Category Archives: 7 Star Games

Scribblenauts Unlimited Review

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Time to play the next installment in the Scribblenauts series. This is the first one for the home consoles so that was definitely neat. This also meant that I was one step closer to completing the series! It is definitely different from the first two in a few ways. It’s more open world and that’s always a good thing, but it also results in a slightly shorter game.

The plot involves the origin of Maxwell. Long story short, his parents were explorers and they found a book that brought anything that you wrote in it to life. This was pretty neat so they gave it to Maxwell, but the power quickly corrupted him. Then, his sister started turning into stone and Maxwell was told that the only way to save her was to help people with his incredible book. Helping them would cause the people to drop Starrites and he could save Lily’s life if he collected enough of them. With this knowledge at his disposal, Maxwell headed off to go save Lily…and the world.

Collecting Starrites is classic and a tradition for the series. The new part is that there are also Starrite Shards to find. Getting 7-8 of them will form a full Starrite. There are 106 of them in the game and you only need 60 to complete the story. Seeing as that is only a little over half of them, it’s pretty easy to find enough solvable puzzles to work through so that you can save Lily. Each level has 1-3 Starrites and 5-10 Shards. There are quite a lot of levels, although not as many as the previous games since you can compact a lot of missions onto one level. I actually prefer it this way since you don’t have to move around as much. Finding and solving the missions is more linear.

When you enter a world, you’ll see people who need help. The ones with Starrites over their heads will give you one if you help them and you get hints if it is taking you a while. There are no hints for the Shard missions, but they are typically a lot quicker anyway. As you collect the Starrites more and more levels open up. The final ones are all in space so you can tell that the stakes have been raised.

The graphics are about equal to the other games since they’re still using sprites. I assume that they are in HD here and they are certainly a little clearer. Watching the objects on the big screen is definitely a lot of fun. You can’t say that the graphics are at Legend of Zelda or Sly level, but they’re not meant to be. You’re using sprites to save the world and that’s good enough for me. The actual gameplay is crystal clear so you never have to wonder where to go next or what an object is supposed to be.

The soundtrack is not really around. There are a lot of familiar jingles like the remixed victory theme, but it’s more of a soothing experience than most games. There is background music, but it’s all very subtle so that it transitions smoothly from level to level. The music is pretty calming to listen too and it definitely fits the gameplay.

For Replay Value, you can naturally go back and collect all 106 Starrites. That’s about it for replay value, but that should still last you quite a few hours after getting the initial 60. That would end up at around 10-20 hours of play time and it would probably steer closer to the 20 than 10. It is definitely shorter than the other Scribblenaut games and technically it’s the easiest since you don’t have to worry about fully beating all levels. It’s actually a little more appropriate for the kids since I found the first one to be a little too difficult for the average youngster, but this one is just right. There are some that they will likely have trouble with, but that’s what the hints are here for right? Typically, the final hint will make it clear enough to solve the riddle. The going price for the game is less than 20 so that more than makes up for the short campaign and the replay value helps even more.

Fans may be a little disappointed with Maxwell since he is evidently not the selfless hero that we all had expected. He likes to play pranks on everyone and the power went to his head very quickly. He quickly sees the light once his sister is in danger, but I’m sure that his fans will be surprised. He’s a pretty likable main character although he doesn’t get to talk. Lily gets all of the lines so Maxwell may just end up being a silent main character. It’s worked well for Mario and Link so it could be a good move.

One thing that was mildly disappointing is that there is no final level joke this time. Perhaps you get a secret level if you get all of the Starrites, but I was expecting a little more. Some kind of final boss would have been nice like in the last game. Something that forces you to create a Starrite or do something really simple. The previous two games loved to troll the gamer like that and I was hoping that the tradition would be upheld. Instead, you just get a quick cutscene when you get the 60 Starrites. Again, I’m assuming that something happens once you get all 106, but I wanted more closure.

A tip for any future players is to always have your wings on. It’s helpful in just about every scenario and it beats walking through all of the levels right? Using your adjectives wisely will help you complete a lot of missions since you can just make a beast cheerful instead of giving it food to make it cheerful. As there are many words in the English language, there are many ways to beat a mission so you can really choose one that you prefer over the others. There are also dozens of playable characters so you can switch how you look, but that doesn’t impact the gameplay. It’s merely a stylistic choice.

Overall, Scribblenauts Unlimited is a pretty fun sequel to the first two games. The fact that it is now all mission based as you help the people is a fun twist in how you collect the Starrites. It’s probably the best game in the series and the big screen effect certainly helps with that. It’s less repetitive in the types of missions that you complete as opposed to Super Scribblenauts and the gameplay is smoother than the original. The original game will always be a classic since it was the toughest and had the most environments, but this one has done a good job of upholding the legacy. It also helped to increase my Wii U collection. The next Scribblenauts is already at home waiting to be played, but quickly it’s time to go back to a Wii game first. That being said, it shouldn’t last long and then we’ll see if Unmasked will be able to take on Unlimited. Get ready for an adventure! I recommend Scribblenauts Unlimited to Casual and Core gamers alike. It’s a fun way to spend your time and it’s pretty unique. I’m sure that everyone will have fun putting their life experience to the test as you try to think of how you can help someone. It will test your mastery of the English language.

Overall 7/10

GI Joe The Rise of Cobra Review

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GI Joe is one of those games that you really can’t help, but check out. It’s the very definition of a movie tie in as it has everything that you would expect one to have. I think that one of the ways that you can tell whether a game is big budget or not is the little things. As a whole, this game may look like any other overhead shooter, but it’s the small things that keep it from reaching the heights of other great shooters. No matter, it is still a pretty fun game and one that definitely gives you your money’s worth.

The Joes have captured Baroness and the Cobra organization appears to be gone for good. Everything is right in the world until they are attacked and Baroness escapes. It appears that Cobra may not be dead after all and they are using their new teleportation technology to create a lot of havoc. Duke is going to have to go back on the field with the other Joes to stop the enemies from gaining ground. The only question on everyone’s minds is…”Can Cobra really be back?” Time to find out!

There are 20 levels to be found here, which is a pretty reasonable amount. The levels are long enough so that they can’t be called short while not being nearly as long as a War for Cybertron or Shattered Dimensions stage. I’d say that they’re juuust right if you ask me. The levels are pretty repetitive as you go on, but the actual gameplay is always fun so I wouldn’t really count that as a negative. The gameplay is similar to Centipede Infestation or Alien Syndrome. It’s overhead, but close enough to the ground where it can almost feel 3D. You won’t realize that it is overhead until you are done…or that is typically the case anyway.

You take out your guns and try to quickly destroy all of the enemies who are in your way. Typically, your objective will be to destroy certain objects along your way to the end. This means that you can actually skip a lot of the enemies if you really don’t want to bother facing them. I do recommend fighting them since it’ll help you earn points to get more badges, but it’s your call. Beating the levels on casual difficulty will let you quickly get through them, but you will not be able to get 5 star ranks that way so it’s a double edged sword. The gameplay never gets old and it’s a lot of fun to just blast everyone in your way. You’ll rarely need to resort to hand to hand combat, but it can be fun to use once in a while as a change up.

