Broken Sword Comparison Reviews

Last year, there was a rumour going around that Broken Sword 5 was going to be coming along, but unfortunately there hasn’t been much news on it since. At any rate, I’ve replaying the first two Broken Swords and decided to add this comparison review for your enjoyment.

The Shadow of the Templars

Note: This review is for the original version of the game. There are notes on the director’s Cut after certain sections

Gameplay: 4/5 – Broken Sword 1 uses a very simple point and click interface and, in all, it works really well. It would maybe be nice if the game gave you a hint when you should react to locations where you can get killed. Directors Cut: This version also lets you play as Nico whereas you only play as George in the original. You can’t be killed in this version though.

Graphics: 5/5 – Really nothing to complain about. The game looks beautiful with its hand-animated characters and backgrounds and the variety between the different countries you visit is quite nice. This is easily the second most impressive point and click game visually, next to The Curse of Monkey Island. Directors Cut: This version utilizes character close-ups which do look pretty nice.

Animation: 4/5 – There’s plenty of fully animated cutscenes and also plenty of detail on George and other characters which makes the animation department stand out as well. However, a few of the cutscenes look a bit dodgy which is why I can’t give the game a full score. Directors Cut: Many of the original cutscenes have been edited and changed somehow. Some have been cropped and a few have been flat-out censored to remove blood or cut-out altogether. The Director’s Cut also doesn’t have the speech animation-cycles which is a bit annoying. The new cutscenes look like they were done in Flash which I’m not really wild about.

Music: 4/5 – The game has a grandiose orchestral score and nice ethnic flairs for when the setting moves toIreland,Spain andSyria. Some of the musical cues are really nice and dramatic. I especially like the Irish violin theme and the ending cinematic. However, I felt the game’s main theme was severely overused throughout the game.

Sound: 3½/5 – Rolf Saxon is amazing as always as George. Nico’s voice-actor is probably my second favourite of the ones that have come. Lobineau steals the show with his excitement. However, there’s quite a few supporting characters that are obviously voiced by the same actors which is a bit of a bummer and in addition to which the audio-quality on the sound-bytes is occasionally very low. Directors Cut: There is some new voice-acting but also, unfortunately, a lot of the old dialogue options have been removed. There’s quite a notable difference in audio-quality between the new and old voice-clips, especially since Nico doesn’t have her old voice-actress.

Plot: 5/5 – I think hands down the best in the entire series. It begins as a bizarre murder case and then turns into an international treasure hunt with a great conspiracy in the midst of it. I’d like to think of it as a far more awesome version of “The DaVinci Code”. Directors Cut: There’s a new element involving Nico added to this version. It’s quite nice, though I don’t think it adds anything to the game.

Difficulty: Easy – The game may have a few places where you might get momentarily stumped. However, the puzzles are often very self-evident and there’s usually not that many locations you can go to at any one time. Many puzzles happen within the same enclosed space which also limits the amount of possible solutions. Directors Cut: There are some new puzzles added in places where there were none and this actually makes the game just a tad more challenging. Probably my favourite addition in the Director’s Cut.

Score: 85% – Despite some lack of refinement in its audio-input, Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars is still an awesome game in the overall, with a great visual look and an excellent story that keeps you in its grip, not to mention some really hilarious dialogue.

Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror

Gameplay: 4/5 – In this regard the game is nearly identical to the first. You get to play as Nico for the first time which is neat.

Graphics: 4/5 – Not as clean as the first game’s. There’s a nice amount of variety again, but some of the characters clearly clash with the game’s graphic look and its evident that the game was done as a bit of a rush job. That considered – it’s not bad.

Animation: 3½/5 – Now the cutscenes in this game aren’t bad, but they’re a bit dodgy and not as detailed as the ones from the last game. There’s also quite a bit less of them which I believe is the result of the game having been finished within a year of its predecessor. In-game character animations however are still pretty good and there’s especially a lot of detail on George and Nico.

Music: 5/5 – There’s actually quite an improvement over the last game. The score is great and fits the atmosphere of the game perfectly. The game also doesn’t overuse the main theme as much as the last game which is nice. There are some positively brilliant musical cues in the game – keep your ears open whenever anyone mentions Tezcatlipoca. Also, the song Happiness is an Inside Job, which plays over the credits, is the cherry on top

Sound: 4/5 – Like the last game, there’s quite a lot of voice-actor recycling. However, I actually rather liked the cast of this game better than that of the last one, although it’s a shame that only Rolf Saxon ever seems to return to voice George. Lobineau has quite a deep voice compared to the last game, but it’s not bad. This game probably has my favourite voice-actress for Nico. Also, Titipoco is just precious.

Plot: 3/5 – The plotline of this game isn’t quite as strong as the last one. It’s kind of neat that they changed the story up to deal with the assault of an evil Aztec god, but the plot is very straight-forward and relies on a lot of hokey additions, including a fictional South-American country. But it’s not all bad and you do get a triumphant feeling at the end.

Difficulty: Really easy – This is the only adventure game (barring individual chapters of TellTale’s games) that I’ve been able to beat in two days. If the first Broken Sword had very limited locations and few inventory items, Broken Sword 2 is even more linear and limited. Even the jungle maze wasn’t that challenging, once you’ve been through it a few times, and the most difficult (or rather time-consuming) puzzle in the whole game can be skipped by clicking a hidden spot on the screen. Also, you can only die in two places in this game and on both occasions the game let’s you retry immediately from where you failed.

Score: 78% – One thing that is evident in almost every aspect of Broken Sword 2 is that it’s a rushed sequel. However, that considered, it does have a few genuine improvements over the first game. It may not be the crowning jewel of the franchise, but a fun game, and perhaps recommended for those who aren’t very familiar with adventure games as a whole.

The Sleeping Dragon

Gameplay: 3½/5 – The one sort of annoying aspect of the game, the controls were clearly designed with the PlayStation2 in mind, rather than PCs. As a result the analogue-walking has been ported over to the keyboard as is and can be very awkward, primarily because of the constantly shifting camera-angles. However, once you get used to it and the button layout, the controls aren’t really all that bad.

