Assault, Defense, Tank and Support. Every character has their own fine tuned personality, distinct look and play style. This right here is immediately the game's first positive. The character variety here is immense, better than pretty much any other game of this genre. With such a wide range of heroes and play styles, you will most likely have more than one favorite and you can freely switch between them within respawns or in your starting point. Whether you want to be out on the front lines fighting or staying back and healing, this game offers those choices in a way that is above its competition. In terms of control, the game also excels handily. This could very well be one of the best controlling mutliplayer FPS games that I have played on a console. Each character has their own movement, but each one is very defined and getting used to how they move is simple. The aiming is something that I felt was very fluid, never did I have a problem finding my target. The game is simply a breeze in terms of control on both console and PC. Continuing the positives, we have the visuals. This game is bright and vibrant, even moreso than its inspiration, Team Fortress 2. The game is loaded with color and style, each map and character have their own very distinct look and it all leaves a clear mental image that sticks with you. On top of just looking great, each map is also loaded with little bits that bring the world to life. It tells parts of the story that we may not be fully aware of yet. Now, that brings me to the first negative: The story. Not the story itself, but how it is presented. Overwatch actually has a deeply crafted lore and world, Blizzard has done a fantastic job in that aspect. The problem? Well, you just wouldn't know that in the game itself. Except for the amazing intro video, the game has little to no real info on the story itself and how everything in this world came to be as it is. There are plenty of places to view this stuff online, which of course works, but being able to read all about the lore within the game itself would be a wonderful addition. Far too many games now are relying on external sources for gamers to locate the story. Another slight blunder, is the balance. For the most part, Overwatch far outmatches its competition in terms of balancing, delivering fun gameplay that is mostly fair. However, some heroes as of the time of this writing, are either heavily outmatched by the other heroes or they simply destroy in comparison. There have been several patches since the game released and it has improved the balance for sure, but some heroes still don't click completely well. The larger problem is within the maps and modes. Again, Overwatch mostly succeeds in this area as well, but the trouble is within the A & B point capture mode, where a team attacks two points, first A then B, while the other team defends. This mode is by far the weakest in the game, with maps that feel very oddly designed compared to the other modes in the game. This mode seems to rely a lot on chokepoints and the defending team has the advantage right out of the gate. This means that the attacking team may just be throwing themselves against a wall the entire time, unable to proceed due to the map preventing them from getting any advantage. While strict coordination can overcome this, it is not always available for many and the other modes do not require this, so this mode for me mostly falls flat. The other modes are near perfection in their execution though. One last thing, the game matchmakes like a breeze with quick joining times and little to no lag whatsoever. This is also one of the best performing games I have played online. The DLC is promised to be free as well, with a new hero already added to the game. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading. ^-^
Turbo Review: Super Mario 64 DS (Nintendo DS)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Super Mario 64 DS Platform: Nintendo DS Genre: 3D Platformer Publisher/Developer: Nintendo Super Mario 64. A game that is legendary in the world of gaming for revolutionizing 3D games as whole. This game has an immense legacy and is cemented into the minds of many gamers. Then, nearly 10 years later, in 2005, Nintendo decided to remake the classic title for their new Nintendo DS system. What?! I was definitely surprised by this but I picked it up immediately. How well did that go? Super Mario 64 DS, is, of course, a remake of the original game on the 64. You run, jump, collect coins and stars to fight Bowser among other bosses to ultimately save Princess Peach and her castle. You all probably know this by now and for the most part, that is unchanged here, though there are many new additions that make this feel like a remake rather than a port. First off, the controls. Arguably the most important part to any platformer. The controls are not exactly how they were on the 64, potentially to the dismay of some fans. Instead of adjusting your movement speed with precise tilts of an analog stick, here, you have to use the D-pad and without the precise controls, how can you control your speed? Well, here is what they did: When you move normally, you just walk or jog, to run in a full sprint, you must hold down the Y button, sort of like the original Mario titles. At first, this does feel awkward and it takes some time to get accustomed to such a drastic change and at times, it can be really finicky and cumbersome. Once you get used to it, it does indeed work fairly well, but even then, it still feels like the accuracy from the 64 original was lost in transition to the D-pad. It just is not as smooth. One thing that does make a better transition though, are the graphics. The graphics here have been given somewhat of an overhaul. The graphical look of the original is intact, but it has been cleaned up quite a bit here. The textures now look more solid and less grainy and many enemies and characters have been completely redone and no longer have a jagged or blocky look to them, It makes the entire game look far more clean and appealing as a result and it is incredibly well done in that aspect and I commend Nintendo for pulling this off. The game looks really good for a handheld system at the time and it blew me away. Even all of the characters that you play as look wonderful. Speaking of... Another huge addition to this release are the new characters. Instead of just playing as Mario, you now can play as Yoshi, Luigi and Wario as well! You don't even start as Mario but rather Yoshi, you rescue Mario a bit later, as well as the other characters. These characters have their own special abilities and certain stars have to be obtained with these characters because of their abilities. This addition is something I really like, though there are some problems. While there are Caps lying around that will let you become a character of the hat that is there, having to switch characters to get certain stars can be a bit annoying. Also, some characters are just not as useful as Mario. Mario is the only one that can properly wall jump and that is one of the most useful abilities in the game. Without it, the other characters are not as agile. Luigi can float in the air for a bit, but that is just not too useful. On top of that, the ability caps are now replaced by Flowers. These flowers contain certain abilities for each character, such as the invisibility for Luigi or the Metal power for Wario, instead of Mario being able to do all of the abilities himself. This to me just seems unnecessary as it now adds another whole step to getting stars that we could normally get in the original game. Overall though, I do like the addition of the characters as they add even more variety to the overall gameplay. On top of all of this, there are now 40 additional stars to collect and now mini-games to play, which you acquire these buy collecting keys that the rabbits have. The rabbits are back and instead now hold keys which give you these mini-games, each character has a specific overall theme. These games make use of the touch screen fairly well and are a lovely addition. It just adds more and more content to this great package. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading! ^___^ This is a very fun release and it is a game I have recently started playing again.
Turbo Review: Pokemon Yellow (Gameboy)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Pokemon Yellow Platform: Gameboy, 3DS via Virtual Console Genre: RPG Publisher/Developer: Nintendo/ GameFreak ESRB: E Price: $10 USD Pokemon is a phenomenon in gaming today. It has grown into a gargantuan franchise selling millions up on millions of copies with each release and it has grown a fanbase that is so dedicated to their love for this series and rightfully so. Pokemon is a series that feels timeless even with some flaws. This started with Pokemon Red and Blue and later, these games were updated a bit with Pokemon Yellow; Pikachu Edition. Pokemon, overall, is a pretty simple concept that many of you may know by now. You play as a character that you can name yourself, going on an adventure to catch Pokemon, train them, defeat trainers and gym leaders, in hopes that you can become the Pokemon master. It is a simple concept that still works even to this day. The overall gameplay is straight forward. You move around, encountering random battles depending on where you are moving. These random battles are Pokemon that you can fight, defeating them nets whatever Pokemon that was used in that battle experience points to level up and become stronger. You can also, of course, catch these Pokemon to add to your team, you can name all of them to your liking as well. You will also be running into other trainers, who are nameless in this early iterations, besides their generic titles. Defeating them nets you money and these are usually required to defeat to progress in many areas. What makes this gameplay work so incredibly well is the ease of access yet possible depth. Catching Pokemon, leveling them up, it is a rather simple affair. Players of most ages will be able to grasp the concept right away and going through with no strategy can still work, but there is also many possibilities to be strategic. Using the right moves, knowing the stats of your Pokemon, know what could be weak or strong against certain Pokemon and their stats, it actually is really fun to see your Pokemon wipe the floor thanks to you knowing what kind of stats to expect and proper move allocation. While the newer games fair far better in this aspect, it is still in these early titles and it is still a treat. The graphics are also wonderful, especially for an 8-bit handheld system of that age. The game has a simplistic overworld style that is basic but charming beyond belief for me. The in battle sprites look fantastic on most of the trainers and Pokemon, far improved from the Red and Blue versions. The sprites here are the first time we have seen many Pokemon be show accurate. Some sprites are still a bit odd (Onix looks weird to me honestly) and the sprites from behind on your side don't look anywhere near as good, but this is an 8-bit handheld system. The sound and music are also wonderful, with many catchy tunes and sound effects that are minimalistic but work so very well here. Another awesome aspect that you can do in these games, is multipalyer. Connecting to another playing via a link cable on Gameboy or wirelessly with the 3DS, connecting with friends and trading, battling, is another huge aspect to this series. It is fun to take your assembled team and using the aforementioned strategies for a huge battle. It can be intense and something I highly recommend trying out. Really, I cannot think of too many flaws that this game has, despite some obvious shortcomings. This game, like the entire series, can be relatively easy in retrospect. Endlessly grinding can make battles be super easy if you put the time necessary to do it, but this is a thing with nearly every RPG of this caliber. Losing all of your Pokemon in a battle has you being put at the nearest Pokemon center so there really is no error for losing here, other than having to walk back. Some other minor things include inventory space being incredibly limited, with plot crucial items taking up spaces. Also, the story here is pretty much nonexistent, though story has never been a series strong point, either in the games or the show. Your rival is also the most generic thing ever, but these things still don't detract from the overall playing experience. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading my 30th Turbo Review! ^____^ Can't believe I even have this many.
