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September 2nd, 2008, 22:16 Posted By: bandit
Wii Wireless Crazy Guitar Controller
Manufacturer: PEGA
Site: Buy from Goldenshop
Price: $45.00
Overview : Get your ROCK on with this alternative Les Paul Guitar Controller.
Quality/Usability : When a new Guitar Hero game comes out, it only comes with one guitar. But what if you want your friend to join in on the fun or help you out or even duel it out. You either have to wait for manufacturer to release standalone guitars or buy two sets and sell the extra game. If you're late to jump on the bandwagon, who wants to buy or try and locate previous version of the game?
PEGA, Nyko and other 3rd party peripheral manufacturers try to fill that void as well as offer a cheaper alternative but is the price what you pay, what you get?
I tend to have friends over and we rock out on Guitar Hero on the Nintendo Wii. We usually have to take turns using the guitar as I only have one. Since it gets a bit repetitive and tiresome of having to pass the guitar around, I thought I'd review the Wii Wireless Crazy Guitar Controller.
The Wii Wireless Crazy Guitar Controller looks almost exactly as the Official Les Paul Guitar that comes with Guitar Hero for the Nintendo Wii..front and back. The Crazy Guitar comes in 2 pieces..3 if you include the detachable faceplate. Also included is a shoulder strap.
As mentioned above, the Crazy Guitar looks identical to the original Les Paul Guitar but there are some differences. The corner near the joystick on the original Les Paul is rounded. On the Crazy Guitar, its pointed. If you were to swap faceplates with each other, the tabs will fit, however since that one specific corner is rounded or pointed, it wont fit in that section.
The back looks the same. There is a locking and unlocking mechanism for the neck of the guitar as well as for the faceplate. I dont know why there is a removable faceplate for the Crazy Guitar if there doesnt seem to be any replacements. You can paint on the faceplate but its already glossy. The compartment to store the Wii remote also has a little compartment to store the wrist band.
To connect the neck of the guitar to the guitar itself, simply line up the neck and just push in. It will lock in place. To remove the neck, simply slide and hold the unlock and pull the neck out. When I first opened the box, I noticed something different on the neck. There is grease along the inside. This is suppose to allow the neck to slide in easily. Although it does, it makes a bit of a mess. I had grease along the side of the Guitar as well as the faceplate. The buttons on the Crazy Guitar are color coded but white while the original Les Paul is color coded and black. The buttons are slightly raised higher on the Crazy Guitar.
The controls worked great and as they should. The Guitar Hero game registered each button press. However, the strum bar doesnt have that loud clicking noise. Some prefer it to be more quite but at the same time, this also means it did not register my presses which would result in me missing crucial notes and from gaining full Star Power.
Conclusion : Overall, the Wii Wireless Crazy Guitar Controller worked great as a spare guitar controller. It feels and fits like the original Les Paul Controller. It would be nice if it was shaped like the Les Paul so that the faceplates were interchangeable but I can see that there would be legal issues with that. If it wasnt for the pointed corner near the joystick and missing Guitar Hero logo on the back, a normal person wouldnt know this was made by a 3rd party manufacturer. Thats how close it looks to the original guitar.
Images via comments. Additional images from DealExtreme.
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September 1st, 2008, 10:58 Posted By: Darksaviour69
Fable 2 Pub Games
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: LionHead
Genre: Casino mini games
Players: 1
MSRP: 800 MS point ($10, £6.80, €9.30)
Platform: Xbox 360 (XBLA)
First of, you can get these games for free as they will be bundled with Fable 2 or if you preorder Fable 2. Any money you make can be used in the full game of Fable 2, but also if you get too much debt it will have consequences in the fable world (people will come after you for the the money you owe? ). Also when you win tournaments you can unlock items for the main game, like strength potions, tattoos etc. Sounds like a nice little game to wet you apatite for when the main game comes out, doesn't it? Shame the games are so bad ....
There are 3 games in Pub games, Spinnerbox ,Keystone, Fortune's Tower. You can only play some of the low bet limit games first in each type, the rest are unlocked as you gain experience points, which are gained mostly by how much you bet and not how much you win, which is good because it seems you lose more than you win in some of the games.
Fortune's Tower is by far the best of the 3, Its basic card game, cards are laid out in a pyramid formation with a row added to the bottom for every round. First you place your bet then the first 3 cards are drawn, the first card in turned down, and the next 2 are placed face up underneath (in a pyramid formation). For each round another row is added to the pyramid, and your winnings is based on the total value of all the face cards on that row (15 is break even). Now the catch. If a card from the current row is touching a card of the same value on the row above it, it's "Burned" which is game over. The only way that can be stopped is if an Knight card is drawn in that row (as in the screenshot above), which saves the row from any burned cards. If no Knight cards are drawn, then the card from the top of the pyramid (who's value you don't know) is used to replace the "burned" card, but this can only be used once.
For each row you have the option to take the current offer of that row, or risk revealing another row. But as there are more cards on each row, there further down the pyramid you go, the higher the reward could be, but then there is more chance to be "burned". If you get to the last row with out using the save card from the top of the pyramid, you win the jackpot, which is the face value of all the cards in the pyramid added together (= alot), so there is a good reason to keep going to the end.
Yeah its seems a bit complex, but once you play it, it makes sense. You can draw parallels with "Deal or No Deal" as is all about getting the best deal you can get.
Keystone is basically a roulette game. You make bets on what number, colour, shape, etc that will be thrown. Once bets are placed 3 dice are thrown, which added up, is the wining number. Each time a number is thrown a stone is removed, if that stone has already been removed then the one under is removed. This keeps going until the "keystones" are removed (2 or 18 / 10 and 11). The rules are interesting, and some of the variants have reverse rules (you bet on what numbers are not thrown) , but ultimately its very slow, drawn out game.
Spinnerbox is medieval version of slots, and like slots requires no skill, other than pushing a button. The only saving grace is you don't have to be in the same room to play (thanks wireless control), just keep hitting "A" (Auto-fire anyone), to keep spinning, which is handy for getting though the tournaments, which, if you have not guess by now, are complete luck if you win.
Most Casino computer games fail because there is no risk with virtual money, who cares if you lose. What makes Fables pub games interesting, losing (and winning) does mean something.... if you are planning to buy Fable 2 when it comes out. But considering only one of the 3 mini games, is really a game that can be called "a game", its not really anywhere near enough to justify 800ms points for it. As a free game is interesting, but asking people to pay for it is a bit much. I was wondering why this game has been left out of the much hype "Summer of Arcade" that Microsoft has been going on about, now I know why.
Pros:
- Unlocked items for Fable 2
- Might earn money for Fable2
- One of the games is interesting
Cons:
- Most likely get debt for Fable 2 (unless you use the glitch)
- Only 3 Games
- OMG So Boring!!
Overall: 
*Note: the above score is in relation to 800ms points price point. If you get it for free, add a few more points to it 
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August 29th, 2008, 15:30 Posted By: fg-54
Developed by: The Behemoth
Published By: The Behemoth
Players 1-4
Genre: Action/beat'em up
Console: Xbox 360
ERSB: T: Blood And Gore, Cartoon Violence, Crude Humor.
Prices: 1200ms pts
$14.99 (USA)
£10.20
€13.96
$19.99 (CAD)
$19.80 (AUD)
¥1776
_____________________________
Overview: Castle crashers is made by the same people behind alien hominid, this title keeps it's roots while giving a brand new experience, alien hominid fans will be happy, and newcomers will enjoy it as well.
Gameplay: In Castle Crashers, you start out with four playable characters (or five if you have alien hominid, in which case, he will be playable from the beginning as well) each have their own special power, and who you choose may easily change the outcome of how you fight, tho in general, you will be going left to right, killing waves of enemies that come at you, and a boss at the end.
