After playing the first Starfighter game, I knew that I needed to play the sequel right away. The first one was better than expected and I expected more of the same in the sequel. This game is mostly the same as the first, but they have improved it in one key area. That would be the plot! Let’s see how the game fared in the other areas as well!

It is good to be able to have a paragraph for the plot once more! This game also has 15 levels for Story Mode and it goes up until the climax of Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones. First of all, a Jedi is assigned to help out a group of Pirates because we’ve finally realized that they were correct and the Trade Federation is up to no good. The Jedi helps them fight a lot of battles and eventually we are the last stand against the Trade’s big assault. They have hex equipment and are going to incinerate the Jedi Warriors who are fighting on the planet. (AKA, Anakin, Obi Wan, and many other fighters) The main villain of the game would definitely be Captain Toth.

Captain Toth is a pretty menacing figure and he succeeds in destroying three key officials in one shot. That’s definitely not something that should be overlooked and he makes for a nice final boss. He may not have any Force Abilities, but it’s good to see humans try to fight once in a while. The main Jedi is named Adi Gallia. She is strong in the ways of the Force and she can make large shockwaves that can destroy a number of ships at once. It is really up to her to save the day as her allies also play critical roles. She’s a solid protagonist, although she may come across as a little generic. Yoda makes a cameo as you can hear him giving advice during the climax missions of the game.

The gameplay is mostly unchanged from the first Starfighter game, but there are definitely additions. Since Adi is a Jefi, we can use Force abilities in her levels. She has 4 Force abilities, but only two of them I have found to be useful. One ability is that she can make a barrier around the fighter. This can definitely come in handy, but you most likely won’t need the shield as your ship is very sturdy and will not be destroyed so easily.

Force Lightning is another ability and it’s one that I used for a while until the Shockwave came into play. It’s good for hitting a number of opponents, but it never seemed to finish the job. I did skip the tutorials for the game so it’s possible that I’m not using it correctly, but the lightning definitely wasn’t my favorite force ability. There was another ability that would slow down the opponents and increase the player’s reflexes, but I could never get that ability to work. Finally, we got the Shockwave which is easily the best ability. The Shockwave can defeat a number of opponents in a single shot and while you may not always hit the target that you were aiming for, you’ll likely take a few other enemies down. The Force gauge recovers very quickly so you don’t always have to defeat them all in a single shot.

The regular ships also get more abilities as you can fire Super Rockets, Mines, and quick rockets. The Super Rocket is a very good attack for hitting large vessels. It may be slow, but it can completely rip apart barriers and nearly take down the ship’s whole health bar in one shot. It’s a great weapon to use as long as the target is immobile. For moving targets, you’ll want to use the quick rockets. They are able to go right through a barrier and directly impact the target’s health bar. It’s definitely a useful way to save time if you have a lot of targets that you need to bring down. One shot turns into a flurry of many shots that deal some solid damage and spread over a decently large area. I can’t really say that the Mines are useful for anything and I just didn’t use them. There was really no need to do so at that point.

The rest of the gameplay remains unaltered from the first game. The ship that the Jedi uses can be difficult to navigate at first as he can turn much quicker than the ships in the first game. After a few minutes you’ll have adjusted and may find this to be pretty useful. It’s tougher for the minions to escape your field of vision with such speed. The gameplay is still very fun and definitely one of the definitive space shooters out there. You can do 360’s and hit opponents from very far away. I went into the gameplay a little more in depth in the previous game’s review. It’s essentially one of the ultimate shooting games and is definitely better than you may have suspected upon first glance.

The graphics are slightly better than the first game, but the change is barely noticeable. The humans on the ground still look like dots unless you zoom in while you are very close to them. Beyond that, the graphics are pretty solid and everything looks pretty good. This game has more actual cutscenes than the first one and they’re not bad. There is definitely more of a sense of danger in them than the previous installment in the series.

Overall, if you liked the first Starfighter, you should definitely enjoy this one. It’s essentially the same as the original game. There are things to unlock in this one which should help the replay value. That’s a good thing since the story mode is only 15 levels like the first game. The game was a slight improvement over Starfighter since it didn’t make anything worse and only made things better by adding new abilities/weapons and making the actual story a lot more memorable. If you like the shooter genre, then you will likely enjoy this game. It’s one of the best in the shooter genre so I highly recommend it! (Also, hopefully it gets a sequel because the game ends on a total cliffhanger. Someone may be in trouble!)

Overall 7/10

Star Wars has had many games in the past and they have all been decently good to great in the past. This one plays out like the Rebel Strike Star Wars game for Gamecube, but the gameplay is more refined. Could this game keep up the solid reputation of the Star Wars games or would it end up crushing out hopes? Only one way to find out!

Well, usually I would go into the plot right away, but that’s tougher than expected. There is definitely a plot, but you continue to switch characters are you go through the levels and while I do like the main, main character the most, the others are still cool. It’s just hard to follow the story and you’re really just focusing on the action. I’m sure that the story is very engaging and epic, but you won’t remember it by the time that you complete the game. Instead, we shall spend our time focusing on the gameplay and graphics.

