'Last Window: The Secret of Cape West' Review

Cheers! It's summer and I'm BACK for another review! Finally... Or maybe 'damn this bitch is back... -_-" ' Either way, today's topic is Last Window, which I just beat during my small vacation. It was AWESOME, if I do say so myself. :D

Overview
Last Window is a sequel to Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (look to way back when for my review on that one... http://gaming-mayhem.blogspot.com/2010/11/sooo-tsuki-is-back-again-for-another.html) so if you haven't played it, PLAY IT. It's a personal favorite, and Last Window makes more sense when you play Hotel Dusk first. I'm also going to refer to Hotel Dusk a few times, so at least read the last review first.

Gameplay
You play as the lovable Kyle Hyde again, and he's as Hyde-y at ever. :D The setting for this game is at the apartment complex Hyde lives at, called Cape West. It used to be Hotel Cape West, but dark stuff happened, spoilers spoilers, you'll get it when you play it. The gameplay is pretty much the same; walking, talking, applying items, menu, notebook, examining, etc. etc. etc. There's still times when you get a little triangle on a person you're talking to, and if you touch it then you'll press them for more information - there are two choices on what to say when you use it. However, in Hotel Dusk you were pretty much ALWAYS supposed to use it, but in Last Window there are times when you have to ignore it to keep from messing up. They'll give you a few harmless scenarios in the beginning to get you used to it.

The thing about Last Window is that it's easier to game over. More times than not, one little mess-up means you're DOOMED. So again, it's good to SAVE. A. LOT. Except in Hotel Dusk there were things from a way back when scenario that could really affect your future. In Last Window, it's not really like that anymore (which kind of disappointed me...). So in Hotel Dusk it'd be wise to use all three save files, but in Last Window you need like...just one. Just make sure you save before and after doing something important and you're good to go. And when I say "important", that includes talking to someone (you could mess up on a choice), doing something Hyde's not allowed to do (of course), and going into one of those epic confrontations (one little mess up = game over), stuff like that. As long as you didn't mess up as you did something, it's okay to save.

Another thing in Last Window is the fast forward feature. But you can only fast forward through text that you've already read. Which means if you gamed over and got to the same place again. But I never got to use that feature, cuz THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL I'M GOING TO GAME OVER AND CONTINUE. FUCKING RESTART! I don't like to soil my game record. =3= Even if it doesn't matter - and I have a feeling that it doesn't in Last Window... In Hotel Dusk it did matter because it'd affect your ending. ANYWAY, just train yourself to save. Then whenever you see that purple sheen go through a character you're talking to, you've messed up - RESTART. (Soft reset = L + R + Start + Select, if you didn't know the quicker way)

Plot
Like Hotel Dusk, Last Window is one of those "OMFG EVERYTHING'S RELATED IN AN EPIC WAY!" games. :D To the appreciative gamer, it's a very deep and suspenseful. As you proceed onto the thinner yet sharper ice, the plot thickens, and different plot devices and stories intertwine, bringing up some answers as well as numerous questions here and there until the biggest secret is unleashed in the end! Mystery rocks <3

Extras/100%ing
Multiple people live in this apartment complex, though not as much as you'd imagine; but I don't blame 'em, the place is old and kinda crappy. There're a few secret stuff, like something you can get from the vending machine ('cept it's waaay easier than the last game to do so), but it's just for fun. It doesn't affect anything like in Hotel Dusk. You get a "Last Window Novel" whose chapters add as you progress in the game. I just waited until the end to read it though, which is better because the novel is pretty much whatever happened in the game minus a few minor details. You also get music to listen to as you read, 8-ball, and you can use the thing that you might've gotten from the vending machine. I don't know if it's there if you don't get the thing though... JUST GET IT - It's super easy. You also get a table of contents thing to use to jump to chosen chapters, or you can just start from the beginning again. :D

Characters
Also like Hotel Dusk, Last Window had a beautifully colorful cast that made the game more exciting and unbland. Everyone had their own distinct personality - almost no flat characters! You have a lovable Hyde, steely landlady, grumpy old man, laid-back bum, peppy gal, cheery teenager, her cool dad who's sadly very dad-like with her, an obnoxious but toughy guy, somewhat snobbish yet kind-hearted Frenchie, glum yet obnoxiously nosy dood, extremely troubled lady, chatty salesman who thinks he's so smart, and...well I think I gave you a good summary. I think a few of the characters in this game kind of reflect/symbolize the personalities of characters in the last game, but maybe that's just my imagination. *rainbow* Oh, and yes, everyone has a backstory and they're all (or most of them) connected. :D

Graphics & Sound
The graphics and sound were...well they were just like the last game. Same style and everything. I really like their chosen style too, it's unique and cool. Though there're actually some cutscene-like scenes, but more like moving pictures and words than actual animations. You get enough animation when the characters are talking. :P I mean, THEY'RE ALWAYS MOVING.

