Tag: PS2

ICO (2001) Review

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Developed by Japan Studio and Team ICO, this game while it now holds a cult following did not meet sales expectations upon its original release, it would later go on to inspire the vast superior Shadow of the Colossus and one of my personal favourite games. I never had a chance to check this one out until recently and I was curious to see what I missed out on.

A young boy with horns is slowly dragged into a deserted castle high on the cliffs to be sacrificed to the Shadow Queen, for centuries children who grow horns have been locked away here and left to starve to death but luckily for Ico he manages to escape from his tomb and with the help of Yorda a Princess of light and they both work together to escape the castle and its labyrinth inspired walls.

The game is unusual for its lack of conventional video game design it has very little focus on combat and player deaths are few and far between, the main aspect is puzzle solving where you need to interact with the castles mechanical engineering, blow open doors and pull levers in order to adjust areas that Yorda is able to climb and to allow her to traverse along the same paths as the much braver Ico.

Yorda is able to use her light to open otherwise inaccessible doors and pathways so keeping her safe is a must, at set moments in the story shadow creatures will grab the Princess and drag her into the darkness, if this happens Ico will turn to stone and die instantly.

These creatures can be defeated by hitting them with a stick or even better a sword, another way is to simply grab Yordas hand and run to a nearby light blocked door, this will kill all shadows in the area but the likely hood of a door even being available is rare and this can only be done in select moments during the story.

Yorda moves very slowly throughout the game which can be frustrating at times, I spent the majority of my playthrough holding her hand so she was forced to run but this can only be done on ground and near the very end of the game due to a story progression it becomes near impossible to run with her as she will keep tripping over.

In essence the best way I can describe the gameplay is that it is almost like a giant Zelda Dungeon with much easier combat and some ways easier puzzle solutions but difficulty is not what the developers had in mind while creating this game.

This is more of an interactive story than it is a action-adventure game as some may call this, the game is pretty easy including its final boss fight, without a health bar or a heads up display dying seems to be less important as Ico doesnt seem to have much of a threat, in fact to my knowledge the shadows can cant hurt him and only really go for Yorda, he can be taken out with basic platforming mistakes but thats about it.

I think this works in the games favour as it makes it stand out and to be honest I think if they did focus more on this being more than an interactive story the game would have had much less of an impact because it wouldn’t hold a candle to other Action-Adventure games of the time.

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Graphically the game is very impressive for an early PS2 title and it has a great use of darkness and basic design to help emphasise the eerie sense of being lost in the castle halls, the few outside meadow areas which are safe from the shadows are much more relaxing in design and its rendering of the castle from such a height for example from the top of cliffs to the waters below would have taken a lot of development work in the PS2’s early stages.

Ico’s soundtrack is very limited which works well with the basic game play level design and narrative while traversing the castle and its many yards you will be lucky to find any music which adds to the lonely and rather empty atmosphere of Ico and Yordas journey and any music we do get is basic so it doesn’t take away from the narrative that is being told, a genius decision from composer  Michiru Oshima and is something I would like to see inspiring more games in the future.

Ico is a fantastic game and for what it was aiming to achieve it did a fantastic job of giving us an all around simple game with its story, gameplay and soundtrack but while this is outstanding in many ways and I do truly love the game its simplicity also leads to its biggest downfall.

The game is very short coming in at around 6 and a half hours for a first playthrough, there isnt even any collectibles or much replay value apart from maybe aiming faster completion times which may seem like nit picking for a game that is now 22 years old but we wouldn’t take kindly to a new PS5 game selling at full price and being this short with no side content so why should a PS2 game from 2001 get the exception bearing in mind people would have paid out the nose if they pre-ordered this back then.

Overall Ico is a game well worth playing, at the moment it is included as part of Playstations Classic catalogue and if you are subscribed to the service I recommend giving it a go

8.5/10

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Movie Games: Wallace and Gromit – The Curse of the Were Rabbit

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Welcome to Movie Games a new series where I take a look at videogames that were released to promote new and upcoming movies of the past. In this edition I will be diving into a game I recently got sent in, the game in question is of course the Curse of the Were Rabbit a Wallace and Gromit title released to help promote the 2005 flick of the same name, the game was developed by Frontier Developments and published by Konami. What I will be trying to discover in this series is not only the quality of the title but also how accurate it is to the plot of the movie it is based on so without further ado a very quick and might I add spoiler heavy recap of the movie.

