Artwork by ~Asashi-Kami

• 19Apr 13

  First Quarter of the Year Gaming Update, and Phantom Limbs

  Oh man I think this is one of the longest stretches its been since I've written a blog, but there's a few things to cover, and the last few months have yielded a great deal of new games for me. It may be late but i might as well cover everything so lets get started!!

  

   

  Pokemon Black version 2

   

  Once pokemon X and Y were announced i got that itch, you know that pokemon itch that we all get form time to time, and i had to fulfill that need quick. As suggested by my buddy CcJj from TGNGU i tried to find of the black and white titles, but at the time i couldn't and since i knew black and white 2 were available i went with black 2 to hold me over for the time being. Pokemon has changed very little in the way of things, same overall scenario: kid gets pokemon, travels on huge adventure, and foils evil organization bent on world domination. While this has that,  it does it in a much better way than what i remember previously, although from what i hear the story in the original black and white 2 is leagues better than the sequel, but for what it was i enjoyed it. The gameplay was very streamlined and sleek as well, with a nice presentation and layout that made battling even better than before.  The game locales and atmosphere were great as well, i never thought battling on a fashion show catwalk would ever be as entertaining as it was. Overall its an excellent entry in the series and hopefully X and Y will top it in every sense of the word (new mewtwo is a good start).

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  Metal Gear Rising Revengeance

   

  Who knew raiden would have ever ended up as cool as he currently is? Let alone another game staring him. But if anyone could do it platinum games can, and they have with this over the top action hack and slash that is a blast to play. The blade mode is a lot of fun to play with, cutting things to smithereens never gets old and its good at creating some great moments that make you look like a badass with very little effort. The story is nothing to write home about, which is strange for metal gear, but not so much for platinum games since story has never been the forefront for them, but its ok in this game and the rest of theirs since it takes a back seat to much of the rest. Jetstream sam was a pretty stand out character among the cast, he oozed style and and the battle against him was quite awesome. But that being said the final battle was just bananas, in a good way that is. Overall it was a solid game, and revengeance proved it had the goods. With solid and fast gameplay along with plenty of VR missions there should be plenty to do after all is said and done, which brings me to its length which is the only major drawback at about 6-8 hours long. But oh is it a fun ride for the entire duration.

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   Castlevania Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate

   

  Here's a game that was easily one of my most anticipated games of the year, and did it live up to those expectations? Well sort of. It was and is a superb game, but it felt as though it could have been so much more. The biggest issue i thought it had was that it didn't feel like there was as much of an incentive to go on, and even less to backtrack and pick up items you may have missed. That aside everything else was pretty good, combat like lords of shadow before it was fluid and it gave the attacks the feeling of a lot of power behind them. Dracula's castle was dark and atmospheric as it should be, but it did look a bit similar in some sections. It plays pretty much like a mix of the original castlevania, lords of shadow, and a pinch of metroidvania in there, but only a little. The presentation was good too with each area giving off that diorama effect they were originally going for with the 3D effect. The part i liked the most was that it really felt like i was scaling a massive castle, not that other games in the series haven't done that but this one did that really well. Its an excellent game regardless of those minor gripes, it tells a decent story and paves the path for the true sequel that is lords of shadow 2.  

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  Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 3

   

  Cyberconnect 2 the people behind the past slew of naruto games have created another solid entry into the popular fighting series. The opening with the fox attacking the village is easily the highlight of the game, its just gorgeous. As is the rest of the presentation which most can see replicates the anime amazingly well. But its not without its faults, one of which is the rather straight forward adventure mode. The last game gave you a ton of missions and other things to tackle within the leaf village and other areas, but now its mainly get from point A to point B with very little in the middle other than traveling and some nicely drawn scenery. As for the combat its fast and as cinematic as ever, with nice particle effects and explosions. Things have been simplified though to a degree, it appears many characters have less moves and less combo's then they had in the previous game. It still plays superbly well, but these small things kinda drag down what would otherwise be one of the best in the series. I'm still working on some of the missions they give you after you finish the game, but three's not a whole lot of reason to go on unless i intend to get all the trophies. Good game with some minor problems, but its still got a wealth of content sure to please any fan of the series.

