Master Hunter's blog

F.3.A.R

2012-01-20T13:33:00.001Z

The F.E.A.R. series has always been a strange one to me. Advertised as a blend of FPS and horror it’s actually more of schizophrenic, switching between the two. In the background you have this creepy, disturbing story but what you’re presented with is fights with faceless soldiers. Soldiers are not scary.

It says a lot about a developer that they can give you a walking tank and still think they can make a game which terrifies you. Yes there are horror undertones but these are ruined by having two few actual monsters.

For those of you who haven’t played the F.E.A.R. series it centres on psychic warfare. A group called Armachan worked a secret project called project origin where they attempted to create the perfect psychic warrior. They experimented on a girl called Alma who became an extremely powerful Psychic. So powerful in fact that they found it hard to control her and while they managed to imprison her physical form to an extent, they could not stop her psychic abilities.

Considered a failure Armachan looked to her genes, impregnating Alma with genetically engineered embryos with the goal of combing Alma’s psychic abilities with highly skilled soldiers. She gave birth to two children, Fettel and Point Man.

In the first game as Point Man your job is to take down Fettel who had gone insane just as Alma did. Alma still sees herself as a little girl and you are haunted throughout the series by her psychic projection.

The big reveal at the end of the second game is that Alma is pregnant with a third child. You also free the now dead Fettel from his prison cell allowing his to psychically project himself into some sort of Poltergeist.

In this game Point Man and Fettel work together to find their mother and deal with this third child. This leads to a game with two unique first person play styles.

Point Man plays like he always had. Normal First person shooting with a bullet time-esque Slow motion ability thrown in to make it somewhat unique. Fettel on the other hand can possess enemies for a limited time and fire psychic projectiles.

You can tell from the first minute this game is made for co-op play and typically the single player suffers because of it. It always feels like you’re missing something playing alone and you shouldn’t need another person to get the most out of a game.

It has a fairly short campaign but makes up for that with its best feature, the challenges. There are a set number of challenges you can unlock when you play a level ranging for using your abilities completely draining your meter to shooting a certain number of people with each weapon. The goal is to unlock as many of these as possible each level.

The points you earn from challenges increase your characters level and as you level up you earn new perks from increased health and ability meter to additional Melee attacks. I’m a little weary of games adding a pointless RPG element but I don’t particular mind this one.

It’s a little like Call of Duty’s multiplayer and these challenges aren’t all that’s ripped from COD. Shooting feels very like COD, even the basic assault rifle has stolen the exact same holographic sight as most of COD’s weapons. F3AR is basically COD with the occasional horror style fucked up moment.

Unfortunately those are far too few and far too short. For a game series famed for its horror it is very light on it. The atmosphere is there but ultimately it doesn’t feel terrifying. At least this time however the monotony of fighting wave after wave of soldiers is broken up by crazed junkie style enemies and monster dogs. The former behave like the splicers from Bioshock with some suicide bombers thrown in. The latter are your standard avoid their lunges and counter enemies.

The cover system from the previous games is back and actually works pretty well. Like in a third person shooter you can lock yourself to cover and peak around corners. It’s a little different than traditional first person shooters but it soon becomes natural.

The guns are a little disappointing. For the majority of the game you have your standard two assault rifles, shotgun, sniper rifle, pistol, rocket launchers and uzis. Unfortunately the COD influence is in force and instead of using names they use codes. I don’t see why they couldn’t just give them proper names. I found myself calling them after their challenges rather than their actual names (e.g. the sniper rifle being the Ghost rather than the C-3PO or whatever the hell it was).

Another small annoyance is the difficulty or rather how the game treats difficulty and failure. Some developers seem to think if we’re struggling we want the game to play itself. Nintendo are getting to be notoriously bad at this, the White Tanuki suit for example. Ms Splosion man was the same offering the option to skip a difficult section (and since you died a lot you saw that screen a lot).

F3AR however has a slightly more annoying feature where if you die a couple of times it will automatically highlight “Change Difficulty” instead of “Reload Checkpoint”. For any developer reading this, it doesn’t matter how many times I die I NEVER WANT TO SKIP A SECTION OR CHANGE THE DIFFICULTY. I will keep trying a section until I get passed it and I will rapidly tap A until I’m back at the checkpoint, attempting to speed things up as much as possible (especially when I’m getting frustrated). I’ve almost been caught out by this and it is annoying.

The game does feature multiplayer but unfortunately the servers are dead. Shame because Soul King might’ve been fun. You can play against bots but there only seems to be two modes, the Horde/Firefight like contractions mode and Soul King.

Soul King sees you playing as a demon that can possess enemies. You chose an enemy to possess and kill other enemies. For every enemy you kill a skull appears, collect the skull to get points. The harder the enemy the higher the point value of the skull. If your possessed body dies you have to wait a couple of seconds before you can claim another, although once in a body to can move to another without waiting. Die when not in a body and you lose half your points. An interesting mode with some potential, shame no-one wants to play it.

Ultimately F3AR delivers a fairly average experience. For every good idea there is a slight annoyance. The campaign is short but made to be replayed with an awesome challenge system. You never feel like your getting the most out of the game unless you’re playing in co-op, even though both playable characters offer completely different Gameplay experiences. The multiplayer is dead but could’ve been fun, we’ll never know.

For a horror game there is far too much soldiers and Mecha, not enough fucked up moments and monsters, but at least the enemy types this time a little more varied. Plenty of Atmosphere but little horror to utilise it.

It’s a nice short game but feels like a ceramic mug amongst a sea of golden cups. I’ll happily take a drink out of it but I’d rather use one of the golden cups.

6/10

Assassin's Creed: Revelations

2012-01-20T13:32:00.000Z

As this generation closes we’re seeing the closing chapters of some of this generations best new characters. Already we have seen the Gears of War Delta squad story come to a close, and now we say goodbye to our favourite Italian assassin Ezio Auditore.

Ezio’s final chapter sees him move away from Italy, instead dealing with the corruption underlying Istanbul. Ezio is looking for five keys that will open Althair’s Final Vault in Masyaf, the birthplace of the assassins and home of Althair. Revelations closes both their stories and leaves the series open for a new character to come in.

Expect Assassin’s creed 3 to appear on the next generation, featuring a new character for Desmond to sync with.

Revelations starts immediately where Brotherhood left off (but seemingly ignoring the Da Vinci Disappearance DLC). Fans of the series will be pleased to know the game starts of with a bang. I’m not going to spoil it; I’m just going to say Desmond is starting to lose his mind, to the point where he is actually trapped in the Animus.

If the first game was Althair’s story, the second Ezio’s and Brotherhood about the creed itself, Revelations is definitely Desmond’s story. Yes you play as Ezio but that whole plot seems overshadowed by what is happening to Desmond as he hopes to reclaim his mind.

This is most evident in the first person sections. Yes, assassin’s creed has a whole new Gameplay style added on to the already popular sandbox style game. By collecting Animus fragments you get to explore some of Desmond’s memories on how he was raised to be an assassin and how he ran away from it all.

These sections replace the awesome Subject 16 puzzles from the previous games and the game suffers because of it. This Gameplay style isn’t all that good although it does have some good ideas. You move around a sterile, cold environment in first person. The only tool at your disposal besides a basic jump is the ability to create different shaped platforms.

These rarely challenge and thankfully are over before they get too boring. There are some inspired moments, the way the environment replicates a river in one of them was pretty neat.

Playing an Ezio feels the same as it always has done. Very much a case of if it’s not broken don’t fix it. Very little has changed from Brotherhood. Ezio now has a hook at the end of his blade which is used in a number of inspired ways. You can now travel down zip lines for instance, and those lights that swung you around corners can now be used to perform long jump by using the hook to swing.

The biggest new addition is the bombs. While in previous game you could only use smoke bombs you now have the ability to create bombs with all sorts of effects, both lethal and non lethal. For example you can create a bomb that makes a loud noise that guards will go to investigate, or you can create a bomb that explodes into coins, making crowds gather round them.

You still take over dens to claim control over an area of the city, allowing you to buy shops and landmarks to bring in more money. However this time you need to watch your actions as if the Templars become aware of your presence they will try to take over your dens.

Commiting crimes raises your awareness meter as it always has done, but now so too does buying shops and buildings. If the Templars are alerted to your presence they may start attacking your dens. You will then have to go back a defend them and you do this through a tower defence style mini-game.

This tower defence mini game isn’t all that fun and it certainly isn’t welcome. If you fail the den the Templars reclaim it and you have to kill the captain and light the tower again. Doing so makes the Templars aware of your presence, which leads to them attacking another den, which leads to another mini game, which if you fail means you have to win back the den again.

I have been victim of this loop and it’s not fun. The den defence mini game is very easy to fail and since you can no longer rip down posters, it can take sometime to remove your awareness (You have to rely on bribing heralds and occasionally killing stewards who randomly appear).

The only new feature I liked was the expansion of the brotherhood missions. Now called Mediterranean Defence you send your apprentices to various cities completing missions for Experience and Money. Level your apprentices up and they become more effective when you need them.

What’s new however is that it is more than just missions. Each of the cities has a percentage of control. Completing missions increases assassin control away from Templar control. Failure to keep your control percentage high and the Templars can win back assassin controlled cities.

What I mean is that before when you had a fully training brotherhood you didn’t need to do anything. That element of the game was pointless. Now though if you want to keep control of your cities and the bonus’ they bring you have to defend captured cities using your assassins.

Revelations plays a lot like Brotherhood but with more bad changes than good. For a series that has always pushed forward this is a step back. Like Ezio the series is getting old and all too familiar. Still anyone that has followed the story has to play this, especially the opening which promises so much for the game, but ultimately fails to deliver.

The story this time isn’t all that interesting but it is a fitting conclusion for Ezio and Althair, and a reawakening for Desmond. It is a decent enough game just not one to go mad over.

7/10

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward sword

2012-01-10T17:30:00.000Z

Since A link to the Past came out in the early nineties the Legend of Zelda series has gone from strength to strength, producing some of the best games ever, including the best game ever Ocarina of Time. Even its worst (if you ignore those awful CD-I games) still has the power to blow you away.

When the Wii came out it promised to revolutionise the way we play games by including games with motion control Gameplay. So far the best uses of this outside mini game collections and sport titles have been just simple shaking your wiimote to attack. Something a button can handle just as well. Even the Wii motion plus has failed to inspire developers to use the technology in a way that works.

While Nintendo dabbled with Motion control with Zelda in Twilight Princess it hasn’t been used anywhere near as much as it has in Skyward Sword, the latest in the series and probably the Wii’s swansong. The problem with motion control is that while it has the potential for unique Gameplay it more often than not just gets in the way.

I have yet to see a game which has actually benefitted from Motion controls, although Skyward sword has come closer than any other game in achieving it. The swordplay is excellent offering all sorts of new strategies when dealing with enemies. They will read your stances and prepare blocks and counters to how they think you are going to attack. Other enemies can only be beaten when you slash your sword in a certain way.

For example the Beamos enemies are towers that you have to cut down first with horizontal slashes. Get the angle wrong and your sword will just bounce off its body. Once you cut it down to just its head you have to thrust your sword forward to stab it in the eye.

This leads to a more challenging game as you have to learn how to fight all over again. It’s not 100% perfect but it works.

Although the Motion controls work really well for some things for others it fails badly. There are parts here where Motion controls are definitely not welcome in particular the swimming. To swim you have to hold A and move the Wiimote to turn. This is hard to get right and something which should be simple, like picking something off the floor becomes a nightmare of hand twisting. They should have just left it to the stick like normal as the motion controls complicate things too much.

You spend a fair amount of time flying a bird and again the same problem rears its ugly head. These flying sections can be just as bad for awkward arm “twisted-ness”. Also to gain height you have to flap the Wii remote like a wing, but the slightest tip to the left or right will turn it in that direction dramatically. Flying straight forward for any period of time becomes a challenge all of its own, an unwelcome one.

The Sky overworld filled with Islands (a bit like Skies of Arcadia) is joined by three areas on the surface world below. To keep the game a decent length each area has new areas that open up when you get new items. The Sky overworld is disappointingly empty and the three Surface areas don’t feel all that big.

Skywards swords biggest failing is the amount of repetition in the areas you visit. There is a Forest, a Volcano and a Desert. That is it, and you visit these areas at least three times each. On top of that there are two bosses you fight three times each, getting progressively more difficult but rarely deviating from the same patterns and weaknesses.

On the other hand the way they have used the three areas is inspired, particularly with the use of water. One area becomes flooded with water completely changing the dynamic of the area. Another uses crystals to change the time of a small area. On later levels these crystals move either by machine or your hand. There is an inspired section where a boat holding one of these time crystals turns a vast desert into a small ocean.

The dungeons are the highlight of the game. Although sticking with the tried and tested formula of holding a key item that opens the rest of the dungeon, they are very well designed. It’s the bit in-between the dungeons that are a little lacklustre.

As is the musical instrument. Previously we had the ocarina, loaded with songs to learn and play through five buttons. Then the wind baton which used C-stick directions determining the differences between songs. This time we have a harp, while there are different songs you can’t choose which to play. They all only open up new areas and so are nothing more than a way to accelerate the plot. Playing the harp is down to Rhythm, you move it in time with an onscreen hint. The Instrument feels pointless.

So for all its inspired hits there are some annoying misses, overall though Skyword sword is still a fantastic adventure and another amazing game to add to an impressive Christmas rush, but it’s not the best Zelda, in fact it is pretty far down that list.

8/10

Xbox 360 Metro Dashboard

2011-12-20T13:08:00.001Z

Last generation ask a gamer what the term firmware meant and you would probably get a blank stare. The way pretty much everything connects to the internet means the people behind things can send updates to their things over the internet.

Games consoles are no exception and in this generation in particular we are flooded with updates for games and the consoles themselves. The Xbox 360 in particular has had two big changes to its dashboard, the hub the controls access to every part of your system.

The most recent change has been made to match the tile system of the new windows phone. It’s a bit like the PS3’s XMB system but with big square tiles giving access to various different things for each category.

In one world it is Terrible. God awful, messy, horrible, and a complete disaster all go some way in describing Microsoft’s latest monster.

It has clearly been designed by the 360’s biggest mistake, Kinect, in mind. The only positive besides speed is that Kinect is integrated rather well. Voice commands generally work and even something like Halo Waypoint is easily recognised.

But that’s where the praise ends. Let’s start with the first new “blade”, Home. This is where your system starts. First off this should be in the middle of the “blades” for reasons which I’ll explain later, instead it is far too Left. You are greeted with a huge advert that takes most of your screen. What 9 times out of 10 you will actually want, play disc, is left at the side in a much smaller tile.

Having the quickplay option, where you can pick from the last ten games/apps you’ve used is a nice touch, but again completely overshadowed by the giant ad in the middle. This dashboard is basically an advertiser’s wet dream. There is a least one ad on every blade, it’s not surprising that people have gone out of their way to block the ads, they are far too intrusive.

Going back I mentioned that the home blade was far too left. The actual problem lies with where the games blade is. I feel a bit like Woody shouting at Buzz here, the Xbox 360 is a Games Console. First and foremost its priority should be games. Yet to get to the games blade you have to skip past Social, Video/TV and even Music.

I wouldn’t criticise this so much if it didn’t have such a simple solution. Move the home blade into the middle. Then to access games go left, video/TV and other media go right (or vice versa). But it seems Microsoft want the Xbox 360 to be a media hub, which is not going to happen. If I want to watch Sky I’ll watch it the proper way, through my Sky HD box.

The Games Marketplace is even worse. Once you’ve passed four blades to the games blade and select the option each individual category now has its own blade. When the NXE came out it had a wonderful new arrivals category. This listed all new arrivals regardless of category.

They then changed it slightly in the last update by categorising them but still having a little preview. This was so the vast number of new music game tracks (i.e. Rock Band) didn’t dominate one category. It would’ve been better to separate music game stuff from the rest, but this was still OK.

Now well let me go through the buttons you need to press in order to check all new Games, Demos, Add-ons and Trailers (what I check for everyday).

Old way (2nd Dash)

Up > Select Games Marketplace > New Arrivals

(3rd Dash)

Up > Select Games Marketplace > Select Arcade games* > Back* > Right > Select Games in Demand* > Back* > Right > Right > Select Demos* > Back* > Up > Select Add ons* > Back* > Right > Select Videos*

*Only if the three in the preview tile were all new.

(4th Dash – This one)

RB > RB > RB (to games blade) > Down > Select Games Marketplace > RB (to games) > Select New Arrivals > Back > RB (to add ons) > Select New Arrivals > Back > RB (to extras) > Right > Right > Right> Select Videos > Back > RB (to Demos) > Select New Arrivals.

Way too many button presses and not a preview in sight.

Another thing they pointlessly messed up is the new Social blade. This replaces My Friends and some of My Xbox. You get three options, Friends, Social apps and I forget the third. Then your avatar and a nice summary of your last twelve achievements. Then a preview of THREE of your friends.

To access your friends list you need to go into an additional option. In the last dashboard you only needed to go to My Friends. Since 90% of the time I have more than three friends online this preview is pointless.

Also in the old Friend list system parties were displayed first and then individuals. If something was going on it was the first thing you saw when you went to My Friends. Now to see if there are any parties you have to go into another option.

So it’s Friday night, after 9pm and in the past you have got into a party with your mates and played something online, probably Call of duty. Check out your friends list, see a party is going, you join and in the next game they invite you in. Simple.

Now you have to select the social blade, select friends, and then select parties to see if anything is going on. Needless additional steps that add nothing and take away so much. Considering the Xbox’s strength is Online and Party chat this is a step backwards.

I said in my prediction for the next generation that we would see apps becoming a big part of console gaming. I didn’t realise how soon as Microsoft have a new apps section. So far though they have all been centred on streaming video. You can now use Youtube (only if you’re gold though apparently, so paying for something which is free on PC), and Lovefilm.

Lovefilm isn’t anywhere near as good as it should be. Even though you can sign in to your account you can’t access your rental list, add titles to your rental list or select titles from the list to watch online. There’s no reason for this. You’ve signed into your account you should have access to your rental list and chose films to watch online from there.

So while there is a nice selection of movies you can watch, and you’ve already picked out your favourites, you can’t then use your list of favourites to choose what to watch. This is pointless and hopefully just an early teething problem with the new app.

So overall the dashboard brings with it very few benefits in exchange for making all the things that make the Xbox so good, Games, Friend List, Party chat and Marketplace all that little more awkward for no good reason. It’s a case of one step forward but five steps back.

Mind you I have yet to try the new Bing Search and Cloud save feature but I doubt I’ll use them that much.

If this wasn’t a mandatory update I’ll tell you all to avoid it like the plague but alas we’re all stuck with this mess.

Sonic Generations (3DS)

2011-12-06T17:31:00.001Z

The HD version of Sonic Generations is a very good celebration of the last 20 years of Sonic. The combination of beautifully detailed scenery, kickass soundtrack, and two contrasting but highly polished styles of play led to a fun, if short-lived, gaming experience.

SEGA definitely have a history of jumping straight into new technology so it isn’t all that surprising to see them being one of the first third party developers to support the 3DS, bringing a whole new version of Sonic Generations.

In some ways the 3DS version fixes some of the faults of the HD version. The bosses in particular are much better, each taking the traditional 8 hits instead of 4, and staying true to the original versions but with their own unique twist. The last boss in particular is a huge improvement on its HD counterpart.

There are only seven levels instead of nine this time but only Green hill is the same, making this a good compliment to the HD version. Each looks and sound superb however both styles are entirely 2D which leads to the biggest problem of the 3DS version, both styles are too similar.

In the HD versions classic Sonic stayed true to his roots, sticking with just the standard spin attack and spin dash. Modern Sonic meanwhile had all the moves, being able to stomp, homing attack, boost, light speed dash, slide, quickstep, etc. Mastering all these moves was the key to getting the really fast times.

Each style was unique whereas in the 3DS version very little is different. Modern Sonic still has slide, boost and stomp but halfway through classic Sonic learns Homing attacks. Being entirely in 2D doesn’t help either, leading to the two styles being more or less the same.

It also suffers from the same short length issue the HD version had. Getting all S ranks for an experienced player will only take you a couple of days, and that’s only playing a couple of hours at a time.

It does make good use of the street pass feature. You can only unlock so many missions on your copy without streetpass or spending lots of playcoins. By passing people with the game you unlock more missions, which you complete to access more rewards. The addition of online multiplayer is a nice but expected bonus.

Much like the HD version it still relies on beating high scores and times to prolong its life. Getting S ranks is a little harder this time around, it felt a little too easy in the HD version, here it feels just right.

Sonic Generations 3DS address some of the problems with the HD version but ultimately create some of its own. The bosses are better and it is harder to get S ranks, but the two styles become too similar halfway through and it is just as short as its HD brethren.

A nice compliment to the HD version but only really necessary if you are a fan of the series and/or you can get it cheap.

6/10

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

2011-12-06T17:30:00.000Z

In some ways this has been a strange generation. Normally you judge a system’s strength by its exclusives. This time though besides the Wii neither has had a long list of exclusives even though they have been out for almost five years each.

Most judge the systems by its features. Whether you prefer the additional features Xbox live offers over the free service PSN does, whether you prefer trophies or achievements, etc. I definitely in the Xbox camp but there is one Playstation series which excites me and validates my PS3 as a game machine. That is the Uncharted series.

Gorgeous visuals, brilliant voice acting and cutscenes, likeable characters, solid platforming, intelligent puzzles and fantastic set pieces are all what makes the series great.

Uncharted 3 has all this and that alone deserves your attention. However it is stuck in the middle of one of the busiest Christmas rushes to date. Uncharted 3 holds its own but only just.

What lets Uncharted 3 down is the series’ weak point, the gunplay. It just isn’t as satisfying as other third person cover based shooters. Your bullets never seem to hit your crosshairs right and there is terribly inconsistent hit detection. Sometimes a single bullet will bring down an enemy, other times it takes an entire clip. They may fix this in a patch but surely after 3 games Naughty Dog would have this right first time.

But what they can’t fix is the repetition. Your enemies lack variation. Armoured brutes are your only other target than the same generic enemies. And the AI is ridiculous. Often in the middle of a fire fight enemies will charge straight at you and try to punch you to death, rather than shoot a machine gun at you.

Instead of the player having the power to choose how to beat an opponent, the option is usually forced upon you. This can get really annoying when you are trying to get the “defeat a certain number of enemies in a row by shooting” trophies and you keep getting engaged in fist fights. Or say a group of enemies are shooting at you and you can’t get free of a fight to save yourself.

And there is so much of it. The game has some nice puzzles to break up the monotony of the gunplay but there aren’t enough of them. There is a lovely puzzle involving casting shadows on a wall to create a shape, there should have been more of this kind of stuff instead of constant gunplay, particularly towards the end.

Speaking of the end it feels a little rushed and it just happens. The story starts of well, delving into the history of Drake and his relationship with Sully. There is a nice reveal about Drake’s past and then after that nothing. Perhaps Uncharted 4 will flesh that out a bit, but I was disappointed that it didn’t go anywhere.

Uncharted 3 starts off rather well. There are some exciting set pieces and pretty smart puzzles. It feels like it is going somewhere but in the end it doesn’t. By focusing on the not so great gunplay what you get is a disappointing game by the series already pretty high standards.

Given the number of quality titles out around the same time you’d be forgiven for waiting a while and seeing if the price drops. However you should still give this a go when you have the time for it.

8/10

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

2011-12-02T13:23:00.000Z

Ask any non gamer to name a video game and they might mention old classics like Pong, Space Invaders, Pacman, or Tetris. They might mention controversial titles like Grand Theft Auto or Manhunt. They may mention Mario, Sonic or Pokemon the big well known brands. But most likely if they don’t mention Fifa then it will probably be Call of Duty.

Initially set around World War 2 the Call of Duty franchise has spawned an impressive 8 different titles and has spread out into the Vietnam War and a war based in modern times. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was the first of the series to be set in present times. Widely regarded as one of the greatest FPS’ ever made it quickly made a name for itself amongst the casual and the hardcore alike.

The combination of high speed action, easy kills and a nice blend of solid gunplay with decent stealth, all with a hint of realism, set the series apart for it’s rivals to the point where it became more than just a game, it became one of the most popular gaming franchises of all time.