In the movie everyone’s favourite inventor and dog due Wallace and Gromit are running a rabbit catching vegetable protection agency, they watch over the neighbourhood and protect the local gardens from cabbage munching menaces in preparation for the annual vegetable growers competition.

After building up such a good reputation with the neighbourhood they are both called upon by Tottington Hall which is ran by the lovely Lady Tottington, the area is overran by rabbits and Wallace and Gromit humanely manage to capture them all. This is also where we meet the films villain Victor Quartermaine, he is the competitive love interest of Lady Tottington and he wants to shoot all the rabbits to help build his reputation as the towns best hunter.

During the sub plot of the film Wallace tries changing the brainwaves of the rabbits to dislike vegetables so that all of the rabbits they have captured can be released back into the wild without chance of veggie reoffending, however the test goes wrong and while one rabbit does become non interested in healthy foods Wallace gets his brain changed as well ultimately becoming the films main threat the Were Rabbit.

It doesn’t take long for Gromit the figure this one out as he tries his best to hide the secret from the neighbourhood but unfortunately for him and Wallace, Victor soon clocks on and sees an opportunity to become the town hero and take out his competitor of Lady Tottington at the same time making Wallace the next target for his shotgun.

In the films final act after the inevitable “break up scene” between Lady Tottington and Wallace we see Gromit chasing after the Were Rabbit through the festival while taking part in an airborne dog fight with Victors Pup and ultimately taking a bullet for Wallace, Wallace jumps after Gromit’s Plane protecting his beloved dog while also sacrificing himself and ultimately killing the Were Rabbit before returning to human form and waking up thanks to the smell of Stinking Bishop. Victor is defeated by being placed into a female Were Rabbit Suit and being beaten by the local community.

The film ends with Lady Tottington opening a rabbit sanctuary in her Estate for all of the previously captured bunnies including the humanoid Bunny Hutch who still has the personality of Wallace.

The film is very good and maybe one day I will give the movie a full on review and analysis but for now my main question is how did the videogame adaptation hold up?

So to begin I want to point out that’s the games plot is pretty accurate to the film with only a few exceptions to make it work as a videogame, the main difference is that the villain Victor has a more prominent role and actually steals Wallace’s technology to make other Were Creatures.

There are also multiple maps you can explore making the terrain and areas of the game more expansive than the movie and overall in my opinion more realistic to actual British town compared to what was only shown in the flick.

After the final battle Victors fate was left the same although they never opened the bunny sanctuary and the remaining rabbits just kinda live in Wallace and Gromits house.

So with the major differences out of the way lets discuss what this licenced movie game has to offer.

First of all the game is actually pretty good, it is a puzzle platformer where you need to swap between two characters (either Wallace and Gromit or Gromit and Hutch), during the day time the missions you complete are mainly based around gathering items and capturing the little animals that are overruling the local gardens.

At night the gameplay becomes more action based and the missions here need players to defeat the various Were creatures and help protect local residents as they travel between areas.

There are arenas in the game which is something I actually really disliked as they didn’t really feel like they needed to be there and didn’t provide much more than the regular gameplay since they maintained the same general goals of defeating enemies and catching the loose animals.

There are collectable cards to get, you get one for each mission you complete and some others can be found throughout the world maps by completing timed puzzles.

The puzzles were some of the best parts of the journey as each character had different abilities, Wallace was the most diverse as he can use tools such as the Bolt Cutters and the screw driver (Hutch can also use these) Gromit on the other-hand felt a little lacking in his capabilities and didn’t seem to have much to make him stand out apart from the umbrella which allowed him to hover over distances.

Gromit did however have a side game where players could try and grow his marrow for the vegetable competition, you could buy items in the game to help the growth of your marrow as well as decorate the Green House. I really struggled to actually do any good at this side content so I never got to see it too completion.

The game looks pretty impressive for a low budget licensed game and the character designs do suit the Wallace and Gromit universe. That’s not say that the graphics are any special though considering that for a late PS2 game these are quite uninspiring and only really get a pass due to this not being a AAA title.

The game controls very well and I had very little issue with bugs or bad game design.

The games soundtrack really suits the nature of the franchise extremely well with its light hearted and non serious tones, these casual melodies make this feel like a real Aardman project and it wouldn’t surprise me if these were actually tunes from the Wallace and Gromit franchise.

Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit the videogame left me in shock, I really didn’t think I would enjoy the game at all and while it isn’t phenomenal in any sense of the word, for a movie game this is actually one of the better ones, its more creative, expansive and fun than it ever needed to be and if you get the chance to pick this up cheap I highly recommend you give it a go as you may be left pleasantly surprised, it does get a little stale as its gameplay drags around the half way point but with the 2 player co-op the campaign becomes 10 times more bearable and is the best way to play.

6/10

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Sonic Unleashed (2008) Review

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Well it’s been a while since we talked about Sonic, in fact its been over a year since we reviewed Sonic 06 so I feel it is time to hop back into the series and I’m sure that this time we will have a much better experience ………….right?

Sonic unleashed was developed by Sonic Team and released in 2008 for the PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360, It was the final main series title released for the PS2 and the first to get a Wii release. I played the PS3 version of the game so my opinion is based on that version.

Dr Eggman is back trying to destroy the planet this time by waking an evil entity known as Dark Gaia, he manages to trap Sonic in his super form using a power ray which strips away the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Eggman uses the power to then wake Dark Gaia who breaks the earth into seven pieces and also manages to put a curse on Sonic turning him into a Werehog. Sonic is blasted into space but luckily is rescued by a new friend called chip who helps guide Sonic across the globe while he tries to break his curse and return the earth and the Chaos Emeralds back to their original forms.

So whats weird with this one is that we went back to a single character campaign where we only play as Sonic, however due to the whole Werehog situation we do technically have two main variants of gameplay.

In the regular Sonic stages we run at high speeds across various continents while blasting robots and avoiding obstacles, whats new here is a super speed mechanic. Your rings do not only represent your life but also allow Sonic to run at hyper speed and completely annihilate anything that gets in his path, while in hyper speed you also attract rings towards you so its easier to collect tons of rings this way compared to the regular running mechanic.

At night you can play the Werehog stages these are much slower and focus more on combat, here you fight Dark Gaia’s minions and collect loads of experience points, when battles become too tough you can can use some of your collected energy to give your Werehog form some extra power in order to help tackle these trickier situations.

In between stages you will be exploring various hub worlds which each represent different countries, the hub worlds are not great and don’t really offer much apart from shops to buy food and souvenirs as well as hiding the occasional Sun/Moon coins and offering some extra side content.

I did manage to finish all of possession missions which involves players committing to small battle arenas and surviving onslaughts of bad guys. The other side missions are time/ring/no damage trials these are fine enough but a big issue I have with the game is that they keep repeating the same stages for these challenges for example in the time trials the game will ask you to finish the stage in 3 minutes then the challenge will be to do the same level in 2 minutes. I understand you don’t have to commit to these missions but I still think that some more creativity and implementing some of the optional stages would have worked a lot better.

The main levels work pretty well, I had very little issue due to gameplay problems and overall I found both types pretty satisfying, I really enjoyed the high speed action of the Sonic stages but also appreciated the more brawl based stages with the Werehog, I did find the final stage a little too long but I did die a lot and ended up clocking in at around 90 minutes.

The game for a PS3 title is very visually appealing I love the dark colours and glowing enemies at night and during the day time stages the details of the backgrounds are really quite impressive especially considering that even with the high speed action there is little to no issue rendering background details. I also really like that the game takes place in different countries not only because it represents various cultures but also makes each level feel very unique and special in their own ways. I do wish the hub worlds were a little bigger and hid more secrets for us to find, they are very small areas that are linear and quite limited in what they offer but I can appreciate that they were not the main focus of the game and this probably doesn’t bother many other players.

The soundtrack is really good! The main vocal track Endless Possibilities is great and singer Jared Reddick knocks it out of the park, various stages carry that rocking vibe we are used too with these games now but also there is a certain amount of diversity to represent the country you are currently playing in making sure to show appreciation for the various cultures explored throughout the adventure.

Sonic Unleashed is a massive improvement to the atrocity that was Sonic 06 the gameplay here while not perfect at least doesn’t feel broken and is enjoyable, if the game has any sins its biggest is how mediocre and somewhat forgettable it is. I loved the music and the day time stages but nothing else really stood out to me as being what I consider a great Sonic experience, visually those Werehog stages are stunning and while they are decent levels they can be a little long and dont really hold their satisfaction from a gameplay perspective. Personally I think they should have had the ability to turn into the Werehog implemented into all stages and allowed players to Switch between both forms quickly and freely.

The cultural representation of the hub worlds is obviously really important and I feel Sonic Team did an ok job but again these are quite empty and could have had a lot more secrets to find as well as offer better and more creative side content and missions.

