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Super Smash Bros 3DS Review

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All right, it’s time for another big Nintendo review! We just got through playing with Hyrule Warriors and that game gave Nintendo another 9 star title. Now, the next Super Smash Bros is upon us and I can safely say that this one is worthy of the 9 star rating as well. There is a lot of content within this title and you’ll find yourself with things to do for days to weeks to months. For reasons that I will explain soon, it cannot really beat Melee or Brawl, but that’s the Wii U’s job anyway. Nintendo made the right choice in deciding to go to the portable market. Now, let’s see what this game is made of!

It’s been a long time since Brawl so we’ve all been pretty psyched for this game. It’s the first title that I’ve ever pre ordered and I’ll make sure to do the same for the Wii U version. That means that I took a break from the 5 dollar bin for once. At 9 stars, you can tell that this game is a cut above the rest. There are tons of positives, but there will also be some negatives or things that I think the game could have improved on. Before we get into the detailed topics, let’s take a look at the gameplay.

It’s a little harder to describe this game if you’ve never played a Super Smash game before, but it’s essentially a 2D “sprite” brawler. I’m using the word sprite to remind you of the classic GBA games. Mario, Sonic, Mega Man. Picture that style of running and jumping and then add combo attacks from a classic fighting game. Each character can attack 4 different way as you input their standard attacks with the control pad. Right, Left, Up, and Down. This also applies to their 4 special attacks and 4 smash attacks. There are many different combos for each character and you’re guaranteed a unique experience every time. There has never been a game quite like Super Smash Bros although many other titles have tried and failed. (TMNT Smash Up and Playstation All Stars come to mind. They weren’t bad of course, but they’re just not as good as Super Smash Bros.)

Typically, many of the stages will have gimmicks to make the battles more fun. Some stages may have enemies that attack or a stage that is constantly moving. There are dozens of items to also impact the battle, but you will still want to be skilled at close quarters (Or long range) combat for when there are no items to protect you. The game is very fast paced and it’s as strategic as it is action packed. Super Smash Bros is as deep as a game gets when it comes to gameplay and that’s why it’s a title that always ends up getting a lot of play time. Melee got well over 300 hours and Brawl had reached 999 at one point before my system data crashed. These games are built to last!

The graphics never really looked impressive online, but the 3DS isn’t meant to be viewed that way. The games always look better on the actual screen and this title is no exception. I don’t use the 3D because it hasn’t really helped any game, but it doesn’t need that affect. It’s very flashy and the effects definitely look like a 2014 title. It’s not overdone to the point where your eyes hurt, but everything does make sure to pop out at you so you won’t get bored of the scenario. Each level has been done with a lot of detail and the stages are very pleasing to compete in. None of them can really be called boring.

The soundtrack definitely earns a 5 star rating from me. (Out of 5 of course) Some of the themes aren’t as climatic as the ones from Melee and Brawl, but the large selection ensures that you will still find a lot of great tunes. I like the level theme from the Kid Icarus Uprising (The Reset Bomb level) stage. Now that is what I call climatic and it would have been very cool to hear that play during the final battle against the Master Hand. The Final Destination theme just isn’t as intense as I would have expected from the other games. Metroid and the Legend of Zelda likely have the best themes overall, but Pokemon and Kid Icarus definitely give them a run for their money. (The 3 big guest stars also have some great themes, but they aren’t quite as numerous, which is why they aren’t at the top. If it was just a contest for best theme in the game, it would be pretty interesting!)

There are many modes to play so let’s start with the most popular one. I’m referring to Classic Mode! Unlike the previous games where you went 8-12 levels, this one is only 6 battles long. I really don’t mind that though since beating 12 levels with 40+ characters would likely get tedious after a while. Classic Mode has really changed here as there are 2-3 paths per battle. You can take the easy way, medium way, or the difficult path to really test your skills. Moreover, you can decide how difficult the mode will be as a whole from the start. You can start at level 1 and go all the way to level 9! (I haven’t completed level 9 yet, but I’m working on it! Level 7 is currently my record) The final boss with Master Hand really gets difficult as you increase the difficulty setting. I was pretty surprised at the final boss so I’m not going to spoil it here. Although, SPOILER ALERT, I will be mentioning all of the secret characters in the game later so you have been warned. Let’s just say that the final boss has multiple phases like a Final fantasy game and the boss fight is so dark and disturbing that you may think that you have wandered into Resident Evil or Slender Man! Nintendo definitely outdid themselves there.
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We’ve also got All Star Mode. (The mode that was always stuck in Classic’s shadow) It’s still pretty fun and the gimmick is that you are fighting all of the other characters without gaining health. (Although you are given 3 items to replenish your power) It really didn’t feel like you were fighting the rest of the characters though since it’s over very quickly. Perhaps that part was changed here. You can switch difficulties here as well and you fight the characters by their order of origin. That’s pretty fun since you can see which characters originated before the others.

