There is no stage select in this game so there are no stats….
Minority Report Everybody Runs Stats and Records
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Minority Report Everybody Runs Review
On my video game quest to own all of the games worth owning, I sometimes like to take a step back and aim for a game that’s from the older generation. I got this one a quarter year ago and I have to say that it was easily worth the 4 dollars. This is one of the greatest movie tie ins that I’ve ever played and maybe The best one not including games that tied into superhero films. You don’t want to miss this action packed experience!
The plot is from the film I believe, but it involves a man by the name of John. He works at an organization where they target people who will commit crimes in the future and then take them out personally or lock them up in prison. One day, the future seers have a vision that John ends up murdering someone, but it’s not a unanimous decision as one of them does not report this. John knows that something is up and he aims to get to the bottom of this. Unfortunately, the entire agency made up of hundreds of fighters is out to get him. Will John be able to find out the truth about his alleged murder or will he be stopped in time!?
Since the game is based off of the film, I typically wouldn’t talk about any of the characters. I won’t here either, but I do have to comment that John made for a pretty good protagonist. He made the hero calls when necessary and he never lost sight of his goal. After experiencing a lot of twists and turns throughout his journey, John’s first words in the final level when meeting the final boss are “You’re under arrest.” Now that’s a dedicated hero!
The gameplay is where Minority Report really knocks it out of the park. It’s a mix of third person shooter and a 3D fighting game like Bouncer. It makes for the perfect blend of action types into the combat system. Shooting is pretty easy and linear as you have several guns. All of them are incredibly useful to a fight, but you don’t want to waste the ammo. More on that in a bit. The hand to hand combat techniques are surprisingly deep and there are about as many different combos in this game (20+) as in the average superhero game. You really feel the blows, but simple button mashing won’t be enough as you continue to progress through the game. You need something a little different.
What really makes the game interesting is how challenging it is. You don’t have a certain amount of ammo in each level. It really depends and sometimes you’ll be running on empty. You can spend some cash on it so have a temporary edge to beat the level, but then it can hurt you in the long run. Likewise, you can buy a permanent upgrade like extra health, but you’ll need to last through around 5+ levels without buying anything to work up the funds. Each choice has its amount of ups and downs. The items also aren’t unlimited for some of the temporary power ups like armor or an ultimate shield. I saved the armor for the final boss because…it’s the right thing to do. Trust me, you’ll want to save it! A helpful tip for the final boss is to use any combo that starts with A>B because it will stun her every time, which makes the boss fight a cakewalk after you get the hang of it.
Defeating any of the robots without a gun is very tough and almost impossible to be honest. They don’t flinch and you can’t risk more than 3 hits at a time or they will counter and knock you to the ground. Likewise, all bosses are impervious to guns as they’ll just jump over it or flip to the side. (With one exception.) This definitely forces you to think strategically about how you’ll want to tackle each situation. Saving up your bullets can be a wise move, but sometimes they can be useful to disperse a large crowd of attackers so that you can run by them. An attack that is really a must if you are to survive is the quick slide tackle. It can trip up opponents and deal damage so you should spam it to get the melee fighters out of the way so that you can target the gun fighters.
I also have to say that the game did a great job with the level designs. They do recycle a few old levels during the game, but the plot demands this since he goes to old locations. I especially loved the levels that take place inside of the base and the ones in the city. You actually get a jet pack to use for a few of the levels and it definitely comes in handy. It’s an amazing piece of technology and the gameplay for it is sound. You can move at high speeds and ram opponents to the ground instead of fighting them in hand to hand combat. Proceed with care though because the long range fighters are really good at hitting you no matter how fast you’re going.
The game doesn’t really have any replay value, which can be a little discouraging, but the actual story is pretty long. It contains 40 levels, which is certainly a lot more than one may have expected. The levels aren’t terribly long, but they’re long enough that you’ll feel like you got a good deal from the game. Not to mention that playing it at a higher difficulty will make things interesting. It was already very difficult at some points during the initial playthrough and the other levels of difficulty must be insanely tough. Playing through those would definitely be a fun challenge and that would likely keep you entertained for quite a while. (I would give it a whirl, but I have too many other games to try out….)
The soundtrack is great as you tend to expect from a Gamecube game. The random battle themes that play during the game are all very fast paced and they tend to really give the fights that extra boost. The themes are definitely very engaging and I would give it a 4/5 at the very least. Trust me, good music can certainly make the difference between a great game and a truly great one.
