Review ~ Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth

Saddest sentence ever.

I'm a big fan of the Ace Attorney series - I've played all three Phoenix Wright games as well as the Apollo Justice title. Miles Edgeworth has always been my favorite character, so when I heard they were making a game all about him, I knew I was going to be all over it. Who else can pull off a fuchsia suit and a caveat and still be awesome?

This game is not like the other games in the series - you are never actually in court. Instead, Edgeworth, Gumshoe, and a cast of new and familiar characters cracks cases by investigating and taking testimony out in the field.

Gameplay - You're investigating crime scenes now, and you actually get to move around. No more just pointing to stuff on the touch screen, unless Edgeworth decides to go in for a closer look. As you can see from my above screencap, you still get the sprites and all their amusing quirks. You can still shout objection if you so choose. And you're still presenting evidence and pressing people when their testimony doesn't quite add up. What's new is the "logic" feature. As you investigate, Edgeworth will occasionally come to a conclusion that will be added to the "logic" section you can access in the upper left hand corner of the screen. You can then put two together and come to a conclusion that pulls you further into the investigation. The new features in the game aren't much of a departure from past titles, and I feel it's much better then that perception crap you had to do in Apollo Justice where you basically got up in someone's face to see if they were slightly sweating on one word. Ugh. Hated that. Logic is an easy system, both to use and figure out. There's not too much mystery when you're trying to put two and two together.

Characters - Edgeworth, obviously, is the focus of this game. You're accompanied most of the time by your old pal Gumshoe, who I always enjoy seeing. There are a bunch of new characters in the game but there are also a lot of familiar faces as well. I was happy to see what characters came back for a spin in this new game. But if you're expecting to see Phoenix...don't get your hopes up.

Story - I would have to say this is probably the weakest part of the game. That isn't to say it's bad by any stretch, but compared to past games, it's a little lacking. There are five cases in the game, and they're all tied together. You kind of jump around taking on the cases out of order, which can make your mind spin a bit. The storyline is clear and enjoyable, but not particularly engaging like in past games, even though all the cases are related in this case. I found many of the cases were pretty short, except for the last one. In the true tradition of an Ace Attorney title, the last case goes on and on and on with no end in sight. And by the end you're screaming at your DS. Fun times.

Graphics and Touch Screen - The graphics are the same as they've been for the other titles. Touch screen use is pretty much the same too. You can use it to advance dialogue or move (or you can use the control pad) and you use it to access your evidence and sometimes make a response or too. You can also interact with specific pieces of evidence by zooming in and turning them around - but we've seen this in past games already too. There's really nothing new to report. Unfortunately there's no cool luminol or other crime scene tests like we've enjoyed sporadically in the past.

I really enjoyed this game - but I think I enjoyed it more because I'm such a huge Edgeworth fan. If you're a fan of the Ace Attorney series though, regardless of whether you're an Edgeworth fan or not, I think you'll enjoy it. Yes, it's a little different and I did miss being in court a little bit, but overall it's more of the same enjoyable experience with a few new twists.

8 out of 10 (The fact that Edgeworth was the main character jumped the score about half a point)

Review ~ Ratchet and Clank: A Crack In Time

This Ratchet and Clank game has been a long time coming – and with the rumors that it’s the last game (though I’ve heard that before…) this game has a lot of hype to live up to. Does it? Well…

First – graphics. Well, it’s a PS3 game, so of course it looks pretty. The in game movies are especially attractive. The environments in the Ratchet and Clank series have always been lush, and this game is no exception.

Story has also been a huge component in this series. This game picks up where Tools of Destruction and Quest for Booty left off. Clank and Ratchet are still separated, and Ratchet (with the assistance of the bumbling and always amusing Captain Quark), is looking for him. Along the way, both learn more about their pasts and battle that devious droid Dr. Nefarious. While the story in the game is solid (and often very funny and heartfelt), I didn’t feel it was as strong as some past titles – mostly because it still leaves many questions unanswered. It also seems much shorter than past games, and there are far less planets to explore, but I’ll get into that more later.

As far as sound goes, voice acting has always been a prominent feature, and once again there’s wonderful voice acting here. The game is fully voice acted, but of course you have the option of turning on subtitles if you wish. The music is fine, but not particularly memorable. But you’re not playing this for the music.

