Guitar Hero 3 is a Guitar-playing Game (GPG) (I made that up) for the Wii, Xbox 360,
PS3, and PS2. This review is for the Wii version, not that it makes much difference.
STORY:
N/A
GAMEPLAY:
The Gameplay is nice and smooth, the objective being to "Play" the coloured notes as they pass by, with your plastic wireless guitar, by strumming and pushing the correct combination of colours. The game has four different difficulty settings, all of which I will explain:
EASY- The easiest difficulty setting, with only three colours to play, and with each song having VERY simple to play notes.
MEDIUM- Slightly harder than medium, with more complex note combinations and the addition of a blue note, forcing you to make use of your pinky as well.
HARD-Starting to get quite difficult, featuring faster tunes and the addition of an orange note, and, since your thumb isn't playing, will force you to slide your hand over to play the orange notes.
EXPERT-The hardest difficulty setting, and, although it doesn't add another note, it does just "Turn it up a notch" and make everything harder.
The game also has a multiplier which goes up with your streak, increasing the amount of points you get for each note. There is also a star power feature, which, once you have hit enough "SP Phrases", can be used to double the multiplier. The note annotations are also pretty good, unlike Guitar Hero AEROSIMTH...
GAMEPLAY: 9.5/10
GRAPHICS:
The graphics are impressive and flashy, even though they don't really matter in this type of game. The PS3 version of the game supposedly has better graphics than the Wii, though.
GRAPHICS 9/10
MUSIC:
The game features songs like "Slow Ride" (By Foghat) All the way to "Raining blood"
(By Slayer). Although there are some bad songs, there aren't too many of them.
MUSIC: 8.5/10
OVERALL: 9/10
Overall, Guitar Hero 3 is a pretty darn good game, if you have quick fingers, and like musical games and GPG's. Discuss your Guitar Hero 3 opinion in the comments.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Legend of Zelda: The Phantom hourglass review
It's the long awaited (And long delayed) Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass (DS) review! By R2D2:
STORY:
The story begins with you, link, a member of a pirate group led by Tetra (revealed as Princess Zelda in the previous game) Getting attacked by a massive "Ghost ship" that kidnaps Tetra, Link finds himself washed up on the shore of Mercay island, where he meets a fairy called Ciela. Link tells Ciela about Tetra, and they embark on a quest to find the Ghost Ship and rescue Tetra.
STORY: 8/10
GRAPHICS:
The graphics will strike you as quite bad at first, but you will get used to them and will soon be admiring the simple art of each of the characters in the game.
GRAPHICS: 8/10
MUSIC:
Nice music, I never really got bored of it.
MUSIC: 8.5/10
GAMEPLAY:
95% Of the game's controls are with the Stylus, giving you a more unique control system than other games, doing things like slashing and moving with the stylus. However, because of this, it can sometimes be frustrating getting the game to do what you want with the stylus, for example, it can be hard sometimes to get Link to roll, for the touch screen might mistake your stylus actions for a sword slash instead. Good gameplay everywhere else, though.
Gameplay: 7.5/10
Overall: 8/10 - Great game!
Discuss your opinion with others in the comments.
-R2D2
STORY:
The story begins with you, link, a member of a pirate group led by Tetra (revealed as Princess Zelda in the previous game) Getting attacked by a massive "Ghost ship" that kidnaps Tetra, Link finds himself washed up on the shore of Mercay island, where he meets a fairy called Ciela. Link tells Ciela about Tetra, and they embark on a quest to find the Ghost Ship and rescue Tetra.
STORY: 8/10
GRAPHICS:
The graphics will strike you as quite bad at first, but you will get used to them and will soon be admiring the simple art of each of the characters in the game.
GRAPHICS: 8/10
MUSIC:
Nice music, I never really got bored of it.
MUSIC: 8.5/10
GAMEPLAY:
95% Of the game's controls are with the Stylus, giving you a more unique control system than other games, doing things like slashing and moving with the stylus. However, because of this, it can sometimes be frustrating getting the game to do what you want with the stylus, for example, it can be hard sometimes to get Link to roll, for the touch screen might mistake your stylus actions for a sword slash instead. Good gameplay everywhere else, though.