You can level up your character in strength which will make your character's melee attacks stronger, magic which will make it stronger, and the magic barr will re-fill it self faster, defense which will allow you to take less damage per hit AND you get a bigger health bar, and agility which will make you faster, and will improve your archery skills.
In castle crashers, after you beat the first level, you will notice that the level selection layout is the same as the one found in "Super Mario World" this allows you to go back to any boss or level you have previously completed, and level up your character or gain some extra cash.
Money can be used to purchase health potions, bombs, and sandwiches; Potions will re-fill your health, bombs are pretty much useless, they do not go far and don't do much damage, but it is still a nice addition to the game, sandwiches will make your muscles expand to a hulk level, and you can punch and kick, tho you are unable to use magic and a sword for the exact ten seconds it lasts, you will not loose any health for any damage taken.
Even tho you start out as a wimp, you quickly level up and gain new moves, and depending on which level up route you take, you may find yourself ether flying across the screen doing an incredible combo and clearing everyone out, or making giant clouds of gas appear from your fingertips infecting big portions of enemies leading them to their death, OR you can be a well rounded person and use magic and might together, which ever rout you take, you have four to five different playable characters from the beginning so you can experiment with them all you want, and you will soon unlock more, you can unlock new characters by ether getting through certain levels, or by finishing tournaments.
These cute looking bears will fool you, they pack a big punch.
At times, and in certain levels only, the gameplay may become a bit repetitive, mainly in the desert areas later on, even if you DO get to ride a camel that spits, which brings me to a more "special" part of this game which is humor, you will find animals pooping everywhere, and signs that make no sense; Enemies often make funny faces when hurt and so does that old king of yours, you have to be pretty bitter to not even smile at some of the jokes this game is packed with.
Another new addition to this game is pets! you can choose from a wide library of pets (you start out with none, and move your way up) every pet has a different purpose, whether it rises your defense, suck the enemies blood and hurts them, or take them down with a good tackle, these pets will let you show them off online when you are playing with friends, and it is always nice to have a companion with you when you are traveling the world alone.
Aside from single player you can also bring up to three of your friends to your town, and they can help you beat that one boss you just aren't ready to take on your on, and are too lazy to go back and do some past levels over to level up, four player co-op is extremely fun, and can get very crazy, you will see blocks of ice rain from the sky, and clouds of gas cover the entire level, also, even if you are 20 levels below you fellow team mates, you can still feel like you are doing something to help them out, since you are free to level up in whatever area you please,you may still be stronger, or have more magic powers then them. after each boss battle, right after you save the princess, you have to fight against any teammate that may previously be at your side, the victorious one gets to kiss her, and there is an achievement for kissing all four princesses in multiplayer.
And even if you don't have anyone to play with, on certain levels, you will have warriors or even peasants fighting by your side which can always come in handy when fighting bit herds of enemies.
Graphics: Everything in this game is hand drawn, which has its pros and cons; On the pro side, everything has a great look to it, specially the environment, and if you look closely, the backgrounds are often very well detailed, you might see for example a canon ball come down from the sky, and then a herd of warriors launch into the air, in certain levels you may find animals, and enemies are sometimes doing hilarious things, for instance, you may see a group of them sleeping, or a guard reading the news paper, once you get close enough to them, they will engage you in battle.
The down side of having hand drawn sprites, is that most of the animations contain very few frames, sometimes so few you can see each of them individually, making them seem incomplete, there is for example a boss later on that gets a cannon ball to its face, and instead of going into a face squishing animation, they instantly replace his regular face with a squished one, so there are no frames in between to make it smooth.
He should have never accepted that mystery drink from that homeless guy.
Sound:expect some exiting and sometimes dramatic tunes to match up the game depending on what level or situation you are on, some of the songs in this game can be found in the "Audio Portal" of newgrounds.com.
Sound effects are okay, you hear a "Woosh" every time you swing, and a "Pow!" every time you hit, but sometimes, you hear the sound of two metal pieces crashing against one another when beating up an enemy with wooden armor which can be a bit misleading, and if you are a perfectionist, a bit annoying as well.
Replay Value: With so much to unlock in this game how can you NOT have an amazing replay value, there are tons of pets to unlock as well as characters (around twenty) and they EACH have their own special powers which can be levelled up! there are also multiple weapons to unlock, and you can combine all of this with an exiting multiplayer experience, apart from that there are also numerous hidden items and secrets that can be unlocked.
Once you have unlocked a pet or a weapon (to unlock them all you have to do is grab them) you can go back to the "blacksmith" there, you can withdraw any weapon you have previously unlocked at no charge, as well as pets, you can also get info on what each pet does through a teacher dressed as a nurse.
Don't be fooled by their cuteness, the pets you can carry around with you are actually quite helpful, they each have their own special ability, and some may even help you in combat, my goat looking thing saved me from some ferocious bow and arrow throwers back at the arena.
Also, once you beat the game, a new difficulty mode "insane mode" will be unlocked, this makes you start over from the beginning except this time, the enemies are much stronger, but in my opinion, they felt as hard as they were when you first started to play the game, the only difference is that since the enemies are stronger, you will level up faster. (even if you ARE level 42 *cough**cough*)
Apart from the main game, there are also two mini games, "All you can quaff" where you rapidly press the "X" and "Y" buttons to tear apart fruit and the one who tears a certain amount the soonest wins, and then there is tournament where you fight waves of enemies.
You later unlock the ability to play as your enemies which can be a bit confusing at times.
Difficulty:The game may be hard at some points, but you can always go back and re-do levels to get your experience up, and having the option to have some friends to back you up can make a big difference, specially since when playing with your pals, they can bring you back to life when you die, all they have to do it go up to you, and press the "Y" button a few times.
Rarely, but surely, you may find your self in a situation where enemies gather around you, and you can't get up, this may sometimes be fixed with a few good bombs, or maybe a sandwich, but when you don't have ether, then you are to be in the ground until you die, which can get very annoying.
Achievements: Most of the achievements are easily done, a few only take some time and patience, instead of skill, nevertheless, they are fun, and lets be honest, who doesn't like some easy achievements every now and then? (Click on "Achievements" for a full list of them)
Here is a tip on how to get the "Melee is Best" achievement, level up a few times (anywhere above level ten will do fine) and go to the "Barbarian Boss" stage (that is the first boss you fight) once there, you can finish him off pretty quickly without using magic.
To get the "Medic!" achievement, play a multiplayer match with your friends, let them willingly die, and then heal them.
Conclusion: This is a must buy for any xbox360 owner with access to the internet, for only $15 this is a bargain! There is a bunch of content here that will keep you busy for a long time, and i personally recommend it! stop reading this review now and go out and buy it! even if the AI is a bit dumb every now and then, and some more magic spell would have been appreciated (you end up with three different magic spells)
Also, if you are a newgrounds member and often visit their site, then you will find quite a few references to some of the flash cartoons found in the site.
Pros:
*Multiplayer support on and off line.
*Great tracks.
*Over 20 playable characters.
*Many cool secrets.
*A wide library of weapons and pets.
Cons:
*Online multiplayer is virtually impossible unless you are aiming for one of the two mini games, or have friends to invite you to a private match.
*Gameplay may get repetitive at times.
*too many characters have the same magic.
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Graphics: 4.5/5
Sound: 4/5
Replay Value: 5/5
Difficulty: 4.5/5
Achievements: 4/5
Final Score: 
.:AMAZING GAME!:.
