Category Archives: 8 Star Games

Kirby’s Dream Collection Review

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This was definitely a very big title when it first came out and it’s safe to say that just about everyone was hyped to finally get to play this big masterpiece. The Dream Collection brought back 6 classic Kirby games to introduce them to the new generation. I haven’t really played any Kirby game before aside from the classic Epic Yarn so this was an enticing offer. I stayed my hand for a while until Christmas rolled around and then I made my move. I was able to blast through the games and can definitely say that it was worth the money. The Kirby series is here to stay. I’ll go through this review game by game.

Kirby’s Adventure is a fun little Kirby game. You got to suck up monsters and get their abilities, which was cool, but I decided not to use it. The ability’s not really worth it, nor would it be until Kirby 64. There’s not a whole lot to say about this game since the plot is fairly direct and not really deep…until the ending. The twist that King Dedede was just trying to help out is brilliant and Nightmare is super cool. The final boss is really intense and has the best final boss theme from any Kirby game. It’s also very difficult as you try to face off against both forms and I won with just one health point remaining. It’s truly a well crafted boss battle. Difficult, but never unfair. It’s all about learning the patterns and pressing on as you try to take the win. Kirby’s Adventure started the series off with the deep plots so I’ll give it credit for that. The graphics also look quite good considering how old it is.

Kirby’s Dreamland was the first of the Kirby games. It’s really short as this came out a while back and the plot is fairly minimal, but it was a fun way to start off the collection. I took to the air quite a bit as you could “break” most of the levels that way since dodging enemies became an easy thing to do. It’s slower than dashing so that’s the cost that you have to pay for choosing such a strategy, but it was worth it for me. The gameplay was simple and effective. You could pick up the game and 5 minutes later, you’d know what to do. Facing off against King Dedede and his cronies is also fun because the iconic character keeps his moveset across every single one of the Kirby games so there is definitely a strong sense of continuity across the titles. King Dedede also seems to be misunderstood and is actually a nice guy once you get to know him.

The sequel was naturally an improvement over the first. Kirby’s Dreamland 2 did everything that the first had done and also made some improvements. For starters, I actually liked the gimmick of having animal sidekicks to help out. When you would jump on one of them, you would gain a second health bar (For the animal) and then you could use their respective abilities. Super swimming, faster flying, etc. They were very helpful and while you couldn’t use your sucking ability while on them, you could still deal a lot of damage and didn’t have to worry about taking damage. This game also improved on the plot angle as the Kirby series finally began to get high tier in terms of the power levels. This was the first time that the Dark Matter would appear and the aerial boss fight was epic. You needed to do bonus things in the game to reach the final, final boss so I didn’t get to play it myself, but looked up videos of it afterwards. It’s impressive that the Kirby games had such cool final bosses back in the day. Kirby is certainly a skilled swordsman.

Kirby’s Dreamland 3 took a few steps forwards while also taking a step back. The main negative that I had with this game was the fact that while on the animals, you did not get an extra health bar this time. As a result, I avoided them entirely. I also avoided obtaining any special abilities because most of them simply are not worth it. Sucking up enemies is still the best way to play if you ask me. This was the first Kirby game where I actually didn’t spend a whole lot of time in the air. Flying felt slow for some reason so instead I played the games more like how they were meant to be enjoyed, on the ground. It was fun and I do enjoy playing that way even if I took more damage. This was the first Kirby game where I didn’t get any Game Overs though so that was a plus. The final bosses were even cooler in this title and the games continued to have that dark, cosmic angle that Nintendo’s other titles did not have. The stakes continued to get higher and higher, but things would really get ramped up in Kirby 64.

Kirby Superstar is a party game that’s mixed in with the other Kirby games. I’ll admit that I spent the least amount of time here compared to the other titles. Since it’s less plot oriented I suppose that I just gave it lower priority. I do like the fact that it feels like an Arcade Game. One of the minigames essentially plays out like a mini Kirby’s Dreamland, but with arcade gameplay. It’s hard to describe, but everything is just a little simpler and more to the point so you can dash through the levels and take the win. Absorbing abilities is actually useful here although it’s odd that the Gamecube controls randomly switched over a little here. It should be noted that you actually can exit a minigame once you start it. Just hold A and B along with 1 and 2 on the Wii remote and it’ll take you back to the main menu. A great way to get out of a jam. Another minigame is a reaction test one where you have to use a hammer to smash a star in half. It’s why Kirby’s so massively powerful..he just can’t be stopped! There’s another reaction test where it’s a sword duel. The minigames hold up quite well and make for a fun experience.

Finally, we had Kirby 64 in this collection. It was the first 3Dish Kirby game and also played out more like a home console experience than the others. We got full cutscenes this time and a big team up as Kirby allied with King Dedede and some other friends. Dark Matter and Dark Star are back and are corrupting everyone with the powers of darkness. It was very intense to make it to the ending as we actually get a horror esque stinger unless you have enough of the gems to see the true ending. Man, that’s definitely an ending that would scare and excite a lot of people and I wish that Nintendo would have more endings like this. Certainly the best ending to a Kirby game and one of the best endings to a Nintendo game in general. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, this was easily my favorite Kirby game. I beat it very quickly in a few hours and didn’t get any game overs as I stuck to the ground, but the plot and the fun gameplay are why I really enjoyed it. The stages had a nice amount of variety and I actually used the abilities a little bit this time since you could always just spit them out and use them as a powerful projectile. Finally, I had a reason to absorb these abilities. It’s not hard to see why Kirby 64 can be seen as the ultimate Kirby game. It’s really tough to top it and Kirby continues to show us why he’s a great lead. His physical powers are amazing and the aerial fights at the end continue to help show why he’s a top tier fighter. Kirby 64 is short, but that’s fine since it’s such a great game.

This collection is certainly jammed pack with content and you can imagine how much replay value is in store here as well. There are lots of things to do even once you have beaten the main stories. You can go back to each game and collect the necessary artifacts to grab the secret endings and each game will take you quite a while to pull that off. The games are also a lot of fun so you can easily just replay the stories for the fun of it all.

The soundtrack from the games is certainly great as well. It’s a blast to hear all of the iconic Kirby themes from over the years. Many of them have certainly become popular through the Super Smash Bros. series and you can see where the popular fighting/party game series got a lot of inspiration from Kirby. Melee’s Adventure Mode as well as Brawl’s Subspace adventure incorporated a lot of elements from the classic Kirby games including the colored walls that would try to squish you and the gameplay in general. It’s like a great blast to the past.

Overall, Kirby’s Dream Collection is a must buy for all Kirby fans and even just for anyone who likes a good platformer. You can’t go wrong with the Kirby games and each one is fairly short so most can be beaten in a day. I typically tried to beat 1.5 Kirby games per day and it was a strategy that worked out quite well. In particular, Kirby 64 and the first Kirby game are probably the shortest ones and you’ll beat them before you know it. A lot of levels can be broken by flying the whole time in each game, but it comes at the expense of speed so you have to decide if it’s worth it. I did that for the first 3 games and then for the final ones, I mostly stuck to the ground. So, it really depends on how you like to play since both work out. The game officially came with a soundtrack, but my copy didn’t bring it. That’s fine, but worth noting as it is why I did not discuss the soundtrack CD in the review. Once you’ve played the collection, you can properly compare it to other 2D titles like DK and Mario. Mario still wins out for me, but Kirby holds its own. I look forward to playing more Kirby games in the future, I’ll probably end up getting Kirby’s mirror and the DS games before I get the next big title, but eventually I aim to complete the Dreamland saga.

