Posted : 2 years, 3 months ago on 17 July 2022 08:14
(A review of
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages)
I feel that the Oracle games aren't as well publicized as some of the other Zelda games. Don't get me wrong, they're liked; the name is not thrown about as commonly as Ocarina or Awakening for instance. I'm surprised because these are very good games.
Oracle of Ages was impressive because it manages to fit a lot into a Game Boy Color cartridge at the time. There is a whole lot more to do in this game than any other 2D Zelda game. It adds upon old Zelda tropes, plus adds some new ones. (You can ride animals in this.)
This game's gimmick is that you can travel back and forth in time. Yes, it's a rehash of Ocarina and the level change isn't as diverse as the changes in its sister game Oracle of Seasons. But it still is interesting.
I like this better than Seasons. This is more-puzzle heavy and the other is more battle-heavy, but the puzzles in this aren't as difficult as the battles in the other one. You'll die a lot less. I highly suggest you play this game first. I also think this game has a lot more plot to it.
I am really fond that you can link this game up with Seasons, which allows you to obtain more items and the final true boss and ending. I can't think of another game that does this.
Overall, I think this should be considered one of the best Zelda games.
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Posted : 2 years, 3 months ago on 17 July 2022 08:06
(A review of
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons )
I feel that the Oracle games aren't as well publicized as some of the other Zelda games. Don't get me wrong, it's liked; the name is not thrown about as commonly as Ocarina or Awakening for instance. I'm surprised because these are very good games.
Oracle of Seasons was impressive because it manages to fit a lot into a Game Boy Color cartridge at the time. There is a whole lot more to do in this game than any other 2D Zelda game. It adds upon old Zelda tropes, plus adds some new ones. (You can ride animals in this.)
This game's gimmick is that you can change the seasons in order to change the landscape. This was a lot of fun and allows you four different lands to travail rather than the usual two found in Oracle, Link, etc. (I also find the outdoor level design a little more dynamic than the sister game Ages.)
I am really fond that you can link this game up with Ages, which allows you to obtain more items and the final true boss and ending. I can't think of another game that does this.
There are a couple downsides of this game though. 1) Seasons is more battle-heavy while Ages is more puzzle-heavy. Because of this, the Bosses can be pretty tough. I suggest you play the other game first so you can obtain more powerful weapons for this game. 2) There are animals to ride in this game, but at one point your actions decide which one you'll stick with throughout the game, and the actions aren't clearly spelled out. This wouldn't be a problem but the flying bear's ability to fly over pits is really difficult to do and there's a crucial part of the world map that requires you to do this.
Overall, I think this should be considered one of the best Zelda games.
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Posted : 2 years, 3 months ago on 17 July 2022 08:03
(A review of
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass)
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass is an Adventure/Puzzle game for the Nintendo DS and was the first Zelda game to be released on the system. This was actually the first Zelda game that I played and completed. Now is this a great introduction to this majestic series? Lets find out!
Story - Phantom Hourglass is a direct sequel to the Wind Waker for the GameCube taking place several months later. The game begins as Link and Tetra are sailing in their ship when they encounter a Ghost Ship which has been haunting the seas. Tetra jumps aboard to explore but the ship suddenly begins to disappear with her aboard and it is up to Link to save her. Link see's a vision of Tetra as she is calling for his help. He then wakes up on an Island where a fairy named Ciela finds him. Ciela takes him to see her grandfather named Oshus which tells Link to meet a man named Linebeck who has a ship so that they may sail the seas and find the Ghost Ship. I think I've said just about all I can that isn't a spoiler.
Gameplay - The gameplay is very simple but really difficult to get used to. Moving around is done entirely by using the DS stylus, so all that needs to be done to move around is to point the stylus in the direction you want to go and to attack enemies you can either use a targeted attack, where you point on the enemy with the stylus and Link jumps on him with his sword, or you could just swing the stylus around to make Link swing his sword in front of him. Now for the sailing parts. Before setting sail you get the sea chart on the bottom screen. This is where you draw a line on the chart representing the path you want to go. Later on in the game you get a cannon which serves as your weapon out in the sea.
