Summerslam 2014 Thoughts

Pre-Show Match: RVD v. Cesaro
I don't know WHAT Cesaro did to be put in the doghouse like he did, but I hate it. He doesn't deserve to be buried like he is.

Intercontinental Championship: Miz v. Dolph Ziggler
Consider this a pleasant surprise, as I thought Miz would weasel a win out of this or retain the IC Title in some way. He didn't, and Ziggler being pushed and kept relevant is a good thing.

DIVAS Championship: AJ Lee v. Paige
I think Paige's victory here is due to her carrying this feud from Battleground to Summerslam. Night of Champions will result in a third match between the two, where I expect Paige to make AJ tap out to the Scorpion-Cross Lock, a move Paige hasn't slapped on AJ in this entire feud, which is what it's leading up to, I think.

Lumberjack Match: Seth Rollins v. Dean Ambrose
After last month's bait-and-switch along with the stipulation that the match would be a Lumberjack match made people question this feud continuing. Consider the doubters put in their place as a Lumberjack Match delivered the match of the night. Good storytelling, good emotion, good wrestling. It even resulted in the match going into the crowd as well as Sin Cara getting beat up. How can you top that? Well, an Ambrose win, but that didn't happen. I expect this feud to lead to Hell in a Cell, because right now it's the #1 feud in the company.

Flag Match: Rusev v. Jack Swagger
When they announced that this was just a regular match instead of a capture-the-flag type of deal, I knew Rusev would win. This was a good match, with great selling from Rusev. It played into the match heavily as well as Swagger's broken ribs. But in the end, Rusev won, and the USSR theme, not the Russian Federation theme played. Oh Vince, you cad, you. It sucks that Zeb got laid out afterwards, and the feud is probably ending.

Chris Jericho v. Bray Wyatt
This match was much better than last month's match, but overall there's something about this feud that just isn't working and needs to be stopped. It wasn't bad, but there's no storytelling going on here and there's no momentum behind it.

Stephanie McMahon v. Brie Bella
First off, Stephanie's outfit is something HHH must've had modified from Chyna's old outfits, because that guy definitely has that kind of taste in women. Secondly, this match was good. It started slow, but considering Stephanie hadn't wrestled in 10 years and Brie just got re-hired kayfabe wise, it made sense for it to start slow and build from there. The heel turn by Nikki at the end was predictable, but it leads to a new feud, as well as Stephanie hitting a great-looking pedigree at the end for the win/

Randy Orton v. Roman Reigns
This match was forgettable, like Wyatt and Jericho, but at least this match had good booking behind it. I felt that Orton really carried this match, and it just shows that Reigns needs A LOT of work before he's ready, like everyone thought. The last third of the match was really where the match caught fire, and it felt like the crowd wanted Orton to win, which, considering the effort he put into the match I don't blame them at all. While Reigns won, he wasn't the star of this match.

WWE World Heayweight Championship: John Cena v. Brock Lesnar
The most famous squash match of all time. For 15 minutes, Brock Lesnar dominated John Cena in probably his worst match ever. In the first 30 seconds, Lesnar hit Cena with an F5, which would've been an amazing ending to this buildup and event. As the match went longer, with Lesnar proclaiming the early pin was Cena's only chance of escape and saying he'd kill him, looking as if he'd absorbed the Undertaker's powers, it looked as if they might pull a Super Cena victory out of thin air again, but it didn't happen. Lesnar hit a second F5 and it was over. Domination. Conquered. Beautiful.

Overall, Summerslam was WWE's best PPV of the year, even above Wrestlemania. There wasn't a bad match on the main card, and overall gets an 8.5/10 from me.

Sonic Lost World (Wii U) Review

Sonic the Hedgehog used to be a gaming icon. During the Genesis days, the Blue Hedgehog once competed with Mario as gaming’s #1 icon. Over the course of his history, his allure faded, due to the quality of his games, and his rough transition into the third dimension. Unlike Mario, Sonic didn’t have great success right off the bat in the 3D space. Going on adventures, getting clones and many horrible friends, Sonic’s had it rough until recently. On the momentum of Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, Sonic Lost World hopes to return Sonic to that high point after a long fall. But the question is, if Sonic falls again, how far will he fall this time?

Lost World begins with Sonic and Tails chasing Dr. Eggman, who has captured some critters whom he hopes to turn into Badniks. While trying to save some critters, Sonic and Tails are sent crash-landing on Lost Hex for a brand new adventure. The game has a lot of flash, running at 60 frames per second, a great art style and a good soundtrack; ultimately, this is where the universal praise for Sonic Lost World stops. Lost World starts innocently enough, but gives players a plethora of new mechanics if you’re a veteran, including a run button, a new lock-on attack system and parkour system. The run button allows Sonic to have more precise platforming moments which have been sorely missing from more recent Sonic games. As a consequence of this, Sonic, even while running, is significantly slowed down. This isn’t a bad thing, as it allows players to control Sonic more precisely, even during those high octane moments. Sonic’s lock-on system is by far the difference from past games, and worse for it. In certain moments, you can lock onto and attack multiple enemies at once by holding the attack button. The problem here is that the system is entirely dependent on how far Sonic is away from enemies, and given how the level design lays out these enemies, you will frequently not target all enemies that you wish to target, resulting in your momentum stopping, forcing you to re-attack remaining enemies or scramble to get back on level footing. It’s frustrating considering that a few bosses require this mechanic to work properly, and can too often lead to the in-game time running out, resulting in a death.

Speaking of death, the parkour system featured is half dead. Its’ implementation in the 3D space is a joke, offering nothing more than climbing up a wall or two per level in order to progress. While there are some sections of levels that allow you to move forward by running on walls, these are few and far between, and seem like afterthoughts and in some cases realizations from the developers that the section they designed for them were too hard to finish. It represents an overall problem with the game, that the levels aren’t designed around the game’s mechanics, but vice versa instead. Another issue is that some of the levels aren’t designed with the game’s mechanics in mind at all, but instead shamelessly ripping off better Nintendo platformers Super Mario Galaxy and Donkey Kong Country Returns. These homages are poor substitutes, taking ideas from them and implementing them in rushed, overly long, poorly paced levels that will cause you many deaths and baffling moments about how they design their physics engine. The pacing of these levels, in other words, how levels are presented, in a Level-Boss-Level-Boss format, two of each occurring per world. This formula gets old quick and doesn’t deviate from it until the game is done, when afterwards you get access to the Hidden World, which feels like nothing more than a few levels that never even left the beta stage.

The more I played Lost World, the more I ended up hating it. It devolves into a formula is repetitious, frustrating and plain un-fun, which haunted many of the past 3D Sonic games. The inconsistencies in its controls, mechanics and level design are not something to be admired, but abhorred. While Sonic the Hedgehog from 2006/07 was a horrible game from beginning to end, Lost World started bright and hopeful, and ended up a terrible mess. The cycle from its’ unveiling to its release mirrors the game, and in that sense, a new Sonic Cycle is born.