Now for the main event – the gameplay. As there are many aspects to the gameplay in these titles, I’m going to break this down into categories:

WEAPONS: Weapons have always been a HUGE part of Ratchet and Clank games. Over the years we’ve seen all sorts of wacky weapons, and in more recent titles we’ve been able to upgrade them. After such a rich weapons history, I was somewhat disappointed with the weapons in this game. Of course, you have your basic weapons, but many of the funkier options – like the gun that turns enemies into monkeys – are just variations of weapons we’ve seen already. (Remember when you could turn enemies into chickens?) This isn’t such a big deal, really – how many different effective weapons can you dream up before you start repeating yourself? But what disappointed me the most was the amount of weapons I found to be kind of useless. Too many spots on my quick select were taken up with weapons that merely incapacitated enemies. A gun that temporarily freezes enemies comes to mind.

I’d say that about half of the weapons in the game I either used very rarely or not at all.

You get most of your weapons by purchasing them from vendors – a few others are won. The vendor this time is called GrummelNet, and whenever you purchase a new weapon from them you’re treated to a cute video about it featuring a cartoon Ratchet.

As in some past titles, your weapons level up. 5 is the max level, and it’s really not hard to level your weapons up to the maximum. In some of the past games you were able to upgrade your weapons further by giving them customized features. Well, in this game you can find upgrade packs on various planets and moons which add enhancements to certain weapons. These upgrades are free, and you can switch between them as often as you like. There are several upgrades that affect shots, range, power etc. These enhancements are pretty good, but not nearly as powerful as past games. Also, these upgrades are only available on 4 of the weapons, which I found disappointing. While all the weapons transform into a new weapon at level 5, this doesn’t really make up for the lack of customization.

Gadgets also used to be a big part of the game, but not any more. Aside from the grind boots, which come standard on Ratchet’s shoes nowadays, there are only four gadgets in this game. FOUR. And considering you start the game with swingshot again, and another gadget never requires Ratchet to use it, there’s really only two. While it’s easy to access these gadgets on the fly (just press up, right, down or left on the D-pad – each corresponds to one) only having a small amount of gadgets was a huge disappointment. I fondly remember the old days where you had to use several gadgets just to get through an area – not so much the case any more. And with the tiny gadget selection comes the absence of minigames where you unlock doors or solve other puzzles (Those aspects aren’t totally missing, but I’ll get there.)

Ratchet levels up in this game, too. And as his level rises his nanotech does too. You can also buy armor upgrades, but there are no wrench upgrades here.

There are crates a plenty – and once again bolts are not in short supply. I had no trouble affording anything ever.

There have always been sections in past games where you play as Clank, but it’s never been as much as it is in this game. Clank has long sections to himself, and while he does fight, a little, mostly he solves puzzles involving copying himself and using these copies to push buttons and open doors so he can progress further. Clank also has a minigame that I thought would play a bigger part (and is kind of a spoiler to explain) but you are only required to play it about 3 or 4 times. Neither of these aspects were tons of fun, but they weren’t horrible. Despite that, whenever the game switched to Clank, I couldn’t wait to get back to Ratchet.

Space battles have been a large part of the last few games, although this time there are far less missions and I found the battles easier in general. Your ship is upgraded as you find various Zoni scattered across the galaxy. This gives you better armor and weapons. I liked that system, but I didn’t really care for the new navigation system. Instead of going directly to the planet, on your first visit you must first go to the solar system and fly to the planet yourself. (On subsequent visits you can go directly to the planet.) Each solar system has 1, 2 or 3 major planets/ships to visit – these locations are where the story happens. Each solar system also has various moons where you can find Zoni/gold bolts/upgrade packs. These moons take the place of the multiple paths you used to find on the planets. Each planet pretty much has only one direction to go in now, and in all honesty I missed having multiple objectives on each planet. Most of the moons involve either killing a certain amount of enemies, or platforming elements that lead to your prize. There is no environment to these moons, and they’re pretty uninspired graphics wise. You also cannot warp directly to the moons – you must fly to each one yourself every time.

There are additional missions you can do in space to gain extra bolts. Most of them are very easy and take only minutes to complete. For many of them I felt like I was being paid more bolts than I deserved for the work I was doing. …Not that I’m complaining.

Gold bolts are a staple in Ratchet and Clank games, so of course they’re back. But, in continuation with the trend you’re probably noticing, most of them were very easy to find. Lots of them were in plain sight. In past games the gold bolts were often tucked away in hard to reach areas. Not so much here – I found many without much effort.

Skill points are also an expected feature that has returned. Skill points unlock cheats and other additional content. They range from easy to difficult and they involve completing skills you wouldn’t normally perform during the course of the game. The difficulty range in this game is on par with past titles, but I felt there was less of them this time around. There is also trophy support. You get most of them just by progressing normally through the game. If you’re looking to get rewarded for doing tough stuff, stick to the skill points.

