An upside down D.I.Y. Tetris.
A Topsy Turvy Life is possibly one of the most weird but interesting games I've ever played.
It's pretty much tetris but you hold the DSi upside down, which is kind of cool and on the top screen (which is now the bottom) you have rows of sqaures and some gaps making their way up. You use the touch screens to make sqaures and fill the gaps. After you got the squares you need on the touch screen, you push any button on the D-pad or any of the buttons and the squares go down to clear the row. The faster you clear all the sqaures on the top/bottom screen (depending if you turn your DSi upside down or not) you make it to the next level. Clearing levels is pretty easy, I made it to level 24 before failing in about 30 to 35 minutes but that's on endless mode. You get only 2 modes, endless & puzzle. We've all seen those modes in other block puzzle games.The graphics are simple but awesome. It's got some cool music. The few things that I think are bad about this game is that maybe the upside down idea was a bad idea, but even still, the game is still playable with the DSi not upside down. As weird as DSi games get, this one is a decent one and hell, if you come back to it, don't be surprised. This was a decent surprise. I'm giving A Topsy Turvy Life: Turvy Drops on the DSiWare a 7.5 out of 10.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Top 10 Classic Arcade Games
Since Frogger has returned a while ago on the DSiWare & WiiWare, I said in the review "Frogger is one of my all time favourite classic arcade games." So I took that saying a little too seriously and now I'm giving you readers my Top 10 Classic Arcade Games. Now because I didn't grow up in the 80's (I wish I did though) I never got to play these in an arcade, unless you can count the arcade at a mall. But I did play most of these arcade classics by video game compilations (eg Namco Museum), or in remakes that came out on the Playstation 1 that included the original arcade classic (eg Pong, Asteroids, Space Invaders, etc....). Well, here's the list.
10 - Rally X by Namco from 1980
9 - Donkey Kong Jr. by Nintendo from 1982
8 - Sky Kid by Namco from 1985
7 - Dig Dug by Namco from 1982
6 - Super Pac-Man by Namco from 1982
5 - Galaga by Namco from 1981
4 - Frogger by Konami from 1981
3 - Pong by Atari from 1972
2 - The Tower of Druaga by Namco from 1984
1 - Donkey Kong by Nintendo from 1981
For those older readers, did most of the games on this list bring back memories of those Saturday afternoons where all you would hear is Loverboy's Working for the Weekend and had a pocket full of quarters? and for you younger readers who don't know classic arcade games....google them. play them online and see what your parents got to grow up with. They had no Xbox 360s, Modern Warfares, Natals, Wiis, touch screen games. They had the classics is what they had. Also, download the Xbox 360 Game Room. It's awesome!
10 - Rally X by Namco from 1980
9 - Donkey Kong Jr. by Nintendo from 1982
8 - Sky Kid by Namco from 1985
7 - Dig Dug by Namco from 1982
6 - Super Pac-Man by Namco from 1982
5 - Galaga by Namco from 1981
4 - Frogger by Konami from 1981
3 - Pong by Atari from 1972
2 - The Tower of Druaga by Namco from 1984
1 - Donkey Kong by Nintendo from 1981
For those older readers, did most of the games on this list bring back memories of those Saturday afternoons where all you would hear is Loverboy's Working for the Weekend and had a pocket full of quarters? and for you younger readers who don't know classic arcade games....google them. play them online and see what your parents got to grow up with. They had no Xbox 360s, Modern Warfares, Natals, Wiis, touch screen games. They had the classics is what they had. Also, download the Xbox 360 Game Room. It's awesome!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Frogger Returns (DSiWare) Review
Yep. He's back.
