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All reviews - Movies (990) - TV Shows (126) - DVDs (69) - Books (70) - Music (15) - Games (210)

A Flawed Masterpiece

Posted : 2 years, 4 months ago on 17 July 2022 07:24 (A review of Shadow of the Colossus)

Warning: Spoilers
Note: This is a review of the recent PS4 remaster.

SotC is a game I've been wanting to play for years, and was ecstatic to play it on the PS4. The team who restored the game obviously had a deep passion for the original. The graphics of the game are (with the exception of some of the character models) are on par with most triple-A titles of today. However, in terms of aesthetics, I felt a that the highly polished graphics seemed somewhat inferior to the previous PS3 version. For example, in the final colossus fight in the PS3, he is covered in shadow and fog, obscuring his features making him much more frightening and mythical in appearance. In the remaster, you can see every little bit of masonry on his face, removing the mystical haze present in the original titles. The world and environment seem so much more clearer, but at the cost of a dreamlike atmosphere of the limited graphics of the PS3. That's obviously subjective, but I think it does affect the game in terms of emotional response.

The biggest issue is the gameplay. Obviously, the game had to be in 3rd-person, otherwise you would spend 95% of the game staring all colossus fur. But the camera was just as an opponent as the colossi themselves. Back to the final colossus fight, you have to make perfectly timed jumps, and the camera makes it very difficult to properly judge distance, leaving you to take a leap of faith. The mechanic of holding the right trigger to hold onto the colossus is great, especially in the Avalon fight, it really makes you feel like you are holding on to dear life. Another irritating thing about the controls is Agro. When you get him to run as fast as he can, he slows down if you turn. This is really frustrating in the Dirge fight, because you have to constantly mash the button to get him to run as well as firing your bow. This little mechanic really makes riding Agro difficult. My biggest gripe with the gameplay is during the Celosia battle, when he rams into you, you are on the ground for a solid ten seconds. That is an eternity in a boss battle, and basically is instant death. You are just laying on the ground for a logn ass time, and the boss is just waiting for you to get up so it can charge into you again. I had to just let it kill me at least twice because there was no other way to get up then just starting the battle over again.

But all that said, besides the occasionally frustrating gameplay, the game is pretty much perfect. From the designs of the colossi, the simple yet emotionally effective story, to the beautiful score by Kow Otani, it earns it status as a major achievement in video game history.


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A Giant Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Posted : 2 years, 4 months ago on 17 July 2022 06:48 (A review of Dark Souls)

Dark Souls. Unforgiving. Impossible. Brutal. Hardest video game ever made. Until you learn how to play ...

Before i attempted to play Dark Souls, i first finished its spiritual predecessor Demon's Souls. From this experience i learned not only the mechanics of the combat system but i learned how one should approach and play the game itself. You die. Often. And you cannot load some previously saved state just before you died. You "reincarnate" as do the minor enemies and you have to march back up that hill one more time. The trick is to learn how to gain from dying, and more importantly, how to spend your currency before you do die (and potentially fail to retrieve your blood stain). You literally can make suicide runs and pick up some great booty in the process, although you won't know to do so on your first run with your first character.

Dark Souls is controversial, no doubt about it. You either love it or you hate and i happen to love it (and my Chaos Scythe +5). While playing Dark Souls, i was distinctly reminded of many classic arcade, console and computer games that stood out: Atari 2600's Adventure and Dolphin, NES's Castlevania, Contra and Rygar, the Mario series, the Grand Theft Auto series, the Diablo and Baldur's Gate series and even the Sonic the Hedgehog series (mini speed-runs). Dark Souls is now one of my top games, along with GTA Vice City, Morrowind, Half Life, Thief 2, Might & Magic 5, Ultima 4, Super Mario World, Zelda (Ocarina of Time), Jade Empire, Assassin's Creed, Fallout 3 and Mass Effect. And i haven't even had the time to sign on and participate in online Player VS Player ... just do a Youtube search to see what i mean.

