Now Playing: Prince of Persia(2008)

 Looks like mad cash.

Onto the reboot it is!

 Seriously, Forgotten Sands was a good looking game, but its predecessor, this game, looks SO good, Ubisoft clearly dumped a lot of money on this project. Textures are clean, character models look beautiful, vistas are gorgeous and clothes flow so nicely... it's quite a looker.

 A lot of people gave this game flak for streamlining the death process, but that wasn't the only thing that was simplified... Combat is now a fun, but simple, one-on-one duel. Every time. Controls are much simpler, no longer do you need to use R2 to run on walls, the Prince is smart enough to do it on his own. It's simpler, but it doesn't hurt the game. I haven't had the need for Elika's life saving abilities yet, but it sounds like it suppresses a lot of waiting when you die and need to be sent back to the previous checkpoint, so I'm alright with it.

 All in all, Prince of Persia(2008) seems like it's gonna be a great ne.

Review #534: Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(PS3)

 The forgotten Ubisoft IP.

Last time I get to see this cover. So long.

 Here we are, the final entry in the Sands of Time saga and the last Prince of Persia game released yet. Since Prince of Persia 2008 underperformed, sales-wise, it's back to the previous Prince, but since his story was already told... this game is set before Warrior Within.

 In this version of Forgotten Sands, the Prince visits his brother Malik, who is under siege. Shenanigans happens, and then an undead army, helmed by an evil fire Djinn, is unleashed. Only the Prince and his brother remain conscious, and aided by a Water Djinn, it's up to the Prince to stop this undead army, before his brother falls under the temptation of the new powers he acquired. Everything that you think will happen will happen, so the plot is very safe, predictable and a bit underwhelming... but it's acceptable on the whole. The Prince is rather charming and will muse to himself pretty frequently, since he has no-one accompanying him. Look, the fact that the Prince's tale was already told, and thus this game was sandwiched inside the trilogy should already tell you that you shouldn't be playing the game for its narrative.

Battles feature large amounts of enemies.

 Acrobatics and platforming work pretty much like they always had, wallrunning, wall jumping, vaulting and spinning on bars... it's all here. The only new move is the ability to wallrun upwards when landing on a wall from a jump. Buuut, as you play through the game you'll also earn new powers to use in acrobatics. L2 to freeze water in place, L1 to 'restore' broken debris into the environment and circle to fly onto a nearby enemy. The new abilities are pretty neat and make for some great platforming. That said, the last few obstacles in the game can be a bit nasty and you can confuse yourself with the shoulder buttons, since you also need to use R1 to rewind time, if you mess up, or R2 to wallrun. Needless to say, the last stages are slightly more of a hustle than fun.

 Combat has been overhauled, and now it's actually more fun than ever before. Square slashes, triangle kicks(In order to break guards) and circle dodges. Enemies are less annoying and no longer need particular moves in order to finally be put down, this time around the challenge comes in the form of the huge waves of enemies you'll face. Still, I enjoyed this approach, battles were rather fun and fast, while also being fairly simple and fair.

Get used to fighting large enemies.

 There's an experience gauge now, which is filled by defeating enemies or finding hidden sarcophagi, and every time you level up you get a skill point to spend on powerful elemental spells, used with the directional control pad, passive upgrades, like more health, more damage or more sand stocks, in order to use more spells or rewind time. It's a fun system that remains rewarding all the way to the end of the game.

 Sadly, the game's biggest detriment comes in the form of bugs. It's not unusual for the Prince to get stuck on thin air, thank god for the rewind ability! It happened more times than I would've liked, and the game even froze on me once. Controls can be weird, using levels can be a bit of a hassle until you understand that you turn them with UP and Down on the analog stick and not by pushing them in the direction you want to move it. Another issue was that sometimes when the camera move around automatically, the Prince wouldn't exactly react to the analogue stick just as you'd expect. It's a bit hard to explain without you experiencing it firsthand..

Rotating levers... the worst!

 The Forgotten Sands on the Playstation 3 is easily among the best games in the franchise yet. They finally got the combat right, platforming is as good as its always been and the Prince is as well written as it gets. It does have a few blemishes that keep it from being the classic that Sands of Time was, but this game is no slouch itself.
 8.5 out of 10

Now Playing: Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(PS3)

 The final forgotten sands.

I've grown to despise this cover.

 Yes, I'm still playing Grandia Xtreme, it just so happens that the game is boring, so.... Forgotten Sands it is!

 I just played a bunch of it and I'm liking it a lot. It feels like it's missing the Prince's spark, like some of its charm is gone, but I'd be lying if I said I'm not liking Malik as a supporting character. Sword play is pretty good, I like the upgrade system and the platforming seems to be on par with what I'd expect out of the franchise... so, yeah, I'm enjoying the game.

Review #533: Disaster Report

 Call 911, this is a disaster!

Just let her go. She is gimping the Framerate!

 Disaster Report was a rarity at the time of its release, a survival game in which the only enemies were your thirst and the environment itself. Survival games are a dime a dozen this days, but Disaster Report still has a charm of its own.

 You play as Keith Helm, en route to Capital City, a newly built city that has the oddity of existing on a man-made Island. But life ain't fair, and the entire city comes crushing down, victim of numerous earthquakes. Now Keith must make his way to the rescue choppers, and join up with whoever is willing to lend a hand. The game has impossibly narmy voice acting, and eventually the story takes a turn for the ridiculous featuring conspiracies and what not. It's a weird game, so your mileage may vary on the story. While you play the entire game as Keith, I didn't feel like the story was as developed as it was in its sequel, Raw Danger!, nor did it offer as many possibilities and choices. That said, there're two slightly different routes depending on a choice you can make midway through the game, so there's some replayability factor in here.

Not as impressive as its sequel.

