Review #254: X-Men - Next Dimension

 So... which one is the Next Dimension?

 If there's one thing I love, it's fighting games. X-Men Next dimension was a successor of sorts to the Mutant Academy series from the PS1 era, featuring 24 characters from the world of X-Men duking it out on the then-next gen.

 The game offers a healthy selection of modes: Story, Arcade, Versus(Player), Practice, Team, Survival and Time Attack. All of them are pretty much self-explanatory, but 'Story Mode' bears special mentioning. Story Mode is made up of several cut-scenes spread out throughout several fights, while some sections allow you to pick a character, the outcome is always the same. As far as the story goes, it's pretty dull and uninteresting, with Bastion kidnapping Forge and the X-Men coming to his aide, but hey, at least it actually has a story mode. Funnily enough, only about half of the character roster makes an appearance on this mode, and even less can be picked to play as.

 The fighting is surprisingly solid for a western Fighter, and it has a few original ideas that I really liked. Your basic tools are: two punches and two kicks, light and heavy for both, blocking by holding back, a throw and a counter, not unlike DoA's, albeit it can't be used while being comboed. The game featuress aerial combos, by tapping up after popping the opponent up into the air, cancels into the supers and specials and even juggles. Sometimes I felt as if the collision detection was a bit off at times, particularly against the large characters. 

 Each character has access to about 5 different specials, spread throughout 4 tiers. Y'see, the energy bar is made up of three Segments, and while each special has a different tier, it only consumes one segment of the gauge, except tier 4 specials which consume all three segments. Say, you use a a Tier 2 special, in this case only the second segment will be spent, while the first and third segment remain intact. But there's a rather interesting mechanic, in which you can 'move' energy from the other segments into one of your choice. For instance, having all three segments full allows you to: Pull a tier 4 special, two tier 3 specials(By moving energy from Segments 1 and 2 into the third one) or many uses of tier 2 and 1 specials! It's done by holding Z on the control and then whichever button is assigned to each segment. While gimmicky, I found it unique and interesting. On the other hand, one thing I did not like about the specials was the way they were used. Usually they involve pressing A+B or X+Y plus different directions. If you are gonna have simple commands for specials like these, make them universal amongst the entire cast! It's annoying going from one character into the next, and now A+B+Left is a tier 2 special instead of a tier 4, and in no way does it help in making characters 'feel different', if that was their intention.

 It bears mentioning that the camera loves to freak out. Many times it will get stuck on walls, or even on the floor while you pull off some of the flashier movies. Eventually you get used to it, but it can get pretty bad... One of Betsy's specials is unwatchable on the ceiling stage, since the camera will always glitch. And on some of the busier stages, like jungle stage with all the water, can suffer from a bit of slowdown every now and then, nothing major.

 The character roster is fairly decent, featuring most of the then popular X-Men.There's 24 characters, 22 out of them being entirely unique, while there are two semi clones(Phoenix and Dark Phoenix, Psylocke and Betsy) and I loved how characters come in all shapes and sizes, from the enormous Sentinel, the beefy Juggernaut or the short Wolverine. Each character also has 8 different colors, although there was an off putting amount of red alternate costumes. Unlocking stuff(About 6 of the characters, and 6 of the alternate colors) can take a while, particularly the ones requiring 1900+ rounds or spending 20 hours in the game, but there's a code to fasten the whole process... or just clock 56 hours into the game.

 The game's visuals are downright ugly and there's no two ways about it. Character models are ugly, some characters being oddly proportioned or even built, while the animation ranges from really good(Beast) to very spotty(Gambit). As for the textures, they are muddy and blurry. And the CG cutscenes present in the Story Mode? Hilariously fugly. No, this is not a good looking game. As for the music, forgettable at best, I can't remember a single tune from the game!

 X-Men - Next Dimension is more than a sum of its parts. The graphics are ugly, the camera is buggy, collision detection feels spotty at times... and yet the game is a blast to play. I can also admire some of it's original ideas, like the way the energy gauge works, or the different shapes and sizes combatants come in! It's probably not a fighting game you'll want to take super seriously, but one that's fun to play.

 8.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Soul Sacrifice

 It's cool, it's cool.

 I love Monster Hunter, well it's not like I played any other MH game besides Tri, but hey, I liked Tri. And I liked Gods Eater Burst, so I decided it was time to play another MH Clone(Or how the Vita Fanboys would rather call them, 'Raid game').

 The concept is relatively original, you partake in the memoirs of Magusar, the Wizard that keeps you in captivity, and by doing so, you grow stronger and more powerful, so that you can eventually challenge Magusar himself. I liked how you can challenge Magusar at any point in time. I managed to break off one of the seal rings around his barrier, not too shabby!

 As for the hunting, I'm not particularly a fan, but I think I could get used to it eventually, basically, you can have two three-spell loadouts with you at any time, and are used with Square, Triangle and Circle respectively, while R is used to toggle between load-outs. I mean, I guess it's sorta nice to have these many tools available, but I also like having in-depth movesets with one weapon... still, this is just a matter of preference. Plus, I still haven't gotten access to the 'Sacrifices', apparently you can sacrifice body parts(Health I'm guessing?) for one time boosts, or something like that, so there's always that.

 What I didn't like: the tutorial, it's pretty much bare bones. Like the Saving/Sacrificing mechanic, were the boosts permanent? Turns out they are, but it didn't tell me at the time. I wish there was some sort of in-game document, since Vita games don't carry instruction booklets, detailing the inner workings of the game. I mean, I managed to get the hang of everything I was told by the third mission, but I still feel as if the game could convey information in a better way.

 Ah well, onwards, I've body parts to dispose of.

Review #253: Tales of Hearts R

 R stands for 'reimagining'. Japan, why you gotta be so presumptuous with your titles?

 While the 'Tales of' series of JRPGs is pretty big in Japan, it's not so the case overseas. As a matter of fact, the Nintendo DS had three installments of the series, which were never localized. As luck would have it, two of these games were remade for the VITA, and one of them even made it here! While I'd love to compare both versions, I didn't play the DS one, but suffice to say, stuff got taken out, stuff got added and stuff got changed, and the general consensus is mixed, so I'll have to do with the game as is, without knowledge of the previous game.