The single player was fun but it was the multiplayer where the game really shone. Fast, fluid with easy kills (but conversely you died easier than in other FPS’) obtaining long killstreaks became addictive. Overall it was a unique experience that won a lot of people over, particularly non-gamers.

The sequel expanded on COD4, giving more killstreaks, including the game breaking Tactical Nuke. COD’s popularity rose. Since everything is a trilogy now Modern Warfare 3 has been released. COD’s popularity has led to a lot of copycats, some successful, some not. COD no longer feels unique, more that one to beat.

Recently EA and DICE have brought the Battlefield series into the fray which has drawn a lot of attention away from COD, attempting to steal some of its userbase. Can COD still compete? Well to do that it needs to evolve, which sadly it doesn’t really.

First the single player. Unusually this is probably the highlight of the game now. Completely abandoning any sense of realism, Modern Warfare 3’s campaign is a wild thrill ride, highly polished and a worthy end for such a successful series. Once again you travel around the world attempting to stop a terrorist but now he’s practically won. The whole world is at war and one of four characters you’ll travel all around the world, shooting enough soldiers to fill a continent.

It all works really well and the veteran difficulty level is just right providing a very challenging experience that never feels too impossible.

Spec ops returns with some enhancements. These are carefully reused segments of the game to offer quick challenges detached from the game itself. The second of these is a wonderful twist on the classic Mile High Club challenge from COD4. This time you’re the last terrorist of a group that has just hijacked a plane, who has to kidnap the Russian President.

In addition to this they have also added a Gears of War Horde / Halo Firefight style Survival mode. Here you fight wave after wave of enemies that get steadily more difficult as you proceed through the waves.

All of Spec ops can be done alone or with a friend and with scores/times to beat including global and friend leaderboards they have plenty of replay value.

What will take your hours though is the multiplayer mode. After 8 games the multiplayer has changed ever so slightly to meet the criticisms of previous titles. This is more a case of polishing what you have got that completely evolving the game however there are a couple of interesting new features.

It seems Infinity Ward have attempted to address one of the main problems with COD, which isn’t even a problem with the game but the people who play it. They seem to have focused on getting people to stop camping, a defensive technique where players stay out of fights, find an area they can secure easy and get kills from distant vantage points. This is all in an effort to keep their kill to death ratio high.

This has always been an effective way of keeping your Kill to Death Ratio high but doesn’t help when it comes to securing objectives. Typically what you find is players will place their scope on an objective and kill anyone who comes near it. Frustrating for players that actually want to play the game.

For example, Sabotage is a game where you have to collect and plant and neutral bomb at your opponents bomb site. When you have the bomb a huge marker appears above your head displaying Kill for the defending team. What you tend to find is that opposing teams never go for the bomb and set up camp around their bomb site. You can’t win if you don’t plant the bomb and matches can last the full 20 minutes.

Well you couldn’t win that way unless you got a tactical nuke after a 25 kill streak. Thank god they removed it after Modern Warfare 2.

So how have they addressed camping. Well first they have introduced a new mode called Kill Confirmed. This is like team deathmatch however when you get a kill you don’t score the points until you collect the dog tags they drop. If your opponent collects the tags before you do they can deny you the point which gives campers a dilemma, Do they leave their secure area to score the points and risk death, or do they rely on their teammates to collect the tags for them and risk their kills being denied?

Next is the addition of strike packages, in particular the support package. Previously rewards were given to players who could maintain a streak of kills without dying. Those that wish to play this way can chose the Assault package that offers rewards that hinder the enemy team. These are your predator missiles, helicopters and airstrikes.

Support meanwhile gives rewards based on points and does not reset on death. Capturing flags, planting bombs, generally helping your team achieve the objective with get you rewards that help your team. These include Advanced UAV’s, Sam Turrets, Armour vests, etc. This means that those who would throw themselves on a grenade to help their team win will get the same kind of rewards as those who can maintain a high Killstreak.

If you want something different you could try the specialist package which gives you additional perks the longer your Killstreak continues, to the point where you become an incredible powerhouse ready to rape all that dare challenge you.

Ultimately it still plays like COD4 did but with a little polish which seems to be putting off players who want to play something new. The look and feel of the game is all too familiar and this is probably the biggest criticism of the game. There are also some initial teething problems with some guns being overpowered but I’d expect that to be patched soon.

Overall MW3 is very much a case of if it aint broke don’t fix it. Some slight improvements have been made to the multiplayer but it feels all too familiar. The Campaign is a lot of fun and Spec ops is likely to keep you going for a while.

The perfect end to a fantastic trilogy but perhaps now we’re due a more dramatic overhaul for the series, so that COD9 will be a totally new experience.

8/10

Battlefield Warfare 3: Revenge of the Fanboys

2011-11-10T13:30:00.001Z

I don’t think there are three words in gaming that both make me smile and cringe harder than Call, of and Duty. Initially I wasn’t interested in a realistic war simulator in First Person, I’m still not. But eventually I caved when I realised my friends were always playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

I was converted. It wasn’t the realistic settings, or the large number of real guns, or anything to do with replicating real life war as accurately as possible. COD’s strength came in its pace and fluidness and how easy it was to kill someone.

Previously in shooters it took a full clip to take someone down, that a kill had to be earned and that everyone had a chance to get away and regenerate after an attack. COD changed all that and made it easy to kill opponents and harder to prevent your own death.

Then came the Killstreaks, kill 3 opponents without dying have your enemies appear on a mini map, Kill 5 opponents without dying call in an airstrike and at 7 call in a helicopter, all too keep your Killstreak up. This meant every game became about trying to keep your Killstreak going for as long as possible, as well as the objective.

In 2009 COD4 got a direct sequel in the Form of Modern Warfare 2. MW2 was bigger, bolder, with more customisation options and a lot more killstreaks. Some would argue it went a little too far. The addition of the game breaking Tactical Nuke (which instantly won the game) and having as many harriers on the field are you wanted left most gamers feeling overwhelmed.

Still the game proved to be a hit and I really enjoyed it.

In the first half of 2010 we saw a rival appear in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Battlefield had already been a successful series on the PC and it was now gathering steam on consoles. I must confess I never got into it. I hated the XBLA game Battlefield 1943 which was a scaled down version of the series.

I’ve always considered it the bastard child of COD and Halo, with the weaknesses of each and very little of the benefits. It was just as hard to work out friend from foe (like in COD), and it took en entire clip to kill someone (like in Halo). The focus was placed on large maps and vehicles. Games became a rush for the vehicles, particularly the planes. Much like in Halo, but unlike Halo they were given realistic handling making them awkward to use.

On top of all this you were limited to squads of 4 and couldn’t communicate in game with the whole team of 12. This really doesn’t make any sense to me and made getting a game in a party of more than 4 a massive ball-ache. Heaven knows how people do this on the PS3 seeing as how there is no Party Chat.

So essentially Battlefield 1943 put me off the series, especially since it got rave reviews. Since then I’ve tried to demo of BC2 and the Beta of Battlefield 3 and neither has won me over. There’s no denying however that BC2 was really popular and was starting to steal fans from COD.

Going back to COD, later in 2010 we saw the release of Call of Duty: Black ops. This scaled back the number of Killstreaks giving a good selection and removed the Tactical Nuke. CODBLOPS found the middle ground between COD4 and MW2. By now though people were realising how similar the games had become.

Now in 2011 we have seen the release of Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3. The war between them is now in full swing and where there is competition there is the dark side of gaming, the Fanboys.

From what I can tell the childishness and hatred seems to come from the Battlefield side. Their argument seems to centre on the major graphical improvements of Battlefield 3 (I will admit it does look stunning). Modern Warfare 3 on the other hand looks just like Modern warfare 2 and CODBLOPS.

Essentially the formula for COD has gotten stale while Battlefield is new and exciting to most. As such those that are fans of Battlefield can’t see why MW3 is still getting all the attention, and believe the series should die out so Battlefield becomes king. Considering Activision are notorious for overpricing their games and content it would help stamp out bad practice from developers, e.g. 3 maps being the price of a full XBLA game.

As well as getting all the attention MW3 is being rated quite highly by critics while Battlefield 3 got slightly worse scores. While MW3 is seeing 8’s and 9’s, Battlefield is seeing 7’s and 8’s. This is largely due to MW3 having a good Single Player campaign as well as good multiplayer content, whereas Battlefield 3 is all about the multiplayer. I would definitely argue that is the correct way to mark a review, multiplayer should never come at the expense of single player.

But then the argument comes that Battlefield 3’s multiplayer is so much better than COD’s stale re-release, with some even dismissing MW3 as nothing more than an expensive map pack. Visually they are correct of course but as we all know there is more to a game than just visuals.

This isn’t the case of course. There are a couple of notable Gameplay change that seem absent from most people’s criticisms of MW3. Firstly the addition of Pointstreaks get overlooked.

Instead of rewards coming purely from kills you now get to chose to get them from points instead. The assault killstreaks are what have traditionally been used and are designed to sabotage the enemy team. The new support pointstreaks are designed to help your team and getting them is very different.

Firstly they don’t reset when you die and secondly you get them from points gained not only by killing but by capturing points, defending points and generally helping your team achieve the match’s objective. What I like about this is that the player that will throw themselves onto a grenade to help their team win the match, is equally likely to get rewards as the player that can suppress the enemy team without putting themselves at risk.

In theory this should lead to more competitive matches in objective game types, but only time will tell if it works in practice.

Another thing these Battlefield Fanboys don’t seem to comment on is the new kill confirmed mode. From what I’ve played this is a lot of fun. When you kill someone they drop dog tags. To score a point you have to collect the dog tags. You can also deny the enemy a point by collecting your own teams dog tags. This means that those that like to stay back and snipe aren’t going to get any points if they don’t collect the tags. They have to either rely on team mates or risk their own lives by running out of their sniping positions.

This is all in an effort to encourage people to stop camping and start taking risks. Each time you have to quickly judge the situation to see if it is safe to collect the dog tags. Get it wrong and not only will your opponent deny you the point they may take one from your death. This element of risk and reward is always welcome in any game.

So in my view there have been a couple of significant changes that will hopefully change the way people play COD for the better. Then again often well meaning changes don’t often get the result you were hoping for.

Take a look at Gears of War. The biggest criticism anyone can give that game is that for a tactical shooter it is far too easy to run up to someone and get an insta-kill with the shotgun. Epic addresses this in Gears 2 by introducing stopping power. By shooting an enemy you slow them down. If they charge straight at you you can keep shooting and they will be slowed down until they can barely move, meaning in theory they will be down before they get anywhere near you. Unfortunately this didn’t work and people still run through all obstacles to get to you and hit you with the one hit kill shotgun.

So what’s the point of all this, well I just wish that those that criticise Modern Warfare 3 would base their criticisms on more than just visuals. That they would take into account significant changes to the Gameplay, researching all the facts before condemning a game. But alas there’s no such thing as a smart reasonable fanboy.

Arkham City

2011-11-10T13:29:00.001Z

There is an unwritten rule that states any game of a non game franchise is doomed to failure. Similarly any non game media, such as movies, made from games are also doomed to failure.

Sure there are the odd exceptions. The Resident Evil and Tomb Raider movies were passable, The Resident Evil books are worth a read and I’m hearing good things about the Gears of War books (which I’ve just started).

As for games well there is always Goldeneye and my Game of the Year 2009, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Recently the hotly anticipated sequel was released Arkham City and I loved every minute of it.

What Rocksteady have done with the Batman franchise is nothing short of brilliant. With a rich set of characters, a tragic back story full of angst and a hero centred on a notoriously nocturnal animal, the dark world created by Rocksteady seems like the perfect home for the Dark Night.

To get through the twisted world of Arkham asylum you had to be Smart, Quick and adapt to any situation. Gameplay was broken into four parts, Metroid style exploration (where certain paths and items are not available until you obtain an upgrade), Condemned like Detective sections, Brutal Hand to Hand Combat and Stealthy Predator sections.

Not much has changed in Arkham City, but then not much needed to be changed. This is more of the same, but more of brilliance.

As with Asylum the Metroid Style Exploration compliments the Riddler challenges nicely. Scattered around the city are 400 challenges waiting for Batman to solve. Most of them are find hidden trophies or highlighting special parts of the scenery that dip into that rich history.

There may be 400 but collecting them never seems drawn out. Every Riddler secret can be revealed on your map by interrogating highlighted enemies. You do this by eliminating the other nearby enemies and pressing Y when they are the last inmate standing. Everytime you feel like a badass doing it.

Combat is pretty much the same with some slight improvements. There are a couple of new inmate types that require whole new strategies. For example there are now inmates that use car doors as shields. To beat these you have to stun them and double tap A to perform an aerial attack.

Alone these don’t cause much of a threat but towards the end of the game there will be times where mixed in with a large number of normal inmates, are knife inmates, armoured inmates, shield carrying inmates, etc all carrying their own tactics to be them. Winning isn’t so much about inputting complex combos as it is prioritising the most problematic enemy and reacting on the fly to who you’re attacking. I.e. pressing X may hit the majority of inmates but press it when facing a shielded one and you can say goodbye to your combo. It’s a very nice blend of Skill and Strategy.

Sadly one of the flaws on Asylum is still there with City. Like Sonic in 3D it can be difficult to work who exactly Batman will attack next. You can direct Batman in a general direction with the left stick, but you can’t always be specific in who you want to attack. When you press X instead of Y when facing a thug about to hit you, you want to hit the attacking thug, not the one next to him.

Predator combat is where the game really shines and where you really feel like Batman. Entering a room of patrolling armed thugs, you need to stealthily take out each one. No guns, just your gadgets, wits and the environment. When they get down to just one or two, the AI gets scared and starts jumping at the slightest noise, like steam escaping from a pipe.

It’s these moments where you really feel like Batman, the way Batman should feel and this is why these games are so special. The detective sections are the icing on the cake, giving you the perfect package of being Batman. Really all that’s missing is being able to drive the Batmobile.

City also shines over Arkham by being based in a small part of Gotham City (kept separate by a large impenetrable wall). You now have an overworld filled with rooftops and alleyways that you can use to your advantage. The city is filled with Shadows and they are all yours to use as your will.

My only gripe with this is that the city itself is a little small, well compared to the likes of Liberty city in GTA4. Although oddly I kind of want a fast travel feature. That doesn’t make sense, if it’s so small why do I want Fast travel? Maybe I’m just being too picky.

Also the inmates never seem to shut up. They are amusing at first but it gets a bit much after a while. Would’ve been nice to turn that down a bit.

The story follows on from the first game. Joker is dying and he encourages Batman to find the cure. Meanwhile Hugo Strange, the person behind Arkham City, is up to something called Protocol 10. While the ending comes with a big shock, ultimately I’m left wondering what Strange’s goal actually was.

It’s clear that there will be a sequel as some side missions are left unfinished. Where they’re going to go now is anybody’s guess.

Outside of the story mode is a vast array of challenges and extras filled with enough fanservice to keep even the most cynical fan happy. This is the closest anyone is ever going to come to being Batman and a part of his universe.

In another year this could easily be Game of the Year, but with Xenoblade Chronicles and Portal 2 already being strong contenders for the award, and Uncharted 3 and Skyward Sword to come, one thing is for sure picking a winner won’t be easy.

A brilliant sequel to a brilliant game, Arkham City does so much right and so little wrong. Bring on the next instalment

9/10

Sonic Generations (Collectors Edition)

2011-11-10T13:27:00.000Z

It’s no secret that I love the Sonic series. I’m a regular attendee at the Summer of Sonic convention; I have numerous official soundtracks, lots of DVD’s of the cartoons and an extensive list of games.

This year is Sonic’s 20th Anniversary, a fact I’m sure most gamers are aware of since we don’t stop going on about it. To celebrate SEGA have released Sonic Generations. Unlike Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), which were released for Sonic’s 10th and 15th Anniversaries respectively, Generations focuses on Sonic’s long history.

There are nine levels split over three eras, each one is a level taken from the previous titles, including Green hill from Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), Speed Highway from Sonic Adventure and Planet Wisp from Sonic Colours.

Following on from the groundwork put in place by Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Colours, you race through each of the levels switching between 3D and 2D.

The 3D sections are largely road like, drawing your attention to moving forward rather than exploration. Skill comes from correctly sidestepping obstacles, drifting around sharp bends and maintaining control while boosting at top speed.

2D plays pretty much as you expect. All the techniques Sonic has learned over the years, such as boost, homing attack, stomp and slide all work to open up new paths. So far it is just Daytime unleashed which received a fair bit of praise.

This time however Sonic is joined by, well, Sonic. The gimmick of this game is that Today’s Sonic meets his older self. While Modern Sonic’s Gameplay uses the Hedgehog engine and feels like Unleashed and Colours, Classic Sonic’s Gameplay is more scaled back, 2D only and attempts (not for the first time) to stand up to the classic Mega Drive games.

While SEGA have failed to replicate the classic games exactly the result is a very polished 2D platformer that can hold its own in a very saturated market.

Both styles of play offer multiple routes to the eagle eyed player, with five Red Star Rings hidden in each act. These only unlock artwork but it’s still a nice feature. With the ranking system on top of that there’s plenty to encourage multiple playthroughs of each level.

Unfortunately the game is a little too easy and getting S ranks isn’t too much of a challenge. Providing you get through a stage quickly and without dying you’ll at least get an A. Maximising your score through bonuses and tricks, and holding onto your rings seem to mean nothing. Success in Sonic is generally determined through three elements, Score, Time and Rings, but in Generations Time seems to be the only one that matters.

Ultimately even with a decent number of additional challenges the game isn’t going to last you all that long. But it’s a fun ride while it lasts. There is a lot of fanservice from the highly detailed remakes of classic stages to the large number of unlockable music tracks form various sonic games.

All 9 levels are presented beautifully with very little slowdown. Like always the soundtrack is fantastic offering two variants for each of the classic themes. The bosses also look great but the fights are over far too quickly. Most will only last four hits, half of what they took in earlier titles.

One small thing that bothers me a little is the lack of variation in the levels, 3 of them are cities with another being a city ravaged by flames and 3 of them are plains with plenty of green hills. There selection is a little odd, while each may be considered the favourite of that particular game they don’t work all that well together.

It’s easy to fault the game, especially if you are determined a Sonic game must play like the Mega Drive classics but ultimately SEGA have pulled off a fantastic celebration of the series’ 20 year life. It is well made, looks and sound good and is generally fun to play, however it isn’t going to last all that long and could be more challenging (particularly when it comes to S ranks).

As for the extras that come with the collector’s edition, the statue is massive and looks good, but feels lightweight and like plastic. The Gold Ring is very nice (although I’m pretty sure it isn’t real gold). The CD is a nice selection of tracks from the last 20 years and the art book is pretty cool. the only thing that disappoints is the DVD. Considering this edition isn’t being released in the US it feels very Americanised, and it doesn’t really have anything that hasn’t already been said before.

Sonic has been steadily getting better since the introduction of the Hedgehog engine. Generations is another step closer to producing a game with the same quality and feel as the originals. It is close but not quite there yet. A pretty good game let down by lack of challenge and longevity, although at the moment that isn’t necessarily a bad thing giving the amount of quality releases in such a short amount of time.

8/10

Okamiden

2011-10-26T13:20:00.001+01:00

On the regular gaming related debate centres around art and whether games are art or not. Personally I think they are and will give examples of Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Killer 7, Ocarina of Time and my game of 2007, Okami.

Okami was a work of pure genius. It took the already very successful Zelda formula and created a game completely with its own style. The gorgeous visuals, lovely music, polished Gameplay and long length make it one of the greatest games ever made.

Being on the PS2, Okami’s most unique feature was a compromise between an original idea and a limited control scheme. I’m talking about the celestial brush. By activating the brush you could paint an image on the screen and something would happen in the game, for example painting a circle on a dead tree would bring it to life, or drawing a bomb would make a bomb appear to blow up walls. But you had to draw them using the sticks.

By then the DS had built up a lot of steam and with its touch screen Okami and the DS seemed like a match made in heaven.

Enter Okamiden, a sequel to Okami on the DS. Unfortunately while the celestial brush is perfect (almost, I have difficulty always activating bloom on dead trees), the rest of the game is limited by the format. Such a shame, it seems the series just can’t win.

Okamiden takes place after the second game. Shakuya tries to summon Amaterasu to find out way demons are still appearing over Nippon, despite Yami being defeated at the end of the first game. Instead Chibiterasu, Amaterasu’s son appears. He’s only a puppy but still packs a punch. Teaming up with Susanno’s son Kuni the two set off on their travels around Nippon. Towards the end you save the world from an ancient evil determined to bring the world into eternal darkness.

It’s pretty much what you expect with a big twist towards the end and a strong possibility of a sequel.

It still looks and sounds good, and the story is enjoyable, easy to follow and funny in places. It’s the most basic Gameplay where Okamiden fails and this is due again to the limits of the system.

The celestial brush works a lot better since you can draw symbols using the stylus. The new Guidance power being one of the better new powers. As mentioned earlier you get a partner this time who you can guide to a separate location by drawing a line with your brush.

It’s just the rest of the Gameplay isn’t really up to scratch. You cannot have a 3D game without camera control and this is Okamiden’s biggest failing. Especially considering you need the camera in the right position to use the brush effectively, not being able to manually adjust the camera is a massive flaw I can’t ignore.

The combat has also been simplified with attack being reduced to a single button. The brush stops this from being simply mash X to win but it still feels like a step back from Okami.

Lastly even moving Chibi is a bit of a chore as the D-pad is not suited for full 3D play. Okamiden shows this so well as moving just does not work as well as it should.

So the limits of the DS are all too apparent. It’s a shame they didn’t wait until the 3DS came out. Okamiden would’ve really benefitted from an Analogue stick.

Okamiden certainly isn’t a bad game. Not worth full price but worth a play when you get a chance. The charm is still there and it was nice visiting Nippon again, there are just so many games out there an Okamiden doesn’t really do a lot to say pick me over the others.

7/10

Xenoblade Chronicles

2011-10-18T13:10:00.000+01:00

I must admit I didn’t see this one coming. I thought it would take an amazing, unique, brilliant game to take game of the year from Portal 2. With Flawless Gameplay, brilliant gripping story and good humour I could not see how anything could challenge it.

Sure we have Arkham City coming and considering Arkham Asylum was my game of 2009, it may still take Game of 2011. Then we have games like Uncharted 3, Skyrim, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Zelda: Skyward Sword all still to come, and all likely to challenge for the crown.

Up until two weeks before its release I had never even heard of Xenoblade Chronicles. I am a fan of JRPG’s and I’m well aware the genre gets a lot of stick, some of it justified, so it’s going to take a lot to convince some gamers this is worth their time.

Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Star Ocean: The Last Hope, Eternal Sonata and Tales of Vesperia have all come and despite being good games have failed to get gamers excited over the genre. Final Fantasy isn’t what it used to be, with Final Fantasy 13 being on of the biggest disappointments of 2010.

So up steps Xenoblade Chronicles, a JRPG, on the Wii, by a relatively unknown developer completely out of the blue and knocks ten shades of shit out of all of those great titles.

If I had to sum up Xenoblade in one word it would be Huge. How they pushed the Wii this far on a single disc is beyond me. Each of the game’s 20 locations goes on for miles and reaches incredible heights. Imagine two or three of Fallout 3’s overworld stacked on top of each other and you’ll get the idea.

Each of these locations has all sorts of hidden paths and offers plenty for the keen explorer. Besides some occasional noticeable low textures each area remains beautifully presented throughout with little loss of detail over large distances. Some even change dramatically between Night and Day; the marsh area for example turns from a foggy dirty plain into a beautiful forest of lights as the in game time passes.

The visuals offer more hits than misses and sometimes you have to remind yourself this is a Wii game. They really have squeezed every little bit of the Wii and still managed to fit in all in a single disc. Even more impressive is that loading times are very good. Considering how big these areas are it’s amazing just how short the loading times are, many developers out there should take note.

The only slowdown I’ve had is during battles where some screen can get a little busy. Combat is fairly simple yet effective. At the bottom of your screen is a selection of special moves called artes. You select them with the D-pad while moving your character with the Analogue stick (note I used a Classic Controller). If you are close enough to your enemy your party leader (the one your control) will automatically do a basic attack. Artes cause damage, heal and/or give buffs and debuffs. After using an Arte you need it to “cooldown” before you can use it again.