This review was based on playing on medium, and I found the game to be pretty easy compared to past game. I had no problem affording anything I wanted to buy, ammo is plentiful and I didn’t find myself being slaughtered by enemies (even bosses) very often. Makes me wonder how easy the easy version is. (And yeah, I really think the game is easy – I haven’t become a better player.)

Overall I’ve been pretty down on this game during this review. The story and graphics certainly held up to Ratchet and Clank standards. But the game as a whole was too short. I didn’t feel like it had the depth of previous installments. There were fewer gadgets and too many useless weapons. There wasn’t as much to do. Not as much customization. Gold bolts are not hidden as well. The degree of difficulty is also kind of low. But even after all that, it was still a very good game. The thing is, despite all that negative stuff, Ratchet and Clank games are always so excellent that even one that isn’t quite up to par is still a fun, engaging experience. I’d definitely encourage everyone to play – but fans of the series, don’t expect the best one ever. This game is flawed, yes, but it’s still way better than a lot of other games out there. Not every game can be a masterpiece, after all. 

8 out of 10

Review ~ Final Fantasy IV DS

Okay, this game is a little old. Well, technically the game itself is a LOT old, but this incarnation isn't so bad.

So on Saturday I finally beat the game, which I had previously complained about here and here. 


(Oh, and this review contains no crappy iPhone photos taken in a car.)


Let's get down to it.


Final Fantasy IV originally came out for the Super Nintendo a number of years ago. It has been reincarnated several times since, and I'm pretty sure I own all of those efforts. However, this version of the game was improved with new graphics, cut scenes and junk, which refreshed it a bit. After starting and stopping this game so many times, I was determined to finally beat it. (Success! Yay!)


Story: In the early days, Squaresoft (remember those days?) was obsessed with crystals, apparently, because it seems like the story of all their early titles revolves around them in some way. This game is no exception. An evil guy is stealing all the crystals in the world for an evil purpose and it's your job to stop him! OMG! To the 16bit airship! Okay, so the story isn't going to win any prizes, but it's really not bad as far as early RPG's go. There's a clear purpose and actually plenty of twists and turns along the way. What more do you need, really?


Characters: At most points in the game you have a 5 character party. A what? Yeah, it's worth repeating. 5 CHARACTERS. IN YOUR PARTY. AT THE SAME TIME. We can only dream of that in this gaming era, but the fact is you kinda need every last character you can wrangle into your band of misfits. But more on that later. As far as the characters themselves go, aside from Cecil, your main dude, and to a lesser extent Kain, his pal, there's not too much character development. They all have their own personalities though: Rosa, the annoying homemaker wanna be; Rydia, the mysterious one; Edge, the brash one; Yang, so full of pride and honor; Palom and Porom, the vivacious kids; Tellah, the old guy; Edward, the sissy; Cid, hardworking and determined - you get the idea. You don't get to pick and choose what characters you want to use at any point in the game. You use who you have and you deal with it. Characters rotate in and out of your party, but unlike most other games, they don't usually come back. It kind of makes it hard to power level, because there's a good chance you'll be losing a character or two in the not too distant future. One of the characters you finish the game off with doesn't show up until the final few hours of gameplay.


Battle System: There's really nothing special here. It's pretty basic for an old school RPG. Each character has a set job they're forced into. It comes with various abilities. You learn new spells and the like by leveling up. You can't see what spells or abilities you're going to learn, nor can you choose or control it in any way. There's no skill to learning stuff except grinding. However, there was a new augment system added into this version that reaps pretty good abilities - but if you don't understand how this system works, as I didn't, you'll miss out on a lot of good stuff. The game never really explains how this works. Once your character learns an augment they can use that ability. Some are battle abilities that you can add to your menu to use on the field, but others are default abilities you just have all the time. I strongly suggest using one of the good guides you can find at Gamefaqs if you want to get all the augments. It's worth it. Because a lot of them are pretty awesome.

Gameplay: Battles move fast in this game, even when you don't have the ATB set to active. (If you're not a gamer, that last sentence will mean nothing.) I found several bosses to be very difficult to defeat, despite being over leveled. (And there were even a few random encounter enemies - dragons, mostly. WTF is with the crystals and the dragons?! - that slaughtered my ass.) I was over level 70 and still had a hard time with the last boss - something I never have a problem with in Final Fantasy's newer installments. Cecil was the only one with decent HP when it finally fell. Another character had 2 HP and everyone else was KO'd. So you remember when I said you'd need every last character? Yeah. But there's more to this game than level grinding. Many of these bosses and enemies require good strategy to go down. Not just brute force.