 The game is very simple, you must traverse the environment, collecting items and drinking water as not to die of thirst. It's not a survival game in the truest sense, water fountains are plentiful, and double as savespots, but while your thirst gauge drops pretty rapidly, you can take water bottles with you, which can be recharged, in order to restore your thirst. And if you die you'll be taken back to the nearest section, completely healed, so even carrying healing items becomes unnecessary. Keith has a very limited storage space on his backpack, and the game loves throwing at you items that you won't ever need or you won't be needing until much later in the game, and in which case they'll have a spare lying around nearby. Regardless, most of the game is pretty simple, and you just need to use certain item on a certain spot to proceed.

 ...which is not to say that Keith isn't in any danger. There'll be moments when you'll need to hold R1 to brace yourself for earthquakes, lest you take damage. There'll be action sequences in which you'll have to run away from fallen debris or even stealthily avoid gunmen. It's not the most exciting of games, but for the setting that it wants to convey... it's appropriate.

The thirst gauge isn't as bad as it seems, water is very plentiful in the game.

 The game is very rough around the edges, controls are particularly clunky and movement is very... stiff. What's really annoying is the camera, you can't rotate it and must settle with pressing L2 to place it behind Keith's back... which isn't allowed at times. It's quite disappointing, since more control would've helped immerse the player in this bleak, devastated city. That said, don't even let me get started on the framerate... it's bad, it's veeeeeeeeeeery bad. Most of the game will be played under 10FPS or maybe even less. It can make a few of the well placed slower-paced sections unbearable, since they are already slow to begin with, but the framerate makes them lose the impact they could've had.

 The best thing about Disaster Report is how it makes me appreciate its sequel so much more. Mind you, Disaster Report is a very decent game, a great concept but just a passable execution. Everything this game does, the sequel does even better. Except the framerate, that one's bad in both games.
 6.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Disaster Report

 Took some time, eh!

She reminds me of a certain celebrity...

 Finally I got my hands on the Raw Danger's prequel, Disaster Report and... it's quite janky, as expected. For starters, I'm finding the focus on Keith mre interesting than a rotating cast, and I think i dig the Earthquake scenario a bit more than the flood.

 All in all, I've not much to say. The game is very similar to its sequel, which is both a good and a bad thing, since that makes it very quirky and unique... but also very dated and rough around its edges. Only time will tell if the story and setpieces make it better.

Review #532: Galactic Wrestling - Featuring Ultimate MUSCLE

 Weird doesn't come close to describing this game.

Kinniku Mantaro gets to be on the cover over his father! Hey, USA was fond of the OG's toys!

 You might've heard about MUSCLE, a 90's era miniature collection that people used to love.... well, they came from Kinnikuman, a manga and anime series from the late 80s. Galactic Wrestling is a Wrestling game I used to play when I was younger, when I knew very little about the series, and even so, I found it to be fantastic. Over 10 years later... the game is still just as good.

 Disappointingly, for a licensed game, there's no story mode, but there's a decent amount of modes to make up for it, as well as a few bonus intros between specific characters. There's VS(CPU or Player), which can be 1 on 1, 2 on 2, Tag-team and 3 or 4 man battle Royales. As for fancier modes, there's Survival, Mask Hunt, in which you play as Neptuneman and Big the Budo and try to finish off specific opponents with your Tag-Team ultimate to steal their masks, Team Battle and Tournaments. It's a decent selection, although it could've used a few more bells and whistles. There's a 48 character roster, but there's a handful of clones in there that could've easily passed as alternate costumes, and maybe they should had, as clones tend to be alternate forms or costumes that characters once wore in the series.

Bitter enemies in the MUSCLE toyline, buddies in the Kinnikuman franchise!

 Controls are fairly simple, tap X for combo attacks or hold X for a stronger attack, tap or press circle to perform different throws. triangle to jump, and then you can dive for a grab or aerial attack, and square to dash or block. If they try to grab you, you can deflect it with a punch, and you can deflect punches by guarding, easy peasy. As you deal and receive damage you'll ignite three different orbs under your health bar, and you can use them for super attacks. L1+X performs a level 1 melee super, L1+O is a level 2 super grab and L1+R1 is your cinematic super attack. The right analog stick is used to ask your tag team partner for support or tag in-and-out with him. There's also a green gauge that fills as you fight, once full you get Muscle P, which increases your power for a short while, and in a few cases, also grants you other benefits, like regeneration or even invulnerability.

 The gameplay is very fast and simple, anyone can just pick up the joystick and start having fun with the game. That said, the game could've used better balancing. Some characters, like Rogue Shogun, are simply too strong, his Muscle P invulnerability makes him an incredible powerhouse. Speaking of the characters, while having so many clones is a bit disappointing, I think the biggest letdown is that it's missing some classic characters, namely, the five fated princes. At least Kinnikuman Super Phoenix and Kinnikuman Zebra should've been here, in place of fodder like 'Vance McMadd' or 'Grandpa'.

Warsman's about to lose his mask.

 Unlocking characters could've been made a little easier. Mask Hunt is a great idea for a mode, and it's fun, if only you weren't depending on an AI buddy. It can be so aggravating when you're building up your energy orbs, and depleting your target's lifebar since you must finish them off with the tag-team super, only for your idiot AI buddy to decide to waste both of your energy orbs on the tag-team super... but on the other opponent. You'll probably end up killing your target before both of your gauges refill. For as much fun as I had in that mode, and I did, the CPU vexed me so much at times. There're about 4 characters tied to the toys, basically, as you play through the game you earn Medals which you can then spend on capsule machines. The problem is... you can get repeated figures and you need to collect them all in order to unlock everyone. Pro-tip: Unlock Rogue Shogun first, then play Tournament, 4 opponents, Hard difficulty(It's not hard, I promise) and change the rounds on the last match to 3, you'll be swimming in coins in no time. Regardless, it's annoying having to depend on luck in order to unlock everything.

