Tiger Chainsaw

Mega Man 4 Review

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If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. That was the motto for Capcom for the Mega Man series on the Nintendo. In 1992, they released Mega Man 4 where Mega Man again fights eight robot masters and foils the plans of Dr. Wily. Would Mega Man remain on top of his game or would the repetitive nature of the series start to show? We dive deep into this Mega Man 4 review with Dive Man!

Mega Man 4 Plot:

The game takes place one year after the events of Mega Man 3. First, let’s recap who the villain was in the first three Mega Man games.

Mega Man – Dr. Wily reprograms the six industrial robots into killing machines that Dr. Light created.

Mega Man 2 – Dr. Wily creates his own eight robot masters to take down Dr. Light and Mega Man.

Mega Man 3 – Dr. Wily pretends to be reformed only to betray Dr. Light and steal eight power crystals to power up his Gamma weapon along with eight robot masters.

I WONDER WHO COULD BE THE BAD GUY IN MY MEGA MAN 4 REVIEW?

Anyway,…a mad scientist named Dr. Wil- I mean, named Dr. Cossack has created a new army of robots to try and take over the world. His robot army consists of Toad Man, Bright Man, Pharoah Man, Ring Man, Dust Man, Skull Man, Dive Man, and Drill Man. Once again, Dr. Light calls upon Mega Man to save the day and destroy the eight robot masters. Once Mega Man completes that mission he enters Dr. Wil-I mean, Dr. Cossack’s fortress. As Dr. Cossack is defeated, Mega Man points his Mega Buster at him until a young girl comes running. She begs Mega Man to have mercy on her father as she was kidnapped by Dr. Wily. Dr. Cossack was forced to create robots in exchange for her life. DR. WILY WAS THE BAD GUY ALL ALONG, WHAT A SHOCK!

After showing mercy, Mega Man enters the real fortress and finds Dr. Wily. He defeats the evil Wily and flies away just before the fortress blows up. Oh, don’t worry, Dr. Wily didn’t die, he flew away safely in his little UFO, guaranteeing a Mega Man 5.

Let’s take a look at the eight robot masters.

Mega Man 4 Gameplay:

A huge improvement in the Mega Man franchise happened in Mega Man 4 when the Mega Buster was upgraded. By holding down the fire button, Mega Man can charge his shot for an extra powerful and larger ball of energy. This made my Mega Man 4 review easier by taking big enemies down faster with larger hit detections and causing more damage.

Like every other Mega Man game I’ve reviewed so far, you’ll play as Mega Man as you have free reign to choose what robot master you wish to face. Each one has a weakness so you’ll need to defeat them in the correct order for the easiest playthrough. After you defeat a robot master you’ll absorb their power and be able to use it against other robot masters and eventually Dr. Wily himself.

As I’ve seen starting in Mega Man 2 and continuing into my Mega Man 4 review, the levels are more detailed than in previous games. For example, in Toad Man’s stage, the wind blows making it difficult to jump as it pushes you back. Later on in the level, you’ll enter sewers that have water streams. The streams of water can either push or pull you as you walk through them adding another level of difficulty. On Bright Man’s stage, there will be little robots floating around acting as lights. If you blast them, the level will go dark giving you no visibility. To brighten the level, you’ll need to look for green robots walking about and blast them. When you kill them, they shoot fireworks that turn the level visible again. These are cool inclusions and important advancements to make sure that the series stays fresh, especially when the plot and overall gameplay become so predictable.

I was bummed to see that Mega Man 3 abandoned the intro video that Mega Man 2 presented but Mega Man 4 returns with a small intro video that gives a bit of the history between Mega Man and Dr. Wily. It was a nice recap and I made sure to take note of it during my Mega Man 4 review.

What I don’t respect is the unnecessary amount of work it takes to beat the game! No, I didn’t beat the game on my own, I used a game genie like always with Mega Man games. I don’t have the patience to learn the layout of every stage or enemy pattern. Do you know what would be swell? Not having to make your way through two separate fortresses. I was so annoyed in my Mega Man 4 review after making my way through the first fortress only to (not surprisingly) have to make my way through another in chase of Dr. Wily’s stupid ass.

Memories:
Like the first six Mega Man games, I first played them in an office with my coworker when we worked part-time at a hospital. I remember Pharoah Man the most probably because he is the most unique compared to boring robots like Dive and Drill Man. I’m sure we started to feel a little Mega Manned out after we beat the fourth title but that didn’t stop us from continuing and beating the last two games for the Nintendo. After all, playing any video game beats working!

Mega Man 4 Review Score:

Mega Man 4 feels the most complete with the upgraded Mega Buster, sliding function, Rush’s abilities, and added elements to stages. You can see the twist coming a mile away, but the formula itself is a bit too repetitive now in the series. Capcom was clearly starting to squeeze all it could out of the Mega Man series on the Nintendo.

Mega Man 4 scores a 7.9 out of 10.

What would you write in your Mega Man 4 review? Do you remember when Mega Man 4 first came out? Which robot master gave you a headache? Could you tell that the Dr. Cossack plot was total crap? Did you love the upgraded Mega Buster like me? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Fable Review

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One of the most hyped games of 2004 was released exclusively for the original Xbox by developers Big Blue Box and Lionhead Studios. The action-role-playing game was said to be “the best game ever” by Lionhead co-founder Peter Molyneux. It’s safe to say the game was overhyped but is it still worth a playthrough today? Lift your leg to fart in this Fable Review!

Fable Plot:

Fable begins in the small town of Oakvale. You are a young boy and it’s your sister’s birthday. After getting her a birthday present the town is raided by a gang of bandits who slaughter everyone in sight including your family. You were able to hide in a field and watch as the destruction unfolded. After the chaos, a mage named Maze finds you and tells you to come with him to be safe. He takes you away to the Hero’s Guild and raises you into a young man through rigorous training in fighting, archery, and willpower (magic).

Eventually, you will have the opportunity to leave the guild and take quests of your own. During your quests, you soon learn that your sister is still alive and being kept at a bandit camp. You slaughter the camp and rescue your sister who spent her childhood being tortured and having her eyes gouged out by knives. She is thankful for you rescuing her but she’s definitely on the weird side.

As time passes and more simple quests are completed you learn about your bloodline. Your family had the power to unlock a legendary sword that would bring the ultimate destruction to anyone who wields it. The sword has since been locked away and only a member of your family can unlock its tomb. Your sister tells you that your mother is still alive being held prisoner to Jack of Blades, a powerful figure that seeks your family’s sword. You try to rescue your mother but are captured while escaping and are tortured for two years in prison. Eventually, you escape with your mother and she unleashes a power within you to defeat Jack.

The leader of the Hero’s Guild, Maze, has always been a dick but he ends up kidnapping your sister and mother in an act of betrayal. He hands them over to Jack who immediately slits your mother’s throat killing her and spilling her blood. He begins to open up the four locks unleashing a horrific power over the land as he raises the dead. You catch up with him as the final lock is activated unlocking the sword. Before he can use it, you two battle and you kill him. In the end, you have the option to kill your sister with the blade to become even more powerful or cast the blade into a vortex to banish it for good.

Fable Gameplay:

Fable is an open-world RPG. After the tutorial section of the Hero’s Guild, you are set free to do whatever you wish in the game. It offers a lot of things to do in no particular direction. If you want to hunt for treasure and dig holes throughout the land, you can do that. If you want to go fishing off of piers and waste the day away, you can do that. There are even multiple women to woe over and get married but I didn’t have time for love in my Fable review! You can buy or rent houses out or go item hunting for shop owners. There’s a ton of content that will fill your day up if you want to play small side missions.