Score: 2.5 out of 10
+ Excellent Soundtrack
+ CG graphical magic
+The game runs extremely smooth
- Inconsistent Homing Ability
- Level Design not built around the mechanics
- The epitome of what a rushed game is

Animal Crossing New Leaf Review

The newest title in Nintendo’s daily village simulation series is here in the form of Animal Crossing: New Leaf for the Nintendo 3DS. The game, while similar to its predecessors introduces a lot of new features to give the series a much needed shot in the arm, even though its’ not quite as strong a dose as it needs to be to completely modernize the franchise. But through and through, New Leaf offers something old and new players alike to enjoy.

The main difference between this and previous entries is that the first player to start a game in a town is the new mayor for your town. This allows you to customize your town with various projects such as where bridges are built, what to build/upgrade, and giving Mr. Resetti his job back. You’re also allowed to change how you play the game, like if your town is up late at night, wealthy or beautiful. It’s a much welcome change of pace, especially to those of us who would like to play Animal Crossing after a long day of work, but can’t do anything because shops are closed and neighbors are asleep. Giving the player control of what to build livens up the pace of the game to make it feel more alive. While it can get frustrating sometimes to wait for new projects to arise, when they do, it’s exciting to have something new to look forward to in the game, and makes you want to earn bells faster to accommodate those new arrivals.

Speaking of bells, you’ll need a lot of them to complete these projects in a timely manner, but the game accommodates this by providing you even more ways to earn bells. The famous money rock now produces an extra bag for you to earn, a second shop allows you to sell various items to your neighbors more easily, you can earn 5,000 bells a day by updating your town through the dream suite, and last but not least, is the return of the island, which can earn you upwards of 100,000 bells per visit. Keep in mind that you will have to unlock this privilege however. In addition to spending bells on projects for your town, in tradition you can upgrade your house beyond what is necessary. You can build up to a total of six rooms and expand each room three times. This will be very time consuming since you can only do a single house upgrade per day and the maximum upgrades will cost nearly 600,000 bells a piece. Another new feature here is being able to upgrade the outside of your house, including your fence, mailbox, door, roof, siding, etc. These also count as house upgrades so they do get in the way of your standard upgrades on a day to day basis, but cost significantly less to do.

Another significant change here is special visitors, whereas in games prior you could have up to two special visitors per day, one in the morning and one in the evening. This has changed to a meager one per day, but in addition to that, they no longer appear in a set order with the exception of Joan, who still appears only on Sunday mornings. This gives players more time to talk to a special visitor, but it does slow the game down a bit, which is a theme for this game. A problem that arises from this is that while a visitor may only appear once per week as always, they are less likely to appear since only one of them can appear per day. In order to remedy most of these situations is the ability to visit other players’ towns, either locally or via the internet. This can help you get a fortune read from Katrina or a piece of artwork from Redd’s Gallery, or help you sell turnips at Re-Tail, a new shop, for ridiculous profit. While you don’t have an in-game friend code like previous iterations, you can register a few best friends via your in-game menu to see when they come online, which helps you coordinate playing with friends.

You can also play with random players online on the Island, which features several island tours for you to play. They take no more than 10 minutes each, in which you earn medals, which you can trade in for various goods at the island shop. This is a good way to play with people on the island so your personal island isn’t messed with by people you don’t know. Unfortunately, that’s where the changes to online end. The process is still painstakingly slow, taking up to a minute to enter and leave a town once it tells you that you’re connected. It’s frustrating that Nintendo can’t speed up this process after three iterations having online connectivity.

There is a more passive way to visit peoples’ towns this time in the form of the Dream Suite, an unlockable shop that allows players to enter the dream versions of towns. Unfortunately you can’t bring back any items with you, nor does anything you do affect the town you visit. It’s ultimately a nice way to get ideas about your own town and potentially get new designs, if the town owner allows it. By uploading your own town, you get bells daily as well. Along your every day chores is your inventory system, which, while being slightly revamped, is still the weakest part of the game and the most damaging. While you can now stack fruit, it doesn’t do so automatically. This goes the same for money, which isn’t automatically put into your Bells pocket. In addition to this, the game has more equipment items in the form of a megaphone, which allows you to call out for villagers walking around, and a wetsuit, which allows you to swim in the ocean and dive for sea creatures. While these are nice features, they complicate the problem with item management. Each piece of equipment takes up an inventory slot, and you will constantly have to juggle your inventory to make space for the items you want or need to carry. It’s tedious and honestly shocking that this hasn’t been remedied in some way over the course of the series’ history.

Animal Crossing New Leaf feels like the first true sequel in the series’ history. While previous entries have added new elements, they never really felt engaging enough to say ‘this is brand new’ to anyone. It’s definitely a lot more enjoyable than previous games, and at the time of this review being written, there’s still a handful of things I haven’t gotten to try out, including the game’s Street Pass functionality, as well a couple of the game’s stores, which will surely add more time to any players’ 3DS. While it may not be the end all be all the series needed, it’s definitely a much needed shot in the arm to get people excited about it again.

Score: 9/10
+ Lots of new things to do this time around
+ There are a lot more ways to earn money
+ A lot of nice, notable little touches that give this a bit of extra charm
- Inventory Management is an even bigger problem this time around
- Getting Project Recommendations is random and a chore
- Visiting/Inviting people is still a tedious process

New Super Luigi U Review

New Super Luigi U is a downloadable content expansion for New Super Mario Bros. U, where all of the original levels have been remixed into harder versions of themselves. While New Super Luigi U retains most of the original’s charms, like the story and 4-player cooperative play, it deviates itself by having less control over your player, which is what Luigi is notable for, to provide a more challenging experience. While difficulty has always been called lackluster in Mario, it mostly makes up for it in terms of its charm and level design. The challenge presented here, while greater, does not necessarily mean its’ for the better overall.

All levels in New Super Luigi sport 100 second time limit, in addition to the changed mechanics do provide a higher level of difficulty than in previous New Super Mario Bros. games. It makes most of the levels feel like they’re designed around a certain flow premise, where you’re focused to constantly move forward. They feel like levels from Donkey Kong Country Returns if you tried to speed run them and get all of the Star Coins in a single run. It’s very rewarding to accomplish everything in one go, especially when you master them. There are unfortunately a handful of levels that go against this premise, and are uniformly terrible. These levels generally feel mashed together in four or five different ways that cause frustration and anxiety beyond the point that they should. In one level, a simple Star Coin can become the bane of your existence while in another level it’s simply not designed for you to be doing what you’re doing, making it seemingly impossible to reach a stage’s end without being hit. It makes all of the good the rest of the game does feel worthless as some of the game’s toughest levels are in reality poorly executed death traps that reek of laziness.

Laziness is another thing that rears its’ ugly head in New Super Luigi U in multiple ways. The introduction is the exact same as the original, except Mario is missing from the scene and Nabbit follows you as your adventure begins. While it’s a minor complaint, the fact that none of the bosses are changed from the original is. For a game that remixes every level, the fact that the bosses are not changed at all is a deathblow to any hope that the experience within could be any better than the original.

Overall, New Super Luigi U, while worthy of the $20 price tag, is a disappointment. While some levels shine brilliantly, others are broken just as badly. Combined with some laziness, Luigi is once again relegated to a sideshow rather than the center stage.