 One of the game's biggest strengths, and the one that makes this game so memorable, is its very colorful cast of characters. The designs are simple, but very distinct and snappy, so you'll have fun trying everyone out. Super moves are quite a treat, even if they are missing the franchise's trademark brutality. This is not another boring wrestling game in which Random Man#4(Blue tights) fights Random dudebro #54(Yellow tights), oh no, this is a game in which a guy with a hole for a face creates a portal to outer space and sucks in a golden giant made out of bricks and then proceeds to pummel him while inside a pink distortion somewhere between time and space. This is a very weird game, and it's all the much better for it!

Shivano's one tough cookie.

 Galactic Wrestling is one of the most unique wrestling games out there thanks to its fantastic cast of characters. If you light wrestling games... nay, even if you like fighting games the game is worth a look, and trust me, you don't need to know anything about the manga or the show to appreciate its brilliant weirdness.
 8.0 out of 10

Review #531: Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(Wii)

 It could've been my favorite...

That 'bonus' game is a detriment, not a boon!

 And now we're onto the third iteration of The Forgotten Sands, the one released on the weakest home console of its generation, the Wii. The Wii usually got shovelware and The Forgotten Sands... is quite the exception, it's just what the Wii needed more of.

 Set between Sands of Time and Warrior Within, the Prince finds himself joined by a genie, one that promised him a Princess and a Kingdom. What follows is the Genie coercing the Prince into stopping the corruption of a Kingdom and save a princess. The tale is pretty charming, as a matter of fact, this game feels more in line with Sands of Time than any other sequel. The Prince is chatty and snarky, and gets to have a back and forth with the genie, who is constantly by his side. It's also worth noting that this is one of the best looking games I've played on the Wii, this is one of the few games that really show what that console was capable, and not only is it gorgeous, it also runs at a buttery, stable framerate.

Thankfully, the Genie is nothing like Navy.

 The game, just like any other modern Prince of Persia, mixes acrobatics, acrobatic puzzles and combat, but also has a few mechanics that make it feel pretty unique. Let's start with what's usually the series' weakest element: Combat. It's actually relatively good in this instance. You waggle the Wiimote to slash, and you waggle the nunchuck to punch. Yes, it's not perfect because motion controls never were, but it works most of the time. The slash-and-punch system works really well, and as you play you get to unlock more moves, by earning experience by defeating foes or smashing chests, giving you more options, like powerful jumping slashes, spin attacks, parries and what not. You can roll around by pressing down on the directional pad, and block with Z. It's simple, a bit rough, but it's the best combat the Prince has had yet.

 Platforming and acrobatics are pretty much the same as usual, run on walls, cling to ledges, the whole gamut. But it features three new mechanics that give you quite a bit of leeway on how you handle certain puzzles. Firstly, you get the Hook, which lets you place rings you can hold on to on special panels. You simply aim with the Wiimote and press B. Then you get the cyclone, which works pretty much the same, aim the Wiimote at special panels on the ground and press B to make a whirlwind appear which can propel you upwards. And then... you get the ability to place whirlwinds and rings on pretty much any surface. You've no idea how much freedom this gives you on how to tackle puzzles. But then, later on, you get the bubble, by pressing B while on the air the Prince will be temporarily encased in a floating bubble, and then you can jump outside before it bursts. The game does an excellent job of making you mix all these powers, as well as the Prince's natural abilities to produce a ton of puzzles and obstacles you haven't seen in any other PoP yet. It's an excellent mix of old and new.

The corruption takes the form of vines.

 The only thing I found myself missing was the Rewind feature, this game instead opts for a life system, of which you start with a max of three and can increase it up to six. Recovering lives is very easy, but if you happen to lose all of them you'll simply respawn back at the last fountain you drank from. You'll be able to unlock Prince of Persia Classic, the revamped SNES version, of which I'm not too fond of, and you can also unlock a couple of costumes, skins for the Prince's blade and a few challenge maps. There's quite a bit of replay value here.

 The game sounds fantastic, and it could've been my favorite Prince of Persia, but sadly, it has a few glaring short comings. Let's start with the Wii's analog stick: It's not very good, if you've ever held one you'll know what I mean, as it doesn't give you a perfect 360 degree radius of directions, so the Prince will inevitably fall to his doom a few times because you couldn't just get the angle right. The game also overuses Puzzle Doors, door's in which you must draw a connect-the-dots sigil, with the Wiimote, of course, and until you get it right it won't open. At the end of the game you have to draw four massive versions of these, and you won't be able to progress until you get them right. And the game will sometimes decide to mess with you by rotating the plates. The first few times it was cute, but the game overuses these doors to the point of annoyance.

Easily one of the best looking games in the system.

 The bosses feature conflicting designs, for whatever reason, as if different people where in charge of them.... or they couldn't decide what they wanted. The first boss, for instance, features three annoying QTE sections... and these are the ONLY QTES in the ENTIRE game. The next boss also follows the rules of threes, you have to defeat him three times and then press the correct button, with the Wiimote, of course, three times. It's barely even a puzzle since the game pretty much tells you what to do. The third, and final, boss has you depleting its health bar three times, and every time you deplete it you have to go through the same platform-obstacles to get to the top at which time a cutscene will trigger in which the Prince hurts the boss. It's inhumanely tedious, not hard, since it's so boring and long. Three different kinds of bosses, all of them rather lame.

 This easily could've been my favorite Prince of Persia game, if only it didn't have such big, but few, issues. Overusing the Wiimote for needless tasks, like the sigil doors was a big mistake, and they probably could've done a better job of automating a few of the Prince's jumps to make up for the Wii's analog stick. That said, it's a great game that's worth playing for fans and newcomers alike.
 8.5 out of 10

Month Overview: February 2018

 Tally:
Prince of Persia - Warrior Within 7.5
True Crime - Streets of LA 8.0
Prince of Persia - The Two Thrones 8.0
Marvel Nemesis - Rise of the Imperfects 1.0
Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(DS) 5.0
Digimon Rumble Arena 2 6.5
Digimon Battle Spirit 4.0
Samurai Shodown - Warriors Rage 8.0
Digimon Battle Spirit 2 4.5
Le Mans 24 Hours 7.0
Digimon Racing 3.0
Digimon World 4 2.0
Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(PSP) 6.5

 Quite a bunch of games this month! I finally decided to start playing Digimon games... they were kinda bland. Got reacquainted with a few gmaes from my childhood, some held up well, others didn't. There was variety this month!