My Fable review took me just under ten hours to complete but there were a lot of frustrations during my playthrough. First, the voice acting sucks. Don’t let them fool you, the NPCs are forgettable and have annoying voices. Every character strangely has huge heads and hands that make them look like circus freaks.

Glitches come into the game in various ways. Sometimes if you wander around towns, you’ll notice wooden boxes just floating in the air or huge lag after unpausing the game. If you run to new areas, expect textures to not fully load for a few seconds leaving the ground and buildings smooth until details come into focus.

The first few quests were very boring during my Fable review like escorting some bum trader from city to city which led to more glitches. This mission had two traders that needed to be safely escorted. One of them got stuck between areas and no matter how many times I went back and forth between areas, he was always stuck in the gate leaving me one choice to complete the mission. I had to kill him which gave me evil points.

You can play this game as a hero or a villain. Your choices affect how people react to you and how your appearance is shown. People will clap and cheer for you as you walk through towns if you are a hero or they will run and cower in fear if you are evil. I tried to be the hero in all situations during my Fable review but glitches like the one I mentioned made me kill some innocent people.

The programmers really wanted you to like their “expression” buttons that allow you to make faces or wave at people to express how you feel toward them. I never used it and thought it was stupid. The only thing I kept doing was the farting expression which made me laugh due to my ten-year-old boy humor.

I almost threw my controller out the window during an early mission during my Fable review. There’s a big difficulty curb where you need to rescue a boy from a mine filled with little midget-like creatures. It took me 45 minutes to get to the end of the mission only for the boy to die right before we left the cave. The second time I played through it I rescued him only by a miracle. In combat, you can fight in three different ways. You can bash people with your melee weapon, shoot them with arrows, or cast magic. I fought with a melee weapon for most battles but found it numbing to push the same button over and over to attack the same enemy for the 100th time. Once I beat that stupid mission I had enough gold to buy a very powerful sword that killed most enemies in two hits which made the game a lot more enjoyable. Most missions were boring and repetitive, but I enjoyed the arena mission that has you fight different opponents for money like a gladiator. There aren’t a ton of bosses in this game but they weren’t overpowering and most of them I beat on my first try like Maze and Jack.

I didn’t experience all the secrets that Fable has to offer like the demon caves, silver treasure chests, or getting married. (One wife is enough for me to handle!) I can see how you can spend nearly 50 hours playing Fable and unlocking its secrets to it. If you do that, good for you, if not, I don’t blame you as the combat isn’t rewarding. Speaking of rewards you may power up your character with experience orbs that you collect after killing enemies. I was probably 60 percent powered up during my Fable review before I fought Jack in the final battle and had no issues killing him.

The story was better than I thought it’d be but with the numbing combat, annoying NPCs, and short playthrough, Fable left me wanting to finish it quicker instead of taking my time to explore the land.

Memories:
When I was in middle school, my stepdad bought me an Xbox. I would only see my mom and him every other weekend and about once a month he’d buy a new game and stick it in the drawer for me to find. There were a few games that I was addicted to whenever I went over there but one month I found Fable in the drawer. Curious, I popped in the disc and turned the game on.

I didn’t spend much time playing it. It never hooked me in and I maybe spent a few hours playing it before losing interest. I don’t know what it was that turned me off, perhaps the lack of direction? Anyway, I didn’t play it again until over 15 years later when I decided to dig it out of my collection and complete a Fable review.

Fable Review Score:

Fable promised a lot and delivered little compared to the hype that it had. Its attempt at being an open-world game falls short of the small world size and lack of interesting characters. Glitches make their way into the gameplay which makes for an unforgiving and frustrating time. There are better RPGs to explore.

Fable scores a 6.9 out of 10.

What would you write in your Fable review? Do you remember when Fable first came out? Did you choose to be a hero or a villain? Did you end up getting married? Did you play as a warrior or mage? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Heavy Rain Review

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In 2010, developer Quantic Dream and publisher Sony Computer Entertainment released “Heavy Rain” for the PlayStation 3. The dark interactive-drama adventure game puts you in the shoes of multiple characters as you discover the truth to the Origami Killer mystery. Will Heavy Rain kill it in the rating department or will the game be a wash? We scream “Jason” a lot in this Heavy Rain review.

Heavy Rain Plot:

The main character is Ethan Mars. A husband and father of two who is happily married and has a great job. His oldest son just turned ten and he decides to take the family shopping to the mall. The mall is a bit crowded and he loses track of his other son, JASON!

“JASON!”

Ethan starts to panic and runs around the mall screaming “JASON!”. For some reason, Jason decided to go outside. Just as Ethan discovers where his son is, Jason is hit by a car and killed.

Fast-forward two years later and Ethan is divorced, depressed, and a shell of his former self. His other son, Shaun comes to visit on the weekends and it is during one of these weekends that Shaun is abducted by the Origami Killer, a serial killer that kidnaps young boys and drowns them in the sewers when they overflow with heavy rain. Hey, that’s the title of the game!

Aside from his son being abducted, Ethan is suffering from severe blackouts, which causes him to think he may be the Origami Killer. Desperate to find his only living son, Ethan embarks on a crazy hunt for his son as he follows the clues left by the Origami Killer. He’ll have to drive his car the wrong way on the highway, run from the police, cut his fingers off, and do other things to prove his love for his son. The case is also being investigated by Detective Jayden, a young detective that uses advanced technology through his sunglasses to solve cases. To use this technology, Jayden needs to ingest some type of chemical that is addictive.

Jayden isn’t the only one investigating the string of crimes as Scott Shelby, a private investigator is going around town and speaking to witnesses about the recent murders. But wait, there’s more! The fourth character in this Heavy Rain review is Madison Paige, an undercover reporter who poses as an ordinary woman. Throughout the game, you’ll be switching from these four characters as they make their way closer to discovering who the true Origami Killer is.

There are 34 different endings with some of them horribly dark like Ethan failing to find his son, being arrested, and hanging himself in his cell. As it turns out, Scott Shelby is the Origami Killer. As a boy, he and his brother were abused by their alcoholic father. One rainy day, they decide to play at a construction site where Scott’s brother accidentally drowns in a sewage pipe. The traumatic event and terrible parenting led Scott to become a serial killer and kill young boys the same way his brother died.

The best ending in the game is for Ethan to pass all of the tests, and get Scott arrested or killed. Madison develops feelings for Ethan and moves in with a happy Shaun. Meanwhile, Jayden has kicked his addiction to his technology drugs and remains in good rankings at his firm. As I stated earlier, there are 34 different endings so there are plenty of crazy things that can go wrong with one push of a button!

Heavy Rain Gameplay:

Heavy Rain leans on its story and interactive scenes of gameplay. As you control the characters you’ll be able to walk around the environments and interact with objects. Things like going to the bathroom or brushing your teeth require you to press different buttons or shake the controller like you are using a toothbrush.

All of these interactions are easy to pass but there are a few timed button sequences that will test your reflexes as it did mine during the Heavy Rain review. Multiple times there are action scenes that require you to push the correct button when it flashes on the screen. If you don’t hit the right button or miss the signal, your character will suffer. There are no “game overs” as the game just continues if something bad happens. Most scenes play out like that but there are times when you need to investigate a crime scene and find all the clues to proceed.

