Hardcore. Insane. Suicidal. These are the words that come to my mind when I played Gunstar Heroes. Released by Treasure and Sega in 1993 for the Sega Genesis, Gunstar Heroes took the Contra formula and cranked it up. This crushing run-and-gun shooter blew gamers away with how much action it could pack into the screen. How does it hold up? First, let me ask the question… do you want to die in this Gunstar Heroes review?
Gunstar Heroes Plot:
There are a few scenes of dialogue when Gunstar Heroes starts up but other than knowing that a few gems were stolen, I didn’t understand what was going on during my Gunstar Heroes review so I turned to the best source I could find…the internet! The gems are apparently very important! Here’s why:
You are part of the Gunstar family living on Gunstar planet, I know, how unique. Professor Gunstar is the elder of the family and defeated an evil robot named Golden Silver many years ago. This robot came to the Gunstar planet to drain the planet of its resources, including the precious gems on the planet. Professor Gunstar was able to seal away the robot and hide the gems that powered it.
Now in the present day, an evil villain named Colonel Red has put together an army and found the hidden locations of the gems. He intends to use them to power up Golden Silver and take over the world! It’s up to Professor Gunstar’s twin boys, Blue and Red (not the boys from Pokemon) to defeat Colonel Red and his army.
Gunstar Heroes Gameplay:
Okay, let’s start with the thing I liked about the game during my Gunstar Heroes review. You can select four levels to play and how you progress through them. If you can’t beat one, try a different level, and see how you do. The first four levels are interchangeable but the last three you’ll have to play in order. Gunstar Heroes is brutally hard so I liked that feature, but more on its difficulty later. Along with choosing what level you play first, you can choose between four different guns and their powers. Each gun shoots differently, some shoot green arrows, some shoot constantly, and some shoot fire, but choose what you think is best because you can always change it later. I started with the gun that constantly shoots but later switched to the honing gun that follows enemies on screen.
The other thing I liked from my Gunstar Heroes review was the colorful graphics and environments. It looked so good and reminded me of a 90s cartoon with the way the characters looked. I loved blowing up forts and destroyable objects in the background. Everything looks great in Gunstar Heroes, you won’t hear that complaint from me. The one thing I questioned was the inclusion of the 3D bosses. They looked so out of style compared to the rest of the game and honestly made the game look cheap whenever they appeared. Just stick with the amazing 2D colorful graphics!
Want to know what sucked for me during Gunstar Heroes review? The incredible brutal beatdown that the game comes with. I beat Gunstar Heroes. Want to know how? I CHEATED. That’s right, I said it, I CHEATED! If anyone tells me they beat Gunstar Heroes without cheating, I’m calling them a liar because this game does not want to be beaten. I don’t know if I’ve ever played a game so brutally hard. It’s almost unfair the way everyone gangs up on you. If you let them get to you, they’ll start piling on your back making it impossible to move until you shake them off. The whole game is so hard! I used a Game Genie cheat to make me invincible, and guess what? I did that on level one after failing to beat it multiple times and struggling to get to the final boss on level one. I managed to get there but I couldn’t beat it. You’re able to pick up health and expand your overall vitality throughout the game but even with that, I knew I was going to beat this game.
The jumping mechanic was tough to get used to and I struggled to jump when I needed to during my Gunstar Heroes review. Of course, that resulted in my death numerous times. Where I lost it was when the mining-level boss revealed himself. He has SEVEN forms and you don’t get any health in-between forms. HOW CAN YOU BEAT THIS BOSS WITHOUT CHEATING?
Animations of characters throughout the game were fun to watch. Facing the third boss on the cloud level was cool because he spun on the helicopter blade and everything was smooth. This game is very impressive with how much it can pack into the screen but the difficulty was just too much for me during my Gunstar Heroes review. One of the bosses you actually play a board game with rolling dice and everything! Your character makes his way through the board fighting enemies just about every other turn in addition to fighting the boss on that stage. The final level of Gunstar Heroes is just crazy. You refight every boss in a row and finish off the game fighting Golden Silver. They don’t get any easier the second time fighting them all and unless you have a vitality of 999 (I did and it didn’t go down, thanks to Game Genie!) then I don’t see you having much of a chance of winning. There’s a fine line between making a game difficult but fair. Gunstar Heroes crosses that line and makes it too much of a challenge.
How many actual people have watched the end credits to Gunstar Heroes? Those are the true superheroes.
Memories: I had heard of Gunstar Heroes a few times but never watched anyone play it. I knew it was action-packed but didn’t believe how much it would crush me. After an hour of struggling just to get to the final boss on stage one, I said screw this and turned on the game genie. Without it, I never would have witnessed the second stage!
Gunstar Heroes Review Score:
Are you into S&M? Do you have suicidal thoughts? If so, Gunstar Heroes is the perfect game for you! Watch the cute little animations of the environment as your face gets blown off by a thousand rounds of ammunition. Pretty game, but brutal. It’s not for me. This game is not worth spending hundreds of hours mastering. Don’t die a million deaths for ten seconds of glory.
Gunstar Heroes scores a 5.9 out of 10.
What would you write in your Gunstar Heroes review? Do you remember when Gunstar Heroes first came out? Did you cheat at the game? What was your favorite gun or boss? Am I pussy? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!
In 1989, Sega and Opera House teamed up and released “Cloud Master” for the Sega Master System. After its success in the arcade, Sega decided to bring the horizontal shooter to their home console. Cloud Master is one of the most random and bizarre shooters with its giant bosses and flying ramen bowls. Is this game a bowl of goodness or does it belong in the trash? Watch out for the flying bowls of ramen in this Cloud Master review!
Cloud Master Plot:
You are Michael Chen, a young prophet seeking enlightenment. Straight from the manual:
“The dangerous journey of the great wise prophet Michael Chen begins in the sky somewhere deep in the heart of China. Help him find the path to enlightenment in this high-flying adventure from Sega.
Back when the Earth was young, there was a mysterious hermit named Michael Chen who rode the wind on a cloud-like chariot. He had mediated deep in the mountainous regions of central China for many years and had grown powerful with the knowledge of the ancients. With luck and a little more study, he hoped to gain the title of “Cloud Master”, which would make him a powerful mystic indeed.
But dark forces conspired against the young hermit, and attacked him one after the other, trying to interfere with his all-important studies. Help Michael Chen wipe out these evil powers and assist him in becoming Cloud Master!”
Cloud Master Gameplay:
Cloud Master is a simple horizontal shooter set in ancient China. You control Michael Chen who rides on his cloud as the screen slowly moves to the right. Michael moves very slowly at first but you can pick up upgrades to speed up the movement of the cloud giving you an advantage as the action intensifies. For your offensive attack, Michael will shoot power balls out of his hand with unlimited reserve. Each level will present a shop that allows you to shop for upgrades to Michael’s secondary weapon. I found these extremely helpful during my Cloud Master review when facing a few of the bosses. My favorite sub-weapon to use was the crescent moon. Your main weapon can be powered up numerous times by picking up upgrades after killing enemies. I would up at the end shooting a yellow sheet of power that covered more of the screen than the tiny balls that you start with.
The enemies you face are so random and weird. Sega had fun with this game shoving random things into the game. You’ll face flying fish with Aztec heads, lions with royal faces, pig heads, tiger heads, panda heads, and my favorite, flying ramen noodle bowls. Weird enemies are always a plus during my reviews and my Cloud Master review was more interesting because of this.