Stage Builder has been taken away, but it has been replaced by a character customizer. Each character will have a few attacks that you can customize so that you really get your “perfect” version of that fighter. You can also equip badges and other items to make the fighter stronger. This is mostly useful in Smash Run, which I shall talk about shortly. There is a shop to buy trophies and it seems to be updated either once a day or every few hours. It’s a good way to pick up a few trophies from time to time and luckily they have all been new so far. There is also a Trophy Block Smash mode where you break Trophy blocks as a timer ticks down. It’s a fun minigame and it’s a good way to spend some coins and quickly earn some trophies. You usually earn most of your coins back as well so it’s a very good investment to make.

We’ve also got some classic minigames like Target Test and the Home Run Contest. They’re both pretty fun to play and it’s a good way to learn how to deal maximum damage as quickly as possible. I do prefer the old target test though. This one is not luck based per say, but it’s a little harder to aim for your very best since it’s very hard to aim your Sandbag with precision. There is also the Multi Man(Mii) Brawl, where you face many weak or skilled opponents. For example, 10-100 Man Brawl has you face that number of Miis. One hit will typically finish them and the mode is really about seeing how quickly you can dispatch them. On the other hand, we have Cruel Brawl (I keep saying Brawl, but that may not be the exact title anymore. Either way, it’s close enough) where the opponents are extremely hard to defeat and their attacks are devastating. Just defeating one of them is a pretty good feat in itself.

All right, let’s talk about Smash Run! Smash Run is essentially this game’s version of Adventure Mode. It’s really meant for group play, but it’s still good on your own. You are given 4 minutes to go around and find as many power ups as possible. They are hidden in treasure chests and you can also get some by beating the local minions. Finding a boss will net you some huge rewards as well. After that, you are faced with a Final Battle. It may be a standard fight or it could be a ground race. Maybe even a tree climbing race. I’ve tried this one 3 times so far and I got two regular matches and one race. It’s decently fun, but it’s not really a great substitute for Story Mode or Adventure Mode. It’s nice and short, which helps the replay value, but the other ones were a little more fun. At least the scenery in Smash Run changes each time you play it.

I think it’s time that we talked about the characters. Again, I will be mentioning the secret characters so you’ll want to skip this paragraph if you don’t want to know about them. This will be the only place where I shall mention them so skipping this paragraph and any of the ones coming up with a SPOILER ALERT sign at the front shall keep you safe. Some of the character decisions were intriguing. They can make you a little sad, but not so much because of who made it in. You’re really just sad about who didn’t make it. So, first let’s talk about the newcomers to this series.
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SPOILER ALERT. There are 14 newcomers to the series not counting Miis and Pallette Swaps. First up would be Bowser Jr. It may seem a little disappointing to have another Mario character in the mix, but you can’t deny that his control scheme is very unique. He’s not the greatest character to play as, but I don’t mind his controls. I doubt that I’ll be playing as him much on the 3DS, but who would have thought that you would end up fighting in a Clown Car during a Super Smash game? I was surprised at the addition and I’ll give him a B rank overall. I haven’t tested out his final smash, but I’m sure that it’s solid.

Spoiler Alert. Dark Pit is next and he’s essentially a clone character as is Lucina. Lucina is a clone of Marth and Dark Pit is naturally a clone of Pit. Both of these play like their normal counterparts so there isn’t much to say about them. I give Pit a B+ and Marth an A so these characters stay true to those ranks. I am pretty glad to see both of them even if they are clones. Fire Emblem needed more reps and Lucina seems like she’s a good character. Likewise, Dark Pit was one of the big positives about Kid Icarus Uprising and he deserves to be in the game. My stance on clone characters is that they’re a good idea as long as they aren’t keeping other characters out of the mix. It’s like if James bond was in the game and James Bourne was a clone of him. That would be great for me since I refuse to play as James Bond.

Spoiler Alert. Duck Hunt is probably the most shocking addition to Super Smash Bros. I really can’t get into his attacks so far. He has the potential to be good and I’ve played an online opponent who used him already. He can definitely make for a good fighter, but his attacks don’t seem to be my style so far. He would probably rank in the bottom tiers for me at the moment, but maybe I’ll get used to him. I would give his gameplay a D for now, but the actual addition is very good! We needed a solid throwback character like this.

Palutena is a pretty good fighter. I can’t really say that many of her attacks really stand out to me at the moment. I would give out a C+ or a B- until I really start playing as her. Her moveset seems to be acceptable, but I don’t see myself becoming a Palutena pro anytime soon. It’s good to have more Kid Icarus fighters joining the fray though.

Rosalina’s moveset is pretty interesting since it’s like playing as the Ice Climbers if they had a completely different moveset. I would also give her a C+ or a B-. I haven’t really played as her in an official match (Home Run Contest or Target Attack I believe) but she seems to be decent. I may need to get used to her as well and she’s a little on the slow side, which can be a little dicey.

The Wii Fit Trainer got a lot of hype since she was just randomly revealed after some big events when Sakurai played as her. She seemed like another random addition that nobody could have expected, but I thought that her attack set looked pretty sweet from the get go. I love hand to hand fighters and that’s exactly what she is! I would definitely give her moveset a B for now. I almost bumped it up to a B+, but she does seem to be a bit slow so I’ll have to check on that. Nevertheless, The Wii Fit Trainer is a solid character and a welcome addition to the game. (I may as well say now that they are all welcome additions to the game. Most Nintendo characters are likable, which helps a lot)

Shulk is one of the best new fighters and I would easily give him an A. I love sword fighters and his controls are pretty easy to just pick up and play. Learning all of the signs and maximizing the use of his sword will take more time, but his attacks have a good reach and they deal a lot of damage. He seems like a really good all around character and that’s always good to see. He’s a character that I will likely use a lot.