The voice-acting is superb and the atmosphere puts you right into a grim detective movie. I felt for Ethan during my Heavy Rain review and what he is going through. The other characters are well-written, each with distinctive personalities. You’ll be given multiple options and outcomes with each character as they play through the game so replayability is extremely high. As far as presentation goes, Heavy Rain nailed it on the head with the quality of the atmosphere, story, and character models.

If you need a game that requires skill and practice, you won’t find it with Heavy Rain. It’s generally an easy game to play through and the button commands are fair. If you fail, it’s probably because of your fat fingers or slow reaction. Heavy Rain ushered in the interactive video game into the mainstream.

Memories:
I received the game relatively soon after it was released. I remember being intrigued by the trailer of it and purchased it shortly after. Playing through Heavy Rain review was fun but it didn’t offer much of a challenge for gameplay. The game was all about decision-making and I ended up with one of the better endings where Ethan survives, finds his son, and starts a relationship with Madison.

Speaking of Madison, I think her shower scene was the first time I saw boobs in a video game uncensored. Boy, did I have fun with that as well as her sex scene with Ethan. As a teenager, I thought this was awesome and bragged to my friends that this game had tits in it. Incredible!

Anyway, I let my coworker borrow it and he thought it was a great game too but then came the “Jason” memes and gifs which always give me a chuckle. I put Heavy Rain away and didn’t play it for a long time. It wasn’t until I got married that I thought my wife might like playing it. She was hooked and enjoyed solving the mystery. I could tell she was tense throughout her playthrough not wanting to make a mistake or kill someone. She gets mad easily and gives up too quickly so when there was any hint of her failing or having a poor outcome I stepped in to save the day like when the explosion destroys the apartment and you have to jump into the fridge before the apartment goes up in smoke. She likes to think she is a great detective for getting a good ending, and I suppose she deserves a pat on the back for it.

Heavy Rain Review Score:

Heavy Rain presented gamers with a new way of playing video games with its interactive button drama. With polished character models, quality acting, and a replayable story, Heavy Rain showed gamers what an interactive drama could be.

Heavy Rain scores an 8.5 out of 10.

What would you write in your Heavy Rain review? Do you remember when Heavy Rain first came out? Who was your favorite character to play as? When did you discover who the killer was? What type of ending did you get? Were you mesmerized by the boobs? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Harvest Moon 3 GBC Review

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Victor Interactive Software and Natsume had grown quite the garden by 2001 with the third release of a Harvest Moon game for the Game Boy Color. Originally, the Japanese version came in two separate cartridges with a boy and girl version but when the game came to North America they combined the stories to produce Harvest Moon 3 GBC. Would the game continue to grow or would it dry up compared to the other mobile versions? We say goodbye to the Game Boy Color in this Harvest Moon 3 GBC review.

Harvest Moon 3 GBC Plot:

Harvest Moon has always been about farming but each version has a small plot about why you’re spending your days tilling away at the soil, planting seeds, and watering the crops. In my Harvest Moon 3 GBC review, you can select to play as either a boy or girl and your choice will determine the plot surrounding the story.

The story of Harvest Moon 3 GBC is a bit of a continuation of Harvest Moon 2 GBC. In the second game, the male farmer has restored a large farm into a profitable piece of land, saving it from becoming an amusement park. Now, the mayor has arrived and asked the boy to help a girl on a nearby island restore her farm. If you choose to be the boy, you get that bit of information as you make your way to the island to help the girl out. If you select to play as the girl, the story starts with you already on the island as the boy comes to “mentor” you.

Ready for the hilarious part? If you play as the boy, you can marry one of the girls on the island and the game continues like other Harvest Moon games but if you are playing as the girl and choose to get married, the game ends! Haha, can you imagine the nightmare storm that would come with pushing out a game like that today? Every Twitter warrior would be going nuts on the “sexiest” ending for the girl! I can’t imagine the shock you’d get if you played as the girl and the game just ended as you got married. I’d be pretty frustrated about it, but at least it gave me a chuckle.

I dug a little bit more into the plot and it turns out it’s kind of sad. The girl is named Sara and her father Harry has passed away. He had a large farm that could turn a profit but unfortunately, Sara doesn’t know the first thing about farming. The mayor from the second game, named Mr. Heinz has asked the boy from Harvest Moon 2 GBC to travel to the island to help Sara out as Harry was his friend.

Harvest Moon 3 GBC Gameplay:

You’ll be able to select a pet at the beginning of the game. My wife plays the Harvest Moon series and always selects the dog and always plays as a boy. If you didn’t want to pick man’s best friend, you can pick a cat, a bird, and even a pig! The pets each have different perks like the dog keeps out wild animals at night. I don’t remember what the other animals do but I think one of them brings you random amounts of money every now and then.

There are some weird things to do as you’re starting your game like selecting your blood type. Don’t ask me what the point of it is, as far as I know, there are no bonuses or perks to having a certain type. Like all the other Harvest Moon games your goal is to clean up the farm by picking weeds, and removing stones, and stumps. Once your farm is clean, now is the time to dig your fields, plant your seeds, water your crops, and watch them grow so you can pluck the produce away and sell it. You can grow turnips, potatoes, asparagus, tomatoes, corn, watermelons, eggplants, peanuts, rice, wheat, and sweet potatoes. Yum! That’s a good variety for this Harvest Moon 3 GBC review but you don’t stop growing at produce. You can have a greenhouse to grow flowers and sell them to make more profit.

Where Harvest Moon 3 GBC separates itself from the pack is the island aspect. The farm is placed on a small island but if you want to buy seeds or upgrade tools, you’ll need to take the ferry to the mainland. This wouldn’t be an issue except for the ferry only runs on Monday and Thursday. My wife would run out of seeds or want to buy a tool or animal but the ferry wouldn’t be traveling that day. The worst part was that if it was raining or snowing, the ferry wouldn’t run even if it was a Monday or Thursday. So if she needed to buy something and it was Monday but it was snowing, she’d have to wait two more days and pray that the weather was nice for the ferry to run. This got old real quick during the Harvest Moon 3 GBC review and frustrated her to no end. Harvest Moon 3 GBC became boring and acted as a waiting game instead of a farming game. She’s not a patient person so if she was out of seeds, she’d complain about it immediately as her farm casually carried on.

Relationships were a nice touch to the game as it’s the only Harvest Moon on the Game Boy Color to offer marriage. Yes, you’ll be able to have the main characters marry each other if you so choose. Animals play another big part in the game and you’ll be able to raise cows, chickens, sheep, and horses. If the ferry system wasn’t in this game, I believe my wife would rank this as the best Harvest Moon on the Game Boy Color, but unfortunately, the ferry makes this game a frustrating farming waiting game.

Memories:
My wife plowed through Harvest Moon for the Super Nintendo, Harvest Moon GB, Harvest Moon 2 GBC, and by the time she played Harvest Moon 3 GBC, I think she was a little farmed out. Her enthusiasm was waning and I remember her complaining a lot about that ferry!

Harvest Moon 3 GBC Review Score:

Potentially a great farming experience on the Game Boy Color with the amount of content you can experience, unfortunately, the ferry system turns into a waiting game that wears out its welcome.

Harvest Moon 3 GBC scores a 6.4 out of 10.

What would you write in your Harvest Moon 3 GBC review? Do you remember when Harvest Moon 3 GBC first came out? How did you like it compared to the other Harvest Moons on the Game Boy? Did the ferry system piss you off too? Did you play as the girl and your game ended when you got married? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Final Fight 2 Review

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In 1993, Capcom released Final Fight 2 for the Super Nintendo making way for Mike Haggar and co. to clean up the international streets of crime again. The beat ’em up didn’t change much of the gameplay and kept the same villains from the original game. Would it keep the same fun? “I like kicking butt in this Final Fight 2 review”.