Graphics: The updated graphics are pretty, if kind of cutesy. You even kinda wanna cuddle armored Kain. For a DS game, though, it's fine. The game has voice acting in most of the cut scenes, which really isn't a lot, but it's enjoyable nonetheless. The new graphics and updating really does a lot to make this game fresh, but at the same time proves that older games can stand the test of time.


Sidequests: The older Final Fantasy games aren't really known for their side quests - but there a few. Most of them involve getting better summon or equipment and can be completed later in the game. There's also the obnoxious Namingway side quest, which I never finished and don't feel about. If he wants to wait forever for that stupid pudding, so be it. You also get items for map completion, which I thought was a nice touch and really had me going into every nock and cranny of the dungeons in order to reap the rewards - which were pretty decent, especially towards the end of the game.


Overall: Great classic RPG with good story and characters, solid gameplay and appropriate, enjoyable updates. Fans of both new and old school RPG's will have fun with this one - I know I did. It really does stand the test of time.


93 out of 100

Final Fantasy Dissidia ~ Thoughts and Complaints

So, I'm basically a Final Fantasy whore. I'll pretty much any game featuring those two words. ("Final Fantasy's economics textbook adventure? Sweet!") However, I am also notorious for being critical on the games. I thought 10, 10-2 and 12 were all gonna suck. I loved them all. So I tried to keep an open mind about Dissidia, even though deep down I wanted to use the word suck so bad.

Well, I had to be right eventually.

Okay, let me correct that. The game doesn't suck. It just doesn't appeal to me. I'm not a fan of fighting games as it is. Not from my experience with Final Fantasy that aren't RPGs, this isn't necessarily enough to turn me off. In fact I beat and rather enjoyed Dirge of Cerberus, even though it's a shooting game, which I hate even more than fighting games. But I think Squarenix went wrong in several ways before I even got my hands on the game:

1. It's on the PSP.  Seriously, is there a worse system to put a fighting game on? Usually with a fighting game you want to play against other people. The PSP being a pretty expensive handheld system, with not too many great titles on it, I only know a small amount of people who own one. And while Brian and I each own a DS, there's only one PSP in the house. They should have put this out for PS3 - or at the very least make downloadable on the PSN. That way at least all you'd need to play with a friend is a second controller.
2. The character line up. So, with all the characters Squarenix has to choose from in the Final Fantasy games, they chose only to use the main hero and villain from each game. Well, kind of. I hardly call Jecht the villain of X. Seriously. Seymour would have been better. But I digress. No one gives a shit about half the characters in the game. I don't think anyone saw the character choices and thought, "Man, I can't wait to play as the Warrior of Light!" And you know what, I could have stomached the line up of losers from the games that time forgot if they had some decent unlockables. But no. There is a total lack of that as well. No kicking ass with Auron or Cid for you. 

  Top Line: 1. Warrior of Who Gives a Shit. 2. Random Guy #2. 3. Character so pointless they don't have a name. 4. Cecil. 5. Kid Icarus. Or Bartz. Or something. Who can tell. 6. Terra
2nd Line: 7. Cloud. 8. Squall. 9. Zidane. 10. TIDUS! It's Tie-dus! How does that look like Tee-dus in any way? I refuse to call him that! You try and make me! 11. Are you fucking kidding me? 12. Cosmos, or something.
Villains, 1st Line: 1. Ugly guy. 2. Crazy hair. 3. Skanky boobs. 4. Golbez. 5. X-DEATH THE ELIMINATOR 6. Kefka, the scariest clown in existence. 
2nd Line: 7. Um...it's on the tip of my mind...uh...oh, I don't know. Seph...something. 8. Ultimecia. 9. Kuja, the oh so fabulous one. 10. Jecht, who's suddenly evil. 11. Seriously?!?! Does that game even count?! 12. Super McEvil Dude.








 With all the potentional they had, they kind of screwed up from the beginning. The idea of a Final Fantasy fighting game, even for a non-fighting game fan like me, was appealing. Who wouldn't want to see some of your favorite characters go head to head against a friend? Well, for that the game would actually have to have some favorite characters. And I hope your friend has a PSP.