Villager is unfortunately one of the most disappointing newcomers when it comes to his attack set. He’s not great at scoring KOs and I found it pretty difficult to win with him. He’s very slow and his attacks have a very small range. Trying to hit anyone with his cannonball smash is tough. It’s only good as a way to stop people from climbing back onto the stage and you need to have had the advantage to try something like that. I’ve got to give him an F at the moment. He’s seriously the worst character to play as, but I can think of it as a challenge. I’ll just have to learn how to crush opponents with him!

Mega Man is easily the biggest newcomer to join the fray and he lives up to his name as the Blue Bomber. Just about all of his attacks are long range. It makes me a little nervous to use him online though since any fighter with a reflect attack can have a field day. You have to use a lot of strategic thinking to use him in that scenario. Of course, I loved using Snake for this reason and Mega Man has even more projectiles at his disposal. Really getting good with Mega Man could take some time, but he is definitely a lot of fun to play as. He’s definitely getting an A.
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Pac Man’s another solid fighter whose array of attacks is befitting such a legend. I would give him a B+ or an A-. The reason why he scores a little lower than some of the other high tiers is because I love some of his attacks, but I don’t like some of the others. It’s a bit of a give and take with Pac Man. His Pac Charge and his aerial maneuvers are very useful, but I’m going to have to be careful when using him since he’s just tricky to play as. It’s hard to explain, but I feel like his attacks leave him a little more open and it’s hard to finish off an opponent. Definitely another great character to add to Super Smash though.

Now it’s time for the best newcomer to Super Smash! I’m talking about Little Mac and he instantly gets an S. He may just be my 2nd favorite character to play as behind Fox. I’m probably still better with Mario, (My old number 2) but Little Mac is insanely fast so playing as him always give you a rush. His KO attack can come in handy as well if you time it right. His grabs are a little weak, but I suppose that it’s to be expected since we wouldn’t want him to be too overpowered. If I really get used to his physical attacks, he can definitely replace Mario as my backup fighter. I look forward to using him a lot in the future.

As far as the Pokemon fighters go, Greninja is a decent fighter. As with Palutena, I find that his attacks don’t really stand out that much. He’s quick though and his Water Shruiken is a great long range technique. I’ll give him a B rank for now. Being quick is always a plus and his attacks don’t really leave him open for long. He’s certainly not the Pokemon that I would have chosen to add, but he’s a solid addition nonetheless.

Finally, we’ve got Robin. I’ll give him an A since he’s another really good sword fighter. His Thor attack is really powerful like ROB’s laser and charging it up is pretty easy. He’s not lacking in close combat techniques either so Robin is a real threat in all situations. I haven’t played as him that much yet, but I can see myself playing as him pretty often.

All right, there are still some characters who really should have been in it. I’m talking about Mewtwo, Lucas, Roy, Dark Samus, and Ridley. These guys have proven time and time again that they deserve a spot here. Each of these fighters could have beaten most of the newcomers that were not included. Of course, it also gives you someone to wish for the next game so it’s not all bad. It’s pretty sad that the Ice Climbers didn’t make it though since they were one of my best fighters in Brawl. One move that makes up for most of these instances is the return of Dr Mario. Now, that’s what I’m talking about here! Dr Mario is awesome and a nice twist from the regular Mario. Have you seen his final smash? This is one of the guys that I missed the most from Melee so it is good to have him back with us.

There’s not much to say about the old characters. Some fighters like Pit and Link were changed and I like their current controls. Other like Zero Suit Samus and Sheik are now recognized as their own characters. I think that was a good change and now Zero Suit has a really awesome Final Smash to use. Meta Knight’s final smash was definitely nerfed, but it’s hard to tell whether his attacks are less overpowered or not. We likely won’t know until the Wii U version comes out.

I’ll admit that it’s been hard to get in stride with Fox so far. I can’t rely on his drill kick to up smash combo anymore since the drill kick launches an opponent upwards. He’s still a great character, but I’m going to have to consider the chance that Fox may not be my best character in this game. I’ll still use him the most with honor, but that would definitely be a pretty big twist.

There are a good amount of stages to choose from and they’re pretty great. The Boxing Ring is like a new version of Final Destination and the Reset Bomb gives you plenty of options for how you want to attack the opponent. The Living Room is super spacious and it feels like Temple or the Bridge from Brawl. I definitely don’t have any qualms with the stage selection and Final Destination is still the best and that will likely always be the case.

There are many other factors that I haven’t even touched upon like the new Pokemon, Assist Trophies, and Items. Those are fun to experience and there’s not a whole lot to say about them. It’s always thrilling to see a new one and some are more thrilling than others. I do think that a good amount of the Pokemon are a little too easy to dodge, but the Assist Trophies help to make up for that since they can be pretty tough. Ghirahim is definitely a really good one. From the new items, my favorite is easily the cannon that fires a giant laser blast. You really can’t beat that!