Final Fight 2 Plot:

Metro City is at peace after Mayor Mike Haggar and his pals Cody and Guy took down the notorious gang called the “Mad Gears”. Previously, they had kidnapped Mike’s daughter Jessica, who happens to be Cody’s girlfriend. After rescuing her, Metro City returned to peace…or so we thought!

The Mad Gears have come back with vengeance, this time in an international hostage situation. Guy’s companions are the targets as they kidnap his girlfriend, Rena, and Guy’s sensei Genryusia. Rena’s younger sister Maki, calls upon Haggar to help with the investigation because Guy is nowhere to be found!

Haggar, Maki, and Haggar’s friend Carlos travel together to find the kidnapped hostages. The Mad Gears must have an international presence because you’ll be fighting in Hong Kong, France, Holland, England, Italy, and Japan to find Rena and Genryusia. Eventually, the three of them break into the headquarters in Japan and find the hostages tied up. The final fight is ushered in by a pink-haired master ninja named Retu. After defeating him, Rena and Genryusia are freed!

Final Fight 2 Gameplay:

My Final Fight 2 review starts dramatically with the opening cut scene. Haggar calls his pal Carlos who informs him “he loves butt-kicking” so he’s in as a photo falls to the ground surrounded by fire. I found it unrealistic to take hostages across the world without anyone noticing as the Mad Gears apparently aren’t just a Metro City small gang, but an international crime syndicate. I know, I shouldn’t comment on how realistic the game is when one mustached suspenders-wearing man kicks the butt of over 500 criminals across the world. But whatever, let me poke my finger at the game if I want.

Not much changes from the first Final Fight as you’ll fight about three guys on screen at a time. They don’t change much and it will be the same ones each level. One thug that they included in the second game was a fat guy who had electric shockers. He’d charge at you and if he touches you, you’ll get fried. Andre the Giant err, Antone, or whatever they call him is back too but I liked seeing him throw his belly around. Like the first Final Fight, the enemies don’t pick up new moves, but their health bar just gets longer. Each level in my Final Fight 2 review has 99 seconds to beat, but they don’t tick fast, it’s more like ten minutes to beat the level and the most the timer ever went down for me was in the 70s.

Boss fights were less fun this time around during my Final Fight 2 review. In the first game, they were memorable like fighting the samurai in the wrestling ring or the final boss in his wheelie chair. This time, the bosses were on the boring side. The first guy was named WonWon and I honestly don’t remember what he looked like. Freddie was a big army guy that I easily tossed around, and the third boss looked like a prisoner. The only boss that looked distinguished was a clown named Philippe. He was super easy to beat though. Okay, so he was easy to beat because I had the game genie code activated…but hey at least I admit it! I kept track of how many lives I lost during the fight and I would have made it to the fourth stage before my defeat but with a little help from my friend the game genie, I made it to the end.

I think the most challenging boss was Rolento during my Final Fight 2 review who moved around the screen like a shadow chucking grenades. The grenades weren’t the tough part, I barely was hit by any of them. It was his shifty nature that took a while to get down. I had to corner him against the wall to get any hits on him before he zoomed away again.

Retu is the final boss. He doesn’t use cheap tricks to beat you, he just has tons of health. I learned his pattern but was still kicked around by his spinning legs a few times during my Final Fight 2 review. It took some time but I widdled down his health bar and threw him through the wall. Speaking of throwing, all I did the entire playthrough was punch. In the first game, I used Haggar’s throwing abilities much more, I guess I should mention that I played as Haggar again. Anyway, his combat felt reduced but I did pull off a few tornado throws but not at the same rate as the last game. When you beat Retu, Rena says “You must have had a hard time finding us?” I’m like no shit, I just traveled through seven countries to track you down!

Mini-games are back including smashing the car and the glass sheets are replaced by barrels. During levels, you can pick up weapons but I found them more scare than the first game. You can grab food to raise your health so if you are playing the honest way unlike myself, you’ll need it. The graphics were detailed and I enjoyed visiting the different countries that offered different backgrounds and atmospheres. I always pictured Holland to be beautiful but for some reason it was littered with mines and looked like a war-torn country, perhaps I’m missing something.

Memories:
I didn’t know anyone that played Final Fight growing up so the only memory I have of the series is recently playing them.

Final Fight 2 Review Score:

Final Fight 2 doesn’t change the gameplay or plot from the original game but the bosses are less memorable and the combat feels dumbed down. Haggar is still a badass and the game overall is a solid beat ’em up but the original outshines it.

Final Fight 2 scores a 7.2 out of 10.

What would you write in your Final Fight 2 review? Do you remember when Final Fight 2 first came out? Did you like the first or second game better? Do you play as Mike Haggar as I do? What was your favorite boss to fight? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Parasite Eve Review

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In 1998, developer Square and publisher Square Electronic Arts released Parasite Eve for the PlayStation. The action-role-playing, survival-horror game came after the massive success of Final Fantasy VII, another Square title. Swords and magic were traded for guns and parasite energy. It was a vastly different tone and rivaled the eerie nature of Resident Evil. Parasite Eve would spawn two sequels, but the series hasn’t seen a release since 2011. Should it be revived? We’re melting your brain and body in this Parasite Eve review!

Parasite Eve Plot:

Parasite Eve begins on Christmas Eve, 1997. You play as Aya Brea, a New York Police Officer who is new on the force. She decides to go on a date to the opera in Carnegie Hall to see a Christmas show. During the show, the star, Melissa Pearce begins to act strange and everyone in the audience along with her cast catches fire and dies. Aya is the only survivor not affected by the mysterious spontaneous combustions. Melissa transforms into a floating humanoid monster and runs away to the back of the theater.

Aya gives chase and fights Melissa in the rehearsal room where Melissa declares her name is now Eve and runs away into the sewers. During her encounter with “Eve”, Aya kept hearing her talk about mitochondria. The next day, Aya and her police partner Daniel, decide to investigate further on that lead and head to the Museum of Natural History to speak to a doctor named Dr. Hans Klamp. Dr. Klamp seems irritated with Aya and Daniel entering his workspace. He gives them a small amount of info on mitochondria and sends them on their way.

Later that night, Aya and Daniel investigate Central Park where Melissa Pearce was supposed to have a show. Daniel’s ex-wife and son, Ben, are expected to be in attendance. Daniel starts to catch fire when he enters the park so he lets Aya enter instead, who is immune to the fire. She makes her way to the auditorium to witness the entire audience melting into a pile of orange goo as Eve sings. Aya battles Eve on a horse-drawn carriage and is thrown from it.

She wakes up in a strange apartment next to a Japanese man and her partner Daniel who reveals to her that his son escaped before the audience melted to goo due to his mother acting strange and him not feeling well. Unfortunately, Daniel’s ex-wife was not as fortunate. The apartment that they are in is Kunihiko Maeda’s, who was keeping track of the events surrounding Eve and believes he can solve the mystery surrounding her. As a scientist from Japan, Maeda witnessed something similar a few years back and believes the events are connected. Essentially, mitochondria are taking over Melissa’s body and have been controlling her. Eve’s new plan is to give birth to the “ultimate being” for the evolutionary purpose of surviving.

The three of them venture to St. Francis Hospital to try and stop Eve from getting sperm but when they arrive they discover that Eve is already there and escapes with the sperm. The next day, Aya travels to the sewers of New York after witnessing the massive orange goo pile from Central Park make its way down into the sewers. She cuts off the water supply to try and protect the rest of the city from being burned up by the orange goo.