As a final note I will say that this game was acceptable, in certain areas it works extremely well but struggled with everything else so what we were left with was a small amount of great content surrounded with a lot of uninspired and in someways lazy game design so I think a 6/10 is a very fair score and I can only hope that next time when we take a look at Sonic Colours we finally get back to the flawless gameplay I know this series can pull off.

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Every video game version of the Philosophers Stone

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The Harry Potter video games stand out surprisingly well when compared to other licenced properties, not only by quality but that almost every console had a unique version of the game, I have already reviewed the PC version on this website and I feel its time we take a look at all of other versions of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, these wont be full on reviews but I will discuss what I like and dislike about each version, I own all of them apart from the PS2 game mainly due to the fact that it costs and arm and leg to purchase but I have managed to at least lend a copy from a close friend so without further ado lets get into this.

PC version

The PC game was developed by Knowwonder and was released in 2001, it followed the plot line of the book and had a linear level based system.

The game stands out for heavy use of the computer mouse, in order to learn spells you needed to trace shapes representing them and you would even use your mouse to aim and fire your magic, I feel this gave the game a unique although very slight realism which only the PC port could offer.

You moved and flew using the WASD keys which also work very well and I feel that this version controls a lot more smoothly to the PS1 game which I will cover next.

My biggest complaint with this version is that the collectibles are pretty lame, you can collect different coloured beans that can be traded with Fred and George to buy Wizard cards, some of the cards are also hidden throughout the game, the fact that all the twins do here is sell you cards it is a bit disappointing compared to other versions.

The PS1 version

This is the version I have most recently finished so I am going into this with a fresh mind.

Again this game follows a linear path however it does differ in its collectibles, you still grab beans but this time not only can you get wizard cards but you can also unlock a more powerful knockback jinx as well as the nimbus 2000 and better quidditch armour. I will say that the areas are very guided as there is very little room for exploration, the enemies can be interesting but the game auto selects spells for you so defeating them requires very little skill.

Flying really takes some time to learn here, I found it very difficult to control, the broom stick feels very slippery and trying to get all of the hoops takes some proper skills, there is a part in the final challenge rooms that really had me struggling at times. The actual quidditch matches in the game are quite boring as you simply follow the rings and grab the snitch, I wish there was a little more to it but the I suppose that’s what the quidditch world cup video game is for.

There are a few different types of gameplay here including sections similar to games likes Crash Bandicoot, other areas needed stealth gameplay as well even racing, there is really something here for every gamer although at times I did feel like there was a few too many different game types.

GB Version

I will be honest with this one and say that I cant really give a proper opinion here because I have never got far enough in this version to even get into Hogwarts.

But what I can tell you is that it is a traditional turn based RPG which is very challenging and follows the events of the book rather than the movie, I would like to finish the game one day and I think its is deserving of its own full review but that is for another day.

So apologies if this one was brief but I just haven’t experienced this game enough to go into more detail or fairly critique it.

GBA version

This is my personal favourite version of the Philosophers Stone.

This game is very challenging for new players because unlike other Harry Potter games, in this version you can actually lose the house cup! yes that’s right at the end of the game you may not actually beat Slytherin, you gain and lose house points based on your performance in the games tasks.

The main game requires Harry to learn new spells and successfully complete tasks from the book, a lot of the time puzzle solving is required to complete the areas, some inspiration from 2D Zelda games was definitely used here as this has a very knock off feel of those games. Of course this is no where near as good as a AAA title but it has a lot of charm and is very difficult the part where you have to sneak around Hogwarts castle avoiding the prefects always has me puling out my hair but trying to beat your house points score every time you beat the game will keep you coming back. I highly recommend picking this one up if you get the chance.

And here we are at the very expensive one, the reason this game costs so much is because it was released after the Chamber of Secrets video game so not many people bought this assuming it was an older game and now its worth quite a bit and is a game I am desperate to add to my personal PS2 collection.

The first thing I want to point out with this game is that it looks great, Hogwarts is huge and is full of colours and things to see, I love that you can explore the castle after bed time to find secret passages and collect hidden wizard cards, there is a lot to do in this game and most of the time its more fun to explore than stick with the main campaign.

You can now set spells to specific buttons for quick uses and thankfully the game controls very well, this made flying a lot of fun, due to the advanced technology of the PS2 when you were flying you could see far beneath your broom and flying around the castle was really satisfying as it helped to show how large the in game maps actually are.