Graphics: 4½/5 – Really nice. There’s a high level of detail on the backgrounds and characters, great variety in locations and the characters look cartoony and real at the same time which is a great accomplishment. I especially like the African temple and theEgypt sections and the finale is just plain epic. I also loved climbing all around Cusarro’s castle. However, I have to knock off half a point since they managed to make George look like a douche bag.

Animation: 5/5 – I’m not a big fan of real time events, but these along with the cutscenes helped add to this game’s considerably more lively look. This game feels more action-packed and that’s just a-okay in my book. Not to mention, the cutscenes also have great comedic timing.

Music: 5/5 – The music continues on the same strong track as the last game with great, atmospheric and well-composed tunes. In fact, there’s considerably more music in this game than in the last one which is really great. The credits theme isn’t as memorable as last time, but I quite like the rock song they picked for it.

Sound: 3½/5 – Quite a few of the supporting voice-actors really annoyed me in this one so I can’t give it as high of a score as last time, but there are some really solid performances as well. Nico’s voice is quite nice in this one and I think this also has my second favourite Lobineau. Cusarro is a really creepy villain. Bruno steals the show.

Plot: 3½/5 – I quite like the fact that the game is effectively a direct sequel to the first game. It does some interesting things and the story is genuinely interesting. However, it lacks perhaps the mystery of the first game and there are some rather pointless aspects to it (why did George and Nico break up in the first place? And how come they didn’t get back together at the end of this game?).

Difficulty: Average – I think the real-time and stealth-sections in this game bump up the difficulty a bit. The puzzles aren’t really as difficult but much more laborious and there are quite a lot of hot-spots in the game which can be a bit distracting at times. There is also, unfortunately, an annoyingly high amount of puzzles which involve moving boxes around. These puzzles aren’t really difficult, just time-consuming and repetitive.

Score: 87% – The Sleeping Dragon is a solid sequel in my eyes. It’s more dynamic and action-packed than the first two games and as a result has its own style which it pulls of brilliantly. At the same time, it doesn’t quite reach the same level of quality in its story and those box-moving puzzles did get quite repetitive, but it’s still one of my favourite adventure games from the past ten years.

The Angel of Death

Gameplay: 3/5 – Quite shockingly, the game’s return to the point-and-click controls didn’t result in the gameplay getting better but rather worse. This is because the mouse has a hard time focusing on individual hotspots, once again, because the damn camera just keeps shifting around. Also, at one point George has to carefully navigate across a booby-trapped floor and after constantly missing my step I had to use the keyboard to walk across because it was actually easier that way. If Revolution had bothered to stick with static camera-angles, the point-and-click interface would actually work decently, now it doesn’t. But at least you can pause cutscenes.

Graphics: 5/5 – I think the best aspect of the whole game. The level of detail is excellent and at least there’s still lots of variety in the game’s graphic look. Also, George definitely looks better than he did in the last game.

Animation: 3/5 – The character animation is okay and the cutscenes aren’t bad, but I was surprised just how few of them there were and most were just characters talking. There isn’t that same dynamic feel as in the last game and this just comes off to me as a serious lack of effort by Revolution.

Music: 3/5 – I wasn’t bothered by the music but there really weren’t that many themes that stuck out for me this time around. Also, I really hated the pop-fluff song they picked for the credits this time.

Sound: 5/5 – Although most of the characters were just flat-out boring, the voice-acting in this instalment was actually pretty solid. Nico sounded a bit off, but not terrible. I can’t recall a single character that would have annoyed me, but I have a hard time remembering most of the characters from this game.

Plot: 1/5 – By far my biggest complaint with the game. Firstly, we get whisked away on a quest on a drop of a hat. That’s okay, but the game never bothers to stop and explain what it is that the characters are really after. This is the first time I felt like George was just flying around the world for no apparent reason. The ending was a total train-wreck too, what was the point of killing off every single character that you might have given a crap about in this instalment?

Difficulty: Annoying – The game isn’t that much harder than the last one, but they were able to throw a few cryptic puzzles into the game, not to mention that you can get killed quite often in this one as well. However, I think I was more frustrated at the gameplay rather than the puzzles themselves half the time, but there are a few spots in the game where you just go “oooooookay… so what now?” The over-all lack of exposition is the single biggest fault in this game.

Score: 68% – The Angel of Death would probably be a pretty okay game if they wouldn’t have taken a dump on the storyline and if they would have bothered to actually animate parts of the game where the heroes are travelling to another country. The game’s story is disjointed and confusing, most of the cast is entirely unmemorable and the gameplay could have used some serious work.

Conker’s Bad Fur Day Review

I finally finished Rareware’s cult-hit Conker’s Bad Fur Day for the Nintendo 64. Conker the Squirrel was originally introduced on Diddy Kong Racing along with Banjo the Bear (from Banjo-Kazooie) and a number of other animal characters you’ve never heard of. Originally titled The Twelve Tales of Conker, the game was originally going to be a family friendly 3D platformer with worlds based on classic fairy tales, Greek mythology and so forth.

Does that sound kind of familiar? Rare probably thought so too as they were just coming about with Banjo-Kazooie and with Donkey Kong 64 in the horizon they became concerned that Conker wasn’t simply going to stand out. Though a more family friendly Conker game, Conker’s Pocket Tales, was released for the GBC, the big title was completely revamped into a gory, profanity, sex and alcohol oriented title with loads of pop culture references from Alien and Saving Private Ryan to the Matrix…

Gameplay: 3½/5 - Over-all pretty good. For the most part the game keeps the gameplay simple and the controls aren’t quite as cluttered as in Banjo-Kazooie and DK64 which is nice. I especially like the Context Sensitive Pads where a multitude of actions can be performed by Conker and the swimming mechanics weren’t half bad either (though a more clear oxygen metre would have been nice). My favourite part in the game was probably flying as a bat but I hated pretty much any part that involved shooting.