The graphics hold up pretty well for the most part. The ships look good and the energy attacks are also solid. It reminds me of the retro N64 (Awesome) days while also throwing in some modern Gamecube action into it. The graphics are definitely a + and the only parts that don’t look very good are the humans. Still, they play a very small role in this and what really counts are the battles.

One of the reasons why I like the Starfighter series so much is that it finally takes Star Wars back to its roots. Originally, the whole concept of Star Wars was about how there would be climatic battles in space and how it would be awesome. After the first few Star Wars films, they started to diverge from that. In this game, fighting in space is all that you will do and it’s definitely a great experience.

The gameplay is essentially a 3D shooter. You can play it in first person mode or seeing from behind the ship. In this game, I find it a lot more convenient to use first person mode and you can attack foes that are incredibly far away. The game was definitely designed well because in most other shooters, you simply cannot attack from that far away. The blasts would just fade away into nothingness and you would have to wait until you are closer. There are usually dozens of enemies that continue to attack while you have to try and fend them off. You are able to lead your comrades into battle, but I never really used the function. By the time you tell your comrades to destroy an object, you will have basically finished the job.

Most of the missions involve destroying a lot of enemies and protecting your allies. There are 15 missions in Story Mode and it doesn’t drag on. The game could definitely be considered to be on the short side and it could have used some more levels. I’m not sure that 15 levels would have really cut it for me if I had bought the game at retail price, but for the bargain of 4 dollars, I’m all right with it. It’s still no excuse to be such a short game, but there is a decent amount of replay value through bonus missions.

You only have a few weapons to use in the game, but they’re all that you truly need. You have rockets which do heavy damage, but they do run out of ammo quickly and you cannot reload. There are energy grenades that automatically replenish and also deal great damage, but they are harder to aim as they cannot travel great distances. They are best used from a high point to drop on unsuspecting enemies. Of course, nothing beats the classic machine gun style energy bullets that you can fire to take down any enemy given enough time. You have complete control over your vehicle and you can turn it around as you dodge enemy attacks and counter. By turning it around, I mean that you can make your vehicle fly sideways or even upside down as you do 180s and 360s. Yes, this is one of the best pure shooters out there and the gameplay would usually make the game an 8/10.

The only reason that this game does not crack an 8 is because the gameplay does not have enough support from the other modes. As I’ve mentioned, the game is pretty short and the story is completely forgettable. If the game had been longer and if the story had been more memorable, then I likely would have given the game an 8. It was just lacking something. Maybe an epic 2 player showdown mode would have added to the score and likely would have made the game an 8.

Overall, this is a fun Star Wars game. It’s not going to be hailed as one of the all time greats and you may not even remember it after a while, but it’s very fun and is that not the main function of a video game? Ultimately, having fun is the most important part of playing a video game and this one definitely succeeds. I highly recommend this game as long as you don’t mind the lack of length and you definitely need to like the shooting genre. If you didn’t like Star Fox Assault or Robotech’s aerial combat system, then this is not the game for you. This game only features aerial combat, but it’s some of the best space fighting that I’ve encountered. You will not want to miss out on this game!

Overall 7/10

Dream Trigger is a game that I wanted to get for a very long time. It just looked like it would be a blast! It had the right mix of action, scenery, and overall epicness. There was no way that such a game wouldn’t be an instant hit right? It was one of the first 3DS games after all. Well, let’s see if my gut instinct was right on the money!

The gameplay is pretty unique since it’s overhead like Marvel Alliance, but it is a shooter. It’s a shooter that is unlike anything that you have ever played because you don’t have guns and you don’t actually shoot anything. See, you Are the bullet in this game. You use the stylus to set off musical bombs that force the villains to turn tangible and that is when you strike. The more of your musical bombs that uncover the enemies, the more that your energy meter builds up. When you have enough meter, then you use the L or R button to get your character over the enemy and incinerate him. That’s the whole gameplay in a nutshell so you’ll really want to enjoy it.

Dream Trigger has 55 levels and they’re only a few minutes each so it shouldn’t take you very long, but they artificially extend the game through the challenges. You have to beat challenges to unlock more stages and to unlock the final boss, you’ll need around 65-70 challenges completed. That may not sound bad and it could definitely be worse, but I felt that it was unnecessary. A lot of the challenges aren’t hard, but they are guaranteed to take you a long time. (Ex: Defeat 10000 enemies. To put that into perspective, each level only has 100-200 enemies and a lot of levels don’t have quite that many anyway. I unlocked this one after the final boss I believe)

There is also an enemy who can make things difficult for you. The Tracker is a being of limitless power who can take away all of your life points if you get caught by him and then lose the challenge. I forgot to mention that your life points/DP Points are the only thing that allows you to move. When you run out of them, you must play the stage that you are standing on. It may be an old stage, but it doesn’t matter. You need DP Points to move and the only way to get more of them is to replay a stage. I’ll admit that it can definitely be disappointing when you have a bunch of points and then you lose them all in one shot.