Puzzles - Now this is basically the prime element in every Zelda game, the puzzles, you just can't have a Zelda game that doesn't have dungeons that make you solve all kinds of puzzles. To me, the puzzles were fun and challenging without being frustrating. I'm not going into detail on every puzzle or anything but all I can say is that they were fun.
Music - The soundtrack did have some really good tunes. The music while sailing the seas and fighting the final boss were some of the best tracks of the entire series. But other than those the soundtrack didn't really have any memorable tunes, the song while running in the wild just sounded like noise to me and the song for the central dungeon didn't have any melody to it, it was just sound that was repeated in an infinite loop.
Conclusion - Phantom Hourglass is a great game to introduce gamers to the Zelda series, although there are better way's like Ocarina of Time with its new 3DS remake, this game did get me into the series, and I don't regret getting this one.
8.5/10 - I would give it a 9, but only being able to use the stylus just knocked it down a little.
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Posted : 2 years, 3 months ago on 17 July 2022 08:00
(A review of
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap)
Warning: Spoilers(www.plasticpals.com) The Legend of Zelda – The Minish Cap continues the collaboration between Capcom and Nintendo established with the Oracle games on GameBoy Color. What makes Minish Cap exciting is the combination of the new shrinking game play mechanic and a return to colourful 2d graphics. Featuring entirely new tile sets and character sprites in the vein of Four Swords Adventures, Minish Cap is one of the last 2D Zelda games released.
The story starts off with a beautifully rendered set of stained-glass images representing the Legend of the Minish. The Minish are a lilliputian race that only children can see, whose world is opened only once every one hundred years. And as you might have guessed the centennial event is about to begin, but something goes terribly wrong when a sorcerer named Vaati appears and turns Princess Zelda to stone. Link must set out on an adventure to reverse the spell, and along the way he encounters a magical green cap with a crotchety bird for a head! The minish are said to be the ones who hide items throughout Hyrule, such as the rupees Link finds hidden under rocks or in the grass, so in that way they make a good addition to the Zelda universe.
Like the Oracle games that preceded it, game play centres around this new magical item, the Minish Cap, which allows Link to change his size. Whereas in the other Capcom developed Zelda games he could change the time or seasons, in Minish Cap he can shrink down to the size of an insect to explore the secretive world of the Minish. Virtually every single area contains dozens of secrets that are only noticeable if one is looking at them from the perspective of a Minish.
There are only 4 major dungeons in the game, along with only a few mini-dungeons. This makes for a shorter quest, and is probably the only aspect of the game that players will take issue with.
Link will find multiplier tiles which, when activated with a powered-up sword generate phantom Links. These extra Links will disappear if they touch an obstacle or enemy, so careful maneuvering will be required if they are to serve their purpose (often to simultaneously hit a series of switches, or push blocks too large for a single hero to move). At times these duplicates must be used to defeat bosses, testing a player's pattern recognition and reflexes.
Adding to Link's usual arsenal of items is a magic wand that can flip objects in the environment (such as pots, which act as portals between the regular world and that of the Minish). There's a vacuum-like windbag which can suck or repel enemies and objects in the environment. The mole mitts are perhaps the most interesting tool, serving as both shovel and bulldozer, sort of like the mole suit from Little Nemo Dream Master (a Capcom classic).
Along the way Link will encounter several legendary swordsmen, who will teach Link a new move. These add an extra flair and power to Link's standard repertoire and are worth seeking out, even if some of them aren't very useful.
Minish Cap, while shorter than most Zelda games, continues the series' longstanding tradition of quality. The 4 dungeons and extensive over world feature a rich number of Minish-related puzzles and secrets, and the boss encounters are some of the most original yet. I do question the removal of the multi-player Zelda mini game, 4 swords – since it was included in Zelda A Link to the Past on GBA.