Gameplay: 7.5/10
Overall: 8/10 - Great game!
Discuss your opinion with others in the comments.
-R2D2
RPG maker VX review
Hello! This is R2D2!
Like I said about 23 days ago, I had gotten the RPG making software known as RPG maker VX for the PC. I will now write my review about it. Note that this may be an unusual review, for there isn't a story to review, and how good it is may depend on how well I have used it.
GRAPHICS SELECTION:
The game allows you four pages (Each with about 40-50 tiles) to make your own cool-looking landscapes. I have hardly ever felt that there is no tile just perfect for what I need. Also, the game comes with a wide variety of character and enemy graphics. You can also upload your own character or enemy graphics.
GRAPPHICS SELECTION: 9/10
MUSIC SELECTION:
The game comes with about 25 different looping BGM's, around 10 ME's, hundreds of SE's, and about 10 Background looping sound effects, giving you quite a selecion of music and sound effects. You can also upload your own BGM's, ME's, SE's And Background Sounds. That being said, some of the BGM's sound almost exactly like each other.
MUSIC SELECTION: 7.5/10
DATABASE CREATION:
RPG Maker VX also has a "database", where you can manage the stats of your characters, create enemies, create weapons and classes, and...
You get the idea...
It is very simple to use, with, as I said, lots of graphics (Like a green-haired man character graphic, for example) to be used with allies, enemies, or miscellaneous events. This may seem complicated to first-time users, but will be easy once you get the hang of it.
DATABASE CREATION: 9/10
USER FRIENDLINESS:
RPG maker VX is quite complicated to first time users, and it may take a while to get to know the full extent of it's abilities. There is a help function, but, I personally don't find it too useful. However, there is a quick event creation button that will let you create treasure chests, doors, or transfer points. Creating other events, however, may be overwhelming and hard at first. Once you get used to it, though, you can be creating many tricky events with relative ease.
USER FRIENDLINESS:8/10
OVERALL SCORE: 8.5/10 - Great game!
Discuss your opinion with others in the comments!
Like I said about 23 days ago, I had gotten the RPG making software known as RPG maker VX for the PC. I will now write my review about it. Note that this may be an unusual review, for there isn't a story to review, and how good it is may depend on how well I have used it.
GRAPHICS SELECTION:
The game allows you four pages (Each with about 40-50 tiles) to make your own cool-looking landscapes. I have hardly ever felt that there is no tile just perfect for what I need. Also, the game comes with a wide variety of character and enemy graphics. You can also upload your own character or enemy graphics.
GRAPPHICS SELECTION: 9/10
MUSIC SELECTION:
The game comes with about 25 different looping BGM's, around 10 ME's, hundreds of SE's, and about 10 Background looping sound effects, giving you quite a selecion of music and sound effects. You can also upload your own BGM's, ME's, SE's And Background Sounds. That being said, some of the BGM's sound almost exactly like each other.
MUSIC SELECTION: 7.5/10
DATABASE CREATION:
RPG Maker VX also has a "database", where you can manage the stats of your characters, create enemies, create weapons and classes, and...
You get the idea...
It is very simple to use, with, as I said, lots of graphics (Like a green-haired man character graphic, for example) to be used with allies, enemies, or miscellaneous events. This may seem complicated to first-time users, but will be easy once you get the hang of it.
DATABASE CREATION: 9/10
USER FRIENDLINESS:
RPG maker VX is quite complicated to first time users, and it may take a while to get to know the full extent of it's abilities. There is a help function, but, I personally don't find it too useful. However, there is a quick event creation button that will let you create treasure chests, doors, or transfer points. Creating other events, however, may be overwhelming and hard at first. Once you get used to it, though, you can be creating many tricky events with relative ease.
USER FRIENDLINESS:8/10
OVERALL SCORE: 8.5/10 - Great game!
Discuss your opinion with others in the comments!
Final Fantasy 4 DS Pre-Review
Hello! This is R2D2!
I have recently gotten the DS remake of Final Fantasy 4, (So I can now REALLY call myself an RPG junkie, for getting my first Final Fantasy game) and it is so far REALLY GOOD. I haven't completed it yet, but I will be sure to write a review about it in the near future. I will right now tell you in general what are my thoughts of the game:
Story: Good, pretty original
Graphics: Excellent, given that it's on a Nintendo DS.