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  Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon

   

  I'm currently mid way through this title at the moment, i didn't pick it up at launch unfortunately. But oh man is this a great game, I'm having a blast with it so far and I'm at the 4th mansion out of 5. Next level have outdone themselves, i loved punch out and their attention to detail and excellent animations and personality are shining in this one. Luigi has never been more expressive and alive than he is here, he jumps back and shivers with fear as one would expect but his interactions with the environment are top notch and pretty comical in some instances. While there aren't ghosts like in the previous game (those with a backstory or a defined design), there are a ton of smaller ghosts and a few stand outs that have just as much if not more charm. Each room is packed with many objects and hidden switches among other things, you'll want to search every nook and cranny in hopes of revealing a hidden gem, boo, cash, or a bonus room you might have overlooked. So far this is my favorite game this year, i expected it to be good, but i think even i underestimated mario's little brother this time.

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  Recently announced games

  Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain

   

  We all pretty much knew what phantom pain was the moment we saw it, but it is good that the veil of kojima's twisted humor has been lifted. The trailer was just awesome and i couldn't be more excited to see how this one plays out and if it will lead us right to the eventual doorstep of metal gear 1. We now know the man in the trailer is none other than big boss, but with this trailer we've learned that mother base from peace walker has been demolished and that snake is now missing a forearm and has been in a coma for 9 years! I'm curious to see all the changes that have affected the world since peacewalker, and all the faces that will show up along the way within his new group "diamond dogs". One thing to note though is that apparently david hayter is not reprising his role as snake in this game, which is needless to say a huge disappointment. He has literally made that character for me and many others, but i have a strange suspicion that this is all another one of kojima's games and its meant to string us along till E3 when there is more to be shown and the lid can be lifted. 

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  The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past 2 (or as its known right now)

   

  We knew miyamoto had mentioned way back that he wanted to return to the world of a link to the past, and here we can finally see that it has come to fruition. It was only revealed a few days ago, but already its easily one of my most anticipated 3DS games. It retains the look and feel of the original game, while giving us a new story, a new wall merging mechanic and much more that we haven't even seen yet. Personally I'm just glad we can finally get another 2D zelda game, even though its actually 2.5D with actual character models instead of sprites. But regardless I'm happy that its not in the same art style as WW anymore, needless to say that I'm sick of that art design and returning to this design is a breath of fresh air. The game from what i hear is running at 60 frames per second and it looks crisp and smooth. Aonuma and Nintendo EAD are working on this, so its sure to be one hell of a ride.

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  PS4 Impressions/thoughts

   

  By now everyone and their grandma has seen what they have shown of ps4 and what it has to offer. Sony showed off a bit of the graphical power and laid down some of the things we can expect from it in the coming year. But personally for me i didn't see anything that stood out to me, or anything that seemed to make me want to go out and get one. I actually feel pretty content with my ps3 still and i currently don't feel like the upgrade is necessary for me yet. I know thats just my opinion but if they really want to win me over they need the software and a reason to take the next step, and from everything seen so far its just not doing that for me. Same goes for what little we have heard rumored for the xbox 720, always online DRM? No used games? All these things sound terrible and with the focus on social media and other additions these are becoming less and less what i want personally from a gaming machine. The power also has me a bit worried, since the previous systems were prone to overheat, how will these be any better with even more power under the hood? Ill look forward to e3 in hopes that they can change my perspective on the ps3 and whatever microsoft has, but as of right now im just not interested. Oh and hopefully they will show the actual system this time lol.

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  Any who that does it for the games section. I was thinking of doing an editorial rant for my next blog about gamers today and how jaded they are. What do you guys think, should i do it?

  

  

   

  Got my figma link figure a while back, figured id show hm off here

   

  He's great, but man it was a pain to get his sword into his hands (almost felt like it was gonna break)

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  i also ordered the pit one which should come within this or next month.