Graphics: 5/5 – The vast amount of graphic detail and the amount of effort that Rare has put in the game really shows. The detail is cartoony, gross and gritty all at the same time. There is also a notably high variety of locations and characters to prevent the game from starting to look repetitive or stale.

Animation: 5/5 – The cutscenes have loads of detail and there’s also a great bunch of them. It’s clear that Rare wanted to accentuate this part of the game and they’ve done it fantastically. Easily the most cinematic and impressive game on the Nintendo 64 in this regard.

Music: 4/5 – The music is high quality but I wouldn’t say all that much better than Banjo-Kazooie or Donkey Kong 64. However, I do have to give the game credit for three things: Firstly, the Great Mighty Poo song; Secondly, the caveman theme which was probably my single favourite stage theme; and thirdly, the sad ending credits theme.

Sound: 5/5 – The game’s voice over is not only filled with loony characters but also crazy laughs and profanity. The comedic side of the game is absolutely brilliant and all the characters come off genuine in their craziness. It’s like watching an episode of your favourite cartoon series.

Replay Value: 2½/5 – The fun factor and the high amount of stuff to do make this a very fun game to play. However, it’s extremely linear, meaning that if you get stuck there’s not really anything else you can do to help you progress, unlike Banjo-Kazooie or DK64. Also, I really just hated the war-levels.

Score: 83% – With all its faults, Conker’s Bad Fur Day is still one of the most hilarious and interesting games for the Nintendo 64. Rare put extremely high amounts of effort into its graphic look and comedic content which definitely shows. It’s not perhaps the best gameplay experience on the N64, due to its linearity, but I’d still say a must-play from the system.

Mortal Kombat 2 – Game Gear Review

I used to quake in fear at the thought that there could be a game worse than Virtua Fighter 2 MegaDrive for the MegaDrive. I am more than a little stunned to discover that such a game in fact exists for the Sega Game Gear…

Gameplay: 3/5 – The controls aren’t horrible, but rather sluggish and stiff. You can perform most of the special moves pretty easily, but using only two buttons for fighting makes this one feel rather boring.

Graphics: 2/5 – The graphics themselves aren’t really too bad for the Game Gear. The characters have an okay level of detail though obviously downgraded somewhat. The menus are a bit lifeless. The backgrounds have a fair amount of detail, both of them. Yes, there are only two fighting arenas in the whole game, the interior and the bridge. This is just lazy and the lack of graphic variety starts to make playing feel repetitive.

Animation: 3/5 – They’ve actually done a fair effort in trying to transfer as much of the animation into the game as possible. However, the animation is oddly choppy which isn’t really explainable even by the Game Gear’s performance power. Still, I’d say they put a bit more effort into the animation than they did to the graphics over-all.

Music: 3/5 – Considering the Game Gear hardware the music isn’t too bad. However, just like the graphics, it suffers from a lack of variety. The fighting ladder and the two arena themes are what you will be hearing most of the time. However, the music doesn’t grate my ears and somehow the 8-bit instruments actually make it sound even marginally better than the original music.

Sound: 2/5 – The audio department is quite pathetic however. There is a fair amount of sound-effects and it would be unfair to expect too much from the Game Gear technologically, but the sound effects you’ll be hearing most often are the punches and characters falling down which starts to get quite repetitive.

Replay value: 1/5 – I can’t honestly imagine someone playing this game for fun. Even for a fighting game on a handheld system it’s an unforgivably sloppy and lazy port where your only reward for finishing the game is a short bit of text as an epilogue.

Score: 47% – There are lazy ports and then there are horrible abominations. Mortal Kombat 2 on the Game Gear is the latter.

Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker Review (Mega Drive)

Perhaps one of the oddest and at the same time coolest movie-game tie-ins is Sega’s game version of the Michael Jackson movie Moonwalker. Moonwalker is an awesome movie by the way and definitely worth checking out, but it really begs the question of how it could be turned into a game. I think the end result isn’t half bad though…

Gameplay: 3/5 – The controls are rather standard for a beat-em-up game which is to say there’s a punch/kick, jump and a special-move. You can do a few neat tricks with the controls but on the over-all it’s nothing special. The jumping is also a bit of a pain and the platforming a tad mediocre, but not bad or frustrating.

Graphics: 4/5 – The game utilizes the locations from the movie and actually does it pretty well. There’s a nice amount of variety between levels and most of them at least also have a pretty impressive level of detail. The enemy variety could have been a bit better, but other than that the game’s graphics are rather respectable for the Mega Drive.

Animation: 4/5 – The level of detail is quite notable, especially on Michael. The enemy detail varies a tad but it’s not bad by any means. However, it’s not enough to own a full score and I think the close-up animation of Michael’s face is more inherently comical than impressive.

Music: 5/5 – What can I say, it’s Michael Jackson. Not only that the game’s soundtrack comprises of practically all of my favorite MJ songs. Smooth Criminal and Bad in particular stand out, but the 16-bit renditions of Beat It and Billie Jean are also great. It’s a shame that Thriller isn’t playing over the Woods-levels, but Another Part of Me still sounds great regardless.

Sound: 5/5 - This is a matter of taste of course, but I think the cheesy usage of Michael’s digitized voice-clips is the crowning jewel of the game.

Replay value: 2/5 – The game is unfortunately rather short and doesn’t offer quite a lot of replay value. It’s cheesy and silly enough in my view to be worth coming back to, but beyond the fact that it’s a Michael Jackson game, it doesn’t really offer anything outstanding or original.

Score: 77% – Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker may not timeless classic but it’s certainly a fun game which offers a great deal of entertainment value. In the realm of celebrity tie-in games, it’s certainly not the worst of the lot and a pretty decent movie-based title as well. As a beat-em-up, it’s average stock. Whether you should play it or not comes down to one thing: How many beat-em-up games do you know that have Michael Jackson’s likeness, voice and music in them?