Score: 7/10
+ Nice sense of flow in most stages
+ Good sense of challenge in most levels
- Some stages are abhorrent in quality
- Finding some secret levels is complete trial and error without a guide
- Re-used Boss Fights

Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon Review

The original Luigi’s Mansion is one of those games that ended up being just an interesting concept. While the gameplay still remains fine, it’s ultimately simple and relatively short. It may have some replay value, but it’s not really rewarding to play again. The sequel, developed by Next Level Games looks to build on that original concept and make a better experience.

The story here is simple; the dark moon has been destroyed, causing all of the ghosts in the world to go crazy. It’s now up to the mighty Luigi to restore the power of the dark moon to turn the ghosts back to normal. Your main goal is to receive a piece of the dark moon from each of the game’s five mansions, which have varying themes. The first mansion being your standard haunted house and it sets up a good tone and atmosphere for the game. The lighting is great, along with the game’s animations, which help sell that the game has some polish to it. The game does have a few framerate problems, sometimes hitting 60 and other times getting in the single digits. It’s fine for the most part, but it is a noticeable issue at parts.

Another notable issue is that the game does get frustrating in some places, leaving you wandering around levels aimlessly with no clue at what you need to do. The same goes for a couple of bosses later on that might take you hours, but fortunately for this review, were handled with ease. Beyond the game not giving you many clues and a few unforgiving boss fights, the game gives you a few upgrades to make the game proceed smoother, including upgrades to your Dark Light and Poltergust’s power. It’s a nice progression path that exemplifies the game’s good pacing. While the controls might feel better if there was an option to use the Circle Pad Pro, they do what they need to do well enough and aren’t frustrating or hand-cramping.

A new addition to this installment is multiplayer, both local and online in the form of the Scarescraper, which allows you to play with up to three other players as you traverse up to 25 floors in ghost hunting fun. Levels are randomized, and the money you earn also carries over with you to single player, which is a welcome feature. It’s something that if you want to continue playing is the mode you’ll want to go back to, since going for missing collectibles, Boos and 3-star ranks in single player is an ordeal not many will find the urge to do.

Overall, Luigi’s Mansion Dark Moon is a fun, lengthy but ultimately forgettable experience. There’s not much in the way of memorable music or enemies, but the animations and multiplayer are worth experiencing. It’s a nice entry into the series and hopefully Nintendo will build on it in the future, hopefully with a bit more personality.

Overall Score: 8 out of 10
+ Animations
+ Multiplayer
+ Good Pacing
- Some frustrating puzzles
- Enemies are forgettable
- Framerate problems

DmC Devil May Cry Review

When DmC Devil May Cry was announced at GamesCom in 2010, many fans believed it would be the death of their beloved franchise. While they viewed Devil May Cry 4 in somewhat of a mixed light, it provided the combat and difficulty necessities they desired in a DMC game. Given that Ninja Theory’s expertise was in storytelling and not combat, this left a lot to wonder if the development team could provide a deep combat system to entice players to coming back to a party where they were told they were unwelcome.

The good news is that DmC’s strongest feature is in its’ core combat mechanics. While it’s not as deep as previous Devil May Cry games, it’s fun and engaging. Switching from Rebellion to your Angel or Demon weapon on the fly makes it thrilling to beat enemies up to get your style meter up. While the Style Meter has been adjusted to make it easier for newer players to rank better than they’re actually doing, it doesn’t really take away from the game’s enjoyment unless you miss the older scoring system. You’ll also miss a lock-on button. While some Capcom testers have said that lock-on is neither needed nor missed, that is factually false. Instead, the gameplay relies on having two buttons dedicated to dodge, with no differences between them. The lack of lock-on is baffling, and in later fights leads to severe issues with camera and targeting enemies you don’t want to hit or can’t hit due to having the wrong weapon out.

However, what hurts the combat is that there are certain enemies in the game that require you to use an Angel or Demon weapon against them to kill them. This hurts the game’s pacing, and it shows an uneven design. Whereas you can kill most Demon enemies quickly, Angel enemies are tedious and a chore to fight, sometimes taking minutes to down one of them. Outside of these quirks, the game’s challenge is minimal, even on Nephilim, the game’s default Hard Mode. Enemies are slow, dumb and dealt with mostly by force. The game’s checkpoints upon death are also user friendly, having you start back at the beginning of the fight you last died on with full health. It’s nice that it caters to the casual player so much, and gets you back into the action quickly.

The game has several pacing issues outside of combat as well. Some levels, while beautifully designed and aesthetically interesting, can range anywhere from five to 25 minutes. It’s uneven, and bizarre that a level can last two minutes while the next one is over 30. The game’s first mission has you going through a Demon Carnival and a Mansion, which are excellent designed and paced. One of the better looking levels has Dante going through rounds of fights in a demon world version of a nightclub. It’s a brilliant level, with excellent visuals and music along with some interesting fights. But, like the rest of the game, what comes after is astonishingly bad. Boss fights in DmC are truly a low point for the series. While some are visually interesting, ultimately the fights are dull, simple and feel out of place. Some regular enemies in the game pose a more significant threat to you than any of the game’s boss fights, including the game’s anti-climactic boss fight, which comes out of nowhere from a narrative perspective.

Speaking of, the game’s story is genuinely dreadful. While the game starts out with a somewhat tongue-in-cheek nature, it quickly turns to being super serious and never lets up. The problem is it’s not cute, it’s not clever, it’s not edgy and it’s not good. Some of the moments in the story are absolutely repulsive and should not be applauded by anyone. It just gets in the way of what you’re trying to do, play the game. The characters and scenarios in the game are also poorly written. There’s very little motivation to hate certain characters and while you’re supposed to applaud the heroes, more often than not the game gives you moments where you will shake your head at their actions. It’s juvenile and gives the sense that it’s better than it actually is.

The fundamental gameplay of DmC is strong; it has a good user interface as excites you when you expand your arsenal. It will anger and depress you through its’ poor focus on characters and story interaction all while getting in the way of you enjoying the game. It may be worth your time, but for how long and how much is entirely up to you. It’s got a lot of negativity surrounding it, and not from fan backlash.


Score: 7 out of 10
+ Good Combat
+ Nice Visuals
- Poor Story and Characters
- No Challenge
- 30fps on Consoles

Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge Review

Team Ninja has come a long way from Itagaki’s departure after Ninja Gaiden 2. After helping destroy the Metroid franchise, Team Ninja did a wonderful job duplicating those results with Ninja Gaiden 3. After some kind of revelation after saying they’d ignore fans and after its’ reception went on to blame them, Team Ninja seems like they’re trying to play make-up with Razor’s Edge, the “Sigma” version of Ninja Gaiden 3. Considering how bad Ninja Gaiden 3 was, Razor’s Edge is a significant improvement, but what does that really say about its’ quality? Not much.

One of the first things you’ll notice about Razor’s Edge if you’ve played the original is the distinct lack of henchmen begging for Ryu to spare their inane lives. It’s a welcome change because it removes what had no business being in the game to begin with. Now Ryu’s story is simple: Your arm has been cursed, and you lost your Dragon Sword. Whatever semblance of emotion that’s supposed to be tied to it from the original is gone. While the story tries to maintain Ninja Gaiden’s long-standing history of ridiculousness, it ultimately tries dressing it up, which results in gamers wondering why anyone would want a video game story ever again.