I can’t really say much for the soundtrack because the sound effects are sooooo loud. You won’t really hear the soundtrack at all when you’re blasting enemies by the dozens. You can probably lower the sound effect volume, but I don’t count that since it isn’t the game’s default setting. So, the soundtrack is pretty underwhelming in this game.

The graphics in the game also leave much to be desired. There are a lot of colorful effects and things happening on screen, but it’s more chaotic than graphically intense. The graphics aren’t really bad, but they aren’t memorable either. It’s just the way that the game is set up, but you could find better graphics on the N64.

There is a lot of replay value or a little depending on how much you like the gameplay. Keep in mind that even though there are 55 stages, there are really only 2 stages. The Boss Battle stage and the regular stage that contains a mini boss. The rest of the stages keep the same formula and they don’t try to change it at all. The bosses and enemies may change shape as your avatar does throughout the levels, but nothing changes. The Final Boss didn’t even have a super gimmick that makes him a lot different than the other big bosses. That was a little disappointing. The gameplay just isn’t made to be played for very long periods of time and you may get tired of it. If you reeeeally like the gameplay, then you should have fun with the game. There are plenty of challenges to try and complete and you will definitely need to spend a lot of time on the game if you wish to complete them all. If you do not like the gameplay, then the challenges are going to seem unbearable at times.

Overall, this is definitely not one of the better games out there. 55 levels is pretty decent considering that this was one of the first 3DS game and that it’s not known as one of the big games. That being said, the lack of graphics and animation will probably start to let you down and after replaying the same level 40 times over…you may decide that beating the game isn’t worth it. I barely made it to the end of the game because the challenges were just so tedious. It certainly took me a while to unlock the final boss and it’s a little sad since the actual game is pretty easy. If you’ve played enough games in the past then your reflexes will be up for the job. I can’t really recommend the game that much since it’s so repetitive. On the other hand, it’s only 5 dollars at your average game store so it’s not that much money. It can be fun to play when you want to eliminate some time, but I don’t recommend it as you main time consumer. It just doesn’t have the replay value that other games have. Seriously, I cannot stress enough that you will be playing the same stage over several times and the “new” stages that you unlock as just recolored versions of the same stage as well. You can make customizations to the enemies and the effects, but they just change the design and nothing else. The game may not have been quite as impressive as I thought it would be, but considering the 5 dollar price tag, I think that the score is pretty appropriate.

Overall 5/10

Street Fighter X Tekken got a lot of hype when the game was first announced. Two of the biggest fighting series in the world would be fighting it out on the big screen! Who could resist such an awesome game in theory right? Well, it was a little underwhelming in certain aspects of the game, but the gameplay lives up and that’s the important thing….right!?

Well, let’s go back to the amazing hype before the game came out for a little longer. They actually released cinematic episodes to increase the hype and boy were they awesome. I could barely believe my eyes as I saw Ryu getting completely annihilated by Kazuya and also had to take a step back when Bison challenged Jin. I could finally see all of the big Tekken vs Street Fighter matches that fans had been dreaming about for years and it was in movie format. The cinematic episodes had pretty awesome animation and it was a perfect way to hype up the game although it was a bit of a mixed bag.

The flip side of this was that it hinted at a story mode that wouldn’t actually happen in the game. It’s not uncommon for Capcom to do this since we’ve also got Marvel vs Capcom 3 in that regard, but it can still be sad. If you have enough money to make such awesome cutscenes, why not form a story line around them? (Smash Bros 3DS could also learn a thing or two from that, although there is still hope) Still, it can be forgiven since it’s still awesome to have cutscenes to watch on Youtube. What can’t really be forgiven is the extremely lazy Arcade Mode.

When you have a two vs two battle system, then you should unlock both endings in one shot or at least one ending. In this game, unless you are the correct pairings that the game wants you to be, you are basically toast. That was pretty disappointing since it’s sad to play through an Arcade Mode and not be rewarded with any cool cutscenes. There also isn’t a theatre mode which makes you wonder what the point of playing Arcade Mode is in the first place. You can only watch the cutscenes when you replay Arcade Mode and that can get old fast. That was a pretty big negative for the game, but I guess that means that I’ll just need to ditch Arcade Mode and focus on the other choices.

One thing that you’ll be able to appreciate is the fact that the game is pretty difficult. Mission Mode is insanely hard and you’ll really want to have a lot of Street Fighter knowledge before you begin the battles that will change everything. Trial Mode is also pretty tricky if you’re not familiar with the correct buttons to use in Street Fighter. They do a bad job of translating the symbols into the PS3 controller scheme. Since every character has a lot of trials, there should still be plenty for you to do and it’ll keep you busy for a while.