Review History (beat-em-ups)

Title:	Score:	Gam:	Gra:	Ani:	Mus:	Sou:	Rep.	Platform:
Streets of Rage 2	88   %	4	5	5	5	3,5	4	MegaDrive
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in   Time	87   %	4	5	5	5	3	4	SNES
Mighty Final Fight	78   %	4	4	5	4	3,5	3	NES
Splatterhouse	72   %	3	5	3,5	3,5	4	2,5	TurboGrafx 16
Altered Beast	57   %	3	3	3,5	2,5	4	1	Arcade

My 200th Game Review: Mega Man 64

Finally, I have officially rated and reviewed 200 games. For my 200th I decided that I needed to pick something special. A game that I was sure would be excellent or at least interesting but which I had never played before. Here it is, Mega Man 64, the Nintendo 64 port of Mega Man Legends. While the review is on the N64 version you may consider it a review on the original simultaneously since the game impressed the heck out of me.

On with the review…

Gameplay: 4 out of 5

The gameplay takes a little bit of getting used to, but after a while the playing begins to feel natural. Strafing and turning around are a bit of a pain, but in regular gameplay you don’t often notice it. The game plays exactly the way I’d expect from a 3D Mega Man game.

Graphics: 4 out of 5

The locations are varied and the characters look very distinct despite the low polygon count. I especially like the little details on buildings and such even if they appear a tad blocky at times. However, the biggest problem with the graphics is definitely the fact that the game looks like it has been ported straight from the PlayStation. However, I’d say this is a very minor problem, I’d certainly would have liked it if some of the support characters weren’t quite so blocky.

Animation: 5 out of 5

By far one of my favourite areas in the game; the cutscenes are lively and action-packed. As well, they often utilize comedy. I especially love the facial animations on characters and the physical comedy and action looks awesome. I especially loved the little bit of animation they threw at the end of the credits. In its cutscene based story-telling Mega Man Legends/64 is way ahead of its time, getting to the end felt like you just finished watching a really good anime series. Also, in-game animations are very good.

Music: 4 out of 5

The music certainly has character and most of the leitmotifs sounded excellent. However, I’d say the game’s soundtrack isn’t quite as memorable as the original Mega Man series or the X-Series. However, not a single one of the tunes started to irritate me and they all sounded very appropriate.

Sound: 5 out of 5

I love the voice-acting in this game. Considering Capcom’s less than attractive record in this area, Mega Man Legends/64 excelled all my expectations. All the voices are appropriately cast, the performances are excellent and – best of all – the element of comedy is brilliant. Compared to the PlayStation version, the audio isn’t as clear and admittedly some of the dialogue is a tad dodgy, but neither of these bothered me.

Plot: 5 out of 5

The game kicks off well and the cutscene animations keep you invested in what’s going on. Definitely the plot turned out a tad more serious than I had expected towards the end, but there were a couple of nice surprise twists and it didn’t feel like the story was dragging its feet, even when the game gave you a chance to do something else in-between.

Replay value: 4 out of 5

The game is just fun to play. You get a genuine sense of joy from picking it up and you just don’t want to stop playing, this is what a truly good Mega Man game does to you. However, the game can feel a tad short, but that is my only complaint. The enjoyability isn’t hampered even by the occasionally spiking challenge since you can just go back to shop and buy better buster parts or armour.

Score: 89%

Mega Man Legends/64 is an excellent title and a forgotten classic. The game grabs you with likeable characters and fun gameplay and doesn’t let go until you’re finished and craving for more. It’s few superficial flaws don’t affect its enjoyability at all. This is what you call a solid game.

Zero Wing Review (Mega Drive)

“For great justice! Take off every Zig!”

“All your base are belong to us!”

If those words are familiar to you then you will have heard of the infamous space-shooter Zero Wing. In the early 2000s and Newgrounds flash animation became an internet sensation on the back of the badly translated opening cinematic of this game. However, the fame of the infamous intro in my view has distracted people from what is actually a very good space-shooter.

Gameplay: 4/5 – Your actions are limited to firing and a tractor beam which can be used to capture smaller enemies for use as a shield or for throwing at other enemies. However, the controls are quite fluid and responsive which makes the playing feel right. In its simplicity, I think the controls are really good.

Graphics: 5/5 – Very detailed. I like the enemy designs and the stages also look nice and varied.

Animation: 4,5/5 – The opening cinematic looks really cool despite its infamous Engrish and I can’t say much anything bad about the in-game animations either. Well, the could have tried to make your Zig a little more distinct looking, but other than that, there’s no big problems with the animation.

Music: 5/5 – Zero Wing has one of the best game soundtracks I’ve ever heard, which always makes me wonder why people constantly ignore the game itself. The opening theme of course is well-known to anyone who’s seen the meme videos but the in-game music is also excellent and not a single one of the themes starts to sound repetitive.

Sound: 3/5 – Nothing special here.

Replay value: 3/5 – The game is quite fun and easy. You also get infinite continues, but it’s definitely a game you’ll enjoy more in short spurts.

Score: 82% – Zero Wing is a classic in my view and one that gets over-looked due to the internet meme associated with it. If you want a solid and fun space shooter for the Mega Drive, this one is definitely it.

Castle of Illusion Review

I recently was reintroduced to Castle of Illusion starring Mickey Mouse for the MegaDrive. Castle of Illusion was one of the very first games I played for the MegaDrive and still an endearing and fun game. Here’s my review of it…

Gameplay: 4/5 – The controls are simple and very responsive which is good. Mickey has decent hang-time during jumps and you can even get a projectile attack for taking out enemies you can’t jump on. The platforming is quite challenging at times but never intolerably so. However, I do wish Mickey would walk a bit faster.

Graphics: 5/5 – The graphics are ver lively and colourful, in other words, perfect for a Mickey Mouse game. There’s tons of variety with the level designs, from the standard forest and cave levels to the colourful toy and candy lands. The enemy designs are quite silly, but I feel appropriate for a game like this.

Animation: 5/5 – There’s a lot of high quality work here, especially on Mickey, but the cutscenes and boss animations are also pretty solid. The full-score comes particularly for the care that was taken with the ending animations.