Weapon Upgrading assumes you have to do everything. By the end, you’ll have nowhere near enough Karma to upgrade everything in your arsenal. It shows a complete lack of balance for the overall combat system, which is in itself mashy and tiresome. While the combat matches that seen in the original Ninja Gaiden 2 for Xbox 360, it doesn’t fix the inherent balancing problems that exists with that speed. For example, because the game’s speed is so frantic, the game’s framerate is less than optimal, causing not only a drop in frames, but inputs as well, which will lead to some untimely and frustrating deaths. While this is mostly on Ryu’s side, Ayane’s side really makes it clear that the game is balanced, which will put you in a few situations where you’ll have to get lucky to in order to pass or spend a great deal of time on in order to figure out a fight’s gimmick.

While Razor’s Edge can be seen as improvement, it’s simply window dressing. There’s blood, decapitations, faster combat, tests of valor, collectibles, weapon upgrades, etc. But it doesn’t fix the problems that existed with the last two original Ninja Gaiden games, offering the worst of both worlds. It’s a frustrating experience that you can’t hope to master, but will instead be left whimpering like a Ninja Dog.


Score: 6 out of 10
+ Improved Combat from the original
+ Decapitation is nice
+ Tests of Valor are rewarding to find
- When you die, you usually don’t understand why you die
- Some graphical head-scratchers
- Story is complete garbage

Halo 4 Review

When Halo: Combat Evolved first arrived on the scene, it was the sole reason to buy an Xbox. It modernized the first person controls on a gaming console with its’ dual analog setup. Its’ original developer, Bungie, now gone from the series saw some serious wear from the series with the last couple of titles. While Halo 3: ODST had a great campaign, it was rather short and not worthy of the full price Microsoft made it. Halo Reach, while heralded, was hated by many fans due to some of the creations in its’ multiplayer, along with its’ laughable campaign. But in their stead comes 343 studios, a Microsoft created development for the sole purpose of making Halo games. Considering it’s their first time, Halo 4 does have some growing pains about it, but it’s ultimately a worthwhile experience.

Halo 4 marks the return of the series’ hero, Master Chief, along with his AI companion, Cortana. After four years of drifting in space, Master Chief is awakened to a rogue Covenant group who boarded the ship on the outskirts of a Forerunner planet. The game doesn’t do a very good job conveying what is actually happening with the story, both present and past. While you can unlock background information via Terminals that can only be accessed via Halo Waypoint, an application, it drives the point home of the game having poor storytelling for its’ main thread. Unfortunately, for the story that’s there, it doesn’t really go that far with it, which makes it even more puzzling. Another plot thread is Cortana’s rampancy, which is really the only thing conveyed well in the game’s story. It makes you wonder why so much effort was put on that part of the story and not the main portion of it. It’s confusing, albeit straightforward. Halo 4 has an alright campaign, but it could’ve been better with some better storytelling.

Halo 4’s campaign also continues the tradition of semi-open areas for firefights. While there’s a good mix of small and large areas, which look amazing by the way with its’ gorgeous backdrops that will make you wonder how a console is doing this, on some of the higher difficulties firefights become a major issue of stop and go. At certain points the game will become a puzzle in terms of you figuring out how to pass them, due in part to the game’s poor AI. It’s frustrating to know that a single shot can ruin four or five minutes of progress because the game failed to load a checkpoint. The new enemies in the game, the Prometheans, aren’t all that fun to fight either. They essentially have Flood like numbers, but require the amount of bullets it usually takes to kill a Covenant Elite. You’ll constantly be scrambling for new guns and ammo, leaving you defenseless. While you can appreciate the variety the game is trying to promote, running out of ammo is often the line between progress and reload, a very harsh mistress indeed. What’s also harsh is the loss of firefight in favor of a new cooperative mode, Spartan Ops.

Spartan Ops is a short, mission-based, 5 chapters per week for 10 weeks mode. In this mode, players go throughout an area and kill all the enemies until the end with a cutscene start and finish. Ultimately it’s a short, filler mode that serves little purpose other than to keep people interested in the game for more than a week or two because of other shooters on the market. It’s not an equal substitute for Firefight, but it does an okay job to fill the gap if you get bored, or want more experience than what you’ll get from multiplayer. Halo 4’s multiplayer is a bit more Call of Duty like than Halo Reach. While there aren’t class loadouts for each playlist, you get points to unlock weapons, abilities and armor pieces. While armor pieces are automatic unlocks for various milestones such as getting to Spartan Rank 5, at each level you get 1-2 points to spend how you see fit on Weapons, Grenades or abilities. It’s an adequate system since it promotes choice to peoples’ play styles. What’s not right about it is how the game decides to show you what you can unlock. Instead of laying out everything from the outset, getting kills, gaining levels, and more allow you see what is ahead of you. It’s not tempting anyone to choose variety over a preferred style of play that makes them have a good time. It’s not a fundamental problem, but it’s enough to be a noticeable problem.

Halo 4 does a lot right. It’s graphically impressive, it sounds and controls beautifully. It does a few things wrong as well, most of which are inexcusable. But for the most part, despite its’ flaws, it’s probably the most fun you’ll have with an online shooter this year. That, in and of itself, is why is succeeds.

Score: 8.5 out of 10
+ Looks Amazing
+ Great Multiplayer
+ Good interaction between Master Chief and Cortana

- Terrible Storytelling
- Spartan Ops is disappointing
- Unlock System tedious, cumbersome past weapons

Assassin's Creed III Review

When Assassin’s Creed III was announced to take place in the American Revolution, there was a lot of excitement and concern about the direction the series could. The excitement being centered around, of course, that American History would be the focal point. The concern would be how much will the game sacrifice from the Assassin’s Creed series mechanics to make it functional and proper. While I can tell you that there were no sacrifices made, with the exception of all the bad mechanics introduced in Revelations, last year’s entry, the game re-introduces a lot of the negative elements from the first game to make you wonder if the Assassin’s Creed series has been good or bad for the most part.

The first thing you’ll notice about Assassin’s Creed III is the amazing atmosphere and visual presentation. It has just the right amount of detail to not look like it’s going overboard on realism while keeping itself in line with the rest of the series’ art design. It’s a testament to the new engine that has been created for this game that such fidelity was achieved. But with a new engine comes problems, as framerate drops and screen tearing are somewhat prominent. The game ranges between 15 and 60 fps, although it hangs around 30 for most of the game. The game is also incredibly buggy, akin to the original Assassin’s Creed. Sometimes the game will force you to reload checkpoints because something didn’t trigger. It’s ultimately frustrating to see the game have these bugs because they do ruin the experience. While you may be reliving history through a computer in a video game that they say ‘this is kind of buggy, don’t worry about it,’ you do end up worrying about it since it presents itself time and again. It’s also more prominent because of the slower than usual pacing.