Overall 8/10

Transformers Devastation Review

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It’s been a decent while since the last Transformers game although the gap wasn’t incredibly long or anything like that. Devastation got a lot of hype before it came out and I was certainly on board as well since my favorite iteration of the Transformers would be returning. The game lives up to the hype and then some with the only weakness being the game’s short length. Aw well, short games let me really feel the experience in a short burst so I can roll with that.

It starts out like a classic Transformers episode. The Decepticons are causing trouble so the Autobots storm the city to save everyone. The humans have already been evacuated so they don’t need to worry about that, but hundreds of insecticons have flooded the city and Megatron’s plans for conquest are not even close to being finished. He wants to terraform the planet…or cyberform in this case so that Cybertron can virtually live on Earth again. Prime and the other Autobots are a little hesitant to stop him because it may involve destroying the entire history of Cybertron (Kept on a device) but if it’s the only way…then they shall be ready!

Devastation is a very fast paced game. You’re thrown right into the action and are confronted with bosses and enemies at every turn. The game was done by Platinum and I mostly know them for their reputation through Bayonetta as one of the best game developers in the biz. I can certainly see why they are known as such a great company as the gameplay is tight and very exciting. The focus is more on hand to hand than in shooting down your enemies and while Transformers Prime attempted this first, Devastation does it best. You’re essentially in a 3D fighting game while playing. There are numerous combos that you can use with each character and the weapons system allows you to keep crafting bigger and better weapons. You can also level up your characters to really get an edge in the battles.

There’s even a counter/dodge system in place. Essentially, if you dodge right before an opponent attacks, time will slow down and then you can really hand out the pounding. The timing is surprisingly tricky and a nice test for your reflexes. The A.I. is also nice and strong on Normal so I can imagine that they are quite impressive on hard. To an extent, their ability to break any of your combos is a little OP and I did have to retry one or two bosses a few times as they could be OP at times, but the gameplay is really fun so you definitely won’t mind doing the battles again. The combat system is really good and it’s nice to see Platinum really give the game their all.

That’s why it is disappointing that there is no multiplayer mode here. If ever a game needed a multiplayer option other than Mario Maker, it’s this one. Granted, the gameplay may be a little too advanced and intense to incorporate a multiplayer…that’s the argument that I can envision people making. If we can do Super Smash Bros or Dead or Alive, I’m sure that this game could have pulled it off. It would have added some nice replay value and simply would have been a great feature to have at the ready.

The graphics are very good. The faces could be surprisingly cartoony at times as the villains will make all kinds of faces at you, but it’s all in good fun. G1 was a great series in part because of its great character development and action, but also for the camp factor. I also liked the cutscenes where the heroes got to fight, albeit briefly and seeing more of that would have been awesome. The visuals certainly hold up quite well and I dare say that the game looks better than the other Transformer titles. It’s close though since the War for Cybertron series does look quite good.

In terms of music, there’s never been a Transformers game that was more impressive. Just about every musical piece is a guitar strum or some kind of epic rock music. Your blood will be pumping through every fight and the game feels that much more epic. It’s like being in an episode and you can duke it out with all of the classic villains. There are 3-5 bosses per level and that means you will be in store for quite a lot of action. It’s why I recommend saving your signature skill for when they show up.

Due to getting the game through Gamestop, we got Nemesis Prime and the Dark Starsaber unlocked from the get go. I equipped it after the first 3 missions and the weapon is quite useful. The shockwaves that it sends out are huge and deal a considerable amount of damage. You don’t have to worry about it becoming pay to win as you can easily find comparable sword attack-wise within the game, but the visuals are what really makes the weapon a lot of fun to use. You can opt to mainly use guns, but close quarters combat definitely has the edge in this title.

This game would have been an easy 9, but the story mode’s short length is definitely something that needs to be mentioned. There are only 7 levels and while the first two are decently long, they get a lot shorter after that. I beat the game in around 3 hours and did have fun grabbing some collectibles so it’s certainly possible to complete it quicker than t hat. Sure, there is replay scattered throughout the game, but without a multiplayer option either, I feel like deducting a star is worth it. Especially for the current price. Drop it down to 20 and that will help your case.

As for what the replay value entails, there are a lot of collectibles throughout the levels. That will take you some time to grab them all. There’s also a Mission Mode with 50 missions to tackle and they were pretty fun from what I saw. You’ll mainly be replaying parts of the story mode there. Finally, you also want to get all of the trophies to obtain the Platinum. The trophies are fair and don’t seem too hard, just time consuming. In a sense, all Platinums should be this way as you should need dedication without trying a level 1000 times. It’s a fair compromise I’d say.

Don’t forget to stick around for the after credits scene. It sets up the sequel quite well and you can tell that the boss will make for an intense antagonist. I’d be very hyped for a sequel although it’ll hopefully have a multiplayer mode or be a little longer. I feel like Platinum was aiming to make this title feel like an Arcade Game with its dynamic action scenes and quick soundtrack. If this was an Arcade Game, then 3 hours wouldn’t be so bad. I definitely trust that they will continue to make the gameplay 5 star material in a sequel.

Overall, if you’re a big fan of the original Transformers anime, you’re going to love this title. If you like action games where you are constantly fighting, then this is also right up your alley. The game really handled the gameplay perfectly and did justice to the Transformers name. Few franchises can say that they’ve consistently had 8 star games over and over again, but Transformers manages to pull it off. The only game in the franchise that I didn’t care for all that much was Animated and it still wasn’t downright bad. If you picked this up, let me know what you thought of it.

Overall 8/10

The Amazing Spider Man Review

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After looking at the cover in Gamestop for a very long time, I finally took the plunge and bought this title. There was no chance that the game would be under a 7 due to the style of gameplay and how fun the Spider Man games are so it was a safe investment. While the graphics and plot may not have been the greatest, the solid gameplay ensured that Spiderman has hit it out of the park once again. Spiderman may not be the best in all forms of entertainment, but when it comes to video games, no superhero consistently dishes out such great titles!

The plot of the game takes place after the first Amazing Spider Man movie. Smythe has taken over Oscorp and is developing a lot of robots to protect the city. Unfortunately, a virus gets out from one of the old human/animal hybrid experiments that had been going on. The city quickly becomes infected and Smythe orders the robots to destroy everyone. The only way to protect the human race is to eradicate it of course! Spiderman breaks The Lizard out of jail so that a cure can be developed. Will Connors be able to make one in time or is the city doomed!?

So, the plot is rather standard and I wouldn’t call it that engaging. It does try to play out a little like a movie, which is commendable, but probably utilizes the first person camera angle too much. We rarely get to see Spiderman on camera except for when you’re doing the Xtreme challenges later on. It’s also interesting to note that most of the bosses have nothing to do with the plot either. Spiderman just randomly runs across them while going from place to place. Just about every boss is a hybrid in this version so they are basically immune to the virus. The other bosses are typically robots.

The cutscenes do provide some unintentionally funny scenes though like when Peter and Connors are yelling at each other after the first cure doesn’t work. They keep spinning each other around trying to be menacing, but failing epicly and then Peter just faints. That was certainly not his best moment although I’m sure that he gave it his all. I felt bad for Stan Lee’s apartment though as Peter allows Connor’s to trash the place and also use up a lot of Stan’s money. The poor guy can’t catch a break right?