Music: 4/5 – Very cheery as you might imagine but also very appropriate for the game. The tunes put me in a good mood and they’re quite well orchestrated even if they may not be the most memorable pieces around. Very good none the less.

Sound: 3/5 – Really nothing special but appropriate for the game.

Replay value: 3/5 – The game has three difficulty modes which help you build up experience if you find the game too challenging from the start. The game is also well-designed and therefore a lot of fun to play, but also quite short with only some 10+ levels. Still, for a game designed to be finished as a single session, it’s quite challenging.

Score: 80% – Sega crunched out a high quality Mickey title back in the day and it is still my favourite game to feature the iconic Disney mascot. If you want to play a colourful, fun and well-designed platformer on the MegaDrive, I definitely recommend giving this one a go.

Mega Man X1-3 Review

Being in Glasgow has given me an opportunity to get reacquainted with some classic games. One being the 1994 classic Mega Man X, which started the second official franchise for Capcom’s Blue Bomber, and its sequels on the SNES. Even though the Mega Man X series has had its ups and downs, the early games at least are classics and still hold up.

Out of the SNES Mega Man X series game, Mega Man X2 has never been my personal favourite for some reason. Mpersonal favourites have always been Mega Man X and X3. The fact that Mega Man X3 was the first X-game I ever played which may explain my nostalgic feelings towards it.

Let’s get on with the reviews…

Mega Man X

Gameplay: 5/5 – This is an area where the X-series excelled at. Essentially Capcom took the gameplay from the classic Mega Man games and upgraded it to the 16-bit generation. Mega Man can fire more rapidly, move more quickly and climb up walls with the wall-kick. Although you have to play Chill Penguin’s stage just to get the dash (the X-series’ version of the slide), the levels are designed in such a way that you are not required to find every single part of X’s armour to pass the game (though they will help and make the rest of the game easier). In essence, the gameplay is just right.

Graphics: 4,5/5 – There’s loads of detail and all the levels look distinct and lively. The enemy designs are also nice and colourful, despite the X-series’ darker and edgier look. Everything about the game’s graphic look is just superb. The only thing I can really complain about is that some of the enemy designs are admittedly a little cheesy and I’ve never particularly cared for Chameleon’s stage for some reason.

Animation: 5/5 – Here I can’t honestly complain. Even the tiniest enemies have their own little detailed animations and, over-all, they made sure everything in the game looks lively and polished.

Music: 5/5 – This game has absolutely the most solid soundtrack of any Mega Man game I’ve played. It rivals Mega Man 2 in not only how memorable it is but also that there is not a single tune that would sound annoying or out of place. Even better, this game introduces the more decidedly heavier and rock-inspired soundtrack of the X series which I like, but doesn’t abandon the variety of musical styles we’ve come to expect from the Mega Man series. Some of my personal favourite themes from this game, just to name a few: the intro, Spark Mandrill (of course), Chill Penguin, Boomer Kuwanger and the End theme.

Sound: 4/5 – There’s not a lot to complain about with the sound-effects either. Everything sounds suitable for the game and not out of the ordinary for the Mega Man series. A few of the sound-effects do sound oddly bubbly and light at times, but over-all, I have no major complaints.

Replay value: 4/5 – Mega Man X is one of the few games in the X-series that feels like the perfect pick-up and play experience. You don’t need a big crash course into the game’s mechanics and the learning curve isn’t too steep. You can start wherever you like and the gameplay feels natural and well crafted. The final levels may become a little frustrating but the same is admittedly true for a lot of Mega Man games.

Score: 92% – Mega Man X is one of those games that has aged extremely well because it’s so well crafted with practically no faults or major weaknesses that would make it not fun to play. It’s an absolute must-play for all serious Mega Man fans and one of the timeless classics of the Super Nintendo.

Mega Man X2

Gameplay: 4,5/5 – This time you get the slide from the start which is a nice touch and the game generally isn’t any worse in this front than the first one. However, some of the levels have slightly annoying stage designs, which add a bit of unfair challenge to them. However, you don’t need to go looking for X’s spare parts in this instalment which is a relief.

Graphics: 3/5 – Quite honestly I’ve never cared for the look of this game. I think most of the Mavericks look more silly than threatening (Wire Sponge? Please). Even the enemy designs are a tad too colourful and cartoony for an X series game. However, the settings and levels at least are really nice.

Animation: 5/5 – I really have to give the game a full score for presentation. It pulls all the stops from cutscenes in between levels to moving backgrounds and a really kick ass opening.

Music: 3,5/5 – This is another area where I think the game is definitely inferior to both of the other two SNES X-games. The music isn’t bad by any means and in most cases it’s very appropriate, but I don’t find most of the melodies particularly memorable or catchy. A few exceptions include the opening themes, Bubble Crab and Crystal Snail’s stage themes and the first Fortress theme.

Sound: 5/5 – The game doesn’t suffer from the bubbliness that some of the sound-effects in X1 suffered from and to top it off, there’s some really cool sound-designs in several parts of the game.

Replay value: 2,5/5 – Although this is the only X-game on the SNES with two truly different endings, I just find it lacking in the fun factor of X1 and the challenge of X3. It’s not as frustrating as X3 but I also feel not as memorable as X1.

Score: 78% – Mega Man X2 is a decent enough instalment in the X-series and some people may even feel slightly better than X1. However, I feel it’s an underwhelming entry and I personally find myself favouring either X1 or X3. However, if you want a Mega Man X game with a story on the SNES, this is probably the closest you’ll get to one.

Mega Man X3

Gameplay: 4/5 – I have to confess that the game is considerably more difficult than either of the first two games. A lot of this comes down to the level designs being much more merciless, with enemies placed at the edges of platforms and in other awkward places. This time, the fact that you have to find the Air Dash and the fact that you can’t even complete certain levels without it is a bit of a pain. However, other than that, the controls are just as tight as before and you even get to play as Zero which is cool (though only for one-third of any given level).