Other things that suck about this game:

• Level design. Holy crap. With all the locations to choose from, they instead chose to do either boring plains of non-existence or walls upon walls of colors so brain numbing they must have been conceived during an LSD trip. And way too many cliffs and bottomless pits. Why do so many fighting games have that? These people should fight somewhere a little more stable. Anyway, they should have gone the route of Super Smash Bros. and given us some more levels that were actually relevant to a game, instead of a monkey on mushrooms could have programmed.
• The story is awful. Now, admittedly this is not a strong suit of fighting games as whole, but I think I could think of something less lame in about in about 2 seconds, as could the monkey on shrooms I previously referred to. It's something about crystals and friendship and other gag inducing crap I zoned out immediately. Can I play as the villains now? They're trying to destroy all that, right?
• Overly confusing systems. Well, that's Final Fantasy for you, one could say. And you'd  have a point. And I'm sure if I spent a lot of time with the game I'd get the hang of it at some point. But I shouldn't have to read every single tutorial to shed some light on what the hell's going on.

There was something I liked about the game - the chocobo. He was pretty cute. Oh, and the help menus. They feature characters from past games and it was kind of cool to see them. But if the best thing about the game is the Help menus, you know there's a fucking problem.


Overall, I think this game is a disappointment. Even seeing Sephiroth without a shirt could not save this game for me. I think you have to like fighting games to enjoy it - Brian, who does enjoy fighting games, seemed to really enjoy it. This game is not enough fan service for Final Fantasy fans in general. I hope if they choose to do another one they take some of my complaints into consideration. (Because you know Squarenix is sooooo reading this.)

 

Yup. Not even worth it for this.

Self Promotion

[Warning. This post is shameless self promotion.]

So, I love podcasts.

And I love video games.

And yet, I could not find a video game podcast that appealed to me. I couldn't find one that featured men and women, discussing game topics in a way that was both informative and humorous.


So why not do it myself?


I thought I'd have trouble rounding up people to do it with. Nope got it. Check!


Then I thought all the work to put it together would be overwhelming, and something would fall apart there. Yeah, it was a lot of work, but nothing I couldn't handle. Check!

Recording the show itself would ultimately be our undoing. Something would go wrong and we wouldn't be able to record anything decent. Well,  the first time we went to record, things didn't go so well. But we figured it out, pressed on and recorded a good sounding first show.


I wouldn't be able to find affordable hosting. This was the biggest pain. But I found PodBean, and I'm very happy. No complaints.


iTunes would reject our ass. Nope! We are up and listed!


So if you're looking for a different kind of video game podcast, check us out! We're Gamester's Paradise. We've got a blog, a Twitter and a website. Right now I'm promoting all I can, since I worked really hard to get this up and running! 

If you give us a listen, I hope you enjoy what you hear!

< / end shamless self promotion >

REVIEW ~ Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

 The best observation this detective ever made.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

I very much enjoyed the first Professor Layton game, so when I heard about the sequel, I was stoked. I expected more of the same - puzzles, mystery, a guy in a huge ass hat - and I wasn't disappointed. Plus there were a few improvements along the way.

(You must excuse my blurry pics - most were taken in a car with an iPhone. I did the best I could. I actually went and retyped the dialogue so it would be easier to read.)


Just like in the previous game, Professor Layton and his "apprentice", Luke, set out to solve a mystery. This time they're trying to find out of this box really killed Layton's mentor. (I will not make a joke... I will not make a joke...) This time they get to explore several different areas and once again meet a slew of colorful characters. Along the way you solve puzzles to move the game along. (There are 138 in the story, but you don't have to solve them all to beat the game.) There are also a few minigames you'll want to complete, but we'll get to that.

You don't have to play the first game to enjoy this one - it will help, because there are several characters that carry over, but if this is your first adventure with the Professor, you will not feel like a kid who starts coming to class in the middle of the semester.

The great thing about the game is the story draws you right in from the beginning and it's hard to put down. Once the Professor and Luke start adding up the mysteries, you won't want to put the game down until "SOLVED" is stamped across all of them. The gameplay operates as it did before - point and click to move and talk to people. It can't possibly be more simple.

Animation, music, voice acting - all great. I wish there was a little more voice acting, but there was a decent amount of cut scenes, and they are limited by the size of a DS cartridge.


The puzzles are pretty diverse. You might be moving blocks or pancakes, filling every piece on a chess board, finding the area of a garden, dividing estate or answering a riddle. You won't get bored with the variation. Once again you'll find hint coins scattered around that you can spend for a clue if you need one. The hints aren't always the best, but for the most part they steer you down the path to the answer.


My complaint only really complaint concerning the puzzles is that I wish there were less that involved math. To me, a puzzle that asks me to find the radius of a circle, and then use that to find the area of this weird quadrangle area is way too much like school for my taste. If I need more than a simple calculator to figure out the answer - forget it. This is a video game, not a final exam. (Can you tell math was never my best subject?) I'd also like to see an "undo" feature - that would have helped me quite a few times. Sometimes all you want to do once in awhile is take back a move instead of starting the whole puzzle over.