Gameplay: Good, Easy controls, may be a bit complicated to play for Final Fantasy
n00bs. (Like myself)
Music: Good music, one of the only games that my brother barely ever complains about the music in.
Full review coming soon!
-R2D2
I have recently gotten the DS remake of Final Fantasy 4, (So I can now REALLY call myself an RPG junkie, for getting my first Final Fantasy game) and it is so far REALLY GOOD. I haven't completed it yet, but I will be sure to write a review about it in the near future. I will right now tell you in general what are my thoughts of the game:
Story: Good, pretty original
Graphics: Excellent, given that it's on a Nintendo DS.
Gameplay: Good, Easy controls, may be a bit complicated to play for Final Fantasy
n00bs. (Like myself)
Music: Good music, one of the only games that my brother barely ever complains about the music in.
Full review coming soon!
-R2D2
Thursday, August 28, 2008
DS vs. PSP
Sure, it's been done a million and one times, but you can never pit the two handheld gaming systems against each other enough. Here's my point of view on the two. Please keep in mind this review is opinion, and you have the right to disagree with it.
___________________________________________________________
Screen
DS: The Nintendo DS sports two screens, a touch screen and normal screen. The touch screen opens up huge possibilites for game makers, allowing them to make more original games. The touch screen also adds to the fun. On the original DS "Brick", the brightness isn't too bright, but it gets the job done. The DS Lite's screen, however, is very bright and even gives you different settings to either maximize battery life or view the screen better.
PSP: The Sony PSP has a beautiful widescreen screen that puts all other handheld screens to shame. The screen is perfect for no matter what you're viewing, whether it be games, pictures, or movies. The major downfall of the PSP's screen is battery life. The PSP gives you three settings for brightness. I usually keep my PSP on the lowest setting for maximum battery life, but even then, my battery only lasts 6-8 hours. I'd hate to see how short the battery lasts on the middle or brightest setting.
Winner: Tie. The PSP's screen is wonderful, but I can never utilize it to the fullest with it's battery eating brightness. The DS's two screens are also far more useful. Because of this, it's a tie.
Battery Life
DS: The DS's battery life lasts a very long time, usually more than 12 hours, even up to 18! Really, that's all I need to say.
PSP: Ugh. 4-8 hours is not good enough Sony. I may not play a game for more than two hours usually, but I don't want to have to recharge my PSP after two or three uses.
Winner: DS. Clearly the Nintendo DS wins this round. Even with the impressive specs of the PSP, I'm sure it wouldn't have been that hard for Sony to improve battery life.
Controls
DS: The DS's control scheme is simple, yet effective. You have a D-Pad for movement, A/B/X/Y buttons, L and R triggers, and Start/Select. Most games also utililize the touch screen for various uses. The buttons are all crisp and responsive. The DS may lack an analog stick, but the d-pad actually works fine for most games.
PSP: The PSP also has a D-Pad, but most games use the analog stick (or pad thingy, whatever you want to call it) for control. I suppose the analog stick is better than nothing, but it is slippery and difficult to use. The PSP also sports four buttons with shapes, cross, circle, triangle, and square. Near the bottom, there is a huge cluster of buttons, which I find to be rather annoying. It just seems like Sony thought "Oh, we need someway to configure these options... why don't we just throw all the buttons near the bottom?". It looks messy and just thrown together at the last second.
Winner: DS. The PSP's buttons are sometimes unresponsive and difficult to push. Unlike the DS, the buttons feel squishy instead of crisp. The whole control scheme feels sloppy and thrown together quickly.
Load Times
I don't even need to do a comparison for this. DS is fast, PSP is slow. On some PSP games you spend more time waiting than playing.
Winner: DS, duh.
Portability
DS: The DS "Brick" isn't the smallest thing out there, but it will fit into most pockets. The DS Lite, however, is quite a bit smaller and really improves on the original design. The DS Brick is very durable, I should know, I've dropped mine quite a few times. The DS Lite is also durable, albeit not as much as the Brick.