Combat has never been a strong suit of Assassin’s Creed, and this game follows that trend in spades. While the combat is easier than ever before, it is also extremely slow and obnoxious at times. You’ll be waiting a lot longer to counter enemies, which in some cases is the only way to kill enemies. It really drives home the game’s slow, tedious nature that is seen in other areas of the game. There’s too much build up without enough payoff to keep you motivated for very long unless you are an absolute diehard fan of the series. The game’s tutorial takes 5-6 hours to get going, but it takes about that same length for the game to reach its’ proper conclusion. It feels as though something major was cut along the way, but I can’t put my finger on it. While the game has plenty of side missions and the usual Assassin’s Creed fare, the areas created by the end are still unfamiliar to you, which is a shame since the other Assassin’s Creed games made sure you knew where everything was by day’s end. The only outright shining example of excellence in this game is the ship combat, which is both simple and complex to make sure anyone can enjoy it thoroughly. But that’s just a small portion of the game, but there are still gripes that make up the same portion, if not more of the game.

Chases sequences are a prime example of this. They are terribly designed, and some can go on forever if you don’t know what you’re doing. This really drives home the point that the game doesn’t properly convey things to you. It feels like a game manual would help with these grievances but some publishers have done away with them to save money, even though developers act like they’re still there. If you fail some of these missions, I hope you didn’t waste any items along the way, because you won’t regain them if you reload a checkpoint. It’s appalling that this type of punishment exists in a game like this, and it makes you feel helpless and demoralized to know your one good weapon is gone forever because of a simple failure or glitch. And that’s really what Assassin’s Creed III feels like, a glitch; something that shouldn’t exist because of its’ series history.

While Assassin’s Creed III has a lot going for it, but the expansive nature about it makes it feel unfocused and unpolished. It feels like the series’ yearly iterative cycle has finally caught up with like Revelations was alluding to last year. Instead of falling on the side of 2 and Brotherhood, 3 fell on the side of bad with the original and Revelations. Assassin’s Creed III may delight some fans, but it will disgust and bore the majority of them, just like so many saw it before the series’ inception.

Score: 6.5 out of 10
+ Great Atmosphere
+ Great Soundtrack
+ Haythem Kenway, that dapper fiend

- Extremely Glitchy
- Too much like Forest Gump, where Connor is everywhere, doing everything
- The story has a terrible ending

Borderlands 2 Review

Developer: Gearbox Software
Publisher: 2K Games
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3

Borderlands 2 is the sequel to the critically acclaimed and brave Borderlands, which was one of only a few games which stood its’ ground to Modern Warfare 2. By focusing on cooperative play with a loot system and RPG mechanics, the cel-shaded shooter found a place among many gamers to garner downloadable content and a highly desired sequel. While Borderlands 2 has brought a welcome number of changes, it’s also brought something undesired, which is something most gamers won’t really know how to describe.

Borderlands 2 takes place five years after the original, wherein Handsome Jack wants to enter the Vault for mysterious reasons, and you, whom he tried to kill, wants revenge. In order to do that, you’ll need better guns than what you start out with. The game’s major hook is the loot system, where you kill enemies to get more and better guns. While the game progresses you’ll want to go from White to Green to Blue to Purple and finally to Orange to get the best weapons. However, you’ll constantly be checking your guns to see if a White gun outclasses your Orange one. It feels somewhat archaic and not all that thought out in the end. Borderlands 2 also expands on its’ level design, with the number of areas being easily quadrupled.

Every area in Borderlands 2 is enormous, but there’s very little density. Most areas are dead, forcing you to struggle with the terrible driving mechanics a lot of the time. Like the first game you’re going from place to place to achieve your goals. These areas would be better served by either being shrunk or not existing at all. It feels like Gearbox tried to pad the game’s length in ways that really weren’t necessary since the game already has enough content. In the end this hurts replay value since an average playthrough will be 40-50 hours instead of 25-30. Since Gearbox wants to promote people playing through the game multiple times with different classes, stretching out the game’s length is a misstep because it’s harder to replay it at that length. There’s more padding here, which comes down to how the game handles difficulty and its’ general gameplay.

Enemies in Borderlands 2 scale to your difficulty, averaging between two levels below to one level above your current level. People refer to this as “treadmill difficulty” which is something you see in Skyrim, as well as the original Borderlands, but it was contained to Mad Moxxi’s Underdome. This is done instead of creating a proper difficulty curve and scenario for every instance. It feels lazy and cheap to do so, and offers no better rewards. While the game promotes you being a badass, nothing is badass about wasting time on the same fight for a few hours.

Borderlands 2 introduces a Badass Rating system, wherein you earn tokens that you can spend on stat bonuses, such as increased weapon damage, reduced recoil, and more health. It does a good job getting you to play the game in different ways, but the rewards feel like a drop in the bucket some of the time. Even though you get bonuses to help, the game still feels uneven in terms of gameplay. Sometimes you’ll consistently miss shots at point blank range against a frozen enemy and fumble with the controls when enemies are in close proximity. If you manage to get through it all though, the game does have some great writing.

Borderlands 2 has a somewhat dark humor to its’ story, with characters that have a lot of personality and life to them. Gearbox has done an exceptional job at bringing the characters and world of Pandora to life. You’ll also be able to enjoy this world with other people easier due to the improved network options. Instead of having to start a game online and hope others join, you can just switch your current game to be open to everyone or no one. It’s nice to see such vast improvements in these two areas of the game, disheartening to see other areas get glossed over or take a step back.

In the end, Borderlands 2 is a step back from Borderlands in a lot of ways while taking a major leap forward with the universe that was created. If you want more Borderlands, it’s recommended to buy the downloadable content for the original or simply start a new character. Borderlands 2 will leave you feeling empty and disheartened, which is sad considering the game seems to have so much heart.

Overall Score: 6 out of 10

+ Good Writing
+ Good Art Style
+ Lots of Areas to Explore

- Treadmill Difficulty
- Music is Unmemorable
- Has Unnecessary Padding

New Super Mario Bros. 2 Review

When New Super Mario Bros. released for the Nintendo DS in 2006, little did we know we’d be getting a plethora of Mario games the likes of which we haven’t seen since the NES era. After another 2D entry on the Wii, which featured 4-player cooperative play, Mario and Luigi make their way back to the portable space on the Nintendo 3DS in New Super Mario Bros. 2 for nothing short of a coin grab by both plumbers and Nintendo.

The most prominent feature of the 3DS system is that it can have glasses free 3D. This is a feature that does grab your attention most of the time, and in New Super Mario Bros. 2, this is no different. The game’s 3D effect is nothing short of lazy, making the depth of field go up by blurring the background. This ruins the texture work of vistas in the background, and does cause problems when turned all the way up. The best solution for this is by having the 3D slider partially up, being no greater than halfway for the best viewing experience. It’s disappointing since Nintendo usually has been the ones revolutionizing the tech.

Despite that, the levels look good, and have a definite flow to them. While some hardcore gamers will decry the easiness of the series, New Super Mario Bros. 2 is deceptively difficult. While the game wants you to collect coins, they often set up situations where your best interest is to rush in order to get them. The levels however are designed against you doing so, causing you to lose power-ups and unnecessary deaths along the way. Additionally, each level has 3 Star Coins hidden throughout them. While a definite majority are out in the open and will be found through simple exploration, a good portion of them are hidden cleverly throughout each level. It adds a bit of replay value if you desire to collect them all.