The most important part of a game is always the gameplay so….how did this one fare? I’d say that it’s essentially Street Fighter style, but a little quicker like the Capcom Vs games. It’s fun to see how the Tekken characters fare in SF style and they’re pretty cool. This game also has the Pandora mode which sacrifices your life so that your partner can gain unimaginable power! It’s not a technique that I recommend since it’s highly risky, but the payoff can be pretty good as well. 2 on 2 is always fun because you can use team combos and use strategy to plan on how to fight your opponents. Switching out is the key to success!

The soundtrack is pretty forgettable, but it’s all right. While you’re fighting, the soundtrack will seem to be pretty good. You just won’t have any recollection of it once you are done playing. The stages are all right, but they seem to be lacking in variety. They aren’t exactly the next Tatsunoko vs Capcom in that regard.

The character roster is pretty good as well although this leads to a negative. First of all, it’s awesome to see Pac Man and the truly original Mega Man back in action. These guys practically invented the gaming industry and to see them in a modern fighting game brings tears to my eyes. It’s pretty disappointing that Pac Man uses a robot to fight in this version, but I guess that we can’t win them all. Cole MacGrath is also present in the game and his thunder abilities can be pretty fun to use.

The problem is the fact that a lot of the characters who are on the screen can’t even be used. You have to buy them as a DLC pack and that’s pretty disappointing. On disc DLC is even worse than regular DLC because you have to see them every time that you head to a character select menu. They shouldn’t be on the disc if you have to actually buy them.

Not counting the cinematic episodes, the graphics are only decently good. I’d say that Tekken 6 actually looked better in pure animation as this one just seems a little grainy or unfocused. There’s something about the game that just doesn’t look right and I intend to find out what it is! Considering that it’s a pretty modern PS3 game, the graphics definitely don’t impress me and I believe that they could have put more of an effort into that. Graphics aren’t immensely important, but it’s still fun to have good graphics.

Overall, this is a pretty good fighting game as long as you are getting it as a fighting game. You can’t really expect anything from the Arcade Mode and Trial Mode isn’t very interesting. Mission Mode is insanely hard, but definitely fun to play until you defeat the opponents. In pure gameplay, the game is a lot of fun and you’re bound to love it. Air combos are still epic and your tag combos can come in handy as well. The best part is still the fact that you can go online and challenge opponents to ultimate battles of skill and precision!

Overall 8/10

Tekken has always been a pretty solid franchise and the battle style is fun. Kicks are a big part of a battle since they do so much damage and you may find yourself completely ignoring the punch combos. Tekken 4 and 5 also had fun arcade mode stories for the most part and they’re just fun overall. Could the final game in the main series end the series on a high note? (Until Tekken 7 comes out someday)

Unlike the previous games, Tekken 6 has an actual story mode aside from the Arcade Mode intros/endings. We follow a guy named Lars who has lost his memory and meets up with the android known as Alisa. Lars seems to be a good guy deep down and he’s ready to stop Kazuya and Jin from destroying the world through their fighting. He seems to be pretty outmatched as he’s just a human right? Well, a plot twist helps the fights make more sense as we realize that Lars actually has a lot of latent power. While teaming up with Alisa, he also seeks to restore his lost memories and find out who he really is. Looks like he has a busy day ahead of him!

The story mode is pretty fun and it has a cinematic feeling to it. There are several cutscenes that are full blown cutscenes while others are just retro text boxes. In the story mode, we get to see Jin take on nearly all of the main characters and Lars proves that he’s one of the cooler Tekken characters. He takes everything in stride and he’s definitely a powerful fighter.

Alisa is a decent character, but unfortunately..the fact that she is an android holds her back as it does for most androids. Androids usually have that moment where they lost their free will and must obey their creator. This happens to Alisa and she isn’t really able to fight it so that hurts her character development. I wasn’t a huge fan of her in the movie either. She has a lot of potential and she’s a powerful fighter, but she needs to strengthen her mind.

Jin Kazama is a very changed man and you can’t really call him the main character anymore. He now rules the Mishima Zaibatsu and he has been completely corrupted. Was it the Devil Gene or did he just turn to the dark side so that he could get enough power to destroy Kazuya? Either way, Jin is now completely evil and it doesn’t look like he will be turning back to the side of light. Just look at the cinematic trailer for Street Fighter X Tekken! (Jin is still trying to protect his friends, but while being the head of the Tekken Force and destroying all who oppose him)

Remember the whole, “I’m your FATHER!” line from Star Wars? Well, that basically comes into play with Kazuya, who happens to be Jin’s father. In this game you could say that he’s the character to root for, but he’s really the mastermind of another organization named G Corporation. He seems to think that he’s the only one left who can really oppose Jin and he gets ready to take him down in the tournament! He’s a pretty solid character and he can definitely give Jin a solid fight.

Azazel is the true final boss of the game and he’s one of the stronger opponents that the Tekken fighters have ever come across. He is the ultimate evil and once the negative energies of the world start to come out, he revives! This may have been Jin’s excuse for acting evil, but I’m afraid that it’s not a very good one. Azazel is definitely a pretty awesome opponent and he’s ready to judge humanity. He’s also a pretty tough boss so you’ll definitely want to block as much as you can.