Negatives? Well, there are definitely some to be mentioned, but they are pretty minor since the game is still getting a 9. Some are decently major, but not in the sense that I would take away a point for it. One is the lack of a Story Mode. It’s definitely a step back and I’m sure that they could have squeezed it in if they really wanted too. Just take out Target Test and the Multi Man modes if you really had too. I wouldn’t even mind if All Star Mode was thrown out or the Smash Run.

Not really a negative, but I dare say that the game was a little more similar to Brawl than Brawl was to Melee. By that, I mean that several of the Assist Trophies have stayed the same as well as the Final Smashes. Some character models like Zelda and Ganondorf really feel ripped from Brawls. It just seems like this game took a few shortcuts so that it could come out sooner. I’m fine with the Assist Trophies, but I do think that they could have put some more effort into the character models. Maybe played around with the abilities some more and also given everyone a new Final Smash. Even if it’s the same, change the animations around. Final Smashes are one of the big things that we all look forward too after all. I won’t even mention the alternate costumes since that is a given. They could have done so much more with it.

Super Smash Bros is definitely a lot of fun and I don’t know why the waiting line was so short. When, I went to Gamestop the second it opened, there was only one other guy waiting for the title. They must have been at the Nintendo Center for the midnight screening. Well, I ended up playing that game with my bro nonstop from 9:30 all the way until around 8. It was an epic 10 hours and there are very few games that I could play for 10 hours straight. Both because that’s a lot of time to spend on a title and also because most games would start to get a little repetitive or tedious by then. Not Super Smash Bros and that’s all I really need to say for the Replay Value factor. There are few games with as much content as this title.

Nintendo finally added some online rankings, but I can’t say that it’s the best addition. You can now play real ranked matches in the “For Glory” section, but you don’t get a rank. You can Global Smash Points of course, but it only shows how many people you are better than, not how many are ahead of you. In this day and age, they really could have put in the effort to have a real rankings system so that was pretty disappointing. I’ll still be playing online a lot, but Nintendo really dropped the ball there.

One final thing to mention are the challenges. As with Brawl, there are many challenges. When you complete one, you unlock a stage, a trophy, or something else. There are 105-108 challenges in the game and we’ve completed around 70-80 at the moment. Completing them all will definitely take some time because you have to complete various modes with every character in the game. Still, they’re pretty fun to do so you won’t find it to be a drag and it adds to the replay value.
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Overall, This is one of the greatest games out there and it’s easily the best portable game of all time. Due to the 3DS being a lot smaller, the controls can be a bit of an issue. Because of this, I don’t see myself reaching elite status as quickly as in Melee or Brawl if at all. I’ll definitely play it a lot and I aim to be a master of course, but it’s definitely not the same as on a home console. That’s why this game is still not quite as good as Melee or Brawl. The Gamecube controllers are really a must at this point and you have to be careful with the circle pad since there have been so many reports of it breaking for people. It’s great for what it is, but this still won’t be replacing the Wii U Super Smash Bros. Either way, I highly recommend this title to all gamers. It will really keep you busy for a long time and I’m not exaggerating when I say that it’s the best game that has come out for the portable market. The only thing that can really surpass it is if a sequel were to come out soon. Now, get ready to Smash and I accept all Challengers!!!

Overall 9/10

Hyrule Warriors Review

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It’s been a while since I played a good hack and slash game. The last title would likely be One Piece Unlimited World Red, but you could also consider that one to be more of a hybrid between an action game and a beat em up. The last big one that I played would likely be Devil Kings or the PSP version of Dynasty Warriors. It makes sense that this one would be really chaotic like the classic Dynasty Warrior games since it’s from the same people. They’re still the best at making beat em up games and I can safely say that Hyrule Warriors is the best game on the Wii U right now! (Smash Bros will change this in time, but Hyrule Warriors can enjoy the view from the top at the moment)

The plot involves an evil sorceress named Cia. She is descending upon the land of Hyrule with her dark legions and they’ve already enslaved most of the planet as well. Princess Zelda is forced to recruit one of the soldiers to help her and Impa as they fight on. This soldier is pretty courageous and his name happens to be Link. Once he dawns the legendary hero’s get up..he is ready to claim victory! The situation won’t get any easier for the heroes as the fight continues across whole dimensions. Old enemies like Zant, Dark Link, and Ghirahim show up while old allies like Princess Ruto and Agitha appear as well. Amidst all of the chaos, you can count on Ganondorf showing up at some point as well. The heroes will have to muster up all of their strength to defend the universe and luckily they have a skilled warrior aiding them by the name of Lana. What secrets is she keeping from them?

I am glad that Hyrule Warriors only has one main story as opposed to the usual format where each character gets their own adventure. The latter can get old pretty quickly and a lot of the scenes tend to be shared or similar so everything takes a lot longer to complete. This way, you can enjoy the true story and watch the heroes interact. Different stages will require you to play as different characters, but Link naturally stays as the lead for most of them. There are 17 levels in the game. Each of them can take 15-20 minutes and I usually tried to shoot for the former since that almost guarantees you an A rank in Adventure Mode. (Good practice for the future right?)