Graphically, the game definitely doesn’t impress. The facial expressions can definitely look pretty bad, but it can be in a humorous way so I can’t really fault it. It’s pretty sub standard for a PS3 game, but I didn’t expect anything more than that. The graphics still look pretty good during the gameplay, which is what counts. No frills or extra things to polish up the graphics, but that’s all right. The soundtrack can be a little uneven as some themes are just really loud. Notably the “Go Joe” theme that plays when you activate your power up. Mixed in with the sound of your gun constantly firing, you’ll be tempted to lower the volume. The stage themes are pretty unmemorable, but they aren’t bad. The characters can sound pretty intriguing though and Cobra Commander is the best example of this. The writers definitely are not familiar with his character since he sounds nothing like the villain that we’re used too. He’s constantly losing his cool and shrieking. The Commander doesn’t even try to keep up a tough facade as he panics when the Joes break in. It’s tough for his fans to watch, but you will likely get a good chuckle out of him.

GI Joe definitely shines when it comes to the Replay Value aspect. There are 130 emblems to get, which will take you some time since getting 5 stars on every stage is truly a feat. You will need to find several collectibles in each level which can be tough and let’s not forget the trophies. They’re all pretty fair and while they can be time consuming, none of them feel cheap. If you really want to get the Platinum in this game, I’m confident that you will be able too. I’ve thought about it and I may get it at some point, but I’ll settle for obtaining most of the trophies for now.

The ending to the game is pretty unsatisfying though. First of all, there is no final boss. That’s pretty discouraging since each world had a final boss aside from the last one. Instead of fighting Cobra Commander, we got to fight a few generators that some minions were protecting. The game also plays it a little too safe with the story and all of the villains end up getting away aside from Baroness. That means that we go right back to the status quo from the beginning of the game where this was the case…..a bit lazy if you ask me.

Now, I mentioned that it’s the little things that separate this from a high budget shooter. One example of this is naturally the minor glitches. Nothing major luckily, but sometimes your gun will just go through an opponent and you’ll need to stop shooting and quickly start again. That’s not terrible and it’s quite rare, but it’s a little thing. Camera angles can be tricky and it’s easy to get lost in some of the levels. The gameplay is a lot of fun, but it’s not very deep so you really need to enjoy it or you will definitely find it repetitive. I recommend always choosing Heavy Duty since he has the best super attack in the game.

Overall, GI Joe The Rise of Cobra is a pretty fun PS3 game. It won’t be winning any awards in the near future, but it’s the kind of game that really goes by quickly. You’ll never feel bored as you tackle the Cobra agents and the plot is decently engaging. I’m glad that we do get actual cutscenes so the game definitely didn’t skip out on the budget. At 20 levels, it’s definitely long enough for you to spend a few days on it and more if you want the Platinum. I recommend this to all action fans who own a PS3.

Overall 7/10

Naruto Shippuden Legends Akatsuki Rising Review

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This is a game that I’ve owned for quite a while at this point. It’s had to sit in my backlog for years, which tells you just how many games I’m juggling at the moment. After all, why else would an anime game ever stay on the shelf? This game is part of the Uzumaki Chronicles series so the gameplay is in that style. Unfortunately, the gameplay has significantly regressed, but it’s still a pretty fun game to check out, it just keeps it from getting a good ole 8. (Most 3D fighting anime video games do end up with 8s, which is why that is pretty notable)

The game covers the first arc of Naruto Shippuden. Naruto has returned to the village after a long time training abroad. He discovers that the Kazekage has been kidnapped by an evil organization known as the Akatsuki! Naruto won’t stand for this so he heads out with a few of his comrades to pursue the villains. Another squad is also dispatched to assist Naruto. They will need to hurry since the villains intend to destroy the Kazekage after their operation is a success.

The gameplay is the biggest factor here so let’s talk about that first. You’re placed in a 3D environment and you typically have to reach the end of an area that is filled with minions. The other type of area is a “defeat the enemies to advance” section which is self explanatory. On the normal areas, you don’t have to actually fight anyone as you run to the goal. I wouldn’t recommend that due to how tricky the leveling up system is. You can teleport with the O button and attacking uses the square button. You can use your ninjutsu like a Rasengan or a Shadow Clone to try and defeat the enemies a little quicker.

The gameplay sounds pretty solid right? It actually sounds great like that since a 3D fighting game is what we all want. Unfortunately, it’s not as clear cut as it sounds. The teleporting option is really what wrecked the gameplay because it doesn’t take up any meter. You can teleport forever and ever if you want too. Your opponent can go one step further as they can teleport through your attacks infinitely. This gets old very quickly as you can try to hit them for minutes without much success. It’s the biggest flaw imaginable since it makes fighting with hand to hand skills virtually impossible. The enemies will just keep on punishing you if you dare to use such a tactic.

The best way to counter this is to just focus on Naruto’s Shadow Clone Jutsu and get it to at least level 5 so you can use the whirlwind combo. After that, just spam it for every single boss along with regular shadow clones. It’s the best way to win, but it’s not a very fun way. Once in a while, you can try to get up close and personal to take on a boss, but then you’ll just watch as they teleport away and hit you with a powerful jutsu that takes away 70% of your health. A single combo was enough to beat me several times so you have to keep your distance. I’m thinking that the developers just didn’t realize that the A.I. would exploit the teleporting so well. I’m hoping that this is fixed for Kizuna Drive since that would make the gameplay so much more enjoyable. Technically, the actual gameplay style is still great, but you really can’t get past the teleporting angle. Who wants to use the same jutsu over and over again for the entire game right?

One thing that could also have made the experience better would be to rehaul the leveling up system. Most games just give you EXP for defeating opponents, but this game added a new spin to it by giving you EXP for good combos as well. This means that defeating normal enemies gives you almost no EXP at all so you need to either keep facing bosses or racking up those combos. Getting a good combo is tough considering how often the opponents teleport so replaying levels to face the bosses is your best bet. Even then, leveling up isn’t very quick and the power upgrade is very slight so you need quite a few level ups to really feel it. I ended the game at level 44, which actually isn’t that bad. I only had to grind for level ups once, but that was before I learned that the Shadow Clone jutsu was the best in the game so it’s hard to tell just how necessary it was. I barely squeaked by one of the final boss fights though so it’s safe to say that it may have ultimately saved me. I think that it should be easier to see how much EXP you need to level up instead of going into the menu that leaves you vurlnable.

Speaking of which…you should be able to pause the game. There is no way to do that in the game, which is pretty sad. You just have to find a quiet spot and camp out t here while you open the menu to look at items and your status. Why the game doesn’t stop while you do that is beyond me. It provides a bit of a challenge in terms of health I suppose, but you should still be able to pause when you’re not in the middle of battle at the very least. (Pausing during battle should still be okay) Nobody wants to keep putting their PSP to sleep when they need to quickly go somewhere. It’s a smaller gripe than the others, but it’s definitely worth mentioning.

The graphics look pretty good. They’re not downright amazing and they certainly get outshined by other PSP games like Birth By Sleep, but it’s good enough. The gameplay graphics are pretty bright and sharp, which allow you to take in everything easily. The cutscenes can definitely be a little blocky, but everything is still clear. I definitely give the game a thumbs up in this area. The soundtrack is decent, but I’m a little more critical of it. There are only a few themes in the game. I’d say that at least half of them are pretty good and there are one or two really good ones. I think they should have had more themes though since just about every boss shares the same one. So, it’s a pretty fun game to listen too, but you should be prepared to hear the same tunes a lot. It’s not as bad as it could have been if the themes were not good of course.