This is a fighting game so I’m not really going to go into depth about all of the characters since there are so many of them. NANCY is a really cool kaiju/robot creature and is a pretty nifty secret boss. I can’t really say that I care for Eddy or the old man, but other characters like Nina, Asuka, Leo, Yoshimitsu, and Bryan are still solid characters. Tekken has a pretty interesting array of characters and I find them all to be pretty interesting for the most part. They are much better than the average fighting game cast like Street Fighter, Dead Or Alive, Virtua Fighter, etc. They’re no Smash Bros or J Stars Victory Vs, but those really shouldn’t count.

The animation is pretty solid and the music helps to make the whole game feel very modern and techno. It’s one of the main reasons why I really like the PS3. Everything feels so high tech on the console and aside from the Gamecube, it’s easily the greatest console of all time. Tekken 6 plays very smoothly and the gameplay is as good as ever. There is a lot to do in the game since you have arcade mode for all characters and a story mode as well. We’ve also got Survival Mode, Time Attack Mode, and the wonders of Wifi! You’ll likely be spending a lot of time online since it’s always fun to challenge other people and see how you stack up. It’s another reason why I love the fact that the PS3 can support online wifi so that you can play to your heart’s content.

You can also customize your character for Story Mode and it can be a gamechanger. I forgot to upgrade until the final levels and it definitely makes a world of difference. Of course, you can try doing the levels without upgrading, but I can guarantee that it’ll be very difficult. It would be a great feat for your gaming skills though so it is worth a shot.

Overall, this is an excellent fighting game. They made sure to increase the character count and added a lot of modes for replay value. The fighting style alone will keep you entertained for a very long time. The music is solid and I can’t really think of any bad things that hurt the game. This one basically got everything right and had a pretty cool opening cutscene as well. The trophies aren’t very unreasonable in this game and I’m happy to say that I got the Platinum! Lars is also a very solid addition to the franchise and I look forward to seeing him in future installments. I highly recommend this game to all fighting fans or people who are looking for a solid plot.

Overall 8/10

Mario has always been a pretty fun series throughout the years. We had Mario 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy to show us that Mario games can be a thing of beauty. They can launch you into a world of adventure, but we started to miss the good ole days where Mario could punch. Then the space theme started to bear down on the gamer until you just couldn’t take it anymore. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the space theme and I was glad that 3D Land brought things back into perspective. 3D Land is easily the best portable Mario game and even the big console games could learn a thing or two from this one.

Should I even bother mentioning what the plot is? I probably should, so here goes! Princess Peach is captured by Bowser and now Mario must embark on an adventure of epic proportions to save her. He may appear to be heroic and not afraid of anything, but this game shows that Mario does tend to panic at times and that he must hurry. Peach must not be allowed to stay in Bowser’s clutches for long….not if Mario can help it! Evidently, the Castle guards aren’t coming to help and Luigi must have better things to do. (Although, you find out the true reason why Luigi isn’t here towards the end of the game. All that I will say is that it was a pretty interesting twist!)

The gameplay is the main reason as to why we play Mario games in the end. Ultimately, that is still the most important factor of a game and Mario never fails. The traditional 3D gameplay feels like Mario 64 and the level designs are a great help as well. The game feels like it could be a sequel to Mario 64 and we get a lot of grass levels that are pretty fun. There aren’t really any bad levels and you can breeze through the game without needing a break from the gameplay. (Prince of Persia stylus gameplay was not quite as fun)

The levels are all pretty short and they can typically be completed in around 2 minutes. The levels are short, but there are a lot of them and you also will likely need to replay them for Star Coins. The game would be very short if not for the Star Coins since you can breeze through the game. That being said, there is a decently large amount of replay value because of how fun the levels are and because of the Star Coins. There are over 10 different worlds because of the bonus levels so you will definitely have a lot of levels to complete.

The graphics are solid and are some of the best that you will see in a Mario game. Mario looks sharp and the levels pop out at you. The soundtrack is also pretty solid and they’re catchy. You may not remember a large amount of them, but they won’t get in the way while you’re playing the game which is always the important thing.

Mario is the selfless hero as per usual, but he doesn’t look all that great. He’s a decent character I suppose, but he’s just not as cool as Sonic. I’m glad that Peach fought back and it would appear that she continues to get tougher. She nearly took out Bowser and his legions of minions! It should be noted that Bowser really means business in this game since you face him right away. His fireballs are impressive and he gives Mario a nice fight, but it’s ultimately futile. Mario isn’t the type of plumber to lose when it counts.

Mario 3D Land definitely holds its own against the other Mario games. I dare say that it may have been more fun than Mario Galaxy and Galaxy 2. I didn’t care for the space theme and it was great to be back on the grassy levels. It still couldn’t defeat Mario 64 or Sunshine, but I doubt that any future Mario game could match up against those elites. Mario 3D World looks promising and it could be an extension to this one. I will definitely keep you tuned about that game. This may be the ultimate new Mario game and the perfect starting point for a next generation of fans. Mario games will never become outdated and a thing of the past as this game shows that Mario is as fun as ever.