I already mentioned that the game is a hack and slash, but I’ll still explain what that means for the gameplay. You will typically wield a sword, but other characters also use magic spells and short blades. You are then launched into a giant area where you work to secure certain spots as you attack the army. You will have many allies as well who will help you secure the enemy’s territory. It is crucial to invade the strong hold of the enemy before they reach yours. There will also be sub missions during the level at times, which are typically helpful in winning the battle. Sometimes, the victory conditions will change as well so you should always be on your guard.

In essence, this means that you’ll be doing a lot of button mashing. After all, you’ll defeat over 1000 enemies in each level so you need to really enjoy this kind of gameplay. Luckily, it’s definitely one of my favorite types as it would only lose to something like Budokai Tenkaichi 3’s epic style of fighting. Of course, I tend to like most action genres so they’re all pretty high up in the ranks, but especially so in the case of hack and slash titles. Each character will have a super attack as well as a few combos to unleash during gameplay. You will be equipped with an endless supply or arrows, bombs, hookshots, and boomerangs to help you overcome obstacles as well.

There are also a lot of things to do once you beat the game. First off, you can go into Free Mode to replay the levels with other characters. Each level has 2 Gold Spiders (1 is not available until you complete the story) as well as two heart pieces hidden inside. The Gold Spiders are used to unlock illustrations, which unlock other things. (I believe that a stage is one of the unlockables) After you’ve beefed up your characters a little more, then you can hit Challenge Mode or Adventure Mode.

Adventure Mode is very long and it’s even longer than Story Mode. There are well over 50 levels to be found here and they are considerably more difficult than what you would have encountered before them. You unlock more characters, heart pieces, and gold spiders here. You also get the chance to find some great weapons and earn more rupees. I’ve only played one level here so far, but it seems to be pretty fun. Anything’s worth it for extra characters right? Challenge Mode is similar since you will have to complete several challenges during a level. It’s not bad, but I don’t see the point at the moment. It’s a new DLC that was added into the game though so they may add more incentives for playing this mode.

The rupees can be really helpful once you go to the shop. You can unlock badges for each character based off of the materials that you own. (It costs money to use them) You can make some potions, which can help during battle. (You shouldn’t waste your rupees on this in my opinion. I didn’t buy any of them since the money would be better spent on the next option) The best way to use the rupees is to level up other characters. If you only play as Link and get him to around level 50, the other characters won’t have gotten any stronger. Instead of going back to play as them, you can simply level them up with rupees. The only catch involved is that you can never level up a character past your strongest character’s highest level. Meaning that you couldn’t level up Impa to level 51 through rupees until you got Link to that level. Of course, if you played as Impa and got her to level 51, then you could just level up Link accordingly.

Cia is the big villain to debut in this game and she’s a decent antagonist. I definitely find her to be more interesting than Zant and Ghirahim. Aside from Ganondorf, she is probably the best main villain. Her magical abilities are definitely powerful and she’s probably one of the only villains to ever talk back to Ganondorf and actually surpass him in fighting ability. There are circumstances involved of course, but it’s very impressive. She has a pretty sad ending, but such is the fate for all villains in the end.

Lana is a pretty cool hero. She’s infinitely more interesting than most of the allies in this game. Her story also has a few sad twists, but she stays pretty optimistic about her circumstances for the most part. She’s a solid addition to the Legend of Zelda series and it would be cool to see her appear in more titles. I don’t care for her gameplay that much since she’s a magic user, but her attacks definitely have good range.

I’m glad that they chose the Skyward Sword version of Impa to show since that is definitely her best incarnation. It’s good to see her as a hero. I didn’t really care for some of the allies like Princess Ruto, Darunia, or Midna. They don’t really do much during the game and I think that Hyrule Warriors could have presented us with more interesting allies.

One of the newer characters from the game that I didn’t care for was Agitha. She’s definitely the kind of character that I don’t care for. She’s not much of a fighter and she’s a little too oblivious about the whole situation. I could definitely have selected a better character to put in her place, (A Wind Waker sage would be cool) but at least her role is pretty small.

We also have the two main villains that work for Cia. Wizzro is a dark magician and he seems to be pretty weak physically so he has to rely on his spells. I was pretty surprised at how confident he was when he went up against Link, but some villains just don’t realize their true limitations until it’s too late. His design is definitely pretty cool and he’s a solid villain. He would be even better if he was a fighter.

That is why Volga is the superior minion. He’s works as a rival to Link and while he is evil..he does have honor. Volga wants to defeat Link in a fair fight and he is one of the more powerful Link villains. He has everything that I could want in a villain and that’s why it’s safe to say that he’s easily in my top 5 of all time. He’s probably even higher, but I haven’t really gone back to think of all of the opponents that have appeared before. Needless to say, he’s a pretty great character. Hyrule Warriors did a good job of making the new characters likable as I enjoyed Cia, Lana, Volga, and Wizzro and Agitha is the only one that I didn’t like.

An assortment of bosses also appeared briefly, but they didn’t really get to stay around for character development. Ganondorf is as tough as ever and this game definitely portrays him pretty accurately. He never retreats and he continues to dominate his opponents with pure power. He takes over a good chunk of the land with ease and it doesn’t take him long to bend Ghirahim and Zant to his will. His new character design really works as well. You get a sense that he is definitely Link’s biggest threat and while he may have suffered defeat by the game’s main villain, he definitely comes back from that. His true form is as tough looking as ever, but I still prefer him in humanoid mode.