Turbo Review: World Heroes Perfect (Neo-Geo)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!World Heroes Perfect Platform: Neo-Geo Arcade and AES Genre: Fighting Publisher/Developer: SNK The fighting genre exploded in popularity in the early through mid 90's, mostly thanks to Street Fighter II becoming an instant hit in both the arcades and on home consoles. As a result, many fighting games that attempted to emulate its style came about and while some managed to rise above what they were trying to be, there were some that just failed in almost every way. One of those games, was World Heroes Perfect, an oddly ironic named fighter that just couldn't hit the mark. World Heroes Perfect was a Neo-Geo arcade fighting game released in 1995. Upon initial examination, it looks like a pretty typical 2D fighter at the time. You have many characters to choose from, everything is a sprite and you have all of the typical fireball moves and such to pull off. The problem is when you start experiencing the game, you will want to immediately play something else. First off, the game's visual style. While it seems like a pretty typical knock off of Street Fighter 2 in visuals, I find them to be rather unappealing. A lot of the colors, while there are a lot, seem to mend together thanks to the sporadic design of the stages. The characters themselves look decent but very uninspired. This also goes with the stages. While they all actually look okay, their overall design leaves a lot to be desired and often, the visuals just look cluttered and unjustified. Clearly, the devs tried to go with style over substance here but failed. The graphics are not bad, but they scream bare minimum for what they are trying to be. even the health bars and images of the characters next to those bars are so very ugly and could have used a bunch of refinement. Then there is the sound design. The sound design is even worse. While the music in some stages is okay, like the graphics, much of it is unappealing but there are also some really bad and repetitive tracks here. One stage in particular, which takes place in feudal japan, has a track that just irritated me while playing. Then there are the sounds of the characters. Oh, wow. These are bad. The characters that you play as have their own assortment of grunts and yells like other fighting games do, but here, they happen FAR TOO OFTEN. The grunts and yells here are incredibly repetitive as there aren't that many for each character, but they repeat at a near constant rate. This will annoy you so fast that you will want to mute the game in less than a minute most likely. While I can see why they tried to give each character a personality that is distinct, the sound design here is mostly an epic fail, even if some of the impact sounds are well done. Also, each character here is incredibly generic, from your typical Ryu rip off, to a wrestler, to some demon American football player. Yeah, what? Now, we can talk about the control, the most important part to any fighter. While everything else screams sub par, the controls here are actually okay, for the most part. Each fighter controls in a pretty typical manner, but the game just feels clunky. Movement can sometimes be sporadic with how inconsistent the movement speed can be. Double tapping a direction will make your character sort of dash in that direction but this is unreliable and most often results in you being hit. The special moves are also a pain to pull off. Add this up with biased hit detection and lousy movesets for each character and you have a game that just becomes tedious. Most of the A.I. fighters resort to spamming certain moves thanks to the unpolished gameplay and I find that spamming is actually far more effective than any other strategy, which is a huge no-no in a fighting game like this. There is barely any strategy to be had and the amount of damage that each hit does is rather inconsistent as well, some characters do an insane amount of damage with some hits for no apparent reason and this makes the A.I. fights challenging, but in an unfair way. Final Verdict:
Turbo Review: Nintendo Badge Arcade (3DS)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Nintendo Badge Arcade Platform: Nintendo 3DS Genre: Arcade Publisher/Developer: Nintendo 2015 was an odd year for Nintendo. While we received greatness like Bayonetta 2, Nintendo decided to experiment with much greedier concepts. One of these was Amiibo Festival. The other, was Nintendo Badge Arcade. An awesome looking concept on paper that is foiled by greed. Nintendo badge arcade is a simple premise that sounds like a winner. You play on various claw machines to get numerous types of badges from several games and these badges can be used to decorate your home screen. That sounds cool! While doing this, you have a pink rabbit that is your assistant as you do this. He likes to make all sorts of puns and tell you about stuff going on in Nintendo. Like new games and even past games. Sounds good, right? Quickly, you will see how this concept falls apart. Early on, you are given some free plays to maybe get some badges, but the first problem arises: The control. While the control is simple, the claw machine physics feel incredibly biased against the player, making for a lot of cheap moments when the claw doesn't want to properly grip onto a badge or just randomly stops because it came in contact with the wall slightly. On top of that, the badges love to slip right out of the claw and it makes for a very luck oriented experience. While this might actually be very accurate to real claw machines, this makes for a very frustrating and pointless gameplay experience. On top of this, the plays cost $1 for 5 of them. Essentially 20 cents a play. While that may not seem too bad on the surface, the game here is mostly luck and there are many plays where you may get nothing at all. Thus, this is a case where you are paying for potentially nothing at all and that is terrible for a video game. The game is free to download, but since you rarely will get free plays, one a day if you are lucky, the game essentially costs money to do anything. All for simple badges that do look nice, but are not worth such an investment, especially at the chance of not getting them at all. Along with this, there are also many machines that have badges in places where it will take more than one play to get them, mostly for popular characters that Nintendo knows that people want. Clever, but also, a dick move. Then, there is the rabbit. This pink assistant at first seems like a friendly little guy to help you learn the game and give you some tips. While this seems true at first, it quickly becomes apparent that this characters exists for one purpose: To trick the kids. His personality is clearly fine tuned to make children get excited about these badges and talk them into spending money off of their parent's credit card. Every single time you use up your free plays, which happens very, very often, he will ask you if you want to switch to 'paid play' and of course, the selection marker is on 'Yes' by default. This tactic, while blatantly transparent, feels rather shameless and something I never quite expected from Nintendo. Final Verdict: And there you have it. One of the worst 3DS games of last year and of all time. Thanks Nintendo, I guess.
Turbo Review: Thomas Was Alone (XBONE)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Thomas Was Alone Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PS3, PC, iOS, Android, Wii U, PS Vita Genre: Platform Puzzler Publisher/Developer: Curve Studios/Mike Bithell There is always one game every now and again that just goes against every possible expectation you might have had. Then there are games where you had no expectations whatsoever, yet it still manages to blow the non-existent expectations away and that is a glorious feeling. This time, for me, it was Thomas Was Alone, a platform puzzle game that surprised me beyond belief. Thomas Was Alone, is a platform puzzle game with a sort of minimalist style. You control Thomas, who is just a simple square, in a 2D space, where you will move, jump and solve different puzzles to complete the levels. You will also control other squares and rectangles over time and these have their own size proportions and abilities. As you move through the stages, the story is narrated to you by Danny Wallace and he has a very pleasant voice. He is the only voice you hear throughout the entire game yet I found him to be very soothing. Being a 2D game, the controls are very basic. You move, you jump, you hit switches at times and that is kind of it, but the way these are implemented feel superb. The game gives you a sense of progress as each stage gets progressively more and more tricky, though there are some dips in difficulty here and there. The game controls really well, albeit with some finicky aspects in the later stages. It is nothing game breaking, but sometimes your timing has to be near perfect to make some of the jumps, though eventually you will get the hang of it. The game fairs well overall in the control department. The visual style is very simple, yet, incredibly endearing. The very smooth and vibrant colors help shape the atmosphere for the world you are in. When the stages are dark, you feel a sense of isolation that many games try to give but fail. This game lives up to its name quite well at parts. Then there is the music. The music here is incredible. Absolutely wonderful. Most of it is ambient in nature and no tracks get particularly intense, but this works perfectly for the style of the game. The music here is some of the most pleasant tracks I have heard in a video game and it just keeps you going even if you are having a tough time on a stage. Really, if I have to say a couple negatives, it would be the sometimes finicky controls later on and the game, while an enthralling experience, is a bit short. The game can be completed in one long play session or two sessions. The game has little collectibles to get but there are not very many and they don't increase the replay value any, but the game itself is so good that I might be playing it at least 5 or 6 times more. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading! This game was such a breathe of fresh air and if you see it on sale and have any curiosity, don't pass it up.