The actual story mode is 10 levels long. Each level is pretty short in terms of gameplay..or at least technically. As mentioned earlier, the boss fights can be quite long and difficult at times so that actually helps to stretch the game out along with the cutscenes. 10 levels is my minimum for a game and my play time was a little over 7 hours so I’m pretty satisfied with the length. There is certainly a lot of replay value to be found here as well. You can try leveling everyone up to level 99 for starters. Then you’ve got Survival Mode and Mission Mode, which have a lot of challenges to complete. You’ve even got an Akatsuki Mode where you effectively play story mode again from the villain’s point of view. A pretty nice touch wouldn’t you say? If you’re really grasping, you can also try to complete each mission with a star, but I’m not sure what you unlock for doing that.

Overall, Naruto Shippuden Legends Akatsuki Rising is a good game, but it’s one that could have been much better. The leveling up system needs a little work since the bosses are typically a little too strong without some extra level ups. The teleporting trick also gets old pretty quickly since the bosses can abuse it while you just watch in awe. The actual story mode is very engaging so it’ll keep you glued to the screen and I still love the concept of a 3D Naruto adventure game. I definitely recommend it to Naruto fans and especially to gamers who want a challenge. Whether intentional or not, this is certainly one of the toughest Naruto games out there! I plan on starting Kizuna Drive soon after I get back to a few other video games so then I should have a review for it up soon. It has more levels than this game and it’s the sequel so we’ll see if they fixed the teleporting issue. I sure hope they did!

Overall 7/10

Transformers Prime Review

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Transformers has had a pretty great track record for video games. The War For Cybertron series always promises exciting gameplay with a good story and even the movie tie in titles have been very good. Naturally, the stand alone game for the Armada series was great since it mixed in the fun gameplay with some fun forest levels. Transformers Prime is no different and it is a very fun game, albeit a little short.

The plot certainly does start off like a classic episode. A Dark Energon spike has appeared so the Autobots arrive to see what’s happening. Megatron and Prime have their usual scuffle until the gang is separated. The Autobots will need to regroup to see just what is going on, but the Decepticons have their eyes on the kids. Meanwhile, an old Decepticon of legend has awakened and he wants to destroy the Matrix. Optimus Prime better watch his back!

The gameplay is a lot more combat centered than previous titles. Just about every Transformers game has the option to get in close and personal, but the emphasis is still on blasting your opponent away into oblivion. Blasting is really just a side option in this game although it’s very useful. I tend to use it quite often as the damage builds up pretty quickly. It’s also fun because it’s not the main option. It’s hard to describe, but you just feel the blasts more and it’s more fun to use than in the normal titles. As for the hand to hand combat, it’s what you would expect. You have two different ways to attack and you can string them together to unleash some solid combos. You can quickly enter an awakened mode that allows you to deal extra damage and unleash longer combos.

Naturally, changing into a vehicle is still an option and your blasters do even more damage in that mode. You can tell that the gameplay is not very balanced like in the TMNT game for Gamecube though. There are times when you know that the game wants you to use hand to hand to beat an opponent, but then you just switch to blasters and it still works. It takes a little longer to deal the same damage as a fist attack, but it’s almost equaled out since the enemies don’t fall down as often this way. I just loved blasting away and it’s especially useful when you’re outnumbered since the opponents can’t gang up on you. You can also make a barrier to block energy blasts and you can unleash slow power attacks that can break through a shield. I highly recommend using that only when it is mandatory.

Thunderwing is the new villain for the game and he’s not bad. He’s definitely pretty generic though and he doesn’t have a whole lot of character. He was pretty tough back in his day and he’s still proud of that, but you can’t say much more about him. His design is actually really good, but he’s pretty large so he doesn’t actually get to fight. He’ll just blast at you or try to hit you with his arm. It’s a simple matter to evade and keep on blasting him. His moves are just too limited so he never stood a chance. Still, he’s better than he could have been since he may have been generic, but he was still a tough villain who feared no being!

Speaking of which, the last 5 or so missions are basically just boss fights. Each Autobot gets to take on his/her rival. Starscream isn’t that tough, but he typically runs away a lot, which is true to form. Airachnid and Knockout are probably the easiest to defeat, but that’s probably because Arcee and Bumblebee are the most fun to play as. Spamming their energy attacks is always a lot of fun. Megatron is easily the most difficult opponent to defeat because of his constant air charges. Once he hits you, it’s tough to break out of his combo. I never actually lost a fight, but he did come very close on several occasions. The Decepticon leader is not to be underestimated!

The graphics look pretty good. The energy blasts stand out and they are actually pretty useful here. The character models are all good and the level designs are pretty fun as well. The color palette is a lot lighter than the War For Cybertron series so you could almost say that it looks better, but the latter is still more detailed. I just prefer some of the designs in this game.

Prime’s soundtrack is very good. It borrows the themes from the show and it works out pretty well. There are a lot of opera themes in the game and they help to set the mood for the Decepticons big plots. Once in a while the hero theme will play during a moment that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. That is really the only negative that I can think of in this area since the actual soundtrack is pretty great.

Transformers has always had a bit of a problem with the length of its titles. It is not a real problem depending on your minimum for how long a game should be though. My minimum is 10 levels and the game goes beyond that to 13. It’s just a little dicey since some levels can be completed in under 5 minutes and the longest one is still 10-12 minutes long. That means that you’re looking at about a 2 hour game although likely a lot less if we’re just counting gameplay. This hurts the replay value a bit, but the game still does give us more to do to make up for this.

A pretty big positive for the game is the addition of multiplayer mode to the franchise. That was definitely huge and it’s a lot of fun. The way that it is set up implies that they were thinking of adding a 4 player option, but it may have been scrapped. You can still battle it out with a friend and I believe that you are also able to team up. It’s great to finally have a local multiplayer experience like in the good ole days. you can also try to get S ranks on all of the stages and find the collectibles on each level. That shouldn’t be very hard, but you’ll probably need to play each level at least twice so that should certainly increase the play time for you. I managed to get S ranks on several levels on my initial run, but I still missed most of the collectibles.

Overall, Transformers Prime is a pretty good game. It’s definitely what you’d call a cash in/tie in, but it’s pretty fun. You’ll be done with it in no time so getting it at 50-60 dollars may not be the way to go, but the price has dipped considerably since then. Now, it’s definitely worth purchasing and you’ll have fun playing in multiplayer mode. The replay value is definitely good enough and the graphics/soundtrack are very good. It never drags on and that’s always a very important factor to consider in a game. I recommend getting this if you’re a Transformers fan or if you’re a Wii U owner who’s looking for a new game. This’ll help you hold out until the next Legend of Zelda game comes out or it can act as a little break from Super Smash Bros before you go back to challenge the online warriors.

Overall 7/10

Mario Kart DS Review

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This is certainly a title that has been pretty high on my video game list for quite some time now. Mario Kart is just one of those franchises where I want to eventually own all of the games so I had to start somewhere. Now, I’m only missing Mario Kart Advance, Wii U, and 3DS. That’s not so bad, but it could be a while until I get the latest one since the price is going to be very high for a long time. This title does a good job of keeping the Mario Kart DS series near the top of the Mario franchise.