Overall, this is a pretty solid Mario game. Think of it as the Mario 64 2 that we never got to see. Aside from the fact that Mario still can’t fight back, it definitely feels like a sequel. If you’ve been waiting for Bowser and Mario to finally meet up again in battle, then you’re definitely in luck. I recommend this game to all gamers and it’s something that just about everyone will enjoy. It’s a step up from most Mario games and that in itself is pretty impressive. This is one game that will ultimately receive a lot of play time and still have replay value when other games are on their last legs.

Overall 7/10

Sonic Lost World is the big Sonic game for the current generation (Yes, the Wii U is a part of the current generation along with PS4 and Xbox One) This time, Nintendo would be pulling the strings, so it would be interesting to see how that would work. This one was supposed to be very similar to Mario Galaxy, but would that be a wise move? Only time could tell and since we have had enough time, it’s time for things to get real!

The plot of the game is simple enough. Sonic and Tails are chasing Eggman, but he proves to be far too powerful to be defeated and he damages the airplane. It is revealed that Eggman has enslaved the Deadly Six and he’s using them to conquer the world! Sonic steps in to see that justice is served, but now he must deal with Eggman and the Deadly Six! The stakes get especially high when his friends start to die and he can’t save them!

All right, this game definitely had a lot more emotional scenes than the average Sonic game. The whole second half of the game used a lot of emotion as Amy and Knuckles started to have their life force sucked away from them and Sonic isn’t even able to help them. I won’t say whether they die or not, but let’s just say that the population of the planet probably shrunk pretty drastically towards the end of the game. Knuckles talked very tough until he was no longer able to do so and it shows us that he is not to be underestimated. He implied that he could actually defeat Sonic and that he would have saved them all a lot faster. Amy gets a decent role as she tries to remind Sonic how dire the situation is, but he doesn’t seem to get the memo. Amy and Knuckles don’t actually try to help Sonic as they may have realized deep down that they’re no match for his opponents.

Tails is a lot better than how he was portrayed in Sonic Colors and is slowly starting to look like his old self. He’s still not as good as he was in the good ole days, (Sonic Adventure 2 Battle) but he is a solid character. We find out some startling plot twists about how smart he truly is. Tails is definitely not a fighter anymore, but he’s a solid support character to have at the ready and his bond with Sonic is decently strong. It could be stronger as it was shaken thanks to Eggman, but he tried. Tails had one of the most “emotional” moments in the whole game and it does make you double think Sonic’s decisions. Tails is smart enough to deactivate the device on his own, so why do they really need Eggman? Just something to think about.

Sonic is the main character, but you probably could have guessed that with your eyes closed. Personality wise, Sonic’s pretty solid and he makes sure to mock his opponents whenever he has a chance. He is always ready to disrupt Eggman’s plans and he doesn’t back down from any of the villains. He almost seems to be amused by their threats and he definitely has an air of confidence about him. The main problem that I would have is the fact that Sonic has been seriously depowered in the recent games. In the cutscenes, you can see how slow Sonic is moving and makes the average debater really think that Rainbow Dash and (gulp) Mario could outrun him. (Check out Mario’s speed feats in Brawl. He nearly took Link down for the count) One of the villains nearly destroys him with a sandwich and the old man seemed to be a lot faster than Sonic. They’re doing pretty good on Sonic’s personality (Although I still miss all of his lines from SA2B.) but they definitely need to show his speed more.

Eggman is another one of the major characters in this game, but I did not like his portrayal. He gets some really intense lines, but they don’t match his personality and it just didn’t make sense. His “Heroic” moments were pretty cheesy and he’ll never become a truly cool character at this point. I’m not even going to mention SA2B this time, but Eggman needs to sharpen his coolness skills. Orbot and Cubot are definitely not helping and they should be written out of the script.

I think that we’re all interested to hear about the Deadly Six. They were definitely hyped a lot and they could become the next big thing right? Well, they do have their positives, but I’m not sure how long they could last before they start to become stale. Zavok is the leader of the group and he’s easily the best member.

It all starts with his character design and then things just move up from there. He seems like a villain who can actually fight Sonic in hand to hand combat and he doesn’t need gimmicks. That’s why it was a little disappointing when he used a giant monster at one point, but at least we got to fight him hand to hand later on. One problem is that Sonic Lost World doesn’t really let you get close and personal during a fight and we have to rely on speed and tricks to win. I would have liked a no holds barred fight like when we fought Gamma or Shadow in the past. Those were pure fights where you just had to take your opponent down for the count. That being said, Zarok does have potential and while his overall ability may disappoint some, he’s tough enough in the end. The game does use a lot of comedy so we couldn’t expect him to be the next Metal Sonic, but he’s still pretty good.