That’s a good thing since the game, straight through is relatively short, taking players three to five hours to beat. Most players will rush through the game though, since the game doesn’t start with a “Save Anywhere” feature like Super Mario 3D Land. Instead, it’s a step back to the previous New Super Mario Bros. games where you save after a Castle, and can Quick Save anywhere, but if you lose your progress, you’ll be put back at your last Main Save. Another thing that’s just like the original New Super Mario Bros. games is the music. Almost every track is ripped from previous entries with the exception of adding small vocals to them. It makes the game feel rehashed and uninspired at times, despite being enjoyable to play.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 is simply more Mario. It’s not a groundbreaking entry into the series, and feels like it needed an extra year of development to provide a better experience. It’s fun, but it feels more like an Expansion than a proper sequel.

Pros
- Coin Rush is where most people will spend a lot of time in to get 1 million coins
- Level design is good, and rewards usage of different power-ups
- A Good Challenge

Cons
- Controls feel slippery, causing unnecessary deaths
- Cooperative Play is tacked on and pointless
- 1 Million Coin Reward is a joke, and not worth it

Score: 6 out of 10

Xenoblade Chronicles Review

Xenoblade Chronicles is a Japanese Role-Playing Game published by Nintendo. It's been a long time coming for those wanting this released in the North America, and its' finally here. Championed as the best JRPG of this generation, and one of the greatest of all time, people waiting to play this should not delay.

The story of Xenoblade revolves around two titan creatures, the Bionis and the Mechonis. Long ago, they fought and died, and their deaths allowed the creation of all living things on their lifeless shells. The world at the present day is a war between those living on each side. The journey of the game takes you across both of these creatures, exploring some of the widest areas in gaming history. Players will want to waste hours completing every square inch of area maps, only to realize they're barely 10 hours into the game. It's remarkable that such a feat happened on the Wii. These areas also look wonderful in terms of visuals as well as scope. Throughout various areas of the game you'll be able to see the other Titan to give you proper placement in the world, which is a really neat touch that will leave your jaw dropped every time you realize it, especially when you play through it.

The game's combat is reminiscent of Final Fantasy XII, an MMO style RPG where your party acts on their own and you choose your special attacks from an Arts bar. Throughout the game you get a variety of them, which you can level up and interchange between fights. Some can be used to daze enemies through cooperative attacks, while others do more damage depending on where you attack enemies from. You can also play as any character in your party, and while the game does try to push you away from doing so, is actually great to do since changing party members will help build affinity between them, as well as building a character's skill links and provides more gameplay variety. Every character plays right, if that makes any sense. There's no bad character to play as in the game, and while they have similar movement speeds and combat bars, you'll quickly adapt to their various tactics. It's also helpful that the game does have a rather catchy soundtrack.

One of the highlights of any JRPG and any Nintendo game is the music, and Xenoblade Chronicles is no exception. Each area and battle provides a newly orchestrated track that has a different feel to it than the last. While one may be epic, one is mysterious, while another is calming. They all perfectly fit the game, the areas they represent and the graphics, which is one of the game's middling points. The game has a lot of pretty vistas and jaw-dropping areas to look at, but the game also does have some ugly spots, most notably character faces and walls in some areas. While the faces look like something out of a mid-range PS2 game, the textures look like something out of a Nintendo 64 game trying for realism. It doesn't look good at all, and really brings down the game, if only ever so slightly.

One bad point I can bring up about Xenoblade Chronicles is the story, which is completely generic. While you have a great world, great characters and atmosphere, the threads around it are pretty dull and you'll definitely feel like you've seen them before. While the driving force behind Xenoblade Chronicles is the characters, the story will leave you wanting to do other things from time to time, even though they are mostly fetch quests. But those do inevitably help you raise affinity in areas, which can gain you more XP, which is always a good thing.

Overall, Xenoblade Chronicles is the best JRPG released this generation. While it has a somewhat clunky menu system that will lead you to an online guide or wiki, it is still a sight to behold, and will leave you wanting to come back for more until you do everything.


Score: 9 out of 10

+ Well Realized World
+ Awesome Soundtrack
+ Great Characters

- A generic story
- Involved to point to the point of Confusion
- Poor Menu Interface

Spelunky Review (Xbox 360)

Spelunky is an Xbox Live Arcade title for $15 that was originally released on PC in 2009 as a freeware title. The XBLA version has been revamped with new graphics, enemies, locations, traps and other goodies to make the $15 asking price a bit more palpable. Spelunky can be described as a rogue-like game, where levels are randomly generated and you are asked to traverse them. The premise of Spelunky is simple: Traverse a series of caves to reach Olmec's treasure and escape victorious. But more often than not, the player, and the title, are not successful in creating an enjoyable experience.

Spelunky can best be described as tortuous. The game will do everything in its' grasp to end your ruin, which will on average, be less than a minute. While the game isn't terribly long if you beat it, roughly 25-40 minutes depending on your luck, it will take you longer to do so than beating Battletoads for the first time. It's an apt comparison since the game is punishing at almost every turn. While you'll be able to escape the first area of the game after a couple of hours or so consistently, it becomes a strict test of trial and error that will test the time and patience of many players. Only for a few will the pain and frustration of randomized dungeons offer the tiniest sliver of glee.

Spelunky does offer some good, however. The art style is attractive, the music is catchy and upbeat. The controls are tight, and easy to understand once you get accustomed to them after a few minutes. There's a lot to do and see in Spelunky, if you survive long enough to see most of it. But overall, it's not something that I can highly recommend. The difficulty of the game is too punishing and really outweighs the enjoyment you'll have for this title over the long run. If you thought Super Meat Boy, another 2D platformer was too easy for you, then Spelunky is right up your alley. But for most people, this won't be the case.

Score: 6 out of 10

+ Great Graphics
+ Catchy Music
+ Good Controls

- Extremely Punishing Difficulty
- Too reliant on trial and error difficulty
- Randomized layout leads to unwinnable situations sometimes

Mass Effect 3 Review

The Mass Effect series has been built on players’ choices and seeing the consequences of those choices and it’s nice to finally see where those choices have taken everyone, for better or worse. The Mass Effect series has made momentous strides over the course of its series, but it has also taken a few steps back as well. Mass Effect 3 ultimately proves where the series has shown its’ mastery and how it betrayed its’ initial concept in others.

One of the first new elements players will notice when firing up the game is multiplayer. This mode is simply an online cooperative mode where up to four players pit themselves against ten waves of AI opponents on one of three difficulties across six initial maps, although two have since been added for free via downloadable content. The concept is the same as Gears of War’s horde mode with a separate leveling system that’s similar to the single player. What’s new is a trading card game like system where you have to spend your hard earned credits on one of three pack types, each of which have five random types, ranging from powers, characters or weapons. While cheaper packs will get you more powers, more expensive packs are usually your ticket to newer weapons and characters.

The system works well, which will most likely keep you coming back to try new characters and classes. When you get a character to its’ highest level, you can “send it to single player” as the game mentions, but it doesn’t do anything, which ultimately eliminates the point in doing so. Multiplayer does serve a purpose for single player though. By playing more you will raise your “Galactic Readiness” by one to seven percent depending on how well you do. Not playing multiplayer for a few days will lower this rating by one percent a day until you do, so if you’re looking to get a good rating in single player, it’s best to hold off until playing multiplayer until the end of the campaign.