Turbo Review: Call of Duty Black Ops 3 (XBONE)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Call of Duty Black Ops 3 Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 (*Note: The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions differ from the other versions) Genre: First Person Shooter Publisher/Developer: Activision/Treyarch Oh Call of Duty. The FPS cash cow that is being pumped out yearly by Activision to make more and more profits. It seems the series has been on a steady decline over the years, with Ghosts and Advanced Warfare not winning many people over. Many were hoping that Treyarch, the renowned maker of WaW and The Black Ops games, could bring the series back to greatness with Black Ops 3. Well, did they? Gonna be honest here: No, no they did not. You all know what Call of Duty is at this point. It is a game where you run, you shoot, and that is the general emphasis of the gameplay. The gameplay here is hardly changed, with the only real additions being some of the equipment, scorestreaks and slight changes to movement. Now you have a small boost after you jump! How creative. While the gameplay remains the same, some guns actually do feel like they have some kick and recoil to them, something that has been lost in the past couple of years. Still, if you are tired of the COD formula of gameplay, then you will not be reinvigorated here. The gameplay here is fairly copy and paste. There are new specialists here instead of any kind of character creator. You unlock customization pieces for these characters that hardly make a difference and each character has their own special abilities, but none of these really feel like a drastic addition. I respect Treyarch's decision to try something different, but these characters have one-note personalities and have some of the most generic lines I have ever heard in a video game. It just doesn't add much to the game. Trust me, the game rarely ever gets this exciting The game also seems to fumble in the graphics department. Nothing in particular here stands out and in some ways, the game actually looks WORSE than Advanced Warfare, with often muddy looking textures and obviously inferior looking character models. Not a single aspect here looks drastically different than what we have seen before. Even little details, such as your character leaving footprints in snow as they walk, are completely absent, giving a sense of cheapness to the overall experience. The sound quality is overall decent though, with the guns having a nice punch to their sounds, though explosions still sound incredibly weak. Even after 3 years to do it, Treyarch has somehow managed to make a game that, in many ways, looks no better than Black Ops 2 on the Xbox 360, 3 years ago. The game also features tons of reused animations that we seen 6 years ago. Shocking. The graphics feel like a step down from last year's game The game offers 3 made modes of play: Campaign, Multiplayer and zombies, pretty standard fare for Treyarch at this point. The campaign here, is abysmal. While Advanced Warfare had a campaign with a predictable story but pretty decent gameplay and set-pieces, this game has an absolutely laughable story with a plot that makes absolutely no sense and gameplay that gets insanely repetitive very quick. The story here makes little to no sense. Characters are established in about 20-30 seconds time and we apparently are suppose to care about these characters when they die, despite me not even being able to remember their names. There is even a boss fight with a character that I literally had no idea who she was, then I remembered that she was a character in the beginning of the game that got maybe, 25 seconds of screentime before disappearing. Well, she is apparently important to the story now, I guess. The plot even unravels itself towards the end and the last 2-3 hours of the game are nothing but padding and endless shooting, just constant shooting. The campaign and story here are absolutely pathetic and it is a shame that Treyarch clearly has no idea how to write a coherent story. There are some positives to the capmaign, such as being able to customize your loadouts as you please and use weapons of your choosing, but this was in Black Ops 2. The only other majorly worthwhile addition is character ranking, but this feature does not make much of a difference, but I am glad it is here at least. Overall, the campaign here is terrible and it is one of the worst single player campaigns that I have ever played, bar none. Then there is the zombies mode. That should be awesome right? Zombies was always fun even if it got convoluted at times, right? Well, sadly, zombies is the most disappointing aspect to the entire game. Instead of maybe giving us a few maps to play with or maybe even include some classic maps since they are already made and whatnot, here, we get only one zombies map. That is right, ONE ZOMBIES MAP. To give perspective, Black Ops 1 had TWO zombies maps out of the box and Treyarch had an entire extra year to make this particular game, yet they include less zombie content than Black Ops 1. Fantastic. Now I know some might say "but there are actually two maps, the Giant Zombies map!" Well, no, it is locked behind the $50 season pass so it doesn't count. We only get one map here. Well, is it at least fun? Sadly, no. This map is a huge disappointment. It's setting is confusing as hell and the game focuses far more on objectives than, you know, killing the ZOMBIES? Whereas past games had some objectives that you had to complete mainly to unlock new areas, this game has you running all over the place, having to pick up this, take it to there, bring this here, do this do that, and soon, killing the zombies becomes a secondary objective and you will find yourself just training a single zombie constantly to complete these pointless objectives. It gets old and tedious and none of the new characters stand out. The zombies here also are very brutal and can kill you with a flurry of hits very quickly, which feels really weird considering the past games. There is a ranking system here as well, but honestly, I got so bored with this mode that I gave up after a while. Now, most of my time in the game is spent on the multiplayer. So that leaves us with the multipalyer. The multiplayer here, is standard COD fare. You run, you shoot, you die, repeat. As I said before, there are specialists here for the multiplayer, each with their own boring personalities, dialogs and special abilities, but most of these special abilities are boring, non-team focused and if you die right after activating it, you have to let it recharge. None of the maps here stand out either, with no special events that happen or any major advancements there, the maps feel incredibly static, even with an emphasis on multi-layered terrain. Of course there are tons of challenges to complete, tons of levels in the game and a bunch of weapons, but this is all standard fare if you played any of the recent COD titles. You know what you are getting and honestly, it is getting very boring. There are plenty of weapons to use here and that can provide some variety at least, but that is if you are not already bored of the gameplay, which is still mostly the same. One new feature that is not very new at all, are the supply drops making their way from Advanced Warfare. Here you spend Cryptokeys earned while playing to unlock Supply drops and earn new camos, character animations, player cards and more. while unlocking these things is kinda cool at first, you realize that is makes customization feel fairly meaningless and based on random chance. Not to mention, earning these keys is tedious and slow and just paves the way for the micro-transactions .Yes, this $60 yearly title has both a $50 season pass and micro-transactions. Fantastic, thanks Activision. Even with all of this, there are still no dedicated servers to speak of, resulting in lag and glitches online. Final Verdict: And there you have it, one of the biggest disappointments of 2015 for me. Honestly, I am not seeing why some people are praising this game. They say it is better than Ghosts and AW, which in some ways, it is, but that doesn't make it a good game. In any case, thank you all for reading! It is great to be back doing these! ^____^
Turbo Review: Ziggurat (XBONE)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Ziggurat Platform: Xbox One, PC Genre: Rogue-lite FPS Publisher/Developer: Milkstone Studios ESRB: E10+ Hello and welcome back to Turbo Reviews! Been a while. Well, I have returned to review more games and such! So let's begin that! Ziggurat is a rogue-lite FPS surprisingly from Milkstone Studios , a team that brought us the wonderful...uh, Avatar Farm Online and other 'gems'. In Ziggurat you play as one of many different wizards to ascend a tower, defeat baddies, and level up and find new gear along the way. The Ziggurat itself is the test that every wizard apparently goes through to...be a wizard I guess. You shoot a decent variety of enemies with your wand and soon 3 other tools, a spell, a staff, and an alchemy weapon. Each of these weapons have their distinct traits and you will unlock new ones as you play. You get experience orbs from defeating enemies which in turn levels you up and you then choose between two perks to help you through. You also unlock many more of these as you play. The game definitely has a nice visual appeal. Speaking of this, this is one of the driving forces to keep playing Ziggurat. As you start, you only have one character to use and a limited amount of perks and weapons overall. As you play though, you will be unlocking many new items and even characters once certain progress based goals are hit. Experimenting with new characters and new perks and weapons is definitely fun though it is all completely random what you get, since everything is randomly generated in each playthrough, ala rogue-lite. You will often get repeats until you unlock more stuff, and even then you may get repeats quite often. The competence of the controls are very important for a rogue-lite and Ziggurat handles quite well in this regard. Your character has a surprising amount of mobility, with a good jumping distance and unlimited sprint to accompany this. I was surprised by how well my character controlled and I commend Milkstone for achieving this, though the jumping controls take some time to get used to, especially in the limited first person platforming sections, which are uncommon, but also kinda pointless in this type of game. One of the bosses in the game, none of which are spectacular. The enemies that you fight and how they fight you, is one of my gripes with the game. The enemies here are fairly generic, though there are a decent amount. It seems quite a few enemies rely on the objective of running towards you and whacking you until you die. If they are not doing that, then they are shooting projectiles at you, many of which are homing for no reason. The game also deems it necessary to bombard you with these enemies in certain rooms and given how small some rooms are, it can be near impossible to avoid getting hit, especially since some of the enemies are especially cheap. The bosses fair a bit better but still, they are pretty generic and have bland combat tactics.The way the enemies were handled could have been better but perhaps it was a limitation of the engine, that being Unity. Speaking of Unity, for it being a game on this engine, the game looks and sounds very well for an indie game of this type. I found the visual aesthetic to be very pleasing to the eyes and the sounds of the game are very nice, with soothing music and great sound effects overall. I really have no complaints in this area. This grenade here is an example of an Alchemy weapon, one of the four weapon types. One huge praise and also criticism that I must give, are the modes. The game features 4 modes, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Endless. Normal on its own is pretty difficult overall but the game features an Easy mode, where you can play through the game at a much more relaxing pace to get used to the game itself, all while still unlocking things! This mode separates this game from others of the genre as it gives a nice way to get accustomed to what the game has to offer while making progress with unlocks. I commend them for this greatly. However, once you beat the five floors of Ziggurat on normal with a character, you unlock Hard and Endless modes for that character. These modes, are absolutely terrible. Hard mode, while it is called Hard mode, it should be called 'near impossible' mode and it breaks the game in a lot of ways. Hard mode features much more challenge and getting past even the second floor on its own is a feat. The problem is the cheapness in this mode. Because of some of the cheap spawning and random nature of the perks, you have to get very lucky to get through this mode. Unlike Normal and Easy, success in Hard mode relies mostly on getting certain perks and leveling them up to level 5, which of course is random in itself. This makes Hard mode an unbelievably frustrating mess that makes many perks useless, ones that would be good otherwise. Not once did I ever enjoy hard mode and I suggest avoiding it unless you really want an ungodly challenge. Endless mode is the same as hard mode only somehow a bit more difficult and it has endless floors, though good luck getting past the second one. I do think Hard mode should of course be challenging, but the way it is handled here is just far more frustrating than anything. The shining spot to counter this is the Easy mode that I am happy they included, and the fact that you still unlock stuff even upon death, even if dying feels really frustrating in this game. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! It feels good to be doing these again. If you are new to Turbo Reviews, I try to post one every Friday, usually at 6pm EST. If you want notifications for all new reviews, you can follow this blog if you wish. Until next time, Turbo out!