Frogger is one of my favourite games of all time, so when I heard the WiiWare game "Frogger Returns" is coming to the DSi Shop. I was excited. But after actually playing it, its decent and the old PlayStation 1 games were better. Why you ask? Well, for graphics, it's the WiiWare game just toned down but even on the DSi it looks pretty good. Cel-shaded graphics look really good for the game and suit it nicely. The only thing bad about its graphics is that the camera is in a Grand Theft Auto ChinaTown Wars perspective and this leads to a lot of cheap deaths. For the games audio, I love it, the sound-fx more than the music. Some of the level themes are cool & catchy but the game really shines in the sound-fx for me. As for controls, you could either use the D-pad, the buttons or the touch screen. This is such a waste. In the Playstation 1games, you used the D-pad and the buttons were either ribbit, use your tongue. The controls are simple, REALLY simple, but a waste. For 500 points, you get a bang for your buck with the modes in here, you get Arcade Mode which is classic Frogger, 3 lives, going from level to level. You also get Time Trial, Score Attack & Free Mode. There are 4 levels, which really sucks, but if you played the original and expect short levels, you are wrong, the levels here take a while to beat. Along with a stupid camera, another stupid thing in this game is the freeze traffic button, which is in the 1st level, where you jump on it and yes, all the traffic & dogs stop. This defeats the purpose of Frogger and is another waste. What is fun are some of the power-ups. There is invincibility, freeze enemies, more time, and there's about 1 or 2 more. Finally, if the only background art is going to be the classic arcade frog, why not have the actual arcade classic an unlockable thing or already unlocked? I was playing this in class and one kid came up to me asking me "What are you playing?" I told him "Frogger" and he asked "What's Frogger?". So if the next game you make has "Return" in the title, you make sure you have the original in there so people know why he's returning. But after a lot of cheap deaths, a crappy camera, average controls. I did have some fun with Frogger and it's good to see that he is making a come back after those crappy weird PlayStation 2 Frogger games. I say only download Frogger Returns if you played (& loved) the classic arcade or Playstation 1 games. If you like the Wii version, sure get this. But if you want to try Frogger first, just Google Free Frogger or something and play an online flash version. I'm giving Frogger Returns on the DSi a 6.0 out 10. Hopefully this reboot to one of my favourite arcade games of the 80s can make a sequel.
Frogger is one of my favourite games of all time, so when I heard the WiiWare game "Frogger Returns" is coming to the DSi Shop. I was excited. But after actually playing it, its decent and the old PlayStation 1 games were better. Why you ask? Well, for graphics, it's the WiiWare game just toned down but even on the DSi it looks pretty good. Cel-shaded graphics look really good for the game and suit it nicely. The only thing bad about its graphics is that the camera is in a Grand Theft Auto ChinaTown Wars perspective and this leads to a lot of cheap deaths. For the games audio, I love it, the sound-fx more than the music. Some of the level themes are cool & catchy but the game really shines in the sound-fx for me. As for controls, you could either use the D-pad, the buttons or the touch screen. This is such a waste. In the Playstation 1games, you used the D-pad and the buttons were either ribbit, use your tongue. The controls are simple, REALLY simple, but a waste. For 500 points, you get a bang for your buck with the modes in here, you get Arcade Mode which is classic Frogger, 3 lives, going from level to level. You also get Time Trial, Score Attack & Free Mode. There are 4 levels, which really sucks, but if you played the original and expect short levels, you are wrong, the levels here take a while to beat. Along with a stupid camera, another stupid thing in this game is the freeze traffic button, which is in the 1st level, where you jump on it and yes, all the traffic & dogs stop. This defeats the purpose of Frogger and is another waste. What is fun are some of the power-ups. There is invincibility, freeze enemies, more time, and there's about 1 or 2 more. Finally, if the only background art is going to be the classic arcade frog, why not have the actual arcade classic an unlockable thing or already unlocked? I was playing this in class and one kid came up to me asking me "What are you playing?" I told him "Frogger" and he asked "What's Frogger?". So if the next game you make has "Return" in the title, you make sure you have the original in there so people know why he's returning. But after a lot of cheap deaths, a crappy camera, average controls. I did have some fun with Frogger and it's good to see that he is making a come back after those crappy weird PlayStation 2 Frogger games. I say only download Frogger Returns if you played (& loved) the classic arcade or Playstation 1 games. If you like the Wii version, sure get this. But if you want to try Frogger first, just Google Free Frogger or something and play an online flash version. I'm giving Frogger Returns on the DSi a 6.0 out 10. Hopefully this reboot to one of my favourite arcade games of the 80s can make a sequel.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Photo Dojo (DSiWare) Review
Photo-Finish Him!
Photo Dojo, the long-awaited DSiWare game finally became available for download FREE in the North American DSi Shop May 10th. If you're reading this before June 10th 2010 than go download the game right now. It's free until then. After June 10th, you got to pay 200 points. But even for 200 points this game is worth it. In Photo Dojo, you get to take around 13 photos of you and 7 other friends (so a total of 8 fighters) and take 10 recorded sounds of you and your friends (eg, taunts, kicks, etc...) and you can take 8 more photos and those 8 pictures are your backgrounds. The end result after is awesome. You get two modes, single player mode, in which you go through 100 people (you beat up your 1 to 7 friends over and over again) and then there is the multiplayer mode, in which player one gets the D-pad and the L button, while player two gets the buttons and the R button. The controls for multiplayer suck but you can get used to them. The controls in single player are so much better though, the D-pad moves your guy left and right, down is duck, and up is jump and you could either use the buttons for kick & punch or the L & R buttons for kick & punch, which ever works for you. In the end, the whole thing (graphics & audio) is a damn good laugh. The layout works really nicely, but its just the controls in multiplayer & I wish the multiplayer was better. But still this is a very damn good DSiWare game and it's getting an 8.5 out of 10.