By enhancing your artes you can decrease cooldown time and increase damage and/or effect time. You do this by spending AP gained everytime you get experience. Pretty standard stuff. Each arte can be upgraded to level 10.

Artes are colour coded depending on their effect. Attacks are Red, Pink, Green, Yellow. Buffs and Healing are Orange and Blue (Orange being temporary auras, blue moves lasting until the end unless you get rid of them). Red attacks are normal attacks which may inflict a debuff or status effect.

Pink attacks “break” an opponent which does nothing on its own, but if a Green attack is used then they will be “toppled” forcing them to the ground and unable to attack for a short while. You can then inflict Daze with Yellow attacks to extend the period they are unable to attack (so Pink -> Green -> Yellow = Break -> Topple -> Daze). This is the key to beating the harder enemies.

Attack artes only inflict debuff/status effects if you hit them from the side or back. To do this you need to make sure your opponent isn’t aggravated towards you by using artes or by staying out of battle.

Take too many hits and your tension will drop causing you to miss more and take more damage. Everytime you dodge, miss or make a critical hit and simple QTE will appear with a red circle decreasing into a light blue one. Pressing “b” when the red circle is inside the blue one you will raise your tension. If you get it on the edge you will raise your tension even more. At high tension you do more critical hits and more damage. These QTE’s are called affinity bursts.

But what makes the combat of Xenoblade unique are the visions. 8 times out of ten if an attack will incapacitate, inflict a status effect or do a lot of damage you will be warned before hand. You will then have a limited amount of time to prepare, either by raising defence, healing them do the attack won’t drop HP to 0 or by inflicting daze on/taking out the attacker.

Outside of combat Gameplay is centred on exploration, quests and affinity. As mentioned earlier the worlds are huge, towns are filled with a fair amount of NPC’s, many of which will give you side quests. There are hundreds of these ranging from collecting rare items to defeating strong enemies. Completing quests and generally talking to people in towns raise your affinity with that town, leading to more quests and better items from trades.

Affinity also covers your party. Successfully affinity bursts, helping and encouraging party members (to heal them from status effects and low tension), and taking on and completing quests will raise affinity between party members.

Each party member learns a set of skills that can be linked onto other party members depending on their affinity. Each part member learns a maximum of 25 skills, and gains a further 30 from skill links (7 party members, 5 levels of affinity).

To get full affinity you’re taking over 100 hours easy, possible up to 150. The main story is at least 70 hours, my time with a fair few side quests is 90 hours and I’ve only just finished the story. At that time you’d expect the story to drag but it doesn’t. It’s an absolute joy, gripping and with plenty of twists along the way, although the ending is a little clichéd.

The story centres on a war between two titans the Bionis and Mechonis. The Bionis breeds Biological life while the Mechonis breeds Mechanical Life. As the main character Shulk you inherit a very powerful blade called the Monado that gives its user visions of the future. After a “Mechon” kills his special lady friend Shulk chases down this “Mechon” to get revenge. The story leads you to finding the truth behind the Monado and the war between the two titans, as you travel all over both titans.

The characters a generally likeable and instead of very annoying emo/overhappy voices we have only slightly annoying terrible cockney accents. Hey at least it’s something different. Mind you the repetition of certain phrases will start to grate after a while, but let’s not lose our heads though (sorry, I had to. Yeah you’re going to hear that a lot if Reyn’s in your party).

Another thing I really liked about Xenoblade is the way it handles failure. When you lose a battle you are taken to the last Landmark you passed. No game over screens, no reloading save files and no losing affinity/experience gained from the previous battle.

Some might say this makes the game too easy, with the only punishment for failing a battle being all the monsters respawn. I disagree. The first thing I do when I fail is reload a save and try again and this just cuts down on the length of time it takes to get back in there. The game’s challenge comes from finding the right strategy, being prepared and having just that little bit of luck needed to sway the fight your way. Overall what you get a nice flow to the game without it feeling like it’s holding your hand.

Rounding off this near perfect package is a killer soundtrack with a boss theme that will have you wanting to fight the next boss every step of the way. Everything all comes together to give a package that is big, bold and beautiful setting a new standard for each.

For a Wii game, on a single disc, this is one hell of an achievement. Just imagine this on 360. The best JRPG since Skies of Arcadia, sadly it doesn’t take the Monado to see this isn’t going to sell well. Get out there and give this a go because it really doesn’t deserve to be ignored.

On top of all this the Americans aren’t getting it. That’s 1 to us and about a million to them, but who is keeping score. Speaking of which…

10/10

Beware the big bad Sky

2011-10-04T13:00:00.000+01:00

The courts have ruled in favour of Karen Murphy, a Landlady from Portsmouth who instead of paying for Sky used an Illegal decoder to show football in her pub. Her argument was that EU law states that goods and services should move freely between EU states.

To give an example anyone from the UK can go abroad and buy a car if they wanted to. They may have to pay one off import tax but it would still end up cheaper. In this case Greek Satellite shows Premier League games cheaper so she should be able to use that instead of SKY.

SKY has the exclusive UK rights to Premier League games. They pay extra so that only they can show Premier League matches in the UK. What she is doing is in breech of these rights by UK law but not by EU law.

What this means is that anyone can now import a decoder and watch more or less the same media for a cheaper price, the price say the Greeks pay for their service. In particular pubs can use this method to show Premier League games much more cheaply at the expense of SKY, despite SKY having exclusive rights.

So cheaper football for everyone and the financial powerhouse SKY gets taken down a peg or two. This can only be a good thing right? WRONG!

The issue here is what SKY does next. Such a potential loss requires attention. David slays Goliath, How will Goliath act? Will he smash the villagers in rage? I see two potential outcomes.

1. SKY decide to pull out of showing live Premier League games. They sue the Premier League for loss of Exclusivity, which they paid a large sum for.

This will hit the Premier League hard. Many have said the Influence SKY has has ruined English Football. It’s become all about the money. Yes it has become all about the money, and while SKY has played its part it is not the only offender. For example SKY has not made Real Madrid and Barcelona such big financial powerhouses.

Take away that money and English Football in general loses out. You cannot say all the money given by SKY goes purely to the big clubs. It goes to the Premier League who are then in charge of distributing it. This includes prize money smaller clubs get for finishing in a certain position and probably covers the costs of Grassroots football.

Even the big clubs will need a billionaire investor to cover the growing cost of Player Salaries. Contrary to popular belief SKY has not invested solely on one team, the money had dramatically improved Services in Football. It has changed the game, and these changes are here to stay.

The point I’m trying to make is how on Earth are English Clubs meant to attract the top players after such a big cut in their earnings? The top players will no doubt go to the foreign leagues where they can earn much more. The EPL won’t be able to compete.

Unless they find a way to cover this cost. Those without a Sugar Daddy will no doubt raise the cost of tickets and Merchandise. The Consumer therefore loses. Ticket attendance will go down in favour of cheap TV, Clubs will start losing Players, and ultimately the EPL will have a drastic collapse in quality. You can forget about an English team winning the Champions League.

Although this is what I think will happen instead of all that…

2. The Premier League will sell SKY the exclusive European rights rather than just the UK.

And we’re back to square one, only now SKY will be even more expensive taking into account additional costs for setting up around Europe. Instead of a UK monopoly they would have a European one. Everyone will pay more and all this has done is draw attention to the dodgy cheaper alternative, and subsequently eliminated it.

SKY is expensive because it pays lots of money for exclusivity, and these costs are reimbursed by Subscribers. Increase the costs for exclusivity, not to mention setting up in the other EU countries, and ultimately consumers will pay the difference.

Similar services in other European countries do not have to pay exclusive rights hence they are cheaper. Change all that and costs in general will only rise and SKY will win anyway.

This technicality that has undermined SKY’s Exclusive rights to the Premier League seems like a Victory now, but it is going to bite us in the arse, just you wait.

Impressions from Gamefest 2011

2011-09-27T17:31:00.001+01:00

A Little overdue. Here is what I played and what I thought of it.

Street Fighter X Tekken (PS3)
I find it difficult to judge a fighting game when I’m stuck on a normal pad. I use a fightpad and I can’t get to grips with only having the four buttons in the standard diamond. I enjoyed what I played, it has a nice pace and some cool new mechanics to master. I went straight for Chun Li and experimented with Cammy and Ibuki. I main as Chun Li in SSF4 so she was a natural choice. She feels different and I can’t tell if it’s the pad or the game.

Will no doubt pick this up at launch.

Sonic Generations (360)
Managed to get a play of City Escape, both Classic and Modern. Feels pretty much how I expected it to be.
Classic: Plays how I expected it to. Well polished with the opportunity to take other paths. What you want really.
Modern: Some nice improvements to the opening cityboarding section, offering new paths if you time your jumps right. The final chase is a bit more epic, the truck feels some much more of a threat now and the running alongside a building was a nice touch.
Best surprise? Seeing the bottomless pit warning from Sonic Colours make a reappearance. Such a simple yet effective addition.

Still really looking forward to this.

Sonic Generations (3DS)
Played both Green hill and Mushroom hill, both Classic and Modern. Classic is pretty much the same as the original games. Green hill in particular is very familiar. Modern is a little weird. Like the bastard son of Sonic 4 and Sonic Rush. There are some good elements, such as the dandelion things that go further and higher the faster you go through them (i.e. going further by boosting through them). Also really liked disappearing behind the scenery when using the pulleys. Good use of the 3D.

May wait for it to go down in price, rather than getting it straight away.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
It’s 3D Zelda, It’s going to be good. I watched the presentation and played the demo. Shame they were the same thing. Really liked the different ways you defeated enemies. Some really well thought out enemies. I hope they are all like that. My fear though is because the enemies have a specific motion based method of beating them you will only fight one or two at a time, leaving the game enemy light but puzzle heavy.

Another game I’m really looking forward too, but I have some small doubts.

Rayman Origins (360)
Played some co-op with Party Hat and Gorblet. This was a lot of fun. Like New Super Mario Bros Wii just with the added bonus of Online Multiplayer. It’s looking very good and I’m probably going to buy this near launch.

Soul Calibur 5 (360)
No Kilik which was a shame. Feels a little different to 4, was playing as Ivy and I seem to have forgotten how to change to whip mode (or they may have changed it, if so why?). Felt a little easy. I’ll be keeping an eye on this one; I’ve always liked the series.

Super Mario Land 3D (3DS)
I was quite disappointed in this. The courses felt short and Mario seemed to move too slowly. I later learned there was a sprint button, but why have that when you have an analogue stick. Looks good but I feel there was more bad than good. May wait a while this time, might save until Christmas.

Journey (PS3)
This had a bit of an Ico/Shadow of the Colossus feel. Very simple yet effective. I found the way forward pretty easy without any hints, and all the moves became second nature. Not really a game you can judge playing at a booth in a convention. May pick this up when it’s cheap and I can commit some time to it.

Modern Warfare 3 (360)
The big one. Unfortunately after all that queuing it was a spec ops two played horde clone, rather than a full blown multiplayer game (would’ve preferred some 6 on 6 domination). The game engine feels very much like MW2, which to be fair isn’t a bad thing. IW already took out the nuke so MW3 already has a huge advantage over MW2, I hated the Nuke and the way it made people play. What I played didn’t really sway me either way, come on its COD, you’re going to get it, admit it, I have my preorder down. Although I will admit I’m not nearly as excited for this one as I was for MW2.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (DS)

2011-09-27T17:30:00.000+01:00

Don’t ask me when but somewhere along the line there started to be more games than time to play them. It would not surprise me if you said you had a collection of games you have yet to play and you’re concerned you’ll never find the time to play them.

I share your pain. With the inclusion of Downloadable titles and Handheld games my “To Play” list is getting a little out of hand. Will I stop buying games until I’ve played the ones I have? Hell no, Arkham City comes within the next few weeks and that was long overdue from the moment I finished Arkham Asylum.

So where am I going with this? Well, amongst my growing pile of games was a little DS game called Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. To be honest I had barely heard of it, just that it was sort of like Phoenix Wright, a series I absolutely adore. But truth be told it wasn’t the most exciting game in my pile. In fact it was in danger of being so far down my list I might never get around to playing it.

Fortunately I did and it turned out to be an absolute gem of a game, filled to the brim with great storytelling and originality. It so did not deserve to be ignored.

The idea is simple, you are dead and are now a ghost but you can interact with objects. Your goal is to discover the truth about your mysterious death. You do this by changing the fates of the main characters, usually saving them from being killed.

On screen you are a blue flame than can move between certain objects in a small radius. Once inside an object you can manipulate it using a “ghost trick”. For example you can open a suitcase, or turn on a fan, or roll a tyre. If you move the flame towards a dead body you can talk to them and relive the last 4 minutes before their death. Here you’re free to move about the area as a ghost and manipulate objects until you find a way of saving that person’s life.

For example there’s a section where one of the main characters gets sniped by a hit man hiding in the nearby junkyard. There are three places the hit man will try to shoot from and he will not shoot where there is a light. You can move about and turn on the lights covering the shooting locations but you can only turn on two at a time. You use the lights to place the hit man where you want him to be, and then manipulate the near by police car siren to alert the nearby policemen to his location.

Other puzzles get more complex, even moving to the location you want becomes itself a puzzle giving the limited range you can move. You need to take advantage of moving machines and objects to get around. Later on in the game you’ll get the ability to swap objects of similar shape, e.g. to change a boulder to a tennis ball.

It’s hard to place this in a genre. Probably closest to Point and Click but it doesn’t have the same feel as games like Sam and Max, or the Monkey Island Series. The go to location and interact with object mechanic is intentionally far more restrictive but offers a unique blend of timing and strategy.

By far the game’s best strength is its story. Gripping, nicely paced and with plenty of twists it has the makings of a real “page-turner”, just like Phoenix Wright hence the comparisons.

With a lovely soundtrack and some nice stylish visuals the whole experience is very well presented. It’s hard to find any fault; Ghost Trick is a polished, well made and original experience that deserves all the recognition is gets, and then some.

As I look at my pile of games yet to play I can’t help but wonder how many more potential Ghost Tricks there are, and worryingly am I ever going to play them.

If you’re looking for something to fill the void Phoenix Wright has left Ghost Trick is the perfect answer. A game that should be played at some point by anyone who calls themselves a gamer.

9/10

Some mini reviews of 2011 releases so far

2011-08-23T13:32:00.000+01:00

Dead Space 2

Dead Space pretty much took the survival horror crown away from Resident Evil. While Resi has moved more towards Action, Dead Space remembered that Survival Horror should be tense, nervy, and challenge your survival skills. It was a welcome addition to anyone’s collection.

Dead Space 2 should be more of the same but it’s not. The very linear path removes any element of exploration in favour of constant progression. This may lead to a better flowing story, which works well for showing how Isaac is constantly battling with his growing Insanity, but it kills any feeling of being trapped in a twisted place. You should be able to freely explore areas but instead you feel stuck to a rail.

Another thing I didn’t like was the end. After Chapter 10 (which was pretty cool by the way, those that played both games should know what I’m on about) the game floods you with enemies, it just never stops to build up tension. So instead of wondering what’s around the next corner you know it’s going to be more Necromorphs. This drops the scare factor and ultimately leads to a frustrating rather than fun game.

Still worth playing, I just hope Visceral take a good hard look at the game and the genre, realise their strengths, and produce something more on par with the first game for Dead Space 3.

7/10

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of two Worlds

If Street Fighter is the Parent, with many years experience and an aspiring role model to the rest of the genre, and Blazblue is the rebellious teenager, learned a lot from its parents but ultimately wants to do it’s own thing; Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is the hyperactive child, who is fun to be around but still has a lot to learn.

There’s no denying that the pace of MvC3 is so fast and frantic that that alone leads to a fun game, it just don’t feel as balanced as it needs to be. Bigger characters like Hulk and Sentinel win as they are still quite fast, do a lot of damage and fill the screen with pretty much every attack.

With so many tactics that just feel cheap and a fairly pathetic online multiplayer (no spectator mode in endless lobbies, no replay function, what the fuck?) this game manages to be more fun in single player than in multiplayer. That is not a good thing when you are a 2D arcade fighter.

Don’t bother with Vanilla MvC3, go for Ultimate. If it’s anything like Super Street Fighter 4 was for Street Fighter 4, Ultimate MvC3 should fix many of the game’s problems. Maybe for the next 2D fighter series Capcom release I’ll just wait for the superior second version.

6/10

Ms Splosion Man

Twisted Pixel are fast becoming one of my favourite smaller game developers. Splosion Man and The Maw were fantastic little games brimming with originality. Splosion Man in particular adopted a very simple philosophy that’s reminiscent of what Naka had in mind with Sonic. That is a game entirely played using a single button. It worked really well.

The sequel Ms Splosion Man is more of the same only with a better framerate and even more devious traps. You better get used to dying because you’re going to, a lot. It’s a decent length though instead of having 3 worlds of 16, they should have 6 worlds of 8.

It’s hard to fault the game. It doesn’t do anything wrong but not all that much brilliantly. It’s more Splosion man, weird, wacky, challenging and fun, which is all it needs to be really.

8/10

Shadows of the Damned

When one of the craziest twisted motherfuckers on the planet SUDA 51 teams up with one of the biggest names in games development, Shinji Mikami you know you’re in for something special. Except in this case you aren’t.

SotD is a fine game nothing more. Stripped to its bare bones it’s nothing more than a generic third person shooter. You are a demon hunter, shoot demons. Really do you need anything more than that?

Well tighter controls would’ve been nice. Not having quick turn and Dodge being on the same button and not losing your aim when you get hit (despite still holding onto the Aim button), for example. Also unskippable cut scenes in this day and age is unforgivable.

Still it’s impossible to play SotD without a great big smile on your face. The Humour throughout hits all the right immature notes and it mostly flows nicely without feeling too easy.

Worth it at a budget price.

7/10

Child of Eden

I’ve already reviewed CoE this year. It’s fantastic and a definite nominee for Game of the Year.

9/10

Ocarina of Time 3D

I’ve also reviewed this too. The greatest game ever is remade in glorious 3D and on a handheld. Would be game of the year if it wasn’t already game of all existence (and originally released in 1998)

10/10

Portal 2

What makes a brilliant game? Solid Gameplay? Check! Unique style? Check (Well besides the first Portal) Brilliant Setting? Check! Awesome visuals and sound? Check! Fantastic humour, storytelling and voice acting? Check, Check and Check!

Well you see where I’m going with this. Portal 2 hits all the right buttons. Absolutely Flawless from start to finish and an absolute joy to play. Best of all it has a co-op mode that is as equally awesome and well made. Unlike other Co-op games Portal 2 hasn’t been centred around Co-op, so it has no effect on the sublime Single Player Campaign. It’s pretty much two very good games for the price of one.

Strong contender for Game of the Year 2011. Seriously get this game if you haven’t already.

10/10

Beyond Good and Evil HD

I had forgotten about this gem. One of the more unique titles of last generation and criminally overlooked. Brilliantly blending the best of Zelda style dungeon crawling with Metal Gear Solid style stealth it really did deserve more attention that it got.

This remake has made me glad to relive it again but angry that it still hasn’t got a sequel after so many years. The characters are likable, the story is nicely paced and the Gameplay is pretty well polished.

Definitely worth playing through again and essential if you haven’t played it already.

8/10

The next generation of Gaming - My Predictions

2011-08-10T13:40:00.002+01:00

It’s hard to believe this generation of consoles started over 5 years ago. Previously generations tended to only last 5 years and yet not even a hint of the next generation outside of Nintendo’s WiiU.

Microsoft and Sony seem to have a lot of faith in their machines but it can’t be long now before they both reveal their next console. Here are some of the things I’d like to see, think we’ll see and general thoughts on what we’ll see from Gaming with the next generation.

Gaming is more competitive than ever and while most gamers aren’t going to chose formats like the iPad over the 360, it cannot be denied that Apple’s machines are having an effect on the market. Many believe that the rise of Smartphones has had an effect on handheld gaming.

Recently Nintendo dropped the price of its 3DS by a fairly large amount. This isn’t the first time a new console has had a drastic price cut within the first few months of its life. The original Xbox dropped by £100. However at the time Microsoft were new to the market, this is a new Nintendo Handheld we’re talking about. Nintendo have generally dominated the handheld market, raping every competitor that dared tried to compete with it. This was a shock.

But back to the point. Products like Smartphones and iPhones/iPads have one feature that I reckon will be big in the next generation, Apps.

This generation has brought with it a lot of Downloadable content, pioneered through the Xbox Live Marketplace and validated through Playstation Network, Virtual Console, Wiiware and DSiware. This is definitely going to explode as gaming evolves.

It’s very rare to see a 360/PS3 release that does not have DLC available/planned. This has come to the point where gamers even speculate on DLC for games still in development where there has been no hint of additional DLC (e.g. Sonic Generations – the Pre-order bonus doesn’t count). Even downloadable games have downloadable content.

Consoles themselves already have built in non game related apps. The 360 has Facebook as part of its dashboard for example. But this wasn’t really a choice as it came with a mandatory update. Fortunately it was Free but it’s only a matter of time before the idea expands and apps become paid optional Downloads.

Expect to see an App marketplace in the next generation, the feature has helped mobiles immensely; it would seem foolish for Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo not to embrace them with their next consoles. We’re already seeing signs of it with the 3DS’ Video channel and Pokedex 3D. Free, for now.

I would really like to see an App that allows you to access other system’s friend list, i.e. seeing and interacting with your 360 friend list while playing on your PS3. I’d pay a small amount of money to download that feature and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

The only issue with Apps is that it could backfire much like it has with with Android. For it to work it would have to be heavily regulated meaning expensive. However I’d expect issues like these to be ironed out by the time the next generation is here.

Continuing on with Downloadable content I can see the next generation being one of download only games. As much as I’d hate to see the death of the physical format it does seem inevitable. Personally I don’t think the technology is as widely available as people seem to think, which is why the PSPGo fell on its arse.

Truth is only the big cities have the speeds to make this a viable option. Taking in account file sizes getting much bigger as the technology gets more advanced, only the fastest broadband will allow new game download in a decent timeframe. For the rest of us, expect 20 hour waits to download a new game. I don’t fancy leaving my console, router and all associated equipment on for that length of time.

Furthermore digital distribution already has problems with Piracy. I rarely play games on my PC but I’m well aware of Steam and the benefits it has brought. However the PC is the most pirated format and developers are already losing interest. SEGA decided not to give Sonic and Sega All-Star Racing an Online option in the PC version, Capcom decided to lock half the characters in Super Street Fighter 4 unless you played online continuously. PC versions generally seem to be the afterthought with multiplatform releases and only really Valve push the format.

On the other hand digital distribution without piracy helps developers immensely. Developers and more weary of second hand sales and generally make a point that they don’t like it. EA for example give codes to activate online play. Whoever buys the game first uses the code to get online; the next person can’t use the same code and so can’t get online. You can’t sell on a digitally distributed game, but you can copy one, easier than with a game on a disc anyway.

If developers can find a way of offering digital only games that cannot be copied they will be laughing and the death of the physical format ensured. Of course that’s a big ‘if’ and I don’t think they will ever prevent digital copying, but heaven knows they will try, leading to more annoying DRM (Digital Rights Management, features in place within the game to disable play unless the game is validated continuously. Good for developers but not good for consumers).

Moving away from apps and downloading content the next feature I think that will be big in the next generation is one of this generations most useful new features, Gamertags and Friend Lists.

These days it’s rare to find anyone without some kind of online identity and many want that identity to be a handle or screen name to protect their real name. Google recently came under Flak for restricting those using the new Google+ Social Networking site to real names only

Gamertags have given each player a unique identity when they play games online. Master hunter and Joz Labatte are as much a part of me as Joseph Rafferty, hell this isn’t Joseph Rafferty’s Blog this is Master hunter’s Blog. Websites and Message boards have had Screen names since the beginning and with Gaming adopting them I find myself referring to people by their tags over their real names.

By making it so that every tag is unique (with Nintendo this is now with System friend codes rather than tags but they idea is the same), it is much easier to build up online communities and build up your Friend list. This has become such a large part of gaming it’s here to stay.

As the new generations some in the ways you can interact with your friends list is bound to increase. Currently you can create a party of 8 people and talk to them regardless of what you are doing with your system, you don’t even have to be playing the same game (this is all 360, but I would expect the other two to embrace this later). You can invite people to join your game and join others at the touch of a button. You can compare your achievements with those of your friends and check out each other profiles. You can also ban people from communicating with you and report people to the powers that be really easily.

