I'm in ur Hyrule, Raidin' ur Tombs

Doing: Thinking about a dollar store walk
Listening: White Wizzard
Feeling: Like rocking out! YEEAH!

Many apologies for my lack of review last week. Post midterms, kinda blah. To make up for it, I'm doing a double review today!

To start off, I told my good friend that I was writing these spectator reviews and he demanded that I watch him play through the first Tomb Raider game, declaring it to be one of his favorite games of all time. So I spent the week of my spring break watching him get through half of Tomb Raider.
A few notes before I begin this review: I only watched through half of the game, and my friend insists that I watch through the entirety before doing a complete review. The other thing is that when I watched, I was watching somebody who practically has the game memorized. Now on with the rankings!

Graphics: These graphics are part of the early CG era, so I can't complain about the quality. At its time, Tomb Raider was very cutting-edge. Now its low res graphics and huge polygons have a nostalgic look about them. 4/5

Storyline/Cutscenes: As you know, I have only gotten though half of the game, so I cannot make an analysis of the entire story just yet. Once again, though, the cutscenes have a nostalgic quality. I adore the way that the cutscenes slowly reveal the storyline as you go along and genuinely keep you hanging for the next part. I am unable to score these just yet.

Soundtrack: I love, love, LOVE the way the music is used in this game. Essentially the levels are quite quiet, but then a musical phrase will play at certain points. For example, I adore the ambush theme. It's very pulse-racing. This game does not just have good music, though, but the sound effects have a very rythmic quality that is fun to improvise tunes to. 5/5

Variety: This game is a wonderful example for a varied game. Every level has a new and unique layout, the enemies always change, and the trap-laden passages keep you guessing around every turn! It's never boring! 5/5

So far, the game ranks as a 14/15. It's up to the story to give the final scoring.

And now for review number two. In my college, there is a small room called the Game Room. Here, all the nerds come and hang out while playing Yu-Gi-Oh, Brawl, Flight Sims, and other sorts of games. I come here when I don't have classes and have some wonderful conversations. One such conversation was on Game-Based movies and which games would make good movies.

Of course, the April Fool's Day Zelda trailer came up during the discussion. Of course, that pissed everybody off. But then I found out that college age nerds weren't the only angry ones- BMB Finishes, a small independent film company, was also frustrated by the fake trailer. So frustrated that they started work on their own Zelda film- The Hero of Time.

Well, I managed to get myself a copy of this film that only had a five theater run, and I watched with my friend (the Tomb Raider friend) last night. Since this is game-related, I thought I would share my thoughts on it. It's the same format as the Spectator review, only I changed a few things accordingly.

Special Effects: This was an indie film, so it did not have any super-awesome big budget special effects. The ones that they did have were a mixed bag. Some of them were really nice-looking, Din's fire, Volvagia and the Poe for example. While others, like the big octo and one beheading scene, looked really cheesy. Because of the inconsistency, 3/5.

Storyline: As with all game-based movies, do not expect an exact retelling. There are no Zoras, and the Gorons are changed to a tribe of mountain men. The most glaring inconsistency, though, was the Gerudo. They were all MEN! There were no females! That was the only one I didn't find excusable. Though I sound angry, the things that they do get right they do with stunning accuracy! For example, remember the scene in the game where Zelda introduces you to Ganondorf? It was SPOT-ON! Even the expression on the Ganondorf actor's face was amazingly accurate! It's this attention to minor detail that makes the differences in the storyline not matter as much. 4/5

Soundtrack: The music that was written for this movie is spectacular. It is beautifully majestic and truly captures the spirit of Hyrule. The thing I liked the best about the music, though, was the addition of little melodies from the video game. My personal favorite was when Link was leaving the Kokiri forest, and you could hear a slow, sad variation of Saria's song playing in the background. If they ever decide to make the soundtrack available for purchase, I want it! 5/5

Acting: The three main characters were played amazingly well, especially Ganondorf. I can't get over how perfect Ganondorf was- from the appearance to his voice and even little things like the way he entered a room. It was amazing! I mean, just look at him:The Link in the movie was an amazing reluctant hero, and the Zelda/Shiek portrayed her characer wonderfully. The supporting cast was varied in quality. My personal favorites were Impa, who played the stern guardian really well, and Darunia, a fat Asian guy who was only in the movie for about five minutes, but he really did a good job. Some of the actors, especially Ganondorf's main minion and the shopkeeper Honest Ivan, were a little hammy, but not bad. 4/5

Altogether the movie got a 16/20, or a B-. It's a wonderful movie with beautiful scenery and an impeccable eye for detail, but do not go in expecting a perfect retelling.

UPDATE: I just recently found out that the Hero of Time is not available on DVD, thanks to Nintendo forcing BMB to stop showing the movie. You can, however, get it through torrenting. In fact, that's the only way to get it. So feel free to download the movie to your heart's content!