----------------------
2nd Opinion: By Shadowblind
You'll laugh, you'll cry, you might even get a chance to blow a hole in your buddy's head while paying Castle Crashers. Despite that previous comment, you won't be crying much, but you may be laughing like a hyena after playing this game. Its stylish flash-cartoon graphics and crude humor will make this a very enjoyable game. Still, as far as gameplay goes, its pretty much the same thing throughout, but 4 player online multiplayer rocks. For the value of 1200 MSP its well worth it, but its not exactly something that goes and breaks thousands of Boundaries of gaming here. If anything, its a step back to the retro days of Golden Axe. But now who ever said that old school is bad school?
Second Opinion: 
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August 27th, 2008, 19:54 Posted By: bandit
XCM 1080p Mega Cool VGA Box
Manufacturer: XCM
Site: Buy from Play-Asia / Buy from ConsoleSource / Buy from Amazon
Price: $79.90-120.00
Overview : Connect any Component Video source to any VGA monitor for the best resolution possible! Supports up to 1080p HDTV resolution! New sleek design.
Features :- Supports PC video display resolutions up to UXGA (1600 x 1200 @ 75 Hz) or HD TV (up to 1920 x 1080)
- Supports 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p
- Display pictures from your console (Game Cube, Playstation 2, Xbox, PSP Slim, Wii , Xbox 360, Playstation 3) on your PC monitor (up to 1600 x 1200) or HDTV (up to 1920 x 1080)
- Supports SDTV, HDTV, XGA, SXGA, and UXGA video formats.
- Works on both PAL & NTSC systems.
- Easy Plug and play installation.
- Connect any compatible YPbPr (component video) device to your VGA monitor via Integrated YPbPr to RGBHV converter.
- Applications: TFT LCD monitor, CRT monitor, Set-top box, Display projector
- Works on LCD TFT monitors
- Video output: VGA
- Automatic video source mode detection (film/graphic)
- Motion-adaptive interfiled de-interlacing
- Uses the power from your USB port, no extra power supply needed!
Quality/Usability : I dont like to have lots of wires dangling or have to constantly plug/unplug cables so I opted to use the XCM Multi-Console Component Cable v3. The XCM 1080p Mega Cool VGA Box is housed in a sturdy chrome casing with component cable input, VGA input and output, stereo speaker input and USB power input. The top of the XCM 1080p Mega Cool VGA Box contains a SOURCE button as well as directional pads. The SOURCE button lights up when in use (blue for component and green for VGA) and allows you to switch between your computer/laptop or consoles. The directional pads allows you to change resolution and frequency on your monitor.
Below is a video of the Mega Cool VGA Box being used with the Multi-Console Component Cable.
I connected my PSP Slim, Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Dell computer to the Mega Cool VGA Box and to my Dell 24" 1080p Widescreen monitor. All worked flawlessly without a problem. Pictures displayed just like it would on a TV/monitor. There were no lags or distortions. I liked that you were able to change the resolution and refresh rate from the VGA box rather than going through all the menus on your monitor/TV. What I dont like however is that it only supports 1 component cable. Luckily, I have the multi-console cable but others might not and this may be an annoyance.
When switching devices, it does not remember the display resolution. So you'll have to go and change it each time. Its not a big problem but would be nice if it remembered the previous setting. I like the fact that it gets it power through the USB. Having multiple consoles, TV, satellite box, computer and other devices plugged in, I am running out of sockets in the surge protector. So using a USB port from either the Xbox 360, Wii, PS3 or PC is a PLUS in my book. If you're not using that device that the VGA box is connected to, it wont be powered. So you'll have to turn it on.
Conclusion : Overall, the XCM 1080p Mega Cool VGA Box works great but as mentioned, it only allows for one component input. So if you have a PS3, Wii and Xbox 360, you can only connect one. If you want to play a different console, you'll have to unplug the cable and insert the other one. If you're like me and want to make your life easier, I suggest looking into XCM Multi-Console Component Cable v3. One cable that has all the connections for all consoles. When you want to use that console, just move the switch to that corresponding console and you're ready to go. No unplugging or plugging needed.
Would be nice if this was extended to incorporate additional component cables and turned into maybe a selector?
Images via comments
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August 27th, 2008, 18:08 Posted By: bandit
XCM will be releasing a new product that allows you to connect non-HDMI devices such as PS2, Xbox and Wii to a HDMI monitor/TV.- Finally an HDMI converter for older (hdmi-less) consoles that brings the analog signal into the digital age.
- Converts your old analog signal to the new High Definition standard digital signal (HDMI).
- Compatible with Nintendo Wii™(hdmi-less) , Playstation 2™ (hdmi-less) , Original Xbox™ (hdmi-less) consoles and more!
- Experience the Brilliant, Colorful and Sharp video output on your HDTV.
The second product is the XCM Rapid Fire Gear Xbox 360 Controller Case. This case will be a direct replacement for the existing Xbox 360 wireless controller case with an added rapidfire (turbo fire) feature. Now you'll be able to dominate your competition using a standard wireless controller! Pictures will follow shortly, so stay tuned for more information.
Expect ConsoleSource, Play-Asia, Divineo US, Divineo China and Extreme-Mods to stock these products.
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August 26th, 2008, 19:21 Posted By: fg-54
Developed by: The Behemoth
Published By: The Behemoth
Genre: Action/ beat'em up
ERSB: T: Blood And Gore, Cartoon violence, Crude humor.
Prices: 1200ms pts
$14.99 (USA)
£10.20
€13.96
$19.99 (CAD)
$19.80 (AUD)
¥ 1776
_____________________________
Overview: Castle crashers is made by the same people behind alien hominid this title keeps it's roots while giving a brand new experience, alien hominid fans will be happy, and newcomers will enjoy it as well.
Gameplay: In Castle Crashers, you start out with four playable characters (or five if you have alien hominid, in which case, he will be playable from the beginning as well) each have their own special power, and who you choose may easily change the outcome of how you fight, tho in general, you will be going left to right, killing waves of enemies that come at you, and a boss at the end.
You can level up your character in strength which will make your character's melee attacks stronger, magic which will make it stronger, and the magic barr will re-fill it self faster, defense which will allow you to take less damage per hit AND you get a bigger health bar, and agility which will make you faster, and will improve your archery skills.
In castle crashers, after you beat the first level, you will notice that the level selection layout is the same as the one found in "Super Mario World" this allows you to go back to any boss or level you have previously completed, and level up your character or gain some extra cash.
Money can be used to purchase health potions, bombs, and sandwiches; Potions will re-fill your health, bombs are pretty much useless, they do not go far and don't do much damage, but it is still a nice addition to the game, sandwiches will make your muscles expand to a hulk level, and you can punch and kick, tho you are unable to use magic and a sword for the exact ten seconds it lasts, you will not loose any health for any damage taken.
Even tho you start out as a wimp, you quickly level up and gain new moves, and depending on which level up route you take, you may find yourself ether flying across the screen doing an incredible combo and clearing everyone out, or making giant clouds of gas appear from your fingertips infecting big portions of enemies leading them to their death, OR you can be a well rounded person and use magic and might together, which ever rout you take, you have four to five different playable characters from the beginning so you can experiment with them all you want, and you will soon unlock more, you can unlock new characters by ether getting through certain levels, or by finishing tournaments.
These cute looking bears will fool you, they pack a big punch.
At times, and in certain levels only, the gameplay may become a bit repetitive, mainly in the desert areas later on, even if you DO get to ride a camel that spits, which brings me to a more "special" part of this game which is humor, you will find animals pooping everywhere, and signs that make no seance; Enemies often make funny faces when hurt and so does that old king of yours, you have to be pretty bitter to not even smile at some of the jokes this game is packed with.
Another new addition to this game is pets! you can choose from a wide library of pets (you start out with none, and move your way up) every pet has a different purpose, whether it rises your defense, suck the enemies blood and hurts them, or take them down with a good tackle, these pets will let you show them off online when you are playing with friends, and it is always nice to have a companion with you when you are traveling the world alone.