Sadly, there were no voiceovers. :( But it's all good, I have fun making up my own perfect voices in my head and playing them as they talk. :D

Buggers
The only thing that really bugged me was how there was no way to speed up the text. When I've restarted and have to do like half the chapter over again (I didn't get into the habit of saving a lot...), I don't want to read everything again! When you're reading it the first time, though, it's all good. I actually like to imagine the person's voice and tone and stuff when I'm reading conversations.

Personal Generous Rating
Gameplay - 8.5
Plot - 10
Characters - 9
Graphics - 9
Sound - 9
Originality - 10

Overall - 9.5

I freaking LOVE this game! 8D

Portal 2 (X360) [Single-Player Campaign Only]

Since a certain someone decided to be an ass and review the first Portal game, I thought I should be an even bigger ass and review the more story-driven sequel. See what you did? You turned me into an ass. You monster.

As soon as I picked up Portal 2, I fired up Microshit's latest console and got to play. I was researching and they said that this would be like six times longer...so I turned off my phone and cut myself off from all social connections. But unlike some people, I didn't beat the game in a day. I didn't wanna hear GLaDOS do karaoke that much...now the game starts off with Chell inside this shitty looking hotel room. This personality core named Wheatley comes out and guides you. Also, no homo, but that accent is fucking sexy. It sounds British and Australian at the same time...but yeah. He asks Chell to talk...he clearly doesn't know she's a "mute lunatic"...the game prompts you to press "A" (or "X" if you're a PS3 owner :P) to talk. Hilarity ensues. The story picks up some more, I find a few easter eggs along the way...then the puzzles. 

Portal 2 does the same as the first one, making you get the gun, then obtaining the respective portal colors if I remember right. Oh and by the way, SPOILER WARNING. So stop reading if you don't wanna know how Wheatley the moron and Chell reawaken GLaDOS. Oops. Did I spoil it?

But yeah, they reawaken GLaDOS, our favorite sarcastic villian. Score one for the good guys. *clap* *clap* You spend the next few chapters testing and then plot comes back in. After escaping the clutches of GLaDOS...I won't spoil anything else. Just know, Wheatley is a fucking moron. Seriously.He was programmed for it. Not even joking. And thus I found myself carrying a potato with A.I. built in and now I'm at the bottom of Aperature Science Labs...listening to a dead man bitch about lemons as the potato has an orgasm...

I got so stuck around chapter 7. So I called in a specialist. A specialist being your very own Oaxan. He guided me and we finished the game out. But the ending. Holy shit. Not too many FPS games actually emotionally move me...actually, none do. I dunno why, but the ending of this game just...makes me tear up. And I expect a Portal 3. Why? Well, why not? Portal 2 was a beautiful game. 'Nuff said. I wish I could've put out more spoilers, but I didn't feel like being that mean.

Portal 2:
Graphics: 9/10
Plot/Storyline: 10/10 (You thought bring-your-daughter-to-work day was for teh lulz? Hell no.)
Gameplay: 9/10
Overall: 9.5/10

The only issue is...no DLC. And I love how the PC version has over 80 bucks of useless DLC. xD ALSO, the official DLC releases this Summer. And it's free.

Quick Review: Fallout 3 (X360)

HEY, IT'S MANGA. :D So, while your girlfriend and/or boyfriend decided to break up with you through text message, I decided to have some fun and play Fallout 3. Be warned: this game will scare the shit out of you...literally. Seriously. I change underwear at least once while playing this game.