Aya, Daniel, and Maeda travel to the museum again and speak with Dr. Klamp who has refused to leave his lab. It turns out he has been working with Eve all along and manufactured the perfect sperm for her which she took at the hospital. It is also revealed that Aya’s sister Maya died in a car accident when they were young and her kidney was transferred to Melissa when they were children. The mitochondria that took over Melissa’s body are actually Maya’s and because Aya and Maya share such similar mitochondria, Aya is resistant to the powers that Eve holds.

With the Air Force and Navy unable to get close to the orange blob that has now taken a humanoid form and protecting Eve as she gives birth, the commander makes Aya pilot a helicopter to launch missiles at the mass of goo. Aya is successful in her attack and fights Eve on the grounds of the Statue of Liberty, successfully killing her.

Unfortunately, the massive orange goo protected the ultimate being from being killed and the baby hatches from the encasing. Aya returns to the navy cruiser to fight the ultimate being as it rapidly evolves into four stages. Finally, Maeda tells Daniel that Aya needs a special bullet to kill the ultimate being and hands Daniel the clip before he departs from the helicopter to throw the clip at Aya.

With the clip, Aya damages the ultimate being enough to run away. She enters the cruiser which is now abandoned and rigs the boiler to explode. The ultimate being gives chase as Aya runs from it and jumps off the ship before it explodes. In the explosion, the ultimate being is presumed dead.

In the closing scene, Aya, Maeda, Daniel, and his son Ben attend an opera performance. When the show starts, Aya’s eyes begin to glow red as her mitochondria “wake up”. The rest of the audience’s eyes begin to glow too. Cue the credits.

Parasite Eve Gameplay:

Parasite Eve took me by surprise as an action RPG. I was expecting the action but didn’t realize the RPG nature of this game until I went into battle during m Parasite Eve review. I loved it!

When you enter a battle, you’ll face multiple enemies at once in most instances. Unlike other RPGs, you aren’t stuck in one spot as you select your commands. This game was way ahead of its time. Think of the battle system for Final Fantasy XV and you’ll get the idea. You run around on screen avoiding attacks while your attack meter charges. Once it’s full you can attack, use an item, or use your Parasite Energy which is essentially magic.

I liked that the story took place on Christmas. I’m not sure how many other games have Christmas elements but walking around buildings and parks, I saw many decorations that added to the atmosphere during my Parasite Eve review. It was unique to play a survival-horror action game with Christmas trees lit up and presents around the tree.

Most characteristics in Parasite Eve are customizable including your name. You’ll spend time putting together the perfect gun with added elements, attack power, bullet clips, and parasite energy. I didn’t use the parasite energy during my Parasite Eve review until the very end of the game, but boy did it come in handy. It may be a bit complicated to gamers new to the genre but there is a tutorial that you can take before the game starts that should help.

The game is presented without voice acting, and I prefer that. Unless the voice acting is top-notch like Metal Gear Solid or Uncharted, then I prefer to read the text myself and imagine the characters talking. There are small decisions to make like jumping in a hole to chase after Eve or waiting for backup. I aired on the cautious side and waited during my Parasite Eve review. After obsessing over the decision for five minutes I ran out of the building to meet more police officers who handed me extra ammo and health. Turns out that was the right decision and it didn’t affect the outcome of the game either way.

Cut scenes are a big part of the storytelling, and for the most part, they were well done for the time. I liked watching them during my Parasite Eve review but it got annoying to rewatch them if I died because you can’t skip them. Another thing I loved was saving via the phone. The only way to keep your progress in check is to phone the police station and check-in. It just reminds me of those peak 90s games that have you save your game in unique ways.

You’ll be able to choose where you want to go to Manhattan with a city map. In your police car, you can cruise to the police station, a museum, a hospital, a theater, SoHo, a warehouse, and more places to investigate if you feel you haven’t snatched up every item or clue.

Some environments are easy to get lost in like the sewers and museums. Thankfully I didn’t get lost during my Parasite Eve review, but I think I managed to make it through the sewers by dumb luck. Speaking of dumb, the plan to blow up the monster with missiles was terrible. Aya is just a police officer. She has no experience as a pilot and they just send her up in one like it’s no big deal? Come on! I died a few times fighting Eve but discovered that if you use the PE “Liberate” you deal MASSIVE damage. Wow, that was a game-changer! I wrecked Eve and the ultimate being with that power!

It was HILARIOUS watching Daniel jump a thousand feet from the helicopter, catch on fire, throw the bullet clip at Aya, and then land in the ocean. After you defeat Eve, there are no signs of any injury, none!

The final battle isn’t easy for my Parasite Eve review. You’ll need to carefully pick when to use the power “Liberate” as it takes a long time to recharge. Once you damage the ultimate being enough a chase will begin. You’ll have to navigate to the boiler room and honestly, it’s almost unfair. You can take so many wrong turns so once I beat the ultimate being, I looked at a walkthrough to see the correct course to take to the engine room so I didn’t have to fight the ultimate being again for the fifth time.

Memories:
I remember as a kid seeing the cover for Parasite Eve and hearing all kinds of things about the game. Eve is iconic in her attire and appearance but I never knew where she was from until I played the game over 20 years since its release. I was expecting a horror game like Resident Evil but was pleasantly surprised when an RPG fell before me. It only took me a day or two to beat the game, but it was worth the wait of playing it.

Parasite Eve Review Score:

Parasite Eve’s combat system is well ahead of its time. Everything feels manageable and there are plenty of enemies to gain experience with before facing one of the bosses. The customization goes a long way toward defeating opponents and the atmosphere on Christmas was terrific. Parasite Eve has a fun cast of characters and a story that has you thinking…” Well, maybe that could happen”.

Parasite Eve scores an 8.8 out of 10.

What would you write for your Parasite Eve review? Do you remember when Parasite Eve first came out? What did you think of the cast of characters? How about the combat system? Was Eve a great villain? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Onimusha 3 Review

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In 2004, Capcom completed the trilogy of the Onimusha series when they released Onimusha 3: Demon Seige for the PlayStation 2. The third entry saw the return of Samanosuke, the protagonist from the first game in an effort to kill the evil Nobunaga once and for all. Would Samanosuke defeat the demon warlord that sent Samanosuke out in grand fashion or would Onimusha 3 see the demise of the series? We head to war across time in this Onimusha 3 review!

Onimusha 3 Plot:

Our hero Samanosuke has returned after disappearing without a trace for over ten years since he first fought the Demon Lord Fortinbras. Jubei, the hero from the second game is not included in this game along with any of his friends. While it’s not a big deal, it would have been cool to see Samanosuke and Jubei team up to defeat Nobunaga for my Onimusha 3 review.

Anyway, Samanosuke is hot on the trail of Nobunaga and has hunted him down to his guarded temple. After fighting through his army of undead demons, Samanosuke confronts Nobunaga. As they begin to battle, a mysterious black circle engulfs Samanosuke and he is transported 500 years into the future to Paris, France in the year 2004. Demons begin to transport themselves through time and start attacking the citizens of France. A brave police officer named Jacques fends off some of the demons before being caught in a time trap and sent back 500 years into the past to Japan ten days before Samanosuke’s raid on Nobunaga’s temple.

The marketing team for Onimusha hyped up the actor that played Jacques. I recognized him but I don’t know who is he and didn’t care that he was featured. His voice acting was fine, but I wasn’t blown away during my Onimusha 3 review. Anyway, Samanosuke and Jacques must find their way back to their own times with help from some friends including Jacques’ girlfriend and his son, Henri. I find kids in video games really annoying, but Henri was okay.