The other members aren’t quite as good unfortunately. Zazz is pretty annoying and he’s one of the weaker members. I don’t think that this guy would really be a match for Mario, let alone a guy like Sonic! Zazz can’t really be taken seriously and I believe that he can’t overcome that big problem. We’ve also got Zeena and she’s not much of a fighter either. Her cutscenes should be taken pretty lightly and her abilities are really not impressive. There aren’t really any reasons to like her at the moment.

We’ve also got Master Zik who seems to be the wisest one in the group. I didn’t like how he appeared to be vastly faster than Sonic in the cutscenes and he was really all talk. He wasn’t ready for a fight of this level, but did anyone really expect him to be on Sonic’s level? Zomom is a guy who likes to eat his sandwich. I’ll never forget the cutscene where he nearly defeated Sonic by accident with it. He’s a very weak fighter and he’s one of the slowest guys that you’ll encounter so…why is he fighting Sonic? Please Understand that I don’t fully understand! Finally, we have Zor. Zor can’t really fight either, but at least he realizes that this won’t affect the cosmic scheme of things. He seems to accept the fact that Sonic and friends are out of his league and is mostly there to be defeated.

I have to say that the Deadly Six should probably not appear again. Zavok was easily the best member of the group, but he was really the only decent member. The others are all basically non combatants and would be better in sport games. It’s still hard to take any of them seriously after what Eggman did to them and they’re no match for Sonic. I think Sega needs to go back to their roots and give us enemies like Shadow and Metal Sonic. Those guys were true threats!

Gameplay wise, I would definitely say that the game has a lot of the same elements as Mario Galaxy. It’s essentially a mix of Mario Galaxy and Sonic Colors so the gameplay is really fun. The levels flow pretty well and the controls are pretty fluid. There was one level with the search light that was extremely difficult. It was easily the toughest part of the game and made the final boss look like kid stuff. One Mario element that I should mention is the fact that Zavok turns into a giant monster and they’re in a fire area. If that’s not borrowing from Mario, then it’s time to pack our bags and head to Nintendo’s Gamecube commercials! You will probably miss the Pro Controller in this game, but the Gamepad is still better than the Wii Remote. The controller scheme will be back to normal for the next gen so you just have to hold out and make the best of it.

The game has a pretty solid soundtrack. You won’t really remember many of the tunes after completing the game, but if you try to think about them hard enough, then I’m sure that you will remember a bit. The villain’s have a pretty catchy tune and the music is mostly somber aside from that one.

Animation wise, the game is pretty good. We’re not at Adventure 2 Battle level, but it does look better than Sonic Colors. I’m not sure if it beats Sonic and the Black Knight overall, but the gameplay looks sharper. I still have to get a little used to Sonic’s look, but it’s pretty good. It helps to convey his confidence and determination. That’s good since the games have basically cut out all of the other epic characters like Shadow and Silver.

Overall, this is a solid addition to the Sonic franchise. The series is definitely in the comedy genre now and Sega will likely try to keep it light and friendly for as long as they can. I will definitely miss the intense days of Adventure 2 Battle, but the new games are fun as well. I do believe that they should tone down the comedy and bring back some of the all star characters, but at least they took a step in the right direction by adding some new characters. They should also remove the Wisps as they are unnecessary and are actually some of the worst parts of the gameplay. Tails finally got some new feats and we got to see that Sonic is definitely the toughest character on the block at the moment. I definitely recommend this game and maybe you’ll enjoy the emotional moments. It definitely makes things interesting and adds a new dimension to the game…or it tries too at any rate. If you got the Deadly Six Edition, then you also get to try out a bonus level which is pretty fun. You get to fight all of the bosses again, but they’re slightly modified and ready to take you down for good!

Overall 7/10

Generator Rex always looked like a pretty fun show, but I haven’t gotten around to seeing it yet. Either way, the game was a must buy since it’s a 3D beat em up. Those games are always very fun and you’ll have a lot of fun spamming the attack buttons to lead you all the way to victory. Easy Trophies also make it a keeper Could this game live up to the hype?

Well, the hype was definitely immense as the Gamestop employee even told me that I had made a good choice. He claimed that Generator Rex wasn’t your average cash-in and that it was actually pretty good. It was under 10 dollars so what would be the harm? The plot involves Generator Rex as he must find all of the pieces of the super important blueprint to keep them safe before Van Kleiss can get his hands on them. Rex also needs to make sure that Circe is okay since she seems to be heading for the dark side.

The plot is very simple and that’s expected since the game has less than 10 hours. The gameplay is what you’d typically find in a cash-in video game as it’s 3D with a very simplistic method of attack. You have about 3 different attacks per weapon and I recommend spamming the light attacks forever. Just keep on attacking and the villains will never have time to fight back. Once you get the Omega Builds, the game gets that much easier. The fact that the game is really easy and basic isn’t a crushing loss since we would expect no more from this game during the get go.