Graphics: 5/5 – Not only is there variety, but the levels themselves look awesome and utilise the SNES’s properties well. The over-all look is much more consistent than in the first two games and you still get lots of variety, which is nice.

Animation: 5/5 – I can honestly say that the game has not gotten any worse in this regard. Enemies still have loads of animation and look great. Also, little touches like the mist and the snowfall effects really do a lot for the game’s overall appearance.

Music: 4/5 – Personally this is my second favourite score from the X-series. The themes are aggressive and hard rocking which I like and they stick in your head well. Whether you are looking for the furious guitar hammering of Blast Hornet’s level, the epicness of Gravity Beetle’s stage, the undoubtedly Guns N Roses inspired Neon Tiger theme or the more traditionally orchestral Blizzard Buffalo, this game will rock your socks off. However, the incidental themes this time around sound a bit messy and not too clean which hurts the over-all musical score.

Sound: 3/5 – Some of the sound-effects grate my ears a bit, but otherwise the audio department sounds good.

Replay value: 3/5 – I think the thing which hurts Mega Man X3’s playability the most is the high difficulty level. The fact that you can’t even finish some of the levels without the air-dash seems like a major league screw up and the boss-battles are extremely brutal if you haven’t a clue where even to start from. At the same time, I sort of enjoy the challenge, it feels like Mega Man X1 cranked up to Hard-mode and therefore there is a massive feeling of accomplishment when you finally manage to defeat a boss.

Score: 80% – Mega Man X3 is a solid action-platformer but one that is definitely not intended for beginners. The game is brutally difficult and unless you enjoy the challenge, you will not enjoy this game. However, it’s in my view an absolutely worth-while title from the X-series.

Mega Man: The Wily Wars Review

In 1994 Capcom gave the first three Mega Man games the Super Mario All-Stars treatment on the Sega Mega Drive (Genesis). Not many people remember the Wily Wars collection, probably because it was released so late in the Mega Drive’s existence, but after trying it out for myself I’m really impressed with it.

Gameplay: 4/5 – I do commend the makers for sticking to the individual gameplay elements of each individual game. Mega Man doesn’t for instance slide in any other game except form 3. However, there is something a bit off about the gameplay timing which doesn’t make it quite the 1-1 match as say Super Mario All-Stars. As a result some parts of the games feel more difficult and others more easy than in their NES counterparts. This is however a minor gripe.

Graphics: 5/5 – I have to say that the graphics have been livened up nicely with the new stage designs. Especially certain levels in Mega Man 1 and 2 which looked quite plain in the original versions look much livelier here. Also, the game makes use of the Mega Drive’s graphic abilities really well.

Animation: 4/5 – It seems to me that in this area they didn’t make any big additions or changes which is not bad but it is a little underwhelming. The only negative point is that in the Weapons Menu in Mega Man 3, it seems to take forever to exit the menu when picking any of the Rush items because you have to wait for the animations to finish.

Music: 5/5 – The remixed versions of the classic Mega Man themes sound really nice. The tempo on the music is a little slower than in the original which isn’t a bad thing though. The new transitional music isn’t anything special but then again you’ll only listen to it in the menus, so it doesn’t really matter.

Sound: 3/5 – Nothing really special. The sound-effects do sound more or less the same as the 8-bit counterparts but with the only difference being that they are 16-bit.

Replay value: 5/5 – It’s a new fresh take on the old classics which is always fine in my book. With the added save feature you don’t have to worry about more difficult levels like the ones in Mega Man 1 and, just generally put, the fun factor of the original NES classics has been brought to the Mega Drive in a great way. Plus, playing through all the games opens up new levels to explore which is all just a great plus.

Score: 87% - Mega Man: The Wily Wars is a great way to re-experience the first three classic NES Mega Man titles, if you’ve already played them to death.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Review & Comparison with Prior Zelda games

Finally finished The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, I should say thankfully before my long trip to Scotland. I’ll be leaving on January 2 and wont be coming back until late May, so I took it as my mission to play through the latest Zelda adventure before heading off to the city of Glasgow.

I’m a massive Zelda fan which should be obvious from my Top-10s, Cartoon Series reviews and other fun stuff I’ve put up in relation to this fantasy action-adventure series. But now I’ll write my in-depth review of the latest game and later compare it to the other major titles in the series which I’ve played.

***

Gameplay: 3,5/5

I have to say, the most uneven part of this new instalment in the series. I do have to say that for the most part and during regular gameplay, the controls were fine and it wasn’t all that different from the controls in Twilight Princess. In fact, there were a few really nifty features such as Link’s sword now actually following the motions of your WiiMote which was nice.

Some of the new items were really awesome, like the Beetle, but others, like the Whip, didn’t really add anything substantially new to the plate. Flying around on your bird was fun, if a little useless and at least the amount of spatial puzzle solving didn’t make the game feel at all taxing but actually pretty fun. Also, Link could actually swim and dive pretty decently in this one (though still not nearly as good as when using the Zora Mask in Majora’s Mask). I also liked how you could now fill up your bomb-bag by picking up Bomb Flowers and stuffing them in your pouch.

However, there were a number of really stupid additions to this Zelda game which made playing a tad more frustrating than it really needed to be. For one thing, Link’s stamina meter was entirely unnecessary. If the game really needed a sprint-button that badly, they should have followed Grand Theft Auto’s example and just have Link slow down to normal running speed when he was out of breath. Secondly, though the angled sword swinging was put to pretty good use here and there, a lot of the time you ended up just swinging all around randomly since it was just as effective.

What I hated most about this game was the fact that Links shields are practically useless. For one, the wooden shield is a piece of shit, the iron shield conducts electricity and that gay purple one just breaks way too easily. Getting the materials to reenforce the shields was a pain in the ass as well and it’s annoying that the best shield in the game also conducts electricity. I had to play through the first two dungeons of the game without a shield and having to come back to Skyloft just to repair my damaged shield after every dungeon just got repetitive. The bottom line here is that Link’s shield should never break, EVER! I could understand the wooden shield burning to a crisp in this and prior Zelda games, but having your shield be a constant pain in the ass is not the way I prefer to play my Zelda games.