I think what makes Dark Souls so special and deserving of praise is in its replay value and the reward you gain for accomplishing what most would consider impossible. Every adversity is an opportunity to learn new combat styles and to adjust your strategy. If you get stuck in Blighttown and decide to backtrack it out of there for more supplies (because you were too impatient to get down there in the first place), you feel the relief when you see daylight again. You learn from this game. It just doesn't spoon feed you like most games do these days.

Patience is not a virtue in this game, it's a requirement for survival.

(p.s. I think the current speed run is around 55 minutes to solve the game, but you can expect to put in nearly 200 HOURS before triggering the end scene.)


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Immensely difficult, immensely rewarding.

Posted : 2 years, 4 months ago on 17 July 2022 06:34 (A review of Dark Souls III)

Well, if there was a best first impression award to any game, I wouldn't even need to think about which game deserved it. From the get-go this game tells you that it's going to be fair to you, but also make you want to destroy everything you can in a ten metre radius. But just writing this game off as hard would be doing the genius work a massive disservice. For this game is difficult, punishing and unrelenting for all the right reasons. The bosses all have fast, but predictable move-sets, and the true art of the game is recognising this and using an enemy's weakness to your advantage. Secrets are also littered all throughout the depressing world that Dark Souls III takes place in, some rewarding you with unique weapons, others with terrifying beasts that are true pains to defeat, and even entire levels ripe with enemies and unique bosses are held as secrets.. I love that they incorporated some of the speed from Bloodborne into the game, although not as much. It shows in the enemies, some of which are incredibly fast, requiring you to dodge, parry and fat-roll to even stand a chance. The sheer number of weapons also never fails to astound me, as even in very specific groups such as Great-Hammers, there are still plenty of weapons there. Every build, from a swift person who wears rags and jumps around with a dagger, to a fat tank that takes very little damage from anything, but dishes out a giant amount, is viable, although some might be better suited other situations. But, alas, in a game that puts such and emphasis on bosses, just one boss fight can drag the game down quickly. And I found this out with the penultimate boss, who was an absolute annoyance to fight. But one thing that this game does miles better than anything else on the market, is the music. The melancholy soundtrack is based around a choir and stringed instruments, while some scores experiment with brass and bells. Even from the main screen, you understand very clearly that the game is going to posses an amazing soundtrack, and Dark Souls III doesn't disappoint in this front at all. In fact, I'd go as far to say this is the greatest soundtrack to emerge out of gaming. Yes, I said it, and it's not meant to be exaggeration. I mean it. The graphics are up next, and I can't help but say this game looks quite nice. The backdrops of some locations can just look drop-dead gorgeous, while some things are just not pleasant to the eyes whatsoever. The colour scheme is also sadly limited to, for eighty percent of the game's length, grey, brown, black, red and yellow. And, yes, I acknowledge the fact that this is meant to symbolise the atmosphere of gloom and dread, and it does make other locations stand out, but the abstinence of another less other than its pallet can drag down the experience. The lore in this game, and really in any modern From Software RPG, is cryptic at best, and hard to understand, but the main premise that you, the Ashen One, must kill all Lords of Cinder to keep a fire alight, prolonging the Age of Fire, and keeping the world from becoming darker than it already is. As with bugs, I've encountered none, except one extremely frustrating crash, in one of the most loathed areas in the entire series, that deleted not only the character I was playing as, but also every single other character. Aside from these gripes, Dark Souls III will not be forgotten by me for years to come. Its fast paced combat, that includes hundreds of various weapons and shields, its unforgettable bosses that made me run around the house like a madman and its incredible approach to level design. This is the end of the Souls series, and what better way to end a series than making a masterpiece?