As for the graphics, I can safely say that they haven’t aged too well. It’s mostly that I don’t really like the style/colors that were used. Everything looks detailed, but in more of an unattractive/ugly way than the polished Spiderman 1/2/3 games for the Gamecube/PS3. Those games as well as the original PS1 titles just look better than The Amazing Spider Man. That’s just how it goes sometimes I suppose, but I expect better from a PS3 title. The soundtrack is really good though and the fast paced themes will really make web slinging around the city a lot of fun. The bosses and minions are also more engaging as a result. It may have the best themes in a Spiderman game as most of the other games were not that memorable in that respect.

All right, time to talk about the gameplay! That’s the aspect where the game really hit it out of the park. The hand to hand clashes have never been better as you are really in full control of when you want to dodge, web out of the fight, web the opponent, or throw some punches. The way that the controls are set up makes it so easy and so enjoyable. You could really just have fun beating up the opponents for quite a while, but if you are in a hurry then you can just throw something to stun them. Of course, the point is that you will rarely want the fights to end! Naturally, the boss battles are an extension of this and you will have fun laying into them. If you want to crush them all with ease, my favorite strategy is to punch, punch, punch, web away when the spider sense flashes, then immediately web back to them and punch some more. It works quite well for most of the bosses.

The web swinging part got a lot of mixed to negative reception back in the day and it is quite different. I’ll certainly admit that it’s weaker than it was in the older games. Webbing higher and lower is more difficult than it should be here and you also feel like molasses at times. Luckily, that’s what we have Web Zipping for. Also, it’s still not bad though and just doesn’t live up to the older games. I also like the free fall aspect as I have fun free falling for the lolz. It’s a nice effect.

Everything’s just so smooth and that’s a good thing because the game has a very nice amount of replay value. Naturally, collecting all of the trophies ensures that and I am actually aiming for the Platinum in this title at some point. For starters, there are 700 comic book pages to collect. No matter how fast you are at completing the levels, this is bound to take you some time. Playing the game in the night setting is the best way to go about this. There are also 20 Xtreme challenges to complete although those are rather short. There are a lot of people to rescue on the streets, Getaway Cars to snag, Police Copters to Assist, and many other missions throughout the city. We can’t forget the classic “Stop the muggers” missions that are a staple in the Spider Man series. The missions aren’t excessive, but they will definitely bump up the play time. You’ll also need to beat the game on hard mode to get some of the final trophies while also taking a lot of photos. The post game content is long without feeling over the top in terms of how much grinding you will have to do.

While it’s essentially been mentioned, I can’t stress enough how great it is for the city to be back here. Just web slinging across the city for no real reason can be a lot of fun and I missed that feature when they took it out for Edge of Time and Shattered Dimensions. Seeing it back in its full glory was great and the game did a tremendous job of recreating the place. You may even recognize some areas as you explore the place. I also liked the twitter feed that the game added during the loading screen. It’s cool to see what everyone’s saying as the disease spreads. I think it was a bit of a missed opportunity as there were no guest stars there are hidden references, but it was still a blast.

Overall, The Amazing Spider Man is a really good game for the PS3. It really keeps in all of the core Spider Man features that you have come to expect over the years. The plot isn’t as engaging as any of the older games (Friend or Foe not counting) and especially pales when compared to Edge of Time. Still, the gameplay will always be the most important factor for a game and it’s so much fun that the game will really pass by before you know it. The replay value just adds to the excitement! I would have liked some bonus costumes to wear though as those were fun in older games. Maybe I just haven’t found them yet. I highly recommend buying this game and you can experience the city like you used too!

Overall 8/10

Madden 25 Review

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All right, it’s time to review my first PS4 game! The Madden series is still one of my favorite video game titles out there because it is consistently good. It has many fans and many anti fans as you would expect from a series that sells so well. Sometimes the game doesn’t seem to have changed all that much, but when you’ve got a good thing going, why wreck it right? This one may be a step down from Madden 13, but it’s still a really good title and it’ll tide me over until I eventually buy Madden 15. (Potentially sometime during football season)

The game has quite a few modes. Naturally, we have the classic Play Now title, but there are also other modes like Ultimate Team and Skill Trainer. Skill Trainer is sort of like the Minicamp Mode from Madden 2004 and I thought that it was nice to see it brought back. The drills can be a little difficult to complete as you have to do the correct action 9 times out of 10 in order to get the gold trophy. I got all of the Golds for passing, defending and Pre Plays but I didn’t go and complete the rushing ones yet. Perhaps at some time, but I’m not aiming on getting the Platinum so it could be a while. They are also decently difficult as rushing is the trickiest to complete for some reason.

Speaking of which, that gets into my one big negative for Madden 25. It’s more of a negative for the PS4 than the game though since this appears to be the case for just about every online title. You can’t actually use the online battle services unless you buy PS+. A lot of the fun that I had in Madden 13 was when I was fighting other players online. The fact that I cannot do so now without buying the subscription is pretty sad. I don’t plan on getting PS+ anytime soon so the game will have to lose some replay value there. It also means that the Platinum is unattainable, which is unfortunate.

Ah well, beyond that, the game is rock solid as you would expect. The graphics look stunning and EA has always done a great job of making sure that their games were ahead of the curve. Of course, it also helps that I’m finally experiencing what the power of the PS4 can really do. There are few games that look quite as good as Madden and you can just stand back and appreciate the textures and backgrounds as the announcers start to set up the game. Otherwise, it can be a little bit of a hindrance because you can’t skip the opening for a few seconds, but what’s a few lost seconds here and there right? I still appreciate the huge amounts of effort that they put into the game.

I can’t really comment on the soundtrack as it was strangely absent a lot of the time. Either that or it was simply too subtle to notice. That’s a decently good thing as older Maddens typically had a pretty underwhelming array of themes. All you need is the main theme for when the match is about to start as that one is always great. Beyond that, I wouldn’t mind if there wasn’t any music here as it’s not really needed during the gameplay. The theme for the main menu is quite catchy so that’s better than nothing.

As always, there is a lot of replay value to be found here even if you can’t get the Platinum. You can go through the Connected Career mode to battle through various seasons. Honestly, just that mode alone can give you enough things to do for 50-100 hours. Skills Trainer will buy you a little more time and then you can try collecting as many trophies as possible. Trust me, Madden has never been lacking in content and that doesn’t change with this title. The no online hurts, but it’s certainly not a game changer.

I haven’t really talked about the core gameplay. If you are familiar with the NFL rules then you should be okay. If not, the basic goal of the game is to score points and stop the other team from scoring. The actual controls are fairly simple to use, but tough to master, which has always been a good mix. Running the ball can be great if the opponent is not expecting it, but you typically won’t go far. Like the real NFL, passing the ball is where all the action is and you have to be very careful about what throws you decide to go for. The defense is incredibly skilled and they will always beat your receiver to the ball if it is between them so you should almost never go for deep balls. Once you are really experienced at the game, then it’s all right to try these throws since you can take control of the receiver and beat out the defender yourself. It’s incredibly satisfying, but also difficult to pull off.