Aside from single player you can also bring up to three of your friends to your town, and they can help you beat that one boss you just aren't ready to take on your on, and are too lazy to go back and do some past levels over to level up, four player co-op is extremely fun, and can get very crazy, you will see blocks of ice rain from the sky, and clouds of gas cover the entire level, also, even if you are 20 levels below you fellow team mates, you can still feel like you are doing something to help them out, since you are free to level up in whatever area you please,you may still be stronger, or have more magic powers then them. after each boss battle, right after you save the princess, you have to fight against any teammate that may previously be at your side, the victorious one gets to kiss her, and there is an achievement for kissing all four princesses in multiplayer .
And even if you don't have anyone to play with, on certain levels, you will have warriors or even peasants fighting by your side which can always come in handy when fighting bit herds of enemies.
Graphics: Everything in this game is hand drawn, which has its pros and cons; On the pro side, everything has a great look to it, specially the environment, and if you look closely, the backgrounds are often very well detailed, you might see for example a canon ball come down from the sky, and then a herd of warriors launch into the air, in certain levels you may find animals, and enemies are sometimes doing hilarious things, for instance, you may see a group of them sleeping, or a guard reading the news paper, once you get close enough to them, they will engage you in battle.
The down side of having hand drawn sprites, is that most of the animations contain very few frames, sometimes so few you can see each of them individually, making them seem incomplete, there is for example a boss later on that gets a cannon ball to its face, and instead of going into a face squishing animation, they instantly replace his regular face with a squished one, so there are no frames in between to make it smooth.
He should have never accepted that mystery drink from that homeless guy.
Sound:expect some exiting and sometimes dramatic tunes to match up the game depending on what level or situation you are on, some of the songs in this game can be found in the "Audio Portal" of newgrounds.com.
Sound effects are okay, you hear a "Woosh" every time you swing, and a "Pow!" every time you hit, but sometimes, you hear the sound of two metal pieces crashing against one another when beating up an enemy with wooden armor which can be a bit misleading, and if you are a perfectionist, a bit annoying as well.
Replay Value: With so much to unlock in this game how can you NOT have an amazing replay value, there are tons of pets to unlock as well as characters (around twenty) and they EACH have their own special powers which can be leveled up! there are also multiple weapons to unlock, and you can combine all of this with an exiting multiplayer experience, apart from that there are also numerous hidden items and secrets that can be unlocked.
Once you have unlocked a pet or a weapon (to unlock them all you have to do is grab them) you can go back to the "blacksmith" there, you can withdraw any weapon you have previously unlocked at no charge, as well as pets, you can also get info on what each pet does through a teacher dressed as a nurse.
Don't be fooled by their cuteness, the pets you can carry around with you are actually quite helpful, they each have their own special ability, and some may even help you in combat, my goat looking thing saved me from some ferocious bow and arrow throwers back at the arena.
You later unlock the ability to play as your enemies which can be a bit confusing at times.
Difficulty:The game may be hard at some points, but you can always go back and re-do levels to get your experience up, and having the option to have some friends to back you up can make a big difference, specially since when playing with your pals, they can bring you back to life when you die, all they have to do it go up to you, and press the "Y" button a few times.
Rarely, but surely, you may find your self in a situation where enemies gather around you, and you can't get up, this may sometimes be fixed with a few good bombs, or maybe a sandwich, but when you don't have ether, then you are to be in the ground until you die, which can get very annoying.
Achievements: Most of the achievements are easily done, a few only take some time and patience, instead of skill, nevertheless, they are fun, and lets be honest, who doesn't like some easy achievements every now and then? (Click on "Achievements" for a full list of them)
Here is a tip on how to get the "Melee is Best" achievement, level up a few times (anywhere above level ten will do fine) and go to the "Barbarian Boss" stage (that is the first boss you fight) once there, you can finish him off pretty quickly without using magic.
To get the "Medic!" achievement, play a multiplayer match with your friends, let them willingly die, and then heal them.
Conclusion: This is a must buy for any xbox360 owner with access to the internet, for only $15 this is a bargain! There is a bunch of content here that will keep you busy for a long time, and i personally recommend it! stop reading this review now and go out and buy it! even if the AI is a bit dumb every now and then, and some more magic spell would have been appreciated (you end up with three different magic spells)
Also, if you are a newgrounds member and often visit their site, then you will find quite a few references to some of the flash cartoons found in the site.
Gameplay: 9.0/10
Graphics: 9.5/10
Sound: 8.3/10
Replay Value: 9.6/10
Difficulty: 8.9/10
Achievements: 8.2/10
Final Score: 9.2/10
.:AMAZING GAME!:.
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PS:I AM STILL NOT DONE WITH IT, BUT FEEL FREE TO LOOK FOR ERRORS.
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August 25th, 2008, 23:18 Posted By: fg-54
Published by: Majesco
Developed by: Budcat Creations
Genre: shooter/sandbox
Players: 1-4
Price: $20
Platform: Wii
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Overview: "BlastWorks: Build, Trade, Destroy" is as unique as its name, it offers chaotic multiplayer while keeping single player fun enough to keep coming back even if you have no friends due to its limitless builder that allows you to create bullets, ships, enemies, environments, ect, the only limit here is your imagination!
Gameplay: Many things can be said about this game's gameplay, not only does it offer a refreshingly new way of playing a side-scrolling shooter, but it is also packed in with a marvelous creator that allows you to make anything you can imagine!
Lets start with the simpler side of this game, the campaign mode: you and a friend can engage a Difficult road of a disappointingly short amount of levels which offer a good challenge and some great fun in all three difficulty modes.
In campaign, even tho it is small, it doesn't fall short in its fun factor, specially if you have a friend beside you, as you shoot at your enemies, you will notice that you can actually grab them and make them part of your ship, this is good for tree reasons: one, they provide a temporary shield for you (they fall off when hit) two: they automatically shoot in the direction they were looking at when caught, in which case you may find yourself with ships that are shooting behind you which seems useless, or funny, ether way you look at it it never hurts to have an extra ship to take care of you. And three: after you have collected enough ships, you will receive a bonus life which can be the difference between clearing a level or not.
Grabbing ships is probably one of the funnest things to do in this game apart from making your own levels, there is a special joy that can be achieved once you see that your ship covers the entire screen, and death comes to all that challenge you.
You CAN at any time call back all of your minion ships by pressing the "Z" button on the nunchuck, this skill is specially useful when fighting bosses and you wish to keep your shield, then quickly popping them out for a small burst of random bullets to hopefully hit the boss's weak spot, or if your friend can't grab any enemies because your ship is all over the screen, you can be a good fellow and call them back until your friend has collected enough to satisfy his needs.
After you have beaten campaign mode, or if you just don't have anyone to play with, there is always "build" mode, here, you can build anything you want from backgrounds to bullets, you can literally customize anything you can think of! color size, speed, rate, you name it. but just don't expect to get there and have a master piece in five minutes, creating a good looking ship or a well rounded bullet can take up to thirty minutes or more, it all depends on how detailed you want it to be, I for example made a chicken in it's shell that throws up in about twenty minutes, this may be seen as an upside or a downside depending on which way you look at it, even tho there is nothing really wrong with the editor, it took me a whole day of patience before I could even start to build my own map and that was with only ONE enemy.
This builder has MANY things to offer, with a very well numbered amount of choices for each option, there are over 50 different colors to chose from, over 30 different bullet paths, sounds, ect, you get the idea, this is probably the best in-game builder to have ever been made in a game, it is so complete, it even offers customizable AI for the enemies, and you can surprisingly make it to where the enemies break apart as you shoot them instead of dying in once piece, this builder is so well made, the developers actually used it to make every level in the game.
This image does a poor job at illustrating the amount chaos that can be reached in this game.