 The story pits you as Kor Meteor, or Shing Meteorite as he is called in the Japanese track, who at the start of the game earns his 'Soma' weapon, and a few seconds later comes across a mysterious girl, typical, Kohaku and her brother. People have these things called 'Spiras', which is a sort of material psyche world of sorts, long story short, Kohaku's Spira gets broken into many pieces, and Kor vows to collect them all. Eventually their journey takes them over to the moon and against a villain who meant well, but through the wrong means, and is confused and.... is a walking cliche of any piece of Japanese media. I'm gonna be blunt, the story is dull, and filled to the brim with cliches, even for a Tales game. You've got your traitor, as per usual, the girls that can't cook and care a bit too much about their figures, as per usual, the hot springs scenes, as per usual, the dumb, never-say-die main character and the power of friendship, who also happens to be the host of some powerful being, as per usual, yadda yadda. There's not a single original or remarkable plot point to talk about, with some things being a bit too familiar to Tales of Graces... I'd say this is the anime-est the series has EVER been, with those all-so familiar Japanese lines you've heard hundreds of time before, like 'I HAVE MY FRIENDS TO HELP ME!' or 'WE HAVE WHAT YOU DON'T, THE POWER OF BONDS!', 'Humans are fools, but they are courageous and strong' and the like, so make of that what you will. Lastly, and worth mentioning, is that the game only has Japanese audio, and the translation is very... liberal. Even if you know nothing about Japanese, you'll notice that two-three word sentences have been extended into longer dialogue quips, so a lot of flavor has been added. Some characters even got their names changed, for whatever reason, like the protagonist. It didn't bother me too much, but I felt the dialogue was a bit too over-the-top and overdone for my taste.

 As with any other JRPG, the game progresses in a very linear fashion. Go into a town, talk with NPCs, accept sidequests, buy consumables or equipment and then venture into the next dungeon. Something that made me extremely happy was the overworld, it's been so long since I played a modern-day JRPG with a proper overworld, and it felt soooo good! On the flip side, it's the first 'Tales of' in a while to use Random Encounters, and while the encounter rate might be a bit on the high side, it's only really bothersome on the latter dungeons, when you are trying to solve puzzles as battles pop all the time. Leveling up in this game is fairly interesting, besides the mandatory increases to your stats, you also earn 'Soma points' which can then be spent on five different 'Soma pools', each pool increases different stats, but each pool can be leveled up, and this is how you earn different Artes(Spells or battle skills), Skills and weapons(Since your Weapon is a 'Soma', you obtain different forms of this Soma). I liked the customization, and the fact that you have to think how you want to develop each character, as there's no going back. There's a bit of a flaw to this mechanic, probably so that you don't overlevel and get the strongest skills and weapons early, the maximum level of each pool is capped by story progression, however, you are never told so, so at some point I assumed I just had to max everything in order to unlock the next tier of levels... wrong, I just had to hit the next plot point.

 Battling is the meats and potatoes of any 'Tales of' game, and I'm happy to report that it plays as well as any modern Tales of game, being particularly similar to Xillia. Basically, when a Random Encounter pops out, you are taken to a circular arena, and while you take control as any one character, the CPU will take over the other three. You can set their AI with rough parameters, but you can pop the menu at any time by pressing triangle and issue them orders directly. As for the character you play as, X is used for basic attacks, while Circle is used for TP(Mana)-consuming Artes. The beauty of the combat system is that it plays in real time, and it's very fast paced, at times reminiscent of a fighting game, due to all the comboing. Unique to this game in particular are the countering and follow up mechanics. Bashing an enemy for a while will make a blue marker appear over them, and using certain attacks on them will 'mark' them. While marked you can press Square to instantly teleport next to them and continue attacking them. As for Countering, after sustaining damage, enemies will turn red and use a souped up attack, pressing Square(Block) at the right time, will parry the attack and counter it with an attack of your own.

 The presentation is unimpressive, character models look decent, if a bit too simple, and some animations look a bit stiff, like running around. For what it's worth, the game maintains a solid framerate throughout, without any slowdown during battles, so that's a plus. As for the music, it fares as well as the rest of the game: It's decent, albeit unremarkable.

 So what's my problem with Tales of Hearts R? It IS a good game, probably among the best I have played on the Vita... but nothing about it makes it stand out from the rest of the 'Tales of' series. The story is dull, filled with cliches, and it even shares ideas with Tales of Graces, such as going to the moon, and that the 'important NPC from the moon' is green haired. As for the characters, they are cliched anime stereotypes to a fault, I think this is the very first 'Tales of' game in which I didn't like any of the characters. As for the World itself, not a single town or dungeon was memorable, it's pretty generic 'Tales of' stuff. The combat while fun, is exactly what I would've expected of a 'Tales of' game. What about the 'two styles' from Tales of Graces? Xillia's linking system? The follow-up mechanic is fun and all, but it does little to make it stand out.
 And that's Tales of Hearts R for you, it's a console JRPG on the palm of your hands, it's fun and functional... but less than impressive as a whole.
 7.5 out of 10.

Review #252: Shinobido 2 - Revenge of Zen

 Move aside, Phantom Pain. Or not.

 Shinobido 2 is a third-person action/stealth game for the PS Vita. It has the distinction of not only being the third Shinobido game, but the first one released in the USA!

 The story is terrible. At first, I thought that the reason everything was explained so poorly, and that it seemed as if I was missing some information was because I should've played the previous two games. I was wrong, I just did some reasearch, turns out the only returning character is on a support-only role. But what's the gist of it? You play as Zen, at the beginning of the game his girlfriend, Sen, is killed while Zen survives, albeit not without a scar. Early on, it is discovered that Sen is alive, she is on the game's cover after all, kinda, seems like there are these mirrors capable of creating 'mirror people', thus Kaede, San's 'reflection', was born. She has as much personality as a cardboard. As far as the main villain goes, his motivation is very dumb. The there are the three Daimyos vying for control of the land, and you must pick from missions sent by them. The game suggests serving only one Daimyo, but you are given no information about any of them, besides one line each explaining why they want control. There's the evil looking woman, the evil looking kabuki dude and the unreliable looking guy, so just pick whoever looks most appealing. Everything about the story is dumb. You shouldn't play this game for the story.

 The game progresses by having you doing missions by these different Daimyos. Basically, just complete missions until a cut-scene triggers letting you know that the next story mission is available, not that you need to tackle it immediately, as you may complete missions ad-nauseaum in order to level up Zen or Kaede. Zen and Kaede play exactly the same, but you must level them up separately, so you could potentially raise their stats(Stamina, Strength, Defense, Hook Length, Special) in different ways. There's also an Alchemy system, which is kinda convoluted to explain, but easy to use, in order to create tools out of items you may find on missions or earn as rewards. Or you can just buy them. There's a decent amount of tools, from healing items, to Shuriken, caltraps and mines, but, playing on Normal, I never felt the need to employ any item. I just let my Katana and hook do all the ninja-ing.