Turbo Review: Rampage 2 Universal Tour (N64)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Rampage 2: Universal Tour Platform: N64, PS1 Genre: Beat em' Up Publisher/Developer: Midway/Avalanche Software ESRB: T The original Rampage in the arcades was a peculiar game. It was all about annihilating everything in your path as giant mutants in order to get a high score. This kind of setting is reminiscent of the Godzilla franchise. Rampage World Tour vastly improved everything about the game and due to its popularity, a sequel was made in the form of Rampage 2: Universal Tour, a game that takes us to the stars and...well, boredom. Rampage 2 is of course the sequel to Rampage World Tour. The concept is basically exactly the same, you cause chaos, destruction, and mayhem throughout many cities across the world. The gameplay here is the same in almost all areas as the first game. The only major addition to this game is that you now also go to places beyond Earth and into space, but the concept stays the same there. Destroy buildings and move on. When you destroy all of the buildings in a city, you move on to the next one. It is a very simple concept that is very easy to get into, but it suffers from extreme repetition very quickly. Much like the gameplay, the graphics and sound are essentially the same as the first game with only minor additions. The only other major addition to this sequel are the 3 new characters; A Rhino, a Lobster, and a Mouse. The 3 original characters are unlockable in which you have to save them. The main issue that Rampage suffers from is repetition as I mentioned earlier. The game has a simple goal, destroy everything, but there is no real reward for doing so. There is no real feeling of progression in anything in the game and no stats or additions to your monsters, which would have worked wonders for the game's longevity. The best aspect to the game and probably what would make me still play it is the 3 player mode. The game allows for up to 3 players to cause carnage and mayhem or even fight each other randomly. You then can compete to who can cause the most destruction as it is tallied at the end of each city. The game is still very mindless in this mode but it at least feels more fun in its mindlessness with others. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! Until next time, Turbo out!
Turbo Review: Animal Crossing (Gamecube)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Check out the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Animal Crossing Platofrm: Nintendo Gamecube Genre: Life Simulation Publisher/Developer: Nintendo For many, video games are a great escape. There are many times where life really isn't fun and we just want to play a game to escape from that reality for a short time. Now what about a game that loosely simulates life and goes in real time? That could never work! Well, Nintendo made it work and it was awesome. Animal Crossing has such a deceptively simple premise of gameplay. You start out on a train and after having a nice little conversation with a purple cat (Happens all the time on train rides). Upon having this conversation you arrive in the village that you will call your new home. It is randomly generated for starters and that is a good sign. You are greeted by a raccoon named Tom Nook who kinda sneakily sells you a a house. He is the shop owner in town and he has a way with words for sure. After this, he tells you that you owe him a bunch of money, called Bells in this world, but he is lenient and will let you pay it off on your own time, whenever you please, though the first initial payment is used for the tutorial of sorts. Even when nothing really happens at night, it was always so peaceful After this, you are free to do as you wish! First off, Animal Crossing runs on real time. Using the clock in your Nintendo Gamecube, assuming you have it set correctly, the game actually goes by your clock and calendar, with of course day and night cycles, events that pertain to such and the seasons even change! This feature alone set it apart from pretty much any other game at the time and it still is the best of that kind. When you are not playing, events will happen even when you are not there! This makes you want to check in every day to see what is new and whats happened. In the game, you will be chatting with your animal neighbors, who are also randomly generated at the start, doing many simple activities such as fishing, bug catching, planting trees and flowers, picking fruit, and so much more. Even in its simplicity, there is a surprising amount of things to do and to collect. You can customize your home with furniture that you buy from that Tom Nook fellow and as you do these activities, as well as helping fellow citizens of the town (which you name the town by the way), you will get the Bells that you need overtime. Again, for such a simple idea, the game gives you the drive to keep doing these things, as they are fun and watching your house grow and seeing the town change overtime is quite addicting. There is just so much to do! My description does not and cannot do it justice, there is that much content. You can even make custom designs for outfits and more at the Able Sisters! Even just getting new mail or digging something up yields wonder and excitement, which is pretty crazy for something that would otherwise be mundane. Speaking of mundane... The graphics and sounds really help this game further. The game has a very relaxing atmosphere and it helps make this game be a wonderful escape, even though it itself is kinda like a life simulator. The graphics are very simplistic but they are have a definite charm. They aren't graphically intensive at all but this game was a port of an N64 game in Japan, so really not much can be complained about. the music here is absolutely delightful. Every hour of the day has its own unique, each just as wonderful as the one before it. This game has one of my favorite video game soundtracks by far. Hearing these tunes while walking around in the snow in the Winter time is pure bliss. The other sounds of the game are great in their simplicity as well. The sound of the snow beneath your feet in Winter, the cute chattering of the world's inhabitants, so many things in this game are done so simply yet so effectively. As a side note, I think this game has the best visual and sound styles out of all of the Animal Crossing games. One other thing I need to mention is that you can have up to four players in one village, though there is no simultaneous multiplayer here. You can also travel to the villages of others but you need their memory card to do so. For such an early game in the Gamecube's life, this was a really nice feature, even with its limitations. Oh, and this game knows when you quit the game or reset the system without saving. It doesn't like that, but I will let you find out how it expresses this. Catching bugs for money, worth it My only complaint about the game might be the fact that on some days, there just is not much to do. Some days you may hop on to only check in for about 5-10 minutes and you could be done for the day. I remember doing this myself plenty of times. Once night settles in, the stores are closed and at that point there is not much you can do at all. There is no way to accommodate the shops times for your own schedule, which this was solved in the latest entry on 3DS. This makes nighttime kinda boring and empty, kinda like real life in a way. Really, this isn't so much a flaw but more like a victim of the game's own design. Some day's are just completely boring, much like real life. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! Anything you want to add? Have you played the game? What are your thoughts? Be sure to follow this blog if you enjoyed this review and want to be when a new review is posted. Until next time, Turbo out!
