A Boy and His Blob (Wii) Review

Curiosity got the better of me. When I was a little kid playing the 8-bit NES system, one of my school friends had the original game and I had read about it in a Nintendo Power. So of course we had to give it a go... and neither of us could figure it out or play for more then 10 minutes. Still, it was an incredibly unique game that stuck with me, so when we got a new take on it in the days of the Nintendo Wii, I picked it up. Sadly I didn't get to it while I had my actual system up and running. Rather the dice called it now, so play I did.

Now please keep in mind, I did NOT play this on original hardware. Rather, I ripped my disc-copy of the game and played on the Dolphin emulator connecting a real Wii-mote with classic controller to it (yes you can do that.. Bluetooth connections work). However, I don't think the difference is going to be very strong, even in the visuals as this game is all hand-drawn. There is no 3D rendering work for the computer to upscale beyond what the Wii originally did.

Cave Story (Wii) Review

Here we have another game I have some history with. Many years ago, I had tried to play Cave Story on the Wii until a specific boss proved exceedingly hard. Looking for help, I found instead that by taking an upgrade to my gun, I had screwed myself out of much more powerful ones later. Annoyed with the very "ha ha gotcha" feel of such a design choice, I quit. But here we are, years later, and giving it another try. And while I certainly can find some good in the game this time, it's only one of the issues that mars what many consider a classic.

Phantasy Star (Wii) Review

This is a milestone game for me. Ever since I discovered Phantasy Star II on the Sega Smash Pack I was instantly a fan. Over time I would continue to play and love everything I could get my hands on for the series, including Phantasy Star 3, 4, Online, Portable (1 and 2), and even Universe and 0. And while I did not finish everything, I always found the first title elusive to even get my hands on… until now.

Metroid Prime Trilogy (Wii) Review

This has been a long time coming. When Metroid Prime came out for the Gamecube, it was the single reason I came back to playing consoles, buying the Prime Bundle to get the black gamecube with that game and a bonus disc previewing the then soon to release Metroid Prime 2: Echos. When that second game came out, it was a birthday gift just before I finished the first one. This game would become my favorite game in the franchise just due to the villanous Ing and how much I loved fighting them. Hell, even the Wii was a Christmas gift (ok, an empty box with a promise to get one which would finally get in my hands months later due to scarcity) because Metroid Prime 3 was coming out for it almost exclusively, and I loved every second of that too, as again it was a birthday gift. To say this series is one I hold in high regard would be an understatement.

However, a few years later Nintendo released this collection with all three titles on one disc and reworked for the wiimote. Admittedly, I was interested in replaying the games, especially to feel how the first two play with the new control scheme. After all, FPS style generally benefits a lot by a pointer device. However, more important, I wanted the collector’s edition, as it would also mean having the trilogy in a metal case, which admittedly I’m a bit of a sucker for. But since I had played all three games prior, I let it slide into my backlog since I had a number of games (even then) I had never played at all. Recently, this changed, and I have now put down the wiimote after traveling through the Phazon story with Samus one last time. They don’t make games like this anymore… and it’s a damn shame.

Now, before we continue, I have to note this is a collective review. Since Metroid Prime Trilogy is three games in a single menu, I am covering all three in this review. I’ve split the review to cover each in turn, and the links below are shortcuts to each one.

• Metroid Prime
• Metroid Prime 2: Echos
• Metroid Prime 3: Corruptions
• Bugs
• Overall

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (Wii) Review

I remember during the last generation stumbling on this game at the local Gamestop. At the time, it looked interesting, but I had other things I wanted to get into, so it wouldn’t be till many years later that I would get it as a Christmas gift from my aunt. Bringing it home I put the game in my WiiU and within a few minutes the atmosphere had me. It was moody, gloomy, and even hinted at the ghostly horrors I would run into. I was sure I would be in for a real treat….

As I finish it, however, I can not say I was right. I wanted a survival horror game in line with the old classics (just requiring you to handle it with junk you could find and swing instead of limited ammo) backed by some story depth. I got a simplified adventure title with a plot written by some EmoMcSadSad who couldn’t even leave a natural somewhat happy ending alone without blacking out the screen and whining before the scene finished (no I'm not kidding). Come on in if you want to hear more. It’s not pretty.

Red Steel 2 (Wii) Review

Do you remember the launch of the Wii? Back in 06/07, the machines were next to impossible to find, even as people were only buying it for a few of it's admittedly large launch line up. Ubisoft's own sword fighter Red Steel was among these games, but with the poor reputation it was earning, no one was interested. Fast forward to 2009 and Red Steel 2 came out promising to do much better between the add-on the Motion Plus it required and generally more effort. At the time I wasn't willing to take a risk on this game due to the fact that to play I would have to buy the new add-on to play and not being the biggest fan of westerns.