Madden 25 also constantly updates so the stories that play on the bottom of the screen are similar to the ones on the NFL’s official site. It’s cool to see how current the title is and it even updates the roster for you. Seriously, Madden 25 seems to have thought of everything and there are even Papa John ads throughout the game where the announcers will talk about how good it is. That was pretty neat and it’s not distracting from the actual gameplay so it’s a fun addition. The commentary may be a little limited, but it’s still a great feature during gameplay and it’s fun to hear them talk about what you’re doing on the field. It would be essentially impossible to make it perfect so I’m also satisfied with this.

Madden simply feels like a next gen title. Unfortunately, the game maybe starts to cross the line of being too realistic as turning while running with the ball can be a bit of a hassle now. For example, in an older Madden, you would turn and your player would crisply just keep running in a diagonal direction. Now, he has to actually turn to make the cut, which will briefly make the player stutter and that makes turning a little less effective. This change isn’t terrible and there are many new features to help compensate for this as you can use super stiff arms and other techniques, but the open field running was better in older titles. Once you learn all the tricks of the trade, you’ll be ready to do great things, but I can’t imagine that you will be running the ball very often.

If you want to know a good pass play that essentially works in every single Madden game, I highly recommend screen passes to your running back. It’s almost 100% guaranteed on 1st and 10 or 2nd and 10. The only times where it is dangerous to use it is in a short situation like 3rd and 1 as the cornerbacks will be a little too close for comfort. Alternately, you can use screens to your wide receiver occasionally to keep the opponent off balance. It’s not flashy and you will be fighting for each yard, but it works quite well. Slants are your next best option, but you have to be watching carefully before you release the ball.

Overall, Madden 25 is a very fun game. The no online is regrettable, but older Madden titles didn’t have this feature and I still enjoyed them a lot so this game is safe. The graphics are great and the soundtrack has noticeably improved since the themes are typically instrumental now, which works better with the game. Skills Trainer is fairly difficult, but it’s also a lot of fun and not much of a grind although I would expect some of the trials to take several efforts to complete. There’s a lot to do in this game so it’s well worth the initial 60 although the new price of 13-15 makes it even better. It’s not quite as good as Madden 2004 or Madden 13, but it gives 12 and 11 a good run for their money. Now that we are getting close to Football season, this is a good game to buy to get you in the mood and then you can trade up to Madden 15 once 16 comes out.

Overall 8/10

Ratchet and Clank A Crack in Time Review

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Ratchet and Clank is finally back with their next installment! The time trilogy effectively ended here, but little did we know that another one would come out soon. No worries, I’ll certainly be buying that one soon. I do own Ratchet and Clank All 4 One so you can expect me to start that one at some point, but I shall be switching consoles to work on another game for now. Ratchet and Clank is one of those franchises that has never had a bad game. My least favorite would be Secret Agent Clank and that was still a solid title. The series has been getting better and better as it consistently gets 8 stars from me nowadays.

The last game ended with Clank being kidnapped and Ratchet vowing to find his little sidekick. Ratchet is forced to work alongside Captain Qwark and he also meets a fellow Lombax who still lives. The Lombax wants to use the legendary clock of time to alter the past and save Ratchet’s family. Meanwhile, Clank is now the ruler of the clock and he learns how to manipulate time. The problem is that the clock is not meant to alter past or future events so Clank needs to make sure that nobody uses it to affect the past or future. That includes Dr. Nefarious, who wants to spread destruction and chaos throughout the timestream. All of the players are getting ready to make their moves so there is a lot on the line this time.

As always, Ratchet and Clank is a blast and a half to play. One of the main reasons why it is an all star title is because you can simply plug and play at any time. The plot is engaging enough to keep you on the edge of your seat, but also simple enough that you can take a 6 month break and still understand what is happening. The only part of the game that can be considered a little dull is the Clank segments, but we still get some witty burns from the side characters. Manipulating time is also really fun and that never gets old.

The graphics look very good and you can immediately tell that this is a PS3 level game. The developers really put in their best effort as the gameplay and cutscenes easily hold up well. Everything is colorful and vibrant, which is great since you are typically in high tech areas or in space. It’s like Sony’s version of the Mario Galaxy titles. The soundtrack is a little more on the forgetful side. I can’t say that any of the themes really stood out to me and you’ll likely forget them very quickly. That’s probably the game’s only real weak point and at least none of the tracks are actually bad.

Ratchet is still a great main character. He’s heroic with a good personality as he doesn’t back down for any opponent. I expected him to be a little more upset at the guy who tried to destroy him, but Ratchet really didn’t want to have to destroy the fellow. I wonder if Ratchet’s father will ever appear or if he is truly lost to the cosmos. Only time will tell I suppose. Clank’s a nice sidekick and he’s a good character. I’ve never been crazy about him compared to the other sidekicks, but I’ve grown to like his sense of humor a little more and he made the right decision at the end of the game. You certainly couldn’t ask for a more loyal partner and seeing as how he beats Bentley, Murray, and Daxter, he really is the best sidekick in this area. I wouldn’t mind if Clank got another game to himself.

Captain Qwark is also a fun guy to have around. He’s a superhero and he is legitimately tough as he destroys many opponents with his physical strength. He just has a bad habit of overrating himself and Qwark loves to be in the spotlight. Deep down, he’s a good guy and his joking just masks that. He’s still one of the best characters in the series and I would really miss his banter if he was gone. Qwark may not always be on the side of justice, but he helped save the universe in this game and we won’t be forgetting that anytime soon.

Azimuth is a new character for the game and he really hits it off with Ratchet. The lombax’s design is very similar to Kratos, which is cool. He even acts a little like the guy as he is always ready for a fight and is a fierce general. The game implies that he is almost as skilled as Ratchet and maybe even a little more. I like to think that Ratchet would win in a fight though. You will likely find this guy suspicious from the start, but his team ups with Ratchet were a lot of fun. Finally, we had another fighter on our side!

The main villain was Lord Nefarious and his butler was around as well. Nefarious seems to be one of the more popular Ratchet and Clank villains. I can’t say that he’s one of the better ones for me, but he is a robot so at least he can fight on his own without throwing minions at you or hiding. Nefarious can fire energy blasts and he does come very close to destroying the universe. He even captures Ratchet and the others at one point, which is no small feat. He has a habit of shorting out and then a video will play, but that’s why Nefarious has his butler! The butler can be a little defiant at times, but he still seems loyal in the long run.

As for the gameplay, it’s your standard third person shooter. The series has a lot of experience with it so it runs very smoothly. There aren’t many games that can hold a candle to it in this style. You get a large variety of guns that you can use by the end and each one works a little differently. I mostly loved the rockets, mini bombs, and my trusty blaster. You can also use your wrench to fight. It’s a little riskier, but it does a lot of damage as a result. If you have faith in your speed, I say go for it! The gameplay is very fast paced and exciting so you should certainly enjoy it a lot.

As for replay value, the game has a lot of that. There are the trophies to unlock of course and there are many collectibles to conquer along the way. There are multiple tournaments to complete and even a Challenge Mode to conquer once you have wrapped up the game once. The story mode will likely take you around 5-6 hours to complete, but the replay value should at least triple that although I’d expect around 20-25 hours unless you manage to take everything down on your first shot. That’s a reasonable length and the game is so fun that it would be worth the purchase even without the replay value.