PSP: The PSP is friggin' huge. When compared to other handhelds, it's like hauling around a desktop computer instead of a laptop. Sure, they made it a bit smaller when they released the PSP Slim, but 15% smaller or whatever doesn't make me wanna spend another 200 and something dollars to buy it. Also, drop your PSP from more than a couple feet up and you can kiss goodbye to it.
Winner: DS, yet again. The DS isn't exactly the definition of portable, but it sure kicks the PSP's butt in this round.
Graphics
DS: The DS's 68-bit graphics are a large improvement over the 32-bit GBA graphics. It's pretty easy to see that the graphics are better than the Nintendo 64's graphics (4 bits better to be exact), which is impressive for a handheld.
PSP: The PSP's graphics are very similar to the PS2. I don't really need to say much more than the graphics are the most impressive graphics on a handheld to date.
Winner: PSP. The DS's decent graphics are outshined by the PSP's console worthy graphics. The PSP finally wins a round!
Game Choice
DS: The DS has almost any kind of game you can imagine, from platformer to RPG to puzzle. Although it has such a large collection, it doesn't really specialize in any kind of game, so if you only like one type of game, you may only be able to find a few games of that type.
PSP: The PSP's variety is seriously lacking in choice, but what it does have, it has a lot of! If you like racing, shooting, and sports, you're in luck, the PSP is for you.
Winner: DS. It all really comes done to choice, and it turns out the DS has more games that I like than the PSP, and therefore is the winner.
Media
DS: The DS does games, that's it. Media can be expanded by third party add-ons, but nothing much actually comes with the DS in terms of media.
PSP: The PSP does so much more than games. Music, Videos, Pictures, Internet, and Games. PSPs are almost like mini-laptops, storing and viewing practically anything you want. Sure, you have to buy a decent memory card to store anything large, but it's worth it to be able to take movies and other media with you on the go. The PSP is also getting more media features with firmware updates coming out all the time.
Winner: PSP. The PSP has a huge amount of media options and beats out the DS by a long shot this round.
Conclusion
Tie: 1
DS: 5
PSP: 2
The DS wins by a long shot! The PSP isn't bad, and does what it does really well (media and graphics), but the DS does well in so many other areas. Some people may rate the PSP higher than the DS solely for the graphics and media, but I believe that you need more than just that for a good handheld. I find myself playing my DS far my often than my PSP.
~Burnt Waffle
Whaddya think? Good, bad? Discuss in the comments, if you wish.
___________________________________________________________
Screen
DS: The Nintendo DS sports two screens, a touch screen and normal screen. The touch screen opens up huge possibilites for game makers, allowing them to make more original games. The touch screen also adds to the fun. On the original DS "Brick", the brightness isn't too bright, but it gets the job done. The DS Lite's screen, however, is very bright and even gives you different settings to either maximize battery life or view the screen better.
PSP: The Sony PSP has a beautiful widescreen screen that puts all other handheld screens to shame. The screen is perfect for no matter what you're viewing, whether it be games, pictures, or movies. The major downfall of the PSP's screen is battery life. The PSP gives you three settings for brightness. I usually keep my PSP on the lowest setting for maximum battery life, but even then, my battery only lasts 6-8 hours. I'd hate to see how short the battery lasts on the middle or brightest setting.
Winner: Tie. The PSP's screen is wonderful, but I can never utilize it to the fullest with it's battery eating brightness. The DS's two screens are also far more useful. Because of this, it's a tie.
Battery Life
DS: The DS's battery life lasts a very long time, usually more than 12 hours, even up to 18! Really, that's all I need to say.
PSP: Ugh. 4-8 hours is not good enough Sony. I may not play a game for more than two hours usually, but I don't want to have to recharge my PSP after two or three uses.
Winner: DS. Clearly the Nintendo DS wins this round. Even with the impressive specs of the PSP, I'm sure it wouldn't have been that hard for Sony to improve battery life.
Controls
DS: The DS's control scheme is simple, yet effective. You have a D-Pad for movement, A/B/X/Y buttons, L and R triggers, and Start/Select. Most games also utililize the touch screen for various uses. The buttons are all crisp and responsive. The DS may lack an analog stick, but the d-pad actually works fine for most games.