I’ve actually grown fond of this gameplay that we find in a lot of the cheaply priced games. (Thor, Batman, Hulk and dozens of other games that I could mention) The game is still in 3D and simple or not, it’s a pretty fun experience to take all of the opponents down. The gameplay also does get a quick variation for some levels as you get a sky diving level. That one was pretty fun and while it was easy, it was a nice change of pace. There’s also a level where you’re on a motorcycle and while the controls may have been a little sketchy, I always love a good race!

One warning that I would give to people interested in the game is the fact that there isn’t much replay value. After you’ve beaten the game, you can go and find the last remnants of DNA and get trophies, but not even that will last for very long. There are upgrades that you can buy, but you’ll probably attain that shortly after you finish story mode since there aren’t many upgrades to buy and they don’t cost that much money. I ended up having over 50000 left in reserve after I got the Platinum trophy. Replaying levels can be good for another time, but since there are cutscenes that can’t be skipped and the levels aren’t exactly Adventure 2 Battle level, you won’t want to keep on replaying them.

The soundtrack is decent and while there are some good tunes, you won’t remember them by the time that you leave. The animation…is pretty bad for a PS3 game. It really looks like an older PS2 game and can even bridge the way to a PS1 game. Definitely not something that will be able to help the PS3 overthrow the gamecube.

The main characters weren’t anything special either. Agent Six gets a lot of hype but he doesn’t get any good scenes and he never challenges any of the big bosses. Generator Rex is about what you’d expect and he talks a good game without anything to back up. He gets suckered several times and he doesn’t really recover from that. Circe wasn’t a good character either as she had some serious problems trying to choose a side to help. The villains were all one shots and Van Kleiss was basically suckered at the end.

Overall, this is a decent popcorn fun video game. It’s sold for less than 10 at most places and that makes it a decent buy. You’ll have fun while you’re playing it, but you should only expect it to be a temporary hobby and it’ll be over very soon. It’s good if you just want a little placeholder game to last for around a week. I recommend this game if you want a platinum or to sit back and play a fun game. If you’re looking for an incredible PS3 experience, make sure that you go and buy Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations!

Overall 7/10

All right, I’ve been on a Madden roll lately! Madden 10 was definitely one of the weaker additions to the franchise, but Madden 2012 was one of the best ones that I’ve played in a while. I figured that Madden 2011 was the bridge between the two games and I’m happy to say that I was right. It’s a solid game that was much better than 2010, but not quite at 2012’s level.

The gameplay speed is decently good. There is no longer a button to sprint with so the game is all about tactical awareness. You want to make sure that you know where you are going and that you have great reflexes at the ready. Running the ball works pretty well with this new style and it’s definitely a blast to try and out think the defender. Stiff arms work to an extent, but you must time them well and it’s still a matter of chance. I don’t typically any other techniques as I barrel into the opponent for epic yardage.

Passing the ball is one area where this game made dramatic improvements. When you throw a bullet pass, you can definitely tell that you’re throwing it with a lot of speed. The throws are very quick so it’s harder for the defender to jump in front and grab the ball before your frozen player can catch it. Throwing long balls is still pretty tricky as the defender has all of the time in the world to grab an easy pick. If your guy is wide open then you’ll be okay, but otherwise I don’t recommend the deep bombs.

For once, I can also mention that the defense has improved. I’ve been fine with playing defense in all of the Madden games and I typically aim for sacks. In this game, you can finally go for interceptions as it’s a lot easier than usual. It can still be tough and your player may not always do what you want him to do, but it’s fun to try.

One criticism about the defense would be the tackling aspect. When you’re going for a sack and try for a quick dive, you player will just fall on his face. The “dive” barely covers any distance and your player will be walking with the amazing speed of lead. In this game, you’re much better off trying to just barrel into your opponent and maybe even get a fumble out of it.

Oh yes! I have to mention the new Fumble Battles! I really do not like these and they’re just not that fun. When a player fumbles, you have the chance to get it back by hitting the required buttons a lot of times and beat the computer. The computer is really good at this and will typically win. I just don’t like that this occurs for just about all fumbles. Not every fumble should be a big battle. I also think that it could have been handled in a much better way.

Punting and kicking are pretty good as well. The meter simplifies things and makes it easy enough to kick a nice field goal. I like to go for it on 4th downs, but if it’s a serious game then I definitely want to be prepared to go for the game winning field goal. One tip that I would give is to make sure that the Accel clock is off. It takes the fun out of parts of the game since it skips seconds for you.

Animation and graphic wise, this game is about the same as the others. Either you’re a fan of it or you’ll think that it looks dated. I’ve enjoyed the animation for all of the Madden games since 2002 so I’d say that this one definitely looks good. There are definitely more animations to sift through before a game, but if you stick around and watch them, the game becomes even more realistic.

Overall, this is definitely a solid football game. It’s easily one of the better Madden games and for the most part, I’d say that the game got everything right. It’s a game that will keep you entertained for dozens and dozens of hours and you’ll never run out of things to do. The franchise mode looks as sleek as ever and you’ll feel like you’re in a real season! I’d highly recommend buying this Madden or going for 2012. Either way, you’re in for some epic football action!

Overall 8/10