All of this was just a dream when SEGA introduced the concept into the mainstream, and you’d expect it to get bigger and more in-depth with future generations.

One thing I would really like to see but I don’t think will ever happen, is a unified gaming identity. What I mean is one identity for all formats rather than a tag for each. It probably won’t happen since Microsoft charge for online play and Sony do not, the latter being the primary reason people choose the PS3 over the 360. Someone would have to give, would Microsoft make Live free or would Sony lose one of its biggest selling points. On top of that you have Nintendo to consider who seem to be fixed on codes rather than tags.

Going back to achievements I don’t see these going away anytime soon either. Microsoft will no doubt allow you to continue your tag onto the next generation and keep unlocking achievements for your profile. Sony may want to think about resetting trophies, making them a key part of the gaming experience from day one (rather than a year or so down the line). Nintendo should also come up with a system. Not sure how these play coins work on the 3DS but if games could unlock them they could have a nice system set up already.

Another feature I’d like to see if having the chat integrated with Social Networking sites or even Skype. The number of people using Skype continues to grow; most mobile phones feature Skype in some way and if properly utilized we could see an age where you can chat to someone over the phone while playing a videogame.

In some ways we have this already. The 360 got upgraded to allow you to chat via MSN messenger and to be fair it wasn’t very successful. But that was text messaging only; imagine if Voice chat was used this way. Friend not online, call their mobile using Skype and invite them to the Party. They can then chat to the party using their phone with no need to turn on their console. All of this done through the consoles headset to provide little interference when playing a game.

Already the Windows Phone has Xbox Live integration. How long before all phones do? How long before the PSN and Nintendo WiFi join in? Will it take another generation of consoles?

With the growing number of theatre modes in games and capture cards being fairly cheap there are a number of gamers uploaded clips of games onto YouTube. Some games, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops and Dirt 3 even have YouTube integration, allowing you to upload your clips directly onto YouTube.

I expect this to really take off by the next generation to the point where it’s a standard feature within the system. Record anytime and upload to YouTube, no matter what you are playing and how you are playing it. Finally managed that perfect run, upload it and share with everyone. Instead of only certain games having this feature, all will.

Recently apple announced its iCloud service. This allows you to upload files to a server and use them on any device. I believe Sony have a similar system that is only available to Playstation Plus users to allow gamers to back up save files elsewhere. I would like to see this generally available next generation, particularly when it comes to irreplaceable save files.

Currently I’m weary of playing Playstation 3 games as I’ve had two Yellow Lights of Death, each time erasing my save data completely. Hours of play on games like Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid 4, Little Big Planet and Heavy Rain completely lost with no way of recovery. If a cloud based backup system was in place I wouldn’t have lost these files as I could just download them again.

The only issue with this is millions of gamers, all needing space on a server with a couple of back up servers too, this could get quite expensive. It would need to be for save files only and not general DLC (which can be re-downloaded anyway) and may come with a small charge. Depending on its price though I’d be willing to pay.

But what about the games themselves, what do I see for the next generation. Well to be honest gaming hasn’t changed that much, there’s just a lot more of it. More good, but more bad. The only real change has been the rise of gimmicky games, the type that exist purely to abuse a motion control peripheral and feature little to no substance. You’re probably going to see less of them as developers realise you don’t need big gestures when using them.

Microsoft should stop pushing Kinect as a replacement for a controller and see it as more of an addition. The best game to use Kinect so far has a controller mode, what does that tell you? In all fairness developers have started seeing this and are offering Kinect games you can play while sitting down with a pad in your hand. Such as the new Forza Motorsport which uses Kinect to allow you to look around your vehicle for a better view of the road ahead. Or Mass Effect 3 which is said to use voice commands. This is the way forward for Kinect I feel.

I don’t recall Move being mentioned at all at E3 and Nintendo’s big feature was a console with a tablet for a controller. It will be interesting to see where to go with that and I hope this time it’s somewhere good.

My general fear is that all games will try to be the next Call of Duty, i.e. super serious, grey, highly militarised first person shooters. Now this isn’t bad in small doses but these types of games seem to be everywhere. Pretty much ever lead character now is some kind of Soldier and I’d like to seem some diversity in personality.

Gaming is definitely a more fierce and active industry than it’s ever been. Already we’re seeing new technology outside of gaming that could be adapted to evolve gaming even further. It won’t be long now before the first signs of the next generations begin to appear, perhaps at next years E3 (though I’ve been saying that for the last couple of years now).

Word is telling me this is 5 pages on A4 so here’s the TL:DR Summary

I think these features will be big/becoming a bigger part of gaming in the next generation.

- Apps: Custom iPhone/iPad/Android Style apps through an Apps Marketplace.

- Download only: Rise of Downloadable content and the high possibility of Gaming becoming download only.

- Gamer Identity: Advancement or at least Continuation of Gamertags, perhaps having one tag for all systems.

- Achievements: Continuation of Achievement/Trophy systems.

- Skype Integration: Expanding on Xbox Live’s party system to include mobile device to Xbox voice communication and making it a standard on all systems.

- Video record and upload: YouTube integration allowing straight upload of videos recorded through game/console features (i.e. Theatre Modes as standard)

- Cloud saves: Separate servers being used to back up save files in case of machine breakdown.

- Less Motion Control: Devices like Kinect, Move and Wiimote motion control being used less often and more subtle ways.

Child of Eden Review

2011-08-04T13:27:00.001+01:00

Towards the end of the Dreamcast’s life, SEGA released a game designed to blend shooting with music. This was Rez, a critically acclaimed third person on-rails shooter set within a computer network.

Now I didn’t think much of Rez, I thought it was a restrictive overrated and very gimmicky shooter. Considering the excellent Panzer Dragoon series was in this genre, I couldn’t overlook how much more basic it was. What I mean is that while they are both on rails you could look around in full 360 in Panzer; Rez restricted you to the area ahead of you. A big step back.

A game should compete with others in its genre, especially one released several years before. Rez did not and focused on gimmicks such as wireframe graphics and making pretty noises whenever you hit something. An Average shooter hiding behind gimmicky features that did nothing for its gameplay.

Now, ten years later we get a sequel or more of a spiritual successor in the form of Child of Eden. Now to be honest this game didn’t interest me, I didn’t even realise it was a shooter. But I heard good things about it and when I saw it for under £20 (shopto.net if you’re interested) I decided to go for it. I am very happy I did because in short Child of Eden is the game Rez wanted to be.

Gone are the wireframe graphics and instead we get beautiful, colourful levels that are very trippy. The developers must have been smoking some pretty strong stuff to come up with what they did. The overall effect is a stylish, unique and simply gorgeous visual experience which very few games can offer.

But it’s more that just amazing visuals. Gameplay wise is a huge improvement. This may seem like a strange comment but moving from third person to first makes it feel less restrictive than Rez. It feels more like a lightgun game, and comparing this to them you do have more freedom in where you can look. What I mean is the edges expand giving a bigger screen.

Unlike Lightgun games this is not about quick reflexes, well not at first, or hitting secret small targets in the background. It is what Rez wanted it to be, a blend of shooting and music, perfectly summarised through the perfect octo-lock system.

Unlike Rez, Child of Eden actually uses the music, the beat of it that is, to create a good gameplay mechanic. After locking onto 8 targets if you release in perfect timing to the beat of the music you will perform a perfect octo-lock. These increase your score multiplier and are the key to the higher ranks.

This Bemani element actually gives the “Synesthesia” element a purpose, unlike Rez where it was just hit something, make pretty music (which is still in Child of Eden).

Also added to Child of Eden is a second “tracer” weapon, a free shooting but less accurate weapon that doesn’t lock on. This is more of a defensive weapon used to shoot down projectiles before they hit you. So you generally use your lock on to shoot down enemies, while the tracer protects you from projectiles. Balancing the two is the key to getting through the later stages, particularly in the unlockable hard mode.

Music was one of Rez’s strong points and Child of Eden continues this through the “series”. The soundtrack is infectious and you’ll be playing it back in your head long after you stop playing.

Plot wise it’s pretty much the same. There’s a girl personality trapped behind a security network and you have to shoot down the firewalls that are keeping her imprisoned. You really don’t need anymore so isn’t really an issue.

Overall the game has a very arcade feel to it. Like most arcade games there isn’t many levels, each of the five levels are meant to be replayed until you master them. There’s a good set of Achievements that will prolong Child of Eden’s life, ranging from the simple to the very tough.

A when I say tough I mean it. Getting the highest rank isn’t easy and requires almost perfect play. That means not only shooting down everything, but in do so achieving perfect octo-locks constantly. The window for these is very tight and I find myself counting to the beats to hit them. Even after shooting everything down, collecting every support item and achieving a fair number of perfect octo-locks the best I’ve managed so far is only four stars (out of five, I hope).

If you enjoy mastering a game to perfection Child of Eden offers a lot for you, but others may just find it frustrating (especially since it lacks a restart level option).

Like I said earlier Child of Eden is the game Rez wanted to be. Perfectly combining shooting and music in a unique way and presented in a beautifully trippy way. Easy to get into, difficult to master but with plenty of replay value, Child of Eden is a fantastic game. More than worth the £20 it is right now.

8/10

The greatest game of all time: Ocarina of Time.

2011-07-19T13:13:00.001+01:00

You might be shocked to know that despite being the worlds biggest Sonic fan my favourite game of all time does not feature the blue hedgehog at all. Hell it’s not even done by SEGA, but by their biggest rivals Nintendo.

Yes I am one of those who regard Miyamoto’s N64 masterpiece, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the greatest game ever made. While some might say it’s not THE best game ever few would argue that it deserves a place near the top.

With the recent 3DS remake I ask myself why, after nearly 13 years nothing has come to take its crown. In fact the only game that could claim to be better is itself, strange isn’t it?

So where to begin? I got Ocarina of Time for my Birthday soon after its release, so February 1999. I had rented it previously and was so blown away my money went straight on a shiny new copy of OOT. I had never played a Zelda game before and if I could I would go back in time and punch myself in the face for such stupidity.

Even before you put the game in your N64 you can’t help but look at the simple yet effective box. This game knows it’s good. So good all it needs is a logo and some text in gold writing. Nothing fancy, all it needs to convince you to buy it are the worlds “The”, “Legend”, “of” and “Zelda”.

The first thing you should notice is the brilliant title sequence music. So beautiful and elegant, perfectly describing the world you’ll spend your precious hours in. OOT’s soundtrack is truly one of the most memorable you will ever come across.

Visually the game was ahead of its time. There were moments that literally stunned me to my core, such as the twisting corridors of the Forest Temple. The opening questioning the reason for having FMV over in game cut scenes; it was beautiful and set the scene perfectly.

Even in the opening area the whole place lit up with life and energy rarely seen in games before. Not a drop of the NPC’s personalities held back, Kokiri forest felt oddly strange yet strangely familiar. Immediately it’s made clear that Link was teased for being different (not having a fairy) and already you’re relating to character before you’ve entered your first dungeon.

The game engine questioned everything you knew about gaming. Even at its core the lack of a jump button was inspired. If you had told me that before I played the game I would’ve been bewildered. You move from platform to platform without a jump button, what the fuck? But it works so well within minutes it’s just so natural.

The Z targeting system remains one of the best ways of handling combat in 3D. Being able to freely move around an opponent, blocking and dodging attacks and then countering with the minimum of fuss, it blended real time skill and strategy in a way that felt unique and special.

You enter Queen Gohma’s chamber, its boss time and you can cut the tension with a knife. The atmosphere builds in a big empty room, everything is quiet and then you notice something odd in the ceiling. The eye spots you, Queen Gohma drops from the ceiling and its go time. The pace of the music quickens and you know you have a fight on your hands. You fire several Deku nuts into her brain, slice her eye open like a turkey and you’re rewarded with your first heart piece.

And then just as you’re elevated the Deku Tree, the big tree that’s looked after you and your kind for hundred of years dies before you eyes. You spend a moment to shred a tear and then the real adventure begins. You thought the world was big and filled with life before, and then you’re introduced to Hyrule Field. The whole scale of the world before you becomes real; yes you do climb that Volcano in the distance later on.

Hours pass, you’ve sneaked passed guards and met Princess Zelda, you’ve made Darunia dance to the infectious Saria’s Song, went inside the belly of the beast, literally, and got yourself engaged to a humanoid fish creature and then finally you get your hands on the games namesake, The Ocarina of Time.

And just when you think you’re reaching the end the world expands even more. You pick up the Master sword in the temple of time and all hell breaks loose. Ganondorf gets the triforce, Zelda comes into hiding and Hyrule gets truly fucked over. Its seven years later and you are an adult.

Everything changes and you begin to appreciate OOT’s true beauty. Unlike any other game that went before it you are not just playing a game, you are experiencing the living breathing world of Hyrule. Things you do as a child effect the future, people you meet in the past have whole new lives in the future.

And it only gets better from there as you switch between them at will, effectively making Time your bitch. Your greatest weapon is not your sword, your bombs, not even the horse it’s that musical instrument that gets permanently assigned to a C-button, your Ocarina.

The world gets more insane, the bosses more epic, the puzzles more mind boggling and the experience more incredible, all building up to a fantastic final boss and a beautiful ending.

The game’s length is perfect. Long enough to stand on its own, short enough to be replayed over and over again. There is enough here to keep you going for months, even years. Not a lot of purely single player games can boast that.

The debate whether games are Art or not rages on. Some would say that you cannot have good Art and good Design. There is very little in this world that can say they have both, and I’m not just talking games here.

Ocarina of Time is one of the few, if not the only, games to does everything to an exceptionally high standard. The experience is second to none and remains a master class in how games should be made. One of the greatest creations of mankind.

Few games are truly brilliant, only one series is Truly Legendary, and In my opinion at least, Ocarina of Time is the best of them all.

Why I don't listen to anyone when it comes to Sonic

2011-07-07T12:39:00.000+01:00

I’m not sure if I’ve ever said this before but I don’t listen to anyone’s opinions when it comes to Sonic. I may read reviews but they have no influence on me. When it comes to Sonic is only opinion that matters is my own.

Why? Well over the past ten years the views of people have generally been negative and to a certain extent they can be justified. Fair enough, but it’s the level of negativity that has always bothered me.

You don’t like Sonic, you don’t like Sonic, I’m not going to try to convert you. All I want is a little fairness when you judge the games and for the last couple of years I don’t feel that has happened.

Now I’m not saying the latest games have been amazing I just feel that games like Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic 2006 have left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth. Because of that their views have been skewed by pure hatred to that point that the mere mention of a new Sonic game is met with lots of undue hostility.

I doubt there’s a single topic on a message board that doesn’t feature the infamous Sonic cycle image. The problem is people but more faith into that image than they do the developers. To them Sonic Team are the scapegoats for everything and with Shadow and 2006 cited as examples it’s hard to argue.

However there is a saying amongst Football fans that applies here, Form is temporary, Class is Permanent. Up until 2001 at least Sonic team were unstoppable. A symbol of originality and innovation, daring to push new technology and establish new standards.

It seems easy to forget that Sonic Team opened up the online gaming scene by releasing the first online game outside of PC gaming. Enjoy COD on your 360/PS3? You owe a debt to Sonic Team who brought online gaming into the Mainstream with Chu Chu Rocket. Played a 4 player co-op game, see Phantasy Star Online.

Adding to them, the genre-less unique NiGHTS into Dreams and the completely original Burning Rangers, not to mention redesigning Platforming in the Sonic series itself, Sonic Team should be applauded not hated.

Going back to the Sonic Cycle, if you do put your faith on that idea over the track record of Sonic team your setting yourself up for potentially missing some great games. Sonic team are bound to find their form again and a great Sonic game is due to come out, some would say it already has.

When that happens, when we get a truly brilliant Sonic game if you’ve put all your faith in the Sonic cycle for fears of “falling for it again”, you’re going to miss it. You’ll never know if a good Sonic game comes out due to the hateful, dismissive attitudes the Sonic Cycle has created.

Some would argue that this has already happened. Sonic Unleashed was great but many dismissed it from first announcement and there attitudes have not changed. Sonic Colours, even the reviews were favourable, was also instantly dismissed and ignored. Sonic Generations is the next big title but already the same attitudes are there.

Truth is, it’s very easy to criticise and with Sonic that is all too apparent. The slightest flaw or even just a difference sets off intense hatred for the series. Generations is a perfect example of this. The demo is fantastic and thankfully opinions on the game are largely popular. However this is a small minority I’ve come across complaining that the Roll mechanic is not 100% like the originals.

What the fuck?!? Seriously. This is enough to hate the game over; something is ever so slightly different so the game is a piece of crap. No other game series gets that amount of shit, I swear. It’s a lot closer to the originals than Sonic 4 and still it’s not enough and even then it shouldn’t matter.

A game, even a sonic game, should be judged on its own merits without being unfairly compared to older titles. In any other game gamers would pick up on the new changes and roll with it. I don’t recall anyone cursing CODBLOPS because kills from Killstreak rewards don’t add to your Killstreak total. Everyone just seems to get on with it.

To a lesser extent this extends to Sonic 4. Lots have been said for its completely different Physics. I hold my hand up and say it doesn’t play anything like the classic Mega Drive games. My argument is that it shouldn’t have to.

Here’s the acid test. If you take Sonic out of the game and released the same game, just with a different character and name, would it get the same hate? Hopefully your answer is probably not and you see what I’m getting at.

Instead of focusing on the differences and hating them, embrace them and make the game your own. This is why I don’t feel the demo should be used to judge the full game, particularly if you grew up on the classic titles. It takes a while to get used to the changes but when you do it is a good game.

Another example of all this is the Werehog in Unleashed. Take Sonic out of the equation, would it still get the same hate? I’m not convinced; I think it would be dismissed as a God of War clone aimed at Children, with some unique platforming features, possibly worth a 7/10 on its own.

Then there’s the Sun/Moon Medals, essentially a collect “x” amount of an item to continue mechanic. How many games have these and no-one gives a shit. Even Mario 64, a game hailed as one of the greatest, most influential, and all time classic games has this mechanic and no-one cares. Sonic has it, oh no it’s the end of the world, this game is shit.

So what I guess I’m saying is the hateful, dismissive attitude of gamers regarding Sonic tends to lead to people making bigger deals of issues than they actually are. Even professional reviews are the same.

This is the reason I generally ignore other people’s opinions when it comes to Sonic because it always seems to be negatively skewed. I’m happy making my own opinions on the new games, so yes I’ll let myself get excited by a new Sonic game, buy them when they come out and if they turn out to be shit, well at least I’ll know I’ve made my own decision on the title. I find this more comforting than blindly following the general consensus, skewed by the bad taste the poorer titles have left in my mouth.

P.S. Even as a Sonic fan I don’t judge every game to be great. Sonic and the Black Night was a terrible game with a fundamentally flawed mechanic that just didn’t work. However at least I came to that conclusion myself. I’d rather take the risk and be rewarded like with Unleashed and Colours.

Strike Like

2011-06-28T12:57:00.000+01:00

Maybe I’m missing something here but I don’t get why people look down on those who are striking. Apparently those who strike in order to get better working conditions are scum. It shouldn’t be that employees shouldn’t strike; it should be that employees shouldn’t need to strike, and any blame for strikes should be placed on the employer.

There’s a bit of talk around the recent strike action of those in the public sector regarding pensions. For some reason they are seen as the bad guys. For what, decided enough is enough and making a statement. That’s what a strike is, a statement. It’s a way for an employee to say No, that isn’t fair and I won’t work until it gets changed.

In theory it should lead to a better working life and relationship between Employer and Employee. But we’re such pussies about it Employers are taking employees for a ride.

Everything is planned well in advance and made to cause minimal disruption. It’s like going to war but being told not to shoot as you might hurt the enemy.

If you’re going to strike it should be a big enough statement to make your Employer shit their pants. These days striking does no more than make them sigh.

Of course there are bound to be some cases where the employees are being greedy and if that’s the case they can go fuck themselves.

Like I said earlier striking is a statement and to get your point across you have to show your intent as intensely as possible, otherwise they are just going to ignore you.

I get that the recession has made things tough but how long can you hide behind that.

Everyone is entitled to a fair workplace and if they aren’t getting one, they have the right to strike. And when they do it should be such a strong statement that the Employer is shown just how much he needs his employees.

You can’t judge someone for attempting to make their lives better.

Summer of Sonic 2011

2011-06-27T12:52:00.001+01:00

You never cease to surprise me Blue Hedg….. Summer of Sonic. Just as I’m about to dismiss you for having a poor line up you surprise me yet again and place yourself as one of this years greatest highlights.

Yes I found time to write another blog post, been a while hasn’t it. I won’t waste time focusing on that.

You’d be forgiven for thinking Summer of Sonic 2011 was going to be a bit shit. It all seemed to fall apart right at the end.

- Mario and Sonic at the London Olympics wasn’t going to be there (despite being announced earlier)
- SEGA released a demo for Sonic Generations two days before we were all due to play it for the first time at SOS.
- Only Julien-K agreed to perform and they only had the two Sonic tracks to their name
- Jun Senoue was going to be there, without Johnny so no Crush 40 and Jun wasn’t even going to perform (you lying bastards!)
- And SEGA seemed to be abandoning the idea altogether by having their own event at the same time in an entirely different place in London.

This year seemed to be going a lot like 2009, which great as it was didn’t hold up to 2008 and was smashed to pieces by 2010.

In 2009 we only had Bentley Jones, when in 2008 we had him AND Richard Jacques and TJ Davis, so that felt like a step back. The highlight in 2009 was community stuff like the Sonic Shorts from Sonic Paradox.

I kept expecting something really special to be announced in the last few days, something that would at least Rival Sonic Boom, the American convention held a few weeks earlier in Los Angeles. That looked to be something special and what you’d expect Summer of Sonic to be.

This is the 20th year. The date was specifically held back so it would be right next to Sonic’s Birthday (23rd June). Summer of Sonic 2011 needed to be something good, great, awesome, outstanding, AMAZING!

It was.

Yes it was largely community based, and yes the highlight probably was the Sonic Shorts again. But the pain in the back of legs and the hardened soles of my feet tell me I was willing to stand around there for the best part of 11 hours (and that doesn’t include the after party), you don’t do that for nothing.

I got through the doors at 10am, just in time for it to start after being in the queue since 08:30. First impressions were not good. It seemed smaller than the Pavillion (last years venue), and within the minutes the all too familiar heat that plagued last years SOS was back with a vengeance. By the end I was sweating in places that don’t even sweat.

But all that didn’t matter as soon as Dread’s entrance video appeared on the screen to a roar of laughter from the ever growing crowd. It had started and there was only one thing on my mind, Generations.

Like most gamers I played the shit out of the demo released on Xbox Live two days previously. It is impressive, a little difficult to get to grips with at first but when you do it is a pure slice of Sonic heaven.

For Sonic’s 20th I have been playing a random Sonic game for every day in June. I had left the original Sonic the Hedgehog for the 23rd. While in the back of my mind I was thinking, “If I don’t start Sonic 1 now I’m going to run out of time” I just could not stop playing the Generations demo. Perfectly built for speed running I thought my time of 1:03 was impressive (it isn’t, some have done it in less than 50 seconds).

That was Classic Sonic; it was time to try Modern. It seems odd to me that this is the feature people are most concerned about. Going back to 2008 and unleashed people were raving about the daytime stages and cursing the night-time ones. It seemed odd that people were now concerned about that style of play. Personally I think it’s the way forward for the franchise.

The queues were surprisingly short, splitting it over 4 pods worked really well. I got to play the Modern style twice (and it could’ve easily have been more). It did not disappoint. Everything good about Unleashed Daytime was there and it even managed to fix some stuff.

For example the Boost does not feel overpowered at all. I ran out of it frequently so any fears of this being “Press X to Win” were eliminated very quickly. Unless you get to enhance the boost skill you will need to find the best times to use it to maximise effectiveness.

Having homing attack back on double A and quickstepping on the shoulder buttons (as apposed to the stick flick way you did it in colours) were welcome tweaks to the engine. I just felt right.

My only criticism is that it was a little too easy to get an S rank. Basically if you did it fairly quickly without dying that was enough for an S. Score and Rings didn’t seem to be factors, just time.