It’s safe to say that Ratchet and Clank is probably the best shooter that Sony’s got. This series has always been top of the line and I look forward to getting caught up with the franchise in time for the film. It’s lightly possible at any rate. While Kingdom Hearts may still take the title of “best ongoing series with Sony” Ratchet and Clank would be right behind them at second. This isn’t really counting fighting games, but just platformers, shooters, and the other genres. I’m hoping that Ratchet and Clank has another big game coming up aside from the remake of the first title. That will be cool as well of course, but a big one to continue the plot would be a lot of fun. (Unless they really are rebooting the games. In which case, it shall be missed!)

Finally, another big reason as to why Ratchet and Clank is so good is due to the writing. We’re talking 5 stars here as the writing is dynamite. The characters are all rather clever. They don’t talk constantly during gameplay like in the Spider Man games, but they really get to shine in the cutscenes. I think it’s safe to say that the video game series wouldn’t be nearly as legendary without the great script that is always present.

Overall, I highly recommend purchasing this game. Whether you are new to the franchise or already own the other games, this is a title that you do not want to miss. It is a complete video game that has everything that you could possibly want. The graphics are stunning and the gameplay is some of the best in the video game world. I could easily play the game over again given how much fun it is. Someday, I will to get the Platinum trophy in this game, but it’ll likely be a long while until then. The next game is going to have a very tough time beating this title, but we should never underestimate Ratchet and Clank.

Overall 8/10

Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed Review

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All right, it’s time to look at the sequel to the other Sonic racing game! I got the other one not too long ago so you’re probably wondering why I got this one so fast right? I got the first one for Christmas and I bought the sequel at the beginning of March so that’s only about a 2 month gap between the two games. What can I say…the first game was just that good! I knew that I needed the sequel and I have seen some declare that it is one of the greatest racing games of all time…maybe even ever! (By default as some have said that it possibly defeats Mario Kart 8. That was before the DLC though so maybe things have changed)

This game has more of a “story” mode than the other title as the main menu is called World Tour. There is no plot or story, but you do have to complete levels to unlock the next ones and you go from world to world. So, it’s a story mode without the actual story. I always liked this kind of set up because it really feels like you got to complete the game after you wrap it up. No worries though, we’ve still got Grand Prix Mode as well. There are quite a lot of levels in World Tour mode so you’ll likely be here for quite a while. Depending on what difficulty level you beat the game on, you can earn 1-4 stars per level.

That’s where the artificial replay value comes in. To unlock some of the final, extra levels in the last world, you must get a whole lot of stars. This means going back and doing a lot of the older missions on tougher and tougher difficulty levels. I thought that this was certainly a bit much, but for many fans that won’t be a problem. The gameplay is pretty fun after all so going back and playing the events again isn’t bad. Replaying the tournament missions is another story, but you don’t need to have literally every star to beat the final levels as far as I know.

World Tour is also where you unlock a majority of the characters and mods. The more stars that you get, the more gates that you can open for unlockable secrets. It’s a nifty system and it always feels particularly thrilling to unlock a new character or custom mod. As I mentioned earlier, we also still have Grand Prix mode, where you can play all the stages as they were meant to be played. Time Attack Mode is a given and naturally, we’ve got the multiplayer option as well.

There’s certainly a lot to do in this game so even without going back and doing old levels, you’ve got more than enough content here to warrant the 60 dollar purchase. Of course, you can likely get this game for a third of that at this point. The PS3 trophies to collect is also another piece of the puzzle to consider. I don’t plan on getting the Platinum here thanks to those tricky online trophies, but I got a decent amount of trophies before I put the game back on the shelf. Perhaps I’ll go back and get some more at some point, but for now I’m definitely satisfied. Each character gains exp when you race as them and you can work to max everyone out. I got Sonic to the final level as I used him for almost all of the World Tour events, but I didn’t get around to the other characters. It’s a nice incentive to make you want to play as every character. There’s even more things to do here that I haven’t touched upon so content is not a concern.

As for the actual gameplay, it’s definitely more arcade styled. The game definitely lives up to the billing there and that will decide whether you prefer it to the previous game or not. I actually liked the style in the other game more, but they’re fairly similar and this one’s still a blast. This game does introduce two new features, which are the boat and plane gimmicks. You can transform during the race at designated spots, which results in a fun change of pace for the gameplay and you get to really zoom through the courses. Perhaps a little ironic, but I prefer the traditional car gameplay to both the plane and the boat, but they are still fun methods of travelling around. You can grab items as you go through the course and naturally, the goal is to get to the finish line first. That doesn’t sound too hard right?

The A.I. is actually much better in this game than the previous one. I think it’s at a pretty good level. It’s tough enough that the levels are not a walk in the park, but it’s not too difficult that you will find it to be a little cheap. The controversial decision to make the computers input readers in Smash Bros was dicey as it is, but the computers here seem relatively fair. Just be prepared to bring your A game to the table for each round and you should be okay.

Graphically, this game certainly looks stunning. You can instantly tell that this is a PS3 level title as all of the details look flawless. Sega spared no expense for this title and you can tell that it came out back when Sonic was still a prominent figure in their plans. All of the levels are crisp with a great amount of detail and the oceans look especially good. You will certainly miss the graphics once you turn your TV off.

Audio wise, the game fares just as well. The stage themes are nice and cheerful, while also being fast enough to keep up with the gameplay. Sonic’s themes are typically the best by far, but we also get some more opera styled themes for the final levels. As this is a cross over, you can expect music from other games as well. While I know all about Monkey Ball’s themes, the rest of the series are all new to me so hearing their music is always fun. The city levels tend to have some really fun themes to listen too.

After a lot of thought, I do think that the first Sonic All Stars Racing game beats this one. At least, in terms of gameplay. That being said, it certainly loses in just about every other area and it can probably be tough to go from Racing Transformed to just Racing. The first game simply doesn’t look quite as good and there are less guest star racers in that game. Pure gameplay is typically what counts the most so the older one still takes the lead, but Transformed is certainly on the same level and deserves the hype that it has gotten. Now, if only they could throw Mario in the game so that we can call it a crossover!

Overall, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed is a great follow up to the first game. The racing is as fun as ever and the graphics are intense. Aside from racing, some of the events will have you fight other racers or even dodge traffic. Dodging traffic is always a lot of fun for me and it’s easily one of my favorite events in the game. If you plan on doing everything that there is to accomplish here, you should be prepared to spend a lot of time playing this game. It’s certainly worth the money and I can only hope that Sega decides to make a third game to finish up the trilogy at some point. Sonic has definitely proved that he can hold his own racing title and Mario Kart has a legitimate rival now. I definitely recommend buying this game when you get the chance!

Overall 8/10

Playstation All Stars Battle Royale Review

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Super Smash Bros is still pretty recent so it was good timing to finally check out Playstation All Stars. This game was Smash’s big rival and there are still many loyal Sony fans who claim that it is better than Super Smash. It certainly has its fans since I’ve come across several online players who are at level 999 and find it hard to see why someone would play it that long. I got to level 27 with Ratchet after an online battle or two plus arcade mode. So, it would take a very long time to reach such a high level. It definitely has its flaws and I’m sure that you are familiar with some of them, but this is still a great game considering that it’s the first in the series. I’m confident that the sequel will be better.