Photo Dojo, the long-awaited DSiWare game finally became available for download FREE in the North American DSi Shop May 10th. If you're reading this before June 10th 2010 than go download the game right now. It's free until then. After June 10th, you got to pay 200 points. But even for 200 points this game is worth it. In Photo Dojo, you get to take around 13 photos of you and 7 other friends (so a total of 8 fighters) and take 10 recorded sounds of you and your friends (eg, taunts, kicks, etc...) and you can take 8 more photos and those 8 pictures are your backgrounds. The end result after is awesome. You get two modes, single player mode, in which you go through 100 people (you beat up your 1 to 7 friends over and over again) and then there is the multiplayer mode, in which player one gets the D-pad and the L button, while player two gets the buttons and the R button. The controls for multiplayer suck but you can get used to them. The controls in single player are so much better though, the D-pad moves your guy left and right, down is duck, and up is jump and you could either use the buttons for kick & punch or the L & R buttons for kick & punch, which ever works for you. In the end, the whole thing (graphics & audio) is a damn good laugh. The layout works really nicely, but its just the controls in multiplayer & I wish the multiplayer was better. But still this is a very damn good DSiWare game and it's getting an 8.5 out of 10.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Ferrari GT: Evolution (DSiWare) Review
Outrun with more Ferraris on the go.
Ferrari GT: Evolution is another 800 point racing game on the DSiWare & it's a nice racing game. The graphics are really good, you get a crap load of ferraris to choose from, but not alot of tracks to race around. But the tracks you do get, are decent and can one lap can last around less than a minute to over a minute. and unlike AiRace, you can't reverse the track. The audio isn't much here, you'll be pushing the volume button faster than the race that's going on. The career mode is extremely long since you're going back and forth from race to race or from errard for a friend to a quick race. It's just a very long and boring career mode, unless there were more tracks. Controls are the usual for this racer, D-pad moves your car, A button is accelerate, B is brakes & the L button lets you look behind. Thing about this is I was winning half my races in 1st place. Almost race after race, but where as in AiRace on the normal difficulty, you're not always gunna come in 1st. AiRace is just the better racing game. So if you're looking for a racing game to download off the shop, you're best off downloading AiRace. It's worth your 8 dollars. This is not. I'm giving Ferrari GT: Evolution on the DSiWare a 5.5 out of 10.
Ferrari GT: Evolution is another 800 point racing game on the DSiWare & it's a nice racing game. The graphics are really good, you get a crap load of ferraris to choose from, but not alot of tracks to race around. But the tracks you do get, are decent and can one lap can last around less than a minute to over a minute. and unlike AiRace, you can't reverse the track. The audio isn't much here, you'll be pushing the volume button faster than the race that's going on. The career mode is extremely long since you're going back and forth from race to race or from errard for a friend to a quick race. It's just a very long and boring career mode, unless there were more tracks. Controls are the usual for this racer, D-pad moves your car, A button is accelerate, B is brakes & the L button lets you look behind. Thing about this is I was winning half my races in 1st place. Almost race after race, but where as in AiRace on the normal difficulty, you're not always gunna come in 1st. AiRace is just the better racing game. So if you're looking for a racing game to download off the shop, you're best off downloading AiRace. It's worth your 8 dollars. This is not. I'm giving Ferrari GT: Evolution on the DSiWare a 5.5 out of 10.
Guitar Hero 5 (Xbox 360) Review
Smells like a decent game.