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Best in the series

Posted : 2 years, 4 months ago on 17 July 2022 06:09 (A review of Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening)

The third game of the series is the best, as is the law of trilogies. I like this game for the same reasons I like the first. The characters. Dante has returned the fast-talking sarcastic B.A. that we all know and love. However this time he actually develops, unlike the first, in which he is already developed and remains the same throughout. His brother Vergil makes his first appearance since 2001, and he's a better character in this one, as a dark and dramatic figure who is deadly with a blade. Arkham, the mysterious old former librarian who aids Vergil in his quest for his father's power, and Lady, a mysterious demon hunter with a connection to Arkham, shown by their matching red and blue eyes. They are all linked, as well and as unexpectedly as a Dickens novel. The characters and their development beats the first, even. The plot itself is also very good. But I won't spoil it, because then you won't be motivated to play the game. Just trust me that it's as good as the first if not better. The game is best if it is the special edition, in which you can play as Vergil, and you can lower the difficulty if necessary.

In total, this deserves an 11 but they don't have that here.


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Please hurry with the movie!

Posted : 2 years, 4 months ago on 17 July 2022 05:55 (A review of Devil May Cry)

It seems Hollywood can't avoid the craze with adapting video games into feature length films with kick ass effects involved. . .

Okay so we've been given films like Mortal Kombat 1 & 2 and Resident Evil are strong justifications with comic books already firmly establishing close ties with dominating the big screen (i.e. Blade, X-Men, The Crow, Spiderman and Matrix).

The game is more than what any typical game playing die-hard fan could wish for: stunning graphics, killer moves and one beautiful gorgeous looking babe named Trish. But then again it's only a game or is it?

Bring on the movie, that's all I'm concerned with right now. Just hope someone like Mark Dacascos could be considered for the lead role as the character Dante.

For the meantime anyone a fan of Resident Evil will not be dissapointed at all as this is "must-own" video game of the millennium.

"Lets Rock Baby" - Dante 10/10


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Best real-time strategy game ever!

Posted : 2 years, 4 months ago on 17 July 2022 04:49 (A review of StarCraft)

StarCraft is a real-time strategy game (RTS) set in the early 26th century in the Koprulu Sector at the edge of our galaxy. The balance of power is a stake as three of the most powerful species in the Universe go head-to-head. The nomadic Terrans, brutal Zerg, and stalwart Protoss each seek the ultimate prize: survival of their species and domination of the galaxy. This game is truly a milestone in RTS development. The graphics are great, play control is intuitive, and the storyline is top notch. Blizzard Entertainment takes an interesting approach by telling the story from the perspective of each race in three separate acts. Thus, the events from Act I (Terrans) are then referred to from the other side in Act II (Zerg) and are acted upon. All in all, this game is worth its weight in gold!


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Official Final Fantasy VII Strategy Guide

Posted : 2 years, 4 months ago on 17 July 2022 04:28 (A review of Final Fantasy VII Strategy Guide)

He! The video game worldā€¦ I notice most readers look down on gamersā€¦ as the sort of hybrid that I am Iā€™ve always wondered whyā€¦ I mean they are basically a book!Ā wait! How dare you say that a book and a game are sort of the same?Ā OMG here we go again! Ok stupid imaginary voice inside my headā€¦ Iā€™ma explain this to you so you can stop bugging me and let me finish my review; when reading a book you are either transported to another placeā€¦ you get to see into somebody elseā€™s mindā€¦ you see an either familiar or fictional world from the point of view of other peopleā€¦ in a video gameā€¦ well you do the same shit! Sometimes itā€™s an awesome world sometimes is some stupid crap that you just want to get over with.. .Ā ha! But how about text books? Are your fucking games the same as a text book?Ā ermā€¦ the army uses video games to actually train their forcesā€¦ you can also learn math, grammar, and all the stupid crap they teach you in school on some gamesā€¦ and just like real world text books the video games ermm text games (?) are the same! They usually so crappy that nobody wants to play em! Now can you shut the fuck up and leave me finish talking about Final Fantasy?Ā well since I canā€™t argue with thatā€¦ Iā€™ma have to do just thatā€¦Ā ok back to the reviewā€¦ Iā€™m not reviewing this Strategy guideā€¦ cuz Iā€™m sure is crappy as fuck! Iā€™m reviewing Final Fantasy VII (AKA: the game that traumatized me) this is going to be a nice little series where I find the strategy guide of games I love and review the actual game not the bookā€¦ have a problem with that? Hey just close the fucking window!