 Zen and Kaede are Ninja, so they're pretty nimble. They can dash, crouch and jump, which isn't very surprising, but they've also got a hook to grapple onto buildings or ledges(Which doesn't always work very well, the clinging can be a bit spotty), a cloth to glide and access to a special insta-kill move. This Special move consumes 'energy bars', but will kill any enemy(as many as energy bars you've got, although stronger enemies require more Special bars) in a nearby vicinity, without moving you from the spot(Although you can opt to stay on top of the corpse instead of defaulting back to where you were when you initiated it). Or you can just sneak behind them, or above them, and instantly kill them with triangle, your choice. If seen, you can either run for dear life, or engage them in swordplay. Square produces a three-hit combo, but combat is a bit... clunky, enemies always seem to be able to avoid your third hit, even if they got hit by the first two, however, roll around, while they block, and hit them on their backs and they won't be able to do a thing while you mash Square. It works on the last boss.

 As far as the missions are concerned, there's a lot of variety: Assassination, in which you must kill a specific target. Obliteration, in which you must slay every enemy. Transportation, in which you must take something from one place to another. Scouting, which is self explanatory. Kidnapping, in which you must find a target and carry them to the exit. Stealing, in which you must find and steal certain something. Transportation, in which you must transport a person from one place to another. Rescue, which is like 'kidnapping' but the target doesn't fight back. Duel, which are one-on-one fights, Assault in which you must destroy an Oxcart, and Guard in which you must guard one. Variety, there's a lot of it, buuuut... there's only about six different levels. The goals might be different, the enemy layout might be different, but you'll be Ninja-ing through the same, few stages all the time, so it gets repetitive anyways. On it's defense, there's 'New Game+', which also you to unlock skins, like a Bear, to put over Zen or Kaede, as well as a harder difficulty setting... but then again, it's a four-hour long game.

 Still, one of my biggest gripes with the game are the controls. For example, rolling is done by: First, Targeting the enemy(Hold L), then hold R(Crouch) and the press X+the analog stick. It would've been much easier to do away with having to hold R. Speaking of crouching, for whatever reason, the right analog stick turns YOU around while crouching, instead of moving the camera, which is endlessly annoying. While the hook predicts correctly where you'd want to grapple most of the time, so you can just press down on the directional pad, sometimes it won't come out, so you need to manually aim(X+O) and then shoot it. None of these are too cumbersome, but they do get in the way.

 I don't usually care about graphics, and it's not like I expected Uncharted - Golden Abyss-level graphics, but Shinobido 2 is a bit... lackluster. It looks like a PS2 game, a very sharp PS2 game, but a PS2 game non the less. During cutscenes there's also a ton of graphical bugs over Zaji and Zen's armors. The game could've used more 'instakill' animations, as seeing the same stab every single time gets old after a while. The music was fitting, but unremarkable, while the voice acting was passable at best, seems only Zen was decent, but even then it felt a but phoned-in.

 Shinobido 2 is a decently fun game. It has a few flaws and shortcomings here and there, but overall it's a decent game to have on the go.

 7.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Tales of Hearts R

Random Encounters?!

 When was the last time a Tales of had Random Encounters?! Phantasia? Nay, Destiny?! Regardless, y'know what the blog was missing? A honest to goodness JRPG, and since I'm done with Shinobido 2(Turns out it's only 4 hours long), why not? The tests are over, so....
Yeah....

 What I liked:
 The combat, feels very Xillia like, I like that.
 The leveling system, it uses a stat-spread system, but it's a bit unique in that each of the five 'pools' raises multiple stats, and 'leveling up' one of these nets you skills or Artes. Very neat.

 What I'm iffy about:
 The translation, now then, I don't profess to know Japanese, but I'm pretty sure Kor is called Shing, and I can tell, thanks to years of watching anime(of which I'm not proud in the slightest) that what characters say don't always match the subtitles. Basically, they added a lot of flavor to the translation, and I'm still not sure if I like that. It feels very over-the-top, and I usually like over-the-top, but on an generic-anime-looking game like this? I dunno...

 What I didn't like:
 The graphics, while they are pretty enough, some of the animations feel a bit... stiff. As a matter of fact, a conversation actually played out like a skit, using 2D cut-outs! I hope that they are the exception and not the rule....


 I could be wrong, but it feels like you average, run-of-the-mill Tales of game, which isn't necessarily bad, but the Vita could really use a heavy hitter.

Now Playing: Shinobido 2 - Revenge of Zen

 Tenchu much?

 I've a test tomorrow, so what's a better idea than starting a new game?!

 See the lass on the cover? She dies on the opening cutscene. And then you have to work for three different daimyo's fighting to rule the land... which sounds decent, except that you are told jack about any of them, so judging from their appearances, two of them are evil and the other one is incompetent. Fun.

 That said the game is decent, it's a decent stealth game, I think. I do feel like the controls are a bit constricting, or the grappling hook, which sounds like a great idea, except that it automatically makes your character jump on arrival, instead of hanging from the ledge. Also, why no corner stealth insta-kills?

 And what about the basic three hit combo? 1 slash and then two kicks. WHY WOULD YOU KICK TWICE IF YOU HAVE A FRIGGIN' SWORD, LIKE, WHERE'RE YOUR PRIORITIES AT?! And the third hit-dash-second kick always tends to miss or get blocked, as a matter of fact, the training grunts would choke me after the second kick, even if the first two hits connected, 'the hell!?

 All in all, it feels like a lackluster Tenchu. But then again, I only played Tenchu 3, and it's been ages ago, so it might be nostalgia talking.

Review #251: Tearaway

 You could say that I'm a bit torn about it.

 Tearaway is a 3-D platforming game made by the same people that created Little Big Planet, with which it shares some themes and ideas, however, it's a completely different affair. It also happens to be one of those games that tries to make the most of the system it's on.

 The game makes you play as yourself, yes, you. and Iota, a messenger-dash-message, as he tries to make his way towards you. Yes, I meant every word, the game uses the Vita's front Camera to display you face, and it is you who helps Iota, by using your fingers or tilting the system in order to make the trip. You'll also play as Iota by using the traditional buttons and analog stick. Occasionally you'll also get to draw things, like eyes, flames, mustaches or whatever the game asks of you, which basically gives you a small degree of customization over how certain things look! As a whole, it's a very creative concept and they pulled it off very well. It made me smile a couple of times.