Still, with the new and improved 2D graphics, remixed themes from the classics, and a refreshingly original take on this well-worn franchise, Minish Cap delivers the goods on the go.
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Posted : 2 years, 3 months ago on 17 July 2022 07:57
(A review of
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker)
As a young boy, I played the first three (S)NES installments in the Legend of Zelda series, and was quite hooked by the rich mythology, combat and exploration element in the games. However, not owning a GameBoy or Nintendo 64 made me miss all the installments for those systems, so I was out of the Zelda experience for several years. The Wind Waker was a very welcome re-introduction to the series after all those years of absence, and it actually sparked my interest in Ocarina of Time as well.
Ocarina of Time was the first Zelda game to venture into three-dimensional gaming, and it also employed a very sophisticated narrative that went far beyond the straightforward dungeon-to-dungeon plot that hallmarked the first installments. Wind Waker was not only a revolution in graphics, but it also perfected the level of storytelling in the series. You start out with a nice background story and with young Link, who is embarking on a great adventure on the Great Sea when his little sister is kidnapped, and he is forced to tag along with a bunch of pirates; as the player, you need to find the story by following clues, obtaining objects and talking with other characters. Watching the plot unfold as you play is half the fun, and involves not only puzzle-solving, but also mastering the way of sword combat. It is nice to see how this game continues where Ocarina of Time left off; it uses the known elements of the series, like Link, Zelda, Ganon and the Triforce, and takes it in unexpected directions. For example: how many games take the hero to the big boss' stronghold already in the very beginning? Or skips the obligatory happy end for a more bitter-sweet finale?
The cell-shaded graphics in Wind Waker are the giant leap forward in the series, and showed what the GameCube system was capable of. However, it was also the reason why it was scathingly called 'Celda' after its release, which summarized the view of many who thought the game was much too kid-friendly. There is little denial that the game, with its lush cartoonesque animations and underage hero, caters to a young audience; but let's face it, the rest of the series was targeted at minors too, and weren't we all kids when we were introduced to it? Granted, the game does not look as dark or scary as Ocarina was at times, but that was mainly due to some creepy dungeons, like the one in the graveyard. Perhaps also the limitations in animation made that game seem a bit unpolished and grim, and drew less comparisons to a family-friendly cartoon. Wind Waker also has plenty of tense and dark moments (those hands from the floor and the screaming zombies still freak me out), but the unique selling point is the staggeringly high production value, almost the quality of a hand-drawn Disney feature, making it akin to a interactive cartoon; but at no point did I get the feeling that the mature audience was not taken seriously, because the game keeps the focus on an intricate and adventurous story.
Ocarina of Time introduced a revolutionary targeting system that enabled effective fighting, which has been further perfected for Wind Waker. In Ocarina, the camera would often take an annoying position that didn't quite give the best view of the fight; in Wind Waker, no matter what happens, the camera always shoots the action from an optimal angle, and you can always modify it to your preference. The array of sword moves has been expanded to include combos and rolling moves, which, together with the camera work and awesome graphics, creates fight scenes that would not feel out of place in a Prince of Persia game.
It was a very bold move to introduce a radical change of scenery in this game. The familiar forests, swamps, lakes, fields and deserts have been been replaced by The Great Sea, where isolated islands still contain sparse inhabitants and civilization, so more than ever does the player need to explore and keep a sense of direction. This makes for another epic new element: the sailing; although many fans thought it was long-winded, tedious and uneventful, I found the sailing a great part of the exploration, especially because the game keeps changing the circumstances: day changing to night, sunshine suddenly turning into lightening storms, and the unexpected discoveries on the vast ocean, as well as a couple of nice battles, made the sailing alluring enough. True, sometimes the distances were a bit long and the backdrop a bit monotonous, but backtracking through familiar scenery is also an integral part of the Zelda experience. As with most Zelda games, there comes a point where the player can warp to certain places, which saves precious traveling time, and there are a few locations in the game that bring back pleasant memories to Ocarina.