Graphics: To say that this game's graphics are good or bad would be a mistake, it doesn't even have a set art style since you can make your own, want a Lego theme? you got it, how about a black and white look? you got it! a cartoony art style? with some darn hard work you got it!
How good the graphics are is really up to you and the hundreds of active users out there, and I am positive it will evolve as time goes on, here is the official blast works site where you can upload and download user created content, this can be done easily since the site will ask you for your wii code number (finally they are put to good use) this allows you to click "download" on any desired item and it will be downloaded straight into your wii, from here you can add even more detail to it. but if we were to take every single piece of content that has been made, then i would probably say that most of them DO have a set art style, and that for a $20 game the graphics aren't too bad, that is also taking in consideration that most of the content you will have on your maps will be made by you, or another user with little experience in 3D design.
Still, a bit more animation would have been appreciated, as well as the option to animate yourself, tho not all are knowledgeable over the fourth dimension which is actually twisting and turning and not a straight line from past to future as represented by us three dimensional creatures opening the possibilities for time travel, but that is another story for another time.
Each of this ships probably took about an hour to make, maybe longer.
Sound: this game has some catchy yet simple beats which get more complex as time goes on but never really gets too wild, it is there not to be heard, but to be appreciated every now and then.
You can edit sound effects of pretty much everything, bullets, explosions, ect but not background music, and it would have been nice to have had that option, i mean, who wouldn't want to play a Mario themed level with a Mario song? and with even a launch game (excite truck) offering this feature, I can't see why this game which is so built around the idea that you can customize anything would not have it.
Replay Value: Offering up to four player co-op, the ability to build, trade, AND destroy, how can this game NOT have a great replay value, most things are unlocked from the beginning so you don't have to work too much for the few extras which is a little disappointing because it would have been more exiting to have had to unlock more things, still, the replay value doesn't revolve around playing campaign mode, but letting your imagination come to life and letting everyone see it, there are hundreds of downloadable parts available online and hundreds more to come which will bombard your with excitement, so let your imagination run wild with the builder! and feel free to show the world.
Conclusion: What can YOU get for $20? A shirt? Some cheap shoes? A collector's edition $1 coin? How about Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy! this action packed shooter/sandbox game allows you make your dreams come true, and build your own game! not only that, but you can share it with your friends AND the whole world! This game also allows you and up to three of your friends to play in one of the levels YOU made, so they can complain about why the background is not pretty enough, or why a pig shoots bullets from its butt.
So to close this conclusion, Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy is a great choice if you are looking for a cheap wii game that will give you some good bang for your buck, or if you are just desperately looking for a good wii game because you are tiered of all the mini games you have played in the past two years,so whatever the reason is, Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy is a great choice for anyone out there with a wii.
Difficulty: Again, YOU make it, YOU choose how many enemies are on screen, and how powerful they are, YOU make the difficulty, and in my opinion, it can't get any more perfect then that.
Still, aside from that, you have three difficulty options: Rookie, Pilot, and Ace, they only affect how quickly you die as far as I can tell, or how many bullets it takes to kill each enemy, not how many of them are on screen so your maps will remain untouched.
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Graphics: 4.5/5
Sound: 4/5
Replay Value: 4/5
Difficulty: 5/5
Overall Score:
.:Great Game!:.
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August 25th, 2008, 22:58 Posted By: Shadowblind
Too Human
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Silicone Knights
Genre: Action RPG
Players: 1-2(online)
MSRP: $59.99
System: Xbox 360 (exclusive)
Too Problematic.
After a near record development cycle (only beaten by Duke Nukem Forever's 10 year absence) Too Human is finally released to the public. In Too Human, you play as the cybernetic god Baldur as you unlock secrets of your past and attempt to save the human race from annihilation at the hands of machines. Personally, I've been following this game since its Gamecube days, and after losing interest for a long time, had my interest regained after seeing it at a past E3. After jumping consoles 3 times, from Playstation to gamecube then to Xbox 360, the game was finally finished thanks to the financial aid of publisher Microsoft. This game quickly became my most anticipated game EVER, even beating out Tales of Vesperia and my favorite of all time, Bioshock. Then the gameplay videos came out. I was impressed, maybe not as much as I hoped, but I thought "eh, still looks fun. Its got a large production value, the developer has a good pedigree, and usually first-part published games don't suck."
I'm not sure if I'm simply cursed with extremely bad judgment or not, but what a mess this game turned out to be. not only did it end up being far below expectations, but its problems are for all the worst reasons, considering its huge production time and the money spent on it. The main problems facing this game are mostly common problems among shovelware games, such as frame rate issues, bad A.I. and a plethora of other issues.
For the most part, the game holds a decent framerate. But get into a room with many enemies, or start fighting a boss and it gets messy. The slowdowns are never extremely significant, but they are still there, and mess with the experience. But the worst frame related problem is the camera. Twice as bad Ninja Gaiden II's camera problems, easily. The game gives you a few modes in which to place the camera but they all tend to do the exact same thing. The use of the left stick to look around while fighting is taken out, since its needed for the melee combat. However there is one neat thing about the camera, and thats in the form of the Dyack-flaunted cinematic angles. While not near as spectacular as the director claimed them to be, they work very well in cutscenes and give them an interesting movie feel. Outside of cutscenes, on the other hand, the "cinematic cam" just feels unnecessary and forced. Most of the things that the camera nudges you toward just look like the same thing you've seen hundreds of times.
When the camera does point you toward something interesting, it usually doesn't looks very good. Despite having some very interesting environmental features in Aesir, the backgrounds in Too Human are often too repetitive to be interesting. That said, the environments altogether are only average, and when they practically never change throughout each of the four chapters, they get very boring, very fast. There is very little interaction with these backgrounds, and what is there is very elementary(smack it, it explodes. Thats it.) While backgrounds for the real world, which you'll traversing in, fighting in, and doing just about everything fun in, the backgrounds in cyberspace aren't half bad. They too get a little repetitive, but they look much better then the real world. Which is a real shame considering you do very little in cyber space.
In Too Human, the spiders are so big they have health bars.
Character models are one thing this game has going for it. The enemies are detailed and impressive, though there is a classic case of coloring the enemies a different color and trying to throw them out as a different enemy. To be totally honest, there aren't many enemies in the game anyway, so the models, while varied, are in short supply. The Aesir, or Norse Gods of the game(the good guys) aren't as detailed as the enemies, but the art direction that SK has used to represent the Norse gods is quite impressive. Loki and the Nords especially. The animations for enemies and heroes alike though, is very stiff and clunky. They look extremely robotic, which may or may not be what they were going for in the games since you play as part machine, part man cybernetic god...well whatever. If it is, I'm not very impressed. The jumping attack animations are just painful. To attack an enemy in the air, you have to first knock them up, but instead of doing a jumping attack, you character jumps into the air, then basically RUNS over to the enemy's position while in the air(all of which time the enemy does not move an inch and is simply suspended in air) and proceeds to bash them senseless. The enemies animation are even worse. For the most part, the enemies will simply stand around you and you'll magically take damage. But the times they actually animate the attacks, the goblins basically just slap at you. Overly simple. In fact, most all enemies will simply walk up to you and bi***-slap you in the face, with no real combos or special attacks or anything. There is the occasional suicide bomber enemy who doesn't even have a dying animation, simply "dissipates" after exploding, but obviously even that is bland and tasteless. As far as bosses go, the chapter 3 boss and Hod have some better animations then others, but they too are absolutely clunky and messy. Beyond all this is a lower-then-brass lining to the attack animations of Baldur. When your a beserker flying around the room picking up 10s of enemies at a time like fruit flies, it gets da** fun to watch.