When I started playing this game, I had a feeling that there would be similarities to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I mean, they were made by the same company. You start off as a baby, but oddly enough, since you pick how you'll look in your adult years, you won't look shit like your parents. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic America that was nuked by Japan. (or at least I hope it was Japan that nuked 'em.) America is now named The Capital Wasteland. It's filled with mercenaries, whores, robots, zombies, basically anything you can think of. Except for a method of getting money...oh yeah, you don't get money, you get...bottle caps. Ya' know, the little things ontop of a classic Coke bottle. :P

I picked this game up since it's a shooter, and I love role-playing games. The shooting engine it runs on is pretty basic. There's a feature called V.A.T.S that lets you pick any (well, almost) part of the body to shoot. And the good part is, it plays the shot in slow motion. Bad thing is, it's hard to do it from a far distance, and some of the shit you encounter in the Wasteland makes you wanna stay away...

Fallout 3 is a bit too realistic, every time I play it, I find myself looking in the sky for a bomb. In all honesty, this game should be on every store shelf. It's preparing us for the apocalypse. XD ...nah, not really. We don't have laser guns and downloadable content. The decisions you make in the game affect your karma, basically a good and bad thing. People treat you different ways depending on your karma. Also, if you do play this game, blow up Megaton. Don't ask, just do it. 

Fallout 3 - 8.5/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Sound: 7/10
Plot: 10/10 (side-quests, main story, and the DLC was amazing. :P)
Gameplay: 8/10

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice For All Review

HELLOOOOO, Tsuki here, and you should already be able to tell from my UNIQUE font and CONSTANT USE OF CAPS AND EMOTICONS! But anywayyyys, darn Ventus beat me to reviewing Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney… >_> So here I am for the second of five games in the Ace Attorney series! Just as a heads-up, read her review first if you haven’t already, cuz I’ll probably be talking about stuff that she already explained. AND, for all you will-be Ace Attorney fans, PLAY ALL OF THE GAMES INNNN ORRDEERRR! ORDER, ORDER! :D Because it matters.

Now, Justice For All has the same exciting, confusing, turn-your-brain-upside-down kinds of cases, so YAY! :D And of course you still have your…very interesting, amusing characters and such, some with pun names still, so MORE YAY! :D Aaaannnd, the same kind of humor, pretty much the same style with everything. EXCEPT, YOU GET A NEW EPIC LAWYER POWER IN THIS GAME! And, IT’S NOT IN COURT! You outside-of-courtly interrogate people during your investigations (it’s funny how defense attorneys actually aren’t allowed to investigate crime scenes) and you present evidence you’ve already gathered to reveal some secret information in somebody! WHOO! You have to have all of the right evidence though, so don’t waste your time if it’s not necessary. But you can quit after going into your epic interrogation, so if you want, you can go see what kind of things you have to prove so you know what to look out for when you’re investigating. OH, HOLD IT! There’s another thing that changed in this game; YOU HAVE A LIFE BAR! :O So when you do things wrong in court or during your Psyche-Lock breaking time, (There’s some light shed on it; and it’s called Psyche-Lock for a reason y’know :3) YOUR LIFE BAR GOES BOOM-EXPLODEY-MODEY AND HEALTH DISAPPEARS! It’s so heartbreaking and depressing to see it happen… ; -; AHEM, anyways, more important things take off more life if you mess up, so watch out! It’s always nice to save before and after you do something important~

ONLY THOSE WHO PLAYED THE FIRST GAME WILL UNDERSTAND THE NEXT 3 SENTENCES: Justice For All gives Maya more of a part with her spirit medium-ness, SO THAT’S FUN. There’s like a whole case for it! And it was pretty…whoa :O
So, I also want to mention that Justice For All has PW:AA characters reappearing! Yaaay! We all love our characters, right? :3

Unlike the first game, that had five cases (well, four and then a bonus case, WHICH VENTUS FORGOT TO MENTION THAT IT WAS AWESOME! I OBJECT TO THAT. OBJECTION!), this game only has four. D: But the last case makes up for it, CUZ IT WAS EPIC. LOVED. IT.

The music is also the same style of the first game’s. There are a couple remixes of the old lovable songs, too. :D And by the way, the music is not like, super quality and stuff. I mean, it’s not bad or anything but what I mean is it’s kind of a midi-like sound. Oh, and the Royal Payne (you’d havta play the first game to know~) still has his hilarious “OBJECTION!” XD The graphics, still like the first game’s, are pretty nice! With the characters being anime-looking and the scenery being more realistic (I said MORE realistic, not completely or anything, just pointing that out).