New to this game was the memo feature you could activate during a puzzle. Although it's not really a lot of space to write, it was usually all you needed to jot down a thought or a number. What I also liked was that you could go back to look at the puzzle and then return to your scribblings - whatever you wrote on the memo screen didn't disappear unless you cleared it.

 

Using the memo feature for something totally nonconstructive.

Were there a few puzzles that I thought were kind of ridiculous? Yup. But those were few and far between. I wouldn't say it affected the game at all.


There are 3 mini games that you can access throughout the game. You don't really have to do any of them, but 2 are definitely worth completing. The other...eh. We'll get to that.


The first involves putting a camera back together. You find pieces as you do puzzles. Once you put the camera together, you can take pictures of certain locations and find the differences between the actual location and the picture you took. Once you find three, you'll be able to find a hidden puzzle. I thought putting the camera together was interesting, but finding the differences in the photos was certainly a highlight.


The second involved playing personal trainer to an overweight hamster you get to name. (I named mine Rocky.) As you solve puzzles you get various toys you use to lead your hamster around the board, trying to get him to take as many steps as possible. As he meets his goals, he slims down and once he's lost all his excess flab he'll be a big help to you. The only drawback to the hamster is his voice - he sounds like some cranky stereotypical New Yorker. (I can say that, because I'm from New York.) I cringed every time I heard his voice, but otherwise I thought the training was pretty fun and definitely took some planning and thought.

 

Youz guyz betta go easy on me, or you'll be swimmin' wit' the fishes!

Finally...there was the tea. Oh, the tea. First of all, who carries around a full tea set? Second of all, where the hell are they heating up this tea? I'm scared at the amount of equipment Layton is making Luke haul around. I hope he'll be willing to spring for the chripractor.

So, as you solve puzzles you get tea ingredients. You can mix 3 and try to create one of 12 different tea recipies.

This part of it is okay, if you can overlook the logistics I pointed out. It does get frustrating to create cup after cup of "bad tea" that the characters then passive aggressively mock you for.

I think Layton is covertly brewing poisons, judging by the skull and crossbones.

Trust me. That whole crying thing isn't even the worst of it. I think the game's goal was to get you to cry. Anyway, once you finally concoct a blend that's not gonna kill anyone, people around town will starting whining about various problems. Tea is apparently Layton's drug of choice, 'cause he's pushing it like he's makin' a profit. (To even get someone to request tea, you often have to enter and reenter areas numerous times. It wasn't so bad that you were waiting several minutes or anything, but it was kind of annoying.) Anyway, you'll next have to choose which kind of tea you want to serve them. And it better be the right one.

I found that often it was kind of hard to choose exactly what tea the person wanted, and had to try several before I chose one they wouldn't throw back in my face. And if you want to unlock every puzzle in the game, you better like to play tea time. Because you'll have to serve a successful cup to everybody in order to unlock them all. I just found this whole game silly and often frustrating. The logic behind the whole thing was also just too much for me to accept. Seriously - Layton's investigating something kind of important here. I understand a gentleman is always nice, or whatever, but come on. You don't have time to be brewing tea for everybody in town - especially if you're building a fire to boil the water, which is the only marginally reasonable explanation I can think of - especially when you're pulling out the cups and crumpets in the middle of a forest. Also, I don't know where Luke's parents are, but I don't think they'd want their son to be your tea toting pack mule.


Now that I've torn that mini game apart, I feel better. That's really the only gripe I have with the game, and it's not even a big one, really. There's so much to like about this game that one low light really falls into the background. Even after you complete the story there are more puzzles to solve - you can even download a new one every week by connecting to the online network. 

So I highly recommend this game if you enjoy a good puzzle and a good story...perhaps with a nice cup of tea. I just hope you actually have a stove.


My rating: 88 out of 100.

Friday, 9/4/09 ~ News and Junk

Definitely more this week than last week.

TV

>> It's a boy for Idina Menzel and Taye Diggs! Congrats to them.

>> Looks like Danny Gokey is getting an album...wonder how many people will actually shell out money for it.

>> TV Guide Lists the most anticipated shows of the Fall. Glee was on this week, and I missed it, of course. 

>> Looks like SNL will be getting 2 more female cast members.