The Bertie Botts beans are back and this time they are used as currency in Fred and Georges shop, the only complaint I have with the game is Harry shouting the beans flavour every time he picks one up as it gets annoying very fast.

And that’s all of the video game adaptions of the Philosophers Stone, which one is your favourite? I think mine will always be the GBA game but the PS2/ XBOX/ Gamecube version is a close second !

Perhaps one day I should go over all versions of the Chamber of Secrets as well 🙂

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Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom/Rehydrated (2003/2020) Review

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Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom is a 2003 action platformer developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by THQ for the PS2, Gamecube and Xbox. The game was remastered in a 2020 release Titled Spongebob Squarepants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated, this version was developed by Purple Lamp Studios and was published by THQ for the PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC and Xbox One.

In this review I will be mainly looking at the original game and then briefly discussing the remake afterwards.

Plankton has built an Army of Robots to help him steal the Krabby Patty Secret Formula and take over the world. Unfortunately for him the robots were set to not obey mode and instead decide to take over Bikini Bottom leaving Spongebob, Patrick and Sandy to defeat the robots and put a stop to their chaos.

There are three playable characters in the game which can be switched at bus stops hidden within levels, each of these characters have different abilities which are needed to find secrets and progress through out the game.

Spongebob has the most moves in the game and each of these revolve around blowing bubbles, his most commonly used move puts a bubble helmet on his head which he uses to destroy robots that are positioned high above the ground.

His bowling bubble can be used to hit enemies that are wedged within difficult spaces or to hit buttons when he is standing on a pressure pad.

The cruise bubble is a projectile move that allows Spongebob to blow a timed missile at enemies.

Patrick is able to pick up heavy objects which he can hurl at buttons or stack up so that he can climb to higher places. Using freezing fruit Patrick can temporarily freeze body’s of water so that he can walk over them to find secrets that could not be found otherwise.

Sandy is my favourite character to play as in the game, she is able to use her lasso to grab enemies, swing across specific sections and temporarily glide across large gaps.

There are various surf sections in the game where players need to quickly travel down ski slopes which hide additional secrets and collectibles. I really like these sections I found them to be challenging with tight enough controls and overall a great experience.

I really enjoyed the boss fights in the game I thought they were really well designed and challenging to fight, some of these were references to episodes from the Television series and the others were robotic versions of the playable characters. Concept Art from the game shows art for a robot Squidward fight, this could be a sign that he may have been designed as a playable character at some point in development.

The main collectable in the game are the Golden Spatulas, these are needed to access new levels and areas in the game, players can either find these or be given them as rewards for helping in-game NPC’s. You can also get spatulas for finding Patrick’s missing socks, or by purchasing them from Mr Krabs in exchange for Shiny things the in-game currency.

The soundtrack is really fun and is one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard in a licensed videogame, its not phenominal or anything but it really works so well for this game. The music is a lot of a fun and can be more serious at times when needed, what I really appreciate is that in the rock bottom section of the game they removed the music entirely so that it felt just like the episode it was based on. my favourite was the Bikini Bottom Music that played during the hub world it made me think of jolly sailors travelling the high seas.

Battle for Bikini Bottom is one of the greatest licensed video games ever made, this is a really solid experience and a love letter to Spongebob fans from the developers. I was shocked with how much effort was put into this, mulitple playable characters, funny dialogue, great music, tight controls and lots of things to do, I do wish that the theatre gave us a little more than just concept art and a better completion bonus would have been appreciated but apart from that I can only reccomend you get yourself a copy of this game even though these days it doesn’t sell for very cheap I think it is well worth its price and is better value for money than the remake which we will discuss now.

The new version obviously looks better than its predecessor the graphics are lot more appealing and run at a higher frame rate compared to the original.

I also really enjoyed that the new game added up to date Spongebob references and memes for the younger fans and the older ones too.

Gorgeous new visuals aside lets discuss the game in general, the first thing that really sucks about this is that they didnt add anything new so this is purely a visual remake.

They modernised the music as well and while still is very good its lost a lot of its charm and doesn’t suit the game as well as did previously.

The theatre returns but they removed the concept art which makes sense as they should have replaced it with concept art from this game but instead they put a handful of still images from the game as your reward for unlocking the theatre.

I haven’t really got much else to say about this remake as it is very close to the original but it just feels like a few more months fixing up a few of its fall backs were needed. I think a bonus world would have been a great addition and if not the robot squidward fight that was added into the multiplayer could have just been added into the main game even if it was a hidden boss fight. As for the theatre how about instead of screen shots from the game they could have placed a playable ROM of the Battle for Bikini Bottom GBA game as it will probably never be released virtually anyway and it would give fans of the console game a chance to play a version they may have missed.