Ooooh, there was an interesting thing I noticed! The first and second games’ cases have these connections on their themes! LET ME EXPLAIN: So, in both games, the first case is an intro case. The second, you’re defending Maya. The third, you defend a celebrity. And the fourth is a boss case. :D I dunno if they did that on purpose, but that’s how it was! Sadly, this pattern doesn’t continue after the second game. (So maybe that means it was just a coincidence.) OH WELL, just a little something, MOVING ON…

By the way, some witnesses have dramatic breakdowns when you disprove them, AND THAT’S ALWAYS HILARIOUS. The second case of this game has a particular sort of creepy one… o_o

Umm, so this is a really good game! Play the first game, then play this one, THEN PLAY THE REST! (ORDER, ORDER!) >:D Ace Attorney is my first intellectual game series (and pretty much my first video game series) AND I LOVE IT. SML. But it doesn’t beat Hotel Dusk ;D JUST KIDDING, don’t make me choose between the two! So ANYWAYYYS, the rating I give Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All…is 9.4/10! TAKE THAT!

Resonance of Fate (PS3)

Hyde here to report probably one of the best, most challenging games I've ever played. I see everyone is making extremely long reviews but, I'll just flat out state that I like to keep it short.
LET'S GET STARTEEDDDDD.

Resonance of Fate is made by a company called Tri-Ace and is a JRPG. Before even considering to play this game, you must prepare to actually try. This isn't the regular JRPG that has a some challenging monsters with a little frustration on the side. RoF however, is something that axes laziness with a rusty hammer. Even the most common battles you must plan to the utmost. Everything is different, so you must keep up. Please don't be torn away from this; because this isn't a game you play in a week without stopping. You must pace yourself, or you will break something. Then die.

I'm not going to go into the story that much, because it's one of those games that summarizing it would ruin it. The story is shown in all very meaningful cut-scenes. Everything means something in the story, so pay attention! Also, this game is hilarious. Seriously.

The combat system is like nothing I have played before, so hardcore gamers will not get bored! Everything makes some kind of logical sense in the actions so, the realism is definitely there! Somewhat of a con is that you'll only really get the battle system after you've played it more then three times. And this is a pretty long game. After grasping it though, the battle system is EXTREMELY fun. There is so many customizes-able and even useless outfit changes. AND YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT MY CUSTOMIZES-ABLE AND USELESS OUTFIT CHANGES. Also, the characters all have a different styles and they all work well in active combat.

A serious pro/con is the fact that there's a lot of side missions. Sounds fun, right? Well, it usually is but not when the backround characteristics look the same. You'll believe you're in the same area when you're into an entirely different one. Which can confuse the hell outta you pretty easily. 

Y'know, I just realized that I'm making this game sound rather hard so, I'm going to give a little summary of the story to make you gravitate towards this lovely game more. 
The bases of it is: We're in the future, and the climate has once again proved to be man's enemy. (Don't write off as generic.) So they solution is to run away by building a tower and putting all the inhabits of the world in it. (One big-ass tower) The down side is, humans became savage and monsters and greed and such started pouring out everywhere. You'll control three main characters (or heroes, if you prefer) and they all do some odd task that get them involved in something so much bigger. And it's epic. The story is also told in very short exerts that keep you interested. Going back to the characters, they are very realistic and rather easy to relate to.

To all you puzzle game fans out there, this game can involve some serious puzzle solving. And it's really fun. I cannot really elaborate on it, but it's similar to some standard puzzle games.

Overall, I give this game a 9.7/10.

YEAH. IT'S THAT GOOD GUYS.  

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 Review

SOOO, Tsuki is BACK AGAIN for another CAPS-filled review, ON ANOTHER DS GAME! :D Hotel Dusk: Room 215! This is a personal favorite~

Okay, little crappy summary: You play as an ex-cop named Kyle Hyde and the whole game takes place at an old hotel called Hotel Dusk. As an ex-cop, Hyde is a person who digs into things, SO OF COURSE THIS IS A MYSTERY GAME! YAAAY! He’s looking for his old buddy who went missing, and this is the SPECIAL PLACE WHERE WISHES COME TRUE! (There is some amount of truth in that, but you’ll have to play it to get what I mean. :D)