I also hated that Link’s fancy sword moves from Wind Waker and Twilight Princess were no longer featured. Even though they weren’t entirely necessary, they would have made certain fights in the game a whole lot easier.

***

 Graphics: 4/5

Here I have to give the game credit for a few things. For one, I’m glad the game had adopted a more colourful and lively look to set it slightly apart from the much darker predecessor, Twilight Princess. The locales in the game had a nice level of variety which helped keep things interesting. Particularly, the dungeons looked really nice and I even quite enjoyed Eldin Volcano, even though the fire regions are usually my least favorite part of any Zelda game.

As for enemies, there was an okay variety of them, but I really wish that some more classic Zelda baddies would have showed up and on the over-all I didn’t find the new enemies all that memorable. The bosses looked awesome for the most part at least and those three-headed monsters in Lanayru Desert were kinda cool. However, I really started to dislike the Bogoblins after a while and would have actually preferred those generic looking Goblins from Twilight Princess. The redesigns of the Stalfos, Beamoms, Armoses and Octorocks were all pretty nice but I really missed the fact that there were no Redeads (or even Gibdos), Wall Masters or Dark Nuts (heck, not even an Iron Knuckle).

Really, the only solid criticism I can direct at the game is that there were a lot of little bits of animation and items that were taken directly from Twilight Princess, which seemed like a bit of unfair recycling. Okay, so Majora’s Mask did pretty much the same thing, but it was a side-quest game made in less than a year whereas Nintendo had plenty of time to redesign the items in this game, yet didn’t. Also, while I enjoyed that many locales got reused and revisited in the game, at times it did start to get a bit repetitive, especially during the Spirit World runs.

And I have to say that The Imprisoned was by far the most dumbest looking monster in the whole game.

***

Animation: 5/5

Here I can’t fault the game for much, honestly. The Zelda games have been very cinematic ever since Wind Waker and that is all fine in my book. I like it that after completing a section of a game the characters do something interesting all on their own. I recommend sticking around for and after the credits this time, because Nintendo finally decided to make good use of the credits to tell a little bit of the game’s story that wasn’t covered elsewhere.

***

Music: 4/5

I think a little underwhelming this time. The production value was high as usual and the tunes all fit their respective locales very well. However, I missed that there weren’t all that many classic Zelda tunes used throughout the game (even the Zelda theme wasn’t played once until the game’s latter half) and the new tunes used in the game didn’t really stick in my mind except for some incidental bits and for some pretty bizarre melodic similarities. Am I crazy or did anyone else think the flute theme in the Clawshot parts in Lanayru Desert sounded like the base melody for Lady Gaga’s Telephone?

***

 Sound: 3,5/5

I’ll give this game a slightly higher score than the last two Zeldas, but I honestly can’t still forgive Nintendo for not including a full voice-over in a Zelda game. For one thing, it would solve that annoying problem of having to tap the frickin’ A-button so many times just to get all the dialogue text moving. And secondly, Nintendo has the technology and resources to do the voice-over right. So why hasn’t been done yet? Are the Zelda games forever cursed with the mute character syndrome?

The half-point is granted to Zelda actually singing real vocals at the game’s start. Really nice, but I still would have wished the game would have a full voice-over. In fact, it’s the one thing I’ve wished for the Zelda series for the past ten years.

***

Plot: 3,5/5

On the offset it’s actually pretty interesting and knowing the game was going to be a prequel to prior Zelda titles at least added an element of surprise to it. Unfortunately, I have to say the game falls a tad short in this area by the finale. There weren’t nearly as many interesting plot-developments as I would have hoped for and, at its base, it’s a rather standard story-setting. Thankfully though, the story did avoid some of the Zelda clichés or was able to put a slightly different twist to them.

On one hand, it’s kinda nice to see where it all began and the game did shine some light on the origins of certain things. Also, I felt the story moved at a fairly brisk pace. Although, I don’t really care for some of the insinuations the plot makes about the possible origins of Hyrule in the character of Fi and the little robots in Lanayru Desert.

***

Replay value: 3,5/5

There is certainly a lot to do in the game and that in itself seems to have been the forte of a lot of the later Zelda games. I also thought the dungeons (with a few exceptions) were all really good and interesting. There was some repetition, especially with the Spirit World runs – but the game did pull a few interesting (and at times nasty) surprises which kept the playing from becoming boring. So, on the over-all, I do see myself coming back to this title perhaps a bit more readily than Twilight Princess.

***

Score:  77%

Skyward Sword has some nifty ideas, it has a pretty solid structure and it does shine some interesting light on the over-arching storyline of the franchise. However, it also has some pretty ridiculous faults and problems which make it feel like a rather ham-handed entry into the series. It doesn’t quite deliver the epic scale of the prior games and is even a little lazy in certain parts. For challenge and over-all replay value, it’s not all that bad - but perhaps a slightly underwhelming entry into the franchise.

***

The Zelda Franchise Comparisons

Now to compare how Skyward Sword fairs in comparison to prior Zeldas

Ocarina of Time

Of course, I have to start with the big one: the game which made me a Zelda fan. Even though the series has evolved quite dramatically with new features and things that keep making each Zelda a slightly more refined experience, nothing in my view has still trumped the fun-factor in Ocarina of Time. It has the most solid main quest of any Zelda game, which is why I still keep coming back to it after all this time.

Graphically the game is of course a little outdated, but it came out in 1998, year 2 for the Nintendo 64 in most parts of the world, so it would be unfair to expect too much refinement from a game that was effectively playing on the enhanced game engine of Super Mario 64. I think the game utilised the N64′s graphic and audio capabilities well. Sure, there are some pre-rendered backgrounds in this one, but only in interior locations which is hardly the biggest sin out there.

The soundtrack of this game is still untoppable in my book. While most of the sequels have done a superb job with their soundtracks, it’s not just that the music is well-produced that makes it stand out. It’s because the melodies are so inherently memorable. It’s one of those game soundtracks that everyone will instantly recognise. And the fact that Link himself plays an instrument in the game only adds to it.