Speaking of the GBA game maybe one day I will take a look at it to see how it holds up compared to the console version.

If you do not have a an older system then rehydrated is still a really fun game it just struggles to compare to the original game that in my opinion is vastly superior.

Battle for Bikini Bottom 9.5/10

Rehydrated 7/10

My Favourite Spongebob episodes – Rock Bottom

In this season 1 episode Spongebob and Patrick have just finished a day of fun at Glove World and are catching bus home to Bikini Bottom but unfortunately they are on the wrong bus and end up in a town called Rock Bottom.

Rock Bottom is a unusual place where everything is backwards or just genuinely doesn’t make any sense, the area is quite dark and somewhat creepy which makes the need for Spongebob to get home even more intense.

The episode only really gets funny when Patrick manages to catch the bus home and Spongebob is left alone, poor Spongebob keeps missing every bus home by seconds and no matter what he tries he just cannot catch that bus and it soon becomes apparent to the viewer that the bus might be missing Spongebob on purpose. This is definitely one the funnier episodes and may be one of the highlights of the show where the comedy is at the expense of Spongebob and not another character.

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Sonic Heroes (2003) (GC, PC, PS2, XBOX) Review

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Happy New Year and to kick of 2016 we are going to be looking at another controversial 3D Sonic game

Sonic_Heroes_Coverart

Sonic Heroes released in 2003 and was Sega and Sonic Teams attempt at making a next generation Sonic game that uses Team based mechanics, just like Shadow the Hedgehog this game also has a reputation of either being a piece of crap or a pretty fun experience.

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Sonic Heroes is split into four main campaigns Team Sonic, Team Rose, Team Dark and Team Chaotix, each of these teams have unique story and for the most part a different objective which ties into the games main plot.

Team Sonic receive a threat from Dr Robotnik about some new scheme he is creating and so Sonic, Tails and Knuckles run off to find and defeat Robotnik.

Team Rose are on the hunt for Big the Cat’s Missing Frog and Cream the Rabbit’s Chao Chocola.

Team Chaotix work for a detective agency and they hunt down a new client who offers them a lot of money if they rescue them from where they are being kept prisoner.

Team Darks story begins with Rouge the Bat searching for a hidden treasure when she accidentally comes across Shadow the Hedgehog and Omega (a security bot built by Robotnik),  Omega is angry because Robotnik locked him away for so long and Shadow has forgotten everything about himself and his past, all three of them seek out Robotnik for revenge and answers to why Omega and Shadow were locked away.

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How you play the game is that you control three characters for each team one Speed Character, one Power Character and one Flight Character, In teams Sonic, Dark and Rose you will need to use all three characters to pass obstacles and defeat enemies while trying to get to the goal ring as fast as possible.

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Team Chaotix are personally my favorite team to play as they are the only team that offer new gameplay, while playing as Team Chaotix you will need to play through all the same stages as the other teams but each with a new objective for example in one stage you need to find and rescue a lot of Chao and in another you need to find and blow out a bunch of flames that are hidden through out the level.

A big problem with beating the game with all four teams is that you will literally be playing through the same stages over and over again, yes each team does use slightly different paths but most of the time its the exact same stage and its gets really boring and repetitive, this is why I enjoy Team Chaotix the most they offer a more unique gameplay and its a nice break from the action style gameplay of the other teams.

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While playing through each stage you will find small golden keys that you will lose if you take damage, these keys are very important because if you manage to survive a stage with a key you will be sent to a bonus level which will either allow you to earn lives or you can try and catch one of the seven Chaos Emeralds.

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The controls are some of the worst I have ever used in a Sonic game, the characters move way too fast which often causes players to hit unforeseen enemies, some areas in the game require rail grinding and these controls make these sections a lot more difficult than they need to be, far too often did I try to quickly switch rails and the game decided to fling me far into the distance making me fall to my death, the awful controls make the special stages almost impossible to play which is extremely annoying because you need to play these to get the Chaos Emeralds and just getting to the special stages isn’t that easy of task to complete in the first place.

Glitches are not uncommon in this game so be wary if you ever to pick this one up, my advice is to mostly use the power characters as they are strong enough to take out a lot of enemies as well as moving at a reasonable pace, flying characters are by far the most useful this is due to a glitch allowing you too quickly build up your Team Blast bar by quickly throwing  your team mates using the flying character, the speed characters move far too quickly and I recommend you never play as the speed characters unless you get to section where they are needed.