A few years later, however, I got ahold of the add-on for the controller for reasons that now escape me, and stumbled on a copy of this game still sitting on the shelf pretty cheap, so I decided "what the hell" and picked it up. Right now, I'm glad the game was cheap as it proved broken for me, making it the second broken game I have reviewed on this site. Step inside.

Wii and DS are Going Offline (UPDATED)

Well, it was a matter of time, really. And how much time often depends on the company. But whenever the newest model comes out, a company eventually stops supporting the old model. Yesterday, it was announced to the world that it won’t be long before the remaining online functionality for the Wii as well as all the online functionality of the original DS will be turned off. In both cases this means Nintendo will be the first company shutting down their online offerings on their last gen consoles.

Troubled Times for Many But Only for Now.

Let’s be real here for a second. As gamers, I have said many times we are due for some serious shifts. Hell before Microsoft turned everything around on the Xbox One, I predicted they would be out of the console race this generation. Now as the 2 newest systems finish up their second months, we are seeing both of them already break 3 million units sold, which is nothing to sneeze at.

But at the moment, that prediction may show itself to not just be wrong, but amazingly so. It’s not time to call anyone out of the race just yet, but we just might be able to see it from here. But for us as gamers, whatever happens should be nothing more then a temporary setback.

Platforms of the Platform: 3rd edition

Well, it’s that time again. As the new platforms roll out, gamers are choosing what they want to be their main gaming beast for the next several years. Some will pick Xbox One. Other will pick the PS4. Still more might even pick a WiiU. But there is a trend of gamers who are considering walking away from the console mess and starting anew with PC. Each and every one of these gamers making a switch will of course need a little time to adjust, but the PC might prove the most interesting (and confusing) switch. To these gamers, they will be moving from static machines to something flexible, fluid, and full of choices they frankly never had to consider.

Now, as far as hardware goes, these choices have been covered again and again from professional websites to forum members eager to welcome someone to their ranks. But no one seems to consider where to get your games, and what sources to welcome in. Allow us to help with that. In what follows, you can get to every source we talk about by clicking on the picture for it, so if it appeals, have a peak. And welcome. Although I do not believe you should abandon your console field, but add PC to your selections, welcome and enjoy.

It’s EXTRA LIFE TIME!

While this entry is being posted a few days early, we have BIG news for the event! First, and foremost, we are still using our UStream page to broadcast our gaming, but we will be showing the video here as well! We have other details to reveal which should improve your viewing greatly from last year, so please, feel free to click and read more!

From the “This Just Might be True Files”

Ironically, while looking over Kotaku this morning, a page I rarely take seriously, a story happened to catch my eye by it’s title and picture alone. “Extreme GameStop Pricing Leaves Some Fans Calling Scam” with a nice picture from the cover of what could easily by my personal favorite game on consoles… Xenoblade Chronicles. The story seems to be about how used copies of the game (previously sold out throughout the USA in both new and used forms, and having tried to help a friend get his own copy, I can speak to this through experience), is suddenly and readily available in used form from the chain. So what’s so bad about that?

Darksiders 2 (WiiU) Review

Welcome to the WiiU! This is a sentence that, sadly, few people can really say. But I have recently gotten my hands on the system. Once I had satisfied my curiosity about all the various extra features the system has, it was time to pick up a game and play, and I already had my first game picked out. It took a little bit of hunting, but I came home with Darksiders 2. So how was it? Well, I wish it could have been as amazing as my last time playing the original Wii (since the WiiU plays all Wii games, I unplugged and put it away), but that would simply be unreasonable. Instead, well, read on.

Xenoblade Chronicles (Wii) Review

When a new generation of consoles comes around, we expect them to take over for the old. This has happened recently to the Wii, and yet the system also got something fairly unique in the form of a very hefty RPG to send it off. After 95 hours of game-time with it, it’s time to talk about it, and sendoffs don’t get much better then this.

Preserving Games As a Generation Ends

As the gaming world knows, the 7th generation of console gaming is nearing it’s completion. A number of bargain hunters will probably begin looking into the systems they missed (self included) to experience the remaining gems before the next takes over. And normally, this process could wait till we could get bargains on the old hardware and games… but this generation is different. This generation, consoles took on a lot of PC features like digital sales and online patches. The problem with this is that being closed systems, once the system’s service goes offline, access to these pieces will no longer be available. And with the WiiU out now to be followed quickly by the next xbox and playstation, this will be an issue for collectors pretty quickly. This is a word of warning… and maybe to get an early start on what you might have missed out on.