Bosses were another favorite of mine from my Cloud Master review. Each level is one or two minutes long and ends with a big boss. I mean it when I say big boss because they cover a quarter of the screen. The first one is a giant rooster! After beating the level you’ll be transported to a place where “God” talks to you, letting you know you’ve done well but there’s more training in front of you. He lets you know “YOU ARE GREAT!” before sending you on your way.
The bosses continued to get weirder as the game progressed along with the common enemies. The second boss was a giant bald goblin who had a sickle. It was easy to see where their weak points are as they flash giving you a target to hit but you need to defeat them relatively quickly because if you don’t kill them in about 20 seconds, they will float to the left side of the screen almost guaranteeing that you die. Stages and bosses do grow in difficulty. Speed is the biggest threat to your death as enemies zoom by you on screen. Better make sure your cloud is powered up with speed or else you’ll be toast. The third boss was a giant Buddha with sunglasses, he was the last boss that I had an easy time beating during my Cloud Master review. It was the fourth boss that I struggled with. He was a dragon with a tail of broccoli and took forever to kill. He started to fly at me because so much time had passed, luckily for me, I was able to dodge him a few times and blew him away with my crescent moon weapon. I was nervous I would never beat him but with some luck, I prevailed.
Beating the game results in a funny scene between Michael and “God”. He begins to talk to you. “You’ve learned much, thus the end of Michael Chen and his wish. He had become the strongest superhuman in the world and people praised him and called him the great cloud master.”
Well, the title of the game is cloud master so I suppose that’s the end goal. The goal was obtainable but only with power-ups and more speed. You won’t beat Cloud Master on your first playthrough but it’s on the easier end of shooters. The shops are nice because they clear the enemies on screen too as you resume the gameplay.
Memories: I think Cloud Master gets made fun of quite a bit for being a weird shooter but I enjoyed it during my Cloud Master Review. I remember watching a few YouTube videos with the critics teasing about Cloud Master so I wanted to try it for myself.
Cloud Master Review Score:
Shooters need to stand out because there are so many of them. Cloud Master had some very unique bosses but the gameplay was simple and typical of any 80s shooter. If you want a silly time and a good laugh, Cloud Master is tolerable for an afternoon. I wouldn’t buy it but as long as you don’t take the game seriously, it can be fun.
Cloud Master scores a 6.4 out of 10.
What would you write in your Cloud Master review? Do you remember when Cloud Master first came out? What did you think of the weird enemies? Did you ever beat it and was there a boss that gave you a tough time? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!
Who doesn’t love a crossover in video games? Imagine taking the best characters from the most popular franchises and pitting them against each other in a battle royale filled with weapons and power-ups? Oh, wait does that sound familiar? Nintendo did it already? Well, in 2012 SuperBot Entertainment, Bluepoint Games, and Sony Computer Entertainment teamed up and released PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale for the PlayStation 3. It’s one wild ride in this PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Review!
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Plot:
Everyone loves power and those who have it can never get enough! In the PlayStation universe, an unknown entity is gathering the most powerful video game characters that have stepped foot onto PlayStation systems. Numerous characters make their way through the landscapes of games fighting each other in search of this entity that has called to them. As it turns out, this entity is PlayStation’s original mascot, “Polygon Man”! He attacks them seeking their powers but when the player defeats them they can absorb his power and continue back to their own games.
Who are these characters from beloved PlayStation franchises? Let’s look at the roster.
Big Daddy – BioShock Cole MacGrath (both evil and good forms) – Infamous Colonel Radec – Killzone Dante – Devil May Cry Fat Princess – Fat Princess Heihachi Mishima – Tekken Jak and Daxter – Jak and Daxter Kratos – God of War Nariko – Heavenly Sword Nathan Drake – Uncharted PaRappa – PaRappa the Rapper Raiden – Metal Gear Solid Ratchet and Clank – Ratchet and Clank Sackboy – Little Big Planet Sir Daniel Fortesque – MediEvil Sly Cooper – Sly Cooper Spike – Ape Escape Sweet Tooth – Twisted Metal Toro Inoue – Doko Demo Issyo
That’s a decent lineup of playable characters and if you get the DLC you can select Emmett Graves from Starhawk, Isaac Clarke from Dead Space, Kat and Dusty from Gravity Rush, and Zeus from God of War. There are some notable characters absent for various reasons but I really wish they would have included Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Solid Snake, Nemesis, and Gabe Logan. Everyone will have their wishlist, that’s just mine for my PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale review.
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Gameplay:
In PlayStation All-Stars, you’ll fight against multiple opponents on your way to Polygon Man. The stages are levels from famous PlayStation franchises and transform halfway through the fights. Each character has a rival that you’ll fight before Polygon Man, but the rivalries don’t mean anything or add to the already weak story.
It makes sense that Kratos is on the front cover, he is by far the strongest character from my PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale review. Kratos, Raiden, and Cole MacGrath dominate while Toro, Sackboy, and PaRappa are almost useless. I know Playstation All-Stars didn’t want to completely copy Smash Bros. and they tried to be different. In a few ways, they succeeded. Instead of being able to force your enemy off-screen or knock them off a ledge, it’s impossible to knock anyone off ledges in most levels. I believe there are two where it’s possible but it was extremely rare during my PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale review. That took a lot of the fun out of the gameplay right away. Instead of sending your friends flying, you now must destroy them. You do that by fighting in combat and earning up points that charge your meter. The meter has three levels and once it reaches any of them, you can try and land a “kill move”. Obviously, the level one kill move is weaker than a level three kill move so I usually try and wait for a level two or three kills. The cool thing is each character has three separate and unique kill moves that tailor to their personality. I enjoyed the concept of the game. A level three attack will target almost all opponents on the screen so you can get three kills immediately which is usually needed to win the match. A level one kill attacks one opponent, and a level two is somewhere in between.
Another annoyance I had during my PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale review was the cut scenes. You have a unique cast of characters that are full of personality and it would have been awesome to watch them interact with each other or quip jokes. I’m a big sucker for storylines and cut scenes and this game had almost zero. Each time a “cut scene” happened it was a drawing with the character voicing over his lines. It looked cheap. It did not “wow” me in any sort of way.
If you don’t know what you are doing, good luck. My friends and I would play this with different characters to try and figure out who fought well against who, but in the end, it just didn’t keep our attention. I need some type of story, I need cut scenes if all I’m doing is fighting random characters.
With such a big release that would rival Super Smash Bros. I thought PlayStation would put more effort into it. More characters, bigger levels, the game felt rushed to get developed. In the future, if they create a PlayStation All-Stars 2 I hope that they take the time to get things right. This game and concept have major potential, but it didn’t nail it the first time during my PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale review.
Memories: I asked for this game when I was in college for Christmas one year. I received it and was stoked to play it because I loved Super Smash Bros and figured it’d play similarly but with video game characters from my beloved PlayStation franchises. After about a week of playing it, I grew bored. I beat the game with every character but you aren’t rewarded much if anything for your victory. You can’t unlock any characters but there’s not really a story so this is just for arcade fun.
Every now and then, I’ll pull this game out when my friends come over and we’ll play it. The friends I play with really suck at it but it’s fun to watch my wife beat them.
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale Review Score:
If you are going to copy an idea, you better make yours better than the original. Unfortunately, Sony didn’t live up to the Nintendo stamp for crossover battle royales. Missing characters and lack of quality cut scenes make this a game to bring out only when you have company that needs to be entertained for a half hour. It’s not surprising this hasn’t seen a sequel. If they ever do produce one I hope they get it right because this could be a ton of fun.
