Book Review: Kingdom Keepers Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson

July 3, 2015 ragglefragglereviews1 Comment

There will be Spoilers !!!

That’s right I’m reviewing a book and if your wondering why its taken me three years to get around to book reviews that’s because I have never really been a huge reader but I have recently decided to try and delve into the world of literature and too give you my opinion on some popular and obscure book titles.

The first book I am going to be reviewing is Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson, this title is the first in this very popular series.

The book focuses on the lives of five teenagers (Finn, Charlene, Philby, Maybeck and Willa) who have been offered the opportunity to become virtual Disney Hosts, if you have ever been to Walt Disney world you will have noticed cast members walking around and offering help and guidance to the guests.

These teenagers are becoming DHI’s (Disney Hosts Interactive) allowing them to have holograms of themselves walking around the Magic Kingdom as virtual cast members, all five of them agree to have virtual versions of themselves created and afterwards they part from each other and get on with their lives.

Or at least that’s what they wanted to happen but unfortunately every time they go to sleep they wake up as their holograms in the Magic Kingdom, they learn that they have no control over this ability from an old man named Wayne who they meet every night while they are in hologram form.

Wayne explains to the teenagers that a great darkness and evil is trying to take over the Magic Kingdom and possibly the world, these evil entities have been code named the Overtakers, Wayne also explains that all five of them have been chosen to be the heroes who will eventually save the day.

The Overtakers seem to be famous Disney Villains who reside in some of the parks more famous attractions, The villain in Book 1 is Maleficent the evil witch from Sleeping Beauty, she is very spooky in this book and she tends to talk in a whisper like and raspy voice which definitely makes her character much more creepy.

She uses a lot of magic throughout the book although most of time she is using to try and kill the five heroes and at times the book takes a very dark turn because of this, by far the scariest part of the book for me is when all of the dolls in its a small world come to life and start trying to bite the five main characters.

The only character I really connected with in the book was Wayne and that was because he was very mysterious and a lot of time I personally felt that he had a very ghostly vibe to his character which often allowed me to see him as a guardian angel watching over the heroes, unfortunately he was also the only character that i found remotely interesting as a lot of the other characters were a bit too normal and boring for my tastes.

I was very impressed that the way Ridley Pearson described the layout of the park and the attractions was very accurate to the layout of the Magic Kingdom in real life, this is a nice touch for people who visit the parks often as they can visualize the descriptions in the book to those areas in the real park.

In conclusion Kingdom Keepers Disney After Dark was a fun book to read but overall it wasn’t that interesting and at times I felt that it overstayed its welcome, if your a fan of Disney then this book is definitely worth your time and even if your not a fan of Disney this book is fairly cheap to pick up and is worth giving a shot especially if your a fan of adventure and fantasy.

I hope you enjoyed this review of Kingdom Keepers Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson

By Padawan

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

You can find me on Miiverse by searching for draskafer

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (PC) (2001) Review

June 18, 2015 ragglefragglereviews1 Comment

Alohomora

I remember playing Harry Potter video games when I was a child, I used to own the Philosophers Stone on the Ps1 and both the Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban games on the PS2.

There are many Philosophers Stone games and the most rare of them all is the second generation version (Ps2, Xbox and GameCube) due to the price of this game being rather ridiculous I refused to buy it until I could find it for cheap in a flee market or a charity shop so when I saw the PC version being sold for penny’s in my local charity shop I quickly snapped it up expecting to be playing the rare second generation version only to be surprised that this particular game was very unique in itself and actually provided a completely new experience I didn’t expect.

The only question now is was that experience good?

You play the game as the Young wizard Harry Potter who has just started his first year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you spend the majority of the game attending classes such as Defense against the Dark Arts, Broomstick flying and Charms.

When you attend a class you are almost immediately told to trace over a shape using your mouse, you will need to hit a certain percentage of the shape in order to proceed to next difficulty of the spell learning minigame, you are required to pass level 1 which will award you five points for Gryffindor and after you succeed you will be taken to the next level, the more levels you pass the more points you will earn for Gryffindor but you are only required to finish level 1 in order too continue with the main game.

The only time that attending a class is any different is when you take part in a flying lesson because instead of tracing shapes this time you will need to fly through many different rings, this section works surprisingly well using the keyboards controls considering that for most of the lesson you will be using the speed up key which makes your broom stick fly much faster than usual.

After you finish the tracing mini game you are always then told to complete a bunch of challenges which mostly rely on you using that new spell, you will often be taken into a number of rooms to perform these challenges, you will also have the opportunity to collect the challenge stars which depending on how many you can find will award you with different amounts of points for Gryffindor once the challenge is complete, these stars are really easy to find so you should almost always be awarded maximum points for completing these challenges.

When playing through the main game you will also have the opportunity to collect other items, one of these items is the Bertie Botts every flavor beans which are only needed for you to give to Fred and George Weasley as they need it for a top secret practical joke they are planning on Slytherin.

The other collectible items are the famous Witches and Wizards cards which are hidden in secret areas all throughout Hogwarts, some of the cards you can get from Fred and George but the Majority you will need to find yourself, collecting all 25 cards only gives you a slightly expanded ending to the game so its not really worth the effort unless you really want to get 100 percent.

The general gameplay is mostly 3D platforming which works extremely well using the keyboard and mouse, the game runs smoothly providing you play on an XP operating system otherwise you will have serious lag and slowdown due to the game being so old.

You will play levels based on many of the famous scenes in the movie by far the most memorable part of the game for me was avoiding Filch and Mrs Norris in the forbidden section of the Library.

There are a few boss fights in the game but they are not that difficult as most of time just casting spells blindlessly will defeat them, the only boss I even had the slightest trouble with was the final boss and even he wasn’t that difficult.

