It’s been quite a while but now I am finally diving back into the world of Hockey. 2K7 is be one of the older hockey games, at least from the ones I’ve played. It has a very nostalgic feel to it and that really helps the game excel. This is a contender for my favorite hockey game and that’s not just because I finally won for a change. I think taking such a long break helped my hockey fundamentals.
Right away I dove into a match and got ready to see what the other team would do. The controls are very simple here which is nice as I don’t need to worry about a bunch of different options. You pass, shoot, and steal the puck. I’m sure there are more controls but those are the ones I really used to claim victory. I kept up a very aggressive offensive and it ended up paying off big time. Defense still isn’t an issue just because it is already so hard for anyone to get a goal in. You still do want to keep the pressure up so they don’t start getting fancy but as long as you do that you should be okay. Aside from that one hockey game there are basically never any shootouts.
As for offense I would play the game almost like Basketball and have one player take over the game. I’d drive up to the net and then quickly pass to someone near by and instantly take the shot. It wouldn’t always work but I fell like this gives you the best shot. I think one of my shots was without a pass but I managed to get the goalie in a bad spot which was very fortunate. I won the game 3-1 which felt pretty impressive. I gotta admit though, I did get nervous during the second quarter because initially I was winning 2-0 and then they suddenly scored. I’ve had quite a few matches were the computer suddenly got on a roll and started scoring so I definitely couldn’t let that happen. Fortunately there were no miracle comebacks this time. I got to close out the victory and saw the fun little celebration at the end. As always the presentation in the game is quite good. You get to see all of the characters celebrating after each score and then a bunch of them at the end. It really does help make the whole experience tie together a lot better.
I got into one fight during the match but my opponent was dominating me. To prevent myself from actually taking a loss I just took off and ran at that point. That’s a pretty fun mechanic that I’m surprised isn’t really around in the newer games. Being able to beat a hasty retreat was pretty fun even if I would have preferred securing the win. The guy’s punches were just so fast and unrelenting though. I was basically unable to do anything at that point which was crazy.
The graphics are pretty good and the colors stand out. It’s got that retro feeling that I mentioned a while back which is nice. I didn’t notice any music this time but in a sport game that isn’t too important since you’re focused on the sounds and the commentators. I can’t deny that having some solid tunes in true background would be a good idea though. They certainly don’t hurt.
As far as the replay value goes there is definitely a lot to do here. You can play some bonus modes and you can start a season. There are a ton of teams so trying them all will probably take some time as well. The game is pretty old so you won’t have the option of doing online but there are a ton of offline things to do at least. The game is only a dollar or two to buy as well so there is that.
Overall, 2K7 is a very good game. It brings you the full hockey experience and does it all very well. There is nothing lacking here and so long as you enjoy hockey you are basically guaranteed to have a good time. I don’t think I have any more hockey games or one at the most so soon it’s gonna be time to look at a different sport. Hockey had a good run and now when I buy my next hockey game someday I’ll be prepared for it.
Overall 7/10
No stats this time!
It’s time to take a look at a racing game that I didn’t even know existed until I came across a random Reddit post a while back. I really enjoyed Asphalt on the 3DS to the point where I consider it to be the definitive portable racing game and one of the better ones overall. This one is a big console version and it’s free so it would be interesting to see how it fares. Well, it’s a lot of fun and there’s a ton of content yet it just doesn’t feel quite as good as the 3DS version.
When you jump into the game you have a lot of options on what you would like to do first. The main mode is Career which is where you’ll go through hundreds of levels in order to prove that you are the best. The levels are all bite sized at around a minute or less. Your goal is typically to get 1st place but sometimes you need to pull off a drift or be in the air for a while. By the point where I stopped these missions were all very easy but I’m sure they would get tougher over time. Due to how many levels there are here you could easily be busy for a very, very long time. The longer the better though so that works out quite well.
Then you have the online battles where you race other drivers. The more you win the more you rise up through the different ranks. I managed to get Silver Rank in my first 2 online seasons so I’d count that as a total win. These battles are fun but be prepared to lose quite a bit since your car matters a lot here. As a freemium player I just had the most basic cars imaginable while some of these guys online had sweet rides at their disposal. It’s still a good change of pace from playing the offline modes all the time.
Then there are tons of achievements which you’ll unlock naturally as you play the game. Most of them keep on going as well so lets say one achievement was for winning 10 races, you’ll get another 15. There are a ton of missions like this so you’ll likely be clearing one almost every race. They get you A Points which can be used for Coins or vice versa. Then you use points to upgrade your cars. In order to get new cars you need to unlock blueprints which you get by winning races. There are a ton of cars so you’ll be unlocking them for a long time.
Each car has an individual energy meter so you can only use them a certain amount of times before they have to rest. You can use an item to reset the timer but once you run out of those you’d have to buy them. This is one game where money helps you out a lot. You can buy the best of the best stuff here right off the bat. If you do that they you will have a very tangible benefit over the other players. At least the game is doable without paying though. That’s really the important part for me since I like being able to at least make it to the end without paying a dime. So long as I can do that then everything else will quickly fall into place.
There are a lot of songs here. The game spared no expense in buying actual lyrical songs to listen to during the stages. That was impressive and they fit pretty well with the speed of the races. The graphics also look really good. They’re on par with something you may have spent 60 bucks to play. The Free to Play market is in a really good state at this point since companies are producing rather expensive games like this one and not charging. Yes, it’s because they charge end users for optional things, but at least it’s not mandatory.