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale scores a 6.8 out of 10.
What would you write for your PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale review? Do you remember when PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale first came out? What did you think of the character roster? Who did you play as and did you have issues beating Polygon Man? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!
In 1988, platformers were all the rage with Mario-type clones. Hudson Soft began to develop its own port of Sega’s arcade game “Wonder Boy” starring Master Higgins in the game “Adventure Island” released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Master Higgins would go on to star in a few sequels for the Adventure Island series. Let’s take a look at the game that kicked off the series in this Adventure Island review.
Adventure Island Plot:
Hanging out on a tropical island in the South Pacific sounds nice right? Too bad the islands in Adventure Island are filled with dangerous monsters and an evil witch doctor. This witch doctor has kidnapped Princess Leilani and it’s up to Master Higgins, a beach bum, to rescue her. Will his rescue effort earn love in this Adventure Island review?
Adventure Island Gameplay:
The main character of Adventure Island is a guy that looks like a caveman called Master Higgins. Higgins is in the South Pacific looking for a Princess named Leilani who was captured by a witch doctor. The entire game definitely has the feel of islands and caves located in the South Pacific. I’m not sure what Master Higgins’ relationship with Princess Leilani was before he heard she was captured, but if I was him, I’d say fuck that bitch. I’m not going on some wild goose chase to find you and go through 32 levels of deadly animals, fish, magic, and cliffs to find a complete stranger who may or may not be hot. Poor Master Higgins can’t even Google her to see what she looks like. But either way, Master Higgins, goes out of his way to save the Princess and so did I during this Adventure Island review.
Traveling through 32 levels was not easy at all during my Adventure Island review. There are eight worlds, that vary to some degree but each world continues to climb in difficulty. Once I reached world five, things for Master Higgins went downhill quickly. World Eight was a nightmare as it took me close to 30 tries to beat just one level. That’s a lot of tries at 30. Think about it! I found out I was focused best after taking a 15-minute break to calm myself down when I returned to the game I usually could beat whatever was troubling me on my first try back. One of the weirdest things about this game was your power-ups. Giant eggs would appear and you would crack them open to reveal a tomahawk, and throwing balls attached to strings that are on fire? There was also a skateboard which makes perfect sense complete with a helmet that helped you speed your way through the level. Adventure Island is a one-hit and you’re dead game so the skateboard added an extra hit that you can take which was nice. You also had to fight against time. The more fruit you eat the more time you got, so if you cracked open an egg to reveal a bottle of milk, that was the holy grail because you got full-time back. There was also a little angel that made you invincible for a short period. Eggs were great but you had to be careful because there was one bad thing that could come out of the egg. That item? An evil eggplant? Apparently, a developer didn’t like eggplants so if you cracked an egg and it had one, the eggplant would follow you around and eat your time bar.
The boss battles are the easiest, and most boring during my Adventure Island review. I never died once facing any of the bosses. They are just stone statues that come alive and throw fire at you while you easily dodge and throw your tomahawk at them. Each boss has a different head, but the person you never fight is the witch doctor who started this entire thing. After rescuing the princess she gives you a hug and hearts soar above Master Higgins. How precious.
Memories: In the summer of seventh grade, my house was the place to be. I would usually have four to five friends at a time either playing sports or video games with me. Seventh grade was also the time that my friends and I started to hang out with girls. That became more complicated as I didn’t want to invite them over to my house with my dad around in fear of him embarrassing me. Occasionally, my guy friends and I would play basketball at my church which was just a couple of blocks down the road from our house. The church was almost always open, and we soon discovered that we could explore it. We headed down into the basement where my Sunday school classes used to be held to find that the basement had changed quite a bit. Instead of little tables and chairs, we found a gold mine! By gold mine, I mean a few beat-up couches around an old television, a Nintendo hooked up to it, and towers and towers of free Mountain Dew Code Red stacked around the place. It was heaven, well heaven for seventh graders. So whenever we wanted to hang out with the girls, we took them to our secret hangout place. Nicknamed “the hangout” (original, I know). One of these times in “the hangout”, we decided to play the Nintendo and the game that was in it was a strange one that featured a caveman-like guy running across the screen jumping over obstacles, and eating fruit. We never got too far into the game, dying usually in the second or third level but it was enough entertainment for us even when hopped up on Mountain Dew. That game? Turns out it was Adventure Island.
Adventure Island Review Score:
Adventure Island offers another run at platformers from the 80s. It’s more difficult than Mario but suffers from boring bosses during my Adventure Island review. Master Higgins falls into the pit of lost platforming mascots from yesteryear. I’d only play this game if you love retro platformers because the game offers little to others.
Adventure Island scores a 6.5 out of 10.
What would you write in your Adventure Island review? Do you remember when Adventure Island first came out? What did you think of the weird power-ups and evil eggplant? Did you have a video game hangout growing up? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!
Video games based on movies rarely work, so how about making a video game based on one of the most commercially successful movie franchises of all time? In 1999, Big Ape Productions and LucasArts teamed up to release Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace for the original PlayStation. Is the force strong with this one? I feel a disturbance in the force in this Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace review.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Plot:
Okay, if you don’t know the plot of Star Wars Episode I, just go watch the movie instead of reading my brief explanation of the game. In short, you will be playing the majority of the game as Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn as they rescue Anakin Skywalker from the planet Tatooine. You’ll also be saving Queen Amidala from the Trade Federation who has invaded her home planet of Naboo seeking to put a stop to a trade dispute. If you don’t know how the movie goes, you shouldn’t be reading this review!
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Gameplay:
The Phantom Menace is unique in the way you play it. During my Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace review I played as Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Padme, and Captain Panaka making my way through each level. Most levels will be filled with hostile enemies like battle droids or sand people that you will have to take care of but there are also puzzles like finding the correct parts for Anakin’s podracer or making your way through the Naboo forest to reach the Gungans. The puzzles that you move objects around to clear a path or climb to a ledge are pretty easy but missions, where you need to talk to people to complete your object, are more difficult.
Each character can pick up different weapons with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon being the only two to use a lightsaber. Sometimes it’s easier to use blasters than lightsabers but I found that running or avoiding battle is even better in some situations during my Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace review. Most NPCs you can interact with by talking to them to gain information, items, side missions, or play Jedi mind tricks. This is the best part of the game in my opinion as most conversations can turn hilarious with the options you choose especially with Obi-Wan or Qui-Gon. It’s funny to listen to Jedi become so rude or play tricks on innocent beings. When I went through Mos Espa to search for Anakin I started killing some thugs that got in my way. The orphans would come running up to me and ask hilariously “Who are you gonna murder next, mister?” I’m not sure if they got the real voice actors or not but they all sound legit.
The graphics have aged terribly but I’m not sure if that’s due to the mammoth tv that I used during my Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace review. Either way, they are pretty gross and the faces are almost unrecognizable. The battles are both fun and frustrating. When you are Jedi you can use force push to knock down droids. Sometimes it kills them, other times they can still shoot you from their rear which is a nice touch. Boss fights are a big pain, they are very difficult to defeat and I found myself using blasters on them instead of lightsabers. I was killed numerous times but discovered that most bosses can be defeated by poor design. Hiding behind a corner and continuously shooting at them to lower their health is how I defeated most major enemies. They shouldn’t be so difficult but I shouldn’t be able to kill them with those easy glitches. There are no checkpoints but you can save the game whenever you want. Make sure to do that because you will die throughout the levels.