There are 8 cups to complete in this game and the style is similar to Mario Kart Wii. There are four cups filled with all new stages and the other 4 cups consist of old levels from the previous games in the series. I do think that this is a little lazy, but seeing as how most of the old games only had 16 levels anyway, I guess it’s still a fair trade off. It is certainly fun to see the old levels come back with updated graphics of course…not counting Double Dash though since it looks better than this game. Completing all 8 cups can be done pretty quickly, but the game has other features to keep you hooked to the screen for some extra hours.

There are many unlockables to be found in Mario Kart DS like extra characters and items. There’s even an alternate opening/ending screen for the game if you get golds on various tournaments and beat the cups on harder difficulties. These features certainly add to the intensity of the game and there is no ultra long cup to worry about so trying to finish these cups off on 150cc shouldn’t be much of a hassle. Finally, the game also has a mission mode, which is a pretty unique feature for the series. It’s pretty fun and I think they should keep it for future installments as well. The missions help you focus on driving skills like steering and drifting in a fun way. You also get to race against popular bosses and even face off against King Boo. A certain Legend of Zelda villain makes an appearance as well so the missions are pretty great. There are over 50 missions in the game and I ended up playing close to 40 of them before deciding that I should probably take my leave of the title. (The L button was also acting up and some of the missions can be pretty tough to complete without such a crucial button at the ready)

So, the actual game may be pretty short, but the replay value is certainly there. A long time ago the replay value would have been much greater, but the servers were naturally taken down so that gets rid of the Wi-Fi potential. The home console versions always have the option of just racing a friend, which definitely give them an advantage over a portable title. Naturally, the game is still worth it if you are just looking at content since it should certainly tide you over for a few days or maybe even a week depending on how often you play it.

I doubt that I really need to describe the gameplay, but I’ll give it a quick run through anyway. The object of the game is naturally to cross the finish line first, but you will have to get past the other 7 racers to do that. There are many items that you can obtain by going through item blocks and you can use them to get the other racers in trouble or just breeze by them. Anything goes here so be prepared to do a lot of fighting as you power through.

That being said, the second screen can almost be unfair against some of the items. One item has a squid pour ink all over your main screen so that you cannot see, but a new feature of the DS version is that you can look at the race from an aerial view on the bottom. Evidently, the developers forgot to think about this so the squid is now pointless as you can quickly shift views. The aerial view can actually be more efficient in some ways since you can see everything from that point of view so you can turn accordingly. It’s a very useful feature, but I think the ink should affect it as well when someone uses that item. I suppose that it’s just a minor slip up.

The graphics are pretty good for the DS. There are few games on the console that look better than this one and Nintendo has always done a good job of working on the graphics for their sport titles. It’s fun to see how the older stages look on the portable screen and you can clearly tell what is happening at all times. The character models are never too blurry for you to comprehend what is happening and they have held up well against the test of time.

The soundtrack is also one of the better ones that you will see on the console. A lot of the themes are pretty nostalgic and the new ones are pretty good as well. They are suitable for the races and there isn’t really a “bad” theme. They’re all pretty peaceful and soothing, which help you to fight off the long roads when there are no other racers in sight. It’s easy to listen too many times, which is good since you will likely be playing the stages several times to try and unlock everything.

How does this game stack up to the other Mario Kart titles? Well, it naturally loses to Mario Kart Double Dash and Wii. I’m guessing that it likely loses to Mario Kart Wii U and 7 as well so it’s best chance is against the old, old Mario Kart games and the Advance version. It should beat all of those in terms of gameplay, although the older ones for the Super Nintendo and 64 would probably win overall thanks to the multiplayer aspect. That’s not a knock on Mario Kart DS of course, but it’s a racing game and that genre always does best on the home console front since you have people to play it with. Mario Kart Double Dash doesn’t keep a record of your play time on it, but I’m confident that it is my most played game by a long shot with 999+ hours. I played it just about every day for a few years and I still end up playing it now and again. It’s simply the ultimate Mario Kart title, but the DS version is pretty fun as well.

Overall, Mario Kart DS is a very strong racing title and it could be one of the best portable ones that I have played. The controls are sound and the graphics hold up pretty well. The soundtrack makes the stages pretty fun to play since you don’t have to worry about getting bored of hearing the same tracks over and over again. The other portable racing games that I’ve played would probably be games like Sonic Rivals and F Zero. I think this game is probably better than those if we look at them for pure gameplay, but Sonic Rivals’ story mode and longer replay value would ultimately give it the edge. I look forward to seeing how fun Mario Kart 7 is since I’ve only heard good things about that title. I know that Mario Kart DS is old and that just about everyone has already played it, but if you don’t own it yet…I highly recommend checking it out. The online functions are gone, but you can still enjoy some good races. If nothing else, Mario Kart is always a whole lot of fun and it’s the kind of game that you will never get bored of…like Smash Bros!

Overall 7/10

Pac Man World Rally Review

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For Christmas I decided to go with a racing theme with the video games. From the 6 that I got, 4 of them were in this genre and I managed to get one from the three big video game icons. You’ll find out what the Sonic and Mario games were soon, but Pac Man was the first one that I completed so it made sense to do this one first. It’s pretty fun and you can tell how it was inspired from Mario Kart, but it lacks the latter’s sheer intensity.

There is no plot of course and the goal is to beat all of the tournaments and ultimately unlock all of the racers and items. There are 15 levels in the game and they are divided up into 4 cups. After completing each cup, you will unlock the ultimate cup, which features all 16 races back to back. I have to admit that those gauntlet styled cups have never been my cup of tea. Imagine losing on the 14th or 15th race and having to do it all over again. It’s a pretty scary thought, but it ultimately must be done if you want more characters. To get all characters, you’ll need to beat all of the cups on hard and getting all of the items means eating a certain amount of ghosts in each cup. That definitely helps the replay value aspect since locked content is always fun to unlock.

The actual gameplay is very similar to Mario Kart, but with its own wrinkles and twists. There are 8 racers and the gameplay speed is similar to Double Dash’s. Along the way you’ll see a lot of items and you can use them to blast the person in first with a Paratroopa Blue Ghost or throw some red shells red ghosts. The game didn’t really try all that much with the items since many of them are not subtle knockoffs of Mario Kart. Instead of lightning, we get a lightning cloud here since I suppose that this makes everything okay. The items are still good of course, but they just aren’t original.

Each level has a shortcut that is blocked by a food door. To get past it, you’ll have to find the fruit switch somewhere on the stage and drive through it to unlock the fruit. After that, you must find the actual fruit and then head through the shortcut on the next lap. Typically, the shortcut is well worth the effort as long as you are able to get the fruit while you are driving. You do the same thing with pellets. First, you activate the switches and then you collect as many as possible. Once you have enough you can use your final smash. I have only used Pac Man’s so far, but it’s definitely solid. You get a new theme to play over the stage music and then you drive a little faster as you eat any cars that get in your way. Eating cars is important to unlock items so you’ll want to eat as many as possible. Occasionally an angelic ghost will appear to give you some pellets, but I’m not sure exactly why it comes to help. It seems like there is some sort of meter that triggers this, but I cannot confirm such a notion just yet.

I think that the game could have done a little better with the stage designs. I liked the final cup the most as the Retro Maze was a good idea and we finally got a city level. The thing is..the first three cups are filled with landscapes that simply aren’t very interesting. A game like this should have a lot of bright levels like Mario Kart Double Dash so you can marvel at the graphics as you drive. The city level towards the end is one of the only ones that I can think of which fits this category. Most of the others are fairly bleak and you’ll forget about them very quickly. There may have been an island level or two, but it’s simply not the same.