Moving on the first part Sonic team Q&A was next. It had taken 4 conventions but the Legendary Yuji Naka was finally at Summer of Sonic and with him the current head of Sonic Team Takashi Iizuka. Highlights of that included Naka hearing about the Fleetway back story for the first time and apologising for the dreaded Carnival Night barrel. 20 years and he had no idea that America and Europe had their own back story for Sonic.

By this point I had caught up with Siriku, who seemed to be filming stuff for Rory (see the Sonic Show). Standing around next to him was Jun Senoue, just standing casually in the crowd watching the Q&A. You know before hundreds gather to get him to sign stuff and pose for photos.

Speaking of which I finally got my copy of Super Sonic Songs and Several Wills signed. I missed out of in last year as he and Johnny Gioeli came out for signing while I was in the queue for Sonic 4. I was determined to get them signed this year. I now have a lovely Jun signature to go next my Bentley Jones one on Several Wills. I wish I had taken a decent camera to get a photo, well maybe next year.

After a quick look around the merchandise tables and eating my first chilli dog (very nice by the way) it was time for the Comic Q&A. Like the previous three years our comic, Nigel Dobbyn and Nigel Kitching from Sonic the Comic (or Fleetway if your prefer) were in attendance but this time they were joined by Ian Flynn and Tracy Yardley! From Archie (yes the Exclamation mark is intentional).

Highlights from that included the little digs the two had at each other and Nigel Kitching saying the Daleks were the inspiration for the Brotherhood of Metallix.

Then came Wrecks Factor (Karaoke Contest – Pretty Lame this year I thought, forfeit was good), Never mind the Buzzbombers (Quiz show – Pretty good. Felt a little short this year though) and the Cosplay contest (Some brilliant entries this year including Wes Wesley from AoSTH, Black Doom, GUN soldier, Spy (From Team Fortress), Professor Pickle and some excellent Tails’).

During this Naka and Iizuka started there signing session. Typically I was at the other side of the room when they announced it and the queue filled up very quickly. Everyone had something to sign. It was all worth it when I got my copies of Sonic 1 and Sonic Colours signed by Naka and Iizuka respectively.

There were also the Sonic shorts (which I missed the start of. I’m sure I’ll get to see them when they’re uploaded onto Newgrounds in about a year or so), Frobman’s excellent Sonic Heroes in brief parodying Wizard of Oz, and previews of a Sonic the Comic animation and Lucid Dreaming (the Nights into Dreams remix album from Overclocked remix). Some of the community stuff was performed then as well but I missed most of that.

After all that was the Julien-K performance, who I don’t really follow but were very good. Shame they didn’t play Waking up or This Machine, despite the crowd chanting for it (I later found there was a good reason for why they didn’t play those songs).

Jun joined Naka and Iizuka for the second part of the Q&A. Highlights from that included Iizuka wishing he had changed Big the Cat’s fishing stuff from Sonic Adventure, finding out the reason for Sonic’s redesign is because classic sonic would not look right in 3D and Jun confirming he included some of the Sonic 3D tracks in Sonic Adventure because the Japanese market had not heard them (they only got the Richard Jacques version)

To conclude the Q&A they brought out the specially made cake (I have no idea what happened to that) and we all wished Sonic and happy birthday (which by the way is going to appear in Sonic Generations)

The last hour centred on music split into two sections. The first was Club Sonic where the crowd were encouraged to go nuts to a selection of Sonic music. Turned out better than what I expected. Then to finish the night Jun came out to perform a similar set to the one at Sonic Boom (see, lying bastards, I knew Jun was going to perform eventually), starting with a Sonic 4 Medley, then onto Green hill and the Classic version of City Escape from Sonic Generations, and Typically finishing with Live and Learn with the crowd filling in from the absent Johnny Gioeli.

The event may have been over but the night wasn’t. It was time to get drunk at the After Party and spend the night raving to Sonic music and general geekiness. I left the Kingpin suite at 3am drunk, tired, sore and wondering just how bad travelling home will be the next day.

It wasn’t perfect, it was fairly cramped and way too hot (you still owe us Air conditioning Johnny!) and the free comic book we got was the same as last years. The food was also very overpriced (but then so is London in general).

Still I should realise by now that I shouldn’t ever doubt Dreadknux and ArchangelUK. They always put on one hell of a show, for free, and I’m already counting the days to the next one.

Bring on Summer of Sonic 2012.

Have I talked about politics before? I'm sure I have

2008-11-03T00:35:00.001Z

Sorry for yet another Rant but there’s another thing that’s been bothering me lately, the American Election. I highlight that word because it doesn’t feel very American does it?

What I mean by this is that even though we the British have no say in it and won’t be affected by it too much, if at all, you cannot escape from it. I suppose internet sites have an excuse, especially if they are American sites. Though the Internet is Worldwide not American so I’m not a fan of being told to vote Obama/McCain when I A) Wouldn’t vote for either, B) Can’t vote for either anyway.

So let me make this very clear if you didn’t already get the tone of this post.

I DON’T GIVE A FLYING FUCK WHO WINS THIS ELECTION

But I guess I must be the only British person who feels this way as even our own media is covering it more than OUR elections. New and Opinion polls get the same amount of coverage as some degenerate loser almost snogging another degenerate loser in “The Big Brother house” (Which sadly is a lot, we the British seem to like Degenerate losers appearing in low cost shows with premium rate phone lines for voting for your “favourite”).

Ok I’m judging this on Tabloid response though I’m sure the more respected Newspapers are showing the same if not more coverage of this American Campaign.

And then there’s TV. The number of news reports and documentaries around this Election, even on British owned channels, is astonishing. I wouldn’t be surprised if we start getting campaign speeches and adverts telling us to vote for candidates in an election we can’t even vote in.

And Politics have become a joke now anyways. The reason people don’t vote is because it doesn’t matter, we’re fucked either way. Neither candidate makes a clear case on why we should vote for them because they’re too busy slagging off the other candidate.

Most comments and propaganda is against the other applicant rather than pro themselves. They focus on what the other has done wrong rather than what they can do right.

I know we’re fucked under Brown, but we’d be fucked under Cameron too and we’d be fucked under anyone else. I vote to keep the Status Quo, if I vote at all.

I just want to make it clear that this isn’t an attack on America, it’s an attack on Politics and Elections. But while it’s expected to have a lot of coverage for a British Election, I don’t expect this much for an American one. It even seems more than for a British one.

A New Brand of overreaction

2008-10-31T00:40:00.000Z

Now I’m not the biggest fan of Russell Brand but this mass hysteria over a phone message prank is a bit too much. Admittedly the prank was in bad taste and wasn’t funny at all but that still doesn’t account for the over the top reaction that’s gone on lately.

If you didn’t know I’ll go over my interpretation but before that let me just say welcome back, how was mars?

Basically Russell Brand, and co-host Jonathan Ross, left rude messages on an old man’s answering machine. They old man is Andrew Sachs, who played Manuel in the classic British comedy Fawlty Towers. The messages were about him sleeping with his granddaughter, well that’s the clean version anyway.

Like I said, Joke in poor taste, nothing more. 2 complaints were raised shortly afterwards and that was the end of it.

Well until The Daily Mail reported on it, calling it disgusting. Then all hell broke loose. Remember the Daily Mail? It’s a scumbag tabloid that has a history of over-reacting to nothing. Like many gamers their ignorant “Ban these evil games” ‘article’ struck a nerve with me and I’ve hated the ‘newspaper’ ever since.

Unfortunately there are morons that take this shit seriously. What was only 2 complaints soon escalated into thousands of complaints, so much so an “official investigation” is to be carried out. In the meantime Brand and Ross are suspended from the BBC’s broadcast.

Ross, Brand and the BBC have all made formal apologies, which Mr Sachs has already accepted and, by the tone of his interview, couldn’t care less about the whole thing. Brand has also quit the BBC and Jonathan Ross’ future is in doubt.

Yet people still want their heads and probably won’t be happy until they are publicly hanged. Gordon Brown has even used this as a distraction from our countries recent financial difficulties and it seems all of Britain’s hate is aimed at Brand and Ross.

Absolutely Ridiculous over-reaction from people who hate Brand and Ross way before the incident and want to see them suffer. Lots seem to be jumping on the bandwagon and spreading hate like there’s no tomorrow.

It was just a Joke, a bad one, but a Joke nether the less. The innocent parties couldn’t care less, they even got some publicity out of it, and the offenders have been punished (perhaps a little too much).

People have been saying we are forced to pay for the BBC, whether we watch it or not, so they have a responsibility to make sure all broadcasts are decent and in no way obscene. Hello this is television. South Park has gotten away with much worse and that’s in its 12th season! (Isn’t it? I don’t really follow it).

If you want to complain about money being wasted by the BBC there are much better targets then these two. Ross is responsible for one of BBC1’s rare highlights, targeting him like this is even more disgusting than the prank itself. The BBC may have a very good website but the TV shows it broadcasts today are pretty pathetic. They have an over reliance on Dance/Talent shows, Documentaries very few care about and an admittedly brilliant Kid’s Drama. It’s lost most of it’s Live Football and it’s only good comedy pales in comparison to previous British classics (and no I don’t mean Little Britain or Catherine Tate).

Mind you it’s not all bad. Top Gear and bringing Heroes over here makes up for it a little. Also My Family can be quite good sometimes and I did like Jekyll even though that was short-lived. (hmm perhaps I’m being a little too harsh on the BBC then).

But enough about the BBC. This whole incident has proven three things. One, our government and media will use anything to distract us from real issues, Two, too many people turn into Angry Mobs and jump on the bandwagon way too easily and three The Daily Mail is the biggest shit-stirrer in existence and spreads nothing but hate.

In my opinion all those who raised complaints after the Daily Mail story should hang their heads in shame and send an apology to Ross, Brand and the BBC. The Hysteria caused by this has been far more damaging than a rude message left on an answering machine.

And before you say it, no your job isn’t the same as theirs so don’t compare them. Their job involves broadcasting to thousands if not millions, with everyone highly critical of their mistakes (this is beyond highly critical though). If you entertain thousands are you not entitled to thousands of pounds? This make their salary a non-issue too.

Note, I hate it when this is done to footballers too. I really don’t like those that say footballers get paid far too much. Considering the number they entertain, sometimes twice a week, they are entitled to large salaries.

I’ll conclude this rant with a link to Brand’s Apology. I may not be a fan but he’s right on the money with this hilarious comeback at the Daily Mail.

Link

Summer of Sonic

2008-08-26T00:04:00.004+01:00

The following is a copy and paste of my entry on the TGN Blog. Enjoy.

Remember the nineties? When Gaming really started to take off and icons were born. When online gaming was only a dream and we didn't need achievements to enjoy our games. There are so many things that happened during this decade; the birth of the Playstation, the golden age of the SNES and Mega Drive, analogue sticks and 3D gaming started to become commonplace.

The age was defined by the mascots as in June 1991 Sega answered Nintendo by creating a much loved character to counter Mario. A new mascot designed to be the anti-Mario. Someone fresh, new, exciting and would take the gaming world by storm. In 1991 Sega created Sonic the Hedgehog.

Now this isn't yet another discussion on how the games have been seemingly getting worse and worse, or how the game series does not work in 3D. That has been done to death. You see despite Sonic's clear decline in quality the fan community is still as strong as ever.

Thousands still have faith in the 'blue blur' and that faith was rewarded in the first ever Sonic-only convention, Summer of Sonic . Masterminded by The Sonic Stadium's Dreadknux, it was intended to be a free for all, small gathering of Sonic fans to celebrate the hedgehog's 17th birthday.

Held a little later than the official date of Sonic's birthday (23rd June), on 9th August 2008, in Dragon's Hall Community Centre in the heart of London, a tiny non air conditioned room was packed with hundreds of Sonic fans. Two of these fans are TGN regulars, Siriku who was helping out as staff and myself. So here's my account of the day:

I gave myself plenty of time to find the place, checking out of my hotel an hour or so earlier than the estimated start time. I arrived 30 minutes before it was due to start and found only one person (two if you include his dad) queuing to get in. I wanted to experience everything, planning to be there from start to finish.

The queue started to get big near the planned start time of 10am. It took a little longer for the event to get started, at around 10:30am the doors opened. As soon as the first person walked through the large double doors the music started as the Sonic 1 title theme blasted out of the speakers.

The first thing anyone noticed, I'm sure, was how small the room was. Dreadknux had seriously underestimated the support this event got. The website alone had enough confirmations to pass the safety limit for the building and you couldn't help but wonder how everyone was going to fit.

Everyone received a goody bag with a T-shirt, a couple of SEGA branded pens, a SEGA sticker, a SEGA branded neck strap and a SEGA key ring, as well as getting their hand stamped with the SEGA logo.

To the right was a Wii with Sonic 3 on the go. Next to that was the Guinness World Record table where you could try for the fastest time on Emerald Hill zone Act 1. Beyond that was a Wii pod with Sonic and the Secret Rings available to play, and a DS pod with Sonic Chronicles ready to play. Next to that on the far wall was a glass cabinet holding all sorts of cool rare merchandise. Left of that was the comics stand with numerous Archie and Fleetway comics available to read.

To the left on the far wall was a collection of websites printed out, showing various creations from the Sonic fan community. In front of that in the far left corner was the art corner where attendees were encouraged to draw anything they liked for the art contest. Finally next to that was the main stage where more or less everything happened.

After a couple of games of Sonic 3 and an attempt at the Emerald Hill record, I made my way over to Sonic Chronicles. First off all, if you're expecting a Sonic game, DON'T. It is nothing like traditional Sonic. It's about as fast as any other JRPG, maybe just a little faster than Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. The over world controls very much like Phantom Hourglass being more or less entirely stylus controlled. Monsters are in plain sight so no random encounters thank god. Sections like giant loops are done by simply tapping a button.

Combat is fairly simple, again all stylus controlled. Special moves all have an Elite Beat Agents quality to them, as you tap and slide your stylus across the screen for added effect. This goes for defence as well as offence. Sometimes the enemy will run and you'll have to chase them, taking you for an on-rails running section, where you tap the screen to jump over boxes.

It was a bit confusing on where to go, but I found the first boss (I think) and defeated him fairly easily as his attacks were deadly but often missed. I left it for someone else at this point and, while I found it enjoyable, I don't think the short play I had of it was enough to give judgement. It just feels like a pretty solid traditional-style JRPG to me.

It didn't take long to look at everything available and by the time I got through everything, the room was starting to get really full. I had played Sonic Chronicles, did the Emerald Hill challenge (31 secs) and won a few rounds of Sonic 3. But this wasn't what Summer of Sonic was all about.

Sonic himself made his appearance just before midday. He's bigger in real life you know, as he was always portrayed as being pretty short compared to your average human being. What's going on SEGA?

Anyway, up until the performance from the three music talents and the appearance of Nigel Kitching (man behind the Fleetway Sonic the Comic), the rest of the event was filled with competitions, from the art contest to the quiz, each one with a Nintendo DS as the prize.

But you don't want to know about that. You want to know about the performances from Lee Brotherton, T J Davis and Richard Jacques don't you? This was definitely the highlight of the event. First up was the music master himself Richard Jacques performing an incredible Sonic 1 medley, followed by some Sonic 3D Blast tracks and ending with an insane Outrun medley.

If that wasn't enough, T J Davis joined Richard on stage to perform, "Can you feel the Sunshine?", and, "Diamond in the Sky", from Sonic R.

Lee Brotherton (also known as Bentley Jones) came on as T J Davis left and performed the song he was notorious for (by his own admission), "Dreams of an Absolution" (Silver's theme from Sonic 2006 if you didn't know). He didn't perform the version from the game, or the awesome LB vs JS Remix however, he played the version from his album - confirmed to appear sometime within the next few months - so look out for it!

Lee also played a track that would become the theme of Summer of Sonic. Another version of "His World" called "Blue World Prelude". This is available to download from the Summer of Sonic website, and - like all the tracks performed on the day - is absolutely awesome.

Such an awesome performance deserved an awesome finale and we weren't disappointed. A track that took everyone by surprise. All three performed "Dreams Dreams", the ending theme to cult classic NiGHTS into Dreams. Yes we know it's not Sonic but we couldn't care less. Besides Sonic gave birth to Sonic Team so technically anything Sonic Team should be allowed.

There are videos on Youtube; MP3's freely available if you look hard enough. Basically you owe it to your ears to listen to these tracks and see the performance. If only to see Richard's awesome "To sound this good takes AGES" T-shirt.

By now time was against us. We still had the raffle, the Q&A with the three music talents and a special live showing of The Sonic Show. All to fit into an hour and unfortunately a lot had to be cut, including the Q&A. Attendees could still get things signed and I personally managed to get Several Wills (Sonic 2006 vocal track CD) signed by Lee Brotherton, and my copy of Sonic R signed by both TJ Davis and Richard Jacques.

All that was left was the raffle where a truck load of prizes were being given away. I'm not kidding - check out the Sonic City Blog. Everything there was broken down into theme packs.

I won one of the cameo packs which contained a Phantasy Star Universe strategy guide, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games: 'team Mario' T-shirt (which sadly I already own, but managed to give away), Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg for the PC (which I own for the Gamecube), Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity for the PS2 (which I own for the Wii), and the apparently rare NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams Official Soundtrack (which again I already own). (I don't mean to sound ungrateful, a win is a win after all, and everything was free).

As 5pm approached (the agreed end time) the event was finished with the presentation of the cake (which was amazing! There are pictures on the website if you want to see for youself), and oddly a rendition of the DK Rap. There's a story there somewhere, something to do with a karaoke competition and a forfeit.

As I got on the train home I had time to reflect on the last seven hours and couldn't help but admire the organisers for all their hard work. What had started as a mini meet-up between Sonic fans suddenly exploded into such a big event, but they seemed to handle it effectively and ended up being very successful.

At the end of the day though it wasn't the games or the comics that made Summer of Sonic such a fantastic event, nor was it the challenges, prizes, or even the music performance. It was the atmosphere. Let's face it, the Sonic fan community is one of the most bitchiest communities out there, and with our hero's fall from grace being so apparent, spirits are at fairly low down. However, after Summer of Sonic I don't think there was a single attendee that didn't have a smile on their face.

If games do only one thing right, it's that they unite people, and I believe Summer of Sonic to be a prime example of that. I'm sure they're doing another next year - hopefully bigger and better. Who knows? Maybe there may even by a Winter of Tails in honour of the young fox's sweet sixteenth in November, though I'm sure the organisers have pulled off enough miracles for one year.

Competition Time!

So if you were paying attention then you will know I have a spare copy of the NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams Soundtrack (the full thing, not the sampler). It wouldn't feel right to sell it, so to make things interesting here is the first TGN Blog Competition. Designed to get you all checking out my work, the sites I want to promote and Summer of Sonic itself.

The prize is a copy of the NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams Soundtrack, still sealed.
For a chance of winning just answer the five questions below correctly. Send your screen name and answers to Master.hunter.joz@googlemail.com. All the correct answers will be entered in the prize draw. No runners-up prizes sadly (unless someone wants to donate some). Competition ends Friday 19th September 2008.

1. SOS: Richard Jacques, T J Davis and Lee Brotherton all performed at Summer of Sonic. Which Song did they all perform together?

2. TGN: One of the two communities I represented at Summer of Sonic is obviously TGN where I am a forum regular. What is my custom title on the forums?

3. RadioSEGA: I was also representing RadioSEGA. Who created RadioSEGA? (Real name please, first and surname)

4. MH: Bit of shameless self promotion here. What do my latest DeviantART submission (not the desktop screenshot the one before it) and my last updated fanfic on fanfiction.net have in common? (Wrong answers: Sonic, Based on games, Me)

5. NiGHTS: Finally as this is for an OST of NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, what are the names of the two new 'visitors'?

More Terms and Conditions. There's no need to give me your address unless you win. The winner will be E-mailed to get further details. I will only use your details purely for this contest. Anyone can enter, whether you're a TGN member or not, including TGN admins (I am the only one who knows the answers and I will not be showing any bias). If you're under 18 it would be a good idea to discuss this with a parent or guardian before you submit personal information.

Metal Gear Solid 4

2008-06-21T00:40:00.001+01:00

The PS3 is a very unlucky console. Most of its best games appear on the 360 too, which has the advantage of a superior online service and achievements. So it’s about time that the PS3 does get an exclusive, a good reason to buy the console besides the excellent blu-ray and DVD playback.

Let’s hope the PS3 follows the same pattern as the PS2, as that too has a lack of quality exclusives until a special title arrived, a Metal Gear Solid title.

And so we come to Metal Gear Solid 4. The final instalment of the Solid Snake saga. Now I’m not one for Soldier games but MGS has always been different, offering a level of silliness that is always welcome. MGS4 is no different. I was sceptical of the open areas with much fewer hiding spaces that was originally announced but my fears were dumbfounded.

I will never doubt Kojima again, MGS4 is awesome. However the title does have some very noticeable flaws.

Mainly the cut scenes. 90 minutes cut scenes have been quoted by some, which is a bit of an exaggeration. There are some that come near 50 minutes, but they are more combinations of cut scenes rather than individual ones. All are pause-able and most have the option to save in-between them which eases the pain. There are also first person views and flashbacks that offer some very limited interactivity with the scenes, so it’s not entirely just watching.

Because the cut scenes are long the game seems long but really it isn’t. All cut scenes are skip-able, but you’ll find if you do that there isn’t much game left. Perhaps this is a good thing as the MGS games are usually intended to be played through multiple times. Like Dead Rising, replaying a short game multiple times works better than a long game.

Also why is it, in games, when you need to follow someone, that person moves so slowly that you’re practically brought to a halt for most of the sequence? Unfortunately one of those parts features in the middle of the game.

I started with the negative’s first as despite the very nice visuals, decent soundtrack and good voice acting you expect from a MGS title, all the best bits are spoilers. So it makes praising the game very hard. If I was to give it a score based on my first play through I’d probably rate it a strong 7, weak 8 out of ten.

I’m going to list the parts I really enjoyed now and the reasons why the game is so awesome, which are all spoilers, so you can stop reading now if you don’t want the game spoilt. Let me just say it is a quality title, a must own, but not one which will be topping your top ten of all time anytime soon.

# ! # ! # ~~~ WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD ~~~ # ! # ! #

ACT 1 – The moment you get the drum was pretty funny. I like how you can check the inside of the drum as Snake, fearing the worst considering someone was trying to take a shit in it.

Also Drebin and the Monkey were awesome additions to the already impressive roster of characters. Some of the interactions between the monkey and the other characters were real highlights of the frequent visits throughout the game.

ACT 2 – Awesome Boss Battles have always been a staple of the Metal Gear Solid Series and 4 is no exception. In Act 2 you face your first BB (Beauty and the Beast) battle which is definitely one of the many highlights in the game. Laughing Octopus isn’t too hard to beat but the way she uses the environment to her advantage is inspired.

I really like how the BB’s were given both a demonic male voice and a delicate female voice emphasising the beauty being consumed by the beast. Good to see that the male voice is the same throughout the BB’s giving the Evil in the game a little unification. Also nice to see a return to the MGS bosses, Octopus, Raven, Wolf, Mantis and Liquid. The whole MGS repeating itself might be getting a little old for some people but this is explained at the end of the game (why the events in MGS seem to repeat).

ACT 3 – I hated this act personally but it started linking all the games together in a way that makes sense.

ACT 4 – My favourite act as it contained the best moments. It’s a return to shadow moses with the game frequently referring to the classic masterpiece. The codec conversation with Otacon as you enter the blast furnace made me laugh out loud with the whole disk swapping thing.

Then there’s the quick dream Snake has where you play the first little part of the original MGS in the old top down style. Good to see just how far the game has come over the last ten years.

Finally the battle between REX and RAY was a long time coming. Getting control of a Metal Gear and destroying the so called superior model was an absolute dream, and no doubt what every fan wanted.

ACT 5 – In this one you fight Screaming Mantis, which was the second best boss fight after the metal gear one. Purely because of the link to the Psycho Mantis fight in the first MGS. Changing the controller doesn’t work and I guarantee you will do that before you get told it doesn’t work.

Then after you beat the BB you have a cool scene with Psycho Mantis who tries to do the things he did in the first game. It’s as if the PS3 was made for MGS4, as opposed to the other way around, as he can’t “read your mind” as there’s no memory cards and he can’t move your pad because of the lack of Rumble.