Most levels are designed well and filled with secrets to discover, but there are a few that are extremely agitating with switches and locks located in extremely hidden areas that will take you ages to discover without looking at a guide. The biggest complaint from my Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace review is how stupid JarJar and Queen Amidala are in the game. JarJar I expect because he is completely useless and might be the worst character in the galaxy but Amidala I expected more from! She bitches and complains every second in the game and her escort missions are the worst. She’ll yell at you that she can keep up and move forward. But before you know it she’s disappeared and stayed behind so you have to go back and find her. Once you do, you’ll slowly walk and check to make sure she is following you but she’ll yell at you to keep moving. She doesn’t listen well either and walks right into the line of fire which results in her death. She should just stay that way to save the galaxy. When you are in Mos Espa she loses JarJar and asks for your help. You talk to her about it and then she says informs you that she doesn’t need your help and to move along. Bitch, make up your mind! When I did an escort mission with her on Coruscant where she squabbled every two seconds about how the bad guys were coming that I literally went into the setting and turned off the volume for the voices because she was so annoying.
The final battle with Darth Maul was just like the other boss fights. I had no idea what I was doing and just hacking away with my lightsaber after trying to weaken him with a blaster. He killed me a few times during my Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace review and it looked like I had no hope of beating him because I had low health going into the fight. On one attempt I randomly beat him but his health bar never showed up and he died after thirty seconds of fighting him. Was it a glitch? Was it the force? Who knows.
The game omits the entire Naboo battle between the gungans and the battle droids as well as Anakin in his Naboo Fighter in space. I wish I could have played one of those battles but the game does offer many missions that take anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes to complete.
Memories: I was in third grade when Star Wars Episode I came out in theaters. I’m pretty sure it was released on the last day of school and I remember rushing home on my bike so my parents could drive me to my cousin who was in college. He wanted to take me to see the movie as we both loved Star Wars. He even gave me a green lightsaber before we left and an ice cream cookie. What a cool guy! I loved the movie as a kid and believe it’s the best of the prequels although that’s not saying much.
About a year later, my dad I and were out shopping like we usually did on the weekends. It was a tradition that my dad let me pick out a PlayStation game or Pokemon cards whenever we went shopping. This time I decided I wanted a PS1 game and found Star Wars Episode I. He bought it but unfortunately for me, we had one more stop before heading home. It was World Market and my dad likes to spend what seems like hours in the store looking at all the weird foreign things. The only thing that helped pass the time was reading the manual of the game while I sat in a chair as my dad browsed the store. I was so impatient and couldn’t wait to get home!
I loved playing the game and all the cool dialogue options you could choose. Murdering innocent lifeforms throughout the game always gave me a kick to hear their dying screams or cries for help. I know it sounds terrible but if you’ve played it you know what I mean. I spent hours just exploring the cities and planets, I couldn’t get enough but I could never beat the game either as a kid. There’s also an amazing music video that comes with the game. I watched it so many times, I’m sure I had it memorized as a kid. Watching it again was the cherry on top of my Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace review.
My friend became obsessed with the game and even wrote a walkthrough for it in fifth grade. It’s funny because he doesn’t get excited about anything now but back then he loved this game and was a huge nerd about it.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Review Score:
Star Wars Episode I is a nice attempt at a faithful adaption of the movie. It adds its own elements to the story and blends missions of action and strategy together well. The graphics look very poor now and there’s some bad design with bosses and a few levels. It’s worth a playthrough and worth exploring all the worlds, especially to a kid back in 1999 who loved Star Wars.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace scores a 7.8 out of 10.
What would you write in your Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace review? Do you remember when Star Wars Episode I first came out? Who was your favorite character to play as? What was your favorite level? Did Queen Amidala annoy the hell out of you? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!
Capcom has created some of the most memorable action-horror series with Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, and Devil May Cry. One series that flies under the radar is Onimusha and that’s too bad because it’s terrific. Combining ancient Japan wars with a demon-infested setting made for one of the best games on the PlayStation 2. In 2001, Capcom developed and published Onimusha to both critical and commercial success. The game would spawn numerous sequels and spin-offs. Zombie demons in ancient Japan are around the corner in this Onimusha review!
Onimusha Plot:
Onimusha has to have one of the most unique settings and combinations in the story. What other video game, let alone a movie or book gives you Japan centuries ago with demons and zombies playing politics in war. It’s so good!
In the opening video (and much more on that later,) the Battle of Okehazama is starting with Nobunaga Oda leading the way. Both the battle and Nobunaga are real-life events and people which makes this Onimusha review even cooler. Nobunaga’s army is victorious but he is killed by an arrow that goes through his throat. His body is then given to the demons of the underworld. They perform rituals on him and revive him as a demon warlord to do their bidding. From hidden journals in the game, you discover that other famous warlords like Alexader the Great and Genghis Khan also went through this.
Nobunaga’s army continues its invasion of Japan and invades the Inabayama Castle capturing Princess Yuki and choosing to sacrifice her in an ancient ritual to grant Nobunaga more power to take over Japan. You play as Samanosuke a samurai for a neighboring clan that is at war with Nobunaga. After receiving a letter asking for help from his cousin Princess Yuki, Samanosuke and his sidekick ninja Kaede set out for the castle to investigate. After being defeated by a large demon, Samanosuke receives help from the Ogre Clan spirits that were defeated by the demons some time ago. They gift him a gauntlet to seal the demon souls away.
Upon investigating the castle, Samanosuke discovers that the castle has been overrun by demons and zombie soldiers of Nobunaga. He and Kaede make their way through the castle grounds and the castle itself collecting three legendary swords to help fight off the demons. Samanosuke enters the demon realm just in time to find Princess Yuki and her brother chained to a wall about to be sacrificed to the demon God Fortinbras who will give more power to the zombie Nobunaga. Samanosuke defeats Fortinbras using his arm gauntlet that temporarily transforms him into an Onimusha. – (a powerful god-like warrior)
Princess Yuki is set free with her brother as Samanosuke mysteriously disappears afterward viewing the castle from a distance.
Onimusha Gameplay:
Like other Capcom franchises that combine action and horror, you’ll be thrown into a large area to explore full of puzzles and secrets with enemies scattered throughout. During my Onimusha review, there were three swords to collect each with different powers and elements. The first sword you get is a lightning sword that has decent power and speed. There’s a fire sword that is very powerful but slow and a wind sword that is very quick but not as powerful. Each sword comes with a magical attack that is crucial to use throughout the game to defeat opponents.
The setting in Onimusha captures your imagination. The prerendered graphics are beautiful with blood splattered on the walls, bodies of impaled soldiers littered about, and detailed rooms filled with curious objects. I loved exploring each room during my Onimusha review and never lost my sense of awe throughout the experience. Samanosuke can block with his sword and pull off critical attacks but you’ll hack-n-slash your way through most demons. There’s a finishing move that you can perform on downed enemies where Samanosuke stabs downward with his sword in one smooth motion. I love doing it and it’s very satisfying. You’ll also get a bow and arrow and even a matchlock gun to use on enemies that fly or are located on higher grounds.
Each sword is upgradable using the souls you collect after killing demons. There are magic mirrors throughout the game that let you save and enhance your weapons which you need to do to advance and unlock rooms. I loved watching the soul meter fill up after each demon I killed during my Onimusha review. There’s a demon realm that you can gain access to about halfway through the game. If you defeat all twenty floors you’re rewarded with a musical instrument that will give you a legendary sword right before the final boss. This sword almost guarantees victory as it is incredibly powerful but it’s no easy task making your way down twenty demon realm floors to get it.