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Team Blasts are a new type of special attack where all three characters in your team will work together to destroy every enemy on screen.

The music in the game isn’t really anything special, I love the vocal tracks but the level themes are just basic and not very catchy which is a shame because for me the music is what I look forward to the most when I play Sonic games and especially when I play the 3D games as they have a reputation of not being some of the best games out there.

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The visuals are amazing in this game, Sonic Heroes looks like one of the old 2D sonic games brought into the 3D world, the level designs are perfect rail sections are only implemented when they need to be, surprisingly their isn’t too many loops, every area is unique and offers a new gameplay style for example in the jungle levels you will find frogs that can make platforms appear and disappear and the Casino levels offer pinball and bingo sections to help you earn a whole load of rings to help you on your adventure and its not too often that you will die due to bad game design.

 

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The game has three types of Boss battles within the four campaigns you will either fight Dr Robotnik in one of his aircraft’s, another Team you meet while on your adventure or a barrage of Robotniks robots, for the aircraft’s just use the speed character because you can glitch the game by spamming homing attacks on the boss killing it almost instantly and for the other two I recommend a fully powered flight character as you hover in the air avoiding enemy attacks and due to the flight character being very over powered by using this character you will beat the level very quickly.

If you collect all seven Chaos Emeralds and manage to beat each Team’s campaign you will unlock Final Story which is the games real final boss and its eventual conclusion.

I wont go into too much detail here due to spoilers but I will say that this boss is a blast to fight, if 3D sonic games have one good thing about them it is almost always the final boss, the real enemy of the game is not Dr Robotnik but is a returning villain from past Sonic games that long time fans will surely enjoy fighting once again.

In conclusion Sonic Heroes is a really fun game with a lot of really big problems, it looks amazing but it plays and feels horrible, the soundtrack is not very interesting and the whole game feels rather repetitive, its not quite as bad as Shadow the Hedgehog but that doesn’t mean it’s a good experience.

Sonic Heroes is ok at best, its a shame because if all of these issues didn’t exist it would of been a classic 4.0/10

I still want a sequel though, come on Sonic Team its been almost 13 years and we want a Sonic Heroes 2 just make this one not so broken please.

I hope you enjoyed this review of  Sonic Heroes

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

 

 

Shadow the Hedgehog (PS2,GC,XBOX) Review

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Shadow the Hedgehog is one of the most hated games in the entire Sonic franchise, almost everyone I spoke to told me to avoid it like the plague, but very few people said that the game was a fun experience and that they think the game is underrated, so I had no idea what to expect when playing this game, a Sonic game with guns? This is either going to be awesome or its going to be extremely stupid. Now that I have played through the entire game I am ready to share my opinion with all of you in the style of a review. Could it really be that bad?

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There are 22 levels in Shadow the Hedgehog Unlike traditional 3D Sonic games which have individual character stories, Shadow the Hedgehog uses a path system allowing the player to create their own story. Depending on what path you take you will either end up being a Hero or a villain at end of the game.

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Almost every stage in the game will give the players three objectives one dark objective, one neutral objective and one hero objective depending on which objective the player finishes will determine which stage they will get to next. If the player finishes a dark mission they will move up on the path system, if they finish a neutral mission they will move forward on path system and if they finish a hero mission they will move down on the path system.

During one play through of the story mode, the player will play six stages depending on whether they do the dark or hero mission on stage six they will have to fight one of two final boss fights for the path they are on, earning the player one of ten endings.

The path system could have worked out really well if Sega didn’t mess it up, the problem with the path system and my biggest issue with game is that in order to unlock the final story you need to get each ending, which means playing through the majority of stages a number of times and yes you need to beat the game TEN TIMES!!!!. I didn’t mind the first few runs of the game but after a while I got sick of seeing the same stages over and over again especially Westopolis because with it being stage one I had to play this stage during every single play through of the game.

On a lighter note the game controls were perfect I didn’t have a problem with game once even when Shadow was moving really fast I was still able to have really smooth control over him, this is something that I don’t often find in 3D sonic games so it was nice to play a game that when I died it was my fault and not game glitches or bad controls.