Work, and why life sucks.

2008-06-09T23:23:00.002+01:00

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. With me working and obsessively playing videogames I haven’t had change to do anything like draw, write, or update the site. It’s a lot of hard work to make a site your own, even when you use a place like Blogger and takes a lot of commitment.

Twinseeds is another example of a well intentioned site that I ended up abandoning due to the amount of work involved. I absolutely loved doing it but it was too much for one man alone.

This site is a lot easier to update I just need to find time. With the way things are going I maybe getting more time than I want.

You see I’m losing the “Job” I’ve been doing brilliantly for the last two years in September. Sad fact is the organisation needs to downsize and the be “open and fair” everyone had to be interviewed.

I’ve used quotations for those words as it’s not really a “Job” it’s a contract. I do the work on a temporary contract and they just don’t extend the contract when they need to get rid of me. Means no Redundancy pay, which sucks. “Open and Fair” means your hard work counts for nothing and maintaining you job comes down to an on the day interview. I joined as an agency worker, which meant no interview, As initially they needed a lot of staff. But to get a proper job with this organisation you need to have been in competition with the general public for it (Hence Open) with everyone having an equal change (Fair).

To me this is ridiculous, the best who were here should have been kept on. There must be some Jinx over me with interviews as I haven’t had a successful one yet. The first this year (to Keep this job) was strange. You see I gave good examples but I missed out because I took longer to answer their questions. Didn’t help that I knew more than they did about the job and was asked irrelevant questions.

But I digress, what is done is done. I didn’t intend to stay there long and it was only really a Job to me not a career. I’m 25, still live with my parents, single and basically heading nowhere. For a while now I have been pursuing a career in Maths Teaching. I looked at what I’d be good at, I have strong maths skills (that need practice I admit, not done anything serious in ages) and I genuinely like helping people.

Seriously I think there’s something wrong we me that I like helping others so much.

So to me that seems like good enough reasons to pursue maths teaching.

Now this is going to sound really stupid but despite the shortages getting into teaching is very, very. very, very, unbelievably difficult to get started in. The website is no help as it is all gobble-de-gook. After getting some advice from connexions I went for the GTTR route, slightly annoyed that it meant going back into full time education. I found that the bursaries however made this more appealing.

So I applied to my local university and here’s where I got knocked backwards. Getting in took a massive amount of work and was incredibly hard. Ok the University of Cumbria is quite well respected for teaching but it’s hardly Cambridge. Considering the shortages I thought this would be a breeze. WRONG! It’s no wonder there’s a shortage of maths teachers they aren’t exactly bending over backwards to recruit them. Financially maybe but that’s all.

So I underestimated them. And once again the Jinx of interviews keeps my perfect strikeout record continuing. Fair enough I didn’t do so well and know of some areas that I could definitely work on.

However I recently got hit sideways by the feedback (Yes one of the very few times I actually got something back). They said I need to think about my reasons for wanting to become a teacher! Great, now I’m questioning why I want to be a teacher and I feel lost and scared that I’m heading nowhere and back to square one.

I’m going to see about career’s advice, but it just seems like I’m still getting nowhere.

What this means however is I may have more time to make updates to everything. So I guess there’s a small silver lining.

So enough depressing talk. My Job may be nearing it’s completion but there are times where you have nothing to do (hence the ability to create this post). Normally in this time I play about with Excel to advance my knowledge.

Here are a couple of things I’ve done is Excel.

If you got the Heroes season 1 boxset you may be familiar with this Mind Reader. Some people who have tried this occasionally get hashes instead of letters in the grid. Try increasing your resolution though it may be down to your version of Excel. If anyone can confirm why it would do this I would be grateful.

Try and work out how it works. Try the maths on paper if you think I’m using formulae. If you can’t work it out it’s explained Here. This shows how it works, not only as an excel spreadsheet but in general (so it shows how the Heroes one works too)

And here is a little game I made up using random numbers and conditional formatting. I could probably do better if I used macros (at the moment the “mines” move about with every move)

I also made my own spreadsheet for recording my games collection, but it’s half finished.

All of these were made in resolution 1152 x 900, one up from the standard 1024 x 768. You made need to change the resolution to get the best results.

In case anyone was wondering

2008-06-05T00:59:00.003+01:00

No I'm not dead and I haven't lost interest in this blog.

But just like my DeviantArt and My Fanfiction I have not found time to update it.

I did want to do a games of 2007 feature but again no time.

In fact this post will be short as I have no time again.

Work and Gaming get in the way.

Oh for the Record my top three games of 2007 were...

3. Mass Effect
2. BioShock

and in first place, the game people forget about because it came out so early that year (in Europe anyway), the Brilliant Okami

Eventually I'll get back to updating this site. I want to get rid of that Flash banner for a nice static one. Oh and now I have a Widescreen monitor I've noticed how messed up the alignment is.

Manhunt

2007-06-24T00:43:00.000+01:00

Before I begin let me just say I'm not dead I just find that I don't have the time to do arts/fics anymore. I'm working full time and at the times I would normally do stuff I'm just too tired. This blog post will probably be a one off for a while.

Also before I begin let me just say that today (well it's past midnight so techincally yesterday) was Sonic's birthday and between SonicARTS, RadioSEGA, Fanfiction.net and DeviantART I have found only ONE mention of this. Yes I know I haven't done anything either though I did spend today playing SONIC the Hedgehog (360 - All downloadable content) and the only music being Sonic music.

Anyway onto the main point. Manhunt. The keen Gamer will know that the sequel Manhunt 2 has been refused a rating by the BBFC, essentially banning the title from appearing in the UK. Similarly in America it's been given the AO rating meaning Nintendo and Sony will not allow it on their consoles.

This game must be something in terms of violence then. Well you'd think. In America it might be the overspill from GTA's Hot Coffee controversy or it could be following the UK (the BBFC did this first).

Now you see here's where it gets controversal. Let's look at Manhunt first. If you didn't know there was some controversy surrounding this title. Here is a copy and paste from Wikipedia.

The controversy surrounding the game stems from the extremely graphic manner in which the player kills enemies. Almost all of the game's special "stealthy" executions result in large amounts of blood. The manner in which the player kills enemies can be extremely grotesque at times (ie: decapitation, suffocation using a plastic bag, jamming a crowbar into an enemy's skull), both visually and audibly, as enemies will also groan and scream in pain.[5][6][7]

In the UK, the game was linked to the murder of Stefan Pakeerah, 14, by his friend Warren Leblanc, 17. Giselle Pakeerah, the victim's mother, claimed[8] that Leblanc had been 'obsessed' with the game after the former pleaded guilty in court. During the subsequent media circus, the game was removed from sale by some vendors, such as the UK and international branches of GAME and Dixons, leading to "significantly increased" demand[9] both from retailers and on internet auction sites. The police denied any such link between the game and the murder however,[10] citing drug-related robbery as the motive. The presiding judge also placed sole responsibility with Leblanc in his summing up after awarding him a life sentence.[11] GAME have since returned Manhunt to their shelves, after it transpired that the murderer did not even own or ever play the game. It was apparently the victim who owned a copy of Manhunt, even though he was under 18.

Now as for murders in the UK related to videogames this is probably the most recent and possibly the one big one we've had.

Now it's sequel has been "banned" by the BBFC, Co-incidence?

This is where I have my doubts for you see they asks the question was the violence the real reason behind this decision.

In the UK there was a bit of backlash, particularly from the Daily Mail who made a sickeningly ignorant "Ban these Evil Games" front cover story. Yes as we all know like Movies and Music before it Videogames are often made as a scapegoat for murders.

Now let me stop right here and point out that in no way do I condone the actions above, I do see it as a tradegy. But like the Wikipedia article shows the game was not responsible for the murder, just like MOST if not ALL of the other cases around the world.

Regardless this hasn't stopped people still blaming the games to hide from the real issues. If Manhunt 2 has been "banned" for the violence fair enough, but if it's been banned because the BBFC is scared to face the backlash from the ignorant (or even are the ignorant), Then this is just wrong!

Now I couldn't give a monkeys about Manhunt 2. I'm not interested in buying the title. However I am against videogame scapegoating and censorship of this magnitude because of it.

It is not the games fault an underage child played a game intended for adults. Nor is it the developers. So stop scapegoating them.

That said if Manhunt 2 really does cross that line and the "ban" has nothing to do with Media/ignorant people pressure, then fair enough. I just have my doubts that this is actually the case.

My Videogame OST's

2007-02-04T01:13:00.000Z

Felt like showing if off. Here's some photos for you all to enjoy.

Bottom Left is Several Wills. The non flashed photo made everything to dull. This one only hides Several wills by my Shadow. Oops.

The one above Kingdom Hearts 2 is Shadow of the Colossus. The CD in the Dreamcast cheats box is the 10th anniversary CD.

The Sonic 360 official soundtrack

The Shadow the Hedgehog official soundtrack (which I didn't know existed until I found the Sonic360 one)

Finally Several Wills. It contains a booklet which I've went through and scanned every page. You can see that here. (WARNING 4MB image)

Some thoughts

2007-01-31T00:48:00.000Z

Today I got the Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog (360) official soundtracks. These aren't on cdjapan.co.jp for some reason and so I feel let down by a usually quality game soundtrack provider. Several Wills is though and I suggest you all get it as the three extra tracks are SO worth it.

I noticed that we got Shadow the Hedgehog (Which is the hero of the past), Sonic Riders (a game in between) and Sonic the Hedgehog (which is the hero of the present, could've been called anything but they chose that name), with Sonic and the Secret Rings to come (a game in between).

Do you think the next Sonic game will be Silver the Hedgehog (which is the hero of the future)? Might be interesting to see Silver in a standalone game actually.

Anyway enough speculation time for a rant.

This one is at the BBC.

What tight fisted, money hungry company they are. Seriously. If you want to watch TV in the UK you must pay for a TV license where it all goes to the BBC more or less. Even if you don't care about the BBC channels you still have to pay.

Which is rip off number 1.

Now they used to be great but now if it isn't a documentary it's usually some boring talent show with quid a time voting phone lines, which are usually fixed anyway. Get some nobodies or "Celebrity" Nobodies, pick a low cost venue, charge a fairly high price for each vote in a voting competition = easy revenue.

Which is rip off number 2.

Heaven forbid they might actually make a quality show these days. Oh wait they did, the revival of Doctor who is excellent. BUT HOW THE FUCK CAN THEY JUSTIFY PRICING THE SEASON BOXSETS AT £70!!!

Are the disks made of gold or something? This is Rip off number 3.

Look shows like 24 and Lost all feature hour long episodes, much like Doctor Who (well roughly, this includes ad breaks), 20 odd episodes a time and barely RRP at £50. Usually £30.

So why is a season of 13 episodes £70. I would've definately bought them at £30, maybe stretching to £40. But £70 each, is the BBC that desperate for money! I can get a 360 game and a last gen game for that amount of money (with deals I can get even more), which would last much longer. Even sites like Play.com and Amazon.co.uk can only offer them at £55 which is still way too much.

What the fuck do they do with the money they make from rip offs number 1 & 2. Certainly isn't spent on making a quality scripted show. It's all documentaries, Dance shows and Eastenders.

Mind you the BBC aren't to blame for the serious decline in television. There used to be a time when going out on a saturday meant giving up on several quality TV shows that you would still at least tape if you had to miss. Now though...There's rarely anything on ALL channels worth watching

I just really want to add the first two seasons of the new Doctor Who to my collection but it's just too much. That much for both maybe, but each...Rip off.

WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

2006-12-18T00:22:00.000Z

It's out finally and I was straight in there getting my own on the 8th. Awesome little machine even if the games are thin on the ground. I'm online too so if I know you quite well whether over the net or in real life give me an E-mail with your code and I'll give you mine.

I'll get to Zelda in a bit but I'll start by saying how excellent Wii Sports is. Well mostly awesome. Bowling is oddly addictive but my throws always go to the left for some reason. Tennis is quite good, difficult to get used to. Baseball is superb once you get into it. Golf is OK but very difficult to get right. Boxing is terrible. The nunchuck is unfortunately not all that responsive when it comes to the motion sensor stuff. Dodging the balls in training is quite fun though.

Naturally I got Wii Play with my first extra controller. This isn't as good. Mostly it's just a set of mini games to get you used to the remote but they are mostly boring. billards is OK but annoying at times when you thrust the Wiimote forward and it doesn't register.

Creating Mii's and swapping them is pretty cool too. I already have 19 of them and I've only created three myself. I have some really cool lookalikes too.

Virual console isn't as good. Maybe I'm being harsh as I only have bomberman 93 and Sonic downloaded but like I said in an earlier post, region locking is a big mistake. I guess being nintendo of europe rather than nintendo of britain means we have to suffer. Playing Sonic at 50hz is terrible though. At least my Gamecube still has a use. Thank god for Freeloader and NTSC Sonic Mega Collection (both of which will not work on a UK Wii).

I'm bursting to talk about Zelda though.

Quite possibly Game of the year...nay Game of the Century.

It is godly. Incredibly addictive, looks gorgeous, never gets boring, full of surprises and incredibly long for a Zelda game. The wait was so worth it. To describe it properly in words I'll have to spoil around 60% of the game as there is just so much to experience, everything feels like a spoiler.

It has it's flaws which are so small you'll not really notice, but to be fair here they are. First off you don't have complete control over the camera. Z-targetting is still there but that's it, no free control. There's a part in one of the later temples where there is a gap but you can't really see the other side because the camera is facing you, and pressing Z highlights the target above.

Also items are used using only one button. You can assign shortcuts to the D-pad but for most pressing that D-pad direction just switches items. Lets take the bow for example. In previous games you assigned it to a button, say C-left or Y. To use it you just had to press that button. Now you have to switch your current item with the bow using the shortcut then use B. Not all that annoying but why?

Also you have no tutorial over the bobber fishing and you need to use it early on. The biggest problem with this is you don't see the hook the fish bite and at first can't tell if they are actually on the hook.

Finally there are too many rupee treasure chests. There's too many period. No way, even if you find the compass and deliberatly try to find them all before moving on can you get them all your first time. Mainly because you will reach your rupee limit and so will just go back into the chest. I can't count the number of times I've worked out how to get to a far away chest only for it to be rupees when I'm at my wallet limit.

Truely is as great as everyone says it is.

Oh and if you have any fears with the control scheme I can assure you it feels natural and works extremely well. Wii is definately the way to go if you can.

When things go wrong... / Sonic

2006-11-30T23:48:00.000Z

Lately everything has just been falling apart technology wise for me. You may recall I said I was getting Sky HD on the 23rd. Well that didn't happen. It was delayed until the 27th, one day after Man Utd vs Chelsea.

Annoying but Sky HD is awesome. Well worth it and Sky+ too it's actually got me excited about TV again.

Biggest problem though is that my gamertag is fucked. Actually I reckon Sonic is cursing me right now. On the day before I got Sonic Tiscali went down and thus no live. That wasn't going to get me to stop playing Sonic and I happily started a game offline. The Friday afterwards my Shadow theme doesn't pop up and I find out that my gamer profile is corrupt.

Delete and Recover, sounds simple right? Well here's the problem it won't let me recover. Everytime I get the same error message. It accepts my passport details but as it recovers the bar gets so far along before stopping dead, saying the server is unavailable. I know it's not because I can recover Masterhunter25 (an alternate account) fine.

So for the last week I've not been able to use my Joz the bat gamertag. Because of that no save files work and of course any achievements unlocked on Sonic won't count. I've tried more or less everything to get it back. I'm just hoping my Xbox360 isn't the problem. Barely a month old and already fucked.

Going back to Sky HD, the engineer used the main socket but due to a small ADSL cable we actually extended that socket with a wire stretching to the PC. The Sky HD is in my Room which is quite far for one cable. As such our internet's been slow until we could get a proper ADSL cable to reach from the main phone socket to my router. That's all sorted now.

But for some reason my sound card aint working again. I think it may just be loose or something. Nothing too serious. But definately a case of something going wrong then something else, then something else.

Well Sonic then, what are my views. Well despite the Gamertag problem I have continued on anyway. Screw the achievements, I'll just have to do the story twice. In the week I've played it I'm been met with mixed feelings.

First the positive, heaven knows the game needs some positive comments. The levels, particularly with Sonic are open to exploration this time, offering multiple routes throughout a level. Sonic's main style gameplay is pretty solid in comparison to Heroes and Shadow. Silver's game is different but quite well done. The use of Havok is inspired. Playing as SOME of the support characters is nice. Blaze is cool in 3D, Amy is interesting, Omega is fun and Rouge is pretty decent. Levels are also fairly long. Even with Sonic they can often take 10 minutes or so.

The story is pretty ace, well mostly, involving more scientific research, a couple of eveil entity's and a bad future waiting for the Heroes if it all falls apart. Music is great, the GC is extremely well done. It's oddly addictive, even those who slate it seem to finish the game at least.

The town stages have things to do in them this time and the bosses generally redefine the term boss, both in scale and stratedgy.

But now we get onto the bad. First thing screaming in my head is the awful way Tails has been added. For Sonic's Sidekick, a fox who can keep up with Sonic, he definately moves the SLOWEST. Even Silver feels faster and he's intensionally slower. Whoever came up with throwing dummy ring boxes needs to be shot too.

The dash stages while good in theory are clumsy in practise. Left and Right are far too sensitive and these areas are very unforgiving. In fact most of the time you'll fail the first level at first because of them. If this is what Secret Rings will be like I have serious doubts over it.

Probably the most glitchy Sonic I've played too. I've has Rouge shoot high above the stage and into a tower top she couldn't climb out off. I've had Silver fall through the floor. I've heard people complain of stuff like this before in the other games and I always felt a little weird that it didn't happen to me. Still they are few and far between.

Then there is Elise. Her only redeeming feature is that she's a redhead. Seriously appearance wise he legs look weird and overall out of place next to Sonic. The stages carrying her are oddly fun but other than that she's nothing more than a bad plot device. The Romance between her and Sonic is sickening. Not because it's Human/Hedgehog but because there has never been much romance in Sonic, which made the whole story unique.

I'm sick of main males falling in love with main females everytime. This hasn't happened in Sonic until, it seems, now. It's not needed and it feels like a part of me has died already.

But if I were to sum up Sonic in two words it would be Now Loading. Get used to those words if you decide to play it, cause you will see it a lot. I'm not kidding. Particularly in town stages where for some reason when you start a mission, it loads up an intro which is basically a grunt and some text. What the fuck is it loading that takes so long. Then we have another loading screen before the mission starts.

And occasionally you get bad save points. Like for example playing as Silver today. It asked me to save just after Aquatic Base. In between this and the next level you need to get through:

two rather long cutscenes (skippable) with loading screen in between
A crappy escort the weak civillian through a hoard of robots mission, with loading screen problems above
A long walk over a huge field
A mission where you fight a hoard of enemies with the loading screen problems above
A mission where you chose a portal based on an answer in a question. Each portal (3 in total) give you a loading screen, as well as the usual long loading screens
A mission where you fight another hoard of enemies with the loading screens

Then you finally get access to the next level. Fail to manually save and lose all lives in this level (very likely) and you have to repeat ALL of that, loading screens and all. Very frustrating.

So overall mixed impressions. Things are still broke and need improving but this doesn't mean it's a bad game. Hardly the most inspired Sonic game, or any game for that matter but if you think this is bad you should try something truely awful.

this may sound fanboyish but seriously it is not as bad as people generally are making it out to be.

I'll close this post with a comment on progress. There has been none. I just can't seem to find the time to do stuff anymore.

HD is awesome

2006-11-05T00:37:00.000Z

Life is good.

Although my job temporarily involves more hours for the same pay.

Man utd are dominating the Premership and I'm getting Sky HD for Christmas but the latest I could get it was November 23rd (sky.com had no later dates). a bit too early but in good time for Man utd vs Chelsea.

But above all I finally got an Xbox360.

Awesome little beast of a machine. I went for Argos' Premium + Pack of third party accessories + any game (I chose Oblivion) for the standard Premium price of just under £280.

Well worth it. Oblivion + 32" Samsung R7 component 720p video settings with GAME mode activated = beautiful. Bit too stat heavy though but feels more like an FPS than an RPG. A good mix of the two.

Ordered Condemned (play.com for £18), and pre-ordered Sonic and Phantasy Star universe of course. Set up live today, Gamercard on the left there. Downloaded the Sonic demo and I must say it's not as bad as many are making it out to be. The controls take some time to get used to but after a few attempts it all clicks. I love the multiple paths and the strict ranking (as strict as SA2, which is a good thing).

Now to get a game that takes full advantage of Live that's to my tastes and doesn't cost that much....er how long is it til Phantasy Star Universe comes out?

Overall I'm glad to be testing my TV's HD settings to the full and I can't wait for footy in HD.

-----------------------------

Not been writing but I have made a Shadow Wallpaper in the same style as my Sonic 15th one. It's on my DeviantART account right now, that's http://master-hunter-joz.deviantart.com

Update

2006-09-29T00:59:00.000+01:00

Art and Fanfiction pages are finally finished. Every art piece has an initial comment by me and every Fanfiction link has a comments page

Also you might have noticed Chapter 4 of Negative Reflection appeared recently. Yeah I decided to get back to it.

In life nothing really changed. Though I did get an awesome 32" Samsung R7. Now I just need to test it.

Wii get you excited then Wii bring you down again

2006-09-17T00:39:00.000+01:00

So the Wii's launch details have been revealed.

£180 includes Wii sports plus full controller and sensor bar. 8th December. Good Good.

Shame they had to ruin it. How you may ask?

1. Metroid delayed until 2007. [sarcasm] Nice move, really [/sarcasm]. This was THE game I wanted for the Wii. Zelda sounded awesome too but it was metroid getting me all excited. Now the launch is missing SSB Brawl, Sonic and the Secret Rings, Super Mario Galaxy as well as Metroid. WHY?!?

2. Not region free, not even the Virtual console. Big what the fuck here. Why lock out the virtual console games too. I wanna play Mega Drive games at 60 fucking hz. If you don't think there's a difference get your mega drive out and load Sonic 2, then load up Gens or a mega drive emulator with a Sonic 2 ROM. There is a massive difference, particularly with the music. I notice it more cause I imported Sonic Mega Collection, meaning the last couple of times I played Sonic 2 was an NTSC version and I kinda got used to it. Playing my SONIC MEGA COLLECTION PLUS or SONIC GEMS COLLECTION (both PAL) I realised there is a huge difference.

Found both of these out the day after I got excited about it. Even put down my pre-order and now, well I'm still excited. Zelda will just have to stretch a little longer. No way am I waiting for the Gamecube version, which has been delayed and even rumoured not to make it our shores after all.

Anyway changing the topic slightly. The Art page is almost complete. All images are up and linked I just need to comment on most of them. Fanficition page is in progress too. Still a fair bit to go mind. Haven't even started on the new title banner.

Amazon and Argos...you just made my list

2006-09-10T01:18:00.000+01:00

First a little update. FTS is going along quite nicely though it's taking me away from my fic writing. I did write half of a chapter for negative reflection but then I started my artwork page, and well that takes a lot of time creating thumbs, half size images and actually making blog posts for each one on my art blog.

So be patient.

Well as for Amazon and Argos well....

It all started when I decided it's time to buy a HDTV. I've been promising myself I'd get one since I started work and it's now 19 weeks later and I finally saved enough money. Or so I though.

This TV was £707 inc £24 p&p. I could just afford that last friday. Now as you can see it went up by £70 or so, meaning I had to postpone it a week. Damn you amazon.

Furthermore I realised that to make room for my new TV I'd need to get some DVD racks for the games the currently occupy that space. I go to Argos. I think great deal, Buy 1 get 1 free. Holds 50, have around 100 games. Sorted right? Well what they don't tell you it's secretly buy 1 DVD tower get a CD tower free.

A CD FUCKING TOWER. I don't need one of those.

Thus both are on my list as the parody of Richard Nixon from Simpsons/Futurama would say.

On the plus side Man Utd, 100%, Get in there!

Update (no clever title or number)

2006-08-28T00:54:00.000+01:00

Been playing with the colours a lot and this is the result.

Might make a better background but certainly a new banner will need to be made.

Template for entire site will probably be based on the Blog template rather than fitting my blog into a template.

Good news and bad news

2006-08-21T00:41:00.000+01:00

GOOD NEWS:

My PC has been formatted and soon I'll have it up to speed with all the programs I usually use.