The gameplay, some of it I described earlier, is pretty simple…yet somewhat a little more complicated than simple. VERY DESCRIPTIVE, YES I KNOW. JUST LET ME EXPLAIN. You walk, you talk, you use the menu, you have a notebook, you use items, you can examine stuff, blah blah blah. You can do more or less of this stuff with buttons, but most of the game is touch screen. Hotel Dusk is kind of an intellectual game, with some puzzles and stuff. You pretty much just do whatever the game tells you to do, using your common sense. You have to apply tools and other items to your surroundings to do certain things and…well you get the idea. This is also a game where some choices or actions can change what happens, but it’s all just ‘do this and you move on’, ‘do that and you game over’, ‘do this wrong and you game over’. Taking too long to do something could also get you kicked out of the hotel. There are a few different endings, but all I know is BAD ENDING, NORMAL ENDING, NORMAL ENDING PLUS THIS, NORMAL ENDING PLUS THIS PLUS THAT, even though I’ve played this quite a few times. :P And the bad ending is just getting kicked out, by the way (except for OOONNNE part of the game where you can actually die). And still remember that this information on endings is just based on my own experience. Ahem, so, like I said, choices affect stuff. Hyde is nosy and asks people all these personal questions and this leads to him wanting to know more about people, then ‘boss interrogation, press for the truth’ things. Doings things wrong in those means bad bad, and saying the wrong things even before those means bad bad too. This is a game where it’s good to SAVE. A. LOT. And you get 3 save slots; USE ALL OF THEM. You never know when you did something wrong and have to go back to a past save, yeah?

I looove the storyline to this game. I mean, everyone may think it’s bland and stuff, but it’s the thing that leads to this DEEP GAME OF MYSTERIES AND SUSPENSE. Okay, the amount of suspense depends on you, but I really get feeling when I interact with fiction so. . . But ANYWAYS, I love the kinds of games where EVERYTHING is connected and the mist just gradually lifts from those bonds and then you’re like “OOOOOH THEY’RE RELATED :OOO”; yeah, THIS IS ONE OF THOSE GAMES! 8D (More or less exaggeration on the reaction to the connections, but you know me, HYPERBOLE! That rhymed, I love rhymes. BD And emoticons ;D)

AHEM, so, not much of the 100%ing stuff. I mean, you got the different endings, make sure you do stuff right, you could pick every combination of choices in a conversation to see what each one leads to if you want, but that’ll take forever so GOOD LUCK. And…there’s also this side thing where you have to find numbers on small pieces of paper that are posted on stuff around the hotel. (I was never able to complete this, WAAAHHH T~T) You do stuff with those numbers and another thing and some other things (if you play Hotel Dusk, hint: vending machine) and if you complete it, you get a certain item. You get to use this item later. So there are a few secret stuff…maybe that’s more than the “not so much” that I said earlier. :/

CHARACTERS! There are multiple characters, of course, since this is a hotel. But actually, this is a pretty crappy hotel so I’m surprised at how many people were there. …Oh but there are reasons for that. Hem hem, ANYWAYS, EVERY character has a backstory! YAAAY! (Well, except for like…two? But they’re not super involved characters.) And this is the ‘EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED! :OOOOO’ thing, cough cough. :D The characters all have their own distinct personality and stuff. There’s an old grump, the naggy super maid, a lazy bum, an average father, a bratty little girl, an insolent teenager, a chatterbox that for some reason has a British accent in my head, a nice old lady, a…just plain lady, blah blah blah. MY FAVORITE, is the main character, Kyle Hyde! :D He’s nosy, sort of rude/meanish (not sure how to describe it), casual, doesn’t care what people think, but he’s still a nice guy~ x3 His hard attitude kind of annoyed me before and I was like “ugh, I don’t like you” but then I started to LOVE him! XD His personality makes things funny sometimes, and his behavior makes him convincing. :3 You just gotta love Hyde~ Oooh, rambles rambles.

Graphics and sound… Well, the scenery is pretty realistic and colored and everything while the characters are black and white and have a sketch-like design. They actually move in their expressions and when they’re talking and stuff too. :D There aren’t really any cutscenes…but whatever! The sound is nice, too. There are small sound effects for like, opening/closing doors, knocking, walking, papers, phone, etc. No voices at all :/ Though I really like the music! Some of it is kind of jazzy and some are suspense, some are calming, some are just casual and nice to fit the area you’re in, yadda yadda, and I think they’re all enjoyable.