Puzzles are critical to advancing throughout the game as you’ll collect plot-driven items and keys to advance further into the castle. The puzzles range from easy to mild difficulty. There’s a puzzle you need to complete to save Samanosuke from drowning in a room filling with water that will give you plenty of anxiety but just keep your head cool and you’ll figure it out. You’ll play as both Samanosuke and his cute sidekick Kaede who fights with her long daggers and throwing ninja blades. It was refreshing to use someone else in my Onimusha review for different parts of the game who controlled nothing like Samanosuke. With Kaede, it was best to dodge and avoid all opponents rather than face them.
There are numerous boss fights throughout Onimusha. I didn’t struggle with any of them during my Onimusha review but I remember as a kid they were pretty tough. You’ll have to have plenty of magic stored up and a few herbs or medicine to defeat them. The final boss is Fortinbras who I found as a letdown. He’s a snakelike demon and a bit lame. I was hoping to fight Nobunaga but instead, the real demon god came out. He was very easy to beat but then again I had the legendary sword. If you fight him without that sword, you may have a much longer battle. Another small mark against Onimusha is the voice acting. It plays just like an Asian dubbed film. Sometimes their mouths move and nothing comes out while other times they are talking but their mouths aren’t moving. It’s comical but I wish they would have gotten it more accurate with the English voices.
When I was a kid it took me months to get to the end. I fought so hard just to beat some demons and puzzles took some time for me to figure out. After not playing Onimusha for over 15 years, I set aside two weeks to devote to beating it and completing my Onimusha review. I beat the game in less than five hours. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe how short the game was! I know that the puzzles were easier now and I knew all the objectives of the game but I still expected a longer playthrough.
Memories: It was my sixth-grade birthday party and it was the first time that instead of gifts from my friends, they gave me money. I came out with a pretty good haul that year, about $80 total from my friends. My dad took me to Walmart that week and I spent my money on a GameShark (that was dumb of me) and Onimusha for the PS2. I don’t remember why I bought it but I remember it was my third game for the PS2 with NCAA Football 2002 being the first.
The intro video consumed me. I was so blown away by how amazing it looked and the action it packed into it. It was a giant war scene set in ancient Japan with samurais and zombies. It was not going to get any cooler for a 12-year-old. I lived close to the middle school and used to bring all my friends over just to show them the intro video and how awesome it was. They thought it was pretty rad too but probably not as cool as I did.
I spent hours in the demon realm trying to reach the 20th floor. I didn’t know why treasure awaited me but I just had to reach it. One day an older neighborhood kid came over and just watched me fight my way into the demon realm for hours. It sucked because no matter how many times I tried I just couldn’t beat it. It wouldn’t be until ninth grade that I finally beat Onimusha after popping it back in after a few years.
Onimusha Review Score:
Onimusha is tremendous with its atmosphere, unique story, and combination of action and weapon upgrades. You’ll find yourself transported to another world that has you begging to explore more lore and kill more demons. You’ll love every moment of Onimusha but you better savor it because it’s a very short game if you know what you are doing. Onimusha is a must-have if you own a PS2.
Onimusha scores a 9.4 out of 10.
What would you write in your Onimusha review? Do you remember when Onimusha first came out? What was your favorite sword to use? Did you beat the demon realm and use the legendary sword to defeat Fortinbras? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!
Kart Racing was becoming a popular genre in the video game world by the late 90s. Mario Kart 64 was released in February of 1997 on the Nintendo 64 to massive commercial success. That same year, in November Rare, released Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64. Would there be enough room on the track for both games? We’re at the starting line in this Diddy Kong Racing review!
Diddy Kong Racing Plot:
Unlike Mario Kart, my Diddy Kong Racing review has a plot. Diddy Kong racing takes place on an island. That island let’s call it Timber’s Island is run by Timber the Tiger and his parents. Timber’s parents decide to go on vacation leaving him in charge. While they are gone, Timber’s Island is invaded by an evil intergalactic wizard named Wizpig. This Wizpig is an expert kart racer and having conquered all of the courses on his home planet comes to Timber Island to challenge the tracks. Wizpig forces Tricky the Triceratops, Blue the Walrus, Bubbler the Octopus, and Smokey the Dragon to be his four leaders of the island. Fearing the island is in the hands of Wizpig forever, Timber recruits the best kart racers to his island to challenge Wizpig and his four leaders. If you are successful and defeat all four leaders on their various tracks and challenges, then Wizpig opens up his tracks. Beating him results in Wizpig being launched back into space and Timber’s island returning to normalcy.
Diddy Kong Racing Gameplay:
I had Crash Team Racing as a kid and thought it was one of the best games ever. Diddy Kong Racing and I put an emphasis on racing because the game is not just karts, surely inspired CTR. The game takes place on Timber Island as the hub world. You’ll be able to operate a kart, boat, and airplane as you explore the island as the game progresses. There’s not much difference between the boat and the kart, but the plane courses have obstacles that I needed to fly over or under during my Diddy Kong Racing review.
You’ll be able to select from numerous video game characters with some of them being very recognizable from Rare’s other games. I chose to play as Diddy Kong in my Diddy Kong Racing review as the game is named after him but you can also pick Conker and Banjo two famous characters in their own respect. Aside from them, you can play as a crocodile, turtle, stopwatch, mouse, and badger although I don’t know why you’d ever play as any of them. Whoever you pick, you’ll be collecting golden balloons to unlock new races and sections of the island.
Like Mario Kart, you’ll be able to collect weapons and power-ups during the race. Throughout the track, there are colored balloons. Each color represents a different power-up you will get. You can get things like a missile, oil spill, turbo boost, and shield. If you choose not to use the power-up and run over another balloon of the same color of the power-up will increase in power or quantity. Each victory will give you a balloon from the local elephant genie. You can also race him around the island for a chance to win three golden balloons, which I did during my Diddy Kong Racing review.
The bosses of each section are unique and instead of racing you in a kart or plane, they will use their bodies in the race. I didn’t expect that during my Diddy Kong Racing review and it was fun to race a dinosaur up the mountain or an octopus around the sea. They will cheat and get a head start but once you catch up or use a weapon on them the key is staying in front to avoid the hazards they scatter throughout the course. I found most races to be easy until I reached the fourth section which gave me a big challenge in a village course. I raced that track almost twenty times before claiming victory. Like most kart games there are shortcuts and secrets to be discovered. They aren’t obvious but once you learn them they’ll help you immensely.
Where I have a gripe in my Diddy Kong Racing review is the excessive collecting in this game. Most kart games offer the option to re-race tracks with the reward of bonuses or other small challenges. Well, if you want to beat Diddy Kong Racing, you better learn to love collecting and a big increase in difficulty. When you beat the leader of a section they’ll challenge you to complete all the challenges in their land and race them again. This means that you’ll not only have to win on all the tracks again but collect silver coins and other requirements to win more balloons. You have to do this if you want to reach the end of the game and it’s a lot harder than the first time you raced. One challenge is to collect silver coins that are on the track and still win the race. It’s a lot easier said than done when the coins are off the beaten path and require lots of skill to collect and stay in first. It’s difficult and I felt unnecessary to make it mandatory. Keep that feature in but let extreme completists take these challenges on.