Runner-up:

  The Two Thrones was a pretty good sequel to Warrior Within, righting a few of its wrongs... although still far from being quite as memorable as Sands of Time. Still, the Prince of Persia on PS2 has held up pretty well, and all three games are worth a look.

 Game of February 2018:

 I used to love this game back when I was younger, and boy oh boy am I happy to say that the game is almost just as good these days. It's got a few shortcomings, yes, but the core gameplay is great, and it does a good job melding all the different gameplay styles together.

Now Playing: Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(Wii)

 I forgot the Wii could look THIS good.

Same cover, now with an ugly red note.

 Alright, so I popped in the disc, expectations at a medium level.... and the game blew me away just with the intro alone. This game looks like a diamond and plays like butter. No other PoP game has looked this good before, and the framerate is so smooth, at least when compared with the PS2 version. It's games like this that prove just how much potential the Wii really had.

 I played. And played. And played. I logged in about an hour chasing the demon-sand zombie-thing. I love the game, even though it uses motion controls for combat, they work well. Platforming is great and combat is, probably, the best it's ever been in the Prince of Persia franchise.

 I don't wanna jump the gun, but the game is already promising to be among the best Prince of PErsia games yet.

Review #530: Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(PSP)

 Because the PSP is not forgotten.

The prince stands tall in the PSP's elongated box!

 While the PSP proved itself capable of running Warrior Within and Two Thrones, Ubisoft wanted something... less than just port of the Wii version, so what we got was a 2-D sidescroller with 3-D graphics. It's an interesting premise, you get the feeling of the classic PoP, albeit with all the modern obstacles and aesthetics.

 Sometime between Sands of Time and Warrior Within, the Prince finds himself captured by his own father. A fire Djinn knows of a prophecy regarding the Prince's bloodline ending him, so he'll put an end to the family before they end him. The Prince's father locks the Prince in a tower, for his own protection, but another mysterious Djinn appears before the Prince and lends him her power in order to defeat the Djinn. The set-up is pretty interesting, but it's very underdeveloped, you'll not be getting much story with the game, which is kind of a shame since the setup was so promising.

Combat always features 1 or 2 enemies on opposite sides of the screen. Same set-up all the time.

 As the Prince you'll slash your way through enemies, while jumping, climbing, scaling vines, walljumping, wallrunning, jumping from poles and the whole gamut, all in 2-D. They did a great job translating the 3-D Prince's abilities into 2-D, with a very simple control scheme. X jumps, Square slashes and circle rolls, while you also get a ton of context-sensitive abilities. The core moves of the Prince feel great, although you'll have to learn not to be too trigger happy, since the Prince might remember you were tapping X, in a futile effort to make him climb a ledge faster, and thus jump to his death as soon as he climbed the platform.

 The Prince doesn't have access to the dagger of time, but the Djinn lends him time-shifting abilities. Now you have lives, and if you die you restart at the closest checkpoint until they run out, when they do, you'll be transported back to the last fountain you visited, with your entire life stock replenished. It works well, it's fair and it does away with loading times, although I do miss rewinding back time. You control the Prince with the directional pad, while the analog nub is used to switch targets among things that the Djinn can manipulate. While the wisp that represents the djinn stands over an object, or enemy, you can hold R to accelerate it, or L to slow it down. It's a great mechanic, since it affects both platforming and combat.

Armored enemies can heal other enemies. If you obtained the charge attack you can break their armor swiftly.

 Manipulating time is a great mechanic, executed a bit poorly. The puzzles in the game are about quickly figuring out how to affect the environment in order to proceed, so you'll find your self jumping towards a pressurized leak of sand, freezing it in time to use it as a pole, an jump to the next leak and freeze it just before you grab it, rinse and repeat. You'll be freezing sand whirlwinds in order to move them, and then accelerate them to push you upward, slowing down or accelerating moving blades, etc. It's a fantastic idea, and when it works well it's a blast, it just so happens that the Djinn likes to predict, wrongly, what your next target will be. Many times it cost me my life, since maybe I wanted to slow down an incoming spiked log, but the game decided that I wanted to manipulate the sand whirlwind. Some areas were very vexing until I proceeded the way the game wanted me to proceed as opposed to the way I wanted to proceed. Sometimes you'll also be caught unprepared since you were expecting the game to auto-lock on to the upcoming obstacle, but turned out you had to aim at it yourself.

 Unsurprisingly, combat is still the series' weakest point. Firstly, collision detection is a bit wonky, which can make the first boss a major pain in the butt. Secondly, you can affect enemies with time mechanics, and when it works its great, since you can turn a few enemies berserk and have them attack their own allies! But also... sometimes frozen enemies will lose their collision detection, so you can't harm them. A few situations can turn unfair since not every enemy can be jumped over, and there're very few attacks in the the Prince's repertoire. You can unlock a few by spending collected elixir at fountains, but it's better spent on health upgrades. Throughout the game you can unlock three different swords, but each one has a bonus and a drawback. I just equipped the one that made your attacks unblockable at the cost of making you unable to block. But who needs to block if you can just spam square to death? Although it's better if you time it, since your attacks will deal more damage. All in all, passable at best, boring at worst. It would've been nice to have more opportunities to use time manipulation against enemies, like the area in which you can accelerate spiked ceiling tiles to smash your enemies to bits.

For a simple 2-D sidescroller, some stages are rather pretty. Others are quite ugly with muddy textures.

 The Forgotten Sands on the PSP had a lot of promise. It had some fantastic ideas, and while most of the execution was fine, at times it felt like it needed more work. A few levels could've used a bit more polishing, like the infamous rolling boulder sequence in which you've got just the right amount of time to make it through, and a single mistaken button will cost you the entire sequence. A few trap rooms too felt like they were nigh impossible to clear without taking a bit of damage. It's not a bad game to have on the PSP, but it hurts how close they were to making something really fantastic.