Let’s talk about guns

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For some reason Sega thought that giving Shadow the ability to use guns to kill his enemies would help the game appeal to the older demographic, but it just looks really silly and ridiculous, seriously no one wants to run around shooting aliens with an AK-47 in a Sonic the Hedgehog game. As silly as the guns are, they are not my issue with this gameplay style, the problem is that the game auto aims once Shadow gets close enough to an enemy which is great but it becomes an issue when you get surronded by enemies and you cant shoot them all usually resulting in your death. If Sega gave the player the ability to aim they could take out enemies using clever strategy and skill and in my opinion the use of guns would have been a lot more constructive and would work a lot better to the players advantage. 

Shadow the hedgehog does have a pretty good sound track, it does lack in vocal tracks but some of the level themes are really catchy, my personal favourite level theme is Circus Park.

Circus Park theme

All of the vocal tracks in the game are really good, I love All of me by Crush 40 (intro music), credits music for beating an ingame path is ok at best, but Never turn back by Crush 40 (the credits music for the final story) is by far the best track in the game and is one of my personal favourite vocal tracks in any game ever.

All of me by Crush 40

Never turn back by Crush 40

So we have determined that the game has good controls, an ok path system that gets repetative and boring after the first few play throughs,terrible gun mechanics and for the most part a pretty kickass sound track but how does it look?

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Wow this game is ugly, from looking at the pictures you wouldnt think that Shadow the Hedgehog was a PS2, Gamecube and Xbox game, The graphics are flat and blocky, the colours are ugly and bland, when characters talk the lips dont sync to what they are saying, the voice acting is cringeworthy, the enemy and level designs are very basic and not very interesting to look at and I am not kidding but I have played Dreamcast and ps1 games that look better.

Jet Set Radio (Dreamcast)

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Croc Legend of the Gobo’s  (PS1)

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Final Verdict

Shadow the Hedgehog was an ok game, it had really good controls for a 3D Sonic game and a really enjoyable Soundtrack but it fell short due to its bad game design, ugly graphics, and a lame path system which makes you beat the game ten times just to unlock the Final Story. The Final Story has Shadow saving the world in the end of the game and this essentially means that creating your own path was a waste of time making the entire game completely pointless. Shadow the Hedgehog had things going for it, but it wasnt enough to make it a good game

3.8/10 This game sucks.

I hope you enjoyed this review

If you repect my opinion I will respect yours

By Padawan

Why is the Sims Fun?

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I’ve always wondered why people love The Sims Video games so much, all you do is control a virtual human through mindless everyday tasks like taking a Dump, reading the newspaper, going to work, taking a shower among other things.

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Why is this fun?, what about this game makes it so interesting?, What aspect keeps bringing us back game after game?

Well lets begin by discussing the general lifestyle of the average human being, most people live by a routine of how they do things and in what order, for example when I wake up I will use the toilet, have a shower, brush my teeth, get changed, walk my dog, make breakfast, wash the dishes, go to work, come home from work, use toilet again, watch TV, make Food, Play video games then I go to sleep and repeat everything again the next day. That is my routine and I use that routine almost every single day.

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As I stated most people have a routine which they use to help them get through life every single day. But here’s the problem life can be pretty depressing, we may live by a routine but what happens when things don’t go to plan one day and something terrible happens for example maybe you will go bankrupt or you may get fired from your job cutting off any income, meaning you cant pay your bills, water rates or rent. If things like this do happen you may need to change your routine to fit around your newer lifestyle and in some cases you can literally be doomed as you will be constantly in debt causing you to live a stressful and depressing life.

The Sims is literally everything I just said but in a video game, you take control of virtual human and you make them perform everyday tasks like go to work, have a shower etc. So why do we play these games? is it the funny language they speak or the fact that you can give them hilarious names and motivations.

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I think its because the Sims isn’t really a game , its more of a life simulator. Have you ever noticed that a lot of people who play the Sims create big mansions and buy loads of really cool sound systems, massive TV’s in every room, Arcade machines, a big swimming pool.

A lot of people have dream lives that they want to live and for the most part The Sims allows people to create a virtual reality allowing the player to create their own family, house and lifestyle and they can choose how they want to live it. the best part is that if anything goes wrong you can just start again something which is extremely rare in real life and that is why I think people get so addicted to The Sims, even if they may not realise that they return to the game just so they can live their virtual lives for just a few more hours each day.

The Sims = A virtual Lifestyle without any of the Bullshit !!

Thanks for reading my Theory to why the Sims is fun
Do you agree with my opinion or do you think i’m just a crazy mumbling madman?
By Padawan