One thing I was happy to see during my Diddy Kong Racing review was the absence of a rubber band effect like Mario Kart 64 has. Get too far behind the leader, good luck catching up. You’ll also have the opportunity to blow by the other racers with no chance of them catching you. It makes the game more built around skill than luck. If Mario Kart does have an advantage over Diddy Kong Racing it’s the steering. I felt that karts slide around the track too easily compared to what I was used to in Mario Kart 64.
Memories: Diddy Kong Racing was unheard of in my childhood. All my friends played Mario Kart 64 so I didn’t hear about Diddy Kong Racing until a few years ago when a friend was talking about how they preferred it over Mario Kart. I checked it out just for this review and was surprised that it still holds up to this day.
Diddy Kong Racing Review Score:
If you want more to your kart racing game than just pure arcade fun, give Diddy Kong Racing a serious look. It will keep you playing for hours as you explore the island collecting balloons and completing tasks.
Diddy Kong Racing scores an 8.4 out of 10.
What would you write in your Diddy Kong Racing review? Do you remember when Diddy Kong Racing first came out? Who did you pick to play as? Do you like DKR or Mario Kart 64 better? Did you beat the game or did you give up on completing all the challenges? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!
Released in 1991 for the Super Nintendo, “Final Fight” introduced us to the crime-fighting mayor, Mike Haggar. With its success in the arcades, Capcom ported Final Fight to the Super Nintendo but the North American version was censored and changed for the sensitive eyes of American kids. Was it still a good game? We dial up Mike Haggar in this Final Fight review!
Final Fight Plot:
The game takes place in the fictional place of “Metro City”. Crime had overrun the city until former professional wrestler turned mayor, Mike Haggar took office. Since taking office, the mayor has cleaned up crime and Metro City has turned into a relatively peaceful place. There’s one gang still running the streets, and the “Mad Gears” want to send a message to Mayor Haggar. These thugs decide to kidnap Jessica, the daughter of Haggar to teach him a lesson! Unfortunately for the Mad Gears, they’ve underestimated Haggar’s determination and sheer power, and will to get his daughter back.
Haggar and Jessica’s boyfriend, Cody team up and decide to clean the streets of the Mad Gears and get Jessica back! There’s not too much to the plot in my Final Fight review but you get it. Beat up the bad guys!
Final Fight Gameplay:
Arcade beat ’em ups are notoriously hard as the programmers want players to shovel in quarters to make a profit. Final Fight is tough in the arcades and continues this difficulty for the SNES. In the arcade, you could choose to be Haggar, Cody, and Cody’s ninja friend “Guy”. In the SNES version which I used for my Final Fight review, you pick between just Haggar and Cody. I chose to be Haggar with his giant size and dad mustache.
The game starts with a small cutscene with Haggar receiving a phone call in his office informing him that the Mad Gears have his daughter etc… I assume that’s what the phone call was about because the text flew by and was difficult to read in that short of time. Infuriated by the news of his daughter’s kidnapping Haggar rips off his shirt to reveal suspenders and marches down the building to kick the ass of the Mad Gears.
I fought these thugs in five different areas through the city during my Final Fight review on my way to the skyscraper that holds Jessica. There are a few different types of gang members you’ll fight, each with patterns and various health bars. Some have knives that they use, but for the most part, they all fight with their fists or charge at you. There’s the typical thug who has low health and is easy to defeat. Advanced members look like Andre the Giant complete with his brown afro, these big boys can take a beating. Other guys you’ll face are big fat Asian guys who look like sumo wrestlers, green and orange-haired guys in white cutoffs that cartwheel around the screen, and guys who throw dynamite at you. The dynamite throwers might as well be members of the Taliban with suicide vests on as they set fire to almost everything on screen including themselves.
You won’t be overwhelmed too much on the SNES version as no more than three guys will be on the screen giving you a decent chance at fighting. Don’t get stuck between two guys though as that spells game over, they’ll both punch you making it impossible to escape their clutches. Speaking of clutches, big Mike Haggar’s main attack is punching and his bear hug. He can grab ahold of any guy no matter the size and suplex them to the ground. During my Final Fight review, it was fun to grab a guy and suplex them behind my back to send them into a pile of thugs knocking them all over. If you get really good at it, you can pull off advanced suplexes where Haggar jumps and does crazy maneuvers. I pulled this off a few times but mostly by mistake.
The difficulty really spikes after the first level. I didn’t have any issues defeating the thugs and end boss of the first level during my Final Fight review but it ramps up afterward. The health bars get longer for the guys you fight and it seems like there are more of them. You can destroy barrels or tires to reveal food to restore your health or weapons like pipes or knives to bash the enemies with although the knives sucked, you just throw them and they always miss.
Boss fights are fun but you’ll die a ton. A cool samurai is waiting for you in a wrestling ring complete with two swords. Knock the swords out of his hands and use them against him to defeat him faster. There’s a big cop that pulls out his pistol and fires it at you and then there’s the final boss. He’s zooming around in an office chair with Jessica on his lap during the first portion of the fight. Break the chair and he starts shooting at you with a crossbow that deals massive damage. Without the help from a game genie during my Final Fight review, there’s no way I would beat Final Fight on my own. It’s super hard!
Fun mini-games like smashing a car and breaking glass in a factory break up the levels and add a cool feature to the game to score more points. I loved the graphics of Final Fight, everything is detailed in the background, and smashing things like the car are aesthetically pleasing.
There are a few changes from the arcade to the SNES. They lightened the skin of some of the thugs and two bosses had their names changed to more appropriate names. Poison and Roxy were two female thugs that were in the arcade but Nintendo of America didn’t want kids beating up women in games so they swapped them out.
Memories: I don’t have any of Final Fight besides playing it in the arcade a few times. I never had a SNES growing up and nobody that I knew had Final Fight. It was fun to see where Mike Haggar originated from though.
Final Fight Review Score:
My favorite thing about my Final Fight review is the graphics. I love how colorful they are and the details that go into them. I found a “zen-like” zone that I could get into with Haggar when fighting the thugs. When I entered that I was kicking their butt effortless but other times I got surrounded and was destroyed. It’s a tough game and anyone that beats it without the help of a game genie, I’m impressed!
Final Fight scores a 7.4 out of 10.
What would you write in your Final Fight review? Do you remember when Final Fight first came out? Who did you pick to play as? Do you like the arcade or SNES version better? Did you beat the game or did you need help like me? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!
The Dead or Alive series was officially on a roll and launched the third game in the franchise in 2001 for the Xbox. Developer Team Ninja and publisher Tecmo teamed up and gave Microsoft fans an exclusive as DOA3 was only released for the Xbox. Would the series continue to build momentum? Did the girls still have huge tits that bounced everywhere? They kick high in this Dead or Alive 3 review!
Dead or Alive 3 Plot:
I’m learning that the Dead or Alive franchise likes to dive into the supernatural for their final bosses. After the events of DOA2 where Ryu Hayabusa defeated an evil Tengu who was causing massive havoc throughout the world. (Terrible boss) While the Tengu entity was defeated, his curse continued and caused the world to fall into collapse.
Remember Hayate? The brother of Kasumi who was crippled in the first game and a science DNA project in the second game? Well, the scientific facility that he escaped from that was located in Germany has continued experiments on humans. They started a new test on Genra, the head ninja of the clan that Ayane belonged to as a child. Genra was the adoptive father of Ayane and he’s been turned into an evil superpowered human who is continuing the evil reign that the Tengu started in the second game!