Speaking of the campaign, there’s definitely a lot to talk about in the portion of the game that isn’t normally talked about nowadays, namely everything else. The first thing a veteran Mass Effect player will notice is they won’t be able to import their long-standing face into the game. While Bioware has said this was recently patched, but it still exists and will anger long-time players. A major issue is the game’s journal, which has taken a step backwards from the previous entry. No longer will the game give you step-by-step progress for each mission, instead opting for a vague message that never changes. This is infuriating since you’re given very little context on how to go about completing them. It strikes as Bioware being lazy for the sake of rushing the final product out, and is a major detriment to the overall product.

What’s not a detriment however, are the continued stories of characters. There are plenty of excellent moments in Mass Effect 3 that not only provide excellent closure to some of Mass Effect 2’s favorites, but little moments with crew members as well. Garrus, Liara, Tali, Joker and Edi all have them and there are quite a few that will be memorable for a long time. The game’s combat is also an improvement over the last game, but it’s not a major step up like there was from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2. Overall, these two elements do the job enough for you to keep playing the story up until the very end, which is where most of the debate around this game occurs.

The game’s ending is, without question, a certified mess. It takes the entire series up to that point and throws everything people have done until that point out the window. It’s a shame that the people who wrote the ending came up with something so hastily to create something very nonsensical, ending the series in a very unsatisfying way. At the end of the day, that’s what Mass Effect 3 is. It had a lot of build up, but it leaves a sour taste in your mouth afterwards. There’s not enough closure or differentiation in the story that will leave a lot of people satisfied at the end. While they’ll wonder what went wrong, there’s no answer for that right now, as it has to be “clarified” by Bioware later this year. It’s just a wonder why they game wasn’t delayed until they could have clarified it on the game’s disc.

Score: 7/10

Positives
- Good characters and dialog
- More refined combat
- Good Multiplayer

Negatives
- The Ending is awful in various ways
- Poor Presentation

Kid Icarus: Uprising Review

It’s been 20 years since the last Kid Icarus game was released on Game Boy, and that’s a very unknown about game to this day. To have a highly marketed, highly publicized Kid Icarus game released at this day and age is a bit strange to say the least. But considering the name behind it and his relationship with the current Nintendo CEO, it shouldn’t be surprised that Kid Icarus gets a grand re-introduction to the world on the 3DS.

Kid Icarus: Uprising is a schizophrenic game, combining an on-rails shooter style game with on land action game. The controls for the on-rails flight sections are simple and work fantastically. These sections do get pretty busy later on. None of these segments last more than five minutes however, given the game’s context that Pit’s wings will burn up if the limit is reached. After each flight section, you’ll move into the proper action segments. The controls here are mostly functional, but will probably require some tweaking since you control Pit’s firing reticule and camera at the same time. This is the only part of Uprising that could’ve been done better, and it’s a shame since these segments take up the majority of the game. Even during the latter stages of the game I never felt I had mastered them, but only managed to make sure I didn’t die because of them. It’s a shame really, as the remainder of the game never fails to shine.

The one surprising aspect of Uprising is its’ story. Pit and Palutena are the definitive stars of the show, with their almost natural quips towards one another, coming across as being extremely charming. The story is well put together and is an overall fun ride due to the dialog and story that doesn’t stop the action. While the game does give you an option to turn off the dialog after beating it, I couldn’t bring myself to do so when replaying levels, and I’m sure many will feel the same way. The story is bittersweet however, since it will leave you wondering where they could go from there.

In addition to the single player mode, there is also multiplayer, supporting online and offline play up to 6 players. There are two modes, one team-based called Light vs. Dark and the other is free-for-all. The multiplayer plays like the game’s on-foot sections, and also allows you to bring in your loot from single player to use. It’s a nice feature, but it does make you more vulnerable to losing despite having more powerful gear. It’s a nice distraction, but it wasn’t something I felt like I had to play to get my money’s worth from the game.

Uprising also offers a multitude of additional content to promote more playthroughs of chapters as well as the multiplayer, including Challenges, a Music Gallery as well as Idol Mode, which gives you in-game models based on AR cards you’ve collected. Challenges give you rewards such as weapons, music and Idols by completing chapters in single player in specific ways, such as defeating any level at 9.0 Intensity. I like that the game offers a reward to keep me playing the game, especially when there’s nothing to hang my head in shame about. It’s just offering more ways to teach you how to play the game, and maybe you’ll find something you didn’t think you’d like about it that way. The sound tracks is also another highlight of the game, and thanks to the Music Gallery you’ll be able to listen to all of your favorite tracks whenever you want, even after you beat the game.

Kid Icarus: Uprising is almost everything a game should strive to be. Despite its’ steep learning curve, it is ultimately a must buy for any Nintendo 3DS owner due to the longevity and enjoyment you’ll get out of this little bundle of joy at almost every turn.

Score: 8.5/10

Pros:
+ The Story
+ The Visuals
+ The Replay Value

Cons:
+ The Controls
+ The Replay Value
+ Losing the 3D Effect

Rhythm Heaven Fever Review

It'd be wrong of me to say that Rhythm Heaven Fever wasn't my first time playing the series. It'd also be wrong of me to say I wasn't tempted to pick it up due to various videos online, as well as the budget price tag. However, it's not wrong of me to say that Rhythm Heaven Fever is one of the most enjoyable games to come out on Wii, despite having a few glaring flaws. When you start up the game you'll notice two distinctive features; first, it's entirely hand-drawn, animations included with separate ones for successes and failures in each game. While it may not be high definition, it looks extremely crisp and beautiful on your TV. Secondly, is that the game starts you with a rhythm test to gauge how close you are to the beat. There's no success or failure here, but mainly to test how good your musical prowess is. For me, I was hovering around the middle, being even split between hitting early and hitting late. What this does is give you a grasp of how hard it will be for you to get into the game early on. Some people will hit the ground running, while others will immediately break both legs. For me, I struggled to get past the first game on the first go, but had immediate success with more to follow because I learned the rules of the game. There are some games that I do still struggle with, while some praise their ingenuity. There are also games that are simple not executed properly. In both of these situations, they'll leave the player frustrated and scratching their head at what exactly the problem is. Fortunately enough, after 3 failures, you can visit the Cafe to say you want to skip over to the next game. You can always go back to another game anytime you want as well in order to Medal or even Perfect it. The only problem with Perfecting games is that there are small windows in which you can earn Perfects, and once those windows appear, you only have 3 attempts or you'll have to play a few more games for another one to randomly appear on ones you've already gotten a Medal in. I found this to be a bit frustrating at times since the game wouldn't let me progress at my own pace. I've heard that this happens in other versions of the series, but I'd still levy the same complaint there as well. However, the moments that make Rhythm Heaven Fever shine are the games that seem to truly embrace the concept and execute properly on them. Fortunately the majority of the games are this way, like Ring Side, Flock Step and Samurai Slice. They overwhelm the player visually but in reality the simplistic nature of the game allows complete control of the situation. The way you gain mastery of the game by keeping the beat so you no longer have to rely on visual cues is excellent, and it keeps me playing the game even though I'm long finished. Score: 8 out of 10 + An excellent style that conquers raw graphical power + Good music - Some games are frustrating

Game Review: Mario Kart 7

I've been a fan of the Mario Kart franchise since the original Super Mario Kart was released on the Super Nintendo back in 1992. Until now, there's never been a numbered Mario Kart, and there's always been a plethora of imitators to try and steal its' thunder. None of those games garnered the success that Mario Kart has, even the few that have been considered better games. Mario Kart Wii, the last game in the series, was a tipping point for me. I found it to be frustrating and more often than not broken since it didn't balance the game for the additional 4 drivers per race the game championed as a feature. So is Mario Kart 7 a better game than Mario Kart Wii? Or for that matter, is it the best Mario Kart game?