The graphics certainly aren’t as good as the other racing games on the console (F Zero and Mario Kart) and it definitely doesn’t look like a whole lot of effort was put into this game. The graphics simply aren’t that good and I would compare them to the MnM game, which is pretty bad. The graphics actually did hurt the game a little as it would be more fun with better graphics. Graphics are never the most important factor in a game, but they certainly play a big part in sport titles.

The soundtrack is as forgettable as the stage designs. You’ll naturally remember Pac Man’s sound effects from the Arcade Game and they are included here, but the themes just vanish in the wind. I can’t think of a single theme and I’m sure that I wouldn’t be able too even if I had just finished playing it moments before this review. It’s like elevator music. It’s typically decent while you’re in the elevator, but you end up forgetting it immediately after.

Needless to say, this game loses out to Sonic and Sega’s All Star Racing as well as to the Mario Kart titles. Pac Man World Rally just lacked a few things that it would need to compete with those two like great stages and fun items. The game can still be pretty fun of course, but it’s not the kind of game that you will want to keep on playing for very long. It would just get tedious and the battle mode is really what saves it from the fate of the 6 star game. Duking it out while on cars has always been a novel concept and while this game may not pull it off as well as Mario Kart of Sonic Riders, it’s cool that it still has it as an option. Just be warned that the games can last a while since the stages are rather large.

Overall, Pac Man World Rally is definitely not the ultimate racing game, but it’s pretty fun to play. It’s on the Gamecube, which is great news for the game because it means that it can support 4 player action and that’s always exciting. This is the kind of game that greatly benefits from that option and there are also many battle modes to try out if you don’t want to race. The replay value is definitely enough to keep you playing long after you’ve beaten the 4 cups since those, admittedly do not take all that much time. I definitely recommend checking this game out and you’ll just need to try and get past Pac Man’s insanely high pitched voice when he celebrates. It’s simply not the Pac Man that we are used too.

Overall 7/10

Scribblenauts Review

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The portable video game marathon continues with this unique puzzle game. Have you ever thought that you could complete any video game if it could keep up with your imagination? Well, now you can put that to the test since this game allows you to try and think your way out of a situation. There are naturally some limitations, but it does a good job of making you feel like you’re in control.

There isn’t a plot in this game as you just tackle the missions. There are two kinds of missions in the game. They are puzzles and action levels. Each world has 11 stages of each mode, which comes out to 220 stages…wow right? That’s definitely a lot of stages and it’s cool that the developers put in the effort to include so much content in the game. Some levels may just take you a minute, but others could take a solid half an hour easy if you don’t know how to win. The goal of each level is to ultimately attain the Starite whether it be through exploration or giving someone what they want.

The graphics are pretty good. The artistic style is hard to describe, but it works since the characters don’t feel pixelated. They are still using sprites I believe, but they are clean and distinct. There’s no real guesswork here when it comes to figuring out what is happening. I’m definitely satisfied graphically and the soundtrack is decent. I have to say that it is rather forgettable, but you don’t typically play a puzzle game for its music. It’s supposed to really just be soothing so that your mind can totally concentrate on the task at hand.

Tackling the 220 levels will certainly take a while, but the game also has some other features at the ready for replay value. For one thing, you can buy everything at the shop with your well earned cash. You’ll likely have a lot of money left over from completing the levels anyway so you may as well spend it on something good right? Some new tunes are in there, which can be great since finding new music is always fun. You can also replay every level on difficult mode, this means that you have to complete a level 3 times in a row and you cannot re use words. That sounds nearly impossible in some levels, but it’s probably okay if you are familiar with your synonyms and alternate names.

Now, the one thing that can make completing some of these levels tricky..or one of the things anyway, is that your imagination can differ from the developers. The biggest example of this is the bridge. I love bridged and I kept trying to make them work, but they are never useful in this game. That’s because the bridges are absolutely tiny. I don’t think that they end up helping you out in a single level…which can be pretty sad. That’s the classic example, but you will certainly find more as you play the game. To an extent, this can certainly destroy the illusion that the game produces where you control everything thanks to your imagination, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that they put a lot of effort into the title to incorporate all of the words. I can’t imagine how they coded this since it seems like the game should take up a massive amount of data. I know that game developers have their tricks though so they made it work somehow.

Moving can be a little tricky at first due to two factors. One is simply the fact that this game is puzzle oriented first and foremost with platforming being secondary. So, most of the game developing time probably went to the level designs, but the other factor is that you control the main character with the stylus. It’s been a while since I played a game like that and I certainly miss just using the pad. It’s not terrible though and you will get used to it fairly quick, but you should definitely be prepared for some self destructs. It’s almost impossible to go through the game without such an event occurring.

The game’s difficulty level does make it a little too intense for kids though so I would actually say that it is more suitable for older kids. There’s almost no way for a kid to solve some of these puzzles and at the very least it would take them a while. It’s nice of the game to award us with two free levels at the end since they are both just trolling the gamers. You can literally beat a level by walking a few steps at the end. That being said, most gamers will probably be tricked since there is an elaborate level set up. Who could have guessed that you would just have to ignore it and keep on walking right?

Overall, Scribblenauts is a pretty fun game and it’s very unique. It did for puzzle games what De Blob did for platforms. It opened new doors and it’s good to see that the series is still going strong. I haven’t played many puzzle games so I can’t really compare it to much on that front, but it’s definitely a good game. I imagine that I should have the next game relatively soon although the ad of “120 new levels” is a little alarming since this one had almost double that. I’m sure that there is a twist that I am not seeing though. The game can be difficult and the hints are not usually helpful, but this helps you to stretch out your thinking muscles.

Overall 7/10

Tenkai Knights Brave Battle Review

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Looks like it’s time to check out another 3DS game! It’s always a rush when you get to play a new Wii U or 3DS game since they’re part of the current gen. They won’t lose this shine for about 5-8 years so I need to appreciate all of the games while I can. Tenkai Knights is probably one of the greatest new franchises to step out of the great blue along with Buddyfight and Cardfight..depending on if you count Cardfight as recent or not. A video game based on the show was sure to be good. Knowing this…I opened the 3DS and began to plug and play.

The game adapts the first arc of the TV show. Essentially, 4 kids are given lego bricks and told that they can turn into 4 legendary heroes on another planet. They are needed because an evil robot has ammassed a large army and both planets are at risk without help from our heroes. They are glad to join in and quickly find confidence in their new roles. They are the Tenkai Knights and they shall protect all of the worlds!

Their confidence won’t be forgotten as the main character says “I won’t ever give up” whenever you complete a level. There are almost 30 levels in the game and this number gets closer to 50 if you count the side missions. That’s a lot of times to hear his catchphrase so you’ll certainly remember it by the end. I was impressed with the length of the game since I was expecting something closer to 15 levels. The game took me about 6 hours, but I had fun with a lot of the side missions so about 4 hours would probably be closer to the actual campaign length. Keep in mind that the majority of the game is made up of cutscenes as the actual levels are typically short. There are some long ones, but most of them can be finished rather quickly.