Kasumi won the first tournament, Ryu Hayabusa the second, and for the third tournament, Ayane comes away with the victory and stops her adoptive father in the process. We’ll take a look at the playable fighters for my Dead or Alive 3 review as the roster gets expanded significantly for the first time.
Kasumi – Day after day she is forced to defend herself from attempts on her life by highly skilled assassins. Then, one day, Kasumi learns that Hayate is to be at the DOA tournament. Though she finally meets her long-lost brother in this last tournament, it is impossible for a runaway shinobi ever to return home in peace.
Ryu Hayabusa – He’s the modern super ninja, and best friend of Kasumi’s brother, Hayate. In the last tournament, he successfully brought down the Tenju. But before he allows himself to relax in a new era of relative peace, Ryu must enter the tournament again, this time to save the world from Genra, an evil being created by the DOATEC.
Zack – He’s the funky dude who taught himself, Muay Thai. One day, after spending his winnings from the last DOA tournament, Zack realizes he has a problem. He has forgotten to do what he always wanted to do – enjoy the many luxuries of a Las Vegas vacation! In order to whip up some cash for his Vegas trip, Zack is back in his combat mode, heading for DOA.
Gen Fu – He fought in the last DOA to obtain the money needed to cure his sick granddaughter, Mei Lin, who was suffering the ravages of a rare disease. Thanks to the prize money, Mei Lin is growing better and better every day. However, one last surgery, which will require a vast sum of money, is needed to cure her completely. To save the life of his granddaughter, Gen Fu fights once again.
Tina Armstrong – She’s a superstar in the world of women’s wrestling, and the only daughter of the professional wrestler Bass. She is a woman of boundless ambition who thirsts for even greater fame and celebrity. Although she finally made her debut as a model following the last tournament, she now wants to be an actress. So, Tina decides to enter DOA one more time.
Bass Armstrong – He’s an undefeated bad guy professional wrestler. Although Bass has already retired from his job, he enters DOA to stop his daughter Tina from winning the tournament. Bass loves his daughter very much, but he has always wanted Rina to become a professional wrestler. Hearing that Tina now wants to be an actress, he is extremely upset.
Leon – Rolande, a woman thief of the Silk Road, died saying “The man I love is the strongest man in the world.” In order to justify his lover’s last words, Leon entered the last DOA, only to be defeated. With memories of Rolande still haunting him, Leon declares, “I shall win this time,” pledging his all upon the grave of a woman whose body lies buried beneath the desert floor.
Bayman – He’s back! Bayman was a playable character in the first DOA and was an unlockable fighter in the second but you couldn’t use him in the story mode. He returns to DOA3. A professional assassin who acquired his skills in the military, Bayman, assassinated the founder of the DOA tournament after the first game. Donovan, the man that hired Bayman to do the hit sent a sniper after him but Bayman escaped. In retaliation against his former client, Bayman decides he’ll show up at DOA.
Jann Lee – The fighter without a cause, still walks a lonely path. Though the reputation of Jann Lee – the Dragon, as he is called – is universal, his search for a stronger enemy never ends. His presence is still prominent in DOA, and his battle cry can still be heard.
Leifang – She’s known to many as the young genius of T’ai Chi Quan. Ever since Jann Lee saved her from a gang of thugs, she has entered DOA to test her skills against his. Jann Lee has demonstrated his superior skills in the last two tournaments, but Leifang won’t let that stop her. “This time, I am going to beat him!” (She doesn’t) But she was my favorite again during my Dead or Alive 3 review.
Helena – She is the illegitimate daughter of the coupling between Fame Douglas, leader of DOATEC, and his mistress. Whether she likes it or not, she is dragged into the intertwined conspiracies within the huge DOATEC organization as the only living relative of Douglas. Captured at last by the anti-Douglas faction of DOATEC, Donovan challenges her to win in the DOA Tournament. If she really wants the truth, she has no choice but to fight.
Hayate – He’s the brother of Kasumi and half-brother to Ayane. As the 18th leader of the Mugen Tenshin ninjas, he was the subject of DOATEC’s experimental superhuman project (Project Epsilon) in which he lost his memory. But, in the last tournament, he recovered his memory and was officially ordained as the leader of the Mugen Tenshin. He is now set to enter DOA again in order to defeat Genra, the superhuman created as a puppet of DOATEC’s Project Omega.
Ayane – She’s the half-sister of Kasumi and Hayate. Ayane’s former teacher and foster parent, Genra, the leader of the Mugen Tenshin ninjas that have disappeared. Ayane, now the most powerful shinobi learns that Genra has been turned into a puppet by DOATEC and its dastardly Omega Project. Seeing what has become of her beloved father figure, Ayane realizes that fate commands her to put Genra out of misery.
NEW FIGHTERS:
Christie – Possessed of all characteristics required of an assassin, this cold-blooded woman has undergone the ultimate adaptation – excelling in the art of She Quan, which she employs to the fullest. Christie has been hired by Donovan, leader of DOATEC’s anti-Douglas faction, and enters DOA in order to keep an eye on Helena.
Brad Wong – One day, the old master Chen, the great teacher of Zui Ba Xian Quan, says to Brad: “Bring me the legendary drink. The name is “Genra.” These words are a riddle to Brad Wong, and he begins his journey in search of the mysterious “Genra.” After three years of wandering, he finds himself in a fighting tournament.
Hitomi – She is the daughter of a Japanese mother and a German karate master. She has been practicing karate under her father’s tutelage since she was just a child. Hitomi has always wanted to fight in DOA in order to test her formidable skills against the real world, and her father has finally allowed her to participate.
Dead or Alive 3 Gameplay:
DOA3 takes a big step backward in the voice acting department. In the second game, English voice acting is offered as the default but in the next game, there’s no English available at all when I played through my Dead or Alive 3 review! What the heck, why not offer it if it was in the second game? I looked in the options menu and there’s no way to change it. The only way I knew what was going on was to read the subtitles which isn’t a big deal but I was disappointed.
The opening video is cool with Aerosmith wailing away on the guitar, so at least they kept the rock music theme during my Dead or Alive 3 review. There are a ton more fighters to choose from and I enjoyed learning about the new characters. Brad Wong was my least favorite as he’s just a drunk but Hitomi and Christie have potential. In the second DOA, the environment became part of the fight. You were able to send opponents into breakable objects or knock them off ledges to deal extra damage. DOA3 expands on this. You’ll be sending opponents through windows, cliffs, and more. There are breakable objects in the area to smash the opposing fighter through like icicles, torches, and electric signs. They put a great amount of detail into the areas you fight in. Snow grounds have imprints on where you step or fall, brick tiles break when you land on them and when you shove an opponent against a palm tree, coconuts fall from it! This was a great touch and I’m happy to see that Team Ninja continued to improve the environment.
Genra aka “Omega” is the final boss and once again I was disappointed during my Dead or Alive 3 review. His opening is identical to Darth Maul’s double-lightsaber introduction in Star Wars Episode I. You can bet that Team Ninja was inspired by that sequence. My problem with Omega is that he has very few moves and they are cheap. He’ll shoot energy balls at you that can’t be blocked, the camera angle is different for this fight and the screen is blurry. I’d much rather fight a super-powerful fighter to win the tournament than some weird demon in armor that has very little to do with the DOA tournament. Another thing that sucks about Omega is whenever you can knock him down when his body touches the ground it also damages you. What’s up with that?