Link is pretty true to character. He started from humble beginnings and eventually showed Princess Zelda and the others that he is a true hero. I still say that he’s much more heroic than Mario and he really could be the most heroic character of all time. Of course, it certainly helps a lot that he never talks. He does have a moment where the Master Sword’s power goes to his head, but I can’t say that I disagreed with his actions. I think Link made the right move in attacking the enemy fortress by himself since he is the most skilled hero. Even then, Link never gave up until the bitter end.

Princess Zelda also looks pretty good. I’m glad that she didn’t just hide in the castle and decided to infiltrate enemy lines as Sheik. Sheik’s character design was pretty sleek here and I think the graphics did a good job of depicting it. She’s one of the few characters that I’ve played as aside from Link. (The only others would be Lana, Impa,(Maybe…I’m not positive) and Ganondorf) I do like Sheik more than Zelda, but they’re technically the same character so they’re both pretty good. Zelda is just suck in her leadership role more than Sheik so it limits her actions. Sheik is really free to do whatever she wants.

It’s easy to see why this is an all star title. The developers put a lot of effort into it as they added many easter eggs for the series. Compared to the average Dynasty Warriors game, Hyrule Warriors is lacking a little in content, (Especially the character roster) but that’s okay. It only looks bad when compared to that game. Compare it to almost any other title and Hyrule Warriors really looks good. Counting all of the modes, there are well over 60 levels and there are many other replay value factors to consider. Gathering all of the heart containers, Gold Spiders, and maxing out everyone’s levels will still take a very long time. This game easily has over 30-50 hours of content within it and the developers continue to add more. Challenge Mode only has one level in it so far so we can be pretty confident that more will be added in the near future.

The graphics are pretty solid for the game. Obviously, you shouldn’t expect Final Fantasy levels of animation here since a hack and slash game is typically known to have worse graphics than an RPG title. That’s because of how many enemies are constantly loaded onto the screen. We still do get a few big cutscenes that look really good. I definitely would say that the graphics are 2014 worthy and you won’t be wincing at anything. You can really take in the scenary and enjoy your visits to the various universes relating to the franchise. Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, and Skyward Sword levels are all featured in one game. I doubt we’ll ever see that again. (Unless this game gets a sequel, which would be pretty cool)

Naturally, this is a Legend of Zelda game so the soundtrack is very good. A lot of the tunes are very fast paced to keep up with the action and that’s what I like to hear as I shred the armies that stand in my way. You’ll hear many tunes that you recognize from older titles and the atmosphere will make you feel like you’re in one of the main titles for the series.

The only thing that could come close to a negative would be that the game’s opening level is a bit of a tease. We get a pretty grand cutscene that makes the game feel like an RPG. It almost hints at character development for everyone and a grand story. We do get a story of course, but it’s more of a backdrop to the fighting. It would be comparable to a Tekken story, but a little deeper than that. It’s still not the next Final Fantasy there. We only get 4-7 big cutscenes after that and the game became more of a hack and slash through and through. I still did enjoy the story a lot, but the first level really had an RPG feel to it and it will make you think about the next big LoZ title. Hopefully the tone is more like this game’s opening than the last few games. (Meaning that the enemies get to attack right away and the hero is already a pretty good fighter) I still wouldn’t call this a negative though since I did enjoy the story and just got a glimpse of how it could be even better.

Overall, I definitely consider this to be the Wii U’s top title. It had everything that I could want in a hack and slash title. I wouldn’t say that I had any real negatives with the game. Everything performed to my satisfaction and it’s an all around complete title. The gameplay is the smoothest that I’ve played in the genre although Dynasty Warriors Gundam is still my favorite since the moves are more devastating and colorful thanks to all of the explosions. Hyrule Warriors is currently one of the only true hack and slash games that I’ve gotten to experience and it’s nice to see how a brand new, 2014 one fares. This game also gave me a chance to dust off the Wii U and give it all of the new updates. I definitely recommend this title and I actually enjoyed it more than the main installments. (That being said, I will always remember Wind Waker as the greatest Legend of Zelda title due to its replayability and the sheer joy of playing it) If you’ve been waiting to buy a Wii U due to a “lack of games,” I would suggest picking one up now. (Hopefully this inspires Nintendo to really do a big crossover story with the Legend of Zelda series)

Overall 9/10

Championship Foosball Review

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It’s time for another game review! “2 in one day…that’s insane!” That may be the case, but this game is only around 30 minutes long…maybe less. It was easy to quickly complete it and then get back to you guys with this review. It’s the latest game from the infamous 5 dollar bin and it really holds up well to the hype….sort of. This isn’t the kind of game that you should expect to keep you busy for a while. It’s a short experience and it’s not spectacular. Let’s see how it really fared!