The music is very memorable of the film which is a nice addition to the game, not all the music is from the movie but the original tracks are also very fun to listen too so its difficult to complain about

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone for the PC is a decent title in the Harry Potter game franchise, this particular version is a lot of fun but it is way too short as it can be finished with just a few hours, the game also feels very bare as most scenes from the film are missing which really is a shame, on the bright side there is a level based on a section which was only in the book which is a nice touch, it has tight controls, fun music and ok game play.

Unfortunately as much as I enjoy this game it is not one of the best Harry Potter games I have ever played but it is a lot of fun for what it is so I am going to rate this game slightly better than an average score 5.5/10

I hope you enjoyed my review of Harry Potter and Philosophers Stone for the PC

If you respect my opinion, I will respect yours

By Padawan

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

You can find me on Miiverse by searching for draskafer

Splatoon (Wii U) (2015) Review

May 30, 2015 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

Is Splatoon a brand new and innovative experience or is it just a game of paint ball?

When Splatoon first got announce at E3 last year the reaction from most Nintendo fans was firstly excitement for a brand IP and secondly fear due to the game being a First Person Shooter, personally I was ready to pre-order the game when I first saw it but I did worry that it would end having a generic FPS feel and not so much a Nintendo feel.

After almost a year of waiting Splatoon has now finally been released and I am ready to share my opinion with you all.

The first thing that shocked me about Splatoon is that before we even got any explanation of a plot we had to create a character by choosing gender, skin tone and eye colour.

I chose to play as the female inkling as I prefer her character design over the design of the Male inkling.

Once you’ve chosen your character and his/her features you are then taken to a short tutorial level which teaches you the main mechanics of the game.

Splatoon mostly focuses on multi-player game play in a mode called Turf Wars, in Turf Wars you will first need to pick your weapon, at first you will only have access too a weapon called the splat shot junior which is simply a standard machine gun but as you battle you will earn more money allowing you too go to shops in the main hub where you can buy new weapons and clothing.

Each weapon, shirt, hat and pair of shoes you buy each come with a perk which can help enhance your characters abilities during Turf Wars for example some items will give you a faster running speed, quicker re-spawn times, allow you to hold more ink and so on.

The different weapons are definitely the most interesting due to the various variety of weapons available and the different battling styles they offer, my favourite weapon at the moment is the 5.2 Gallon which is a more powerful version of the splat shot but it has a shorter range, another favourite weapon choice is the roller which is essentially just a giant paint roller that you can roll all over the map spreading Ink everywhere while also running over and taking out enemy players.

Each weapon also comes with a sub weapon, these sub weapons are only available after you spread enough Ink, some examples of these weapons are mines, sprinkler systems and giant Ink canons.

When you enter a match of Turf Wars you are put into a team of three other inklings and its your objective to cover more of the map with Ink than the other team before the timer stops.

When your not in Turf Wars there is still plenty to do in the main hub, one of the more interesting things is that if you speak to another player you can order their clothes and weapons from this guy in the alleyway called Spyke this is super cool as it appears that every players has a random assortment of clothing available in stores upon booting the game, the only downside to ordering it is that you need to wait 24 hours before the gear is available.

Other cool things are small arcade games that you can play if your bored or stuck in a lobby waiting for a game.

A local multi-player mode called Battle Dojo, in Battle Dojo you and a friend go against each other to see who can pop the most balloons before the end of the match, killing the other player will take away points from there score so this game can be a fun a little blood bath if you want it too be.

The Single Player Campaign has you working as an agent for a creepy old dude called Captain Cuttle Fish

and its your mission to rescue to Zap Fish from the evil Octarians, The Zap Fish provide all of the electricity in Inkopolis (the world of Splatoon).

The Single Player Campaign is great it has a lot of action when you are running around and blasting the Octarians but it also has a lot of puzzle and strategy elements as well.

Yes this is a shooter so you are going to have to use good aiming and strategy to take out enemies but certain parts of the levels will have the player needing to throw Ink Grenades to distract shielded enemies so that they become vulnerable to enough to hit and also the creativity of the stages also offers a wide variety of puzzles, some stages will have an invisible floor and invisible platforms which you will need to find by spraying your Ink in order to make the path clear, another example is that some stages have sponge platforms and if you shoot these platforms the sponge will absorb your ink and will expand this will help you reach higher platforms and some platforms that are further away.

The most iconic part of both multi-player and single player is the ability to turn your self into a squid, you can do this whenever you want and the ability has many advantages as well as disadvantages, if you turn into a squid you can hide underneath your own ink making you invisible to enemies and you can also swim through your own ink allowing you to move through out the levels and maps faster, turning into a squid is a very good strategy to use in both multi-player and single player.

The disadvantage is that you cant swim through enemy ink, you cant fire your weapons or grenades while you are a squid and if you walk on enemy ink you will get stuck making you slow down.

The final thing relating to gameplay I want to talk about is Amiibo Support, Splatoon has three Amiibo available Inkling Girl, Inkling Boy and (Limited) Inkling Squid.

If you find the amiibo section of the main hub and you scan your amiibo it will offer you additional challenges in the single player campaign, completing these challenges will offer you awards such as money and armour.

Graphically the game looks fantastic, I personally feel that it has a similar graphical style to the Jet Set Radio games , the game has had a lot of work put into it which was very much needed as the competition when it comes to FPS’s is the Call of Duty games which as much as I’m not a fan of that series I cant deny that it has an extremely large fan base which in reality is probably at this point bigger than the Nintendo fan base.

My favourite aspect of the look of the game is the shininess of the Ink, you can clearly see where the brightness of the sun is hitting the Ink while the Inklings are fighting and that small detail really helps make the game look and feel more realistic, another thing I really like is that some miiverse art that people make is occasionally painted on the walls as graffiti which is a great nod to fans and the best part is that these miiverse images are enhanced to look like actual graffiti instead it just looking like the developers have simply thrown it on the wall.

The games music is pretty fun to listen too it reminds me of a lot of rock/punk bands I would listen too when I was a kid, the music isn’t too memorable but the main theme song I honestly cant get out of my head.