The difficulty level was bumped up a bit from the second one but not as tough as the first game. I didn’t have any issues defeating fighters during my Dead or Alive 3 review but when I faced Omega it took me an annoying amount of tries to defeat him on the “normal” setting. At least when you defeat him, you are presented with a cool video for each character. That feature is something that DOA has improved each game. The first was just some dumb picture of the character when you beat the game, the second gave you a small video but the third expands the video and gives you a better idea of the personalities of the fighters.
DOA3 offers a ton of modes including team battle, survival, “watch mode” and movie mode where you can watch the ending videos of each character which I thought was a great idea. As far as I know, there’s no weird option about the boobs in this game like there was in the first two DOAs. Don’t worry, the girls still have quite a bit of skin showing and Christie is nude in her end video.
Leifang has been my favorite fighter to use in the first two DOAs but she has some competition now. Jann Lee is the perfect combination of speed and power for my Dead or Alive 3 review but Leifang is still fun to use and I enjoyed Christie’s weird punches where her hands are like biting snakes.
Memories: I have no idea why, but for some reason, my mom bought me DOA3 when I was in middle school. I never asked for it but she was happy with my report card and randomly gave me the game as a “good job”. I didn’t complain as I loved video games (obviously) but it was my introduction to the DOA series. Back then, I was just as disappointed to learn that they didn’t speak English which may have been why I didn’t play it as much as I should have.
A few years later my mom threw her annual Christmas party. My mom and stepdad are very well off and many snobby and artsy people attend. I had attended a few times, it was fun for the most part and they even hired a magician one year to walk around and perform tricks. I brought two friends with me one year and nobody was hanging out with us so we just went to my room upstairs and played DOA3 for the entire party. It was fun! Another 10 years would pass before I completed my Dead or Alive 3 review.
Dead or Alive 3 Review Score:
I prefer the PS2 controller over the old duke of the Xbox any day for any game. The controller made the experience less than perfect for DOA3 but that’s more of a dig at the Xbox than DOA3. Unfortunately, because DOA3 was an Xbox exclusive, it was the only way to play the game. I also couldn’t believe the English acting was absent!
DOA3 offers a large cast of fighters and puts them into detailed interactive environments that are satisfying to fight in. It’s a great game, but I think I like the second DOA better.
Dead or Alive 3 scores a 7.9 out of 10.
What would you write in your Dead or Alive 3 review? Do you remember when Dead or Alive 3 first came out? Who is your favorite fighter to use in this game? What did you think of the English voice acting being absent? What about Omega, could you defeat him? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!
In 2013, developer Starbreeze Studios and publisher 505 Games teamed up to release “Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons” for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and later remastered for the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The game features unique controls and a story that pulls at your heartstrings as you control two Brothers as they embark on a deeply personal quest. Be careful of the web of lies in this Brothers A Tale of Two Sons review.
Brothers A Tale of Two Sons Plot:
My Brothers A Tale of Two Sons review revolved around the plot of two brothers, a younger boy named Naiee, and his older brother in his (probably) late teens named Naia. They have lost their mother who drowned at sea. Naiee was there and was unable to get the courage to rescue her from the water. Their father has fallen ill and his outlook is grime without the assistance of medicine.
The village doctor tells the boys that the only way to save their father is to collect the waters from the Tree of Life which would require them to take a great journey. Not wanting to lose their father, the brothers decide to venture to the Tree of Life. The trip brings the brothers closer together as they face dangers in the town, a local farm, forests, caves, castles, and rivers.
One of the dangers I encountered during my Brothers a Tale of Two Sons review is a bloodthirsty tribe that is ready to sacrifice a girl. After rescuing the girl from the tribe, she joins them on their journey slowly seducing the older brother Naia much to the annoyance of Naiee. The girl leads the brothers into a cave revealing herself to be a deadly spider as she transforms before them. Turns out the tribe was doing the right thing in sacrificing her!
The brothers team up and kill the spider but she has one last spurt of energy before she dies and stabs the eldest brother with a poisonous barb. Naia is wounded but continues the journey with his younger brother to the Tree of Life. When they reach the tree, Naia is too weak to climb to the top of the giant planet. He sits down and motions Naiee to continue without him and get the water at the top. Naiee collects the water and returns to the bottom to find his older brother dead. He digs a grave for his brother before making his return trip to his hometown.
Throughout my Brothers a Tale of Two Sons review, Naiee’s fear of water forced Naia to swim across rivers with Naiee on his back. Alone, Naiee is scared to cross the water as he remembers his mother drowning. Her spirit visits him and gives him the courage to cross the water. Naiee’s father recovers from his illness with the water from the Tree of Life. The game ends as both he and Naiee mourn over two tombstones of the mother and Naia.
Talk about morbid! It’s a sad tale but tells the emotional story of the courage of two brothers who are willing to sacrifice everything for their family.
Brothers A Tale of Two Sons Gameplay:
Each brother is controlled by a joystick making the controls unique. It’s different but it works. Naiee and Naia are different sizes and can do different things. Naiee is smaller and able to fit into little spaces or crawl through fences. Naia is stronger and can push or pull levers or ropes to open doors. Together, you use both brothers to solve whatever puzzle is stopping you from continuing. The journey that the brothers took during my Brothers a Tale of Two Sons review was filled with strange conundrums. You’ll have to control them as you trick the town bully, run from the farmer’s attack dog, scare away wolves in the forest, and hide from an invisible giant in a snowy abandoned town. There are friends to be made too on your journey. The brothers help two trolls who are imprisoned escape from their prison tombs, stop a man from committing suicide, help an inventor test out his gadgets, and befriend a griffin. The language that the brothers speak is fictional, so everything is acted out through gestures. I didn’t mind it, I think it made the game special.
The environments were beautiful to explore in my Brothers a Tale of Two Sons review. Each area feels so lived in with plenty of stories to tell. My favorite section was a mountainous pass where a great war between giants had taken place recently. The brothers had to move the limbs of the dead to proceed but it made me wonder what had happened and why there was a war. I rarely was killed on the journey, it’s not a difficult game but some aspects of jumping frustrated me. I remember there was a cave sequence where Naia kept missing the hanging rope and fell to his death a few times.
My Brothers A Tale of Two Sons review was a great experience and left me wanting more lore to their land. Unfortunately, it’s very short. If I recall correctly I beat the entire game within a span of two to three hours which made my wife upset as she had just bought it for me!
Memories: I had no idea what to expect from this game when I started my Brothers a Tale of Two Sons review. I just heard that you control both brothers with the joysticks so I wanted to play the game for myself. I loved the environments as they sucked me in. I was shocked to watch the eldest brother die. I enjoy twists in stories and while the entire game is dark, I didn’t expect one of the brothers to die. I didn’t mind it, in fact, I loved it. Not all heroes make it home and not all stories have happy endings. On one hand, you have the younger brother who has gained courage from this trip and a father who is healed but on the other hand, the eldest brother died during the trip. Could his death have been avoided? Probably, he was the one that was seduced by the girl who turned into the spider. He dug his own grave.
Brothers A Tale of Two Sons Review Score Overall:
Fantastic environments, covered in a dark theme of death and depression with a unique control system for the brothers make this game stand out. Its short length is the only thing holding the game back, and it’s too bad because I want a lot more of it. If the developers could stretch the gameplay out to ten hours it would have been a huge boost.
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons scores an 8.5 out of 10.
What would you write in your Brothers A Tale of Two Sons review? Do you remember Brothers A Tale of Two Sons when it first came out? What other video games offer unique controls like this one? Who was your favorite brother and were you surprised with Naia died? Let me know your memories and thoughts, I’d love to read the comments!
Tiger Chainsaw 