A couple things bugged me, though. JUST A COUPLE. This first thing wasn’t really annoying but it just made me think. It’s that the super maid who does all the cleaning, cooking, laundry, etc. is FAT. She’s the only one of the 3 employees that does any work and she’s fat. :P HMMMM. The other thing was that the text moves too slow. -_- I mean, it didn’t bother me at first, but y’know when you go back to saves and have to read things over again you’re just like “GET ON WITH IT, I READ THIS ALREADY”, and I also played Hotel Dusk multiple times so…you get it. ALSO, with all this mystery and backstories and stuff, I just happened to notice…that SIX PEOPLE HAVE DISAPPEARED. XD So I was just like “haha that’s a lot of missing people to hear about in one hotel,” y’know?

OVERALLNESS! I did say that this a personal favorite! I. LOVE. THIS. GAME. There’s also a sequel called Last Window: The Secret of Cape West that I need to get to. *soul starts bouncing around inside me* 8D So ja, I love mystery, I love stuff that connects, I love Kyle Hyde, I love the gameplay, I just plain love this game~ (as I said) x3 You may think this rating is a bit generous, but WHAT DO I CARE? I THINK IT’S A STELLAR GAME! 9.5/10 for Hotel Dusk~!

Black Friday

You thought this was a review? Well, you were sure wrong. I'll be out shopping on Black Friday this year. You know what that means. GAMES. I'm looking for PSP and DS games though, seeing that my shit 360 RRoD'd on me and I have to get a 360 S for Christmas. No Kinect though. I'm seeking game suggestions. Ones other than LittleBigPlanet and Bowser's Inside Story. Post your thoughts in the comment box. Manga, out.

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Sky Review (DS)

Yo, my non-angsty readers, Manga here. And today, I'll be giving you two-bit ninnys my thoughts on a JRPG with out an emo protagonist. But then again, the protagonist is YOU, so...

First off, I wanna say, the game's battle system is turn-based. Like the classics. Not these modern RPGs with button-smashing frustration and overly-long health bars. *drops Keyblade* Anyways, you create your own character from a limited customization feature. You can change the clothes, but not until about 3 hours or so in. Also, you can name your character, if you haven't played an RPG like this before. I named mine Manga, mainly because I had the urge to call him "Cloud" or maybe "Sephiroth" but I didn't have enough letters for the second option. Your character starts off as an angel in this...observatory. And there's this tree there, named Yggdrasil. (Medieval much?) Yggdrasil has fruit called Fyggs, which apparently have magical powers. The observatory is attacked by the powers of...wait for it...DARKNESS!? How'd you know!? But yeah, you get sent back to Earth and you have to find your way back. This leads you on a quest, and...wait for it...there's a PLOT TWIST!? (A predictable one at that.) It took me...about...25 hours to beat this game. Although at the last dungeon I said "fuck it" and popped in my Action Replay. When it comes to EXP Grinding in turn-based games, I have the attention span of a goldfish. The last boss battle was the usual three phase sequence. Gotta love Squenix. I was excited for this game, and played it through until HG/SS came out. It currently sits in a case, collecting dust. Oh and I forgot to mention, a Nintendo Representative has over 200 hours clocked in on this game...nerd. Also, if my reviews are short, it's because I have the attention span of a goldfish as stated earlier. A dead one. I suggest this game to gamers who want some nostalgia, and creativity. Speaking of creativity, you can make party members using the same method as you made your own. And you can do alchemy. Well, time to go get my soul stuck in a tin can and whine about it afterward. Manga out.

8.5/10

TWEWY Review

HELLOOOOO READERS. Tsuki here for the first CAPS-filled review on the great DS JRPG, The World Ends With You! I just LOVE how “review” rhymes with “The World Ends With You”!

By the way, just so you don’t have to rip your hair out for stumbling upon this by accident, I’m just going to tell you, YOU LOST THE GAME. If you don’t know what I’m talking about then just carry on~

ANYWAYS, for a brief summary, TWEWY is a Squenix (Square Enix) game for the DS, like I said. The main character is Neku Sakuraba, who is very comparable to a couple other Squenix doods. SPIKY HAIR. EMO/ANGSTY. JUST THINK ABOUT IT. Ahem, so he’s thrown into “The Reapers’ Game”, a test full of jacked up staff, dead people, too many pins, and monsters for three weeks of hell. If you haven’t played TWEWY yet, just keep wondering. :D

Because now I’m bored of summarizing and just wanna review. Soooo, first of all, I want to talk about the COMBAT. I thought it was clever and really enjoyed it! You have a set of pins to wear, and different pins have their own set power that you use by scratching/tapping the screen according to whatever movement is set for the pin. It’s a lot more fun battling actively like that instead of just clicking on moves or pressing buttons. AND, if you want to, you can control your partner on the top screen with the buttons! Otherwise, your partner will automatically fight by themself. OH HO HO! You can run around in any direction, but I personally didn’t do much moving unless I had to. There is a teleporting pin you can get, and that’s when I started to move more.