With help from the demon scientist Guildenstern (remember him from the first game?), the demons have built time-traveling devices and sent demons to attack the time period that they felt would most benefit them. I’m not sure why 2004 was the year to strike, but that’s what they chose. Yes, you do get to kill Guildenstern and yes, it feels great. I thought he was a great villain and I’m happy that he’s a fightable boss, unlike in the first game.

In the end, Samanosuke defeats Nobunaga with help from Jacques, and Jacques goes back to his time period. After the credits, a new Japanese warlord is riding on his horse and declares that it’s now his turn to start his reign. I know there’s a fourth Onimusha game so perhaps that is the start of the story for that game. I don’t know, I haven’t played it.

Onimusha 3 Gameplay:

Like the other Onimusha games, Onimusha 3 opens up with a fantastic video although nothing will beat the first video, and it’s not as good as the second, but the opening is still fun to watch. This game feels much darker than the previous two games. The first game was gory, but Onimusha 3 turns it up a notch with the descriptions of deaths and violence shown. When Paris is under attack from demons you watch people get sliced in half and brutally murdered. Once the chaos was over, I investigated some of the bodies and the descriptions…well they didn’t hide anything!

“His face twisted in pain from his windpipe being cut”.

It was cool being able to change times and explore both Paris in 2004 and Japan in the 1500s. The two vastly different settings made gameplay fresh and kept things interesting during my Onimusha 3 review. When I played as Samanosuke in the city, I got vibes of Resident Evil with the crashed vehicles on fire and demons walking around. Switching eras was a smart move by Capcom and it was even better that you played as a police officer in 1500s Japan and a samurai in 2000s France. Each environment was fun to explore but I feel like the graphics were worse than Onimusha 1 and 2. Some prerendered environments looked more pixelated than in previous games.

Throughout your journey, you will level up your weapons by collecting the souls of the enemies you defeat. I like that every game had different weapons to try out and even Jacques had to fight demons in hand-to-hand combat except for his finishing move which was a pistol. For the first time in the series, I favored the heavy weapons during my Onimusha 3 review instead of the faster-paced swords.

To help on your quest was a cute little Tengu fairy named Ako who is super helpful in a few different ways. The first thing that she can do is transport items between Samanosuke and Jacques. Much of the puzzles require Samanosuke and Jacques to work together 500 years apart. It’s a neat idea that for the most part worked out well. There may be an important item that is lost in one time period or broken, but able in the other time period. You’ll be able to send Ako through time with the item to deliver it to the party that needs it.

Ako also wears vests. Sounds boring, right? But these vests are magical! Depending on the color of the vest you’ll have different perks. Some include being able to suck up souls faster, turning all souls red, having souls come out of an enemy every time you strike them, having healing powers and less magic consumed when you use it. These perks came in extremely helpful during my Onimusha 3 review, especially the white vest that healed you if you didn’t move. Every time I battled, if I was damaged I equipped the white vest and had Ako heal me. It was slow but it was better than wasting a healing item on me. I saved all of those for serious boss fights. In the end, I had stockpiled like 20 healing items for the final fight and was well-prepared.

In some missions, you’ll have a partner tag along which is fine because they help out when you fight but afterward is when I have an issue with them. No matter who it is they often stand in your way. In the sewers when I was Samanosuke, Michelle would constantly be in my way and I’d have to continuously run into her to push her out of the way. It was annoying and I wish they addressed that because it wasn’t the only time it happened in my Onimusha 3 review.

Another point of frustration was attacking enemies on stairs. I didn’t have any issues in the first two games but in Onimusha 3 I often found myself missing my strikes when demons were above or below me on stairs. It didn’t matter that I was facing them directly, I couldn’t hit them until I was on their level. You didn’t fight a ton of enemies on stairs but I did find it frustrating when I had to.

The dark realm is back and so is that weird upside man who is creepy. I remember desperately making my way down the dark realm in the first Onimusha but with the ability to heal after battles with the white vest, it was a breeze fighting through the dark realm this time. You can go to it at different times and get unique treasures but the realm is much more elaborate with multiple paths. It has a map after you beat a floor to see where you are in the realm and to plan where you want to go. Once again, I unlocked the legendary sword but I was only able to use it briefly which was a bummer.

Near the end of the game, you have to transverse the Eifel Tower to stop the demons. This was the most frustrating part of my Onimusha 3 review as the time lapses continue to erupt throughout your path with “spinners” as I call them (Demons who spin their way toward you and knock you backward) continue to approach you. I was knocked into those stupid time-lapse zones a dozen times before I was able to reach the top of the tower. If you get knocked into one, they transport you to the bottom of the Eifel Tower where you have to start all over again. Even if you block the spinning attack, it still knocks you backward.

The final fight was against Nobunaga and there wasn’t much strategy that went into it. I slashed him to pieces before he transported me to a demon realm where I defeated him. In the end, Samanosuke sucks his soul up into his gauntlet. I thought it was cool, I liked it, and it was a fitting end to a great trilogy.

I loved the humor and characters from Onimusha 2, I never thought it’d be the crown jewel in the series without Samanosuke, but I missed that humor in the third game. Onimusha 3 was much darker and lacked any comic relief that made the second game so great. Ako is the closest thing to comic relief but she is just more cute than funny.

Memories:
My memories of the Onimusha series fade with each entry in the series. I vividly remember playing the first game in sixth grade and thinking it was the coolest thing ever while showing my friends the opening video. The second Onimusha still has memories but I didn’t beat it and I didn’t get to the end I do remember playing it with two of my friends multiple times and acting like the characters in the game. By the time the third game came out, I don’t remember playing it much. I played it by myself but I was entering the phase where I didn’t play video games much. The first part of the game I remember well, but after that, I don’t think I got very far.

It was nice to play the series over one month and complete the story. I loved the setting and thought the overall story was great. Where else can you find demon zombies and samurai?

Onimusha 3 Review Score:

Onimusha 3 fittingly completes the series in two separate eras. I missed the humor from the second game and had a few minor gameplay complaints with combat. There are some bumps in the game, but overall the third Onimusha sits at the table with the first and second. The first game is great but it’s too short. The second game is where the series peaks and the third is the longest but it also has some flaws that the others don’t.

Onimusha 3 scores an 8.5 out of 10.

What would you write in your Onimusha 3 review? Do you remember when Onimusha 3 first came out? What is your favorite game in the series? Did you like the ending? What was your favorite weapon to use? Do you want to see a series revival? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Until Dawn Review

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Horror games were nothing new to video games but Until Dawn helped usher in a new genre of survival horror interactive games. The decision-making, butterfly effect, horror game was released in 2015 by Supermassive Games and Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 4. What makes this horror game unique and does it see the sunrise? We’re staying up until dawn… in this Until Dawn review!

Until Dawn Plot:

The game opens up at a party in a cabin in the snowy Blackwood Mountains. Twin sisters Hannah and Beth are chased into the woods after a prank goes wrong. The twins stumble and fall off a cliff ledge where their bodies are never found.