The Splatoon Main Theme

I am pleased to announce that Splatoon surpassed my expectations and is in fact a fantastic game, it has very tight and easy to learn controls, fun and energetic on-line game play, the local is also pretty fun, I like the character customization that was thrown into the mix as it makes playing on-line have a reward system allowing you to spend money that you win on new weapons and clothing, the single player campaign is a lot of fun but its way to short and its a bit of a disappointment especially if you don’t happen to have internet access as you will getting a lot less out of the game.

Apart from that Splatoon is like Jet Set Radio meets Super Mario Sunshine an odd mix but the final result is absolutely brilliant.

9.2/10

(Guest Post) 6 Easiest Ways to Get More Followers on Instagram

May 26, 2015May 26, 2015 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

Instagram is at this time, the fastest, most fun and amazing way to share the beautiful and exciting things in life with family and friends, Instagram is used by both individuals as well as businesses to get seen by the world and get admired for what they are posting.

Making your place on Instagram might be easy but becoming popular or making yourself known on this social media platform is no easy task as everyone is trying to reach the top, having more and more followers to follow on Instagram might seem easy but in reality it is a very difficult task as only uploading good pictures or videos is not enough and there is a lot more that you will have to do in order to get more followers and enjoy success on this medium.

This article explains some of the easiest ways to get more followers on Instagram and share your posts with a larger audience:

Announce yourself to the world

Social media is all about creating a colourful and creative presence; the more creative and the most amazing presence you manage to create for yourself and the large number of followers you will able to attract.

Create your area of expertise or niche and keep on adding content to it as it will not only establish you as a serious user but also help to get more followers steadily over a period of time.

Connect with people who share similar tastes

Instagram brings hundreds and thousands of people together on one platform and many of them share the same likes and interests and thus it is very easy to get connected to people who share similar tastes.

Check out the people who have similar mind set and add posts accordingly to get more followers and enjoy more exposure on this social platform.

The Photos and People option is the best way to get started on this.

Start hashtag trends

Hashtags are based on popular trends which are a great way to get noticed and increase followers, there are already too many hashtags existing on Instagram and just adding to them will not serve any purpose, the need is for unique and creative hashtag trends that attract people and are relevant for the content that you are posting, this is one of the most effective means to increase your list of followers on Instagram.

Time your posts and content

Just posting content and being on Instagram does not serve any purpose, you need to time your posts and content the right way so that when you post anything it is noticed by people and attracts followers, you will have to ensure that you post a picture or a video regarding an event that has taken place recently as it will lose its worth with the passage of time and will eventually fail to interest followers.

It is very necessary to act smartly and time the posts and content for best results.

Connect with other social networks for better exposure

Reaching out to users with other social networks like Flickr, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare is a very smart move as it will help to appear on those social networks when you make any new post or comment on Instagram, it will result in better attention as people will already know you and are more likely to follow you.

All you need to do to connect with other social networks is to go to the Linked Account settings via the settings page on Instagram and look for the best options to extend your network, there are all the available options to start working on your social networking.

Use Gain Followers to enjoy more followers

There are hundreds and thousands of applications and services that make tall claims and promises about getting you followers for Instagram, however not all of them can be trusted as they do not fulfill their promises, there are only a few approved and tested applications that can help to get more followers without any problem.

On these apps, the follows can be purchased through tokens or some other methods to earn the tokens.

Get your Instagram flowing with this great app available here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gain-followers-for-instagram/id928851838

Instagram has become a global platform where people from all over the world share their posts and making a place in this platform has become very simple with the help of some of the easiest ways.

Padawan here I did not write this article and I have no credit in it what so ever, please go and check out this app, this person was kind enough to contact me asking if they could post on the website, I really like the app myself and I can see it being very beneficial to many Instagram users.

I enjoy writing articles but I also enjoy helping out other bloggers who have great ideas and products that they want to advertise and share with the world.

If you have any questions, requests for reviews or if you want to just genuinely contact me you can do so at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

Little Nemo the Dream Master (1990) (NES) Review

May 16, 2015May 16, 2015 ragglefragglereviews1 Comment

“What do you dream, when you dream Little Nemo”

Little Nemo the Dream Master was a game created by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the game itself was based on a series of comic strips titled Little Nemo in Slumberland which ran from 1905 to 1926.

The comic depicted a young boy called Nemo and the adventures he went on in his dreams, the comic strip was very creative and completely original at the time.

I find it odd that Capcom who were very high in the industry decided to make a video game based on a comic strip which at the time was over 85 years old, but still its Capcom we have to give them credit since they were responsible for some of the greatest games of that generation (MegaMan, Ducktales, Ghost and Goblins), So how did Capcom’s attempt to make a video game based on a very old comic strip turn out?

As you may have guessed the game takes place in Nemo’s dreams and within the fictional world of Slumberland, One night Nemo is visited by the royal messenger who tells him that the Princess of Slumberland has requested Nemo to be her playmate, Nemo isn’t fussed on the idea at first but after much persuasion he eventually agrees and is given a gift of candy, Nemo climbs aboard the Royal Messengers blimp and they both fly to Slumberland.

In the game you take the role of Little Nemo and its your objective to collect a set amount of keys to open the door at the end of each stage, the game is a platformer so expect to be doing a lot of jumping, unlike most platformers of the time this game a has a twist as Nemo will need to take the abilites of the animals around him to reach hard to reach places and too pass certain obstacles, you take these animals powers by throwing candy into their mouths until they fall asleep and once they are sleeping you simply jump onto that animal in order to have full access to their unique abilities.

You cant use the candy on all the creatures in the game but the vast majority of creatures do allow you too feed them the candy, depending on which creature you knock out will determine what new ability Nemo will gain, for example if you take the frogs ability Nemo will be able jump much higher than usual, taking the bee’s ability allows him to fly, taking the gorillas ability allows him punch things with brute strength and riding the lizard allows Nemo to walk up vertical platforms.

these are just a few of the many unique abilities available in the game.