Turbo Review: Luigi's Mansion (Gamecube)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Luigi's Mansion Platform: Nintendo GameCube Genre: Adventure/Puzzle/Exploration Publisher/Developer: Nintendo Oh Luigi's Mansion, what a classic we have here. Well, surprisingly it wasn't that way when it released. Upon the immanent release of the Nintendo GameCube, you can tell many were excited for the new generation of Nintendo, especially after the masterpieces of Ocarina of Time, Goldeneye, and of course, Mario 64, just to name a few. Many were expecting a wonderful new Mario platformer to accompany the launch of the purple cube of games. We did not get that though. Instead, we got a totally different game. It was not a Mario game, but a Luigi game. Not only was it not a Mario game, it was not a platformer. It instead was a puzzle/exploration game with ghost busting. Many were disappointed at the time. Me? I loved it! Luigi's Mansion has you playing as Luigi who finally gets the spotlight. He mysteriously wins a mansion for no reason and upon entering it, it is filled with ghosts! He meets Professor Egad who gives him the trusty Poltergust 3000 and from there, the real game begins. You control Luigi as you explore this mansion. As you do, you will run into ghosts which are your main problems. Most areas have ghosts that must be defeated in order to progress. To do this, you just flash your light on most of them and suck them up with your vacuum. This is the most common gameplay aspect and for how different it is, it is quite fun. There are a different variety of ghosts throughout that require different methods of capture and even boos later on. You also obtain different power ups for the Poltergust that are used to catch more specific types. Beyond this you also have puzzle elements where you have to get certain keys to unlock certain doors, lighting up certain areas and so on. It is not immensely difficult by any means but it still challenges your brain a bit on what to do next. On top of the regular ghosts and the boos, the other large aspect are the boss ghosts. These are ghosts that have way more health than the regular ghosts and require specific conditions to be met for them to appear and to even capture. Each one has a specific theme and I found these to be one of the more fun parts to the game, figuring out how they are captured and finally defeating them is oh so satisfying. Some are even real boss fights where you must catch the ghost but also survive. Throughout the game you will also be collecting money and a lot of it. As you open certain areas, chests, objects, whatever, you may get money which comes in the form of bills, coins, and gold blocks, as well as pearls that you get from the boss ghosts. While at first this may not seem like much, collecting this money is quite fun and I love that they included an overarching collecting aspect to the game. The amount of money you have at the end determines a certain aspect that I won't spoil here. This whole aspect actually reminds me a lot of a Wario Land game which is a pretty good comparison to have. This was a part of the game that I did not expect but ended up really enjoying. The game's visual and sound areas are immensely charming. The graphics at the time were amazing and they actually still hold up in certain ways. The expressive character models and the overall look have that distinct Mario feel while also matching the not-so-Mario adventure. The texturing also holds up well in a lot of ways, many things do not have that kinda fuzzy look that many of the early PS2 games had. The sound is delightful as well. The sounds of the characters and ghosts are all distinct and while some might be annoying, the sound design here is also very Mario-like in a very good way. The music is one of the best aspect of this game in my opinion, as it uses many creepy-vibe tunes that are very cartoonish but match the atmosphere oh so perfectly. My only real gripe with the game is the overall length. This game is actually pretty short and can most likely be beaten in just a few short sittings. There are many different hidden rooms and things to find but they still don't add a whole lot to the play time. This really is a testament to how fun the game is though, I wanted more! Final Verdict: Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! If you enjoyed it, feel free to follow Turbo Review's for notifications for every new review! Until next week, Turbo out!
Turbo Review: The eye of Judgment Legends (PSP)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating! The Eye of Judgment: Legends Platform: PSP (Available on PS Store for the Vita) Genre: Collectible card battle game Publisher/Developer: SCE/Japan Studio ESRB: E10+ The original Eye of Judgment game on the PS3 was what I would consider an experiment gone wrong. It tried to combine a collectible card game WITH a video game as its battlefield. This sounds like a great idea on paper, but it turned out to be an overly-expensive mess that was difficult to set up and was incredibly easy to cheat thanks images online that can be printed. Later, developer Japan Studio tried to revive this idea with the digital only PSP release Eye of Judgment Legends. While it is an improvement upon its predecessor in many ways, it still shows glaring issues within the card game itself and fails to truly stand with its competition. As mentioned before, EOJ is a collectible card battle game. Instead of buying real booster packs like the original, this time all of the cards are in the game and can be bought individually with the gold that is earned in game. With these you can make decks with a selection of themes and elements, which play a strategic role. The gameplay overall works like this: There is a 3x3 grid and the first play to control 5 of the 9 spaces wins the match. The way you do this is by summoning creatures to these squares. Each square has an element That does not change game to game and you can use these to help further your board control, as well as spells that can 'flip' these spaces to different elements. The concept of winning here is entirely board control. each turn, the current player gets 2 mana and can save these points up and they are used to pretty much use anything, from spells, to creatures, etc. There is a story mode here (unlike the original), standard battles, and standard multiplayer, though I never played the multiplayer portion. One of the best aspect of Legends is the card shop and deck building itself. While unlocking certain cards can be slow, earning gold is simple and the ability to buy cards directly rather than in random chance boosters greatly speeds up the process of building a deck that suits you. Plus as you progress through the story, you unlock additional cards in the shop, though some of these are kinda hard to tell exactly how they unlock or when. The deck building and card shop aspect is by far the best part to the game. It definitely beats buying real boosters like the original game. Another great thing that is obvious is the lack of real cards. Thanks to this you no longer have to fumble with the PS Eye camera which was very finicky with light. Being able to pick and play feels far more natural for this type of game and that works here. Another aspect I actually liked was the presentation. While it is not perfect, the game does a pretty good job at displaying information to you though accessing certain commands is a pain, such as ending your turn early. For a PSP game, it manages to look the part of the original game, though without the animations of battle, but this is good as it speeds things a long. This game has a good sense of pick up and play if you have decks made, if you happen to like the battle system itself. Speaking of the battle system, this is where Legends starts to crumble. While the overall presentation is nice and there is some strategy involved, the overall gameplay of The Eye of Judgement is fairly flawed for a card game. The overall goal is immensely simplistic and there are not too many ways you can alter the flow of battle, so the luck of the draw is very strong here. Since the goal is only for board control, the whole game feels far too restricted in its design and it can be frustrating when the AI gets that lucky creature early on, which it will do that often. This also goes with deck building. While deck building is fun in the process, knowing if you have a decent deck is very difficult and more often than not, it took constant tuning to finally make some of the decks even remotely playable in a competitive standpoint. Also because of this board control focus, going second has no real benefit unlike other card games. Since you get 2 mana at the beginning of your turn. your opponent will most likely get a creature out on their first turn. Of course it will not be a very powerful creature, but in a game where the point of winning is board control, it can quickly throw things off, especially since there is no accurate way of knowing who will go first. Another huge aspect I found to be very frustrating, are the opponents in the campaign. While I am glad that there is a campaign here, it is designed very sloppily. Not only does the AI feature some very brutal decks, the real problem is with the special abilities that each one has. Each opponent in the campaign has a passive ability that triggers upon certain conditions. You, the player, have no such thing. This was a terrible decision as it makes most of these campaign fights beyond the first one very unfair and frustrating and luck plays a massive role in winning these and at times you are forced to make and use a very specific deck type to defeat some of these broken AI. The abilities should not have been a part of the game or at least you should have a choice in one as well. One last thing I will say, the term 'pay-to-win' is a popular term in these types of card games, where the more rare and expensive cards can break the game. This game is no different, as the AI in the campaign has specific Ultra Rare cards that once summoned they can potentially break the entire match. This is a problem when the Ultra's that the AI use are not obtainable by any normal means and that system I still don't understand. This weird AI pay to win nonsense combined with the AI abilities makes the campaign far more frustrating than fun most of the time. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! I hope you all have had a good holiday. If you enjoyed this review, if you want, you can follow the Turbo Reviews blog itself for notifications on every new review! It is hard to believe we are at 20 reviews...Never thought I would have this many. Until next time, Turbo out!