 If the game has something, it's variety. Every level introduces something new. For starters, Iota can jump, roll, use a camera to take picture, pick up and throw objects, and later in the game, obtains a vacuum-like weapon that allows him to suck up enemies and use them as weapons. Then there are 'your' abilities, which can only be used on certain terrains. Certain terrains will allow you to use your fingers, by touching the rear touchpad, to move around stuff or kill enemies, you can also pull or push certain paper strings to interact with the environment. Later in the game, you'll also have to tilt the Vita in order to move some platforms!

 Each level has a lot to find, blue-presents, which translate into 'mini quests', hidden red presents and colorless objects that you need to photograph, however, it still manages to be very, very short. The game can easily be finished in 6 hours, and completion might take up to 8. It's also fairly easy, and while some trophies require you to finish some levels without dying, dying comes without any kind of real penalties.

 I also had a couple of gripes, most importantly, the camera. It has a tendency to get stuck on awkward angles whenever you jump off places the game didn't consider you would jump off. It can be very annoying. Secondly, while I loved the whole drawing mechanic, since it makes each playthrough your own. heck, you can customize Iota with premade stickers or make your own( I drew a Sword-sticker for my Iota, which looked adorkable), it lacks precision. The game can be very finicky when it comes to recognizing your swipes, and the area the eraser erases is too large... basically, don't expect to make grandiose or intricately detailed art.

 Speaking of art, the game is gorgeous. The game attempts to make everything look as if it was made out of paper, it's beautiful and very, very cutesy. From water waves, to wind lines.... everything is made out of paper, it looks phenomenal even while in motion. And the hand-drawn stickers that you are to draw makes it even more appealing, even if it looks as if it was made by a three year old(Part of the charm, really). Music is used rather sparsely, but it works to the game's benefits, what music there is is very 'rural' sounding, while not my cup of tea, it's very fitting.

 While I've mostly good things to say about the game, I must also admit that this isn't a game for me. I appreciate the creativity, and I know that there's an audience for this game, but sadly, I'm not part of it. Still, it's a nice showpiece for the Vita's novelties and I am glad I played it... even if I'm sure I won't be coming back to it any time soon.
 6.5 out of 10

Now Playing: Tearaway

 It's aight.

 See? The blog isn't dead. It's on hiatus. Anyways, Tearaway... it's alright. I'm not the biggest fan of these kind of games, y'know, those that try to make the most of a console gimmicks. Not to say that I hate these kind of games, just that they are not the kind of games I tend to love. But then again, Frobisher Says is amazing, but I digress.

 What did I like about Tearaway?
 The visuals, everything looks as if it was made out of paper, even water splashes! It looks really neat.
 Having my face on the sun. Yes, really. Every time I appear on-screen I just start making faces, because why not?
 The creativity. Come on, pressing on the back of the system and having your fingers appear on the screen is pretty original

 What did I not like about Tearaway?
 The slow pace. Maybe it's because I'm very early on the game, but it seems as if every time I take a few steps, a NPC is waiting to talk to me.

 So yeah, there's nothing particularly bad about it, but it's definitely not my cup of tea.

The Hype Machine

 Lately, which I guess it has to do with the fact that gaming has become more mainstream lately and due to the lack of really amazing games on current gen, it seems that people get hyped a lot more easily. Every last 'triple A'(I hate the expression) has been surrounded by 'hype campaigns'. The Witcher 3, Bloodborne, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Batman: Arkham Knight and even Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. And all these games have another thing in common, which I like to call the 'honeymoon period', which lasts about 2-3 months after release.

 During this time, these games are the 'BEST GAME EVER', or 'GAME OF THE YEAR', any person that expresses any kind of gripe or distaste with the game will be branded a 'troll' or told to 'git good'. Because. hey, it can't possibly be the game's fault. Like how The Witcher 3 had somewhat clunky combat mechanics, but hey, 'it was way worse in The Witcher 2' or maybe 'You should get good', because it can't possibly be the game's fault. Or take Pokemon ORAS, during the last months before its release, suddenly Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, one of the most disliked gens among the fandom, became the best generation ever. Suddenly people loved Ruby and Sapphire. And during the first months after release, it was 'waaaaay better than X and Y', and the 'Too much water' complaint became a meme because it, pardon the pun, held no water. But after the honeymoon period ended, ORAS was quickly forgotten, suddenly X and Y weren't so bad, so on and so forth.

 People need to remember that just because somebody doesn't like a game they love, it doesn't mean that it's a bad game, or that your taste is put into question. But people get too defensive about the games they like, it's as if videogame publishers were paying them to defend their games. And it's one thing to argue about something, but as soon as someone says they dislike a game or an aspect of it, all civility goes out the window: they are wrong, or they are playing it wrong and they are trolling and they should get good! People suck sometimes.

 But I was talking with somebody about Metal Gear Solid V, a game he was rather hyped about, but was feeling a bit let down about it, which prompted me to think about this and how 'Hype' has affected me.... and then I thought about the last time my hype wasn't met with disappointment.

 Last year's 'JoJo's All Star Battle', I couldn't wait for the game, I devoured every single crumb of information that was released, and the end result was everything I wanted. Sure, I had some gripes with it, but as a whole, it didn't disappoint me in the slightest. I got the game that I wanted, and it was fabulous.

 'Gundam Extreme VS Full Boost' was everything I wanted. I followed the Arcade's mobile suit unlocks month by month, I went to as many boards as a I came around, looking for information on a console port or the latest playable unit trailer. My hype was through the roof and was met with aplomb. Sure, the Single Player was a bit lacking, when compared to vanilla Extreme VS anyways, but that's not the game's focus. And, unexpectedly, the 'hype cycle' is still on-going, except that now I'm following Maxi Boost's unlocks and hoping for Console Port news! Namco, get on it.

 'Tekken Tag Tournament 2' was another game that delivered. I'm in love with this game, my only problem being... that all of my friends hate Tekken(because they suck), so I'm stuck playing the CPU.

 But then, there's also the games I've been disappointed with...

 Oh, 'Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS', my hype for this game reached Full Boost's level, not a day would go by without me lurking the boards for potential leaks. Waiting religiously for the next 'Screenshot of the day'... And, to be fair, I know that it's a better game than Brawl 'n all... but there's something missing. I don't know what exactly, I can't put my finger on it... Maybe I just outgrew the series? Thing is, I wanted to love this game, I wanted it to become my favorite 3DS game, but.... it just wasn't meant to be, for as good as it is. It even has Shulk! And Ike, my main, looks even better than he did in Brawl, but... sigh.