When you finish a stage you are presented a small cut scene of Nemo waking up and his mother yelling at him to go back to bed, these cut scenes are very cute but they are also a very clever nod to the original works by Winsor McCay as the comic strips he wrote also ended in this manner.

This game is pretty adorable and it has a fairly innocent plot but be careful where you tread as this game is also very difficult, I personally find the game to have a similar feel to Ghosts and Goblins which is another very difficult platfomer made by Capcom for the NES, Little Nemo is not as difficult as Ghosts and Goblins but it definitely requires a lot more strategy due to having to constantly switch between the different animal abilities as well as needing to collect the keys before finishing each stage.

The game may be difficult but the level and character designs are wonderful, since the game takes place within Nemo’s dreams the levels are very imaginative, the first few levels are fairly basic with simple setting such as a forest and Nemo’s backyard but the later levels are very cool and creative some of my favourite stages include Nemo’s House which has the player controlling a pint size Nemo through his home while helping him avoid everyday objects such as dishes and cutlery but at a much larger scale.

My favourite stage is called the House of Toys this stage is an on rails platformer, Nemo is in a toy room and is riding a toy train, while riding the train Nemo will need to act fast to avoid enemy attacks and too collect the keys, the train is extremely well animated and the train noises are very impressive and to a point even quite realistic considering the restrictions of the NES and it honestly blows my mind every time I hear it.

From the opening cutscene to the end credits the games graphics are truly something to marvel, everything is extremely well animated, pixelation of the backgrounds, landscapes and general art style is smooth and nice to look at and the colours choices really suit the games innocent and charming atmosphere.

With this being a Capcom game as you might expect the music is absolutely superb, the music isn’t quite as fast and upbeat as the music you may hear in the Mega Man franchise nor is it quite as intense as the Music in the Ghost and Goblins or Demons Crest series, the music is very innocent and at times even quite relaxing and this suits the games atmosphere because before the final stage the game is not at all scary and Nemo isn’t not really threatened so the nice music is a good choice and when you do reach that final stage the music does change to a more darker and scarier tone, the music is very memorable and I often find myself humming it on a daily basis.

With such a difficult platformer you need good controls and luckily the controls are tight and very responsive, the controls them selves are very easy to learn, and the simple layout of the NES controller makes the games controls and general game play easy to grasp for any player.

Little Nemo the Dream Master was a risky choice for a video game due to the original works ending 64 years prior to the games release, the game is an innocent little platformer with difficult but fair game play, some of the best colour choices and level designs of any game for the NES and the music was a very smart choice from the developers due to its calm and friendly nature suiting the game perfectly.

Little Nemo the Dream Master is the type of game which quite literally a dream come true for many gamers due to it’s innocence, fantastic gameplay, and overall charm.

The game is perfect,not only is it a fantastic example of a hidden gem for the system but I would also argue that its one of the greatest games ever made.

10/10

Thank you for reading my review of Little Nemo the Dream Master for the NES

If you respect my opinion, I will respect yours

By Padawan

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

You can find me on Miiverse by searching for draskafer

Also me and some friends have recently started playing games together so please check out our YouTube Channel Hoenn Rangers, I love Little Nemo and so do my friends so one day we may play the game on the show.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmN8F6Q-eGOD0gp0anCdcQ

Lets take a look at Splatoon Global Test Fire

May 9, 2015 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

With Nintendo’s new IP Splatoon getting released in only 20 days Nintendo decided to allow all Wii U players to test out the game today by downloading the demo and joining three different hour long mulitplayer games split over three different time slots, also please note that I am not going to discuss graphics and audio since I am doing a review of the full game at the beginning of June just after the game release.

This Demo allows players to try their luck at Turf War where two teams go up against each other and battle to see which team can cover the most land with their ink by the end of the match.

I am so pleased that we were given the opportunity to try out the game before its release and I am even more pleased that I wasn’t at all disappointed with it.

As I previously mentioned the objective to Turf War and the basic gameplay element of Splatoon is very different to that of an ordinary FPS which was a risky move but ultimately it works extremely well.

I had a blast playing the Demo and I was surprised when I realised that I was actually quite good at it which is something I cannot say about most FPS’s.

When you start the Demo the first thing you are told too do is to create your Inkling by choosing your gender, skin tone and finally eye colour, there wasn’t much choice here but I am sure there will be in the final product.

Next you are taken through the tutorial level where you learn the basic game play mechanics such as shooting, travelling in squid mode and throwing bombs.

Finally you have to choose your weapons for battle before you join a multi-player game

There are four weapons to choose from.

you have two machine gun type weapons which can fire rapid shots of Ink at a fast rate, the bigger gun can shoot further but not as fast and the JR version can shoot faster but not as far.

You have a sniper rifle type weapon which can shoot enemies from far away with some very powerful shots, I didn’t like this weapon personally as I felt it slowed me down and left me at quite a disadvantage compared to the other players who mostly used weapons which sprayed a lot of ink.

Finally you get the Splat Roller which as you may have guessed is a weapon that you roll all over the battle arena leaving a lot of Ink behind, you can attack enemies with this weapon but the attack is extremely low range and is a physical attack unlike the other weapons which can all fire bullets.

Turf wars is a lot of fun I really enjoyed running around and just shooting everything to spread my ink and I was pleased to learn that I could actually defeat enemy players when I dealt them enough damage, turf wars takes a lot of strategy to win as you have to shoot every thing but at the same time you need to turn into a squid and swim through your own Ink to refill on ammunition and its a lot harder than it sounds.

Getting into matches was very quick and very easy, I never had to wait more than two minutes to get into a game and while I was waiting I got play a pleasant little mini game where I had to bounce a squid onto different platforms.

Pros

Fun game play
Quick tutorial
Quick joining matches
Mini game on the loading screen

Cons

Only two maps available
Cant skip tutorial
Wish we had access to at least one more game mode.