 If anything, I'd call this game uneven. Some platforming sections are brilliant, while others falter due to silly technical issues, like the automatic wisp. Combat can be decent, but it grows stale very quickly, since all encounters are basically the same. Some stages look gorgeous and have great level design to match, while others feature ugly looking textures that make some platforms look like part of the background. If you like the Prince, go for it, it's a better alternative than the DS game, but if you don't... approach cautiously.
 6.5 out of 10

Review #529: Digimon World 4

 It's finally over.

So... we gonna ape Shadow the Hedgehog?

 Digimon World is Digimon's flagship series, one that, surprisingly, reinvented itself time and time again. For Digimon World 4 they decided to do away with turn based combat, and instead turned it into a hack-and-slash dungeon crawler, a la Diablo. It worked for The Lord of the Rings, and it would work once again in the future for the Ninja Turtles, so it should've worked fine. But it didn't. Everything that could've gone wrong went wrong,a nd the end result is one of the worst Digimon games ever made.

 The story... is barely even there. You are recruited as a new member of the Digital World defense corps and must protect the Digimon World from an upcoming threat. I think this game is supposed to tie-in with a movie, which would explain it's bad quality, and how little plot there is, assuming players know the plot of the movie. Regardless, if you so want it, you can take up to three other buddies with you. But why would you? The game is awful, don't do that to your friends. That said, the game supposes you are playing with at least one other player, so the difficulty is scaled towards 2-3 players. Playing on your lonesome is a grueling task on the first and latter part of the game, since for whatever reason the difficulty goes way down on the middle parts of the game.

Most useless service in the game. There're very few things that need appraising.

 X can be used to attack, you can use a charge attack, but it's only useful on the first two-fourths of the game, as the last zones have enemies that love to spam projectiles, thus being a sitting duck is asking for punishment. It probably makes more sense in multiplayer, when others can act as decoys. There's also a weak 360 attack by moving the analog in a circle and pressing X, but once again, it becomes useless in the latter part of the game when enemies just rush you relentlessly. Square is used to block, Triangle... is the last button you'll want to press, since it quickly uses your best healing item. That means that when you're only missing health.. it'll prioritize wasting your incredibly rare Recovery discs(Heals HP and MP), so it's usefulness is debatable. Lastly, circle is used to jump, and yes, the game has a few passable, but unnecessary, platforming sections.

 One of the game's worst mechanics comes in the form of items and magic. To use magic you tap L1 and to use items you use R2. Kinda. Y'see, L1 opens up the magic menu, and R1 opens up the item menu, both in-real time. Which makes sense, since it's a multiplayer game, but it's also a hassle since you have to navigate the menus with the directional pad while simultaneously avoiding enemies with the analog stick. Another problem is that using an item or a spell won't automatically close the window, which in the heat of battle, remember that enemies love to rush in, means that you'll accidentally use items or magic you didn't mean to. It doesn't help that if you press L1 or R1 to close the menu won't work until 1-2 seconds have passed since you used the item/spell, which can throw you off. Needless to say, I guarantee that you'll waste items or magic accidentally.

A friend might make the game more tolerable, but he'll hate you for making him play this game.

 The game loves to go out of its way to annoy you. Let's start with loading screens. Loading times are lengthy, and there are tonnes of them. Let's say you found an amazing weapon or armor in a dungeon... you can't equip it right away, you have to return to the hub city(One loading screen), go to the area of the time that has the digi-lab(Another loading screen), talk to the manager(Another loading screen) then equip the item(Another loading screen, I'm not kidding) then return to the previous screen(Another loading screen) and THEN return to the dungeon(Another loading screen). How annoying is that? How about the fact that the Save spot and the Digilab are a loading screen away from the shop, which is a loading screen away from the gateway to the dungeon? Why not have everything on the same screen? Like, jesus man. Don't even let me get started on the dungeons, each 'Area', of which there are four, is made up of 2-3 'large' zones which house a dungeon or so each. If you die, which you will do frequently, you have to walk all the way back to where you died(if you want to recover your money, the only thing you lose upon death, as well as a few XP). This could mean quite a few loading screens. There's no quick travel of any kind, so you'll be retreading a lot of covered ground.

 The 'Technique' system is a bit wonky too. Basically, the more you use a weapon the more you'll level up its technique. There are quite a few of these(Blunt, Bash, Crush, Slash, Stab, Shot are some of them) and you should invest on three kinds of them... mostly because you can take up to three different weapons with you, since you can only equip or unequip things at the hub town. It's wonky because you gain proficiency levels at random, and it might take quite a while before you get your first technique level up. It's a good idea, but quite bad in practice. And unless you raise your proficiency, you won't be able to equip better weapons of its kind, and your attacks will be easier to block by the enemies. Be warned, there're translation errors, so even though the Double Axes say that they require levels in Bash... it actually means Blunt. A ton of Blunt items were translated as Bash. Well done, Bandai!

Stab weapons are unequivocally the best in the game

 The game requires grinding, or else it will kick your butt all the way to Monday. If you don't get lost, you'll arrive at the first boss at level 4, and he will kill you in one hit. ONE HIT. You need to be level 7 to stand at least one. This is why you'll realize that, if you are gonna play solo, you should invest in a Shot weapon, particularly since your magic, which starts off overpowered, will quickly grow obsolete. The middle part of the game is the easiest one since enemies aren't as tough, that said, don't grow too comfortable, since you can still die to dumb stuff, like getting ping-pong between enemies(Just touching them hurts you, and they love to walk into you) or just walking towards you and getting stuck with a wall on your back. It's kinda ridiculous how poorly planned some things were. Also, if you're lucky your digimon will be able to use electricity or fire, in which case you'll need to mod one of your weapons with the other element, since latter dungeons REQUIRES fire and electricity in some form or another in order to clear them, which is completely stupid. And it's not like modding a weapon is so easy, first of all you need to get lucky and find a weapon with an empty slot(Not as simple as it sounds) and THEN you have to find an electricity and a fire chip. Customizing weapons should've been a neat idea, but it turns into a bother if you make it mandatory when a degree of luck is required yo get what you need.