>>And more promos for The Office:

MOVIES


>> In case you care, The Final Destination was #1 last week. In taking a longer look at the title, I can't help but notice it does say THE FINAL Destination. So it really gonna be THE FINAL one? After being #1 at the box office, (Halloween II was third), I doubt it.


>>John Krasinski directs and stars in Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Check out the article and trailer - it looks awesome. Plus Will Arnett is in it. I'm there. It comes out on the 25th of this month.

>>Aaaaaaand it looks like Warner Bros. is set to win the summer. Harry Potter, Terminator, and The Hangover are the movies they have to thank for it. 


>>Oh, and Disney's gonna buy Marvel. Who the hell saw that coming?


>>In Theaters Today:

• All About Steve (I have a friend named Steve. It's not about him.)
• Extract (This'll be on my Netflix queue in a few months. I love Jason Bateman.)
• Gamer (Young men will flock to this one.)

 

VIDEO GAMES

 

>> That "Hot Coffee" crap is still going on?! They shouldn't have to pay a dime, in my opinion. Ridiculous.

>> Wii games are getting better according to critics. That's good to know - though looking at the shelf of the local game store is still depressing for people not looking to dress up pets or play games with some creepy, soulless looking character.

>>A bunch of games that I could care less about but I know tons of other people will be excited for are slated to be out by next July. Some wives and girlfriends might wanna start bracing themselves now.

>>Nintendo is going to release a cooler version of Wii Fit, now that everybody already owns it.

Vide Games I've Beaten - Part Two

I'm just gonna stick to two systems this time and make this rather short.

N64
I bought this system specifically for one game, and only ever purchased one other game for it. I got distracted with the Playstation. (Which I'll tackle another day.)

Donkey Kong 64This was the game I bought the N64 for. Great game. I keep waiting for it to come out in the Wii store so I can download and play it again. Another game worthy of its own blog post.

Kirby and the Crystal Shards 
...And this was the "other" game. I normally love all things Kirby, but ugh. I think this game was seriously made for 5 year olds. I've actually blocked most of it from my memory.

Super Mario 64
I think almost everybody who had an N64 played this. I borrowed it from my cousin. Moving Mario around in 3D took a lot of getting used to. There were too many places to go - how would I ever find my way around? Those first 3D games were quite a system shock, weren't they?


And now we come to another short list... Most of the games I owned for this system were remakes, and therefore not worthy of my list.


GBA

Castlevania Aria of Sorrow

Great game - one of my favorites of the series. I got every single soul you could get...some of those took forever. But I had no life back in those days. Because you definitely need to have a lot of time to kill in order to complete a lot of games fully.

Castlevania Harmony of Dissonence
Because you can kill Dracula AND tastefully design a room. You go, Juste Belmont.

Castlevania Circle of the Moon
Probably my least favorite of the Castlevania titles I've actually beaten. This game is so hard! And the card system...yuck. It's one of the few games I put down for a long time and actually picked up and finished without starting over. I was not about to go back and deal with all that level up bullshit again.


Next time...I'll tackle the Playstation. And the RPGs are gonna start coming to town.

Video Games I've Beaten - the Video Companion

Time is bit short today, so I thought I'd share some great videos involving the games I posted about yesterday. Enjoy!

This is the famous video where the kid beat Super Mario Bros. 3 in 11 minutes - it's totally not legit, but still neat to watch anyway.

Here's a 9 minute-ish speed run through Maniac Mansion. You rescue Sandy, kids!


And finally, here's the last few levels of the Barbie game - including that horrible level with the moving floor I was telling you about. And the bone chilling last boss.

Video Games I've Beaten - Part One

So in my blog about Super Mario Galaxy I mentioned I was going to embark on a quest to make a list of every game I've ever beaten.

Quest complete.


This is only part one of the list - although I haven't beaten an overwhelming number of games in the twenty or so I've been playing, I didn't wanna go and list them all at once. So today we're cover the earliest systems: NES, Genesis and SNES.


Here were the rules of list:

• Finishing the main story of the game and seeing the ending counts as beating it. I didn't have to do all the extras/side quests/whatever.
• ROM games are okay as long as no cheats were used.
• It didn't have to be a game I played alone.

Here are some things to remember when you're reading this list:

• I did not own a lot of games as a kid at all. 
  
• I relied very heavily on looking at the games I own in compiling this list. Over the years I've traded in some games and forgotten about others. I know some games got left out.
• I play a lot of games you can't beat i.e Animal Crossing, Mario Tennis, etc.
• I didn't count games I replayed when they were re-released on another system.
  

Okay, enough of that. Here's the damn list.