Plot, plot, plot. Hmm, how can I even describe the storyline? You’re given missions every Day to carry out in a certain amount of time (you’re not ACTUALLY timed though, thank goodness) and stuff happens here and there. Discoveries and other confusing things unfold, blah blah blah, and they dish out all of the answers in your last week of the Game. I may not sound very happy with the plot, but I really am, I thought it was cool :D I’m just not completely sure how to explain it; play it yourself to figure out how to correctly review it. Uhh, though at the end of the game I thought it was kind of weird. Like, “I did all of this because you want to destroy the city? LOVELY, I could’ve just moved or stayed dead.”

Surprisingly, there is A LOOOT of stuff to do to 100% your game. There are a crapload of items you can get that range from food to pins to music to clothes, and even more. And there are sooo many of each category. -__- PLUS, the full completion of each Day! There are stars for every Day and you get them by doing this and that. So, when you really think about it, TWEWY was done pretty deeply. Every single frikkin’ item created and described and named and given a small picture, you can change your combat difficulty, when you level up you can even decrease your level to make it more challenging for you or just keep at your achieved level (the max is 99). Then there are BRANDS. Pins and clothes have brands, and different brands are popular in different areas of the city. You can raise the popularity of brands by fighting with the branded pins and wearing the clothes as you fight. Though I really didn’t see much difference in combat when I was wearing weak and strong brands. SO GO AHEAD AND IGNORE THAT BUT CONGRATULATE THEM FOR TRYING ANYWAYS. Moving on…to more talk of deepness, because there’s even PIN MASTERY. For every pin, you can raise its level by using it more. OMG. I, AS A PERFECTIONIST, HAD MY SISTER DO MOST OF THE 100%ING GAME FOR ME.

TWEWY doesn’t have many side-quest things or minigames. There’s just one minigame that is so popular among the people even though it’s THROW-THE-DS-AT-THE-WALL FRUSTRATING! ...to me. Tin Pin, it’s called, and you use pins of course. Opponents just have to knock each other’s pins off a platform like 3 times then YAY I WIN! But noooo, the pin is hard to control and aim properly, so if you miss your opponent when you’re at the edge, YOU SIR, ARE SCREWED. Luckily, each pin has a set amount of each of 4 kinds of “Whammies”. Two of ‘em knock out your opponent if successful, one protects you, and one saves your ass if you’re falling off the platform. I depend on the Whammies to win at Tin Pin (RHYMES, RHYMES!). :P

CHARACTERS is also something I wanted to talk about. Not all of them well-done and backstoried and everything, but…wait, none of them are. There are only a few backstories for the Players of the Reapers’ Game and they aren’t really a huge subject (though, I love how 3 of the main Players were hit by a car). But I still really love the characters just for their character! Most of the important ones have their own distinct personality. There’s a crazy bipolar bitch, a couple of laid back doods, some rhino who compares things to food, a twisted guy who loves to mess with people, a skater dood, a girly girl, of course there’s an emo guy (this is a JRPG after all), some serious obedient secretary-like person who’s always like “My analysis was correct”, and MY FAVORITE, A MATH-OBSESSED GUY WHOSE AWESOMENESS JUST BLOWS YOUR MIND. Ahem, but I did say that they aren’t really backstoried, which is true. But they have their goals and whatnot. And for all of you people who DID play TWEWY already, JOSHUA ISN’T GAY. SHUT UP.

The graphics and sound? Well, they don’t really matter. You have your small, sort of pixely sprites when you’re running around or fighting and the regular character looks with the various expressions when you’re in conversation/cutscenes. Now, the cutscenes are pretty short and don’t have much movement or dialogue in ‘em, so that’s kinda meh. But there aren’t many cutscenes anyway!

Over all, I think this is an excellent game and I go crazy fangasm whenever I find out someone has played it. It has a different style in some ways and it was fun! So YAY FOR TWEWY THAT GETS A 9.0/10!

Hitman Four: Blood Money (PS2)

Hyde here to write the first "Hyde Dominant" game review. Yay. Let's get started.