Splatoon Global Test fire was a lot of fun and if you would like to give it shot, you can download it on the Wii U E-shop and you can join the match tonight at 8.00pm until 9.00pm

I hope you enjoyed my look at Splatoon Global Tesfire

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

You can find me on Miiverse by searching for draskafer

The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker (2003-2013) (GameCube/Wii U) Review

April 21, 2015 ragglefragglereviews4 Comments

The Legend of Zelda the Animated Series……… Wait no its not

The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker is one of the most beloved games of the Legend of Zelda franchise and is often considered to be a masterpiece to gaming, but it never used to be looked at in such as positive light as upon the games release it was hated amongst fans due to its less serious plot and characters and its new cheerful and brightly coloured visuals.

Before just a few weeks ago I had only played this game once while I was visiting my cousins back in 2003, even though I only played the game for a short time the memories I had playing have treasured me for many years and I always intended to return the game hoping to have as much fun with it as I did back then I have now played through both the HD remake and the original thanks to my very same cousin kindly lending me the very copy we played those many years ago.

this is a comparison review so I will be using screenshots from both versions of the game.

So how did it hold up?

You play as Link an adventurous young lad who lives with his little Sister Aryll and his Grandmother on Outset Island, its Links birthday and as a gift his Sister lets him borrow her special telescope for one day, while testing the telescope out Link notices a giant bird carrying a girl and dropping her into the forest of fairies which is located on a hill above Outset Island, Link runs into the forest and to his relief the girl is absolutely fine and she introduces herself as Captain Tetra and at the same time she introduces her crew of Pirates, Link and the Pirates decide that its time to leave the forest of fairies but unfortunately as they do the same bird snatches Aryll and takes he away to the Forbidden Fortress.

The Pirates agree to help Link rescue his sister by escorting him to the Forbidden Fortress and after an intense mission impossible style journey to top of the fortress, Link finally reaches the top only to find out that the evil mastermind behind all of the previous trouble was none other than Ganondorf who has much bigger plans for the fate of the world other than simply kidnapping young girls and its up to Link the Hero of the Winds to stop him.

As I mentioned above Wind Waker didn’t do so well upon release due to its change in graphics and visuals but another reason for this is its game play, Wind Waker is the most interesting Zelda title I have ever played because unlike most other games in the series that mostly focus on a serious and dark plot with side missions and other objectives thrown into the mix as a bonus, Wind Waker does the very opposite because it has a big focus on exploring and discovery and less of a focus on the main quest, at the time a lot of Legend of Zelda fans didn’t like this new change of pace and they labelled the game as being a wannabe Zelda title, personally I really like the idea that the game wants players to create there own adventures as these days I feel that most Zelda games don’t have a massive emphasis on adventure which was originally the staple of the franchise.

Instead of a horse this time we are given a boat called the King of Red Lions, the King of Red Lions is one of the most useful characters in the game because not only does he help guide you towards your main quests goals but he is also the only way you can travel between towns, islands and dungeons, if you haven’t already guessed the majority of the game takes place in the ocean meaning that most of your objectives and goals are spread all across the world on different islands.

This is a Zelda game so there is a couple of dungeons that you need to complete in order to beat the game but like I said there isn’t many dungeons as the main focus here is side questing, the idea of exploration is really cool and I appreciate that they made this the main focus but unfortunately the map for the ocean kind of sucks due to there not being much indication of where certain areas are on the map, some of the main towns are drawn on the map but the rest is mostly blank and this makes exploring extremely difficult, frustrating and not fun.

There is a way that you can easily indicate where certain areas are situated on the map but from my experience the only way to do this is to feed your bate (red berries) to certain fish in the ocean, I found a couple of these fish and they did help me with mapping the coordinates of certain islands but I only found a few of them so they actually weren’t that much help.

I feel that this issue could have been fixed in a couple of ways for example how about nothing is indicated on the map but once you discover a new area or island it is automatically added to the map for you.

If you go on-line you can find coordinates to the different areas an example would be that the private cabana is situated on E5 this makes it much easier to traverse the vast world of Wind Waker so they could have fixed the map problem by giving you the opportunity to purchase the coordinates to certain areas in shops or from travelling merchants in the game.

The most obvious fix to this would be to simply provide the player with a physical map of the ocean packed in with the game that has all of the coordinates written onto it (Similar to the Grand Theft Auto games).

Finally for Wii U players the map is seen on the game pad so it would have been cool and useful if we could have drawn our own coordinates on the map using the stylus and the game pad.

This is the the only thing about the game-play that I really dislike so lets now talk about the more positive aspects of the game

With Link being a being a master swords man you are going to be doing a lot of sword fighting in the game and a new attack introduced in Wind Waker is a timed button command, this new attack can be triggered by the player targeting the enemy and not taking damage for a few seconds, then once the command appears they must hit the button before it disappears and if they are successful they will take hit the enemy while dealing some major damage.

Another staple in the Zelda franchise is that in every game a new item is introduced and this time around we got the deku leaf, the deku leaf essentially allows Link to float through the air until his magic meter runs out this is useful for when you are trying to reach far away ledges and platforms, another use to this item is you can blow gusts of air with it which is mostly used to power certain mechanisms in the game luckily this particular use of the deku leaf uses no magic.

This wouldn’t be a Wind Waker review if I didn’t talk about the Wind Waker, the Wind Waker is essentially this games version of the Ocarina, through out the game you will learn new songs you can play using the wind and to the usual Zelda fashion some songs are needed in the game when others are not so important but still useful, for example if you are using the original sail while sailing you will need to sail in the direction of the wind and if you play the Winds Requiem you can change which way the wind is travelling making sailing to your destination much faster and easier, another example is the Ballad of Gales which allows you to warp to previous locations you have already visited.