 'Dragon Ball Xenoverse'.... sigh. I admit that a huge part of my issue is that I played the terrible PS3 version, which makes 80% of the game nigh unplayable. There's framerate issues on the Hub Town, even if you play offline, and you need to go through the town since there's no traditional menu to select modes. And there's framerate problems if there's ever more than two combatants on screen at the same time... and most of the game is made up of multiple-man fights, and you need to play this mode if you want to unlock everything.

 But even then, there's no forgiving the insane grindy nature of the game. The RNGs' got RNGs!!! Meaning that every Mission has a chance to make a boss appear, who in turn has a small chance to drop items/skills. Even the Dragon Balls are governed by RNGs. To this day, this is the only Dragon Ball game in which I haven't unlocked every character. And what about the missions? You absolutely need to play online if you mean to finish the latter stages, as you CPU allies will become a hindrance. And if you play offline, you'd better not make a melee oriented build, or you are basically screwed.

 For as hyped as I was about Smash for the 3Ds, at least it delivered a good game. I can't say the same about Xenoverse.

 And that's it. Hype is bad, don't ever get caught in the hype. And if you do, don't get so defensive about people disliking it. They are missing out, not you. Plus, the Publishers aren't paying you to defend their games.

Dragon Ball games and I

 I'll repeat what I've said countless times already: While I don't particularly care about Dragon Ball's manga and show, I do love the videogames. Doesn't matter the console, except the Nintendo 64, you can count on Goku and company to make their appearance somewhere, somehow. So, lo and behold, these are the Dragon Ball games I like the most:


10) Dragon Ball Z - Attack of the Saiyans

 Attack of the Saiyans is fairly interesting in that it's both underrated and overrated at the same time. Y'see, those that know of it, consider it to be the second coming of Jesus or something, which it isnt', but the people that do know it are very few! To be fair, it's my favorite Dragon Ball RPG, followed closely behind by the SNES card-based RPG, that also covered the Saiyan Saga(And the Frieza Saga!). But I digress. The combat system is fun, the sprites are gorgeous, and while they did have to pepper the game with 'filler'(It is an RPG after all), it's not too bad. What holds the game back are the reused enemy sprites, the slowness of the combat(I mean, attacks look very cool, but they are also very slow!), the high encounter rate and the slow pace of the dialogue speeches. Were 'emotion bubbles' needed as well?
 The game ends with a teaser for the Frieza Saga, but it never got a sequel.

9) Dragon Ball Z - Hyper Dimension

 Despite what people would have you believe, the SNES Dragon Ball fighting games have aged very, very poorly. Choppy animations, that make for poor gameplay(When it comes to fighting games, having such few frames for each attack actually affects the gameplay) and very shallow mechanics. Super Butoden 3 even lacks a Story Mode, and the character roster is questionable to say the least. Then there's Hyper Dimension, not only is it downright gorgeous, but the gameplay is fairly unique; your life gauge doubles as Ki bar!, then there's Fatal Fury-like background attacks.
 It's the only SNES Dragon Ball fighter I actually go back to every now and then.

8) Dragon Ball Kai - Ultimate Butoden

 Ultimate Butoden isn't a very good fighting game, I'll give you that. There's about 3 'character templates'(Kids, Adults, Heavies) that share Normals, and each character has only three special attacks to set them apart from the rest of the cast. Ultimate Attacks engage in dumb little mini-games, and characters are balanced according to the show instead of seeking balance among every character. But, BUT! it has an excellent Story Mode, even if it lacks voices, has a great character roster, for a first entry AND a DS game, characters have alternate costumes that they wore and that no other game has given them and for the first time in Dragon Ball history, you could customize, somewhat, the appearance of every character.
 When not looking for a serious fighting game, but a Dragon Ball game on the go, Kai is my go-to game.

7) Dragon Ball Z Budokai

 When it was released, it wasn't a particularly deep fighting game, and by today's standards, it's downright terrible. But it has the best Story Mode of any other Dragon Ball game, and among the very best Story Modes in Fighting games, perhaps only behind Mortal Kombat. While I'd never pop this game for casual play, every now and then, even as of 2015, I'll marathon the entire Story Mode in one go. It's that good. And no other Dragon Ball game, beside Ultimate Butoden, has ever come as close to it.
 This is a Fighting game that I play for the Story, and for what it's worth, back in the day, I also played it for its gameplay.

6) Dragon Ball Z Supersonic Warriors

 Supersonic Warriors is among the most original Dragon Ball fighters out there. It takes inspiration from Psychic Force, 1 on 1 battles(Even though you can make teams of up to three fighters and tag them on the fly) on a 2-D plane, but you have free movement over all 8 directions while both fighters face each other automatically. It's fast paced, looks good and the game lends itself to the on-the-go format. Supersonic Warriors would go on to have a sequel on the DS, but while the redrawn sprites and new characters are a great addition, the combo system is busted, it feels slower and the balance is even worse.
 I would go on to clock hours upon hours on this one

5) Dragon Ball Z Tenkaichi Tag Team

 We can all agree in that Dragon Ball Tenkaichi 3 is the most popular Dragon Ball Z game out there, and some would even call it the best. Now, take Tenkaichi 3 and add two-on-two battles and you get Tenkaichi Tag Team. I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of this game, but it manages to have a more than respectable character roster, and they managed to keep the gameplay intact from the PS2's Tenkaichi 3.
 I admit that I didn't play this one as much as I would've liked, but I blame it on how hard it is to take the PSP around!

4) Dragon Ball Raging Blast 2

 When I first tried Raging Blast 2's demo I hated it. They changed the controls, and the game felt weird. But for whatever reason I decided to buy it... and I liked it. Controls are different from Tenkaichi 3, but it doesn't make them worse. There's less characters, but it's understandable. And the story mode? There's none. But for as many things that Tenkaichi 3 did better, Raging Blast also has its merits. It looks gorgeous, there's more unique Ki auras, projectiles have many new and different particle effects, transformations are more detailed. Not to mention that characters have been given more unique animations(Even if a lot are shared between each other), and the controls have been simplified so that it's easier to pick up. Not to mention that it has a couple of characters that no other Dragon Ball game had had at the time, like Tarble.
 A more than admirable reimagining of the Tenkaichi series, it's a shame it ended after Raging Blast 2.

3) Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3

 People still play this game to this day, and there's a reason for it: No other game mimics Dragon Ball as well as this one, nor do any of them have as many different playable characters. Sure, most of them are clones, but in an anime game, does it matter? The game wants to be a Dragon Ball game, not a Fighting game, and in that regards it's the best one there is.
 Back in the day people would argue over which series was better, Budokai or Tenkaichi. And my answer was: Want a Fighting game based on Dragon Ball? Budokai. Want a Dragon Ball game based on Fighting? Tenkaichi.

2) Dragon Ball Z Densetsu

 A Japan exclusive, Dragon Ball Densetsu is a 3-on-3 fighting game of sorts. There's no life bars,well, there are, but the way in which you deal damage is fairly novel. You must hit enemies, and avoid being hit, in order to fill the 'momentum' bar with you color, once it's filled you character will use a Special attack and deal some damage. Rinse and repeat until you defeat your enemies. And you move by holding Up on the directional pad in order to fly towards your targeted enemy, or Down in order to retreat. Sounds simple, even awkward, but it's very fun. Back in the day, it was just amazing watching all 6 characters flying around, duking it out.
 I love Dragon Ball Densetsu, there's been some attempts at borrowing some elements, like Battle of Z and Xenoverse, but none managed to be quite as fun.

1) Super Dragon Ball Z

 I love fighting games, so it's no surprise that this is my favorite Dragon Ball game. It's funny, because most Dragon Ball fans don't 'get' this game. Most complaints lie on the very small character roster, but they don't get that each character, minus the bonus Console characters, are very different from each other, and balanced properly. Yes, Kuririn and Chi-Chi can fight one-on-one with Buu just like that. Then there're the complaints on the few modes, which are valid, but this being a proper fighting game... you don't need fluff. Arcade, Versus and Survival, that's where it's at. Lastly, the graphics have also being a point of contempt, citing how dull it looks... but unlike other Dragon Ball games, this one didn't go for flash, but rather style. It tries to look like the manga, as opposed to the anime, which translates into saturated colors, and the hand-drawn-like stages are beautiful. And Cell? Cell stands in a Muai-Thai stance, he's never looked this badass before.
As for what makes it stand out, as far as I'm concerned, there's the fact that this is, as I've said before, a proper fighting game, with real combos, command special moves and cancels, and it all moves at a very fast speed, which I love. To sweeten the deal, there're never-been-playable-before characters like Z-Sword Gohan and Chi-Chi, and a redesigned Cyber Frieza. Characters can also be customized throughout skill trees and by collecting the Dragon Balls and wishing to inherit special attacks, so that no two custom characters are alike.

Month Overview: August 2015

Games finished in August 2015:

Mega Man Legends                                                                                          7.0

 This Month I played a ton of games. And by 'a ton' I mean 'just Mega Man Legends'. But hey, it was pretty good, even if slightly disappointing, I was expecting a bit... more.

 Game of August:

 Big surprise, the competition was fierce, after all, there's no larger enemy than one himself(Or itself, in this case).

 Runner-up:

 Yep.

Review #250: Mega Man Legends

 Definitely better than the PC port!

 When it was time to make the jump into 3-D, Capcom got ambitious. Not ambitious enough as to make it a numbered sequel, but ambitious enough to make an Adventure game, not unlike the Zelda games, spin-off out of Mega Man.

 You play as Mega Man Volnutt, a 'digger', a spelunker who searches for treasure in old abandoned ruins. He is aided by Barrel, the man who took him in, Roll, the girl he grew up with and Data, a mysterious monkey that was found with Mega Man. As luck would have it, after an expedition, their ship gives out and they are forced to land on Kattelox Island. Fueled by adventure, and the possibility of finding the 'Mother Lode', Mega Man embarks on an adventure throughout the different ruins of the Island. I'm gonna be completely honest here, the story is terrible. I mean, I liked the setting, but the characters are horribly cliched and dull. Their designs might be decent, but as far as personality goes, the Caskets(Barrel, Roll, Mega Man) and the Bonnes, the antagonists, are one-note tracks, with nothing original or interesting about them. The story does get a tiny bit interesting in the last part of the game, but it ends with promises of 'telling you everything later', and a 'To be continued'. Lame.

 Legends is a 3rd Person shooter/adventure game of sorts. While your main objective is the exploration of the different Ruins, you are allowed a certain degree of freedom to explore the town in Kattelox Island, heck, you may come across a few sidequests! Progression in the game is mostly linear, you can't do dungeons out of order, but, you can revisit dungeons to farm money, heck, you may want to revisit them after you get some upgrades, like the Jump upgrade or the drill, in order to access previously unavailable areas. And you will want to explore, since Mega Man Volnutt doesn't earn weapons from his enemies, oh no, weapons are made by finding and bringing specific items to Roll so that she can develop them! There's a rather large amount of side-weapons, however, for some reason they decided that the only way to switch them is by... visiting the car and talking to Roll. I found it unnecessary and tedious even, why not let the player carry all of them and decide what's best for the occasion during a dungeon?

 Still, it's not like side-weapons are really needed, I speak from experience when I tell you that you can clear the game with the basic buster. I mean, I had to choose between extra fire-power or the 'Vacuum' side-weapon. Movement in the game is pretty iffy, as I'll get into later, but the Vacuum arm sucks the money dropped by enemies, which is extremely useful, so the choice was rather easy to make, which meant I spent 80% of the game without another sub-weapon. Anyways, my point is that the game is very easy, and almost every boss can be defeated by strafing and shooting. Strafe 'n shoot, strafe 'n shoot. Sometimes you might need to jump, but otherwise, that's the winning formula. That said, I did enjoy the fact that the Buster can be customized by equipping up to two(or three, if you find the upgrade) items. Still, when it comes down to it, combat as a whole can be pretty repetitive, and a bit boring since it lacks nuance. The sub weapons are a welcome addition, since they are pretty different, there are mines, a laser, a sword(Ain't as cool as it sounds!) and homing missiles, and they can be enhanced for some money, but the Buster works just fine and I needed the Vacuum Arm in order to earn money effectively.