There is no story mode of course, but we do have Arcade Mode so that’s something. Each character gets their own intro and ending as well as a cutscene for when you face your rival. Arcade Mode is usually pretty fun because it’s quick and you can get used to the controls on the fly, but the game actually dropped the ball here. Arcade Mode takes around 30 minutes no matter how good you are because the first 3-4 matches are times. That means that you have to battle for 3 minutes before the victor is decided so that’s already 10+ minutes. Considering that you have to beat the mode with 20 characters, that’s a lot of time. I still plan to complete it with everyone eventually, but you can probably see why I got this review out first. It’s definitely going to be a gradual thing to say the least. They definitely shouldn’t have added timed matches to Arcade Mode and hopefully they know better for future games.

As for the actual gameplay, PS All Stars uses a 2D combat system sort of like Super Smash Bros. Each character has a variety of attacks. You have three different standard attacks and each one has 3-4 variations. Then there are also grabs and you can roll to avoid attacks as it lets you become intangible for an instant. You can link these abilities to create fierce combos. Now, this is not how you beat an opponent. Typically, your moves would deal damage to chip away at a health bar or send the opponent flying off of the screen, but this is where Playstation All Stars decided to get unique. Attacking doesn’t deal any damage, but it does build up your final smash meter. You can charge it to a full bar up to three times. Filling it up will let you use your standard final smash and bringing it to the 3rd level will let you use the ultimate attack. You have to hit an opponent with one of these attacks to get a KO.

This is where the game starts to get pretty unbalanced. How good your final smash is will determine if your character is good or not. Some characters like Toro or Heihachi will have a level 3 Smash that instantly KOs everyone on the field while others like Ratchet and Kratos will have to earn them. It’s typically pretty easy to score KOs with your level 3 attack so it shouldn’t matter very much, but there can be a difference. The pro of Toro’s attack is that it guarantees 3 KOs in a 4 way battle. The con is that it can only get 3. Ratchet’s can go up to 6 in theory, but you could theoretically not get any as well. It’s a tough call and it’s something that you’ll want to consider before picking a character. The game’s roster is infamously unbalanced, but you may not notice unless you play it very competitively. In that case, you may want to stick with Kratos or try some of the DLC characters. Speaking of which….

This game suffers from the on disc DLC problem that Street Fighter X Tekken had. You’ll see a few characters on the menu, but you won’t be able to play as them without dishing out some money to PSN. I’m okay with DLC being around for the game, but I don’t like it to actually be on the menu. Why should I have to see those characters on the screen if I can never play as them? I think that it is in pretty bad taste since the game is trying to force you to buy them to clean up your character selection page. It’s also sad because the game already has a pretty limited character roster. There are 20 characters and almost half of them are joke characters. “Half…is that possible?” Well, let’s look as the real characters vs joke characters although our interpretations of a “joke” character may vary a little.

Real Characters
Ratchet
Jak
Sly
Kratos
Radec
Raiden
Sweet Tooth(Arguable…?)
Nathan Drake
Cole
Evil Cole
Heihachi
Dante
Nariko
Big Daddy

Joke Characters
Fat Princess
Parappa
Spike
Toro
Sackboy
Sir Daniel

Well, maybe that’s not as bad as it looks. This means that 30% of the characters are fall into the joke category, which is high, but not as high as I had feared. That being said, the roster definitely needs to shape up a little. All of the 14 normal characters are cool, but a fighting game in this day and age should have well over 30 characters easily. Even with the joke characters, we’re not quite there yet. The characters are just a little too limited for my case and even more so when you consider the fact that Cole is basically taking up two slots. It’s why people always bash the idea of Microsoft making their own Super Smash. Their characters would be much more limited than Sony or Nintendo and that can be dicey to think about. What Sony should do is add more representatives from each series. Just throwing in a second for each one would greatly increase the character count. I don’t have a problem with the stage count though since it’s of a reasonable size.

For Replay Value, PS All Stars definitely has a lot of options after completing Arcade Mode with everyone. Each character has a combat trial to complete and there are general ones as well. Unlocking everything will take an extremely long amount of time and there are a few hundred goals to achieve as well. I don’t think there are any characters or stages to unlock, which can be disappointing, but getting everyone to level 999 is an adventure that you may want to pursue. Finally, we have the PS3 Trophies which are tried and true. Getting the Platinum is supposed to be pretty easy, but that’s with boosting. Without that, it can be pretty tricky thanks to the fact that you need to find a friend who owns the game for two of them. Getting through a match without dying once can also be pretty tricky. Not impossible of course, but tricky nonetheless. That being said, you can easily get around 40 of the trophies here so that’s a great way to boost your Playstation 3 score.

The graphics are pretty good although I would definitely not call them great. The stills are sharp and the cutscene with your rival during Arcade Mode looks great. The game is polished just about everywhere except the gameplay. That’s the area where the graphics tend to struggle a little bit. Especially in 4 player battles. The screen just zooms out a little too much so that it’s hard to see where everyone is and the character models definitely don’t look great at that point. Super Smash Bros can pull it off so this game just needed a little more work in the graphics department. The game feels pretty futuristic and polished otherwise, which has always been one of the perks of the PS3.

The soundtrack is pretty good for the most part. I didn’t want to pull the Super Smash Bros card again, but it’s not quite at that level in terms of the musical themes in the game. The main menu theme is actually pretty good until the singer yells and everything goes downhill. There is only one lyric in the song I believe and I’m not even sure what it is, but it disrupts the nice theme that had been playing. I have already forgotten all of the stage themes, but I’m sure that they’ll come to me in time. It’s fun to play as Ratchet because I get to hear music from his game when you unleash his Level 3 Final Smash. Those games typically had a decent enough soundtrack.

There’s just something about PS All Stars that makes it hard to take seriously. It’s hard to describe, but this just doesn’t feel like “The Next Big Game.” I’m sure that a lot of work was put into it, but some parts just feel like a cash in. You could never say the same thing about Super Smash Bros and that’s just one of the big problems for this title. It’s a great game, but it won’t be able to make it to the next level without some serious work and improvements in key areas. Again, this isn’t bad for a start, but I will have much higher expectations for the inevitable sequel.

Time to directly compare Super Smash Bros and PS All Stars. I could do a bullet point list, but this battle is a little too clear for that. So, let’s just go through the categories here. We’ll have it face off against Brawl since they were from the same generation. Graphics -Super Smash Bros. Soundtrack- Super Smash Bros. Gameplay- Super Smash Bros. Character Roster- Super Smash Bros. Items- Super Smash Bros. Stages- Super Smash Bros. Story Mode- Super Smash Bros. Replay Value- Super Smash Bros. Am I missing anything? Well, PS All Stars puts up a brave fight so don’t get me wrong, but it really did not stand a chance against Super Smash Bros. I hate to say it, but it will never beat Super Smash at its own game. (Especially if Pac Man, Sonic, and Mega Man are really here to stay) Sony just needs to play to their strength sand make a 3D fighting crossover game instead. Now that would be interesting to compare with Super Smash Bros. Especially since a lot of people are pulling for Nintendo to make the next installment in 3D…much to fans’ horror.