The cutscenes are basically just pictures and text. Once in a while you get some actual voice acting for the lines, but it seems like that was added at the last second since it comes very sporadically and it doesn’t mesh well with the music. It’s very hard to hear what they are saying even if you have the game on maximum volume. It’s probably not what you may have expected from the 3DS era, but at least the screencaps are good thanks to the quality animation of the show. It’s not the greatest silver lining, but hey…the cutscenes could be like the opening from Mario Galaxy 2!! These are still passable and the actual plot is very engaging like in the show. It really feels like you’re watching a kids version of the Power Rangers at times. At least, this is how I’ve always pictured a Power Rangers show to be like.

The graphics are pretty pixelated, but they’re decently good. Super Smash Bros and Kid Icarus are easily the best looking 3DS games by a mile. So, it’s probably a little tough on this game since I was playing Super Smash Bros rather recently. The graphics still aren’t bad and they won’t deter you from doing what needs to be done. It’s still fun to use your final smash although the smoke effect is a little lazy since they don’t need to add any explosions that way. I guess I would give the graphics a C-, but the screencaps have the solid animation of the show, which helps.

Brave Battle’s soundtrack is surprisingly good. All of the big characters get their own theme and I actually like most of them. I don’t care for Valorn’s or Venetta’s, but the rest of them are all pretty great. Chooki’s sounds like a classic Mega Man X theme and the Guardians have a cinematic level theme with their opera music that plays. I actually don’t care for Villius’ theme while his two henchmen get a pretty good theme. It’s very overused since it plays constantly, but it’s pretty fun. Naturally, Guren has a pretty good hero theme as well. This aspect of the game was certainly above average and I was not expecting such a good array of songs.

We cannot forget the gameplay though! It’s a side scroller that plays out like Mega Man to an extent, but you typically use a close range weapon like a sword. There are many weapons to choose from though so you can stick with a classic cannon if that’s your preference. The gameplay is definitely comparable to the Naruto Ninja Council games, but if you are not familiar with that series, then think of any GBA cash in title. Especially a super hero type game like Spider Man or the Power Rangers. It’s 2D and there are always playforms, but it’s not a platformer. You are stuck in a limited area and you typically have to beat a boss or clear out some enemies. It’s pretty fun and the controls can be a little iffy when jumping, but you can typically win any level from the ground anyway. Just stick to your strengths and you’ll be just fine.

The health bars are a little odd though as you can beat Dromas, the second final boss in under 10 seconds, but it takes you a few minutes to take out the large cat creature. That boss was definitely a lot of work until I realized that my standard attacks did more damage than my power ones. To spice up the gameplay, you can pick up items that the minions drop. There are two kinds, health items and final smash items. The latter let you destroy all of the enemies on the screen at a time while the health ones replenish your strength. You can also find material that comes from the enemies to build new weapons. The developers may have overdid it with the weapons selection as there must be over 100. I built a whole lot of them, but I’m not even close to getting them all. Unfortunately, the materials that you get are random and it takes quite a while to stockpile what you need to build the weapons that you want. It’s a long grind and not one that I’m about to do, but it’s better to have too many options than too little right?

I have to say that buying some weapons should be a top priority for you. I got one that improved my attack power to 280 and it still didn’t do all that much damage to some of the final minions and bosses. I can’t imagine how long the fights could have taken with a standard blade. Don’t worry about your booster and just pour all of your resources into a good sword and a good shield. Those weapons will never let you down and you’ll be able to go all the way to victory!

Overall, Tenkai Knights Brave Battle is a pretty fun game. The gameplay may not be the greatest example of how to pull off a classic Ninja Council gameplay on the big screen (Relatively speaking) but it’s still a lot of fun. You won’t even notice the time ticking by as you slice up all of the bots. The soundtrack is great and more than makes up for the graphics. The plot is also very engaging and especially intense if you have not seen the TV show yet. The game isn’t very long, but the side missions and obtainable items will certainly extend the overall length. I highly recommend buying this game and getting introduced into the world of the Tenkai Knights! (Maybe we’ll get a sequel to this game.)

Overall 7/10

Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal Review

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I reviewed the Wii U version of Sonic Boom not too long ago. Despite the bad press it was decently good. It wasn’t great, but it was a fun Sonic game. Now it is time to see how the other half of the Sonic Boom game franchise fared. I can safely say that it held its own against previous portable adventures.

The game starts off with a bang as we see Amy dueling with Lyric. The Reptile manages to get the upper hand when Amy stops fighting to talk to Sonic over the communicator. He wants the Shattered Crystals and nothing will get in his way this time! Sonic quickly gathers up his three trusty allies (Tails, Knuckles, and Sticks) and heads off for his toughest challenge yet!

Timeline wise, this game seems to act as an alternate version to the Wii U title. We fight Shadow again because he is brainwashed and Metal Sonic joins in on the fun too. Amy is kidnapped so there are a decent amount of differences to be found, but many parts will make you think of it as the Wii U game. I give Sega kudos though for giving us a different game instead of a normal port for the 3DS.

The graphics are decent, but they aren’t as impressive as they could be considering that this is a 3DS game. The environments are pretty fun and the gameplay is actually pretty quick, but the camera can keep up. This area may still be a little underwhelming, but it could certainly be a lot worse. Shadow always looks cool no matter how the animation turn out. That being said, there are only 2-3 animated cutscenes in the game. The animation looks pretty good for those, but the rest of the events are all text based, which shows just how limited the budget was. Little thing like the fact that you can’t speed up the slow moving text during a scene will become noticeable over time.

The gameplay is pretty good though and I definitely can’t fault the game there. There are no real glitches to be found and it plays out like most other Sonic portable titles. One difference is that the characters have electro whips so that you can jump over large areas and disarm enemies. I never use it for the latter effect, but it is mandatory for the jumps. I am okay with it, but it is not really necessary. The game could have done just as well for itself with or without the item. Knuckles can dig, Tails can glide, and Sticks can fire a boomerang. These abilities help you progress through the level, but you will still want to play as Sonic for the majority of the game. He is just the most fun to play as!

One mechanic that I felt was utterly pointless was the gate system. You definitely do not need that to be in the game and it is just an excuse to get your stylus out. You simply swipe down to go from area to area, but you could have just done that with the push of a button. It’s not a huge thing, but it just makes you wonder. There are several gates in each level and they can also be found in the stage select menu.

The soundtrack is pretty uninspired and I couldn’t really recall any of them right now. They are pretty decent while you are playing, but that’s about it. I miss the good ole days of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle and Heroes. Now those games had some really good tunes to listen to during the stages. As it stands, Sonic Boom could certainly do worse though.

An interesting thing to note here is that there is only one boss fight in the game. it’s your big battle against Lyric of course and it’s a fun final boss. It doesn’t have the scope that the others typically have, but I was just glad to have a boss fight. It’s a hybrid of a racing level and a boss fight as you chase after Lyric until he turns around to fight. Then you chase him again and repeat the process. My only complaint with the fight would be in how everything is repeated. You do the same things three times in a row so the actual boss fight is around 7 minutes, but it could have been much shorter. He doesn’t even switch his attacks as he can only fire a laser, shoot a rocket, and try to hit you with his claws. Memorize the 3 attacks and you’re all set. If anything, the speed part of the level is the dicey section.