The graphics are pretty good for the game. The legs are realistically detailed as they turn into onion rings when you’re knocked to the ground. (They basically curl into a circle, which looks pretty painful for the main lead, but he tends to walk it off) The graphics definitely aren’t the next Wind Waker or Adventure 2 Battle, but they’re still good and that’s always fun to see from a Gamecube title. Gamecube is the King of Graphics after all.
Overall, This is a pretty great video game and I highly recommend picking it up. It’s going for a very low price and it’s a steal considering how flawless the gameplay is. There are also a few pain arenas where you get to face various copies of a boss, which makes for an unbelievably tough fight. How many games can you get for around 4 dollars that have 40 levels? The soundtrack is top notch and the graphics are good as well. You definitely don’t want to miss out on this title and you should stick around after the screen fades to black as there’s an extra scene in the post game. I can’t really say much more to hype up the game so you’re either sold on it at this point or you’re just not going to get it. Still, I have to say that you’ll be missing out if you pass on such a title!
Overall 8/10
Robin (Fire Emblem) vs Olimar
Robin (Fire Emblem) is back once again and he’s up against another fighter who uses the elements to his advantage. Both of them may be proficient at using them, but Robin’s attacks are far more dangerous. He’s also a talented blade user, which means that Olimar wouldn’t do well in a close quarters combat battle either. Robin (Fire Emblem) wins.
Greg Jenko vs Bass
Greg Jenko is the next opponent who will suffer defeat at the hands of Bass. Bass is just too powerful for Greg. Greg can take out a gun, but it wouldn’t even matter since Bass can easily deflect such a projectile. Greg couldn’t say the same and a simple Darkness Overload attack would crush him. Bass wins.
Count Olaf vs Sailor Mars
Count Olaf is a pretty tricky fellow, but he’s no match for Sailor Mars. One hit from her flame arrow should be enough to easily take Count Olaf down for the count. Count Olaf is only a human while Sailor Mars is a Sailor Scout who fights for world peace and the annihilation of all evil. Olaf will just be a stepping stone on her path to glory. Sailor Mars wins.
Morton Schmidt vs Bass
Morton Schmidt makes his debut onto the blog with this round, but he’s no match against the blog’s top ranked fighter. Bass is much faster than Morton Schmidt could ever hope to be and their level of attack power couldn’t be farther apart. A single hit from Bass would quickly end the fight and that would be it for Morton. Bass wins.
Madara vs Naruto
This is definitely a very tough match. Both fighters have proven that they are exceptionally skilled in hand to hand combat as well as fighting at long range. I would say that Madara is ever so slightly faster than Naruto, but Naruto has been shown to have more explosive techniques at his disposal. Choosing one fighter over the other is tricky and they are both more or less at the same level. I would ultimately choose but it is a choice that could change depending on what happens. For now, I must go with the Uchiha! Madara wins.
Showcase Presents Justice League of America Volume 6 Review
I read this volume almost half a year ago, but the backlog of reviews doomed it to take a while as with the Essential X Men review. Luckily, I happen to be a little more of a DC fan and the comics didn’t have a huge plot back then so with the help of Comicvine, this review will be more thorough as it’s supposed to be. You really can’t go wrong with the Justice League and this collection was just as good as I could have hoped.
There are a whole lot of comics in this collection since it brings about 25 of them. Most of these comics contain different plots entirely, although there are some multi parters. The first two part comic is the one from the cover. Nazi’s have somehow won the war so everyone acknowledges that they need the real Justice League in order to win. Naturally, the Justice League and the Freedom Fighters are eventually forced to fight due to misunderstandings and one of the ultimate fights in comics is quickly started. We also get a comic where Hawkman decides to part ways with the Justice League and this isn’t pleasant news for the other members. They aren’t given much time to react as Eclipso strikes!
We get several more comics in the collection until we reach the saga where the Equalizer attacks. All of the heroes begin to equally share their powers so they are all as fast and strong as each other. This means that Superman is a pale shadow of who he once was and Batman can’t really think too well. He’s actually pretty scared and worried the whole time because he’s not used to being average. (I find this a little hard to believe) The League won’t be able to take on such a threat so they’re going to have to call in an ex Justice League member. Is this a good move or will it merely bring about their doom. It’s definitely a very risky gambit.
Now, I have to reference the Equalizer plot once again. That was the one comic where all of the portrayals were a little off. Batman shouldn’t really lose so much confidence even if he has been equalized and I would like to think that everyone would still be pretty strong since Superman’s strength is just that great. They also lost a lot of their abilities to the Equalizer himself so it’s a little arguable, but I like to think that they would still be pretty big threats in the long run.