Now, to be fair, Ocarina of Time doesn’t offer quite as large of a variety of side-missions and quests as later Zelda games, but I still enjoy poking around and collecting helpful items and Heart Pieces because it all feels so natural and not as over-bloated as later Zeldas. It’s just a super solid game and highly recommended to everyone.

Score:	Gam.:	Gra.:	Ani.:	Mus.:	Sou.:	Plot:	Rep.:
86 %	4	4,5	5	5	4	4,5	4

Majora’s Mask

A direct sequel to Ocarina of Time. As I’ve mentioned before, I was not Majora’s Mask’s biggest fan when it first came out as I thought it was really underwhelming, considering the size and scale of the previous game. It’s not until later I realised that the game effectively did everything better than Ocarina of Time.

Majora’s Mask was conceived as a direct sequel and done on a really short amount of time, but Nintendo still managed to make a living, breathing game world with tons of interesting characters to go and talk to. The game undoubtedly recycled 75% of the graphics from Ocarina of Time but added lots of nifty updates, had its own distinct and memorable locales and even upped the ante on game’s challenge. You still got all the items from Ocarina of Time and something even better.

The masks in this game is what made the gameplay super fun. Whether you played as pathetic but cute flower-copter spawning Deku Scrub, the powerful rolling Goron or as the elegantly swimming Zora, the gameplay had much more variety than any other Zelda game before or since. Plus, the soundtrack was nearly as solid. Even with some recycled songs, it still produced its own solid music as well.

Now, even though the main quest in this game was too short and the saving system was really inconvenient, Majora’s Mask had a great storyline. One of the best in the whole series. Also, it’s a game that rewards the player for sticking around and completing all the side-quests. For a quickly done side-story title, Majora’s Mask is in fact the most solid title in the franchise to date and definitely one of the under-rated classics of the N64.

Score:	Gam.:	Gra.:	Ani.:	Mus.:	Sou.:	Plot:	Rep.:
93 %	5	5	4,5	4	5	4	5

The Wind Waker

Here’s a game that caused controversy upon its release for the dumbest reason imaginable. A lot of people seemed to dislike the cartoony design of Wind Waker, but I absolutely loved it. In fact, Wind Waker is probably the most graphically impressive game from GameCube and deserves massive recognition for bring the cinematic features in Zelda to their absolute peak. It’s another epic adventure that obviously couldn’t quite match the awesomeness of Ocarina of Time, but instead played on two different strengths, comedy and a vast game-world.

There are also those who still complain about the sailing in Wind Waker, even though it’s not nearly as time-consuming as people make it out to be, plus, you get a warp spell later on so I can’t honestly take that criticism seriously. The epic scale of the game is awe-inspiring and the sailing was a new novel concept which I liked.

Plus, Wind Waker still retained the gameplay of Ocarina and Majora, but added one feature which I’ve missed for a long time since. It’s the only Zelda game where you got to move the camera freely. I hate it that this feature wasn’t brought over to Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword because only having the Z-button to aim and centre the camera in the later Zeldas was seriously constraining and frustrating on top of that. Here you could actually turn tail and run if things got too hot to handle and you would actually see where you were going.

Plus, the game had awesome dungeons and bosses and a top-notch soundtrack, nearly on par with OoT. Unfortunately it also had one thing that made me unable to play through the game for a second time: The Triforce Hunt. I absolutely hate this part of the game. It’s time-consuming, it’s not fun, it effectively kills the whole momentum of the game and the story and is just a total waste of time. I don’t even know how I had the energy to pull it off the first time (I think my sister helped me). But it’s easily the most annoying thing in the game.

That aside, I remember already being bemused by the fact that Wind Waker didn’t have voice-acting either, even though Metroid, StarFox and even fucking Mario did. It’s still an awesome game, it just has a seriously annoying middle part.

Score:	Gam.:	Gra.:	Ani.:	Mus.:	Sou.:	Plot:	Rep.:
81 %	4,5	5	5	5	3	3,5	2,5

Twilight Princess

The first game I bought for the Wii, Twilight Princess seemed like it was going to be an awesome game. And it was… to a point.

Firstly, I’ll have to give the game credit for trying something different with Link’s wolf transformation. The game also had a really memorable cast (much better than Skyward Sword) and the story was also very interesting, even if it did have a somewhat predictable ending twist. However, the character of Midna almost entirely stole the show, which I have to say, I didn’t mind – but it definitely pushed Zelda off to the side as far as the story was involved.

Graphically, I think the game looked really good for a late GameCube title and not even that bad for an early Wii title. The gameplay could have utilised the WiiMote’s capabilities better, but it’s not like the controls were frustrating by any means. Musically and from the perspective of side-quests, this one was just as strong as the last two games so really it seemed like a really solid title. I especially liked the redesigns of classic Zelda monsters, the bosses looked awesome and the game also added some cool new items like the Water Bombs and the Bomb Arrows.

Now, unfortunately the game did fail in two areas in my view. For one, if we take away Midna’s part in the story – then it’s just another Zelda game. That feels like an odd thing to say, but the quest’s structure was so much like Ocarina of Time, it almost felt like it was intentionally copying it. Secondly, I felt the dungeons were too plain and often just way too easy. A lot of them revolved around the idea of a large central hall where you had to make your way to far off ledges by traveling through rooms filled with monsters and the puzzle solving in most of them was almost non-existent. I distinctly remember breezing my way through the whole game without even once getting stuck in any of the dungeons.

Because of this and the fact of how dramatically the story is pushed forward there really isn’t much incentive to pick the game up to play it again, since you’ll feel like you’ve already seen it all. The game does get more play-time from its side-quests and the game-world is thankfully quite vast, but it felt like a very quickly expended adventure to me.

Score:	Gam.:	Gra.:	Ani.:	Mus.:	Sou.:	Plot:	Rep.:
80 %	4	4	5	5	3	4	3