But the thing that go on my nerves the most is the facial animations. Many of the cutscenes in the game have a large amount of emotion being displayed by the characters. The problem is that the characters facial expressions NEVER match the words they are speaking or how they are saying it. They simply have the same face and calm collected actions throughout the entire scene, even in the most emotional of times. I can honestly say this was the part of the game that bugged me more then any other part-- the execution is the characters facial animations are absolutely TERRIBLE. As a person who likes the character development and animations above all else, this was like a huge punch to the face.
Now that the graphical components of the review are well under wraps, lets talk about the biggest factor of any RPG, this game included, is the story. And of course, this game doesn't really deliver as well as it could have. Don't get me wrong, the ideas behind is are absolutely fantastic and original. These ideas have they're roots in Norse Mythology--the names, the characters, and even the enemies. And the personifications that they have created for these mythical gods are well designed in persona and features. The problem is, however, that those who have no clue about Norse Mythology(like me) aren't going to get much of the underlying intelligence of the game. Even that wouldn't be much of a problem if the characters were explored a little. Unfortunately, as it goes, with the exception of Baldur, there is no other character who's story is really ever explored, and most of them never even told in the slightest degree. But the worst part of this is knowing that the characters have so much more to them then is shown. Obviously I can't provide any examples as I'm dumb as a rock when it comes to Norse myths(except Thor. He's cool.)but just knowing that the richness of the Viking myths out there aren't even shown in some sort of encyclopedia or something really can get annoying, since you don't understand HALF the story because you don't get the characters!
The story as a whole is rather well made, but poorly paced. The best plot turns and twists are near and at the end of the game. There is also a very interesting turn of events at the end of the second chapter, but it is absolutely terrible paced and threaded out. Take Hod, a boss for example. After a series of rather average sequences in the plot, you meet him(who is easily one of the most interesting characters in the game) but you never learn absolutely ANYTHING about him except for one single but very influential fact in the story. This is an example of the story itself; it definitely has many interesting ideas, but they are never explored. The Aesir seem to only have a singular meaning in the game, which is fine for something that isn't as important. But the Aesir prove to be at the heart of the story, and they are one of the best features of the story. They never really become anything spectacular though; you never get the full feeling of the important task they have. Too Human is actually a whole mess of things that never come across as well as they should. Check the sound sections to see what I mean.
You'll be seeing these enemies a lot.
To pick up directly where I left off(but speaking about sound quality now...) the characters voice acting is a mixed bag. On one hand, Baldur, Hod, and Hiemdall have great and fantastic voice acting, but on the other Freya, Thor and one of the Nords are simply average. Still the rest of the gods and characters aren't as good as Baldur or Hod, but they are above average. But concerning characters like Thor and Tyr, who are supposed to be personifications of might and power, have weak VOs to match they're strength. Great dialogue helps make up for some less then steller voice acting, and greatly improves the already good voice acting of some. So it really is, like I said, a mixed bag here.
So on the one hand there is good VOs and a few bad VOs, but sound effects are pretty solid. Solid in that they are mostly bad. Returning to the fact that power never really comes off of the characters in the game(I thought they were Gods. Gods are supposed to be powerful, right?) the SFX is terrible. I remember one instance in particular; Thor and Baldur are about to be trapped inside an exploding building. So Thor throws his hammer up to the ceiling to break it. Rather then explodes with a bang like a giant roof getting hit by a 400 pound hammer would, it simply sounds a low "bang" as the roof crumbles and hardly even breaks into pieces. That is just an example, and there is much more where that came from. Another complaint I had with the sound is that the effects are significantly louder then spoken parts in the game, which makes it extremely frustrating to try and comprehend what the characters are saying during loud cutscenes.
The music is something that Too Human absolutely has going for it. Well made and very dramatic music really brings out the fact that you are playing as a cybernetic God rather then just an average warrior. Despite the sound effects being only Sub-par most of the time, the music somehow blends the sounds of the combat with its heart pumping tone, making the sound effects far more bearable. All types of orchestral epic music is present in the game, and its usually played at the right moments. Heres something that very easy on the ears, in a, furious combat sort of way.
As of yet, I have spoken nothing of the gameplay, which of course is the center point of the game. probably the best quality of the gameplay is how innovative it is. Instead of using the normal XYAB buttons to attack, you use the right stick to string together combos and melee attacks. air combat works the same way and with guns you use the stick to change targets. Now although it is very unique, this doesn't mean it works perfectly. In fact, I'm fairly certain that I would have easily preferred buttons mashing to joystick mashing. The reasons for this are that while the stick works fine, the number of things you can do with it are extremely limited. There are no definitive combos you can execute with the stick, and evasion is very difficult to pull off with it. You can't stop a combo as fact with the stick as you can with buttons; that is, right before an enemy hits you. Even though most enemies have very bad or no animations to their attacks, the ones that you can see coming you just have to take. As a berserker you'll be up close and personal for almost all your combat time. Problem is, enemies you meet later on in the game don't flinch, and they take many hits to take down. In addition, they often crowd all around you, continually hitting you. If you get annoyed by dying in a video game, you better be prepared for this. You will die many, many, MANY times in the same battle, so you better get used to it, especially if you are a berserker.
After saving the world, Baldur took up the intricate hobby of Ice sculpting.
In fact, if you just about anything other then a bioengineer, you'll be dying on a regular basis. The dying animation is quite long, so you may want to read a book or create a cure for cancer while your waiting. After each unnecessarily long death sequence, you will reappear just as though nothing happens. This is very similar to Bioshock's Vita-Chambers but these don't make as much sense. You'll especially be dying many, many times during boss battles, since more often then not bosses have more powerful melee attacks then you, more powerful ranged attacks then you, and no flinching. Bosses may well be the biggest disappointment with this game. The main boss is terrible, and the chapter 1,2, and 3 bosses are jokes as well. You'll be dying most of the time, not because they are powerful opponents, but because they have far more health then you, and take huge amounts of free-bie shots at you because of the linear battle system. Its a mess, really.
The shooting isn't a whole lot better.The guns themselves are awesome and give a very Devil May Cry feel to that part of the game. But it ends up being the targeting system that will make you rethink being a Shooter class at the beginning of the game. It doesn't make gun wielding a terrible choice though, and many can easily overlook it if they are dedicated to their ballistic friends. But nonetheless, most people will be fed up with the game targeting dead enemies quickly. Yes, it does target dead enemies sometimes, and it almost ALWAYS targets dead boss pieces. The good thing is after your done with one enemy you can use the right stick to lock onto another. Sometimes though, it either doesn't lock or locks onto a dead enemy. Bosses as well. Most bosses or larger enemies have many points on they're body which you must attack, and after its blown off, you can still target it. This becomes more annoying because you have to constantly press the right stick in the direction of the new body part your trying to shoot. I may be blowing this part out of proportion, as it still works, but albeit annoyingly.
Speaking of A.I., they aren't much different then the bosses. They are quite stupid, nearly all of them rushing you on contact, and every single one rushing you at some point during your encounter. (Many will stop and fire at you for a second, THEN rush you.) But they come in enough hordes to strike enough hits on you to make each encounter a bit difficult. Also, some enemies cannot be killed before others, so that forces you to change your strategy sometimes, keeping things interesting for a while. The problem is that there is not enough variety in the A.I., throughout the entire game, the same enemy types are recycled many times. Not so much the models(although they are) so much as that they all use practically the same strategy. So variety isn't something Too Human has much of. But hey, if you like the massive encounters and moronic tactics of the A.I., you'll find a lot of fun with each encounter. I kinda did. If not, well...have fun.