 But hey, Digimon has always had cool monsters, so maybe playing as them is neat, right? You've always had hundreds of hun... nope, you can only pick between Agumon, Veemon, Guilmon and Dorumon(no Gabumon!!!) at first. And then you can unlock about 16 more, which is just pathetic. What's worse, in Normal mode, you'll be able to get two digivolutions(characters) at most... and if yu opt to unlock these mons... you'll be back at level 1. That's right, all that grinding? All for naught, back at level 1 because screw you. At least you keep your Technique levels so you can equip stronger weapons. Except you don't, those go back to level 1 as well. I was kinda excited to play as Wargreymon X, but as soon as I found out I said screw it and didn't even bother unlocking it, the game was wasting enough of my time as is.

I don't even feel sad about not getting to play as my bae Wargreymon.

 And as bad as the game is... it only gets worse. The end of the game is an absolute drag. The final area is filled with Infermon, a Digimon that loves to lower your stats, jumps away every time you try to attack it, clones itself and murders you with missiles from afar. It also murders your framerate once it gets enough clones out there. The game's dungeons are pretty bad, and monotonously lengthy but the final zone of the game takes the piss. It's a poorly made game any way you look at it.

 I'm gonna be frank here... it's a miracle the Digimon franchise survived this game. This is one of those games in which I have a hard time finding anything good about it, but there isn't. Digimon World 4 is bad, avoid it. Better yet, don't avoid it, just find it, buy it and burn it.
 2.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Prince of Persia - The Forgotten Sands(PSP)

 The forgotten Sony handheld.

They could've made unique covers for each version....

 Color me surprised, I knew what expected me in the PSP version of Forgotten Sands, a simple 2-D sidescroller, but it's... really good. Movement and platforming feel great, the combat is... well, it's passable, but it's exactly what I expect out of the franchise by now. The puzzles and time mechanics leave a bit to be desired, although I've only gotten past the first boss so it's not like I've seen everything the game has to offer.

 Still, I'm having fun with the game, although it's a bit tough and not for the right reasons. For instance, during the first boss you have to wait until the entire animation for the pound finishes, if you get to close while the arm is retracting... you'll still get hit, for a ton of damage. It's also hard to let go from memory, so after jumping over enemies I keep tapping X to vault, something the Prince can't do in this game, so I end up getting hit before I remember to press circle to throw instead. Traps and puzzles are kinda punishing too, since they deal a ton of damage for simple mistakes, and you can't rewind time like in the home console games.

Review #528: Digimon Racing

 Shouldn't have left the starting line.

It's not like 2 out of the three Digimon on the cover must be unlocked. Actually, it is like that.

 There's something to be said about Digimon, never stuck to one genre or style for too long, eh! Digimon Racing is the franchise's lone racing game, and there's probably a good reason for that.

 Starting the game, there're two different options: Single Player and Multiplayer, and no, I didn't have anybody to try multiplayer with. Single Player is made up of Championship, Quick Race and Time Trial, y'know, the usual. There're 12 different tracks and 11 different racers(The original eight, Veemon, Guilmon and Agunimon) as well as three different bosses. Bosses are simple stages in which you must get a power-up weapon, wait until the boss uses his attack and falls helpless and then shoot. Rinse and repeat. It's as dumb as it sounds. In what's a bit of a novelty, there're more championship cups than usual, so the 12 tracks are featured in various different combinations, for a total of about 10 cups. In the end it's just an excuse to have you replay the same tracks over and over again, but I think it's not too bad of a gesture.

Go, Patamon, go, escape this terrible game!

 The game looks like Mario Kart Super Circuit, but isn't even half as good. Most of the 12 tracks are fairly forgettable, a criticism you can levy against Super Circuit too, but the few that are memorable... are for all the wrong reasons. Some tracks are downright horrible, in a few you might even get confused... or get the game confused, so that when the Arrow signaling an upcoming curve appears on-screen... it's actually wrong. And don't even let me get started on the cave level, featuring one of the nastiest graphical effects I've ever seen, distracting to the point of being confusing.

 The rest of the game is a fairly standard mascot racer. You race against other 5 racers, and you may pick up power-up boxes that give you a one-time use weapon against your enemies. Power-ups are fairly boring, a blue bubble projectile, a red bubble homing projectile, a thunder that hits everyone, a turbo, a shield... the basics and just the basics. There're no defensive power ups besides the shield, which is rather lame. As for the driving... cars feel extra slippery, and I usually played as balanced characters like Agumon, Agunimon or Guilmon. Other than that, the gameplay is passable.... when the framerate is stable. Y'see, if there're  more than three racers, including you, on screen at the same time... it will chug, and it might cost you a curve if the slowdown hits or stops right as you are taking it!

Greymon deserves better than a bad racing game.

 Not to say that the game lacks anything original, peppered throughout the various different tracks are digital noise tiles. Driving over these will fill a gauge on the left of the screen, once you reach the third tier of the gauge(It defaults on the second tier), you digivolve into your mon's Champion form. While in champion mode you're faster, and if you completely fill the gauge, you gain access to your mon's special move. The button to use your special is the same as the one to use the power up you're carrying, which is kinda annoying in case you were trying to store your special move, as that's the one that you'll use first. Using power ups or your special move takes away some of the gauge, so you could end up digivolving if you are trigger-happy. Taking damage also depletes the gauge, and if you fall below the second gauge you'll devolve into your baby form, becoming very slow, although the gauge automatically refills up to the second tier, so it's just a matter of waiting. Lastly, the game boasts about its car hopping mechanic... which simply means that you can jump on top of an opponent in order to devolve them and make them slower for a little while. Lame.