   

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  And last but not least I also promised you guys In October of last year that i would reveal myself in my costume for Halloween, so here i am as naked snake/ Big Boss from mgs3, in all my ridiculous glory.

  This is the image i based my costume off of 

  

  ***SPOILER***

  

  *Gasp* *shock and awe insues*

  Now that you have all seen my true face will your perception of me change? Who knows But i felt it was high time i showed myself

  

  And that's all for now, thanks for reading guys. And i hope you all have a great weekend.

  • Posted Apr 19, 2013 1:11 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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• 30Jan 13

  Hyrule Historia has arrived!!

  This is just a short one guys, but anyway yeah i got my copy and it is fantastic.

  

  So many wonderful pieces of artwork, used and unused. I highly reccommend it for any zelda fan or just any fan of art in general.

  

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  Take care guys, now im off to wrap this in a cloth and make it my new religion

  • Posted Jan 30, 2013 1:28 pm GMT
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• 24Jan 13

  2012 Year End Gaming Look Back/Review Part 2

  Back again with part two of my year end look back at 2012, and all the games I've played during then. So here's the intro copied from the previous one

  "Welcome one and all to my annual year end look back, i haven't blogged since October so this is long overdue. 2012 for the most part was somewhat lackluster for me gamingwise, there weren't that many standouts or any one game that had "that presence", and nearly all the best stuff was shoved into 2013. But this year wasn't without its gems here and there, so time to get this show on the road, and ill try to keep them somewhat brief.It will entail all the games I've played this year, some minor exceptions will be games I've beaten before but replayed, or games i didnt spend enough time with to give a fair opinion on (HD remakes will be present though)"

  part 1 to if you missed the first half

  

  2012 Year End Look Back/Review Part 2

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  Asura's Wrath (360)

  

  This game I got during black friday for dirt cheap, Id held off during most of the year to try it out due to the somewhat sour reception it got. But i decided i had to see for myself how it was and since it wasn't a huge investment at that price i went for it, and i must say its a pretty cool experience. For the most part its basically a glorified quicktime event with beat em up gameplay in certain sections, and many will argue "how is that fun?", well Its hard to describe but I actually did enjoy this one quite a bit. Just the over the top nature of this games presentation, and the action that goes on during this game is awe inspiring, and living through asura's plight is something i got more entertainment out of than even a few other games this year. The boss battles are epic and some even make kratos' skirmishes seem like school yard fights. It might not be for everyone, in fact i know it wont be, but for me this quick time laden epic was one game that wont leave my memory anytime soon.

  Final Score: 7.5

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  Sonic Generations (360)

  

  To put it plainly my relationship with sonic games as been pretty hit or miss. I've always been a big fan of the classic titles and somewhat of sonic adventure, and for so long the series has promised a great deal and a return to glory which at the time yielded very sad results IMO. So when i had heard sonic generations was finally where things turned around, i had to find out for myself. And to my surprise it was indeed a delightful sonic title, even just hearing myself say that is a bit startling. Merging classic sonic and modern sonic sounds like it would be a bit of a mess, but they pull it off exceptionally well this time around. I favored classic sonic stages of course since they recreated all the aspects of the originals that i had longed for, but the modern stages weren't too shabby either since the sense of speed in those is so great. This title did what needed to be done for sonic, a game that blends both new and old, while cutting off the fat like unnecessary modes and side characters. Theres nothing quite like seeing an old friend get back on his feet, but sonic may have redeemed himself in my eyes, so i hope this means the future of this series is bright.

  Final Score: 8

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  Code of Princess (3DS)

  

  Beat em ups now a days are very few and far between, so when i got wind of this game i had to check it out. With wonderful style and character atlus brings us code of princess, while a bit basic it still delivers a good experience. Basically as a group (but solo in single player) you as the princess solange have to save the land and must do so by traversing different areas while acquiring new team members and items. The combat for the most part is simple, but still has enough to make it more complex than most other beat em ups. I think one of the best aspects is the colorful cast of characters and how fun some of them can be during the games scenes. Overall code of princess is a decent beat em up, a bit short and to the point but for pick up and play action it does the job just fine.