Final Fantasy VII, I got my copy a few days after it came out, always been a huge FF fanā€¦ and this thing was getting the best reviews ever! So when I finally got my copy I did total lock down with it! Just me, FFVII, a dictionary and Coke mixed with instant espresso to keep me awake! The moment you select ā€œnew gameā€ you just get hit by this cinematic of a sky full with starsā€¦Ā [Link removed - login to see]Ā wearing a pink dress and a red idk how is called thingy, carrying a basket of flowersā€¦ and then bang! The camera does this amazing soon out and you get this vista of some weird, dystopian looking cityā€¦ and all I remember thinking was ā€œWOW! Who was her?ā€ this is the part were I sound either corny as hell or crazy as fuck! Or a little bit of both.. I totally fell in love with that character from that scene onā€¦ but the game donā€™t take you to her right awayā€¦ first you need to be a SOLDIER well an ex SOLDIER actually, still! You go into battle! Just like that! SQUARE* plays with your feelings just like that! First cute girl is introducedā€¦ then cute girl gets taken away and you go fightā€¦ now that I think of itā€¦. I should have seen coming what happened nextā€¦ I should have know that the only thing that was beautiful in my life to that day was about to be taken away from meā€¦ but I was young and stupid! I wouldn't have believed it even if somebody told me it was comingā€¦ any way back to the game.


Our main characterā€™s name is Cloud he was a SOLDIER a special breed of humans infused with Mako Energy something like Rambo on crack + some Gandalf DNA on it too! but now he works for AVALANCHE a terrorist** group that wants to stop Shinra Corp from destroying their world by taking The Mako energyā€¦ blah blah blah, the rights of the planet and all that crap, some supposedly hot chick is tagging along***, fight the bad guys show em whatā€™s all about BORING! Where the fuck is the chick from the opening scene? Well our hero finds himself running away from the authoritiesā€¦ after his big battle scenes and he bumps into herā€¦ and who could have imagine! It was love on first sight! Ha! Her name is Aeris and she lives in the Ghettoā€¦ she sells the flowers she grows on an abandoned church to make a livingā€¦ and she is sweet as fuck! I mean adorable! Then bla bla bla, cloud may be the fucked up result of an experiment, more talk with that stupid chick who is supposed to be hot, Aeris is a direct descendant of an ancient race that used to control a lot of power, blah, blah, blah, ancient powers and enter Sephiroth this dude since to know something about our heroā€™s pastā€¦ so he sets on a quest to find out more about all of thisā€¦ then bang there was an alien who clashed in our planet back in the days and tried to destroy everything thereā€¦ but the ancients managed to stop it, and it was all good! Then some creepy looking scientist founded the remains of the alien creature thingā€¦ and made Sephiroth and a bunch of other crazy thingsā€¦ and all hell broke lose! Sephiroth goes crazy tries to destroy the world and wellā€¦ and Iā€™m there like digging all this crap! Iā€™m like ā€œuh, this is some deep shit!ā€ ā€œholy crap, Cloud may not be humanā€ ā€œAeris is so cuteā€ then when Iā€™m finally into the ancient city of the ancients (ha! Iā€™m so funny!) the unthinkable happens! Aeris separates from the groupā€¦ and when I finally find herā€¦ thinking that Iā€™m about to get a love scene or somethingā€¦ what do I get? Fucking Sephiroth comes in and killed her!Ā [Link removed - login to see]Ā thinking that maybe I did something wrongā€¦ that I fucked up somewhere in the gameā€¦ that she is coming back to lifeā€¦. Remember this is 1997! The internet wasenā€™t what it is todayā€¦ this was a new gameā€¦ there wasnā€™t much info out there in the third world about it! It took 3 days of me re starting from my old save games, from looking in the internet for answersā€¦ hell I think I even had an intervention from one of my friends trying to convince me that Aeris was not coming back! That she was dead dead! That was the day I swore my oath! To kill fucking Sephiroth! Iā€™m not going to bored yā€™all even more with what happens nextā€¦ I honest to god didnā€™t care! All I wanted was Sephirothā€™s head on a plate! I went on an compulsive leveling up campaign that eventually teach me the skills to play while I sleep (that aint no joke nor exaggeration) all to one single minded endā€¦. To fucking oblibiate Sephirothā€¦ it took me over 120 hours to unlock everything on the gameā€¦ but when I didā€¦ Iā€™m not going to give you the details of what I did to that assholeā€¦ but let us just say that a level 99 Omnislash can do wonders for over 100 hours of repressed anger!