If there is one point of criticism that I agree with, it is that the game is a bit too short; the main quest is relatively brief, and the number of dungeons a bit meager compared to the amount of terror-filled challenges that Ocarina and Link to the Past offered. But, on the good side, the Great Sea is where most of the sidequests take place, another staple of the series that usually makes up more than half of the playing time.
To conclude, a lot of fans were initially displeased with Wind Waker, but judging by the very positive reviews here on the site, I think it is safe to say that I am not the only one to express his admiration for this little masterpiece. Not that it is necessarily my favorite Zelda game, but it is a great entry anyway that has shaped the series and the face of gaming for years to come.
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Posted : 2 years, 3 months ago on 17 July 2022 07:54
(A review of
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D)
I remember playing this game for the first time on the 64 when I was a teenager and instantly fell in love with Legend of Zelda: ocarina of time. It was a rented game so I had to rented it out again. After I finally received a copy of my own I ended up playing it countless of times over the years. I've never got bored of it. Even when it was release of virtual console, I download it onto my Wii immediately. When I heard it was going to be remake for the 3DS my heart soared as I knew what it meant. Better graphic (no visible blocky polygon) better ways of playing and in 3D.
I was not let down.
Every building or dungeon I enter I couldn't help but utter "wow!" like I have just seen it for the first. The 3D effect made you like you were in the room as it added real depth and distance of each wall. And the movement of each character you see are very smooth and swift.
I could on and on about this brilliant game by there's a limit number of words you can use in a review. So I shall sum it up by saying: Don't just take my word for it. Play it and you WON'T be disappointed:).
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Posted : 2 years, 3 months ago on 16 July 2022 09:46
(A review of
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood)
'Friday the 13th' may have been panned by critics when first released but since then it is one of the most famous and influential horror films, the franchise containing one of horror's most iconic villains. The film is popular enough to become a franchise and spawn several sequels of varying quality and generally inferior to the one that started it all off.
'The New Blood', the seventh instalment, is not among the best films in the series from personal opinion, though far from awful. It does have good things and a couple of interest points, but there is the general sense that things and the concept were becoming half-hearted and stale. Not sure as to whether 'The New Blood' is the worst film in the series as some critics and fans have said it to be.
As aforementioned, 'The New Blood' has strengths. The make-up effects are genuinely gruesome and frightening and the telekinetic effects are surprisingly good. The music score once again is hauntingly eerie and there are a couple of deaths that are well done, the sleeping bag one is the best one and not just one of the film's highlights but also one of the best death scenes to me of the whole series.
Kane Hodder sends chills down the spine as Jason. The interest point of 'The New Blood' is the supernatural, telekinetic element, the one thing that stops the film from being severely fatigued and from it being a complete retread. It is a very strange idea and doesn't feel like it entirely belongs within the film, but it's pretty clever.
However, Lar Park-Lincoln is fairly overwrought in places, though she does have good moments especially with Hodder, and the rest of the acting is nothing to write about. Their characters are hard to care for, due to them being so sketchy and in a couple of cases grating. The dialogue continues to be crude and simplistic. None of these were strengths anyway in the 'Friday the 13th' series ('Jason Lives' is an exception), but for all 'The New Blood' is one of the worse-faring cases.
Pacing feels rushed in the telling of the story, which can feel jumpy, and dull because it's all so bloodless. The humour is more goofy and annoying than tongue-in-cheek and witty, there is a real shortage of suspense, far too tame scares (and it's not just because the film is very un-gory, the only one that shocks is the un-masking) and the deaths have been far more imaginative and creepy elsewhere in the series, with one exception. The ending is ridiculous and over-extended.