Overall, I'd say Mario Kart 7 is a decent, but shallow package. It's something I'd call unoffensive at best, uninspired at worst. Once again, the game features 32 tracks, 16 old and new. There are 8 Grand Prix's with 4 races each across 4 difficulty levels, which again are staples to the franchise. You also have your staple tropes like Red Shells, Green Shells, and of course the bane of any Mario Kart player's existence, the Blue Shell. Mario Kart 7 removes the additional 4 players Mario Kart Wii provided, and while the game is indeed more balanced, fun and playable because of it, it feels like a cheap trick into making me think it's more fun than it really is. The item balance is still the same as it was in Mario Kart Wii, but it's just with less competition.

The game offers two new mechanics this time around to lighten up the mood: Underwater Driving and Gliding. Both of these are interesting mechanics, but I don't feel like they're used to their full potential. Gliding is mainly used for going across gaps and isn't really used for shortcuts like you think it should while underwater driving feels like a means for padding track length. When you look at the full map for some of these tracks, you'll see that they're really pretty short in comparison to something like Maka Wuhu, which is a checkpoint-based track consisting of one lap. This is a type of race that is new to the series that I enjoy thoroughly that I expect more of in the future.

The online of Mario Kart 7 is something of a mixed bag. A bit of it feels revolutionary while some of it feels like a step back. For starters, you can create Communities to play with your friends, but at the same time you have to set up specific item, speed and game type rules. There's no freedom there except to set up a new community with a new set of rules. It feels like a good first step, but poorly thought out for the rest of it. In addition to this, while racing in Mario Kart 7 is excellent, Battle Mode is just terrible, leaving me to wonder if they intended for anyone to actually play it more than once.

Mario Kart 7 is a step up from Mario Kart Wii. However, a step up from the worst game in the series isn't much of a compliment in my personal opinion. It's a fun ride, but once you're done, you'll feel pretty sour on the experience.

Score: 7.5 out of 10

Positives

New Mechanics

Communities

Racing Online

Negatives

Feels rushed

Implementation of Communities

Battle Mode

Nintendo Video Review

Nintendo Video is Nintendo's newest 3DS app that allows you to download videos and trailers to watch in 2D/3D. After managing to download it and watch a couple of trailers on it, I can say that the app is very disappointing.

The Captain America trailer, the first thing that I decided to watch, was in 3D. The problem lies in that the actual video didn't stretch to the borders of the screen in any direction, leaving the entire video bordered. This leaves the video feeling cramped and very hard to tell that an actual 3D effect actually exists. It's possible that Nintendo will improve this in the future, but it's doubtful.

The other videos, while possessing full-screen capabilities, left the quality very poor and nearly unwatchable. In short, there are better ways to watch videos on the go. While Nintendo 3DS may offer 3D videos without glasses on the go, it's hard to recommend it for any other fact that it's free.

Ms. Splosion Man Review

Two years after the critically acclaimed Splosion Man, Twisted Pixel has come out with Ms. Splosion Man, a sequel to the original using an homage to Ms. Pac-Man. The gameplay remains the same: Press a button to "Splode," you can do so 3 times before you can't splode anymore, going up walls, hitting barrels, etc. It's the same game as Splosion Man for the most part with a side of feminine humor. For the asking price, the content is there to make the 800 point asking price valid.

However, Ms. Splosion Man is more complicated than its' predecessor, equating to a much harder, albeit longer game. The difficulty curve for Ms. Splosion Man is also very weird, as it's broken into 3 worlds, each world tends to get harder and harder, and when you beat a world the difficulty kind of backs off before ramping up again instead of a constant upward trend in aggravation.

Like Splosion Man, MSM has 2 campaigns, one single player, one multiplayer. However, getting into a game online is a sadistic chore, as you'll get into games, you'll have to wait 10-15 minutes for levels to finish before you can play, sometimes longer. And you won't be playing from the start, but instead from where the host is at, so it's best to only play with friends if you can help it.

Ms. Splosion Man is a nice package overall, but it comes with a few caveats that make it very hard to recommend over the original.

Score: 3 out of 5

Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition

When it was announced that Arcade Edition would be coming as a DLC add-on for Super Street Fighter IV I immediately set aside the $20 to buy a points card for the 1200 point add-on. When I finally sat down to play my favorite fighting game of the generation again I was met with a patch that completely ruined the experience for me.

Arcade Edition adds a lot of new features to the core game: 4 new characters along with Endings for Arcade Mode. In addition, it adds some more Online Features such as more Replay Modes, the ability to follow players, and the ability to play in lobbies specifically made for Arcade Edition, as well as Super. The Arcade Edition Mode changes some of the characters as well, otherwise known as a balancing. Overall, it seems like a worthy pickup for the price. However, it's what those changes do that really send me over the edge on this one.

What Arcade Edition effectively does is break the game in favor of god characters, aka Yun and Yang. While it makes for some great buffs for Makoto, Fei Long and Hakan, it effectively neuters other characters like Guile, Ryu and Chun-Li. Unnecessarily so as well, since Super was already pretty well balanced. Taking Fei Long and Makoto from bottom tier to Upper Tier is a big stretch in my opinion, as it really just makes the game unbalanced and unfun. For offline players hoping for some achievements, they've effectively made Arcade Mode for this Edition a lot tougher, meaning spamming isn't as effective, and trying to get Evil Ryu and Oni on the highest difficulty a chore, even with Zangief, who is now almost useless against Seth, who by the way, you have to finish with a Super and/or Ultra in order to face either of them in addition to prerequisites. So if you're looking for achievements, Arcade Edition is a no go.

For the competitive Street Fighter player you really have no choice but to buy this add-on, and for that this review isn't for you since you already know how severe the changes have been. As for online play, Capcom has seemingly borked their netcode once again, so more inputs are dropped, meaning practice for competitive and casual play has also been hurt as a result. And this change is for everyone, not just the Arcade Edition mode.

In addition to these negatives, there aren't any Trials for these 4 new characters, making it harder to learn them and how to combat them in battle. Finally Capcom has stated that Costume Pack(s) will come later for them, so in essence, you're really not getting a complete package here.

So without an additional patch for balance changes that are desperately needed, Capcom has effectively ruined Street Fighter IV. In the meantime, I'll continue to play Super Mode since it's still extremely fun to play.

Score: 1 out of 5