 Digimon Racing is a very bland game. The driving by itself is just passable, if slightly poor. But what really ruins the game are the bland power-up selection and the bad track design. Even when it's entertaining it doesn't last long. Honestly, there's absolutely no reason to get this game if you can get your hands on Mario Kart Super Circuit, and I don't think Digimon fans have much to look for in a poor mascot racing game.
 3.0 out of 10

Now Playing: Digimon Racing

 Can miss this ride.

That red doggo on the cover? You've to unlock him.

 Alright, I gave it a go and... I don't think I like it too much. I played the Western cup, defeated Omnimon and I'm simply not feeling the game. For starters, the character roster is very disappointing, featuring the 'classic 8' alongside Agunimon, Veemon and Guilmon, the latter three who have to be unlocked.

 I dunno, man. The digivolution mechanics aren't anything to write home about, and power-ups are so lackluster... I'm also not feeling the track designs.

Now Playing: Digimon World 4

 They should've stopped at 3. They should've stopped at 3!!!

It looked so promising...

 I just spent an hour playing this game, dying over and over again, because it's rather hard, and then I got to the boss.... and it one shotted me. I was at full life and it hit me in one hit. One normal hit. This game is horrid.

 Where do I start? How obnoxiously annoying it is to get Digivolutions? The fact that they start you back at level 1? Nah, I didn't get that far yet, so it makes no sense to start there.

 How bout I start with the start of the game, appropriately? Well, first you have to talk to over 10 npcs if you want to learn about the game. But whatever, I know how RPGs work, so I only talked with a few NPCs to learn specifics. After that boring intro you have to set out, alright, you're aching to finally play!... but nope, a tutorial. An unskippable tutorial that doesn't teach you anything special. X attacks, Square blocks. Whoope-doo. And then you make it, finally, into the first world, and get wrecked in second flats.

 But whatever, the game is difficult because it's scaled for four players at the same time, whatever.,,, but why is the game so poorly designed? To do ANYTHING in the game, like changing equipment, you have to talk to NPCs. Because menus are too passe. And why the hell is the store on a separate screen from the guy that lets you change equipment? And why is the gate to the different stages on a THIRD screen? Why? Because they love FORCING you to sit through annoyingly long loading screens. Even changing equipment comes with a loading screen.

 Man, I was gonna digivolve and then grind back to my level. I was gonna do it. But now I know why people don't. This game is boring and it's poorly designed. Easily the worst Digimon game I've ever played. And I played World 2.

Review #527: Le Mans 24 Hours

 The game can last you over 24 hours. Have fun.

CAN A COVER BE ANY LAMER?!... It can. But it's still lame.

 I'm not the biggest racing game fan, as a matter of fact, I don't really like them. But when I play Racers I want them to be very arcade-ish, fast, frenetic and care free. Le Mans 24 Hours is the complete opposite of what I like, this is a simulator racing game that takes itself rather seriously.

 The game has a decent variety of modes. Quick Race, in which you race across any of the 12 tracks(Plus 3 unlockable reverse tracks, for a total of 15), Championship, in which you go through various tracks in succession, Multiplayer, self explanatory, Time Trials, in which you attempt to perform a lap around a track as fast as you can and.... Le Mans. Le Mans can be played in either Petit or Le Mans 2000 tracks, and these are endurance runs: Who can do the most laps under at time limit, usually 24 hours. That sounds nuts... but you can do it, if you wish, the game allows you to save whenever you enter a pit stop so that you can continue playing later on! That said, most people won't really care about it, so you can play Petit Le Mans under 10 minute, 30 minute, 100 minute or 10 hours limit and Le Mans 2000 under 10 minute, 24 minute, 240 minute or the full 24 hours if you wish it. Each category of Le Mans unlocks different cars, so if you're a completionist... well, this is gonna be one long ride.

Considering how old the game is, being originally a Dreamcast game, it looks relatively good.

 Luckily for players like me, the game offers various concessions to make your time easier. You can set transmission to automatic, so that the game automatically shifts gears for you... which also changes R1 into a secondary Gas button and L1 into a secondary break, which is rather comfortable. Furthermore, you can also make it so that the game automatically breaks when near curves, allowing you to take them much more easily. Finally, every single event can be played in Easy, Normal or Hard, and every difficulty has the same unlocks, so if you're not used to Simulators, or don't care about them like me, you can have a rather pleasant time with the game. And, hey, if you are into the nitty gritty of car racing, you can customize your car a bit, like which tires to use, how much fuel to have(Since it seems it slows down you car?) as well as other stuff that I'll admit I had no idea what they meant.

 My biggest issue with the game... is that it's rather dull and drab, at least for people like me. All 12 tracks are... boring, for lack of a better word, and it makes sense, since it aims to replicate real life tracks, which explains why there aren't grand vistas or whatever. And then come the Championships.... Tracks are rather long, and once you get on the last four championships you'll be doing at least 10 laps around the same course. I'll have my fill of every track after 3 laps, 10 is overkill. At least you can save after each race mid-championship, so if needed you can take a break. Also do keep in mind that you can't turn off tire wear or fuel consumption in this mode, so besides racing you'll also have to be ready to get into the Pit in order to refuel or change your tires, because maybe it started raining and you'll do better with tires fit for wet roads. If you love Simulators, there's a lot for you here. For me... there's only endless repetition. It doesn't help that there're very few music tracks in the game, and the game only loads ONE for every race, so if you go to a 24 hours Le Mans.... good luck.

Driving against other cars... doesn't feel very exciting.

 Something that irked me, because it's a pet peeve of mine, is that there's no car damage, so it doesn't matter how many things you collide against, you'll always be looking pristine. I also wasn't a fan of how colliding with walls felt, kinda like... it lacked impact and consequence, probably a byproduct of not having car damage. Smashing against cars feels very lame too.