  Final Score: 7

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  Transformers Fall of Cybertron (360)

  

  Only one dev has ever managed to make a single transformers game to bridge old fans, comic fans, and new fans alike, and with the sequel there are now two that hold that title. Fall of cybertron is a heap of fun, gameplaywise its your standard 3rd person shooter, but with all the other added elements like transforming and melee attacks its turned on its head in a good way. Getting to play a number of bots is great since this time around they all play differently and some even have tailor made missions just for them that are a nice change of pace. Going stealth as cliffjumper, or plowing through areas like a tank as grimlock is quite pleasing, and most of all using soundwave and all his tape minions is easily one of my gaming highlights of this year. The game itself is visually striking as well with immense detail and pretty much any metal texture you could ever imagine. I didn't get too much into the multiplayer which is a big part of the game, but what i did play was fun although i was turned into slag more than most times. The real treat though is the final battle which is like a hurricane that fires on all cylinders, i wont spoil it but man what a ride.

  Final Score: 8.5

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  New Super Mario Bros U (WiiU)

  

  What can i say that hasn't already been said about the NSMB series? Its still solid, vibrant, and fun to play. Not much is hugely different for this entry but there are some nice touches and other new aspects. The implementation of the miiverse is quite nice, seeing other players excerpts here and there is fun, especially when i can see what a few of my friends thought for each stage. The game is quite nice visually too, its easily the crispest looking mario title ever and the characters and enemies almost take on the appearance of giant action figures with their plastic like character models, it all works well to make this an excellent 2D mario platformer. The only drawback is really the lack of much that is new, theres a few new powerups like the squirrel suit but other than that it relies on past entries power ups, which is ok i suppose. Its an excellent romp in the series though, and a nice game to compliment the wiiu.

  Final Score: 8.5

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  Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)

  

  Who would have thought we would have gotten the better RE game of last year on the 3DS? Resident evil revelations for the 3DS is superb, it takes advantage of the systems horsepower and brings us a title that hearkens back to RE4 and a bit to the earlier entries which is what most of us have wanted from the start. The area's lighting/atmosphere are great, with dimly lit corridors and eerie blood stained passageways. The enemy variety is one part that is lacking though, with for the most part gray humanoid creatures, but i guess that kind of plays into what virus they are dealing with so i guess thats one way to look at it. The story also isn't half bad either, its a nice change of setting and the scenarios you run through are pretty tense. I will suggest though that anybody who plays it should use the circle pad pro attachment since it helps immensely. Although now many people will be able to pick it up soon on the main consoles, this version is still superb and worth any 3DS owners money.

  Final Score: 8.5

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  One Piece Pirate Warriors (PS3)

  

  We all know the warriors titles get slammed quite often by the gaming media, and i do understand that they are repetitive and change little with each entry, but i will say they are my guilty pleasure. This is one title i didn't think would come stateside at all, but here we are and i gotta say its pretty good at replicating the one piece experience through its gameplay. It has all the massive battles the series is known for, but it also tries something new by adding some platforming and quick time events. While they are a bit spotty in some instances, it is a nice change of pace between battles and it at least gives each area its own feel/flow. The visuals are great, it has a manga style shading and it along with the gundam games are the best looking titles koei has put out. You can play as all the straw hat pirates, and also a few other characters like ace, whitebeard, boa hancock, and jinbe. There were a few arcs left out, but as we know now the sequels already taken care of that problem. So all in all, if your a one piece or dynasty warriors fan this might be one game to check out.

  Final Score: 7.5

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  Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge (WiiU)

  

  Heres a game that had a rough start, but only really got its justice done on the wiiu. Ryu is back and better than ever, along with a few other characters to sweeten the pot. Gameplay is still fast and furious as ever, with multiple weapons and nimpo for disemboweling your enemies in an instant. Nearly all the problems many had with the original version have been addressed this time around. Dismemberment is back, theres more than just the dragon sword to use at your disposal, also all the quick time events that plagued the previous version have been cut down quite a bit. It doesn't do much to change up the series in anyway, since you will still move in a linear path while fending off rogue ninjas and fiends, but its still a solid and challenging title that all fans of ninja gaiden will be able to appreciate.