BAD NEWS:

For some reason DOS read Format C as Format E. I have saved all my docs to E drive knowing I was going to format C. Unfortunately like I said DOS formatted the wrong fucking drive so I lost ALL my fics, Pics in progress, photos, etc.

This essentially means I that Joz's Nightmare is over. No way I can continue that without the original Photoshop file.

I have also lost my artbadge come to think of it. SHIT!

Fucking hell. Why is this so awkward

2006-08-16T00:53:00.000+01:00

Right

http://twinseeds.homestead.com/files/FTS/blog.html

That is my new template.

Or at least it would be if I could get it to fucking work.

You'd think all I needed to do was take the HTML from that and replace "blog" with the Main section and then find a place for the sidebar. No fucking luck. If the posting doesn't break up the links on the left, scattering them across the page, it totally misses the topbanner and the images.

The idea is simple. The only change is that under all the menu links there is a massive "Blog links" and the sidebar appears. But no the whole thing decides to be gay and just not work that simple.

I mean come on, change that banner into something good and that's a site there.

Unfortunately computers, HTML and all that crap is so fucking awkward simple doesn't work.

I will get that template to work.

Update I've ran out of ideas

2006-08-13T01:35:00.000+01:00

Ok so we got a similar computer after my dad got a new one for work (we took the old one, obviously). We've combined the components so now my PC is slightly better.

Problems?

Why yes.

Firstly why the fuck can't a computer just ask you things? I mean seriously I had to self teach myself the whole Master/Slave thing with Hard drives. Computers should just ask, which hard drive do you want to boot from? And if there's only one OS for both drives it should know anyway.

Secondly why the fuck is Mircosoft office such a bitch. So we upgraded our computer, so we really have to get the fucking office disk to upgrade fucking office before we can fucking use it? I guess so, fucking awkward piece of software. Thank heavens for Openoffice which does the job OK I guess.

Thidly for some unknown reason (I think my dad may have had something to do with this), it tries to boot up XP setup despite no disk being in at all. Also the tabs on system properties have gone. So If I want to change resolution I have to use the tab button. And oddly when I scroll using the scroll wheel I get this weird wave effect that doesn't look quite right.

What the fuck caused all this?

Why aren't computers fucking simple. I connect a cable from the motherboard to the device, the computer recognises it. Is that so hard?

Anyway I'm sort of back to normal. I updated waves of chaos with Chapter 8 and when this computer is exactly how I want it I'll get back to the new template.

Update super extreme turbo editiion

2006-08-07T23:52:00.001+01:00

Shit happens.

The power supply to my regular PC is fucked. It will load the PC but will eventually shut it self down due to overheating. The good thing is it keeps me alive, the bad well all my fics, all my templates, all my bookmarks, everything that I regulary use is on that machine.

it is six years old, on it's last legs and so obsolete we should really get a new one. trouble is we can't afford one really. Well I'd rather have a new HDTV, a Wii, and an Xbox 360 sometime soon and I only make so much. Plus I have a bachelor party and a wedding to go to in the next couple of weeks.

A new PC can wait. Sort of. My dad got an old PC from work which may have the same specs as my current one. I'm hoping to combine the two systems and get a much better but still miles behind PC sorted soon.

At the moment I'm relagated to my laptop. Since I graduated it's only real use has been on holiday to do simple stuff until recently now that it's connected to my stereo with all my MP3's (took the remainder of my hard drive though. Best be careful).

So if you're wondering why this still looks messed up, none of my fics are progressing and nothing else is happening that's the reason.

God I miss my scroll wheel.

Update super extreme turbo editiion

2006-08-07T23:52:00.000+01:00

Changes

2006-08-05T01:43:00.000+01:00

Currently messing with the template as part of a redesign. This text should be black. Titles Red, those buttons on the right shouldn't have huge gaps in them and they'll link to all sorts of stuff.

Update lost count +4

2006-07-26T01:04:00.000+01:00

Yup sorry for not doing anything I've been busy. Working, Playing Metroid Prime Hunters (I will get the Master hunter rank, despite you disconnecting scum and hackers), writing and keeping up with my regulars.

So Sonic's 15th Birthday was ages ago right...Well many are still celebrating. Sonic is such a huge character that has been a big part of lives around the world. He may be fictional but he's made more of an impact that most people. Hence why his 15th Birthday needs a whole summer dedicated to it (at the very least).

So if you love Sonic almost as much as me (it is impossible to love Sonic as much or more than me and you know it!) you have no excuses not to check out www.summerofsonic.com.

Who knows you may find some stuff done by yours truely. And if you check out the cards I'm number 51. That lucky bastard Kidderz* got number 23, next to Airlight (Sonic Art God). 23 being of course the date of Sonic's birthday in June. (*I'm just Jealous really).

Right as for my fics well my focus is Sonic Adventure waves of chaos for obvious reasons. My two Three Shadows fics will continue once that has finished.

I am also planning a site revamp, some way of intergrating all my ART, FICS and BLOG into one.

No art projects planned at the moment. Well there is one I suppose but it's just a thought in my head right now. Needs to be done soon.

I'll leave you with this awesome result from a blogthings test. So true...

Your Birthdate: February 25

You excel at anything difficult or high tech.
In other words, you're a total (brilliant) geek.
It's difficult for you to find people worth spending time with.
Which is probably why you'll take over the world with your evil robots!

Your strength: Your unfailing logic

Your weakness: Loving machines more than people

Your power color: Tan

Your power symbol: Pi

Your power month: July

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

What went wrong this time...

2006-07-06T00:34:00.000+01:00

England crashed out of the World Cup to Portugal, yet again on penalties.

We didn't deserve it. We have a very strong team of world class players. Anyone who says otherwise should look at the premiership, or at least compare to the other nations.

There has been a mixed response, though here are the reasons I think it all went wrong for us:

1. Squad selection:

Sven's biggest mistake was not taking enough strikers. We had two that were injured, one that can't play on his own and another that hasn't even played in the top flight yet. Rooney making it was awesome, though as soon as Owen injured himself it was all over.

We played a lot with one up front. Rooney can do this but he is the only one who could, bar perhaps Walcott who didn't even play so I don't really know. However having someone alongside Rooney would've worked so much better, yet we stuck with 4-5-1.

When we lost Rooney we lost the competition. Crouch is USELESS on his own, he feeds other strikers that's his best position.

2. Formation:

It is important to remember that we aren't the only one who did this, in fact most nations did it this time leading to one of the least scoring tournaments ever. Though our formation was far too negative.

The back was sorted. Terry, Ferdinand, A. Cole and G. Neville. Solid as a rock, and with Carragher and Campell on the subs bench Defense really wasn't an issue.

So why play negatively. Why not have a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2? Increase your attacking options. One player is NEVER enough and we payed the price by not being able to score.

Our Negative Formation, led to Negative Football, which led to poor performances. Well in a way. We remained unbeaten, only being knocked out by Penalties.

3. Lampard, Gerrard and the rest of midfield:

What the fuck happened to frank? Was the heat too much for him? He had loads of shots and they all missed. This is the same man that scored goal after goal for Chelsea last season from a similar range. Should've been dropped leaving Gerrard, and even then Gerrard could've done better. They are both playmakers, both superb players but one had to be dropped.

As such we played both but still need a holding midfielder. Add to that the two wingers who no-one could argue with and that's the 5 in midfield. But it got us nowhere. Lampard should've been dropped.

As for beckham, Lennon should've replaced him. Becks should've been right back for Neville was out. His crosses are superb but we relied too much on them. Lennon had pace and could challenge defenders. Beckham never did.

J. Cole was outstanding as was Hargreaves surprisingly. He really fought to prove something and kept Carrick out of it. Well Done.

4. The ref & Ronaldo:

Yeah I know what you're thinking, excuses excuses. But what the fuck was the deal with FIFA appointing an argentine ref for an England game. Madness. Rooney did not deserve to be sent off. A Booking at most he just lost his footing from the two fouls on him. You watch that again and tell me that is clearly intentional, he's not even looking at the player for gods sake.

And then there's that twat Ronaldo. I can't believe he did that to Rooney. His own fucking team mate got him sent off. Ronaldo is going to suffer when he gets back to England, even Man Utd fans will Boo him. I know, I am a united fan and I'm fucking mad at him.

and finally 5. The Dreaded Penalties:

I hate Penalties. I've seen deserved teams lose time after time on penalties. Man Utd in the FA Cup Final 2 seasons ago. AC Milan in the Champions league that very season. West Ham in the FA Cup this season and England countless times.

They are completely luck based and for some reason we always miss. It's a curse. As soon as it went into Extra Time you knew penalties and it was all over. They are just a quick way to settle a match that never reflect the full game.

Oh well there's always Euro 2008. With fit strikers we should walk it really, but you just know we'll lose on penalties in the fucking quarter finals.

Randomness a-hoy

2006-06-30T00:47:00.000+01:00

Before I start I just have to announce I'm going up to scotland for the weekend. No fics, no me online at all until Monday.

I fucking hate computers. I'm sure you know this already. Can someone explain to me why even though I have quicktime installed I cannot see the new Spiderman 3 trailer on apple's website? Can someone also explain to me why when I try to download quicktime I have to waste space with iTunes as well. I don't fucking have an iPod, Media Player can play MP3's which transfer easily onto my Zen.

And when I do download it and try to install it my computer slows to a halt. All for it to say "error installing program fuck you". Why can't things be fucking simple for once.

I don't understand why companies want to torture you either. Norton is particularly a terrible offender. OK my subscription ran out, do you have to slow my computer down to a halt EVERY FUCKING DAY, just because I can't say "Remind me" any later than a single day.

And what the fuck has happened to torrents. Every site now asks for fucking membership. All I want is the latest fucking family guy episodes cause they aint showing them over here. If someone can present me with a working torrent of "You May Now Kiss The...Uh...Guy Who Receives" a thousand internets would be sent to your by post. It's the last episode I need and I can't find it anywhere with decent fucking health.

Change of subject now. Metroid Prime Hunters. Awesome game, amazing online, ocassionally. It all works fine when people play fair. Though it's worse than fucking Mario Kart now.

If you somehow manage to face someone who doesn't either

a) cheat so they have abnormaly high health (I swear to god this one trace I hit 5 times with the imperialist, never died. Shots me once, dead. Also met a Samus once, took 9 hits with the DEATHALT to kill. It's instant fucking kill!!)
b) cheat in any other way (got sniped in the head IN MY ALT FORM)
c) doesn't disconnect when they lose
d) or hide for most of the level trying for a draw

You may just earn a point. Come on Nintendo give a point to those you beat fair and square. If they disconnect give the people who stay points. You used to do that with Mario Kart, what happened? People complain it was unfair that their router caused them to lose. You idiots they are doing it on purpose so they won't lose points.

I can admit being outsmarted, losing to someone fair and square. But when it's not fair and square, when they are clearly cheating (and it's happening a LOT) it's very offputting. I've dropped more points because when I was winning people disconnected and when I lost I stayed, more than anything else.

Also when the fuck are they going to enable us to link to our hunter licenses already. The US gamers have had this option for ages. Not us Brits sadly.

Mind you I do have an interesting story. This gamer called n00b pwner chose Weavel in Combat Hall. Now I had heard of the glitch where you fall through the floor and can shoot outside but they can't shoot in. He did it to me. Little did he realise that I had killed him earlier, was winning and could hide in a spot where he couldn't shoot me. Naturally I won that game, someone who realised their stupidity and accepted defeat.

If Metroid Prime hunters was fair all the time It would be simply awesome, but it's unfair most of the time and is offputting.

Sonic's Birthday.

2006-06-21T01:54:00.000+01:00

This Friday is Sonic's 15th Anniversary. You may remember my post last year, I believe it went something like This. Well this year it's even bigger. Instead of a single submission, I'm submitting by chapter on FF.net. I should have a bit done by Friday, hoping to get halfway. I'm halfway through chapter 3 right now.

(The other two fics will be done afterwards, I'm not working on them right now).

Also if you're into Sonic as much as I am take a peek at RadioSEGA. It's a 24 hour internet radio dedicated to SEGA music and this Friday it will be all Sonic, interrupted only by Birthday Messages to our favourite Blue dude with 'tude. I've already done mine and it'll be played around 11pm (BST).

Sadly I have to work that day 5pm to 9pm, which means I probably won't be playing much Sonic. I'll have to make up for it at the weekend. Maybe I might even do some more art.

oh and one last thing

COME ON ENGLAND!!!!

I can't think of a good title 1

2006-05-30T23:32:00.000+01:00

I feel like shit right now. Really terrible. I'm going to go to bed after this and what makes things worse is that I'm up early tomorrow for work.

Just some thoughts on the big news in the world.

Big Brother is back. Oh great more faceless talentless people who will be everywhere for a few months, treated as celebrities just because they went into a house of a few weeks. It's not even torture anymore. The last one was a celebrity on I think and it had a fucking swimming pool for christs sake. We also get these pussies that just want attention. Come in for a week and cry that they don't want to do it anymore. WTF? Come on the point of the show is that you're meant to be secluded. The small part of it that actually might make it a good show means nothing. And this is what everyone is talking about.

Rooney it out of the world cup. Let's face it, it's going to take a miracle for him to get fit and then he's expected to play in the biggest football tournament in the world? Madness for someone so young. I know he's Englands star player but come on he's not invincible and he should stay home to heal properly not rushed like he is at the moment. It could lead to even worse problems for ROONEY, which is worse problems for ENGLAND. We're still going to win it though, BELIEVE! I ORDER YOU TO!

The PS3. £450-£600 pounds. Fuck off. Sony deserve to die this time. I bet there will be shortages too. Why do we gamers accept this? The PS2, the PStwo, the PSP, the Xbox360, all had limited supply all so they could come out before their time. If they waited until March they would've had the units to have an amazing launch but they didn't. though I suppose it's easier to sell out of 100,000 units than it is say 10,000,000 units. I hope they suffer so they can learn from it in future.

The WII. No proper sound support, no HD, no ethernet socket. I seriously don't get Nintendo. Sometimes they expect people to have the latest technology, in this case Wireless internet. Though for other things they just don't think you have them, in this case HDTV/Proper sound system. I suppose in a way they have a case. A wireless router is only going to set you back £80 these days. A decent HDTV is at least £500 and proper sound system on top of that is a similar amount. Still why no ethernet socket? Crazy! Doesn't bother me so much as I have a brilliant wireless router that worked better than I expected (Linksys for teh win!). However you can't assume one thing about the level of technology the average person has, and not assume the other.

Speaking of wireless internet what is the deal with Nintendo WFC? I played it through most of the afternoon and a little before the match tonight. When it works it's brilliant but how come when I choose "match my rank" and I'm one star, I meet players with 3 or even 4 stars. Also why are there so many fuckers so frightened to lose that they disconnect on you just as you're about to win? You don't even get a win if they disconnect now it's just a waste of time. It gets worse too when people try cheap tactics.

For example there is Trace. He can turn invisible if you stand still and due to a rather strange rule, the host will always gain a point if they draw. So many pick trace, find a hiding spot and stay still for the seven minutes. If it works they get a point as their opponent can't find them. Like I said cheap, though in this case easily countered. I like hunting down Trace's now as your radar still reveals their location. I use spire and get them with his alt form attack, sometimes after climbing a wall.

I do like Metroid Prime hunters but it can be frustrating when you don't get any good games, which is a lot of the time. All I want is to play people like me who are still learning and are willing to accept losing to a superior player. The same thing happens with Mario Kart, if you don't meet a snaker you meet someone who disconnects when they can't win. It's really sad.

Life is strange in general now. I'm currently caught up in two minds in what I want to do. In either case I need to be properly trained. I could go for the AAT in accounting and follow the plan I've had since secondary school. Though I'm not sure if I like accounting.

Or I could follow what my dad wants me to do, go into Quantity surveying. All I know for this is that it involves maths, particularly logarithms, and I'm quite good at maths. Maybe not genius level but not far off. It also has the added bonus of being sponsered by the same company my dad works for, and he does similar training with them a lot so he knows what happens.

Or the choice I'm leaning to most, becoming a maths teacher. Teaching has always kinda appealed to me. Back in secondary school it was the back up for most and the main choice for a couple of my friends. I know of one person who's planning to go through with it soon, and another who's teaching now. So I shouldn't have that much problem getting support and advice.

Either way I have to train for something specific. I can't keep applying to general admin jobs hoping something will happen. It hasn't worked so far. The two years all I've had is a couple of data entry clerk jobs. Not what a career makes.

Any advice or any comments in general are most welcome. I also updated Level 3 and started the next chapter of negative reflection. I'm sure I'll do more sometime soon.

Screw it, everything is on hold.

2006-05-22T00:46:00.000+01:00

Sorry but I just don't get the enthuasism to do fics and art anymore. I Know exactly how my two three shadows fics go but I just can't bring myself to do them.

Perhaps it's the job making me tired.

All I can say is that I do my stuff for me and since I don't get as many comments as I'd like, I feel no need to keep updating regularly.

So what does this mean? Essentially I will do work on my fics and art when I feel like it. So please don't ask me about them, I don't particularly care right now.

It's not really an idea block, I still have plenty, I just can't seem to get into that again. This is unusual but like I said if anything happens it won't be planned, i.e. I can't say I'll have a new chapter up by the end of next week, it depends when I feel like writing.

I've always said you do this stuff for yourself not anybody else. Well that's the case here. Certainly my reviews show that, no-one seems to be interested in my work in the slightest.

My E3 Impressions

2006-05-17T00:52:00.000+01:00

If you're a gamer than you know one thing above all else.

Last week was E3.

The biggest event in the gaming calender, The American showcase for all the Latest games (The Japan on is the Tokyo Game Show, the Europe one was ECTS not sure if it's still going though).

The big three have come in all guns blazing. We got more Xbox360 news, we got a look into the PS3 and we finally saw some Proper Wii games.

Unfortunately unless you like your generic shooters, army based games or racers Microsoft if out.

Unless you like a vastly overpriced machine that failed to impress Sony is out.

Unless you like Nintendo's contradictory spin about new IP's but then showing loads of sequels of existing IP's, Nintendo is out.

Actually screw all that. My list of wants has gotten huge again.

The Xbox360 actually failed to impress me. I guess since it was already out any new announcements wouldn't have the same effect as Nintendo and Sony's announcements. Halo 3 was dull, Kinda like the first trailer for Halo 2. Nothing but a graphics demo. Odd for a FPS to have a trailer not in first person or involving shooting. The Hype's getting a bit too much now.

The PS3 has it's moments. Namely Final Fantasy 13 looks sweet. Though Sonic the Hedgehog typically got me the most excited, despite being for both those consoles. Metal Gear Solid 4 is also looking great as always.

The Wii was awesome. Only the most hardened nintendo hater or those blinded by their clear irony could fail to be impressed. Super Mario Galaxy looks awesome, I cannot wait to get my hands on Metroid Prime 3, Zelda still looks the biz, Trauma Centre should be awesome too. Sonic Wildfire looks interesting though easy to fault. The more I hear about it the more it sounds like Sonic 2's special stages glorified and stretched out into an entire game.

But it was Super Smash Bros Brawl that stole the show. It may have just been a trailer but what a trailer. Looks awesome, funny as hell and gets every gamers imagination going the second the announce Snake will be in the game. SOLID FREAKING SNAKE from METAL GEAR SOLID!! in SMASH BROS. This opens up so many possibilities with third party characters allowed in the roster. Sonic vs Mario, oh yes please.

The DS was hardly neglected either. Pheonix Wright will return soon. If you haven't played Pheonix Wright: Ace attorney I advise you, nay I command you to go get it NOW! Zelda Phantom hourglass should also be awesome.

The PSP even had a title worthy of interest, Powerstone collection. I love Powerstone, a new game in the series has been long overdue.

The PS2 still has some life with God of War 2 and Guitar Hero 2 on the way.

Even the Gamecube has something. Super Paper Mario is coming which sounds quite awesome.

The Xbox sadly is being left to die. Nothing sounded inspired for the system which is a shame. Though I suppose efforts should really be focused on the Xbox360.

There is just one more game I want to mention and that is the return of classic Command and Conquer. GDI vs NOD, I cannot wait. The trailer may be GDI biased but still I don't care. I know I need a new PC but this is the game that'll probably get me buying a new PC. Coincidentally Tiberian Sun was the game I got with this PC (shows you how old it is).

I was however disappointed by the absence of the following:

- Resident Evil. A Wii game was announced but come on we want more on Resi 5.
- Viewtiful Joe 3. How long are we going to wait until we get the third part of the trilogy?
- Half life 2 episodes. After recently completing the Xbox HL2 I want more. Please don't make this PC exclusive Valve.
- Sonic Rush 2. With the home consoles covered it was a shame not to see something on the handheld systems. Sonic Rivals is the nearest thing but that's no Rush.
- Something from team Ico. If you want to be remembered as a truely great developer you can't keep us waiting like this. 2 games in the span of six years do not great developers make. Which is a shame cause those 2 games are outstanding.
- Some RTS games for the DS. Come on someone must think of something. Online Command and Conquer, oh yes please.
- No advance wars. Advance wars DS was my game of last year. No sign of anymore. dang!
- No Shenmue 3 and Skies of Arcadia 2. Well a guy can dream can't he?
- No Prince of Persia. Ok the sands of time trilogy is finished but this can't be the end of prince games altogether.
- Timesplitters 4. Just not a gaming year without a timesplitters game.
- No Panzer Dragoon or Jet Set Radio. Two games that defined the Xbox early on. Their absence from the Xbox360 line up is shocking to say the least.
- Another code? Come on your practically gave us the start of a sequel. We want to delve deeper already.
- NiGHTS Wii, enough said. I want proof that it's not just a rumour.

It's been a good show overall. A good year of gaming ahead of us. The Next Gen will take off properly while the current gen will still have it's moments. The transition period looks very well catered for.

"Fault" Found!......Apparantly

2006-05-07T00:54:00.000+01:00

So E3 is just around the corner and so game news is spreading like wildfire. Unable to wait until E3 SEGA had released shitloads of new info. In particular details on the New Sonic game.

It's funny how with Sonic it's always a race to see who can give the Element that "Proves" the game will be shit. Wouldn't you know it the second a new character has been revealed...BOOM! the criticism comes thick and fast.

Forget about the comeback of the Adventure stages or the other gameplay features mentioned.

Forget about the awesome graphics that truely show the next gen's power.

No a new character is revealed and therefore the game will be shit.

Am I the only one who see a problem here. Yes Sonic Team have a serious problem with adding a couple of new characters every game but so what? Having more characters is a blessing isn't it, it gives more to play.

Of course then you have the problem of giving each character a fair share of the game (Sonic Adventure 2) or giving Sonic most of the game (Sonic Adventure). Whatever you do you're going to upset someone as the ones that want more Sonic might have to settle with a balance, and those that want balance might have to settle with loads of Sonic.

On the other hand what many would really like to see is the abandonment of the three styles and making the game purely about speed, and having each character blast through the same levels with their own unique moves. Much like with the 2D games. That I agree with.

But who's to say it isn't going to happen this time.

We already know this new character (who I'm going to call Shine, though he has no official name yet) will be playable. And Shadow is with them in the promo poster. What does all this mean? Similar characters, similar style of gameplay (Hopefully).

I find it odd that Sonic is singled out for extremely harsh criticism. If it was that fat plumber everyone would be cumming in their pants, despite the fact that with the excpetion of the Mario Kart games and the Paper Mario/Mario and Luigi games, Mario has been all Mario Party 836565, GBA ports and "insert sport title here". Even Mario Sunshine felt more like something to tie you over than a completely new title, and therefore disappointed in the same way Shadow and Heroes did. In fact you have to go back to 1996 for the last great tradional Mario game.

Yet does anyone care? No, Mario still excites people everywhere I go.

Yet a new Sonic game can't even reveal a new character in an as of yet unplayed media without people condemning it to hell in a matter of seconds.

So those that know me from my message boards might be wondering why I haven't commented on the subject. Why bother? More people seem to be obsessed with the new character more than any aspect the game has to offer so far and no-one's even played it yet.

All this also applies to Sonic Rivals.

Anything remotely near a fault seems to be jumped on by people, even Sonic fans, when it comes to Sonic, more so than ANYTHING ELSE.