This guide proly sucksā€¦ and if you ever need help on this game donā€™t hesitate on asking meā€¦ Iā€™ma give it a 5 but it goes not to the guideā€¦ but to Final Fantasy!


*:before you do a SQUARENIX complain keep in mind that Iā€™m reviewing Final Fantasy VII! 1997 duh!

**: i dont care what anybody says! AVALANCH is a terrorist organization!

***: i seriusly hate how SQUARE tried to sell Tifa as an Aeris replacement as romantic interest for cloud...


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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Strategy Guide review

Posted : 2 years, 4 months ago on 17 July 2022 04:22 (A review of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Official Strategy Guide)

essential work if you want to achieve 100% in san andreas without playing non-stop for two years.

the nice thing about this guide is that it really does cover everything there is to see in san andreas. especially the 250 aisle graffiti, photo motifs, shells and horseshoes could only be discovered with excessive self-mapping, here the book saves days, months, years. it's still fun to find all the hidden details, with 250 locations that can be grazed, it's like a (successful) treasure hunt.

off topic:
i'm curious to see if the "new" los santos in gtaV can keep up with the old san andreas in terms of attention to detail. although the graphic beauty in san andreas was far more sparse than gtaIV already offered, the fun factor was already very high - i'm very curious.


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Kingdom Hearts Official Strategy Guide

Posted : 2 years, 4 months ago on 17 July 2022 04:12 (A review of Kingdom Hearts Official Strategy Guide (Signature Series))

Kingdom Hearts will always have a special place in my heart.

This game guide helped me out while I struggled through Monstro (great brute) and navigated through the underground of Hollow Bastion, met countless characters, and tried to get the secret ending. Even though I've finished the game in every possible way, I'm keeping this one on my shelf.

Thanks for the memories, Nomura-san.


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You will die!

Posted : 2 years, 4 months ago on 17 July 2022 04:04 (A review of Demon's Souls)

Aside from your untimely death being a part of the excellent storyline (which if you are good enough you can prolong for a short period of time whilst becoming a tad richer in the process), you will find that this game is very unforgiving of any (and I do mean ANY) mistake, and so before long you will be pushing up daisy's like there's no tomorrow. Don't let this put you off though, as if you are able to learn by your mistakes I can guarantee that with a little dogged determination you will progress slowly through the game, and before long will be pulling off moves that will leave you feeling like the greatest Adventurer that has ever lived!

With this in mind, I urge you all NOT to be put off by the supposed difficulty of this game, as this is IMHO probably the finest RPG that has ever been written and is without a shadow of a doubt an absolute must for every PS3 owner out there.

One final point of note, to get the most out of this game you really do need to play it on-line (logged onto a PSN account), as this little gem brings on-line gaming to an all new level.


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