The other “bosses” don’t get to fight you in battle. Instead of confronting Shadow and Metal Sonic, you just race against them and the loser automatically self destructs or flees the scene. I’ll admit that this was more than a little disappointing, but I do like races as well. I just would have liked to have had a race and a boss fight. As mentioned earlier, the game seems to really have a set up that is very fixed. Meaning that each world has the same levels more or less…or the same kind of level. Naturally, we have the race level. There is one per world.

Next up, we have the worm races. 1 of these is featured in every world. These are only about 2 minutes and they feel more like a minigame than anything else. They’re actually pretty fun though and it’s a great way to train your reflexes. Finally, we have the platforming levels. Typically there are 2 of them per world. They’re the longest ones and they can easily take you over 10 minutes to complete the first time around if you’re not careful. They’re pretty good although I prefer the races and the worm rushes.

This is one of those games where you will really want to keep an eye on the collectables. The game forces you to get at least 30 of the 34 Emblems in order to face the final boss. So, you’ve got to get just about all of the crystals and screws to beat the game so you may as well get the final few right? We ended up with just about 100% completion as there are just a few medals left to get. The big secret for doing this is that you get to go to Amy’s house and watch the heroes dance. It’s not exactly as good as the bonuses that you used to get in the Sonic games for all emblems. (Sonic DX all emblems = Metal Sonic; Sonic Adventure 2 Battle all emblems = Green Hill Zone…etc) It almost felt like the game was mocking us..maybe the developers just wanted to have a little fun with that.

So, naturally the collectibles represent some replay value for the game. Getting all of them should buy you a little more time and then you can spend your medals at the shop to get titles and other things. There’s also a few pages of a comic to read that provides us with some backstory for the game. It’s good that these things are here since this would otherwise be one of the shortest Sonic games ever. You can probably beat it in a day or two if you put your mind to it. There are only about 21 levels and since you can beat over half of them in about 2-4 minutes…that’s not a whole lot of play time. The bulk of it will enter once you have to replay all of the levels to find what you need. I recommend seeking them all out with the map right away…so upgrade the map to its fullest potential at your earliest convenience.

Sonic and his friends are in their Boom interpretations so you should know what to expect from the rumors. Sonic is still really fast and confident. I dare say that he is one of the only characters to really not have changed that much in this series. He mocks Shadow a lot, but you can argue that he would have back in the olden days as well. He’s still a very likable character and it’s hard not to root for Sonic. Tails is also true to form and he’s still the genius of the group. His teammates don’t always appreciate this, but Tails isn’t afraid to put them in his place.

The other characters are a little more changed like Knuckles. He has really lost a lot of intelligence so that he could become the punchline for just about every joke. He has trouble forming proper sentences and you probably haven’t seen a character this unintelligent in a very long time. It can be a little painful to watch for longtime Knuckles fans. Since this is practically a parody it’s okay, but I can only imagine that it’s similar to what Pac Man fans felt when they watched the new show. Amy is more independent in this version and they try to hammer that in (See what I did there?) by having her give Lyric a good battle in the intro. She’s actually winning, which is sad for the villain, but she let her guard down, which was a pretty huge mistake in the long run. She seems pretty cool here and her character trope is better than the other allies for me.

Sticks got so much attention before the game came out, but it seems as if the franchise has forgotten about her. The TV show is the only place where she really gets to get some character development as the games try to tell you that you should already be familiar with her character. She’s known as the nutty raccoon in the forest who is paranoid and that’s basically her personality. I like the fact that she’s basically crazy and admits to this, but she really doesn’t add much to the group. We may as well have just stuck with Marine.

Eggman is surprisingly absent from the game. He just doesn’t make it and that’s rather odd. Metal Sonic is here, but he has no character and he’s just obliterated on arrival. Shadow’s role is similar to the Wii U version in the fact that he just attacks the heroes for the lolz, but he actually isn’t doing it out of free will here. He was thoroughly defeated by Lyric earlier so now he is being mind controlled. The heroes save him and he storms off until the very ending where he has his big moment. It’s pretty satisfying for his fans so I’m glad that the game had a strong ending there.

Lyric is still not a likable villain. He’s not bad by any means, but he’s ultimately generic and you have to wonder how he is a threat to Sonic at all. He has a tail to attack people with, but he’s slow and not all that strong. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lyric never appears in any of the games outside of the Boom series. Maybe he’ll be in the next Sega racing game…maybe.

Overall, Sonic Boom Shattered Crystal was a pretty fun game. I’d say that the game was a little better than the Wii U version. It felt more like a traditional Sonic game and it stayed fast paced from start to finish. Shadow looked a lot better here as well, which is a plus and the moral at the end was pretty intense. Sticks finally put two and two together and she came up with the logical outcome. The gameplay is pretty tight and it definitely doesn’t shame the Sonic name. I highly recommend checking this title out and don’t trust the rumors that it is super buggy and glitchy. The Wii U version had a little trouble with that, but it was also exaggerated on that account. The only reason why you may want to be wary of getting this game is the short length, but the game has already had a price reduction in several places so it’s certainly worth the price. Even at 40, a short, but fun game is always worth it. Take the plunge and pick this game up while it’s still new. You won’t regret it!

Overall 7/10

Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric Review

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Sonic Boom brought a lot of controversy with it when they first showed the character designs for this reboot. Why did America need to have its own version of Sonic and why was Knuckles so well built? These were questions that plagued the minds of many Americans as we eagerly awaited the game. Evidently, many people are not pleased with this title. It’s pretty sad since the game is a unique take on Sonic that we won’t be forgetting anytime soon. So, this is me telling Sega not to hit the panic button as the Big Red Button may be on to something. I would actually take a sequel to this title…let’s find out why!

Sonic and friends are just having fun when they are cornered by Metal Sonic and forced to retreat into a mysterious area. It’s like a big dungeon and it seems old. Unfortunately, Sonic ends up freeing the mighty Lyric from his eternal tomb. Lyric is able to fend Sonic off as he escapes to conquer the planet. To stop him, Sonic will need to gather the 7 8 Chaos Emeralds Crystals to stop his dastardly plans. Will the Hedgehog be fast enough or will his constant banter with his friends slow him down? His toughest challenge is now upon him!

So, this isn’t your average Sonic game. It’s a complete reboot for American Audiences to be introduced to the Sonic franchise since the last few installments haven’t exactly rocked our world in terms of sales. You’ll certainly be able to tell that it’s American since there is a lot more dialogue during the gameplay. Think Spiderman Edge of Time. The heroes are constantly insulting and putting each other down as they ultimately strengthen their bonds of friendship. It’s something that we see a lot in Pac Man or in your average, current American animation. It’s not a bad thing per say. See, it does make all of the characters act out of character, but it’s still cool in its own way. I like Sonic as the overconfident Hedgehog of the 90’s, The Epic Sonic from the 2000’s, and I don’t mind the Sarcastic Sonic from this game. They’re pretty different versions of the same character, but they all tend to work out.

A lot of people have criticized Sonic lately for being too slow. Sonic Lost World was made to be more of a platformer like Mario and this game is Ratchet and Clank style so it’s the slowest Sonic game in years. Their complaints are valid if you really miss the Sonic speed, but we can always dig out Sonic Adventure 2 Battle for that. The game desperately does try to convince you that it is a speed game though through various “Speed Segments” that pop up from time to time. It’s like in Sonic 06 where various levels would just have you power your way to the goal line between levels. However, the segments are pretty small and you can only move from side to side like in a retro speed game. The segments are pretty fun, but you can hardly say that it makes the game move any faster. The characters continue to comment on how fast that they’re going, but in your head you can just picture Sega’s PR division trying to force feed you that message.