There’s actually not a whole lot to say about it. There’s no plot of course. When you begin the game, the main menu is rather empty. You have your standard exhibition battle against a CPU or another player and then you have the tournament mode. There’s also a tutorial mode that features a lot of “Challenges” to help you learn the game. I always skip tutorials unless there are trophies involved so I ran for the tournament. The tournament has about 5 rounds and each one is a best 3 of 5 games set. Each game requires you to win 5 points. So, that sounds like it should stretch out the game right? It better because there’s nothing else to do!

Do you guys remember Table Soccer or Foosball? If not, I’ll quickly explain the gameplay. You are using Soccer rules, but on a small table. So, your players are tied to a line. 3 on 1, 3 on another, and so on. You get around 3-4 lines. You just have to kick the ball into the opponent’s net. Sounds easy enough right? Well….

The game actually gave me a bit of a tough time at first because this is the kind of game that is tough on the Wii Remote. Let’s face it, AAA games have trouble utilizing it so would a 2 dollar, low budget game really be able to refine the controls? I didn’t think so! Turning the guys on the field to hit the ball can be very difficult. I lost the first match because of this and it looked like the game was going to be surprisingly difficult. Luckily, I quickly realized that the 1 button was the key to success. Just hold B and spam the 1 button for the entire match. It allows all of your players to perform an infinity kick so you just need to keep moving and only worry about kicking the ball. This easily made me breeze through the championship. That being said, it’s pretty hard to land a sure goal. The ball moves incredibly fast when you hit it and you just have to keep on smacking the ball as you run up and down to eventually try and score. Your eyes will probably not be able to keep up. That part was actually pretty intense since that’s a pretty good feat for the game’s speed. I’m not sure if it’s because of all the colors flying around or the speed, but it’s still pretty cool.

The graphics are decent, but they aren’t great. The humans look downright terrible and this could give Balls of Fury some competition there. Luckily, the actual gameplay is pretty sharp and it’s what you would want from a Foosball title. The colors around the ball when it’s shot look pretty good and you really feel like you’re in the game. It’s rather surreal and it can be pretty enjoyable to watch a match. There isn’t really a soundtrack so it automatically loses points in that area.

Overall, it was actually difficult deciding if I should give this game a 4 or a 5. See, the game still does have multiplayer mode and the gameplay really wasn’t that bad once I found out about the 1 trick. I’d actually say that the gameplay is downright fun, but I lot of it almost feels like chance because of how fast it is. These are decent reasons to give the game a 5. On the other hand, the game was basically over in 30 minutes and then there is nothing else to do. There are shirts and stuff to unlock, but they don’t make much of a difference. In the end, the lack of replay value ended up hurting the game and I went with the first score. 30 minutes is way too short for any game, even if you do count multiplayer. It’s not as if this is the next Super Smash Bros! I think you could have some decent fun with this game if you’ve never played Foosball before, but the sport definitely has the potential to be a much better game. Once the novelty is worn out, the game loses its charm. You will be better off just getting Madden 15 or the latest FIFA….choose Madden. I would still consider this game to be a success for the 5 dollar bin though. Simply because it was pretty fun and a good way to spend 30 minutes on a rainy day. (It was literally raining the whole day while I was playing! It’s still raining right now I believe)

Overall 4/10

Muramasa The Demon Blade Review

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Muramasa is a game that I’ve had on the backlog for quite a while now. Luckily, I’ve been on a Wii roll lately so this game was bound to pop up sooner or later. Part of the reason why is took so long is because it was also easy to forget that I had the game. Well, no more of that! I can safely say that I won’t be forgetting this game anytime soon and it was a pretty fun title. You can tell that a lot of effort was put into it.

There are two stories to choose from in this game. You can play as Momohime or Kisuke. I opted to go for the Kisuke story and I may go back to do the other one someday. It could be a while until that happens though. Kisuke has lost his memory and all he remembers is that he’s a world class swordsman. Everybody that he meets calls Kisuke a traitor and that’s not very cool. Kisuke eventually starts to regain his memories and the stakes have definitely risen. If he doesn’t stop the big boss, the planet may not make it out in one piece. Kisuke will have to struggle to completely regain his memories as he gets ready for the ultimate showdown. After all, he doesn’t want to pick the wrong side!

The gameplay can be pretty fast paced. Picture your average Mario or Sonic side scroller except that you have a sword. You go from area to area, striking down any opponent that gets in your way. It’s pretty rare to have a side scrolling slasher and this game does a good job with it. You can unleash some pretty cool combos on the ground or in the air and each sword that you possess has a unique special ability. The combat system is pretty fluid and I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing more games with this style.

You are allowed to carry three swords at one time. I recommend going for the 3 strongest ones, but don’t forget to watch out for speed as well. Some swords also have passive special abilities that don’t damage the enemy, but perform more useful tasks. (Like extra EXP) In any game that has a level up system, always look for the EXP boosters. Trust me, that advice has helped me through every RPG and I don’t think that it’ll stop now. Defeating enemies and eating food gives you spirit energy which you can combine with spirit power to make new swords. This is highly recommended since the swords really make all the difference against opponents. It’ll make your battles nice and quick. Some swords are not available even after you buy them because you have to gain some more levels to use them. Don’t worry, it’s still worth it!