Since the game mostly focuses on everything beyond the main quest you would think that the Side Quests would be very creative and unique compared to side quests in other entries of franchise, but this really isn’t the case as some side quests are genuinely a lot of fun and really stand out such as the Pictograph Quest which has young Link taking Photographs for an aspiring photographer on Windfall Island but apart from the few like this most of the Side quest are generic fetch quests having the player collect 20 of a specific item to be rewarded with rupees or heart pieces, one of the most awesome rewards for completing one of these quests is that Link gains his own Private Cabana which was an unexpected treat.

Both the Gamecube and the Wii U version of Wind Waker have very tight and responsive controls which are expected from a Nintendo Title, the Wii U version is the most beneficial version to play if only for the player not having the need to pause the game in order to switch between items and treasure charts due to the quick and easy access to these menus on the Wii U game pad.

The Wii U port also has a less aggravating final fetch quest at the end of game due to Nintendo kindly removing the majority of the Triforce charts allowing players to only collect three of them compared to the original which made the player collect eight.

The most unique aspect to the Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker is its visuals, Nintendo decided to steer away from the realistic and dark visuals which had become the staple of the series and decided to go with something much more happy which gave more of a childlike and innocent vibe which produced some beautiful final results.

Here are a few screen shots I found of both versions of the game.

Wind Waker is a very lively and well animated game, the game itself looks like an artist has gone absolutely nuts with colours and detail, this is also the first time we have really seen Link have a personality as he clearly shows his feelings and emotions using facial expressions through out the game and by using these facial expressions Link can take some magnificent selfies using his pictograph, the graphics are outstanding and are what help make the game really stand out as a unique title in the series.

Wind Waker also has an amazing sound track that really suits the games atmosphere and charm, what makes Wind Wakers soundtrack really stand out is that it always remains fun no matter what situation it is presenting itself too, for example most of the music in the game is fun happy and cheerful but even when the game gets to its more serious moments such as dungeon crawling and emotional scenes the music changes to suit these new environments but it also keeps its fun and cheerful presence as if its reminding you not to take the game to seriously and this is a game design choice that I really enjoy.

The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker is one of the most amazing entries in the franchise due to how unique it is, it was the first game in the series to have a less serious plot, feel and pace which is a touch that I believe only this game could pull off, the game focuses more on adventuring than it does the main quest which is something that I believe Nintendo should implement into future Zelda titles, because Wind Waker chose to focus more on side questing and exploration I wish that the game had more interesting side quests and better map system because personally this left me very disappointed, the graphics are an interesting and risky choice but they work really well and honestly help give the game more personality, the music also carries this same risk but the final result really works in this type of game.

I will probably be crucified for saying this but I don’t think Wind Waker is one of the best Zelda titles although I believe I could have been if certain aspects of the game were executed better.

I may not have enjoyed Wind Waker as much as many of its fans but I do believe that it is a very unique entry to the franchise due to its personality and its charm.

Wind Waker 6.8/10

Wind Waker HD 7.2/10

Thank you for reading my review of The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker for the Gamecube and the Wii U

If you respect my opinion, I will respect yours

By Padawan

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

You can find me on Miiverse by searching for draskafer

Also me and some friends have recently started playing games together so please check out our YouTube Channel Hoenn Rangers, We haven’t played Wind Waker yet but I’m sure we will at some point whether we play the Game Cube or the Wii U Port.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmN8F6Q-eGOD0gp0anCdcQ

Top 5 DS Games I want on Wii U E-Shop

April 18, 2015 ragglefragglereviews5 Comments

So a few weeks ago Nintendo released a press conference where they talked about new content in upcoming games as well as announcing some release dates for big Nintendo titles, one of my favourite announcements from the conference was that you can now purchase N64 and NDS games on the E-shop for the Wii U, I’m not too interested in the N64 virtual console as I do prefer to get most of my N64 as physical copies but the realisation that I can now play NDS games on my TV literally made me squeal like a little girl who got given a kitten covered in candy floss for Christmas and I just want to hug Nintendo into eternity right now, at the moment there is only two DS games available on the E-shop Mario Kart DS and Wario Ware touched and I was a little disappointed with this considering that the USA got Yoshi’s Island DS while Europe has to wait until May.

I may have been a little disappointed but I am still super hyped for what DS games Nintendo will bring to the E-shop and in celebration of the announcement here are my top 5 DS games I want to see on Wii U E-Shop.

5. New Super Mario Bros

As some of you may know New Super Mario Bros is one of my favourite Mario games of all time, it is essentially a remake of the original Super Mario Bros but with a few changes the most obvious change is the more modern graphics, the game also has a variety of music tracks, new power ups and a well detailed over world similar to Super Mario Bros 3, the reason this is so low on the list is because it honestly isn’t that exciting compared to my other choices but needless to say I think this game would look awesome on the Virtual Console.

4. The Professor Layton Series

The professor Layton games are these surprisingly in depth puzzles games made by Level 5 Studios, the games follow the adventures of Professor Layton and his side kick Luke Triton, each game has our two protagonists working together to solve the hidden mysteries of different towns and villages, you slowly solve these mysteries by finishing many puzzles and answering many riddles through out the games, the Professor Layton series are great games to play by yourself on a handheld but I think it would be interesting to play them on the TV because with a bigger screen you and your friends can try to solve to puzzles together which seems like it would be a lot of fun also the games have fully animated cut scenes which I’m sure would be a real treat to watch on a larger screen.

3. The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass/Spirit Tracks

A few weeks ago I finally finished playing through Wind Waker and I had a lot of fun with it but I didn’t enjoy it as much I have enjoyed other games in the series which is why its two sequels are only at the number three spot on this list, these two Zelda games are very unique as they are controlled completely with the touch screen which is a concept I find very interesting as I believe it will add more of a challenge compared to how easy Wind Waker was, this is also the main reason why I want to play the two DS games as I want to see how the challenge differs as well to see what happens next in Wind Waker’s story.