There are more subtle elements that effect the gameplay though, such as the Skill tree and the expansive Diablo feel. Yes, it does feel very Diablo. Most of the levels are randomly generated, and consist of the Ninja Gaiden II tactic of continuing to the next room for another wave of enemies as you do the others Every encounter will yield many swords, guns, and equipment. While it takes the most fun out of finding more powerful weapons, the constant flow of items does help to keep the time moderately more interesting. In addition you can pick up blueprints of items that you can craft. With the exception of SUPER RARE blueprints, most blueprints will just waste your money, because you'll just find another 10 better weapons before you'll really get much use out of the blueprint. But the massive amount of items and weapons there are in the game is astonishing. More then any other game I've ever played, and I have played my fair share of MMORPGs. Now the skill tree is also another fair success in this game. As you level up(and your enemies do to. Yup, level scaling.) you get more points to spend on your skill tree. You can put these points to use in one of three skill paths. Depending on which one you choose, you won't be able to choose the others. It really may end up being a hard choice to make, and for good reason. they all help you in different combat ways, like increasing speed, power, or some other quality of your classes fighting style. It works, and because the enemies level scale, you wouldn't have much of a reason to level up if not for this. Except maybe to use armor and such that you aren't leveled up for.
The character design really does look good.
The randomly generated levels aren't really impressive either. The art design is fair, but the layouts of the levels are absolutely too simple. This consists of going into one room, bashing all the enemies, then going into the next room, and the next room, and the next doing the exact same thing. The only real thing that keeps it interesting is the loot dropping, but it gets very repetitive. The level design only allows you to do that as well. it doesn't let you take and branching paths or secret routes or anything. One of the most linear games I've played, which may be due to the randomly generated levels. Personally I think they could have done much better level design if each level was hand-made.
Going on to replayability. Too Human will last you a very, very long time if you like it. Despite my mixed feeling on the game, after beating it I still wanted to beat it again, but as a different class(which I soon got bored of...)but there is a lot of replay value here. Leveling up will take precedent over your time with the game, so you can log onto multiplayer and flaunt your abilities. But choosing a different class changes the gameplay feeling just enough to keep it fresh for a time. there are literally hundreds of different items to collect here, and thousands of ways to change your look. If you really care that much, you'll get into that quickly. Unfortunately, as far the main campaign goes it will be over before you know it. I got through it in about 8 hours, with 1 of those hours spent messing around Aesir. So its very short. I've been looking for side-quests, but can't seem to find any, but people say they are there, so I guess I just have to look harder. Anyway, after you finish the game you can go back through it with your already powerful character for a second time to gain levels and such.
Co-op is one of the better reasons to own this game. It really makes the action that much more intense when there are two Baldurs rushing around the room beating the crap out of enemies. But it doesn't come without problems. For one, there is a good deal of lag in this game's co-op. For a time after shooting enemies, my guns totally stopped responding, and I had to rely on my melee weapons. Also, sometimes the characters will just "jump" to different places, and enemies often die before being killed. Cutscenes are also totally ripped out of co-op. If you've played through the game already, you won't really care very much though, since the game throws enemies in those areas where a cutscene would be. So co-op is a pretty enjoable time you can have, if you can stand to not have cutscenes anyway.
Ok then.
Major Selling Points:
-Based in a Norse world
-Play as a cybernetic God
-Huge amount of loot drops in the game
-Co-op can be a blast
Major Breaking Points:
-Lag in co-op
-Combat system has many problems
-Level design is repetitive and linear
-Characters facials never match they're emotions
-Clunky animations
-Rather mediocre story
-Boring Bosses
Story: 3.5/5
Its not terrible, its just very average. The last chapter of the game helps to make up for it though.
Graphics: 3/5
The character models look great, but everything else looks bent out of shape. The environments could use some work, animations are terrible, and the explosions and weapon effects are just painful.
Sound: 4/5
VOs have a mixed bag that leans more toward well made then poorly made. Sound effects are boring, but the music is phenominal.
Gameplay: 3/5
There are many inventive ideas here. but the execution of the ideas such as the right attack stick and the messy targeting system are poor. the level designs are boring as well.
Replayability: 3.5/5
It only has around an 8 hour campaign, but plaing through it many times with different classes and on co-op extends the time greatly.
Overall: 
Too Human can be enjoyable. But the sheer number of technical flaws this game has renders it extremely frustrating to play. If you like games such as Diablo you may want to give it a shot. But I highly suggest renting before you buy it.
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August 24th, 2008, 03:41 Posted By: fg-54
Published by: Majesco
Developed by: Budcat Creations
Genre: shooter/sandbox
Players: 1-4
Price: $20
Platform: WII
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Overview: "BlastWorks: Build, Trade, Destroy" is as unique as its name, it offers chaotic multiplayer while keeping single player fun enough to keep coming back even if you have no friends due to its limitless builder that allows you to create bullets, ships, enemies, environments, ect, the only limit here is your imagination!
Gameplay: Many things can be said about this game's gameplay, not only does it offer a refreshingly new way of playing a side-scrolling shooter, but it is also packed in with a marvelous creator that allows you to make anything you can imagine!
Lets start with the simpler side of this game, the campaign mode: you and a friend can engage a Difficult road of a disappointingly short amount of levels which offer a good challenge and some great fun in all three difficulty modes.
In campaign, even tho it is small, it doesn't fall short in its fun factor, specially if you have a friend beside you, as you shoot at your enemies, you will notice that you can actually grab them and make them part of your ship, this is good for tree reasons: one, they provide a temporary shield for you (they fall off when hit) two: they automatically shoot in the direction they were looking at when caught, in which case you may find yourself with ships that are shooting behind you which seems useless, or funny, ether way you look at it it never hurts to have an extra ship to take care of you. And three: after you have collected enough ships, you will receive a bonus life which can be the difference between clearing a level or not.
Grabbing ships is probably one of the funnest things to do in this game apart from making your own levels, there is a special joy that can be achieved once you see that your ship covers the entire screen, and death comes to all that challenge you.
You CAN at any time call back all of your minion ships by pressing the "Z" button on the nunchuck, this skill is specially useful when fighting bosses and you wish to keep your shield, then quickly popping them out for a small burst of random bullets to hopefully hit the boss's weak spot, or if your friend can't grab any enemies because your ship is all over the screen, you can be a good fellow and call them back until your friend has collected enough to satisfy his needs.
After you have beaten campaign mode, or if you just don't have anyone to play with, there is always "build" mode, here, you can build anything you want from backgrounds to bullets, you can literally customize anything you can think of! color size, speed, rate, you name it. but just don't expect to get there and have a master piece in five minutes, creating a good looking ship or a well rounded bullet can take up to thirty minutes or more, it all depends on how detailed you want it to be, I for example made a chicken in it's shell that throws up in about twenty minutes, this may be seen as an upside or a downside depending on which way you look at it, even tho there is nothing really wrong with the editor, it took me a whole day of patience before I could even start to build my own map and that was with only ONE enemy.
This builder has MANY things to offer, with a very well numbered amount of choices for each option, there are over 50 different colors to chose from, over 30 different bullet paths, sounds, ect, you get the idea, this is probably the best in-game builder to have ever been made in a game, it is so complete, it even offers customizable AI for the enemies, and you can surprisingly make it to where the enemies break apart as you shoot them instead of dying in once piece, this builder is so well made, the developers actually used it to make every level in the game.
This image does a poor job at illustrating the amount chaos that can be reached in this game.
Graphics: To say that this game's graphics are good or bad would be a mistake, it doesn't even have a set art style since you can make your own, want a Lego theme? you got it, how about a black and white look? you got it! a cartoony art style? with some darn hard work you got it!
How good the graphics are is really up to you and the hundreds of active users out there, and I am positive it will evolve as time goes on, here is the official blast works site where you can upload and download user created content, this can be done easily since the site will ask you for your wii code number (finally they are put to good use) this allows you to click "download" on any desired item and it will be downloaded straight into your wii, from here you can add even more detail to it. but if we were to take every single piece of content that has been made, then i would probably say that most of them DO have a set art style, and that for a $20 game the graphics aren't too bad, that is also taking in consideration that most of the content you will have on your maps will be made by you, or another user with little experience in 3D design.