If the game has a problem it’s that there is too much to do. More content isn’t bad, but the menus are structured in a way where it is always very overwhelming. I’ve noticed that this does tend to happen to some mobile games. You really need a main menu that you can maneuver through easily and that’s not something that this game has. It may seem rather minor but it gets to be a big deal after a while when you are just trying to find your garage or the next race. It’s all very busy.
As for the gameplay, it’s definitely pretty solid. Asphalt 3D is still better, but this one doesn’t add too many gimmicks. You can boost and you can spin to knock out other racers. Beyond that it is basically a normal racing game and that’s what you would expect from Asphalt. It’s a simple experience next to NFS or Mario Kart, but it excels at this. 9 just doesn’t feel as simple as the rest of the series which may be the price for being free. It’s worth it of course even if I ultimately did not stick with it.
Overall, Asphalt 9 is a very good game. It’s practically endless with how many races there are to do. If you really like racing then I can see you sticking with this game for a very long time. There won’t really be a reason for you to put it down. With no story mode here you’ll be playing purely for the gameplay. I’ve got too many games on the backlog to stay with any one title for too long, but there is a good amount of quality here. Asphalt’s developers didn’t phone this one in and I could see it staying active for a very long time. I would caution you not to spend any money on it until you are sure that you will be playing the game for a long time though.
Overall 7/10
It’s time to venture back into the world of My Little Pony! Legends of Magic is a spinoff series about the old timers and other magic threats. This one is a prequel about Stygian and how he gathered Equestria’s mightiest defenders. It’s a fun volume and while you may miss the Mane 6, these guys aren’t so bad. They may not have as much charisma but they are all pretty strong and it’s like looking at an ancient version of the ponies. It also helps tie in an element from the Equestria Girl film.
The comic starts off with Stygian doing more studying as always. He runs across 3 Serpents who ask him to bring them to the town so they can play for the people. Stygian refuses because these girls are super shady and does some chores for an old pony. When he gets back to town he sees that these Serpents have already made it into the village and cursed everyone with their singing. Stygian barely escapes and decides that in order to stop these guys he will need the strongest Ponies around. Will Stygian be able to find these guys and stop the villains in time to save the day? Only time will tell.
There are 6 issues here and essentially each issue is about recruiting a different Pony and getting one step closer to being able to return to his village. The first member he recruits is Rockhoof. Rockhoof is the power member of the team and he’s so strong that he can create a path to divert the river in no time at all. From there he can take on Bears and do all kinds of things. At first his super power appears to be raw strength but the more you read the comics the more it seems like determination is his special skill. That ultimately makes more sense since he isn’t able to even block a bunch of bunnies from entering the room in a later comic. I’d argue that he is still the most powerful of the group though. He’s a nice guy and it’s good to have someone on the team who is always ready to stand up for Stygian.
Another member of the group is the speedster Flash. He was dealing with some dragons and so at first he didn’t have time to deal with this impending danger. Fortunately the gang was ready to take it out with the dragons and that all ended up going well. Flash is very confident and he’s a good foil to Rockhoof. I dare say that he was necessary in order to make the group a true threat to the villains. Mistmane probably had the most embarrassing adventure since she was kidnapped by her own plants. Ultimately they may have listened to her, but if the others hadn’t shown up when they did I fear that she would have been truly doomed. I just don’t think she would have been able to stand up to the others for very long otherwise.
Meadowbrook had to deal with a lot of violent animals thanks to some poison in the plants. She’s a nice enough pony even if she isn’t a fighter. Her medical expertise could certainly come in handy during a fight. Then we have Somnambula who was dealing with Zombies. She’s the Pinkie Pie of the group due to how cheerful and unpredictable she can be and yet she manages to do so without being completely over the top the way that Pinkie usually is. It is a welcome change to be sure. Somnambula is actually charismatic and while she does enjoy poking fun at the others more than actually helping out, it’s not as if we ever considered her to be a hero.
Finally we have Star Swirl who is as self absorbed as ever. His only goal is to stop the menace threatening Equestria and it’s something that he believes only ponies with power can accomplish. As a result he brushed Stygian to the side the whole time. While he isn’t as exaggeratedly mean as in the TV show, you can see how the seeds are already planted with his character arc. He may be powerful, but the guy isn’t particularly likable. Too bad Starlight wasn’t around yet to show him what true power really is.
These are a fun batch of issues leading up to a satisfying climax. Each issue gave us a nice little threat and then the actual climax delivered with the big confrontation with the Serpents. (I think they were known as the Sirens in the issue, but they look like Serpents) I’d be down for a battle between the Pillars and the Mane 6 at some point. That would definitely be a blast. The writing is solid here and the pacing is good. Each issue feels like it is over in a blast as a result so you are always ready for more adventures. The artwork is quite solid and looks like it came right out of the show. The character designs are on point and the comic excels with the technical aspects.
Overall, Legends of Magic is a very good volume. It gives us more character development on Stygian and it is easy to see how he became the Pony of Shadows. There’s not a lot of gratitude here considering that he saved not just a town, but multiple towns by the end of this mini series. People really didn’t give him much of a chance just because he didn’t have powers. At least this helped the other ponies to learn later on that it’s not the powers that make the Pony but the other way around. I’ve got quite a few more MLP comics on the way so you can expect more reviews in the near future.
Overall 7/10
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