 The game's biggest flaw is, easily, the controls. They are incredibly clunky, plus movement is a bit iffy, couple them together and... it's not a fun time until you adapt to them. To start with, there are to forms of 'side movement', either function can be set to either Left/Right or L1/R1, and they consist of turning and strafing. Personally, I set L1/R1 to strafing, since it worked better for me. Anyways, yes, the other function is 'turning', which means that Mega Man moves like a tank, in a game that demands speed. What where they thinking? This is why gathering money from fallen enemies is such a chore, plus, movement is anything but precise, so gathering all those crystal is a nightmare, which is why the Vacuum side weapon is so useful. Oh, and there's not analog support! Not content with just that, the 'lock-on' feature is terrible, luckily Mega Man soft-locks into nearby enemies, R2 functioning as a sort of 'hard lock', but it disables movement. There are times when you will need to use R2, mostly on flying bosses, and it feels as if the game doesn't take into account that you are rooted to your place while using R2, so get ready to suffer cheap hits, not that he game is any harder for it. Even worse, sometimes Mega Man hard locks into invulnerable parts of enemy bosses, like 'Bruno'(Nope, no spoilers, it ain't an NPC!), holding R2 makes Mega Man hard lock into... his wast? But his weak point is his head!

 On the flip side, the presentations is pretty good. Graphics are beautiful, character models are charming, stylized and very colorful. While lacking variety, Kattelox and its dungeons are nice to look at, as a whole, it's a gorgeous game, if a bit simple. Music is pretty good as well, there's a couple of stand-out tunes as well. However, voice acting ranges from decent to barely passable, but hey,a t least it has voice-acting(It is a PS1 game after all!).

 Mega Man Legends is alright. It has it's fun moments, and I certainly like the idea behind it, but the execution leaves a little to be desired.
 6.0 out of 10

Demo : Dragon Ball Z Extreme Butoden

 'Nother year, 'nother Dragon Ball Z game.

  I've followed the Butoden series ever since the first SNES game. Sadly, all of them have aged terribly, but Hyper Butoden on the DS, and even then, Hyper Butoden was a bit of a reboot for the series.... and Extreme Butoden is a reboot of sorts as well!

 What I didn't like:

 - Dragon Power system: I hate it when licensed fighting games do this. I want all characters to be equally viable, but nope, the DP system ensures that Teen Gohan VS Buu, 1 on 1, heavily favors Buu. Sure, the better player will win in the end, but when it comes to two players with the same skill level, the Buu player will win. I understand 1 on 1 battles are not the focus of this game, but I still dislike it when characters are balanced around 1 on 1. Even if it's an anime game, it's still a fighting game, g'dammit.

- Too simple: Yeah, the game seems simple to a fault. There's all these little combos that can be strung together by cancelling certain with the R button, and that's fine and dandy, but the Super Combo Attack( Y Y Y Y X A) seems so good by itself that I yet to see why I should bother wasting my energy gauge on anything else.

 What I did like:

- Graphics: The game is beautiful. Character sprites are big, and very well animated. I like the coloring, very reminiscent of the manga, just look a Vegeta's hair! A+

- Simple, but flashy: Being simple also has a plus... it's very easy to pull off very flashy stuff, which is sure to appeal even to people that don't like fighting games. And the attacks are very, very flashy.

- Doesn't feel like other ArkSys games: ArkSys' fighting games tend to feel very, very samey. Mechanics might differ from game to game, but you can't deny the similarities between Blazblue, Guilty Gear, Hokuto no Ken, Sengoku Basara X and Persona 4 Arena. Dragon Ball Z Extreme Butoden feels unlike any of them.

- The Character Roster: Well, the Demo only has 4 playable characters, but everyone knows the full roster by now... and for a new Fighting game, the roster is top-notch, hitting all the important characters.... although I could've done without Beerus, Bardock(Why the hell did he become so popular?!) and/or Super Saiyan God Goku, and on their stead get Videl. Because Videl is awesome. Still, my most favorite characters are in(Mystic Gohan and Mirai Trunks(Jacket), so I can't really complain.


 All in all, I feel its simplicity and DP system will hold it back from attracting hardcore, competitive gamers, and maybe, maybe, the fact that it's more of a traditional 2D Fighting Game, it may also disappoint a few Dragon Ball Z fans. The fantastic Budokai series and the excellent Super DBZ caught a lot of flak for being like that, particularly when compared to the Tenkaichi series(And fans will compare them with the Tenkaichi series, sadly). Regardless, the game is pretty much sound, and at a casual level, it's fun to play, despite the DP system. 'sides, every fighting game has to start somewhere, once Dragon Ball Z Extreme Butoden Extend rolls in, we may finally get a deeper game, ridden of the DP system. And with a playable Videl!

Now Playing: Mega Man Legends

 Hardly legendary!

 It's no secret that my experience with Legends is anything but good, but then again, I played the terrible PC port. I had to tag-team with my sister in order to deal with the godawful controls. But since the game is so beloved, and the controls couldn't possibly get any worse, I decided to tackle Legends with an open mind.

 And.... it's alright, but that' about it. Graphics are beautiful, audio is decent but everything else is jut alright. The story is generic, dull and somewhat boring. I guess it might not be as bad for young children, but I was lulled into boredom by how cliched everything panned out(I just defeated Tronne, so it might get better, but I doubt it). Gameplay is fairly run-of-the-mill as well, strafe and shoot, just strafe and shoot. It's boring, but effective. And the controls are fairly clunky to boot, however, there's something in the movement that makes it fun to move around.

 Basically: It's decent, but that's about it. So far anyways.

Month Overview: July 2015

 Games finished in July 2015:

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(GBA)                                                          7.0
Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles                                             5.5
Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Danger of the Ooze             6.5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Movie)                                                        7.5
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 - Mutant Nightmare(DS)                         4.0
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 - Battle Nexus                                          2.5

 Exams, studying, reading and Turtle Month 2015. Well, I'm not gonna dance around it, Turtle Month 2015 blew, who knew Ninja Turtles games could get so bad? There were a couple of good ones, at least, but the bad ones got oh so bad.

 Game of July:

 Who'd knew a game, based on a Michael Bay movie could get so good? Fitting the franchise around the genre, instead of the other way around, seems to have been the right call. As fun as it was, it needed more of everything. More environments, more stages, more loot! But hey, there's always the next time!

 Runner-up:

 It's funny, and sad, when you think about it, but Konami built a decent foundation for future games with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It was too short and lacked a bit more tuning, but it was fun while it lasted. And then Konami said to hell with it and built TMNT 2 Battle Nexus almost from the ground up, and it was terrible. And for the third entry they decided to take a little bit from both games, but even then, it couldn't match the first one. Goddammit, Konami.

Review #249: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 - Battle Nexus(GBA)

 I'm gonna be blunt 'ere: It's terrible.

 Oh, Konami, your TMNT games are supposed to be good! The first handheld game of their 2000's offerings was a more than decent first attempt, as it showed promise, albeit in need of some polishing here and there. But Konami opted to start back from scratch, and the result is disastrous.