2. Mario and Luigi Partners in Time/Bowser’s Inside Story

I recently downloaded Mario and Luigi Super Star Saga for the GBA on the E-Shop and boy am I glad I did, the Mario and Luigi games are these surprisingly hilarious and well written RPG’s from Nintendo, the plots are always silly and the games are full of interesting characters and clever jokes, Super Star Saga is slowly becoming one of my favourite RPG’s of all time as it reminds me a lot of Super Mario RPG for the SNES, these games are charming, very challenging but fair and full of that Nintendo flavour so I really hope that Nintendo put these games on the E-Shop as I cant wait to play them all.

1.Any of the DS Pokemon Games

Seriously Nintendo this needs to happen because not only would it be awesome it would also be extremely useful, I know many people who like to play the Pokemon Game Boy games using their super game boy’s and the Game Boy Advance games using the Game cube GBA adapter, the Pokemon series is a lot of fun to play on the move but personally I always have more fun playing them on the TV and I’m sure a lot of other people do too.

three reasons why Pokemon on the E-Shop will be useful

1. TV’s don’t have a battery life so you can play Pokemon all day without having to charge the console every four hours, the pokemon games are really long and require many hours of grinding so his will help.

2. Your friends dont need to climb all over you to watch you play the game, Pokemon games can get pretty intense and if like me you have friends who get overly excited when you find a shiny you will most likely have 10 different people crowding around your DS at the same time and with a TV this is not such a huge a deal as all of your friends can watch no matter where they sit on the couch.

3. Save States, there is no denying that the Pokemon games are tough and require a lot of patience the only way to retry a battle or a puzzle if you mess up is to either lose or reset the game which is extremely annoying , playing a Pokemon game on the Virtual console will allow save states which are going to be very useful as it make the whole experience less stressful and the best part is that you don’t have to use them so any hardcore Pokemon players wont be disappointed

The only problem I can see people complaining about is the lack or online battles and trading as it seems that this feature will be unavailable due to the original Nintendo Wifi Connection being shut down, but I have a feeling that Nintendo might be able to use their magic to some how make the online capabilities work.

Thanks for reading my top 5 DS games I want on Wii U E-Shop I realise that most of these are Nintendo titles but I cant really help that I’m a bit of a Nintendo addict, although my number 6 spot would go to the Drawn to Life games which I also hope get ported to E-Shop soon, what DS games would you like to see on the E-Shop?

thanks for reading this blog

If you respect my opinion, I will respect yours

By Padawan

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

You can find me on Miiverse by searching for draskafer

Also me and some friends have recently started playing games together so please check out our new YouTube Channel Hoenn Rangers, We haven’t played any DS games yet but I’m sure we will some time in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYmN8F6Q-eGOD0gp0anCdcQ

Kirby’s Epic Yarn (Wii) (2010) Review

March 25, 2015 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

With his never ending smiles and insane levels of adorableness Kirby has always been an extremely lovable video game character, so when people heard that Kirby was going to be made out of yarn in his 2010 Wii game meaning extreme levels of cuteness people couldn’t resist picking it up, I also couldn’t resist grabbing a copy but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little concerned with the new visual style.

So was everyone’s favourite pink puff ball just as lovable as a pink fluff ball?

One day in the magical world of Dream Land Kirby is super hungry and is looking for some food to eat and he eventually comes across his favourite snack a metamato, this particular metamato looks very unusual and unlike anything Kirby has ever seen but Kirby is so hungry that he eats it anyway, this metamato belonged to Yin Yarn the sorcerer and after eating it Kirby is banished to another world called Patch Land, here he meets Prince Fluff who explains that Yin Yarn has taken over Patch Land and has hidden the seven pieces of magical yarn that hold Patch Land together, Prince Fluff asks for Kirby’s help and they both travel across Patch Land looking for the seven pieces of magical yarn.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn is a 2d plat-former but it has a very different feel to most Kirby games this is because Kirby cannot eat things to steal their powers and he cant even fly, this is due to him now being made of yarn so he has lost most of his original abilities but he has gained many more in their place.

With his new light and flexible body Kirby is able to transform into small objects and vehicles when he is in certain situations or when he genuinely feels the need to do so, for example this game does not have a running function but Kirby is able to transform himself into a car giving him twice as much speed , another cool transformation is that when Kirby goes underwater he transforms his body in a submarine using his feet as the propellers to help him keep a steady pace under the water and finally another one of my favourite transformations is that he can transform his body into a parachute when he is falling from great heights and this helps him to reach some of the more difficult platforms as well as too help him find hidden treasures and collectables.

There are also many different opportunities for Kirby to transform into some bigger and more complicate transformations, he can only transform into these other forms if he finds a magic warp circle, these circles of yarn can only be found in certain parts of the game but its worth the wait to find these because the results are really awesome.

My favourite three special transformations are

3. Spin Board

After using the Spin Board transformation Kirby turns into what seems to be a penguin riding a hover craft, this transformation is super fun as its usually used in levels which consist of down hill slopes and fast rushing water, Kirby keeps at a fairly quick speed but he can also jump on enemies which causes him to spin in mid air this tactic is useful as Kirby can bounce off of enemies to reach higher platforms.

2. Dolphin

Being a big fan of the Ecco the Dolphin games on Sega Genesis really helped me get super excited when I discovered a Dolphin transformation in this game, as a Dolphin Kirby can swim quickly and easily through strong under water currents and he can even dash into enemies to defeat them, I love this ability because its really cool and it controls extremely well even though we are only playing using the Wii Remotes D-Pad.

1. Star Ship

This is by far my favourite transformation because I love space shooters, its really fun to become the Star Ship as you can fly through space destroying all enemies and obstacles in your path, I also really enjoy this transformation because it reminds me of games such as Galaga and Life Force.

Kirby can use all sorts of different abilities while on his adventure through Patch Land but in my opinion its not the abilities that make this game stand out but its the artistic visuals that really make game very special, I have not played a video game that has been this creative in a very long time, everything in the game is made of yarn and other fabrics, its really rather beautiful and its a good reason to take your time to explore every stage from top to bottom because you just never know what creative things you may find.