Overall, Playstation All Stars Battle Royale is a solid fighting game that is destined to stay hidden in Nintendo’s shadow. The title is a little too long for my taste, but it shall have to do. I am glad that Sony tried to challenge Nintendo with this title and the roster isn’t bad. It definitely needs work, but it’s fun to see these characters meet up in such a unique game. The gameplay actually is a lot of fun. It’s not the kind of game where you’ll put in 100+ hours, but you can definitely pass the time by here. The game just needed more gameplay options for you to play around with. At least there is a lot of content to keep you busy here. The game needs to work a little more in the graphics area as well as add some more songs to the soundtrack. A real story mode would be nice even if those are rare in fighting games like this one. I’ve heard that the online is pretty laggy, but I haven’t experienced that so far. I definitely recommend this game to all fighting fans and just think of it as the next TMNT Smash Up or Cartoon Explosion. The gameplay may be modeled after Super Smash Bros, but it feels more like those other two games. Try to get to level 999 and let me know how long it took you!

Overall 8/10

Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing Review

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It’s time to wrap up the big three racing games that I got for Christmas. Pac Man World Rally was pretty fun, but it could have been better. Mario Kart DS was about as fun as I could have expected, but it’s safe to say that Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing easily took the win here. It’s very fun and I can see why the case is made that it could give Mario Kart a fair challenge. The game is certainly very good and while it may be a stretch to say that it’s better than Mario Kart….it’s getting there.

There is no plot of course and there are 24 courses to play in. They are divided into 6 different cups so that you only have to play 4 courses back to back. Completing the cups can help you obtain trophies and points that you can spend at the shop for more tracks, (For 2 player purposes) characters, and music. There are certainly a lot of things to buy, which can be daunting at first, but earning money in this game is surprisingly easy so that makes it a lot more fun. You can earn about 10000+ points for completing any of the latter cups, which is over 3000 points a stage. That’s definitely not a bad bet.

Speaking of which, the trophies in this game are pretty reasonable for the most part. They will take some time since a trophy requires you to get 750000 points, but that’s not a bad grind compared to many other games. It should be pretty easy if you enjoy the game and you may even get it naturally. The only trophies that I don’t care for are the online ones since those are definitely asking for a bit too much. Unless a match is rigged, how are you going to lap someone? That person would have to be playing extremely poorly for that to happen unless we had a stage similar to Baby Park in Mario Kart…and even that is a stretch. There is also a trophy for racing a friend…let’s just say that this can be problematic. On the whole, the trophies are certainly reasonable since most of them are just long. That being said, I likely won’t be getting the Platinum here.

I enjoyed the level designs here a lot and I dare say that they look better than Pac Man World Rally’s as well as the levels in Mario Kart DS. That being said, this mainly applies to the Sonic stages. I don’t care for most of the Monkey Ball or Party Monkey stages and Sonic’s tend to be the best ones. The Haunted Mansions and City levels are also a lot of fun of course and the stages usually have a shortcut or two to spice things up. One short cut is so great that it’s almost impossible to win without it. I think that this is a bit much, but it does force you to learn where it is before you can finish off the cup.

The gameplay is pretty much what you would expect from a racing styled game, but it all handles so smoothly that you will still be impressed. Naturally, you have to make it to the finish line and you use items that you pass by to help you achieve that goal. You can attack other racers or just focus on speeding your way through to the finish line. Drifting is very important here since you get a considerable boost from using this technique. It’s as good as a mushroom from Mario kart or even better since the boost lasts for several seconds. Likewise, performing tricks on the air will give you a similar effect. Technique is important here and while the items do balance things out, it can be the difference between the 1st and 2nd place racers.

Graphically, Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing manages to hit it out of the park once again. Every character design looks flawless and the graphics are definitely PS3 level. Everything is really colorful and it just pops out at you. This applies to everything in the game. From the backgrounds to the items, nothing in this game is lacking in detail or looks out of place. It may just be the best looking racing game that I’ve played, but naturally I have not played Mario Kart 8 yet. Until then, Sonic’s going to have to take the win there.

The soundtrack is also pretty good. I actually found it to be a little too limited at first since the character’s All Star moves always give them their theme. You will likely hear Eggman and Amy’s a lot since they constantly get their super attacks and then any stage from a certain video game where the stages are all in the city always has the exact same theme. It’s a good theme, but I like variety. Of course, that’s when I noticed that I still had over 30 songs to purchase. That ought to help a great deal and I consider the game’s soundtrack to be pretty good with them. I definitely wouldn’t call it excellent though and that’s mainly due to the fact that it takes tunes from many different games. I like just about all of Sonic’s themes, but I definitely don’t care for the party ones or for Monkey Ball. Their themes just don’t work for such a fast and explosive racing game.

How’s the overall value for the game? Well, the 6 cups won’t last you very long since it’s roughly 4 minutes per race with only 24 in the game. So, the game will barely last 90 minutes if you just count that, but there is a whole lot more to do. Trying to get the Platinum Trophy will mean that you’ll definitely have to play it for a few days and let’s not forget about buying everything at the shop. On the way to the Platinum you’ll need to master all of the missions as well and there are a little over 60 of those. I haven’t even touched that mode yet, but you can bet that I’ll certainly be trying it out soon. I always like tackling a good mission!

In the end, does this game beat Mario Kart? That’s very tough to say and especially since I’ve put in a few hours on this game and hundreds on Double Dash. It’s fair to say that this game automatically beats all of the portable Mario Kart titles and all of the other item based racers, but can it really beat the famous Mario Kart titles? It’s just hard to definitively say so. That being said, I don’t believe in ties so I will say that it is slightly better than Mario Kart, at least when you’re playing by yourself. We’ll see if it’s Mario Kart level in multiplayer or not eventually.

Overall, Sonic and Sega All Stars Racing is a great racing title. It really could be one of the best period and it’s a worthy rival to the Mario Kart series. I would just say that it is the best racing game of all time, but we have to consider the racing games without gimmicks and then things get tough once again. I’m definitely looking forward to the sequel since I’ve heard that it’s even better. The gameplay is supposedly pretty different from this one, but I’m okay with that since it still sounds like lot of fun. After all, Transformed is the Sonic title that I’ve heard manages to maybe even defeat Mario Kart 8. It’ll be interesting to see if I agree with that. I recommend this to anyone who likes to enjoy a good racing game and for anyone who especially likes a chaotic racing game. You’re always moving at a very high speed so the excitement never dies down as you race for the Gold!

Overall 8/10

Digimon All Star Rumble Review

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After all these years, Digimon has finally gotten itself another fighting game. I had a lot of fun back in the day playing Rumble Arena 2 and I just barely missed out on the original one. This is essentially the Rumble Arena 3 that we’ve been waiting for all these years and it’s definitely worth it. The game didn’t get a whole lot of publicity before it came out so hopefully the sales are still strong since this could be the start of a new series!

The game actually has a small plot. It’s not much of a story, but it certainly beats not having one. Essentially, a tournament is starting and a lot of Digimon want to enter it to win. They don’t know exactly why they want to enter…it’s almost like it’s destiny! They follow their primal instincts and quickly get ready for the fight of their life, but is there something more to this tournament? Then you pick the fighter that you want to play as and you’re set. I naturally played the game with Agumon the first time around, but I’ll beat it with everyone at some point for that shiny Platinum trophy!

The roster is pretty small considering that it’s a PS3 game. I think they definitely could have doubled or tripled the character selection, but with a limited budget I suppose that it would have been difficult. What would have helped is if they let some of the Mega Level Digimon be playable from the Get Go. I have unlocked all of the characters except for 3 starters and I do not have access to nearly any of the alternate Mega Digimon. Those will likely pop up along the way in the Story Mode paths. Counting all of those figures, the roster looks a lot better.