There was a mini arc with Adam Strange, but it wasn’t very note worthy.
A fun comic was where Dr Light switched the civilian identities of each of the heroes. Now, they all had to live out a day as someone else and that was pretty fun. Will they be able to master their new abilities in time to stop this treacherous villain and will some secret identities finally become known to the public? This is an issue that’s a must read! One issue that was…interesting was when two real life DC employees find Flash’s treadmill and jump into the Comics world. One of them quickly gets corrupted and turns to evil while the other one must try to stop him. I can’t say that I cared for either character, but it was definitely a big change of pace from the typical issue.
Another comic finds Green Lantern in a dangerous position as he continues to charge his ring during the night without being aware of it. A villain seems to be controlling him so he quickly contacts the League. Hopefully the heroes can stop him before it’s too late! Wonder Woman finally rejoins the League during one issue, but finds out that they have all quit. The new villain is far too scary for them and she has to help them get their courage back. What kind of villain could intimidate the League so thoroughly? Those are just some of the plots, but you can see that we definitely have a lot of interesting ones in the mix.
From the characters, Green Arrow and Hawkman had most of the banter. They were constantly insulting each other and it made things interesting. They don’t actually want the League to fire the other person, but Green Arrow loves picking fights and Hawkman prefers to directly defend himself while the other Leaguers just ignore the archer. Batman and Superman are pretty great as always and any comic with them is usually fun to read…meaning that all of the comics in this collection are pretty great if I recall correctly. They usually make up some kind of reason as to why Superman would lose to a random giant monster each time. Wonder Woman gets a really small role since she is mainly with the Justice Society instead of the Justice League, but she looks pretty good in her guest star role. She ends up saving the team, which gives her some serious bragging rights. The Flash’s role wasn’t very big although he had a role in the issue where he and Hawkman merged with an alien and fought the League. His super speed ensures that he’s a good match for any opponent…assuming that he doesn’t get tripped up while running of course. Green Lantern is a solid character as well and at least he went to the JLA for help right away when he suspected that something was using his body for evil. Most heroes would just keep it to themselves and call it a day. He didn’t look too great when he allowed himself to be blindsided, which allowed Twoface to escape, but I suppose that he was really concentrating on flying at the time. Willpower is what runs the ring after all so it’s almost believable.
I definitely don’t buy the League all becoming cowards because of the fear that the villain emitted. Surely they have the strength of mind to resist such an attack and to become great heroes again right? Wonder Woman had to snap them out of it in the end and use her Lasso to get them into action. No wonder Earth gets worried sometimes….surprisingly the government doesn’t really appear much. It’s hard to believe that they used to wholeheartedly trust the League. Nowadays, there is always a shadow cabinet out to get them or even the President himself when the time is right.
Of course, it still makes for a fun plot. The collection has more continuity than you may have guessed given how long ago it came out. The Hawkman plot came several times and there are definitely a lot of references to the older comics. The cast is pretty large since the members are always rotating and we even got to see the Freedom Fighters and Justice Society. I felt bad for the Justice League when they met the Society because they got fooled by a villain into destroying the heroes. I’m not completely sure if it actually ended up that way or if there was a plot twist, but I do remember the Spectre intervening so I’m pretty sure that they actually died. As a result, the villains took advantage of this and used costumes of the Society so that the heroes would believe that their ghosts had come back to haunt them. Batman didn’t believe it of course, but he still couldn’t fight back since it was too emotional. The League definitely got pummeled once again, but we can definitely say that they are the strongest group. The Freedom Fighters certainly didn’t stand a chance against them.
The art is very easy to follow which is always a good thing. This collection is in black and white as per the norm so you can actually use it to try and draw the characters yourself. No colors to distract you after all. I still prefer color for the comics, but you can still follow the fight scenes and that’s what counts. The current DC art in the New 52 is amazing, but I’ve always loved the art from these days as well. It’s just crisp and easy to read.
Overall, These adventures really are timeless. It never gets old to see the witty banter between the heroes and the villains. Back in the day, a simple trick like an incoming box was enough to take out a Green Lantern and every villain worth his nickel had a chunk of Kryptonite up his sleeve. The heroes had to face some pretty tricky villains while also dealing with the occasional alien. All of the comics are pretty interesting and any big DC fan should definitely appreciate how fun the adventures can be. I would go as far as to say that any comic reader should get a kick out of this comic. The black and white style may turn off a few, but I’m sure that they would enjoy it if they only gave it a chance. Since this is volume 6 of the JLA Showcase series, the comics are a little more modern and you can tell by Superman’s design. (His is the most notable in my opinion) I definitely suggest checking it out!