The amount of detail in the game is also quite amazing, almost everything in this game is sewn into the level in some way or form and you can actually see the stitching, the amount of detail in the game also helps to really enhance the game play as some times you will find loose pieces of string or zippers that you can pull to uncover secret areas, you can remove some objects from levels completely by peeling them away as if they are stickers and another really cool ability is that you can unravel your enemy by turning them into balls of yarn and you can then throw them back at other enemies that are in your way.

A lot of people complain that the game is much too easy with no challenge at all, I do agree that it is very easy but saying that there is no challenge does not seem fair to me, the game itself is fairly simple and you wont have any trouble getting through the game as Kirby cannot die, each stage has you collecting beads and depending on how many beads you have collected will determine what medal you will receive at the end of each level, no matter how many beads you collect you will always get a wooden medal but in order to receive a bronze, silver or gold medal you will need to collect various amounts of beads, this may seem simple but be careful because every time Kirby falls out of the stage or if he gets damaged he will lose beads and will need to look for some more.

Another challenging aspect to this game is the challenge modes, through out the game Kirby is able to help the manager of a block of flats build different rooms to inspire new residents to rent the flats off of him, these residents soon become Kirby’s friend and they each have a different game for Kirby to play, whether that’s playing hide and seek, collecting a certain amount of beads within a time limit, carrying some one through a level, killing a set number of enemies or beating someone in a race throughout various stages the challenge modes have a lot to offer and near the end of the game they start to get a really tough.

Don’t worry Kirby also has his own flat which you can decorate to your hearts desire, you decorate your apartment with the various collectable items that you find in each of the stages and you can also buy some of them from the store, you can also change the wall paper in your apartment and again you need to collect these, you collect the wallpaper by completing the challenge modes and again you can buy some of the wallpapers from the store.

Each world is themed and has a set amount of levels for you to complete before you can take on the worlds boss, the boss fights are fairly simple and quite easy to learn but again there is a challenge for you complete, you will notice that as well as the usual medal system the boss fights also offer a prize higher than a gold medal, this prize is a patch and if you manage to collect enough beads to earn the patch you will be presented with two new secret levels that you can complete.

The entire game is based on collecting things which is why the game is not too difficult, the developers want the player to explore each level taking as much time as they want, pulling every piece of string, unzipping every zip, peeling off every sticker and genuinely exploring this incredible fabric covered world and in my opinion that’s fantastic game design, the only complaint I have regarding the game play is that you don’t get anything for 100 percent completion of the game which really sucks considering the game tries to push you too fully complete it.

Just like the rest of the game the music is rather relaxing and it really suits the atmosphere of each world, for example in the snow world the music is cheerful and sounds like Christmas, in the cake world the music is a bit more up beat and fast but you can still tell its having fun its almost has the vibe of a child on a sugar rush, in the cave levels the music is slower and more dark but it also has an adventurous feel to it, the music is just another aspect to this game which really helps it to stand out from the crowd.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn is an amazing game and a wonderful experience, with its mind blowing visuals, very memorable sound track, extremely responsive controls, fantastic game play which can be played both alone or with a friend, creative characters and story line and its incredible game design which is only held back by having no completion bonus, Kirby’s Epic Yarn is an artistic masterpiece and its not only one of the best Wii games but also one of the greatest and most inspirational games of all time.

9.8/10

Thank you for reading my review of Kirby’s Epic Yarn for the Nintendo Wii

By Padawan

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

You can find me on Miiverse by searching for draskafer

Birthday Cake M and M’s Review

March 18, 2015 ragglefragglereviewsLeave a comment

When I saw that you could get Birthday Cake flavoured M and M’s I was immediately confused because birthday cake is not a flavour, yeah you eat it on someone’s birthday but the cake is always a certain type of cake such as chocolate, sponge, carrot etc, at least that’s how things tend to work in the UK.

One Pack of Birthday Cake M and M’s has

190 calories

70 fat calories

8g total fat

5g saturated fat

0g trans fat

5mg cholesterol

30mg sodium

28g total carbs

1g fiber

25g sugar

2g protein

Vitamin A

Vitamin C

4 percent calcium

2 percent iron

You may not be able to notice in the above picture but compared to original M and M’s the Birthday Cake M and M’s are almost double in size and they only come in a variety of three colours Red, Yellow and Blue

underneath the shell lies the usual Milk Chocolate that you will find inside of any other M and M’s candy but what surprised me the most was the flavour of the chocolate because it legitimately tastes like chocolate cake, the chocolate cake flavour is actually quite amazing because you get the obvious taste of chocolate but you also get a surprising fruity flavour that tastes very similar to the jam that you find in between the layers of most cakes.

Birthday Cake M and M’s really surprised me, I expected that they would have hardly any cake flavour at all and that they would be nothing but a cheap product that M and M’s put together to make a quick buck, but too my surprise there was a large quantity in the single packet I bought and they legitimately taste like chocolate cake.

Birthday Cake M and M’s are great and I really wish that they were sold in the UK 10/10

Thank you for reading my review of Birthday Cake M and M’s

If you respect my opinion, I will respect yours

By Padawan

Want me to review a specific game/movie/product or do you have a general question you would like me to answer? if so please email me at ragglefragglereviews@gmail.com

You can find me on Miiverse by searching for draskafer

ragglefragglereviews

MOVIES, VIDEO GAMES, FOOD AND BEVERAGE, ANIME and just about everything else

Tag: Dan

Book Review: Kingdom Keepers Disney After Dark by Ridley Pearson

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone (PC) (2001) Review

Splatoon (Wii U) (2015) Review

Little Nemo the Dream Master (1990) (NES) Review

Lets take a look at Splatoon Global Test Fire

The Legend of Zelda: the Wind Waker (2003-2013) (GameCube/Wii U) Review

Top 5 DS Games I want on Wii U E-Shop

Kirby’s Epic Yarn (Wii) (2010) Review

Birthday Cake M and M’s Review