After a year passes, their younger brother Josh invites the same group up to the family lodge to rekindle their friendships. The party is just one giant prank set up by Josh who wanted to avenge his sister’s death on the friends that pranked them. Josh dresses up as a masked killer and terrorizes the group throughout the night. The group finds another scary individual on the mountain who has been walking around with a flamethrower. The man reveals that the mountain has been overrun by wendigos, former humans who have since turned into humanoid cannibals due to decades of cannibalism and inbreeding. (Think of the movie “The Descent” to get a better idea)

There are many different endings and depending on your actions yours will vary on how many characters are left alive by the time dawn comes. Between chapters in the game, you speak with Dr. Hill a psychologist that analyzes your fears and comments on the actions you’ve chosen. Each time you meet Dr. Hill the atmosphere in his office becomes less and less stable. It was a nice break from the game but I don’t think it added anything valuable to my Until Dawn review.

Let’s take a look at the characters in my Until Dawn and how they fared in my Until Dawn review:

Josh – He’s a college dropout who wants to pull the ultimate prank on his friends for causing his sisters’ deaths. He has become unstable mentally since the death of his sisters. He was studying psychology at college before dropping out. If he is still alive at the end of the game he is found in the mines having gone crazy and begins to eat the bodies of the Wendigo.
KILLED

Jessica – She’s the big-boobed blonde of the group and of course, you can get into a situation of making out and taking her top off, which I tried in my Until Dawn review. There was a sequence where Jessica is being dragged away. I made a mistake and she ended up being dragged into the mines where she died.
KILLED

Sam – She’s the cute girl next door and more recognizably played by Hayden Panettiere. Her character was shown a lot in the trailers due to the famous actress portraying her.
SURVIVED

Emily – She’s the cocky and bitchy bookworm Asian girl. She was killed in my Until Dawn review right before dawn by some Wendigos as they gouged out her eyes.
KILLED

Mike – He’s a typical jock that just wants to have fun and is a bit immature.
SURVIVED

Ashley – She reminds me of a dork. She’s the girl that could be cute if she tried but also is unsure of herself.
SURVIVED

Matt – He’s another jock that is hoping to get a scholarship to college because his grades suck. Despite the curse of brothas always dying first in horror movies, my guy survived my Until Dawn review despite numerous close encounters.
SURVIVED

Chris – Hah, nerd! He has glasses and embraces his brains. He’s into tech and gadgets and I managed to keep this geek alive.
SURVIVED

So in recap, you have Josh who is running around trying to make it look like he is the killer but he’s not actually killing anyone. Then you have the mysterious stranger who again, is chasing after characters but he’s trying to warn them about the real danger on the mountain. The only real monsters on the mountains are the Wendigos who snatch up people and kill them. There are a few fucked up decisions that Josh can put on the player to decide and those decisions may result in the death of a character.

Once dawn arrives the police will make their way to the cabin and the surviving members of your group will be rescued.

Until Dawn Gameplay:

Until Dawn is based on decision-making in quick time events. Scenarios will come up either in dialogue or action sequences when you need to push the correct buttons or only have a few seconds to make up your mind on what to do like run or fight. I’m usually great at these events but I ended up killing three of my characters in my Until Dawn review and the game doesn’t let you restart or load a checkpoint. There’s an autosave that saves instantly making it impossible to reload your game if something bad happens. I loved that the developers put that in because someone like myself would try and restart the chapter for a perfect playthrough but I couldn’t because of the feature.

As a horror game, the atmosphere is generically creepy with a secluded cabin in a snowstorm surrounded by abandoned mines, crippled buildings, and eerie basements. There are plenty of spooky elements but be aware of jump scares as they are littered throughout the game.

Once you make a decision you can see how it affects the rest of the game with the totem function. There are hundreds of endings so you can see what you did changes how the characters act and what events happen. The amount of both minor and major changes are impressive. It’s fun to see what path your playthrough took you down and the chaos that you caused.

The animation and models of the characters were fantastic with each face looking exactly like the voice actor’s making the characters come to life. Sam is played by Hayden Panettiere and she looks just like her. The realistic charm, personality, and looks of each character were a big draw in the trailer.

Memories:
I played this game by myself although my wife would like to lie and say she played it too. In reality, she was too scared to touch the controller so she just watched me play and I could tell she really enjoyed seeing how it unfolded. To her, it was like watching a horror movie as she hid behind blankets or my shoulder as I bravely played without her help to complete my Until Dawn review. There were times I instantly regretted decisions in the game and there were times I was shocked that I made it out alive.

Until Dawn Review Score:

Until Dawn isn’t perfect but it gives you what you want from an interactive horror game. There’s not much skill involved other than making sure you push-button correctly but it’s a lot of fun. Dr. Hill’s segments don’t add anything to the game and I found them unnecessary but the wide cast of characters makes it so that whoever is playing can in some way relate to one of them. If you like scares and seeing how your decision changes everything, definitely pick this game up.

Until Dawn scores an 8.3 out of 10.

What would you write in your Until Dawn review? Do you remember when Until Dawn first came out? How many people survived your first playthrough? Who was your favorite character and who did you hate? Did you jump at any scares? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Mario Kart Double Dash Review

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Mario Kart had seen releases on the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, and now it was time for Nintendo to release the newest edition to the kart racing series on the GameCube. Released in 2003, Mario Kart: Double Dash began the modern version of the racing series that we know today with the customization and tracks that we’ve grown to know. I’ve been critical of the first three releases of Mario Kart, would Double Dash be the first in the series to break away? We team up in this Mario Kart Double Dash review!

Mario Kart Double Dash Gameplay:

As I’ve done with the other Mario Kart games, I’ll take a look at the racers you can select. The character descriptions come from the manual and each racer is classified into a weight class that describes their racing style. The light class accelerates quickly and can turn well but is easily knocked around by other racers. Medium racers are good at everything but masters of none. Heavy racers accelerate slowly but have the best top-end speed and can knock around others.

Mario – You know him, you love him – the one and only Mario! He’s returned to the Grand Prix with fireballs in hand. MEDIUM

Luigi – He’s lean, he’s not so mean, and his Fireballs are green! Everybody’s favorite brother is here, too! MEDIUM

When Mario or Luigi is in the back seat they can throw a special fireball.

Donkey Kong – Straight from the jungle, DK uses his simian strength to scare rivals. HEAVY

Diddy Kong – His charm is in his amazing tail. Donkey Kong convinced him to race in the Grand Prix.

Both DK and Diddy can throw a giant banana.

Princess Peach – Normally the epitome of grace, once she’s on the raceway, Princess Peach really tears it up. MEDIUM (she has always been a lightweight until now)

Princess Daisy – This is Princess Daisy’s first foray onto the speedways. She’s so cute she’s become something of an idol. MEDIUM

Peach and Daisy can use hearts to surround their karts. If any item hits the hearts it becomes theirs to use.

Bowser – Mario’s archnemesis. Will racing with his son make him behave better? HEAVY

Bowser Jr. – An energetic troublemaker who’s ready to drive out of his father’s shadow. LIGHT

The Bowsers can throw a giant spiked turtle shell.

Koopa – Usually a faithful underling of Bowser, it shows even the big boss no mercy during a race. LIGHT

Paratroopa – Paratroopa takes care of its wings even in the heat of the race. LIGHT

Koopa and Paratroopa can have triple the green or red shells.

Baby Mario – Mario but a baby…LIGHT

Baby Luigi – Luigi but a baby…LIGHT

These babies can unleash the Chain Chomp.

Yoshi – Taking a break from carrying Mario, Yoshi’s ready to burn up the courses. MEDIUM

Birdo – Birdo’s decked out in her favorite bow and ready to race! MEDIUM

Yoshi and Birdo can roll eggs at opponents and if they break they hatch three more items.

Wario – Wario’s ready to cruise in his purple pride and joy. Its top speed is over 280 MPH! But for the Mario Kart Grand Prix, its engine has been tuned down. HEAVY

Waluigi – Ever fond of sneaky, underhand attacks, he’s in his element when he’s armed with a bomb. MEDIUM

These two can throw bombs.