 The game is a very, veeeeery loose retelling of the series' second season. There're four modes: Story Mode, Multiplayer(Which I couldn't try), Battle Mode, which has you collecting crystals in a very small arena under a certain time limit, and Race, which is an interesting 2-D skateboard mini game against the other turtles. The Story Mode has been overhauled for the worse. There're five worlds with 6 stages each, which is already an improvement over the shorter first game... but more of a bad thing is not a good thing, in this case, having more to dredge through isn't something to boast about.

 The previous game was rather straightforward in its approach, and for whatever reason, they decided that being straightforward was a bad idea. Most levels are made up of maze-like environments in which you have to find your weapons, and then gather crystals. Yes, you have to find your weapons first. It sounds like a good idea, at first your turtle is vulnerable, and you have to make your way through enemies, using stealth, alongside new actions like hiding underneath certain background elements, and make your way to your weapons. But it soon becomes tedious. Y'see, in order to progress into other levels, you have to gather 85 out of 100 crystals, so you have to explore the levels. You have to traverse them to find your weapons, then, probably, backtrack and gather everything that you couldn't before. Then there's the fact that each turtle has different abilities, so only some of them can obtain some crystals, which sounds great at first... until you realize that it forces you to replay levels in order to meet the crystal quota. And lest we forget that the game gets rather hard once you reach world 4, and there are no checkpoints... it translates to a lot of busy work, a lot of backtracking and a lot of replaying. There's tedious, then there's hard... but hard and tedious? Thanks, but no thanks. Mind you, it's not insanely hard, at most I must've retried a level 6 times before finishing it, but the whole ordeal of: Gathering weapons, then gathering crystals then, probably, retrying with another Turtle, with the chance of dying mid-level and having to redo everything again... yeah, it's just tedious.

 Controls have been slightly changed, slides and double jumps are gone, but there's the new hiding mechanics. Each turtle has unique skills, Mikey can hover with his 'chucks or throw them to break stuff at distance, Raphael can climb walls with his Sai and Donatello can access computer terminals. Leonardo gets nothing, really, your best bet is to play each level with Raph and/or Mikey, since they have the most unique crystals per level. Combat has been simplified, characters have a simple A button attack combo and three different charge attacks, but the charge is now instantaneous. It's not half bad really, but it's the tediousness of it all that really brings the game down. On paper, I adore the idea of each character having unique skills, but in practice it only translates to some turtles being able to reach crystals that others cannot, and they use it as an excuse to force you to retry each level in order to gather more crystals. They also kept the annoying mechanic were characters will break into a run after taking a few steps.

 Graphics received an overhaul as well, but not for the best. Everything is smaller now, and lacks detail. The animation is nothing to write home about either. Music is forgettable if anything.

 And thus ends Turtle Month 2015... on a whimper. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 - Battle Nexus is the worst of the Konami games, but at least, at least it can be fun, when it's not tedious. And hey, at least it's not TMNT for the PSP.

 2.5 out of 10

Review #248: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 - Mutant Nightmare(DS)

 Tough as a shell.

 Konami's run with TMNT on Home Consoles, during the 2000s, was pretty good... it's a shame that the handheld games didn't fare as well. Just as with the console games, it seems like Konami had a hard time finding an identity for these games, however, while they knocked it out of the park when it came to Mutant Nightmare on PS2, the DS version wasn't half as good.

 Mutant Nightmare is based off the third season of the show, but very, very loosely. It does dabble in some of the storylines, but just barely. As far as the set-up goes, Single Player is made up of 4 'worlds', Worlds 1-3 are made up of 7-8 stages each, while World 4 is made up of 5 stages. Each turtle has slightly different abilities, which means that some turtles will be able to explore certain areas the others can't, what's more, each turtle only has access to six stages per world, so some levels aren't available for some! Which sounds really cool, and in theory, it is, but Konami made it as obnoxious as the could. Y'see, progress for each turtle is individual, so you have to play the game four times if you want to see everything. As a matter of fact, the game is cut short on 'Easy', only letting you finish World 3, and the only way to get the real ending on 'Normal' or 'Hard' is to finish the game with all four turtles, which implies playing the same levels 4 times, even, EVEN if sometimes you go through different areas. There's also a 'cooperative mode', which I wasn't able to try out, and a 'Battle mode', which is a 'collect the crystals' mini-game.

 The game is a beat'em up with certain exploring elements, when you are not bashing skulls, you are avoiding traps, by jumping, swimming, swinging or crawling around. They got rid of the annoying 'find your weapon!' mechanic from TMNT 2, THANK GOD, and combat borrows mostly from TMNT 1. You mash the B button to attack, you can charge for some special attacks, or use a desperation move by pressing jump and attack at the same time. New to the game is calling the other turtles, but it's a bit... cheap. Each world allows you to call a turtle to attack enemies up to three times(It's predetermined for each character, for instance, Leonardo calls Raph to attack), while the other two can be called to solve 'puzzles', for instance, Donatello helps Leonardo jump higher, Mikey helps Donnie jump higher, etc... except that they can only be called on predetermined spots, so basically, no thinking involved. Heck, there's some obstacles that could easily be avoided by calling another turtle to help you jump, but alas, they can only be summoned on predetermined spots. Lame.

 Now then, each stage is fairly short, 1-3 minutes tops, but they make up for it by making it brutally difficult. Keep in mind that the turtles have slow, deliberate movements, but the game will demand you to move all over the stage in order to avoid attacks and counterattack. Enemies are aggressive, and most of them have some sort of projectile attack, so you need to learn to avoid and deal with many enemies at the same time. It is pretty taxing, and surprisingly difficult for a licensed game. World 4 is particularly brutal, unfair even. It's hard for me to pinpoint exactly why, but it's not a challenge that I enjoyed. It's probably a mixture of the game being so dull, the turtles' agility not being up to snuff and Konami pretending for me to replay the entire game four times if I wanted to see the true ending.

 The presentation has received yet another facelift, kinda. The four turtles' stances were redrawn, and they look much better, in theory, for example, Raphael is now huge, since he is the muscle of the group.... however, the stances are the only thing they redrew, as soon as Raphael starts moving, jumping or crawling, he reverts to the smaller sized sprites shared between all four. It can be pretty jarring, particularly as Raphael. That said, it's a colorful game, and the DS allowed them to add 3D elements to the backgrounds, which don't look bad at all. The music is fairly forgettable, sadly.

 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3 - Mutant Nightmare is far from unplayable, but even die-hard TMNT fans will have trouble liking this game.
 4.0 out of 10