Still, a bit more animation would have been appreciated, as well as the option to animate yourself, tho not all are knowledgeable over the fourth dimension which is actually twisting and turning and not a straight line from past to future as represented by us three dimensional creatures opening the possibilities for time travel, but that is another story for another time.
Each of this ships probably took about an hour to make, maybe longer.
Sound: this game has some catchy yet simple beats which get more complex as time goes on but never really gets too wild, it is there not to be heard, but to be appreciated every now and then.
You can edit sound effects of pretty much everything, bullets, explosions, ect but not background music, and it would have been nice to have had that option, i mean, who wouldn't want to play a Mario themed level with a Mario song? and with even a launch game (excite truck) offering this feature, I can't see why this game which is so built around the idea that you can customize anything would not have it.
Replay Value: Offering up to four player co-op, the ability to build, trade, AND destroy, how can this game NOT have a great replay value, most things are unlocked from the beginning so you don't have to work too much for the few extras which is a little disappointing because it would have been more exiting to have had to unlock more things, still, the replay value doesn't revolve around playing campaign mode, but letting your imagination come to life and letting everyone see it, there are hundreds of downloadable parts available online and hundreds more to come which will bombard your with excitement, so let your imagination run wild with the builder! and feel free to show the world.
Conclusion: What can YOU get for $20? A shirt? Some cheap shoes? A collector's edition $1 coin? How about Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy! this action packed shooter/sandbox game allows you make your dreams come true, and build your own game! not only that, but you can share it with your friends AND the whole world! This game also allows you and up to three of your friends to play in one of the levels YOU made, so they can complain about why the background is not pretty enough, or why a pig shoots bullets from its butt.
So to close this conclusion, Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy is a great choice if you are looking for a cheap wii game that will give you some good bang for your buck, or if you are just desperately looking for a good wii game because you are tiered of all the mini games you have played in the past two years,so whatever the reason is, Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy is a great choice for anyone out there with a wii.
Difficulty: Again, YOU make it, YOU choose how many enemies are on screen, and how powerful they are, YOU make the difficulty, and in my opinion, it can't get any more perfect then that.
Still, aside from that, you have three difficulty options: Rookie, Pilot, and Ace, they only affect how quickly you die as far as I can tell, or how many bullets it takes to kill each enemy, not how many of them are on screen so your maps will remain untouched.
Gameplay: 9.1/10
Graphics: 8.7/10
Sound: 8.2/10
Replay Value: 9.0/10
Difficulty: 10/10
Overall Score: 8.8/10
.:Great Game!:.
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PS:the review is complete, please tell me when i can post it
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August 21st, 2008, 01:24 Posted By: fg-54
Published by: Namco Bandai
Developed by: Namco
Genre: Fast Paced Shooter
Players: 1
Price: 800ms points/$10
Platform: Xbox 360
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OVERVIEW: After 27 years, the arcade title "Galaga" is finally getting a sequel, was it worth the wait? find out in my review.
Gameplay: if you have played galaga on the arcade, or in any other console that it has also been released on (XBLA, Gamecube, ect) you will come to find your self familiar, yet notice some big upgrades, for starters, you have a 2 new weapons at your disposal, they are two satellites that are controlled with the right joystick, you can aim up, down, left, or right, and they will continuously fire in that direction and stay in that place until you call them back with the"LB" button kind of like mines that you can drop, except they fire.
Much like Geometry Wars Retro Evolved, enemies will come from all corners of the screen, this is where you pull out your handy dandy satellites and tell them to shoot beside, and behind you since you can only shoot forward, at times, you will find yourself moving in circles dodging big crowds of enemies as you let your satellites do the dirty work.
If you are expecting a challenge, then look no further, this game is sooooo hard, it (insert comical statement here) you will often be overwhelmed by big crowds of enemies, and your satellites may not be strong enough to handle them, that is when you have to think quick and place them in places where they will be of more use.
Since there are only five levels, you can take a different approach to the game by memorizing when, and where enemies are coming from, this is not a very hard thing to do, but it bases on the trial and error system, try this out, die, go back, try another thing, and if it works, then stick with it and proceed to the next wave of enemies, and if you do this with great precision, the outcome will be enemies dying before they can even show up on the screen, and an amazing scene of control for the time being.
The game may at times also ask for a quick and small burst of strategy, showing you the pre-made paths of the enemies so you can place your satellites towards them and get them out of the screen before they can even get close to you.
They say you see your whole life go by right before you die.
Graphics: The first thing you will notice is that this game looks alot like geometry wars and pac-man championship edition, which is not a bad thing at all, it constantly adds beautiful explosions and its a great choice for this type of game.
You will normally find yourself in a dark blue, green, or red background, and every monster that comes at you will complement it with bright flashing lights, you will feel like you are in a rave, the background looks like something taken from a DDR game, and twitched a bit to further fit the game.
The math is simple,you have four waves, and three directions in which you can shoot at...
Sound: the game off course features some great and emerging techno beats which greatly fits into the game, it is at perfect volume and does not get repetitive or in the way of the sound effects, and even tho they are not songs you would put in you'r i-pod, it is still nice to stop for a second to appreciate the good quality of it.
Replay Value This game has a great replay value as expected of any arcade like title, but this is ALSO a game that you can only enjoy in short bursts (about 20 minutes a day)otherwise, it will get very repetitive very soon, specially since this game ONLY has five levels! which is not alot for an 800ms point price tag, tho each level IS about 10 minutes long.
There is no continue button so you can keep playing, and once you die, you have to start over from the first level which gets annoying, specially since it cuts you off from such great fun, you are going to be sad not because you lost, but because you were taken away from the game.
Difficulty: This game (like most arcade games) was made to give any veteran gamer a good spank in the butt, so don't expect to jump in and beat the game in your first or second try, many ships come from many places at once, and you WILL be overwhelmed, specially since you pretty much stick with the same weapon the whole time, except for when you deploy a black whole that rarely pops up and get a special upgrade which even tho it is very destructive and helps you out a great deal, only lasts for so long depending on your skill level, or until you die.
The game only comes with one difficulty mode, and it would have been nice to have had the regular three options (easy, medium, hard) specially with all the new unskilled casual gamers starting to jump in the gaming world, they may be discouraged to play more games after playing this one due to the fact that they will often be destroyed, this may lead to frustration, a broken controller, and an out of breath casual gamer from screaming at the t.v.
Achievements: Much like the game, these achievements will gladly take your butt, and deep fry it (which is very unhealthy) then they will chew it up, and spit it on your face burning it, they are ridiculously hard and funny at the same time because it is hilarious how they think that those achievements give us a challenge what so ever like they are suppose to, instead of a challenge, they give us an unreachable goal, and they are laughing at us for it, you have a better chance at defeating a Chinese judo master at the Olympics then getting all of the achievements for this game.
In conclusion, you will be discouraged to try out these achievements due to the lack of forgiveness, now don't give me wrong, achievements are SUPPOSE to be hard, but what this game asks for is something that only few will achieve, so good luck clearing an entire area without loosing a single life.
Conclusion: This game would have been alot better if it had co-op or multilayer in any form, still, it is a great single player game, and the last game you play is recorded so you can watch yourself play and learn from any noticed mistakes, on the down side, it only records the LAST game you played, so if you did something cool and want to show it to your friends, you won't be able to play until they get there.
Also, 800ms points for a five level game seems a bit too high, in my opinion, five more levels would have been nice, and would have assured a much higher score.
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Graphics: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Replay Value: 4.5/5
Achievements: 3/5
Difficulty: 4/5
Final Score:
.:Great Game!:.
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