Aside from your health bar, you’ll have three others to worry about. They belong to your swords. When one goes down, the sword will temporarily shatter and you’ll be defenseless. It only takes about a minute or two to come back together, but that can be a dangerous amount of time. It’s important to switch up swords whenever possible to keep all three of them in top condition. Also, switching will allow you to get a free area hit once in a while which is useful. (Area Hit = Attack that does damage to all opponents on the screen)

The soundtrack for the game is pretty solid. The boss themes are decently memorable and they’re pretty fast paced to match the gameplay speed. It’s not an all star selection of themes, but it’s certainly above average. The graphics are mainly using sprites and they do look rather dated, but I suppose that it’s just the style. This game would be more comparable to an indie game than a AAA title, but it was made to be like one I suppose. I’m not sure how long ago it came out, but it’s about GBA level in terms of graphics. It’s easy to watch though and that’s the important part. I never considered the graphics to be bad or anything like that.

There is a lot of replay value in this game and it’s one of Muramasa’s strong points. As I mentioned, I was impressed with the depth of the game. The combat system is very well done and it’s the kind of game that makes you want to keep on playing it. Unlocking all of the swords is a pretty fun goal to have while also taking down all of the secret bosses. The level up system isn’t too easy, but it still moves fast enough for you to feel like you really have a chance at reaching Level 99. I made it up to 30, which is pretty decent. Typically, you beat the game with a level in the 40s or 60s, but I’m fine with 30. It’s also possible that the maximum level is 50 and not 100, but I wouldn’t be so sure about this. We also can’t forget that the game has a second story, which instantly doubles the content as well as a secret ending to attain once we beat the game with both characters.

That being said, this game isn’t perfect or it would have gotten a higher score. What is stopping it from getting 9 or a 10? One of the areas where I believe the game could have greatly improved is the travel area. You have to walk from area to area constantly. Act 1 may take place in one land and then Act 2 will take place halfway across the globe. Since each area can have around 15-30 rooms in it, it takes a very long time to get to where you want to go. One also has to consider that many rooms have enemies that you must defeat before you move on. They respawn so you can’t just win once and hope that they’ll be gone on your next travel. Once you beat the game, you are allowed to warp from shrine to shrine, but that should have been implemented from the get go. You should be allowed to warp to shrines that you have already passed. That’s how it works in most games like this and the only reason I can think of for now allowing it at the beginning is to extend the journey.

The game took me around 5 hours to complete, but it would be closer to 4 or a little below that without all of the excess travelling. It’s hard to say for certain because I would likely have still needed to grind out a few levels ups before the boss, but I would have saved some time. This could be a way for the developers to make sure that the player gets to a decently high level, but they underestimate the gamer. We are always prepared for the ultimate foes and grinding is simply how you do things here. We are all prepared for such an adventure.

One other part of the game that I wasn’t crazy about was the jump mechanics. I’m not sure if this is the Wii Remote’s problem or the game, but it’s really hard to jump from tree to tree. Jumping up and down is easy, but trying to land on a small spot sideways is tough. The controls are just a little too sensitive and you’ll keep overshooting the goal. This doesn’t matter all that much because you never have to make precision jumps, but it makes gathering the souls a little more time consuming. It’s a rather small qualm, but I still felt it was worth mentioning. Overall, the Wii Remotes did a pretty good job with this game. Nothing beats the GC type of controls, but it performed well enough.

Kisuke is the main lead and he definitely reminded me of Kirito/Rin Okumura a lot. The blue color scheme for his sword and the personality certainly helped matters as well. He’s a pretty good hero for the most part and he’s someone that you can root for. He definitely falls into the romance part a lot towards the end and his final act is pretty awful. He doesn’t have the greatest ending from your average hero, but he’s still a good character through and through. He’s not an all star, but he’s better than what you would expect for the main character of a game.

The Princess is pretty tough and it’s good to see that she can fight. That’s always the first step towards becoming a likable character. Her horse makes for a great ally and it would have been fun to have played as her. She’s another solid character, but her fight record is pretty bad in the game. She usually ends up getting defeated by the powerful foes.

Those two are really the only characters that get a lot of development. We have a helpful fox lady and a fox who watch over the heroes. They’re pretty nice and definitely an improvement over the all powerful being at the end. She didn’t stop Kisuke from making his big decision! The villains mostly pop out of nowhere and disappear just as quickly. The final boss had a pretty cool super form where he turned into a dog, although the sprite didn’t look very real since it was so big. We also had an intense Spider Kaiju and a Dragon. The bosses were nice and varied so I have no qualms against them. The Princess’ allies are pretty weak though. They’re always knocked out or on the ground as they beg Kisuke for help. So much for the guards!
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Overall, Muramasa was another obscure game that turned out to be pretty great like Oni or Eve of Extinction. It’s one of the reasons why I continue to scour the 5 dollar bins or even work my way up to the 10 dollar ones. You never know what gems you’ll find hidden in the rough. This game had a great combat system and it was just a lot of fun to play. It’s a game that has a lot of replay value and you’ll never feel bored with it. In that sense, it’s like playing one of the older Mario or Mega Man games. It brought me back to the Gamecube years and beyond. It would be great to see this game get a sequel and I would certainly be ready for it. I recommend this game if you like 2D swordfighters or if you’re just looking for a fun adventure. You can’t go wrong here.

Overall 8/10