  Final Score: 8

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  Lollipop Chainsaw (PS3)

  

  Suda 51 makes some strange games, but this might be his weirdest and best so far which is a great combo. Lets be honest zombies have been done to death (no pun intended), but this game manages to make slaying them fun all over again. As juliet you wield a jazzed up chainsaw that can mangle your enemies up something fierce, and it all ends with an explosion of rainbows and other such stuff which is hilarious. The gameplay is pretty solid, you move in a linear path through locals such as her school, a farm, an arcade and many other places. Like all suda games the bosses are a real highlight, which are all zombies based around styles of music, with the funk zombie josey being my favorite (auto tuning finally has a use). Also on the subject of music, this game has a wonderful soundtrack with a ton of throwbacks to songs that fit the setting along with some metal and other genres thrown in to round out the package. Humor is very prevalent in this title, and its over the top and fun dialogue matches the entire nature of the game perfectly. The game is a bit short and as i said its linear, but it shouldn't hamper anyone's enjoyment of it since theres plenty of stuff to unlock once your done with the main story. This is one weird zombie tale, but its one you wont soon forget thats for sure.

  Final Score: 7

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  Zone of the Enders HD Collection

  

  So far ive only finished the first title in this collection, so i cant completely rate the second. Zone of the Enders 1 still holds up pretty well, the HD treatment helped clean it up quite a bit too. This is one of kojima's series that ive wanted to check out for some time, but because it was rare and kind of hard to track down it wasn't until now that i can fully play it the whole way through (id played it before and rented it, but never beaten it). The voice acting has not aged as well though i must say, and the cutscenes look a bit crude but other than that the presentation is pretty solid. The futuristic cities and that almost trance-like music really gives it a feeling all its own. As far as the gameplay goes its pretty much just moving from area to area, while fighting battles and collecting codes. Its a decent game and nice intro to the series, and from what ive played of part 2 (which is much better) then things are looking good for the future of this series.

  Final Score: ZOE: 7, ZOE 2: N/A

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  Kid Icarus Uprising (3DS)

  

  Sakurai has done it again, first smash bros and now kid icarus. This game is just brimming with stuff, from modes, to connectivity, and even AR cards that you can collect. First of all the main story is pretty beefy, and will last you quite a while and even longer if you intend to collect everything and aim for new weapons. Which also brings me to my next point, im not a big person on customization but this game allows for a ton of it and making new weapons and setting everything to your liking is always an excellent step in the right direction. Pit and his supporting cast are excellent, the dialogue/ voice acting is cheesy, but its the good kind of cheesy that is clever and funny, its present the whole way through which is very surprising for a nintendo title. It plays pretty close to most other rail shooters, but it manages to do much more especially with the ground missions which offer up a completely different dynamic and strategy. From a presentation standpoint it also does a very nice job, with menu's that mirror smash bros and may other fine details throughout. The visuals are very nice too, they kind of give off a kingdom hearts vibe while still being their own thing, and character designs are by far some of the best ive seen in some time. Theres also a multiplayer mode where players can use all the in game weapons and their own setup to fight each other arena style. Its a nice inclusion to an already robust package, i didn't spend much time on that part myself but it is a good time either way. Overall this game is superb, and easily the best reason to own a 3DS, the only drawback i could say this game has is the control scheme, but thats also a non issue since there are multiple configurations that you can use. So yea pits return is a triumphant one and im glad that this title turned out so great, i hope we don't have to wait long for his next adventure.

  Final Score: 9

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  So there you have it guys, thats my look back on 2012. It wasn't the most eventful or high profile year for gaming, but it still had its moments and standout portions.

  Thanks for reading guys and i hope everyone has a great weekend, heres to 2013 in the hope that it has some truly great games. And since im out of space (damn you GS and your character limits), youll have to wait till next time to see my snake costume.

  • Posted Jan 24, 2013 2:12 pm GMT
  • Category: Games
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