Turbo Review: The Wolf Among Us (XB360)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating! The Wolf Among Us Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, iOS, PC, PS Vita Genre: Interactive Story Publisher/Developer: Telltale Games ESRB: M After the monster hit that Telltale Games had achieved with The Walking Dead, it was clear that they had brought a new life for the interactive story genre of games. With this new resurgence underway and TWD season 2 in development at the time, Telltale teamed up with Warner Bros. to bring us a new game in this genre based in the comic book world known as Fables. With this combo, The Wolf Among Us was born and it brought brutality, intrigue, and another amazing experience. The Wolf Among Us serves as a prequel to the Fables comic book series. The Wolf Among Us is an episodic, interactive story game and it has you playing as Bigby Wolf (AKA The Big Bad Wolf) as the Sheriff of Fabletown, a community in New York City for Fables, fairytale beings that had been run out of their homelands. Here they have to deal with the horrors of poverty, debt, and violence that fills the world all while trying to live good lives, well, some of them at least. Bigby is here to try and keep order amongst the chaos. The game uses a very well done cel-shaded graphical style that lets the color and the world stick into your mind. The graphical style really helps to set in the mood right away The gameplay of TWAU is different than most games and is more of an interactive movie than the traditional video game. You watch the story unfold and in many parts, you move Bigby around, exploring the environment around you, interacting with objects and characters, and progressing the story. While doing so, you are given choices on what to make Bigby say in many conversations or even to have him not say anything at all. The way you interact with other characters with these choices can give you different reactions and can even change how these characters react to you later on in the story. There also many moments, like during fights, where you do quick time events by pressing certain buttons at certain times. Though these kind of things are hated by some, they work very well with this type of gameplay and how it still feels exhilarating. It helps keep you engaged in the game's story. The gameplay is definitely linear in a lot of ways and in a lot of other ways is simple, but it helps to engross you into the world and keep the storyflow. This is not a traditional game by any means and that is a good thing. The story deals with some pretty heavy subjects The story here, to put it bluntly, is so remarkably well done and is easily the best thing about this game. The entire game has a sense of mystery and intrigue as well as a depressive mood that feels very much like the real world. This game definitely is dark and bleak in many ways, but it has a script and characters that all have their own personalities and it is a treat to see how these 'fairytale' beings are portrayed and how they interact in this world. The story, despite magic and faiytale creatures being involved, feels very down to earth and it really helps to further the atmosphere that it creates. The game is also very mature, dealing with dark issues and it has a lot of strong language, some very brutal scenes of violence and other things that definitely earns the M rating that it has. Having something like this done well and done in a great and immersive story really is a surprise. It never feels cheap. This story is so atmospheric and engaging that I have played through the whole game AND have watched it played through by others at least 5 more times and each time, I got completely engrossed in the characters and the story. It is that good. The ability to alter the story by making choices helps this even more, even if your choices don't always change something. The voice acting is also top notch and really helps to make these characters all feel unique. It also features, in my opinion, one of the best antagonists ever in any form of media. The characters here are so unique and so well acted that many times you will find yourself questioning their motives or maybe seeing their side on a heavy situation. There were quite a few characters I did not like much at first that I ended up becoming sympathetic for by the end. Good writing? Definitely. You may recognize some things here With a game like this, I really found it hard to find any major flaws. It is definitely not in the same category as most games so it is spared from the potential of classic flaws so it is judged on its own merits. The game does have some quirks. The game has the potential to be a bit glitchy at parts. Animations can be a bit glitchy at certain parts and very rarely the game might glitch and prevent your progress or even crash the game, but these are very rare from my experience and are fixed by restarting the game. The only other flaw really is that, some of your choices that really feel like they should make an impact, surprisingly don't. There are also much smaller choices that really don't affect the overall story or anything else for that matter, it is more for the at the moment interactions between the characters. For the most part this did not bother as the story is so top notch that even if it was not interactive at all, I would still love it entirely. The interactivity of it helps to make it more engaging and personal though. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! This is definitely a games a recommend, just go into it with a different mindset. Until next week, Turbo out!
Turbo Review: Call of Duty Advanced Warfare (XBONE)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Head to the final verdict for that and my rating! Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Platform: Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, PC Genre: First Person Shooter Publisher/Developer: Activision/Sledgehammer Games Call of Duty is a massively popular franchise that is the subject of extreme hype and criticism. With each new installment offering little that differs it from the previous entry, this immense powerhouse has seen a decline in both sales and ratings. Now, Sledgehammer Games aims to bring the series back to its beloved form with a 3 year dev cycle, new gameplay and story, and more. This in turn results in probably the freshest take on the series in years, but it still has design choices that perplexes me even now. As the title implies, this latest entry has Call of Duty taking place in the future, more specifically mostly 2059. Soldiers are no longer just soldiers, but now super soldiers thanks to the new Exosuit technology and now advancements are being made everywhere. While Black Ops 2 dabbled with a near future concept, AW takes the time further and manages to look and feel the part, for the most part. A shot of the Bal 27 in its overpowered glory. The devs have stated that a new vision and focus for the campaign was a very large aspect for AW. They wanted to revive the campaigns and make them feel like they are actually worth playing for once, as past COD games have failed to really have any impact within their campaigns. AW manages to rise above the games of the last few years in this way, but sadly, not by much. The campaign has you playing as a soldier in the future who is sent with his best friend to North Korea to destroy a vital airship that they wield. After which, you go through a predictable romp of shooting things, completing mostly linear objectives, and shotting more things. What sets this campaign apart though are the new technologies at your disposal. You can now double jump, there are exo abilities such as a shield you can deploy, the two categories of grenades are now all on two different grenades that you cycle through, and more. These actually made the campaign far more enjoyable to play in my opinion and you have a lot more choices for combat. When a grenade flys your way, instead of being mostly powerless, you can now dodge away from it. These new gameplay elements might be small, but when combined they make a campaign that is worth playing through at least for the gameplay, even if the story does not live up to it, even with Kevin Spacey, who is excellent here. The story is predictable and pretty shallow towards the end. Some concept of choice would have done wonders for the story, but no innovations were made here. One pretty neat aspect of the campaign are the challenges. As you play and take out enemies, you will be working towards kill challenges that when hit, reward you with upgrade points that allow you to upgrade your exo. This again is small, but for me it was a nice addition. The length overall is 6-7 hours and while that is still a bit short compared to other campaigns, it does outclass the length of past games in this series. Overall the campaign is a lot better than past games of this series, so kudos for that, but the story really is a letdown. Kevin Spacey AKA the only great character in the campaign Another mode that is introduced is the Exo Survival mode. In this mode, you and up to 3 others have to survive waves upon waves of enemies, earning points, upgrades for your weapons, and your exo. You also choose one of 3 classes that can only use specific weapons and exo abilities. Honestly, there is not much else to say about this mode. It is pretty straight forward and sadly is not tied to your multiplayer rank at all. It does have its own unlockables but they are limited. I found this mode fun to play for a short while but only with a friend. It is a mode that just does not have enough variety or replyability. It is not bad by any means and it can be enjoyable for sure, but it is nowhere near what it could have been. The graphics are a step up for this series, but still lags behinds its competition Now, onto an aspect that seems to be the biggest selling point for this series, the multiplayer. At first glance, the multiplayer feels very much like Call of Duty, it has that distinct fast paced feel. However, thanks to the new gameplay additions, AW has the most verticality than any other entry and that does set this game apart in that aspect. Thanks to the double jump and the dodging and dashing, you have more control over your character and his movements, though the basic movement still feels the same. It is easy to tell that this is running on the same tired engine that this series has been using for many years. Beyond this, there are more new things to be found, some of which are better than others. This game introduces a few new modes and returns many favorites, such as TDM, CTF, Domination, and more. The new modes, Momentum, Uplink, and others are a mixed bag. Uplink is a surprsingly intense mode that is quite fun and a great match for the the new gameplay mechanics. Then ones like Momentum, it is not as fun. There definitely could have been more new modes to match the new gameplay so that is a slight disappointment. Other modes like Kill Confirmed are definitely more fun thanks to the gameplay additions. Beyond the modes, some other new additions are the Supply Drops, which is the new loot system. This also ties into the new customization system which lets you 'customize' your own soldier. Through the Supply Drops, you will gain new clothing, weapons, and even things like Double XP. The way these are earned is through timed play, I noticed I earned them mostly after I was killed after a certain point, which this is a great idea. Even if you get duplicates of items, you can redeem them for extra XP if that item has a rarity of some kind. Overall this new loot system is a great new addition to the series, even if it inconsistent at times. The character customization itself is passable for sure once you start collecting items from the Supply Drops, of which there are a lot of, but still it might be hard to make your soldier look exactly how you want. I myself was able to get a good loadout overall, but others might find it more difficult. It is a system that is a massive improvement over Ghost's pathetic excuse for customization and while it isn't completely to its potential, it is a good step in the right direction. As a side note, you can still do local multiplayer with bots as well as system link play if you are interested in that as well. The create a class system is also very customizable to fit your needs with the Pick 13 system. This is a slightly updated version of Black Ops 2's Pick 10. Now, onto what I thought went wrong with the multiplayer. For one, there is a definite shortage of weapons here. While there are some neat weapons that feel good to use, there is a smaller amount of weapons here than the past games, easily smaller than any of the more recent games. This is kinda alleviated with the weapon variants, of which there are 10 for every weapon, but you still need to get these mostly from the supply drops. More weapon variety would have been nice, especially due to the weapon balancing. The balancing is the next issue. While I do feel this is one of the more balanced entries, there are a few weapons that really break the experience at times, mainly the Bal 27 assault rifle. Not only is this weapon very powerful and basically broken, it is actually the VERY FIRST assault rifle in the entire game that you can use. How Sledgehammer completely missed this is totally beyond me but it is a thing that has frustrated me and others. If this weapon was earned much later then I could understand it, but instead it is a problem that should have been fixed easily, but wasn't. Speaking of shortages, there are others in the multiplayer. There is an obvious lack of playercards and camos here. Given the 3 year dev cycle, you would think that these things would be pushed even further and made better, but instead there are less of these than Black Ops 2 at launch. These things might not seem important to some and fair enough, but for me, they can help the player further personalize their gameplay experience and for multiplayer, I always see that as a good thing but they instead give us the bare minimum with that. One positive here is that the Emblem Creator is back after its omission from Ghosts (Thanks again IW) and it works quite well, which this does help ease the other obvious lack of work. One last thing I will mention, the graphics and sound are definitely the best this series has ever had, on the next gen consoles and PC at least. While this is true, it still holds nothing against games like Battlefield 4 in terms of sheer detail. While Sledgehammer was definitely able to set a new benchmark for the series, they still trudged behind the competition. This could be a result of the engine, but it is still a factor. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! If you enjoyed this review, feel free to follow the Turbo Reviews blog for notifications on every new review! Until next week, Turbo out! And for those that buy the Call of Duty games for the Zombies mode present in the Treyarch games, it has been confirmed that a zombies mode is coming to Advanced Warfare, which sounds like a neato idea, but apparently it is going to be in the Season Pass. Sorry Activision, I am still not paying another $50 for that. *There has been a patch recently to the game that has updated some small things and apparently balanced some weapons. If this patch changes my opinion on anything I will update the review, but so far it doesn't seem like much has changed. For the record, this game barely escaped my 'Meh' rating. You may have noticed a new addition to this review, my new 'How do they compare' rating where I compare the rating for the just reviewed game with a past game of the series to see how it would compare to the rating I did it or would have given it. Let me know what you think of that below.