NES

Super Mario Bros. 
Yeah, the original, of course. I can remember my struggle to get past "Cheep Cheep Land", which was what I called world 2-3. But finally I made my way all the way to Bowser's last stand...and I ran on him/used the elevator. (I don't remember. This was a long time ago.) And I rescued the Princess once and for all. And I was stunned at what I had accomplished. I was expecting some kind of major payoff for this - not being told I could replay the game with fuzzy beetles in place of Goombas. Oh well.

Super Mario Bros. 3
Still one of my favorite games of all time. I owned one of the earliest issues of Nintendo Power that was basically nothing more than a full walk through of this game. In the days before the internet, that was a big deal. Remember the hands in the last world? Did they scare the crap out of you, too? Where were they coming from?!

Barbie
This game deserves a blog all it's own. The story was anything but deep, but for a little kid some of the game play was pretty difficult. One of the last levels involved jumping on a bunch of narrow music notes that were hovering over a moving platform that took you all the way back to the beginning if you fell. Oh, and did I mention that Barbie jumped like a stiff piece of plastic, too.

The Little Mermaid
I was a little girl, and little girls had girly games. I was obsessed with The Little Mermaid, so of course I owned the game. Goes to show you how early they started making movies into video games.

Maniac Mansion
I didn't beat this until I was much older, and I'm glad of it. How scary was this game? That creepy blue guy finding you and locking you in the basement. And don't even get me started on how hard it is. If you don't have the right combination of kids, forget it.


Genesis

Crystal's Pony Tale
This was a ROM. Shut up.




SNES

Super Mario World
I still love this game. I could replay it over and over. I actually finished everything you could do in this game - star levels and all.

Super Mario Bros. - The Lost Levels
Maybe you noticed, but Super Mario 2 was missing from my list. I never defeated Wart. But I did beat the REAL SMB2.

Kirby Super Star
Still my favorite Kirby game ever. I beat all the games that were included under the Super Star heading - my favorite being the one where you found all the treasures.

Donkey Kong Country
One of those games that definitely changed how I looked at games.

Donkey Kong Country 2
Probably tied for my favorite SNES game.

Donkey Kong Country 3
Tied with this. What a great game. Remember when RARE made good games? Me too...

Yoshi's Island
As much as I like this game, it was often frustrating as hell.

Super Mario Kart
Oh, the hours I spent playing this game. I guess you could argue that you can't really "beat" this game, but I disagree. If you beat the Star cup grand prix on 150cc - you've beaten it.




Next - N64, PSX and GBA.

Friday, 8/28/09 - News and Junk

Kind of a boring week for entertainment news if you ask me.

TV

>> Whoo hoo! Preview of the season premiere of The Office. Looks promising, but at the same time I am also nervous that this could easily be turned into something ridiculous. I'm just hoping season 6 is better than season 5.

>> Looks like Kristin Chenoweth will appear as a guest host on American Idol. She's one of the many celebs who'll be filling Paula's vacant seat during the initial auditions. Another celeb pegged to fill Paula's void? How I Met Your Mother's own Neil Patrick Harris. Guess I will be watching this season. At least the audition rounds.




MOVIES


>> Seems somebody didn't want to be interned above Marilyn Monroe after all, and the crypt is back on the market. That lady must really need cash if she's going through all the trouble of moving her husband's corpse.


>> The big movie that's getting attention all over the web this week is Inception, starring one of my favorites - Leonardo DiCaprio. Check out the trailer and see what you think. It's not coming out till July 2010.

• Looks weird, right? I thought so. Here's a bit of the plot for you. Sounds kind of interesting, but not something I'd rush out into theaters to see. Sorry, Leo.
• Oh, and apparently Leo is fat. He looks fine to me. But I guess I'm just glad it's an actor instead of an actress for once.

>> In theaters today:

• The Final Destination (Yeah, they're still riding that train, I guess.)
• Halloween II (Because just one sequel wasn't enough.)
• Taking Woodstock
• Big Fan
• The September Issue 

So, in the battle of the "They're still making those?" horror movies, which will come up on top? Personally, I hate horror movies. But that's another blog.



VIDEO GAMES

 
>> Big news is the Xbox price drop. But more importantly, they claim the whole red ring of death debacle is behind them. I guess only time will tell on that one, but I'm not holding my breath. Of everyone I know who has an Xbox 360 - I know only one person who hasn't seen that famous ring yet.


>> And finally, Beatles fans, the Beatles Rock Band is coming September 9th. And if you don't already own another Rock Band game, you can pick up the bundle from Amazon or Best Buy for $140 bucks. Not a bad deal.



That'll do it for this week.