Overall 8/10
Nerf N-Strike Double Blast Bundle Review
This is another one of the beauties that I snagged at the 5 dollar bin over at Gamestop. See, this game is a steal because it was a little less than 5 dollars and it brings the original Nerf N-Strike game as well as the sequel. You have to admit that two full fledged (Under 10 levels in the second one) games for such a low price is pretty great. The second game improves upon the first one and it’s a game that you’ll want to check out.
I guess I’ll talk about the first game first. It should be noted that the game originally came with a blaster and the sequel came with a red lens, but you don’t actually need them. It just means that you have to get the codes wrong and trip the alarms in the second time every time such a situation pops up. It means more danger for the player, but I’m sure that you could handle such a challenge right? Let’s hope so!
Back to the game. It all starts off when a kid by the name of Shane is playing with his friends at the arcade. He loses the (rigged) level and goes home only to find out that he has been selected to join the Nerf N-Strike team. B.O.B. tells him that he must defeat the other combatants in order to climb to the top of the ranks. Unbeknownst to Shane, B.O.B. is also goading the other combatants to defeat him. Whether it be through threats or insults, B.O.B. makes sure to get the job done. Can this kid fresh out of the arcade really defeat these trained (semi) professionals in a game of Nerf? To do this, the kid must infiltrate each of their hideouts and destroy the high scores at each minigame. Sounds like fun eh!? Let’s just say that B.O.B. may not be as heroic as he seems.
Nerf N-Strike Elite’s plot is a lot deeper and it has a more cinematic feeling. Jackal has decided to round up the team once again because a certain villain has returned and he feels like it’s their duty to stop him. Shane is arguably still the main character even though Tango is the one on the cover. The heroes join forced and take out their new Nerf Blasters. Only one group gets to walk away this time!
The gameplay for the first game is a little different from your typical shooter. There are 4 rooms and each room has 5 minigames. You have to beat them to proceed to the next room. We do have the classic FPS feel during the final minigame of each section, where you shoot all of the robots who oppose you. You cannot move as that happens automatically and you just focus on the shooting. It’s pretty fun and they did a good job with the mechanics until the final level. The other minigames are fun variations of the style. One of them involves shooting boxes out of the ring until you come across a purple one and you shoot it to win. Another one has you only aim at robots of a certain color. My personal favorite one is where you have to shoot boulders into a soccer goal/pool table. There’s also one where you have to shoot the boulders 5 times to blow them up without hitting the red ones. There are a few others, but that’s mainly the jist of it. There aren’t many actual FPS levels where you’re on an adventure, but the minigames are actually pretty fun so it’s all right.
The gameplay for Game 2 is more straight forward. Picture your average FPS game except that the game characters move for you. You just aim for anything that moves as you go through the adventure. I didn’t have the accessories with me so I had to incorrectly guess every password to let the villains come, which would let me go past once I defeated them. That’s all right and it doesn’t make things that much worse. I will say that the first game was infinitely tougher than this one, but the second does have difficulty levels that you can adjust to make the game harder. I’m sure that on Elite mode it would end up being even more difficult than the first game.
Shane gets the most character development from all of the characters. He’s pretty full of himself in the first game and he really rubs it in whenever he wins. He insults his opponent’s skills and he loves to hear himself talk. He does make the tough calls when it counts though as seen in the ending. In the second game, Shane has become a natural born leader and he’s an expert with a gun. He now believes in teamwork and he never leaves a man behind on the job. He’s essentially Duke from G.I. Joe in the second game. I’m not sure why he changed so much, but he is easily the best character in both games. His heroics rival Mario’s!
Tango is the army member of the group. In the first game, he’s a no nonsense fighter. He makes a lot of puns about his name and he proceeds to put up a decent fight against Shane. In the second game, he represents the strong, but not smart character. It’s a pretty big change and one that is a little hard to embrace. He’s scared of elevators and a few other things, but he does have the strongest (Nerf) gun in the group. Tango is a good teammate to have on board, but it’s hard to say that he’s likable.
Komodo is the first opponent that you face in the Nerf game so he’s also the weakest. From all of the characters, he easily gets the least amount of character development. I can’t say that I recall too many things about him and he’s just easily forgotten. He does have a pretty great moment in the second game though. After the most emotional moment in the franchise where someone betrays them and their hometown is about to be nuked, Komodo says “This is the best day of my life!” after seeing a cool rocket. That’s….a little insensitive to say the least since everything that they know was about to be wiped off the face of the Earth. Maybe it’s all just a game to him.