On the whole, lacklustre but not a waste of time. 4/10 Bethany Cox
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Posted : 2 years, 3 months ago on 16 July 2022 09:28
(A review of
Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning)
'Friday the 13th' may have been panned by critics when first released but since then it is one of the most famous and influential horror films, the franchise containing one of horror's most iconic villains. The film is popular enough to become a franchise and spawn several sequels of varying quality and generally inferior to the one that started it all of.
The fifth film in the series 'A New Beginning' is the most maligned 'Friday the 13th' film by critics and fans, although it has garnered a cult following and its fair share of defence over time. To me, 'A New Beginning' is better than its reputation and that it tries to do something different is laudable. Also do not think it's the worst 'Friday the 13th' film. Having said that, the disappointment is understandable. There are good merits here, but it also did fall short to me.
Starting with 'A New Beginning's' strengths, the best things about it are the as ever haunting music score and the terrific performance, both disturbing and moving, of John Shepherd. There are a few darkly funny moments, a few creepy ones and some of the death scenes are creative.
The nightmare sequences are stylish and as nightmarish as one would hope. It's a pretty decent looking film, not cinematic art (but in all honesty that can never be expected from a 'Friday the 13th' film) but not amateurish.
However, there are things that work against 'A New Beginning'. From my understanding, It is not that the film is different in the lack of Jason (this didn't bother me at all and is an insignificant issue), the more tongue-in-cheek tone and the idea it tried to introduce that irked fans, but the generally misguided way it was executed.
More problematic are the problems as a standalone. The acting is not good (Shepherd is the sole exception), Melanie Kinnaman being awful, and the clumsy and far too simple dialogue, that slips more into vulgar camp than darkly tongue-and-cheek, and the mostly annoying and dull stereotypes passing for characters fare worse (the only one to be interesting and get proper development is Tommy).
'A New Beginning' has the highest body count, and while there are some creative and unsettling deaths (others less so, hurt by gratuity and predictability) it was almost as if there were too many death scenes that gives one not that much time to compose themselves after each one. There is not enough suspense, the creepiness is too far and between and the story is thin and very hackneyed, with one of the series' silliest endings. The mystery elements don't work, being far too obvious, and neither does the identity of the killer, the killings committed by somebody that is not in it much in their real guise and doesn't have much presence.
In summation, not that bad and not deserving of its black sheep reputation but a long way from being great. 5/10 Bethany Cox
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Posted : 2 years, 3 months ago on 16 July 2022 07:52
(A review of
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth)
Despite appreciating horror very much (with a lot of classic ones out there, such as 'Halloween', 'Nightmare on Elm Street', 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', 'Night of the Living Dead' and 'The Exorcist', plus the best of Hammer House of Horror), even if not my favourite genre, it took me a while to get round to watching the 'Hellraiser' franchise. Due to having so much to watch and review, and the list keeps getting longer and longer.
The film that started the franchise off is not only for me by far the best of the 'Hellraiser' films it also for me, and quite a few others it seems, is one of the stronger horror films of the 80s, though not quite of all time. What is meant by being by far the best of the 'Hellraiser' films is that it is the only one to be above very good, the nine sequels were very variable (leaning towards the disappointing) and the latter films particularly are suggestive of the franchise having run its course.
From personal opinion, while a bit of a disappointment 'Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth' is still watchable and one of the better sequels in the series. Would say actually it is second best after 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II'.
Quite a fair few good things here in 'Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth'. The production were fine, do prefer the nightmarishly Gothic look of the first two films but the film looks very stylish and atmosphere with visual effects that aren't overused or abused and actually a little more polished than 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II'. The theme song is quite memorable, while there are some imaginative and disturbing kills and Pinhead's scene in the church is one of the best in the series, hair-raising and wickedly funny.
Did like the effort to give development to Pinhead and his story is interesting, regardless of whether it fitted within the rest of the film or not. Doug Bradley is genuinely intimidating and Terry Farrell does a decent job.