As I mentioned earlier, I don’t mind a slower game, but my main problem was with the Hub World. You are forced to walk very slowly through it, which makes navigating very tedious. It takes a long time to get from place to place and if you wander into the wrong place you will have to teleport back to another location and begin the trek anew. Trust me…it gets old pretty fast. The Hub World certainly adds replay value, but Sonic should be allowed to run. It’s sort of his thing…Which, you cannot run in regular levels either. Walking is simply here to stay.

Each of the characters have their own gimmick. Knuckles can grab onto walls, Amy can do a triple jump, Tails can glide while over a fan and Sonic can use his homing attack to get over large gaps. It’s a classic teamwork exercise and it works decently well. It does help to slow down the pacing as you switch characters, but that’s just its style.

Lyric is the new villain here and he’s probably going to be remembered as a one and done character unless he makes another appearance on the home console front soon. He’s portrayed as a serious threat and he’s never used for comic relief, but he is just not that powerful. His design ensures that he cannot fight in hand to hand combat and he’s too slow to be considered as a real threat. Ironically, the minions may pose a bigger threat, but I’ll get into that in a moment. I’d say that Lyric beats most of the villains in Lost World, but I do prefer the final boss from that game. Maybe Lyric will grow on me if he appears in the next Sega racing title.

The soundtrack is not so good when you compare it to most Sonic games. The narration probably helped me forget the tunes since it overshadows the music, but I can’t really recall almost any of the level themes. The Hub World music is pretty generic so you won’t find the next City Escape theme there. You can tell that it has an American twist in it and it certainly didn’t help in this case.

The graphics are pretty good. They probably won’t strike you as “Next Gen” but it’s still Sonic and the colorful landscapes look great. It’s good to see that Sonic’s character model survived the Sonic Boom that hit the franchise and he still looks great. Shadow will also strike out at you when he appears and the animations in gameplay are solid. It may not be revolutionary, but I would say that it’s better than average. Sonic just needs to keep up this level!

The tributes to the golden age of the Sonic adventure definitely help to make the story more exciting in the forms of Metal Sonic and Shadow. I think the game would have been even better if they had appeared more. Shadow’s voice actor is terrible, but that’s an unfortunate side effect of the big roster change. The other voices are all pretty decent, but none of them can match the classics. Play through Adventure 2 Battle if you want true voice acting! Metal Sonic means business as per usual and he’s so much faster than Sonic that it’s pretty scary. Shadow’s chaos abilities are also as formidable as ever and he won’t be going down without a fight.

I do have to comment on the power levels since they’re a little wonky in this title. Sonic’s famous speed is all but gone as he just doesn’t move at very impressive speeds. His friends are all decently quick and Sonic’s a few steps ahead of them, but you don’t see anything to support him being massively hyper sonic to light speed levels. Eggman casually outruns him and Sonic can’t even dodge a simple energy blast. Metal Sonic’s speed isn’t even comparable to Sonic’s anymore so Sonic really got the short end of the stick.

The heroes are also pretty under powered as a few ordinary robots are enough to scare them out of their minds. Just a glimpse of Metal Sonic is enough to force the heroes to utilize their tactical retreat options. That’s always pretty sad to see since these are heroes. I don’t think that you would see Link or Samus backing off from these odds. That being said, this will make Mario fans pretty happy as they can make a better argument that Mario can win. This version of Sonic is definitely beatable.

Unfortunately, Eggman doesn’t look very good since he’s around to make Lyric look tough. Metal Sonic is forcibly taken away from Eggman, which I didn’t buy for a second. Lyric basically has control over all electronics, which is a cool ability, but Metal Sonic isn’t your average robot. Eggman does get a few good moments though and I’d say that he’s still a better villain than Lyric. It’s too bad that this game is really just trying to make fun of him rather than making him a serious threat. Technically, he should easily be able to take out Lyric with his mecha. The comic relief is just too much for him at times.

Going back to the gameplay, it’s very similar to Ratchet and Clank, but with less shooting. You’ll do a lot of punching, but you can alternate with homing attacks and ground pounds. Punching is just the most effective way to fight if you want to take out the enemies quickly. Everyone comes equipped with an energy whip to get across various sections of the game. I’ll admit that this part is rather unnecessary and just drags out the game, but at least you can use it to throw the enemies away. It’s a pretty fun game style where I just have one serious complaint.

Beating up on the villains can actually get annoying. They have a lot of invincibility moments where you have to wait until they attack to start pounding into them again. It doesn’t make them any tougher, but it certainly prolongs the battle. You’ll be fighting well over a hundred mechs by the time that the game’s over and they are especially numerous in the climax. You’ll definitely get tired of fighting them by then and you’ll want a break. The bosses are unaffected by this though as they’re all fun to challenge. Unfortunately, they are extremely easy (Either punch or throw things at the bosses…that’s literally it) but that’s to be expected. The Final Boss doesn’t have anything grand added to it, which can be anti climatic, but it’s still a good fight.

The game got a lot of attention for its glitches and bugs, but there aren’t a whole lot of them. Several cutscenes played without audio and I jumped through a wall once, but at least I was able to jump back to the screen. Also, it came in handy during one part where I tried jumping into oblivion, but ended up teleporting onto an enemy ship. Glitches can actually help out like that! The one glitch that does occur frequently is when the frame rate drops. Lagging when playing online is one thing, but you don’t typically expect that in story mode. It happens a whole lot when you’re in the hub world, but it’s also present for the field. It can be comical or annoying depending on how you look at it.

Sonic and Tails are portrayed fairly accurately compared to their real selves. They’re just a little more extreme as Tails criticizes Sonic’s jokes and Sonic likes to insult Eggman more. Amy is pretty good as she’s solidifying herself as more of a rival/ally to Sonic as she can keep up with him and she also has the hammer. Knuckles is really the only character who looks really bad here as he’s portrayed to be very unintelligent. He can’t comprehend simple sentences and he can barely think without hurting himself. I think that the writers went wayyyyyy to far there since he’s usually a pretty likable character. I think that they need to back up a little and rethink the whole situation. Shadow’s portrayal is just odd and it makes you think that they just threw him in at the last second. He attacks Sonic and his friends for literally no reason and then he backs off at the end because the heroes saved the day. Wasn’t he about to stop them from doing just that? Of course, his voice makes me naturally dislike his role, but it still did not make a whole lot of sense.

Overall, Sonic Boom is a pretty fun game and a nice start to a new section of the franchise. It certainly has its share of flaws, but the first title in a series usually needs some work. Just look at Sonic Spinball and Sonic DX or Mario Golf and Mario Galaxy. Those may not be relevant examples, but they’ll still cause you to think. The bugs aren’t quite as numerous as you may think and the gameplay is ultimately fun, which is the important part. Hopefully they can just portray Eggman a little tougher in the sequel and make Sonic a whole lot faster. This is definitely a solid title to buy and you can expand your Wii U collection at the same time! Also, if you want some hype for debating sites, “Nobody has ever dodged my Spin Dash before!” will be a good line to remember when people try to say that someone’s reaction times are enough to stop Sonic. It just won’t work against good ole Lyric.

Overall 7/10