Jackal is one of the more intriguing characters. By that, I mean that he had the biggest accent. He’s always talking about how he hunts alone and “My grandfather used to say that one person starts the game and another one bags it. Watch as I bag this one.” It’s actually a pretty great saying, but the way that he says it is more humorous than threatening. (Which is what happens to most of the dialogue in the first game) His personality does a 360 in the second game as he gets a pretty huge plot twist that you may not have seen coming. I didn’t either, but the odds of any of my readers playing the game is low so you may not get to experience it. That’s pretty sad if you really think about it.
Raven is another one of the kids who was selected for the Nerf N-Strike team. She loves to remind her opponents that getting beaten by a girl is a pain that will never fade. She loves to use the girl power angle to humiliate her foes as much as she can when defeating them. In the second game, she’s mostly there to taunt Tango and she is the one who lets the villain know that the heroes are now N-Strike Elite members. She doesn’t get as much character as some of the others, but she is consistently around to help out when the going gets tough.
B.O.B. is the recruiter from the first game. His threats know no bounds and he’ll do anything if it means that he’ll get a new fighter for the N-Strike. His methods go a little far and one of the members gets suspicious when two of the kids disappear. B.O.B. can’t have that now can he? He doesn’t mind being frank with the heroes as he lets Shane know that he will not be able to defeat Tango. After Shane defeats Tango, it gets pretty personal and B.O.B. lets us in on a startling fact…this isn’t a game anymore! As a boss fight, B.O.B. is pretty impressive.
In the second game, he is more of a pawn than a strategic mastermind. He gets a big power up in the form of a giant robot, but is that really enough to defeat a few Elite agents? The boss fight in the first game was actually very difficult and it took me a handful of tries, but that was mainly due to the gameplay and the fact that I got a pretty bad gun. The second game smoothed out the gameplay a whole lot so the battle was a cakewalk. I definitely won’t be forgetting B.O.B. though.
The graphics for the first game are all right I suppose. The character models are a little sub par and that doesn’t really change for the sequel. Things just don’t look like they should for a big Wii game. The sequel does look a lot better. The difference is night and day between them and it helps that I played the second one immediately after the first game. Everything suddenly looks like it’s in HD and they put a lot more thought into the backgrounds. The second one’s graphics are actually very impressive and they can easily hold up to any of the other big Wii games.
The soundtrack isn’t really that impressive. I forgot just about all of the themes immediately after I finished playing the games. There isn’t really anything in it that likely took them a while to compose and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was all free domain music. The themes aren’t that important in a shooter since your shooting will likely drown it out anyway, but it can definitely help. Just look at the Metroid Prime games as a shining example of this.
The bundle has a decent amount of replay value, but I would’t call it an exceptionally large amount. In the first game, you can continue to break your records in the minigames until all of your medals are Gold Rank and you can try to unlock all of the guns. In the second game there are a lot of weapons to buy and upgrade for each of the characters so it should take at least 20 playthroughs to get everything. Personally, I’m not That dedicated to getting all of the items so I would never even consider if, but why not right? The actual story mode for game 1 is 21 levels and assuming that you beat them all in a single shot, it should only take 4-6 hours to complete. The second game is even shorter with 8 levels and they’re very easy. That game should take you 3-4 hours or maybe even less. Overall, counting the bonus content, it’s still a decent amount, but the second game’s story is a little disappointing level wise. 10 is really the minimum amount that I find acceptable for a video game.
Overall, This was a pretty fun bundle. From the 5 Dollar bin, I would say that it beat Flingsmash, but lost to Geometry Wars. It also managed to beat Roogoo somehow. This is easily worth the 4 dollars since it has a lot of content. Either game works as they’re both good for different reasons. The first game was fun for the minigames while the second one has some really great animation and the plot is really there. The first one had a loose plot with some cutscenes before each boss battle and for each intro, but the second one has a deep and cohesive plot that continues for the whole game as the heroes try to save their town. If you’re looking for plot then the second title is for you and you’ll love the first one for gameplay. Either way, this is a steal and you can show the world that Nerf guns can hold up against giant robots bent on world conquest!
Overall 7/10
Ike vs Lucina
Lucina is quick and she’s one of the more skilled fighters to join the Smash Bros group, but she won’t be a match for Ike. Ike’s powerful swings would keep her on the defensive and eventually his flame sword would land a decisive blow. Lucina is quick, but Ike’s reactions are good enough to keep up with her and his durability is pretty sound. Ike wins.
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