Turbo Review: Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix (XB360)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix Platform: Xbox 360, PS3 Genre: Puzzle Publisher/Developer: Capcom/Backbone Entertainment Originally released on the Playstation and Arcades during the Street Fighter 2 craze, Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo came to make us all out of breath with its long name but also entertain with it's surprisingly fun gameplay. I remember playing it constantly back in 'the day'. Such a shame I have to call that time as it is but whatever. Capcom much later decided that we needed a longer name with a huge visual upgrade with Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix. You may breathe now. Puzzle Fighter's gameplay is simple. You move and drop pairs of differently colored blocks. When you get four of them together or more, they from a much larger block. You use these trippy orb-like items that randomly appear with a block to break the blocks of its corresponding color when it comes in contact with that color, this will break the blocks it comes in contact with and any it is connected to, again, if it is the same color as the orb. One thing that makes this a bit different though, is it uses characters from the Street Fighter and Darkstalker's fighting games and once you break blocks, you will then drop blocks onto your opponent! This makes it feel a lot like a fighting-puzzle game especially thanks to the animations that play out as you 'attack'. The gameplay here is addicting thanks to the very fun combos and chains you can create, pummeling your opponent after making a huge chain of blocks. Each of the fighters have their own unique drop patterns and this is one of the better aspects of the game. While some patterns are better than others, each one feels unique and adds a bunch of replayability to a game that already plays pretty well. The modes in the game also change this up. You have the new X' mode, which changes some of the fighter's drop patterns to be a bit more competitive, X mode which has the original drop patterns, and Y & Y' modes which are variations of the gameplay. The main meat of the game is in the X modes as they are the standards and the most fun. The Y modes, which have you breaking blocks in very weird ways, feels tacked on and I honestly never played much of them. I doubt many play these regularly. Each of these four modes are also like the standard arcade mode, where you go through the fighters until you beat the boss. There is also an online mode where you can play against other players in ranked and non-ranked play. This is what you would expect, it's Puzzle Fighter online! This obviously not being in the original makes this a pretty interesting addition and it works well, though it is pretty standard fare. My one gripe beyond the lack of features, is the occasional online lag. While it never completely hampers the gameplay, at times it can make some of your block movements be delayed which can really mess up a specific strategy that you were aiming for. Beyond that there is not much else to say about the online, it is very standard, but it works. One of the biggest additions to this version obviously are the revamped HD visuals. The art style and graphics have been completely overhauled for most of the game, especially for the blocks and visual effects and it shows. When played on an HD display, the colors are far more vibrant and pop out way more than the original. Even the sound is vastly improved! This definitely puts this game far beyond the original in the graphics and sound area. My one gripe here though, are the character sprites. I am sure there was a reason behind this, but for some reason the character sprites did not get the same visual upgrade, they are actually the same sprites from the mid 90's essentially. This makes them look kinda fuzzy and quite out of place in comparison to the rest of the eye popping visuals. Another thing I want to mention is in my opinion a decently huge addition to this Remix, the ability to press Up on the controller to instantly drop your current block. In the original game, you could not do such a thing, you had to hold down in order to drop the blocks and it dropped at a standard pace. Here, you can press down but now pressing up will instantly drop your current block. This makes for some really intense and much faster gameplay when this is mastered. I found that to be one of my favorite additions to this game and I am happy it was made. Going back to the original felt so much slower in comparison. One last thing, this remix is missing the unlockables from the Playstation version, for reasons beyond me. This game could have used something like this because while the gameplay is very fun and replayable, it does lack in content overall. I want my sound clips and artwork! Final Verdict: Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! If you enjoyed this review, be sure to follow Turbo Reviews for notifications on every new review! Until next time, Turbo out! (Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix is available for Xbox Live Arcade and PSN for $9.99)
Turbo Review: Pokemon Pinball (GBC)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Head to the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Pokemon Pinball Platform: Gameboy Color Genre: Arcade Publisher/Developer: Nintendo/Jupiter After the release of Pokemon Red and Blue and the premiere of the anime, the popularity of the franchise was skyrocketed into the mainstream. Pokemon got a board game, a card game, merchandise, everything! It even made it into other genres, such as puzzle games and....pinball?! Yeah, pinball, and it was good! Pokemon Pinball is, of course, a pinball game with a Pokemon theme, being themed after the Red and Blue games. It features two tables, Red and Blue. This is clearly a small number but the unique designs for both and the adventure aspects of the game really hold it up. The standard gameplay is what you would expect from something with pinball in the title. You control two flippers to hit a ball, which here is a Pokeball (Squee!). You hit it to get it to hit different point scoring structures on the table. For being a 2D handheld game, the pinball itself actually feels like it does have some decent physics. The ball has some speed and bounce to it when it hits obstacles. Make no mistake, the core pinball here is actually well done and the developers did a good job. I do not remember any major glitches, though I do remember a small one where the ball would slightly go through an obstacle but this was rare. Gotta catch em all....in pinball! Here comes the really fun part. While pinballing (Is that a word?), you do the standard pinball stuff, collect points and complete little objectives for bonus scores. Here though, you are actually doing things that you would do in the actual Pokemon games! As you play, you will eventually travel to other towns from the games, and even run into Pokemon! This happens once certain conditions are met and then you must hit the proper obstacles to get the image of the Pokemon full. It is random on which one it is, in true Pokemon fashion. Then, you must hit the Pokemon 3-4 times to catch it. Catching Pokemon is actually really fun here and it provides huge score bonuses at the end. The more you catch, the more points you get! Gotta catch em all...to get that high score! This adventure gameplay is the best part of the game and captures the essence of the original games well, which is impressive for pinball. Of course, it being pinball, there is of course a part of luck associated. It can be a bit frustrating when you are doing good only to have the outlanes ruin your good streak. \ The two awesome tables! If only there were more somehow. Another aspect that is well done is the visual and sound area. The two tables have a unique look and have different Pokemon as the obstacles, like Voltorbs for bumpers on the Red table or Cloyster on the Blue table. It lends itself well to the overall theme without being overly cluttered. The kickbacks are even Pikachus! (Squee! Again) The music and sound are both great too. The music is very lively, even when losing a ball, though that is still frustrating. The sound effects are also good with great noises for the bumpers and spinners on each table. Overall the sound is good, however there is some slight glitchiness when multiple things happen. The music tends to cut off when hitting bumpers or when the kickback actives. Any other musical hits precede the regular music. This is not a major issue, but an issue nonetheless. This is the GBC after all. Also, the classic jingle for when you catch a Pokemon is oh so satisfying here. There is also a full sound test which is a nice touch. So much Pokemon here... Really, the only huge flaw that the game has is the lack of content. As I said, there are only two tables and while they are well done, like anything, it can get old after a while. This game is best played in short bursts. There is a Pokedex here which is another great touch, this keeps track of all Pokemon that you have captured. This is a perfect example of a good portable game, as it is great to bust out for a bit when you are bored. Final Verdict: Thanks for reading this week's Turbo Review! If you enjoyed it, you can follow this blog to be notified whenever a new review is posted! Until next week, Turbo out!