The gameplay is like Rumble Arena, but it’s in 3D. I suppose that you can picture Naruto Ninja Storm as an example. It’s a 3D playing field and you have your standard attacks, power attacks, and your projectiles. You can mix and match to make various combos and the goal is typically to defeat your opponent. (Although other modes feature games like capturing the flag so vary up the action) Once your meter is charged you can transform into an immensely powerful Mega Digimon. Once you’re in that form, you’re basically ready to rock and roll!

There are also items of course and they can really change the course of a battle. One of the items makes a twister form around the player. Another one lets you turn the opponent into a ball of living slime and the best item in the game allows you to instantly Digivolve. You cannot begin to compare that to any of the other items because it is so great. A thunderbolt is probably the second best item as it does some serious damage and it also stuns the opponent. It’s like a double effect for the price of one!

Surprisingly, the game actually goes up to 4 players. I don’t know many people who actually have 4 remotes, but it’s great that we are actually given the option. It’s certainly something to consider and I do have 3 remotes over here so at least I can go almost all the way. Every fighting game gets more and more fun as you increase the amount of players. It’s just common video game logic! Things get more chaotic and it will definitely test your mastery over the game.

The computer A.I. is decent, but it’s not great. You should be able to crush the hard difficulty level with ease after a handful of battles. Ah well, that’s not so bad since we have multiplayer mode and the computer is not downright easy either. I’m sure that a case can be made for it being just right.

The graphics are very bright and it works pretty well for the game. It may not be the most stylish game, but you would never mistake it for a last gen title. All of the character models are sharp and they really stand out no matter which stage you are on. I’m satisfied with the amount of stages as well as there are around 10-12 of them. Some of them even have gimmicks like a fog that will damage your fighter if you go near it.

The soundtrack is pretty nonexistent. I suppose that it would have been pretty tough to have had a pretty memorable one alongside everything else, but it certainly would not have hurt. There aren’t any real battle themes either, which is odd considering that it is a fighting game. How awesome would it have been to have had the Digimon theme song for the first few seasons included during the battles? That would have definitely been a lot of fun!

Surprisingly, there is no online capabilities in this game. I’m fine with that since it’s not the kind of game where I would play online a whole lot, (Madden and Smash Bros are really where I have fun online. Other than that, I typically stay local) but it’s still pretty surprising. Maybe they just didn’t think that enough people would be playing it right away to warrant a purchase of a few servers to run it on.

Some of the trophies are a bit of a grind, but none of them are really that hard. Waiting for the 50 hours to show up on your PS3 may be the toughest part or collecting the Digi cards, but it’s only a matter of time. The toughest trophy to get skill wise is probably beating the game with every character, but I’m sure that you’re up to the task. I only need 13 trophies left so that should be a breeze.

Overall, Digimon All Star Rumble is a solid addition to the Digimon franchise. The campaign mode is very short, but the multiplayer mode makes up for it. This gives it infinite replay value and that’s more than enough for you to be content. While the character roster may be pretty limited we do get fan favorites like Agumon and Guilmon. Old timers may be disappointed that some of the Season 1 stars were cut out, but maybe they’ll make the sequel. I’m sure that they would since a sequel would likely fill out the rest of the spots for the main characters from season 1 and season 3. No guarantees on season 2 of course, but those guys likely wouldn’t be missed quite as much. This is definitely a title worth obtaining if you want some solid action!

Overall 8/10

NCAA Football 2011 Review

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This is the first college Football game that I’ve really gotten to play extensively. I own quite a few of the other titles, but I have so many sport games that I typically just play them for a game or two and then move on to the next one. That’s why I love the trophy system on the PS3. It gives me a good reason to keep on playing long past the point where I would have stropped otherwise. The gameplay style may take a teeny bit of adjustment at first if you’re used to Madden, but it’s still EA so the control scheme is similar. It’s a pretty great and while I’ll always prefer Madden, I’ll always be up for a game here!

The gameplay style is a little faster than the average Madden game. You can pick what kind of offensive style you want before hand and then it’s off to the races. That’s actually a very cool gimmick to have and I got to test a few of the offensive formations out. I don’t remember all of the names, but I do like the Spread Offense and the Air Raid team is the best. In case you didn’t guess…I’m a pretty big passing fan. The problem with running the ball is that there’s more chance involved then when you’re passing it. For the most part, you can tell if you just threw a possible TD or a pick six right after you throw it.

I haven’t tackled the strongest A.I. level yet so I can’t comment on how difficult it is, but based on the previous levels it’s sure to be a nice challenge! Running the ball with your QB is easier in this game than usual and that’s a good thing since I love to do that. It’s good that it’s not too easy of course, but it’s a really effective way to move the ball when your receivers are covered. It can be tough to know when to look to run and when to pass, but the challenge of finding a nice mix is what makes this move so deadly!

I’ve gotten quite a few trophies so far although I’m probably not going to end up Platinuming this title. I won’t rule it out, but a few of the Dynasty/Career trophies seem like they would be a little too much work. I applaud EA for resisting the urge to add online trophies to the game so that the Platinum trophy is still a possibility. It was a pretty good move on their part and it’s one that I shall not forget very soon.

The game has your usual modes like Play Now that Madden has and there’s also it’s equivalent to Franchise Mode in Dynasty. There’s also a Road to Glory mode where you start out in Highschool and it looked interesting so I decided to go for it. It’s only four games long and it was pretty fun. The gameplay will certainly get you into the action very quickly and I still like the new style where you can pick a player to progress as you go through the career and then you just play when he’s on the field.

That being said, it’s a nice thing to give yourself a change of pace, but I still like to be in control for every facet of the game. You won’t catch me missing the point after attempts quite as much as the CPU and their defense tends to crumble when the going gets tough. This game has a ton of replay value since it’s Football and there are always more games to play. It’s tough for any title to even dream of matching it in replay value and the only other game that can give it an even fight is probably Super Smash Bros.

The graphics are pretty good. I’ve always thought that EA’s games looked very good and they definitely spend more time perfecting the graphics than the average game. It can be seen as excessive or underwhelming depending on the player, but it just looks great for me. The plays are always clear and you can see who’s open and who isn’t with a single glance.

If I had to list a negative for the game, it may be the soundtrack. At times, trumpets will sound and all of the music will instantly be obliterated. That’s not a bad thing per say, but the game can be more fun at times with a nice background theme. If the game is going to be silent then I think that cutting out the trumpets would help. It just doesn’t work with the style of gameplay. To counter this, NCAA has an exclusive feature where you get to run to the mascot for a celebration after each scoring play. That’s pretty cool and it’s a nice way to motivate your opponent as well.

This may have been the first NCAA game that I got to play a lot, but that won’t be the case for very long. I am planning to dig out the previous year’s game shortly to gather some trophies and then I’ll be sure to review that one as well. I expect it to be pretty good as well, but this one will likely stay on top. Where do I go from here? Well, I’m planning on tackling the full season soon so this game won’t be biting the dust just yet!

Overall, NCAA Football is a pretty great title to play and it’s one of those games that will continue to be fun long after you’ve played your 100th game. It’s just hard not to get excited while playing it and especially when the score gets tight. You just need to remember your training and you’ll be fine. The servers are down, which unfortunately halts online play, but it’s a game that is actually still a lot of fun to play with computers. If the price is right, you may still want to buy the latest version, but if not…2011 is the way to go!

Overall 8/10