PSP: The PSP also has a D-Pad, but most games use the analog stick (or pad thingy, whatever you want to call it) for control. I suppose the analog stick is better than nothing, but it is slippery and difficult to use. The PSP also sports four buttons with shapes, cross, circle, triangle, and square. Near the bottom, there is a huge cluster of buttons, which I find to be rather annoying. It just seems like Sony thought "Oh, we need someway to configure these options... why don't we just throw all the buttons near the bottom?". It looks messy and just thrown together at the last second.
Winner: DS. The PSP's buttons are sometimes unresponsive and difficult to push. Unlike the DS, the buttons feel squishy instead of crisp. The whole control scheme feels sloppy and thrown together quickly.
Load Times
I don't even need to do a comparison for this. DS is fast, PSP is slow. On some PSP games you spend more time waiting than playing.
Winner: DS, duh.
Portability
DS: The DS "Brick" isn't the smallest thing out there, but it will fit into most pockets. The DS Lite, however, is quite a bit smaller and really improves on the original design. The DS Brick is very durable, I should know, I've dropped mine quite a few times. The DS Lite is also durable, albeit not as much as the Brick.
PSP: The PSP is friggin' huge. When compared to other handhelds, it's like hauling around a desktop computer instead of a laptop. Sure, they made it a bit smaller when they released the PSP Slim, but 15% smaller or whatever doesn't make me wanna spend another 200 and something dollars to buy it. Also, drop your PSP from more than a couple feet up and you can kiss goodbye to it.
Winner: DS, yet again. The DS isn't exactly the definition of portable, but it sure kicks the PSP's butt in this round.
Graphics
DS: The DS's 68-bit graphics are a large improvement over the 32-bit GBA graphics. It's pretty easy to see that the graphics are better than the Nintendo 64's graphics (4 bits better to be exact), which is impressive for a handheld.
PSP: The PSP's graphics are very similar to the PS2. I don't really need to say much more than the graphics are the most impressive graphics on a handheld to date.
Winner: PSP. The DS's decent graphics are outshined by the PSP's console worthy graphics. The PSP finally wins a round!
Game Choice
DS: The DS has almost any kind of game you can imagine, from platformer to RPG to puzzle. Although it has such a large collection, it doesn't really specialize in any kind of game, so if you only like one type of game, you may only be able to find a few games of that type.
PSP: The PSP's variety is seriously lacking in choice, but what it does have, it has a lot of! If you like racing, shooting, and sports, you're in luck, the PSP is for you.
Winner: DS. It all really comes done to choice, and it turns out the DS has more games that I like than the PSP, and therefore is the winner.
Media
DS: The DS does games, that's it. Media can be expanded by third party add-ons, but nothing much actually comes with the DS in terms of media.
PSP: The PSP does so much more than games. Music, Videos, Pictures, Internet, and Games. PSPs are almost like mini-laptops, storing and viewing practically anything you want. Sure, you have to buy a decent memory card to store anything large, but it's worth it to be able to take movies and other media with you on the go. The PSP is also getting more media features with firmware updates coming out all the time.
Winner: PSP. The PSP has a huge amount of media options and beats out the DS by a long shot this round.
Conclusion
Tie: 1
DS: 5
PSP: 2
The DS wins by a long shot! The PSP isn't bad, and does what it does really well (media and graphics), but the DS does well in so many other areas. Some people may rate the PSP higher than the DS solely for the graphics and media, but I believe that you need more than just that for a good handheld. I find myself playing my DS far my often than my PSP.
~Burnt Waffle
Whaddya think? Good, bad? Discuss in the comments, if you wish.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Super Mario Kart-Retro Game Review
Hi there, I'm Burnt Waffle Productions. What do you think? Good? Bad? Discuss it in the comments.
~Burnt Waffle Productions
~Burnt Waffle Productions
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Our Newest Member...... Burnt Waffle Productions!!
Mario Blog is pleased to announce that we have a new blogger on our team, Burnt Waffle Productions! BWP is the creator of the Bob the Blob series, and neighbor of mine. So, lets all give him a warm hand!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