It was fun to mix and match racers together during my Mario Kart Double Dash review and there’s some strategy that goes into it with their weight classes. Like all the other Mario Karts, you’ll race through numerous courses hoping to place and score points for the overall standings. The tracks were my favorite by a long shot compared to the older Mario Kart games that I’ve reviewed before. It finally felt like a fully-capable 3D environment filled with obstacles and hazards. I know Mario Kart 64 is 3D but it had that awful rubberband effect that had the computer racer a second behind no matter how many weapons you tossed their way. Mario Kart Double Dash doesn’t suffer from that and that’s a huge victory for the game.

If you are tired of racing, you can select “battle mode”. This option brings back the balloon battles but also offers two other modes where you need to steal a star from each other and another where you chuck bombs. All three modes were super fun to play during my Mario Kart Double Dash review and I enjoyed doing those as much as the actual racing.

The presentation to Mario Kart Double Dash is better than before with detailed celebrations of the racers and the trophy being presented in front of a crowd of dancing humanoid things. Mario Kart Double Dash is the first in the series to offer customization to your karts where you can unlock new karts after winning cups. It adds a ton of replay value and it’s a feature that is heavily invested in the later games.

Memories:
I remember first playing Mario Kart Double Dash in seventh grade at a birthday party. It was fun and if I recall correctly my first time actually playing a Mario Kart game as I had missed out on Mario Kart 64. I sucked at first but once I got the hang of it I was able to keep up with the rest of the kids at the party.

For my Mario Kart Double Dash review, I had my wife play through all the races with me. She’s pretty good at Mario Kart Double Dash but only because she has all the courses memorized and it’s her game! She beat me in most races and she took home the cup in all the Grand Prix, but I beat her on Rainbow Road and everyone knows that if you beat Rainbow Road, you are crowned the champion of the entire game. Sorry wife, better luck next time!

We also enjoyed the battle arenas during my Mario Kart Double Dash review and played through all of the versions that Double Dash had to offer. The final score was pretty close but we definitely unleashed some pretty bad cussing at each other, oops!

Mario Kart Double Dash Review Score:

Mario Kart Double Dash is the first Mario Kart game that I can say I enjoyed thoroughly. If you want to jump into the series, I suggest starting with this game. There’s tons of fun to be had on all courses and the environments really open up. Double Dash is what I was hoping Mario Kart 64 to be.

Mario Kart: Double Dash scores an 8.6 out of 10.

What would you write in your Mario Kart Double Dash review? Do you remember when Mario Kart: Double Dash first came out? What pair of racers do you select? What is your favorite course? How did you like the new racers? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!

Mega Man 3 Review

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The Mega Man series was starting to take off after the release of the first two games for Nintendo in the late 80s. Welcoming in the 90s, Capcom released Mega Man 3 in 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Blue Bomber would face new robot masters and encounter a new antagonist in Proto Man. Would the third game in the series continue the success that Mega Man 2 created? It’s Proto Man to the rescue in this Mega Man 3 review!

Mega Man 3 Plot:

Dr. Wily has twice tried to take over the world, first infecting Dr. Light’s original industrial robots with a virus that turned them into killing machines, and then in the second game, he created his own batch of killer robots. After begging for mercy in both games, Dr. Wily has now found his “sanity” according to Dr. Light.

The two of them begin work together (yes I know, sounds like a great idea based on previous events) on a peace-keeping project. Powering up the peacekeeping robot that is not yet ready for the public are eight power crystals that have been mined from the Earth. The robots that were overseeing the mining locations have gone berserk and have started to go on a rampage. Dr. Light calls on Mega Man to figure out what’s going on and to put a stop to the eight robots that are out of control.

Gemini Man – Was built between May 21 and June 21.

Mega Man defeats the eight robots but encounters a mysterious robot named Break Man who battles with Mega Man on numerous occasions throughout his mission. After securing the eight power crystals, Dr. Wily steals them and runs off to a hidden fortress to power up the “peace-keeping” robot that he and Dr. Light were working on. (What a shock) He plans on using it for evil purposes so Mega Man hurries over to his fortress and fights through more hordes of robots before fighting and defeating Dr. Wily. The fortress begins to crumble and Break Man comes to the rescue of Mega Man, taking him out of the fortress right before the ceiling falls. Dr. Wily is left behind in the wreckage unknown if he survives or not. (It’s not like there are 12 sequels)

Back at the lab, Dr. Light concludes that the rogue robot named “Break Man” that rescued Mega Man was his first attempt at creating a robot and his name is “Proto Man”.

Mega Man 3 Gameplay:

I found it disappointing in my Mega Man 3 review that there was no intro like the second Mega Man had with the Blue Bomber standing atop the building as the wind blew. I know it was short but I thought it was cool and had hoped for a little intro into Mega Man 3.

Capcom improved the backgrounds on the levels with impressive details that kept me peeking behind Mega Man as I made my way through each level during my Mega Man 3 review. If you line up the first Mega Man to the third one you can tell how much more effort was put into the stages. Like the previous entries in the series, you’ll face robot masters at the end of each stage and collect their powers after defeating them. Each robot master has a weakness, so make sure to find the boss order online as I did, or if you really want to risk it find out for yourself.

Mega Man 3 added a slide mechanic into the game where Mega Man can slide continuously through tight spaces. I loved it and I thought it went very smoothly in controlling him as he slid beneath things. Mega Man’s dog, Rush, is called into action on multiple occasions giving him the ability to jump higher, swim underwater, and fly through the air. I liked the inclusion of Proto Man into the series and thought it was nice to see someone else during the gameplay. It was a bit of a mystery to me as I’m not up on the Mega Man lore but whenever I heard his signature whistle during my Mega Man 3 review I knew I’d be fighting him.

Like the other two Mega Man games, this is a very tough platformer with difficult opponents around every bend. You can collect health and energy cans to help you along the way but it was great that Capcom included a password system to save your game so you don’t have to do the same stages over and over if you die.

I swear every Mega Man game gets longer and longer. I knew that Dr. Wily would have a base that I’d have to beat but I wasn’t expecting to face four more robot bosses along with the other eight. These last four take the powers of previous bosses found in the last two Mega Man games. While I was very annoyed about having to fight more, I thought it was a cool nod to the previous games.

The fight with Dr. Wily at the end I found to be one of the easier end fights but you won’t hear any complaints from me. After the rest of the game, it was nice to face something that I knew I could do after a few seconds.

Memories:
The first six Mega Man games I played with my coworker on our laptops when I was in college. We loved playing them all and I don’t remember which one was my favorite but there are a few stages that stick out. Snake Man’s stage is one that I always remember with the green scales and snakeheads throughout the level. I hate snakes! I really don’t like them as I’ll admit I’m afraid of them but the scales look cool on the NES even though I thought Snake Man’s power was lame. (Yes, I know it’s the power you use to defeat Dr. Wily but still just shooting three little snakes out is pretty weak)

Mega Man 3 Review Score:

Mega Man 3 adds some good elements to the series with Proto Man and the ability to slide. It’s too long for my taste and comes with a predictable twist. It’s brutal with how many times you’ll die so it’s best to use a password system to help you advance.

Mega Man 3 scores a 7.8 out of 10.

What would you write in your Mega Man 3 review? Do you remember when Mega Man 3 first came out? Which robot master did you like fighting? Which one gave you trouble? What did you think of Proto Man? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!