Turbo Review: Mario Party (N64)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Go to the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Mario Party Platform: Nintendo 64 Genre: Party Game Publisher/Developer: Nintendo/Hudsonsoft Mario Party was a strange yet interesting release when it launched. A board game stringed together by a bunch of mini-games starring Mario characters? That actually sounds awesome! Well, it is actually kinda cool. Now it has become a franchise with over 10 games in the series. Let's see how the first outing fares! In Mario Party, you go through differently themed 'boards', compete against others in mini-games, and collect coins and stars to become the next Superstar! Apparently becoming the Superstar is the main point of the story. Each board has its own theme and are also based on the different characters The main place to do this is in the standard Adventure mode, where you pick your stage, turns, characters and so on. This is the standard go to mode for the goal of Superstardom. You can pick from 6 characters in the Mario universe, Mario, Luigi, Peach, Yoshi, DK, and Wario, which some oddly enough have their Japan only voices used here. Compared to the newer games, it is a small roster but it was awesome for the time. This mode overall is pretty fun to me, though a couple more stages would have been nice. looking back there wasn't that many overall. You also run into different obstacles on the board depending on its theme, Bowser and a Boo are always on these boards. Bowser exists to make your life miserable and Boo is there to be your personal thief, stealing coins and maybe even stars for you. The overall variety of the boards themselves is good. Beyond the standard Adventure, you have a Quest mode, where you go through set locations, completing Mini-games along a path with a limited number of lives, which coins from the games give. Surprisingly, this mode is pretty well done as it takes you to many locations and has a good variety of the games, which gradually get pretty hard. I'd say this mode is just as good as the Adventure mode and actually better if you are a solo player. Beyond this, there is a shop to buy things with your earned coins, a Mini-game hut to buy mini-games and play any of them as you like, an options area, and..thats kinda it. The game does seem like it has a lack of content but overall the replaybility can make up for that, mainly due to multiplayer. Bowser exists to do one thing: Make you all miserable The mini-games themselves are the meat of Mario Party and they range from fun to meh to ugh. There are games for tracing objects, shaping a Bowser face to match the center, Shy-Guy says and many more. Even if some of the games are hit or miss, there definitely is a good variety here that cannot be overlooked. There are 4-player games, 2vs2 games, 1 Player only, and 3vs1 games that further add to the variety, though there are not near as many games for the last three, the 4 player games received the most attention for obvious reasons. Speaking of 4 players, this game can be played with up to 3 other players and multiplayer is where the game really begins to shine. It is clear that this was intended. Playing alone is nowhere near as fun as playing with others though this game has a history of creating bitterness between players at times, it can definitely do that. The game just needed a couple more modes centered around the Party aspect and more games for the other categories, such as 2vs2 and so on. Face Lift was always one of my favorite mini-games The graphics and sound get the job done. The graphics themselves don't have the same shine as say Super Mario 64 but they aren't bad at all. The sound fares a bit better though with very catchy melodies in the games and for the worlds, though no real classic Mario tunes are present for some reason, except for when getting a 1-UP. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! Until next time, Turbo out! Liked this review? Be sure to follow this blog to be notified for every new review! http://mlpforums.com/blog/1926-turbo-reviews/#
Turbo Review: Super Time Force (XBONE)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Go to the Final Verdict below for that and my rating! Super Time Force Platform: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC Genre: Retro 2D Shooter Bullet Hell Publisher/Developer: Capybara Games Super Time Force starts out very promising. It is a very retro style 2D shooter game with a neat time bending twist. While these retro games lately have kinda bothered me, I thought this one might be genius. Actually...no, at least, not entirely. As I said, it is a retro 2D shooter. You move about in a very pixelated and colorful world and you shoot things. Sounds simple enough, but there is a catch: you can control time! With a simple click of a button, you can 'Time-out' and reverse time a good length. Then, you can start at any point, and your past self will play back all of the action that it had just experienced and you keep playing. This creates a sort of single player co op play, as the game calls it. You use this mechanic to take down tough enemies and to defeat bosses. When you time-out you also reveal little short power ups to help you along the way when they are shot, like one that slows down time. I like these but they can be hard to spot and hit due to the chaotic gameplay. While this system works fine, the game is very chaotic. You die in one hit. With that, you will be rewinding a lot. You get a lot of lives to do so, but you will still die plenty of times. The gameplay is very frantic. Bullets will be flying in so many directions during the game that it is insanely hard not to get killed during sections. You can keep rewinding to your hearts content if you have the lives and you can do this until you eventually kill the enemy, but this feels like tedious trial and error thanks to the sheer chaos. At times, this game is definitely a bullet hell game, a genre I have never enjoyed. The games control is tight and works well, except aiming can be a bit finicky and stressful. To add further to the chaos, there is a timer in each of the stages. Each stage you have 60 seconds to get through. Seems terrible huh? Well, you can collect time extenders a long the way. These extend the time slightly but even with these, the time limit adds just way too much tension to complete the levels. It almost feels like you have to speed run through each level just to get through. Which will of course result in further deathification. This timer definitely goes with the theme, but I really wish this was a bonus mode for the game rather than a major mechanic. The game would be far more enjoyable without this mechanic. During the game you start with 3 characters that each have their own special abilities. You can shoot normally by tapping the X button or charge the shot by holding it down. Doing so will do the character's special shot, like shooting through a wall or shooting a spread shot of bullets. Throughout the game you will find many additional characters that each have their own abilities, which these can all be chosen when you time out. This is one of the best parts of the game, it is fun experimenting with each character to see how they can handle a scenario and then timing out to try another while your past self wreaks havoc. One aspect of the game that bothers me is the humor, while there are some funny little references to past games and movies, the humor overall really comes off as forced a lot of the time and it just gets annoying and cliched. I am all for making humor a centerpiece of a game, but only when it is done well. Here, it isn't much. It comes off more as a kind of 'bro-dude' sense of humor. It made me chuckle at parts but it is very hit or miss. You may like it more than I did. The last thing I will mention is the graphical and music style, which are both very retro. This has been a popular style lately and while the music is quite good, I found the graphical style to be a bit...off. As a retro look it does work but even then it sometimes feels way too blocky but some of the enemy designs fair quite well despite this. In comparison to another recent retro game, Shovel Knight, the graphics here work, but they are hardly memorable. Final Verdict: Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! Until next time, Turbo out!
Turbo Review: Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse (XBOX)
Kyoshi posted a blog entry in Turbo Reviews!Want just a quick summary? Check out the Final Verdict for that and my rating! Stubbs the Zombie Platform: Xbox, PC Genre: Third Person Action/Shooter Publisher/Developer: Aspyr/Wideload Stubbs the Zombie was a very neat release from 2005. In a world populated by zombie media, movies, games, etc, Stubbs came along and through a wrench in the zombie game formula by adding comedy, a neat setting, and instead of killing the zombies, you ARE the zombie. You play as Stubbs, formerly known as Edward Stubbs, an entrepreneur from the early 1900's who unfortunately met his fate in a rather...precarious situation. He rises from his grave during 1950's America in a city built for the future. It has floating cars, robots, lasers, all of that cool future tech that we still don't have most of today! Well, it's all about to be ruined. Stubbs's adventure leads him through several parts of the city as he goes to exact his revenge. The game runs on the same engine that Halo 2 was built upon and it shows. You control Stubbs in a third person perspective, beating up cops, and other baddies with basic Melee attacks to start with. Once you kill an enemy with Stubbs, they will shortly rise as a zombie companion that will fight by your side! When they kill others, they too create more zombies for your horde. Granted these zombies are much dumber than Stubbs and don't have the staying power he does, but they pack a punch in numbers. Like zombies! Another big aspect is brain eating, which can be done once an enemy is stunned or if attack from the air or from behind. Eating brains refills your health, your power ups that you get, and is a quick way of dealing with enemies. Not all enemies are susceptible to this though so think wisely. Throughout the game, you get several 'power ups' that help you dispatch your enemies and these add variety to the gameplay. You get things like a flatulence blast which stuns enemies allowing for quick brain eating, a gut grenade, and even removing your hand to mind control different enemies, allowing you to use their firearm as a weapon! These are recharged as you eat brains and they add a good amount of variety to the game's combat since the standard Melee attacks would get old quick. The controls are fairly straight forward. You control Stubbs with the left stick, camera with the right, and all of the other buttons perform your different actions. Since it runs on the Halo engine, it actually feels a lot like that in control, well, except for the zombie part. This carries into controlling the different vehicles you can use throughout the game, which further adds to combat variety. Despite being a zombie, Stubbs does manage to control well except in jumping, which sometimes can feel floaty and imprecise. The story is very cliche intentionally with a ton of random humor thrown into the dialogue and the world. The humor here is actually really effective which is hard to achieve in a video game and it will have you laughing at several points. The humor involving the futuristic aspects of the city are also well done. The game also features a co op mode where you play through the story with another person, who plays as a zombie that looks eerily similar to Stubbs but is a different entrepreneur entirely. While this mode is basic, I actually found it quite fun as it basically doubles the carnage you can cause. Granted it definitely makes the game easier but that's what the harder difficulties are for. Another great aspect that was unexpected for me was the wonderful soundtrack. It features many wonderful songs that belong in the timeframe that the game takes place, with classic songs and remixed versions of those songs. Yeah, the soundtrack surprised me greatly and it was one of the best for that year. My only real complaint other than some of the simplistic aspects of the combat is the length of the game itself. The game is rather short and can be beaten in only a few or even a couple of sittings. This may put off some and it depends on how much you enjoy the game itself. I found it fun and unique enough to look past it but others might not be able to. Thank you for reading this week's Turbo Review! Until next time, Turbo out!