Guitar Hero 5 was one of the thousand music games that were thrown at us back in 2009. I played it and it was decent. The graphics are very beautiful to look at, even though you're supposed to be hitting notes. Everything about Guitar Hero graphics are here and should stay (coughGuitarHero6cough). The only thing bad I think I can say about the graphics is what the hell happened to Clive Winston? He looks like a freak. He should look like he did in World Tour. Gameplay of the full band is still there but this time, you could play with either 4 drums, 4 guitars (or bass) or 4 singers (don't ask me how that works). Plus I think Activision is "whore"ing up the idea of a band. If you play any song, you play with 2 or more people, some notes will come down and they are on fire. Everyone in the band hits those fired notes perfectly and boom...a band moment has happened. The soundtrack in here is a hit & miss. You get GOOD songs like Under Pressure, Runnin' Down A Dream, Sympathy For The Devil, All Along The Watchtower, Kryptonite, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Why Bother, and there are the few other songs I play. When I mean few, I mean few. I played almost all the songs, not all of them are good. They have the same old DLC going on. A music maker, some more online stuff and some extras like a No Fail mode and a Free Drum mode. Guitar Hero 5 is a decent game, it shows off some very nice graphics while only having some good songs. Hopefully the graphics can stay the same for Guitar Hero 6 and hopefully they can fix up Clive Winston and get a better soundtrack. But until Guitar Hero 6, I'm gunna give Guitar Hero 5 for the Xbox 360 a 7.0 out of 10.
Guitar Hero 5 was one of the thousand music games that were thrown at us back in 2009. I played it and it was decent. The graphics are very beautiful to look at, even though you're supposed to be hitting notes. Everything about Guitar Hero graphics are here and should stay (coughGuitarHero6cough). The only thing bad I think I can say about the graphics is what the hell happened to Clive Winston? He looks like a freak. He should look like he did in World Tour. Gameplay of the full band is still there but this time, you could play with either 4 drums, 4 guitars (or bass) or 4 singers (don't ask me how that works). Plus I think Activision is "whore"ing up the idea of a band. If you play any song, you play with 2 or more people, some notes will come down and they are on fire. Everyone in the band hits those fired notes perfectly and boom...a band moment has happened. The soundtrack in here is a hit & miss. You get GOOD songs like Under Pressure, Runnin' Down A Dream, Sympathy For The Devil, All Along The Watchtower, Kryptonite, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Why Bother, and there are the few other songs I play. When I mean few, I mean few. I played almost all the songs, not all of them are good. They have the same old DLC going on. A music maker, some more online stuff and some extras like a No Fail mode and a Free Drum mode. Guitar Hero 5 is a decent game, it shows off some very nice graphics while only having some good songs. Hopefully the graphics can stay the same for Guitar Hero 6 and hopefully they can fix up Clive Winston and get a better soundtrack. But until Guitar Hero 6, I'm gunna give Guitar Hero 5 for the Xbox 360 a 7.0 out of 10.
RockBand 2 (Xbox 360) Review
Let there be Rock!
RockBand 2 is one of those sequel games that get the job done that you'll wonder why they are making a RockBand 3. Rockband has the same entire band gameplay from the first game, no change at all. The only thing that has changed is more stuff for the customization, more places to go in Career, & a few changes here and there but it's all for the better. The soundtrack in here is unbelievable, usually a music game has about somewhere from 40 - 70 songs, but in RockBand 2, you're getting somewhere from 80 - 90 songs, I don't know the exact number, but somewhere from 80 - 90 songs. Plus weekly DLC, so you're just adding on to the soundtrack. You got songs such as Alive, Anyway You Want It, Carry On Wayward Son, Man In The Box, Pinball Wizard, Shooting Star, Let There Be Rock, & believe me I play almost less than half the songs every time I put in RockBand 2. Better online, better soundtrack, the graphics look more brighter in RB2. RockBand 2 is a sequel that every music rhythm note hitting game fan will love until RockBand 3 (Or Guitar Hero 6) comes out later this year. I'm giving RockBand 2 on the Xbox 360 a 9.5 out of 10.
RockBand 2 is one of those sequel games that get the job done that you'll wonder why they are making a RockBand 3. Rockband has the same entire band gameplay from the first game, no change at all. The only thing that has changed is more stuff for the customization, more places to go in Career, & a few changes here and there but it's all for the better. The soundtrack in here is unbelievable, usually a music game has about somewhere from 40 - 70 songs, but in RockBand 2, you're getting somewhere from 80 - 90 songs, I don't know the exact number, but somewhere from 80 - 90 songs. Plus weekly DLC, so you're just adding on to the soundtrack. You got songs such as Alive, Anyway You Want It, Carry On Wayward Son, Man In The Box, Pinball Wizard, Shooting Star, Let There Be Rock, & believe me I play almost less than half the songs every time I put in RockBand 2. Better online, better soundtrack, the graphics look more brighter in RB2. RockBand 2 is a sequel that every music rhythm note hitting game fan will love until RockBand 3 (Or Guitar Hero 6) comes out later this year. I'm giving RockBand 2 on the Xbox 360 a 9.5 out of 10.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)