FATALITY!

Doing: Working on an English paper

Listening: Soundtrack Radio on Last.FM

Feeling: Meh…

Hello and welcome to my very first spectator review! If you were not here for my explanation, I decided to use my space on this wonderful blog to give a new type of review: how fun a game is to watch. To kick this off, I’ve decided to take a look at a more recent game: Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.

Truth be told, I’ve only recently started watching people play Mortal Kombat. One of my friends is absolutely in LOVE with these games, and they were interesting. I might talk about other Mortal Kombat games some other time, but this review is focused on the MK/DC crossover that my brother purchased out of curiosity one day. Because c’mon! Everybody wanted to see the Batman vs. Scorpion epic battle! I’m kinda "meh" about that certain fight, but that’s because I’m not fond of Scorpion.

I gotta say, when I started watching Bleebs play the story mode, I laughed. The entire storyline is like a bad fanfiction. Because of a... portal malfunction or something, Darksied and Shao Khan merged and became a new force called Dark Khan.

Yeah, that’s right. Dark Khan. Sounds like something that I would’ve come up with in sixth grade. But because of this new menace, Earthrealm is merging with the DC Universe Earth, and each group thinks of the other as the enemy. Of course, they don’t combine their forces until the very final battle. And I mean VERY FINAL battle. They beat the crap out of each other, until only Raiden and Superman are left. They get to Dark Khan and then they’re all like: "Oh wait! We’re on the same side!" Yeah, great job, you guys. They defeat Dark Khan and the big bad de-merges and becomes Darksied and Shao Khan again. The worlds stop merging, and everything is happy again!

Well, on with the review!

Special Note: If you are a HARDCORE MORTAL KOMBAT FAN, this might not be the game for you. The fighting style and fatalities are significantly less gruesome than most other MK games.

Graphics: The graphics in this game are in the "attempting to look like real people" school of graphics that usually I am not very fond of. Yes, on occasion they look good, but I find them to be generally creepy. For some reason, though, the graphics seem to fit this game, mostly because MK has always been the type to use semi-realistic graphics, even when they were 2D games. Then again, the graphics also have a kind of "comic book" appearance that I like. The mouths move a little funny on the characters, and I can’t get over that, though. (Honestly, watch Liu Kang when he talks. It looks ridiculous!)

Overall, graphics get a 4/5

Storyline/Cutscenes: This is where the game excels over most fighting games in my mind. Yes, the story sounds like it was written by a sixth grade me (which, believe me, is a frightening thought), but it was one of those stories that was bad in thought, but ended up being executed extremely well. The best part in my opinion is that there is a cutscene after EVERY battle in story mode, giving the spectator a reason to want to keep watching people beat each other up for a good forty five minutes. I was watching just to see the next installment of the story! And unlike most story modes where you select one character and there are, like, twenty BILLION different story modes, there are only two, one for MK and one for DC, and you play as almost every character on that side. So it’s very enjoyable because you get cutscenes and a variety of people to watch.

Cutscenes and Story get a 5/5.

Variety: This is where the game starts to lack a bit. Mostly because it’s a fighting game, and all you do in fighting games is… well… fight. Once again, in the story mode you play as almost every character, but they’re still doing the same thing over and over: meet the enemy, beat the crap out of the enemy, move on to the next enemy. The moves themselves are very colorful; my favorite movesets to watch are Shang Tsung and the Green Lantern. The additions of Aerial Kombat, Klose Kombat, and Test Your Might also gives the game a little more variety.

The game gets a 3/5 for variety. Good, but the genre keeps it from being more varied.

Soundtrack: Unfortunately, there were no tracks in this soundtrack that really stood out as being amazing, and it was mostly just boring pieces. Then again, MK is not exactly known for its music. But it really must be an unimpressive soundtrack if I don’t remember ANY songs from it. But that means it wasn’t bad either.

So soundtrack gets a 2/5

Now, let’s look at the overall score:

14/20, so a 70%

Not a bad score, but the lack of an interesting soundtrack really brought it down a few notches. Despite its "meh" score, though, it’s a really fun game to watch being played and if you have the chance to, sit down and give it a view, especially if they’re playing story mode. You won’t be disappointed.

A Pikachu Riding an Articuno - Pokemon Snap Review

Yesterday, I asked the viewers of this blog to answer a poll on what video game I should review. A LOT and I mean A LOT of you guys wanted me to review Pokemon Snap, so as promised, I sat down last night and played Pokemon Snap for a couple hours to get it back into my head.

Before I start this review, I want to say, 'WHERE THE HELL IS THIS POKEMON ISLAND!' It sounds so cool! And why haven't I seen this in a normal pokemon game! It could be like, the Battle Frontier. And have rare Pokemon. Okay. Now on tho the review...