 All things considered, I can tell that Le Mans 24 Hours is a well made game that has aged well, even if not perfectly. It's kinda neat how there a ton of different cars to unlock, so every time you break a time record, every time you finish a championship, every time you finish a Le Mans... you get new cars. It's very rewarding. Also, the music tracks, while few, are pretty rockin' and unless you're racing on 10+ laps races, they are a great companion to the gameplay. Overall? As someone who is not a fan of the genre... I approve of this game.
 7.0 out of 10

Review #526: Digimon Battle Spirit 2

 The battle spirit never dies.

Agunimon is a certified badass.

 Digimon Battle Spirit was.... it was a game. While the end result was lackluster, very lackluster, they had their hearts in the right place, so maybe with a sequel they'd be able to do their vision justice. Or maybe it's just more of the same.

The game... offers the same exact modes as the previous one, 1P and 2P and that's it. There's a new minigame too, but you won't get much mileage out of it. The biggest change to the game is the character roster... gone are the various 'mons representing different eras of the TV series, now every single character comes from Digimon Frontier, and there're less characters overall! You get the five main protagonists as well as the.... let's call him sixth ranger. There're two bonus unlockable EX versions of Agunimon and Lobomon, which differ from their normal versions on their digivolution, but the unlock requirements are ridiculous... unless you've got another friend, or gameboy advance system, to link them both and have a few 2 Player matches, since these unlock these characters much more easily.

Digivolution, signaled by the bolts over a character, lasts for a short while, but strengthens your super moves.

 The game plays basically exactly the same as the previous one, A jumps and B attacks. You've more attacks this time around, previously you had a special move with B+Up, now you also get B+Down, and some characters get chargeable moves, or neutral hold B moves. As a whole, while it's not much, there're certainly more ways to lay down punishment on your enemies, which is very welcome. Digivolution is much better too, now you fill a gauge as you land hits on your enemies, once full, press A and B together and you'll enter Digivolution mode. This DOES NOT change your base form, but now when you use special moves(Up+B, Down+B, combo enders, aerial Up+B, aerial Down+B) your character will indeed turn into its digivolved form for that particular attack. It's a faster alternative to how it used to be, and now getting to digivolve doesn't mean that your opponent is screwed out of it or automatically lost the match since it isn't as overpowered as it used to be.

 The objective of the game remains the same: Land hits on your opponent so that they drop colored orbs. Whoever collected more orbs when the time runs out wins the match. There's a new element thrown into the matches though, crystals. Now, every now and then your opponent will drop a crystal alongside, or instead of, the colored orbs. Collect five of them and you can press Up+A+B for a super move that makes the opponent drop a TON of orbs. It's definitely a neat addition to the game, even if it's not much of a game changer.

Not much of a fan of Frontier's premise, but the designs are badass.

 As a whole, Battle Spirit 2 is a bit of a mixed bag. The gameplay is much improved from before, but unless you're big on Digimon Frontier... the character roster won't do much for you. If you leave character preferences aside, this is undeniably a better game, and much fairer too, albeit the lack of more recognizable Digimon might be a huge turn off for some, Frontier isn't one of Digimon's most liked series after all.

 Still, even considering that it's a better game... it's still a rather dull one. The lack of modes is a almost a crime, and the fact that you battle the same CPUs in the same order every time you play 1P mode will quickly grow boring. The game could've used a Free Battle mode, in which you could fight CPUs or Players under different rulesets, like a life/stock system as opposed to colored orbs or maybe a king of the hill mode. Something different from the 'collect as many orbs as you can' shtick. At the end of the day, if you like Digimon... there's no much else you can get on the system, but if you need a fighting game fix, there're many better alternatives.
 4.5 out of 10

Now Playing: Le Mans 24 Hours

 Not.... not what I though it'd be.

The cover screams 'low budget', but it actually isn't.

 So... I thought that Le Mans was something more like... a country-wide race or somethin' like that. Turns out it means doing laps on the same track for a grand total of 24 hours. Definitely not what I expected. However.... the game is rather fun, and the soundtrack is bloody phenomenal, so I'm not too peeved.

 The game is more of a sim than an arcade racer, which kinda sucks, but it can accommodate to my tastes, with automatic braking and automatic transmission. IT made taking curves all that much easier, since a Sim is less about tight maneuvering and more about planning how to slow down for curves. Still, with these two options I'm able to enjoy the game and play it more casually, which helps when Racing isn't your favorite genre, particularly the Simulator kind.

Archile's Grab-bag: THREE FOR ONE Edition

 Not a new package... BUT THREE SMALL PACKAGES. SO NEW BLOG ENTRY!

  Three shiny new packages with games. GAMESSSSS

 CoolBoarders 2: I don't know how or why I wound up purchasing Cool Boarders. I've been meaning to play Trick 'n snowboarder, which I haven't found a complete copy yet!, yet wound up purchasing this.

 CoolBoarders 3: That's funny....

 CoolBoarders 4: ...almost as if I wanted to play the entire franchise...

 CoolBoarders 2001(PS & PS2(Not pictured, forgot to take a photo!)): CoolBoarders marathon confirmed.

 Project Snowblind: I don't know much about Project Snowblind except the fact that it was only 2 bucks. 2 bucks. How do you say no to that? You don't.

 Barbarian: Ah! I used to play this terrible fighting game back in the day, and I remember next to nothing about it... but since I kinda wanna get every game I used to play... here it is.

 Le Mans 24 Hours: Something about a 24-hour race piqued my curiosity, so here I am. I'll be playing it soon. Very soon.

 Auto Modellista: First of all, it looks amazing. Secondly, it's made by Capcom. 1+1 = 2, so here we are.

 The Mark of Kri: I played a bit of it when I was younger and I never got the hype for it. It received great reviews and everyone sings its praises all the time, yet... I don't remember it being that good.

 Tomb Raider Chronicles: Fact, when I was younger I played every single Tomb Raider game by Core Design. Even the crappy shareware cash-in 'Artifacts'. Fact, I never finished a single Tomb Raider game. But on the same token, I never spent much time with Chronicles, I gave it a try or two but it didn't click well with me. I think I had fallen out of love with Tomb Raider by then.