It is hard however to ignore the drawbacks. 'Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth' lacks the creepiness and ambition of the previous two films, there is a lot of silliness and camp humour and it does undermine any creepiness or suspense and it just feels completely different tonally compared to its predecessors. The dialogue is toe-curling this time and didn't really see any need for some of the gore, which didn't unnerve that much and came over as cheap and gratuitous instead.
Also thought the story, while slightly more coherent than parts of 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II', made little sense and was muddled. The rest of the acting is laughable and the Cebonites are nowhere near as creepy or mysterious. Worst of all is the ridiculously over-the-top and far-fetched ending, that was even more of an incomprehensible parody as the one in the previous film.
Overall, watched and one of the better 'Hellraiser' sequels but could have been better. 5/10 Bethany Cox
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Posted : 2 years, 3 months ago on 16 July 2022 07:43
(A review of
Hellraiser: Inferno)
Despite appreciating horror very much (with a lot of classic ones out there, such as 'Halloween', 'Nightmare on Elm Street', 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', 'Night of the Living Dead' and 'The Exorcist', plus the best of Hammer House of Horror), even if not my favourite genre, it took me a while to get round to watching the 'Hellraiser' franchise. Due to having so much to watch and review, and the list keeps getting longer and longer.
The film that started the franchise off is not only for me by far the best of the 'Hellraiser' films it also for me, and quite a few others it seems, is one of the stronger horror films of the 80s, though not quite of all time. What is meant by being by far the best of the 'Hellraiser' films is that it is the only one to be above very good, the nine sequels were very variable (leaning towards the disappointing) and the latter films particularly are suggestive of the franchise having run its course.
Found the second film to be by far the best of the sequels and tthird and fourth films to be watchable if problematic. It was with 'Hellraiser: Inferno' when the franchise took a turn for the worse, though much worse followed this. 'Hellraiser: Inferno' is actually one of the better post-'Hellraiser: Bloodline'.
'Hellraiser: Inferno' does have good things. If there is anything that is quite a bit better than 'Hell on Earth' and especially 'Bloodline' it is the acting in crucial roles, which by 'Hellraiser' sequels standards was not bad. Craig Sheffer was a decent lead and James Remar is solid in his role too. Cannot say anything bad about Doug Bradley who is still genuinely frightening in the little screen time he has.
It also doesn't look too awful, some atmospheric scenery, above average effects, unsettling enough photography. The film begins very well, being suitably creepy. It at least makes sense too and there is a nice unnerving atmosphere.
On the other hand, like others have said, one of the biggest problems is that it doesn't feel like a 'Hellraiser' film. Feeling more like a psychological/mystery/thriller with Pinhead and the Cenobites being thrown in in an afterthought fashion. This is further accentuated by that they are in the film far too little, they do work very well (as proven in the original) when mysterious and like catalysts rather than heavily focused on, and have next to nothing to do when they do appear. Pinhead's contribution is very memorable and he is still deserving of his horror icon status but the Cenobites have lost their creepiness and come over as goofy instead.
As a film judged as a standalone, 'Hellraiser: Inferno' is problematic. The editing is a bit all over the place and the direction doesn't seem assured or in control or at ease with the material. The characters are underdeveloped clichés with unclear and sometimes frustrating motivations and the writing continues to be laughably bad and too heavily reliant on goofiness and camp that juxtaposes too much. The story does lack tension, suspense and any surprises, while there is far too much focus on the hallucinatory sequences which looked good but slowed down the film and that ambition, intelligence and creativity had disappeared almost completely by this point of the franchise and replaced by camp, predictability and schlock. What had potential to be a dark and unsettling film is let down by the above, lacking energy and that while not overusing the gore or horror elements it feels somewhat toned down. The ending is not an incoherent parody or anything but it did feel rushed to me and the music does not fit in either placement or tone.
To conclude, didn't do much for me but far from the worst of the series. 4/10 Bethany Cox
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