When I first started the game up, I felt like I was going to watch an extremely fun movie. And that is what you feel when you start a N64 game up. So I start the game up and you see this intro with your character walking in a forest of some sort. Then Mew (The 151st Pokemon) races by you! You rush to take out your camera. Then you get several 'booty' shots. But I got bored and just wanted to play the game so I skipped to the title screen. So I clicked New Game and it told me to put my name. What did I choose? Only the coolest name in the world! Dylan. And from there you jump right in and it shows you the basics in the beggining of th first course. Gameplay as simple as that is a great way to start off a game. Thus, going to effect the final review. Hehe.

But yeah. You then take pictures of Pokemon. Simple, right? Ehh. Not so much. These Pokemon MOVE. I will tell you that. By later on in the game I am jamming in my old joystick to catch up with the Pokemon moving around. It may sound like I hate it, but actually, I like it. It adds a challenge to the game and makes it more fun.

Then after every run, you have to submit one picture of each Pokemon to Proffessor Oak. And if they are good, you are going to rack up a lot of points. If it's a crappy back shot or a far left corner picture, you are going to lose some points. So try and get the best pictures possible.

One thing that I love about this game is the catchy music. Sure, it may be old, but it's fun. It fits the game perfectly!

Now here is a flaw. If you mess up, as in miss a secret area or get a bad picture, you have to go through it all again. Which is annoying and just plain stupid. I won't really spoil THAT much, though. ;)

So let's get the final word. A classic. Nothing but. Great fun, certian flaws but whatever. My favorite part is the fact you can get secret shots such as a surfing Pikachu or a Pikachu riding an Articuno! And then the final level. Oh my god, it is so much fun.

Rating - 9.0/10.0

Come on! Take out that old Nintendo 64 and re-play that game. And remember to post your thoughts on the game in the comments below!

"If you like drumming, this is a must buy!" - Band Hero Review

ARGH! I AM SO TORN!

The Rock Band fan boy in me tells me to hate this game. The normal teenager in me tells me that I love this game. Do I? I don't know. While I was playing this game there was so much doubt that it would be good and so much peppy-ness in the songs I couldn't concentrate.

Let's start with the review so my head can stop hurting and I can go back to playing Final Fantasy III for the DS.

Let's start off with the Graphics. What can I say about these graphics? Deja Vu. I saw these graphics in Guitar Hero 5. I mean, sure the lighting of the stages make them look more 'Pop' oriented, but still. I've heard the meaning, don't fix what ain't broke but come on! I have seen Activision do this a publisher SO MANY TIMES! Tony Hawk....Call Of Duty..what?

But I do like them for the 360. Just not enought choices of hair or clothing. And for the instruments, it was so stupid and way to complicated then it should be. The microphones you can't see clearly. Unless you choose the Gold with Diamonds microphone...which is pretty badass.

Any normal reviewer would give this display of graphics nothing lower than an 8...so I'm going to give it an 8.

Now let's move on to gameplay.

If you really want me to post an entire word for word description on how Guitar Hero works, you must be smoking something. Same exact mechanics. And for those who do not know, You can choose to use the Rock Band 2 drum kit.

The story. Jumping from setlist to setlist. Venue to venue. Not that interesting. Gets boring if you don't have a song you like. Which brings me up to the Score.

Sure this is your daily dose of pop in you average Guitar Hero game, but you gotta realize, even if you don't like the songs, people actually do. Think. This game may actually get some family members or siblings to play with you. And Party Play is a very fun option, since anyone can play whatever. Spread your addiction with these somewhat catchy songs! Hell, I have FUN singing Taylor Swift! Shut up!

So I think I covered pretty much everything about the game in a nutshell, eh?

So here is the Final Word.

If you play Rock Band or Guitar Hero, pick up this game. I got these for 30 Dollars NEW at my local BlockBuster. BUT if you haven't gotten GH5 yet, get that first. Seriously. You will feel empty. I feel this way because I haven't played it in a while.

Best thing about this game? DRUM CHARTING! While on the Rock Band Drum Kit, of course. It is new, different and fun! If you are a drummer, this is a must buy. If you like drumming, this is a must buy! I'm not saying this is O-M-G-H-A-R-D but it is just SO much fun. Honestly. All you hardcore FC top tier drummers need to chill and have some fun.

Rating: 8.0/10

Enter Bleebeebee

Hello everybody! I am a gamer/game hacker and a good friend of Dpritch. On this blog, I will mostly be posting reviews of video games that I have recently played. They will mostly be mixed reviews of any game that catches my interest. And alongside that, I will be posting my recent video game haxxorz/ haxxorz progress here for the whole entire community of TLC to see. So keep in touch, I will probably be posting at least one thing every/every other day.

And also, Just 'cuz I can:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6v8-7CJpRE