Hitman Four: Blood Money is obviously the fourth game in the main Hitman series, and in my opinion one of the best. That might be be because when it first game out I was astounded by all the new weapons I could kill people with and all the pretty disguises.

When it comes to the planning of the missions and all the targets......Eidos (I almost typed GladDOS) you did a great job. Seriously. I remember some of the main problems in the old Hitman games is that I found the missions to be plain after a while. Not Blood Money though. Every new mission I found myself devising a new game-plan and using all my epic killing-tools to the full use.

I also have to credit the humor/dark irony of the game. You could plan and assassinate by knocking down overly-large tablepieces, dressing as a clown and crashing an innocent six-year-old's birthday party, going in a large bird costume and have a nice chat with a police officers when a bomb goes off, and so on. You could also square-dance. Which is always fun. The more irony sign of it is that you could totally disturb the peace in a small coffee shop by putting poison in his drink.  WHICH IS FUN AS WELL.

Something I terribly hated is the damn camera angles. I always had a strand of futile hope that it'll get better, than Eidos fails. It fails hard. You could easily get screwed over in active combat when the camera decides that it will be freakin' awesome to look towards the pixel-ated grass. BECAUSE GRASS IS AWESOME. And you can tell I still have some left over agnst from those angles.

Most of the problems have to deal with the active combat. Most of the times in active combat, they didn't have nearly as much time-consuming reloading time, and they also had very unrealistic actions. "Oh hai, for some reason I keep a two foot shotgun in my pocket. Also, it doesn't matter if objects are in my way. I CAN SHOOT YOU ANYWAYS." It's very facepalming, as well as annoying. You can always get past it is you are a true gamer though, so my problems are minute.

The soundtrack really isn't important because most of it is as cheesy as a James Bond movies. 'Spect for the opening. That's jus' overplayed and too gospel. The graphics were okay. They did a great job at creating backrounds but, my opinion on that is bias 'cuz I have mai sparkly PS3 graphics. And mai sparkly PS3 graphics are great. Whist my non-sparkly PS2 ones are not. So, I'm going to drop this one.

Overall, Blood Money is great. It's a bit short, but great. I would tell Eidos to work on their issues, but they got bankrupt and bought by Square Soft. (Don't try to correct the name. Don't. Try.)  So, I'm confident that Square Soft is going to try to make Hitman an RPG where 47 has some kind of personal strife involving his insane Mother.  They will also frame 47 as a guy who really does deep down have a heart of gold and a will to overcome. Hitman's story line isn't really there, but it's the type of game that would be too much with a story line. So it's works. HUZZAH.

So, I bestow Hitman Four: Blood Money a 8.5/10. 

Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) Review

Manga here, and all I have to say is……words can’t describe my hatred towards this crappy game. Glitchy. New character that fucks the Sonic franchise with his time paradox crap. ‘Nuff said. But that’s my opinion, I won’t be biased. Let the review begin. WAIT, by the way kiddies, don't let the name fool you. This is no remake.

So, Sonic the Hedgehog (otherwise known as Sonic ’06) starts off with some great music. It stars three characters, Sonic, Shadow, and a new character, Silver the Hedgehog. I jumped right into gameplay with Sonic and played for about 3 hours.

[Sonic] Hour 1 -
The game opens up with some fantasic CGI cinematics. Eggman attacks this city surrounded by water called Soleana to kidnap the HUMAN female lead. Which just happens to be a princess. *1up SFX plays*

[Sonic] Hour 2 -
Now that Eggman’s generic plan has fallen through, we have to make chase. In other words, TIME FOR SOME MOTHERFUCKING GAMEPLAY. For half of the first act, you play as Sonic, then at some point, you switch to Tails. *10 minutes of glitching and dying later* I come to find Sonic running and you can’t stop him. I forgot the name of that type of game though. I kept running into crap until I beat it. *ding*

[Sonic] Hour 3 -
I find myself in game’s hub world, the city of Soleana. It took me an hour to do what could’ve taken 15 minutes. I toyed with the retarded minigames and that was all.

I saved and went to Shadow’s story. And played for a few minutes. Long story short, he’s too badass for me to handle. (In other words, the game glitched too fucking bad…)

Silver’s story…uh…volcanoes and a boss battle. Killed me to death.

If you wanna game with glitches, time paradoxes, beastiality, Sonic ’06 is your game…


6.8/10