It's a new Sonic game so of course I'm excited about it. However I can't possibly make a judgement on the game, or even a prediction, at this moment in time. It could be a disappointing game it could be the return to form many have been waiting for.

I just hope when the latter happens everyone that has doubted the blue blur will eat their words, and realise they've been so quick to judge. Though no doubt their response will be "finally, took them long enough".

Wii all like to make jokes.

2006-04-29T00:15:00.000+01:00

So Nintendo have announced the name for the Revolution with be the Nintendo Wii (Pronounced "We"). What do I think?

It's just a name.

Yes it sounds like a word for piss, a commonly used word for piss, but that means nothing.

The console that gave games a cool image was called PLAYstation. Play to me is a word I associate with kids, "Can you come out to PLAY?" "Go PLAY with your friends?". Yes we PLAY games but it's still a word more used with children than anything else.

Then there's the Xbox. As Todd from Scrubs said "Is the perfect word for a vagina" (something like that).

Dreamcast, possibly the gayest name ever for a console ever

Game BOY. Do I need to continue?

Gizmondo. WTF?

Some of the best names come when you don't think so hard. NES, SNES, Famicom, Master System, Mega Drive, N64, Nintendo DS, Saturn, Lynx, Jaguar, etc. However those last two kinda show that even a great name won't make a console a sucess.

So really I have no problems with the name. Though the jokes are still funny.

even more so that Koch Media are Nintendo's new Distributing partner (see bottom of list).

It seems like Koch will be distributing Wii all over the UK.

Progress Report 1

2006-04-23T01:30:00.000+01:00

Yeah a title change, big whoop, wanna fight about it.

Anyway

Fics:

The 3 Shadows: Level 3: chapter 4 done
The 3 Shadows: Negative Reflection: Prologue and first chapter done. second chapter started.
Ultimate Rogues project: ideas put down on paper

Art:

Joz's Nightmare: Demon Joz coloured and shaded. Background done. Rouge, Shadow and Miles Linearts complete. Sapphire's not started.

Games:

GCN: Sonic Riders. Just the last of the boards to unlock
Xbox: Nothing. Last game Half-life 2 finished.
PS2: Guitar Hero. On the second gig on hard.
DS: Viewtiful Joe Doube trouble. Finished on Kids and Adults.
PSP/GBA: Not touched in ages

Still to start...

Pokemon XD
Pikmin 2
Oddworlds Strangers wrath
GTA: San Andreas (Xbox)
Super Monkey Ball Deluxe (Xbox)

News Update

2006-04-13T00:46:00.000+01:00

Long overdue one of these.

Basically I got a data entry clerk job a month or two ago (can't remember if I said this before), which ended a couple of weeks ago. Now they want me back for some call centre job or whatever.

I start this tomorrow at 9am which means I'll be going to bed early.

So sorry if I gave some of you false hope when I said I would update my fics more regularly. I thought I was back at full speed but it seems things have changed suddenly.

That goes for my art too. Expect a long delay until you see anything new.

DVD

2006-03-30T23:32:00.000+01:00

DVD is a fantastic format. An entire movie on one disk in superb quality and usually loaded with extra features.

Though there are a couple of annoyances with the format.

Mainly how it's distributed.

My first little annoyance is when a DVD comes on two disks, why do they always but the second disk in front of the first? Everyone is going to go straight to the first disk therefore it should be in front.

My second big annoyance is Volumes. A bigger problem with Anime Volumes defeat the point of DVD collection. I really hate it when a series is released 3 episodes at a time on separate DVD's, each at full price. Take Sonic X, as a Sonic fan I want to get the full seasons for my collection.

Why then do they release in volumes instead of a big collection? It's stupid. I don't want to pay for each individual volume I want the full bloody thing.

Anime is particularly bad at this. I really want to try some anime but where to start. There are so many volumes of so many animes it's all very confusing. Further annoyances come with sales. Play.com has an easter sale with some good deals. I've heard good things about Azumanga Diogh (sp?) but the ones in the sale are vols 4, 5 and 6. What happened to Volumes 1, 2 and 3? I don't want to end up halfway through an anime series not knowing what's going on.

I don't know I just felt like ranting. May continue on with the 3 Shadows episode I started earlier later on tonight.

Sonic Riders: First Impressions

2006-03-21T00:22:00.000Z

It's been a while since I updated so here goes.

Newswise it's looking pretty bad. I did get a pretty good data entry clerk job. Nice hours, easy to understand and when it was consistent a good chance to earn something good. But that looks to have ended, just waiting for an official confirmation or an awesome "you're still hired but we're going through some changes".

Either way I have an interview tomorrow at the general store around the corner. It's only 15 hours but it is around the corner and it's always worth applying to for that reason.

It was also my dads 50th birthday yesterday. The decorations are still up.

So onto Sonic Riders. Of course I got it, I'm a Sonic fan. It's alright. A lot like Shadow. Difficult to control at first and frustrates you to the point of throwing your joypad. With a bit of practice it all seems to work quite well, and what seemed like the devils excrement is actually quite enjoyable and challenging.

Story is very short and pretty pathetic even for Sonic. Essentially the new guys want to get to a treasure buried deep inside an ancient city. Eggman assumes this treasure is actually a legendary piece of technology that would help him take over the world. He needs the chaos emeralds though and so creates this whole racing thing to collect them. Sonic and friends naturally come to stop them.

OK SO NOW I'M ABOUT TO SPOIL IT SO SKIP THIS NEXT PART IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW.

----------------------------------

The treasure ends up being a magic carpet. That's it, ending plays.

How lame though completely unexpected. I assumed this treasure was in fact some sort of monster the guys would have to destroy. No, just a guardian and then nothing. No awesome Super Sonic vs massive monster moment. I feel a little cheated.

-----------------------------------

Story mode seems tacked on though. The other modes make up for it. You have normal grand prix, free race and also a mission mode to make it last. Very arcady overall, don't expect a game loaded with stuff. Then again I haven't got all that far in it.

Visually the game is superb. Absolutely no arguements at all.

Soundtrack fits the game but it quite annoying. Especially if your doing a race for the fiftith time, that repetitive dance music will make you even more frustrated. And it may cause you some physical pain. Each race has a moment where you have to rotate the stick quickly. This leads to the skin on your finger scrapping off after repeating this motion for those fifty odd times.

Overall not bad, should consider at budget price. Not really worth it at full.

Also got the Crush 40 album. It's ace, even though all the best tracks are either in a Sonic game or on Crush 40's myspace. Never realised how much the songs are about car racing. Still awesome solos though, worth the asking price on Ebay.

I'll finish with another retarded Liverpool/press moment. This weekend Man Utd and Liverpool won, whereas Chelsea lost. Everywhere I had seen said that Liverpool were getting closer to Man Utd, despite us both winning so the point difference wouldn't change. We still have two games in hand too. Yet Chelsea's slip up only gave Man utd "slim hope".

How come when Liverpool win they are getting closer to a position and when they lose it's only 3 points plenty of games left. Whereas when Man utd win it's nothing more than a consolation, they can't possibly catch Chelsea, and when they lose they've blown it and Fergie should get the sack. Nice to see you staying neutral guys.

Fics will come in time. Work is getting in the way.

Almost reached 1000 pageviews on DeviantART (it was 999 last time I checked, I also have 99 deviations so I have an image planned). Keep watching it.

Another footy rant.

2006-03-09T00:32:00.000Z

Hmm long time since I made a blog post.

I've been busy doing a run through of my Sonic art techniques. There's a link on my DeviantART Jade Falcon 2 submission.

Anyway what's been bugging me recently has been football. More specifically how supposedly neutral journalists and commentators are clearly liverpool fans.

Tonight Liverpool crashed out of the Champions League (How do your feet taste liverpool fans, I thought you were going to suceed where we failed!). Though I'm betting none of the papers are going to be saying "Benitez out", "Liverpool crisis", blah blah blah!.

Contrast to when Man Utd were knocked out. The next day the papers were already lining up replacements for the god like manager that is Sir Alex Ferguson. This is nothing new. Any time Man utd slip up and show they are not perfect journalists jump on the team, trying to get Alex Ferguson the sack.

They are of course mad. We may not be in first place but we're second, and if we win our game in hand will be second by five points. We were ruled out after that exit, with journalists jumping at the chance to say their favourite team Liverpool will take second.

There's no chance for Man Utd to take the title though Liverpool are still in it, despite us being closer to Chelsea. How many times have I heard "Surely Man utd are out of it now", compared to the "It's only three points, there's still plenty left in the season" comments you get for Liverpool.

Yes Commentators are just as bad. Take a look at these gems:

1) "There are probably more chelsea fans in madrid than there are on Merseyside tonight" - Last night during Chelsea vs Barcelona.

Like Liverpool are Chelsea's only rivals.

2) "Liverpool need to be patient if they are going to win this game" - about 3 hours ago , Liverpool vs Benefica, Benefica are 2-0 on aggregate and Liverpool need two goals to stay in the game.

Patience? That implies they will win. Despite there only being 45 minutes left and Liverpools strikers have missed the target so much it's laughable.

3) "After all Liverpool made the greatest comeback ever seen in the Champions League last may" - Same game.

This is debatable though IMO the Man utd comeback in 1999 was the greatest I've ever seen. The difference between the two is while Liverpool scored three, our two goals sealed the game in the dying seconds. No extra time, no penalties, unlike Liverpools.

4) *Gerrard shoots a mile wide* "That was a great strike" - same game

What are they mad. It completely missed the target by a mile. How can that be considered "Great". Now Alonso's strike soon afterwards, that was "Great".

5) "Liverpool fans are so great. Unlike most other team's fans they're singing their heart out and not booing the players" - same game, couple of minutes from full time. Liverpool fans singing their anthem "You'll never walk alone"

Wait until the final whistle. What happened. Boos rang through Anfield. Oh Dear I guess they hate it when they lose too. Liverpool fans will still sing that song even if they're 20-0 down and they'd probably still boo the team afterwards. Sounds strange but it's true.

6) Finally if you want to hear the longest most fanboyish drivvel from a supposedly neutral professional listen to the commentary over the tunnel scenes at the Liverpool vs Chelsea game (first meeting in Champs League this season). It was unreal.

Maybe they're just anti-Man Utd not just pro Liverpool because it's not as if they were giving cries of "Mourinho out" after Chelsea crashed out of the champs league too.

I know that's the case for Danny Fullbrook. He was supporting Souness, saying Newcastle shouldn't sack him, despite Newcastle facing relegation when they were champs league material not too long ago. Yet I'm sure he was one of the many that called for fergie's resignation despite Man Utd being 2nd, top scorers, and generally winning bar a couple of blips.

In summary I really hate the Liverpool Bias supposedly neutral profesionals have. They may as well just admit they're Liverpool fans and be done with it.

You want to smoke, you make the sacrifice

2006-02-25T00:20:00.000Z

If you're english you will know all about the smoking ban coming into effect soon. Since TGN seems to be down I've done all my regulars now so I'd thought I'd give my two cents on this. No point in starting a fanfic until I can get into a routine.

I'm a non smoker and I'm glad the government have actually done something about smoking in crowded public places.

Everytime I go out I always smell of other people's smoke. My clothes stink really bad and there's nothing I can do about it. Smokers go out and they want to light up a fag (cigarrette to you yanks and probably rest of the world too) to enjoy themselves.

Now there would be no problem with that if their smoke didn't effect the people around them. Clothes stink, non smokers lungs get polluted and it's all for someone else's moment of pleasure. So I'm glad something's been done about it.

Though expectedly non-smokers are pissed off at this. Here's a couple of arguements I've read:

Drinking damages health, by same logic drinking should be banned

You seem to be forgetting that drinking only damages the health of the drinker, not everyone else too. Maybe you're thinking Passive smoking isn't that bad, stop crying, and maybe you're right I don't have the facts. Fact remains smoking effects those around you negatively, even if it's just making their clothes smell.

If smoking didn't effect those around you it would be fine.

Cars pollute air too, shouldn't they be banned

This is stupid. Unless I crash a car exhaust first into a pub it's not the same thing. Cars release exhaust fumes whenever you're driving, which means outside on roads. Guess what SMOKING OUTSIDE is OK. The smoke difuses into the air and thus any effect on someone else is neglible.

Ban smoking and the government will lose money from taxes

Idiotic point this. This smoking ban isn't a TOTAL BAN. You can still smoke in private buildings and outside. Those that smoke loads are still going to buy fags to smoke. Those that would only smoke when they were out (don't get this at all BTW), probably will no longer see any point and quit. Any drop in cigarrette sales will be neglible.

Or it's about tax on alcohol. Just because you need to leave a building to smoke is not going to deter smoking drinkers. Pubs will be as busy as always just more people will be outside than usual.

Smoking should be banned but cannibis should be legalised

A fair enough point. Though if cannibis was legalised it would probably be under the same rules for smoking, even stricter. It should only be done in private anyway, and most cannibis users are happy with that aren't they?

Sneaking around and getting stuff from dealers should be a thing of the past as far as cannibis is concerned. The only possible reason I can see is addiction leading to irrationality. Same thing can be said for ordinary smoking.

I have a right to smoke, Taking it away is taking away my rights

Oh please. We don't let people murder each other, or steal from each other, or seriously hurt each other, or even allow heavy insults to each other. Why? Cause it's the law, well duh! but when you think about it it's so that people do not negatively effect those around them.

Smoking is a selfish act. You do it for yourself only and it effects those around you negatively no matter how careful you are. Same could be said for drinking but they only happen when people lose control, and most of the more serious stuff is illegal anyway. Fighting in the streets after getting drunk? Go to jail. Drink, drive and kill? Go to Jail for a long time.

Non smokers have the right to go out and enjoy themselves without any consequences, unless it's from their own actions. This does not include deciding to enter a pub. Why should a non smoker avoid pubs just to avoid smoking effects? Why should we suffer for you? It's your moment of pleasure, you sacrifice.

And that's the whole point really. If you want to enjoy yourself that negatively effects those around you, get away from those people. Your pleasure, your sacrifice. Stop thinking you're the only one that matters and try seeing some sense in all this.

YOU want to SMOKE, YOU SACRIFICE by going OUTSIDE.
I don't want to SMOKE, I shouldn't have to SACRIFICE by SMELLING of YOUR SMOKE, not to mention passive smoking.

--------------------------------

On a side note, Happy Birthday to me!

Finished

2006-02-18T01:47:00.000Z

The above flash menu is now finished, the sidebar has been changed accordingly (bar a link to the post before, which I'll do straight after this), and I haven't got any more projects in progress.

And I probably won't for a while. Like I said I'm working and I can choose more hours giving me less free time. I can't see when I would do things like this to be honest. The job is only temporary and perhaps I'll work something out.

In less than a week it's my birthday. Thank god I have a cold now and not then. Yeah I'm not 100% but that's winter for ya.

One last thing, Power stone is being revived with a collection heading to PSP. OH FUCKING YES!!

Clickable links

2006-02-18T01:25:00.000Z

Since I've now completed the above flash menu thing, here is all those links as right clickable links, in case you want to open in a new tab rather than new window.

Sonic Fandom

My DeviantART
My fanfiction.net account
Twinseeds (my failed attempt at a sonic team site)
my fanfiction page at twinseeds
My old character page at twinseeds (Note: New character profiles are part of my blog so no links)
Sonic world overview
3 Shadows overview
Perfectly Chaotic (my mates Sonic fandom site)

Webcomics

Exterminatus Now
Penny-Arcade
CTRL+ALT+DEL
VG cats
Megatokyo
Press start to play
Neuroticallyu Yours (Webcartoon)

Message Boards

Total Games Network (TGN 3)
My SEGA
Sonic Hot Dimensions
Exterminatus Now
Cubed-3

others

My games collection
Overclocked Remix

Update lost count +3

2006-02-16T00:29:00.000Z

Sorry it's been quiet for the last week or so. I haven't really been doing anything. I just can't seem to get the enthusiasm these days. Either that or I have too many games to play not enough time.

I got a job. A fairly OK data entry job for the next couple of months. Not much but it's money. It's 5pm-9pm which only really gets in the way of my free time.

At the moment I've started:

Mario & Luigi: Partners in time - Awesome, more of Superstar saga which was awesome
The Rub Rabbits - Same old same old. Good game for valentines day
God of war - Well actually I completed the story but I want to try god mode and finish the challenge of the gods too
Pokemon Leafgreen (second run) - Really only did it for the other two sets of starters and I'm at victory road.
Wipeout Pure - Downloaded Omega pack. Done everything on the game itself.
Pro Evo 5 - Not really started just gave it a go
World tour soccer - Gave it a decent go. It's alright.

Games I've yet to start:

Pokemon XD (got for Xmas)
GTA:San Andreas (got just after Xmas)
Both Sonic collections for PS2, but I only really got them for the collection
Super Monkey Ball Deluxe (January, good deal)
Oddworld Strangers wrath (January, good deal)
Soul Calibur 3 (A few days ago, good deal)

I also want to listen to all the commentaries on Simpsons season 7
And finish off some of my dvd's, mainly just commentaries though

I also have to finish the flash menu above. I have so many ideas for art and a few fic ideas. Oh and the new arcade at TGN aint helping. That thing is so addictive.

So yeah so many things I want to do just not enough time to do it.

And I just ordered Shadow of the Colossus as well.

Yup I'm crazy (but you knew that already)

Update lost count +2

2006-02-07T19:32:00.000Z

All of my PSP wallpapers are done, and the final chapter of Shadow is up as is it's full fic version. Just to make things easier though:

Shadow the Hedgehog: A Rogue's Adventure (HTML)
Shadow the Hedgehog: A Rogue's Adventure (DOC)

Are you confused? / Lesser Known Sonic Month

2006-02-04T01:55:00.000Z

I've decided to copy and paste my fan character profiles into Blogger so the template remains. If you click the links in the character profile section in the Blog Banner you'll replace this page with that post only. Just like you would if you clicked the time link beneath the post.

Also all those Sonic fandom links now work too. They open in a new window though. Not sure how you would get Flash to open them in new tabs though. I think I'll have a Clickable link archive post as well.

---------------------------

Enough about the site. With all this crap about Archie lately I came up with the idea of having a month dedicated to creating Sonic fanstuff based on the lesser known universes, i.e. No SegaSonic, Archie or X. There's a post about it on the Sonic Writers Guild (click the link to go to my ff.net profile, click forums, first one). Going to see if the Sonic-Club on DeviantART might like to help as well.

If I don't get enough support I'll scrap the idea though. So make a comment somewhere please.

Character Profile - Black Wind

2006-02-04T01:30:00.000Z

Black Wind

Appearance: Humanoid hedgehog, Black Spikes with Silver Stripes. Sonic alignment

Clothes: None

Strengths and Abilities: Identical to Sonic

Weaknesses: Identical to Sonic. Also he trusts Eggman.

Gadgets: None

History: Created by Eggman from Sonic's DNA, BW is a direct clone of Sonic designed to be evil and loyal to Eggman. Project Black wind wasn't only a success, he was so impressive Eggman placed a virtual copy of him inside Amy's Nightmare (see A Rose by any other name).

Rivals: Sonic the Hedgehog

Link to Sonic's World: New character created for Sonic's world

Other notes: During A rose by any other name I decided to use a little role reversal. The bad guy being a Sonic like character and the good guy being a Robotnik. By then I had already referred to a mystery villian as Black Rose. The Black from Black wind came from this and the wind came from literalness (i.e. all Sonic characters should have literal names, e.g. Sonic runs at Sonic speed, Tails has two Tails).

BW wasn't a clone at first, but when I wrote Age of Egg I wanted thing from each Nightmare (Neo Sonic, An Unforgettable Tail and A Rose by any other name) to reappear. To explain BW I went with cloning.

Character Profile - Diamond the Rabbit

2006-02-04T01:28:00.000Z

Diamond The Rabbit

Appearance: Female Rabbit. 16 years old so think cream only older. White fur with diamond shapes randomly placed along body.

Clothes: Black suit covering torso and legs. Sword strap normal way.

Strengths and abilities: Diamond is quick and agile. As a member of G.A.S.H. she has been properly trained with a sword, so she has excellent sword skills. She can fly with her ears like Cream.

Weaknesses: She is the youngest of the Deadly gems. Sometimes this youth gets in the way. Also she isn’t all that strong.

Gadgets: Carries and uses a basic sword, Name pending.

History: What is known of her past is similar to the other Deadly gems and Joz. Here’s her story (and Ruby’s and Emerald’s) in her own words (taken from The 3 Shadows: Episode 4: Hunters: chapter 5)

Emerald, Ruby and myself joined GASH at a very young age. We had lost our families, and the foster ones only upset us. We felt angry at the world and started lashing out. We robbed people and tested our limits every time. Soon we found we had no moral limits. GASH saw this in each of us and sent Sapphire to collect us. To this date she has never told us her story, but she became our mentors. For years we trained under her, learning expert sword skills and enhancing our strength, speed and agility. We were being trained to kill, to be cold, ruthless and professional. We learned stealth and tracking skills. We were being trained to be the best Assassins, Spies and Bounty hunters this world has ever know. We've worked hard to be GASH graduates. When we passed all 3 of us begged to be Sapphire's apprentices. She accepted and soon we were a team.

Rivals: Joz the bat aka Master hunter. Although she is ranked lowest of the Deadly gems she does not envy their rank.

Link to Sonic's time: Cream’s Grandmother

Other notes: Diamond basically came out of nowhere. I think while I was writing Episode 3 (Miles’ Tail) I needed to make things normal again and came up with the idea of the deadly gems. I used the chapter title “Shining White Light” and soon came up with a pure white character who I would call Diamond. Diamond seemed like a good name for a rabbit and so Diamond the Rabbit was born. She is the only Deadly gem to appear in an earlier episode than Episode 4 (Hunters)

Character Profile - Emerald the Chameleon

2006-02-04T01:24:00.000Z

EMERALD THE CHAMELEON

Appearance: Female Chameleon. Around 18 years old. Green scales.

Clothes: Light vest like top and light skirt. Due to her natural camouflage she is the only deadly gem that does not dress for stealth, purely for mobility.

Strengths and abilities: A trained assassin with the ability to turn invisible. Her stealthy attacks mimic those of a ninja. She has fantastic aim with ninja stars.

Weaknesses: Like Ruby she can often depend on her advantage. Her stealth advantage is easily nullified with infra red or thermal scopes, which Joz just happens to carry with him always.

Gadgets: Emerald relies heavily on throwing ninja stars from hidden locations.

History: What is known of her past is similar to the other Deadly gems and Joz. Here’s her story said by Diamond (taken from The 3 Shadows: Episode 4: Hunters: chapter 5)

Emerald, Ruby and myself joined GASH at a very young age. We had lost our families, and the foster ones only upset us. We felt angry at the world and started lashing out. We robbed people and tested our limits every time. Soon we found we had no moral limits. GASH saw this in each of us and sent Sapphire to collect us. To this date she has never told us her story, but she became our mentors. For years we trained under her, learning expert sword skills and enhancing our strength, speed and agility. We were being trained to kill, to be cold, ruthless and professional. We learned stealth and tracking skills. We were being trained to be the best Assassins, Spies and Bounty hunters this world has ever know. We've worked hard to be GASH graduates. When we passed all 3 of us begged to be Sapphire's apprentices. She accepted and soon we were a team.

Rivals: Joz the bat aka Master hunter.

Link to Sonic's time: Espio’s Grandmother.

Other notes: Once Diamond and Sapphire were set in stone, Ruby and Emerald were natural choices. Emerald seemed better as a Chameleon since they are usually green. Also Ruby fits the Hedgehog better as Amy is pink. It was also a natural choice to have Emerald use invisible stealth attacks and ninja abilities, much like her Grandson Espio.

Character Profile - Ruby Rose

2006-02-04T01:21:00.000Z

RUBY ROSE

Appearance: Female Hedgehog. Red fur. 18 years old. Think a much older Amy.

Clothes: Black top and Black shorts. Clothes are a compromise between a stealthy black suit and light smaller clothes to keep her cool in extreme heat environments.

Strengths and abilities: Ruby had been trained to fight under extreme temperatures. Her fighting technique is to choose a hot arena and let the heat wear down her opponent as they fight, thus giving her an edge. She is quick, nimble and trained like the other G.A.S.H. members.

Weaknesses: Can rely too much on fighting in a very hot arena. Take away the heat and you take away her advantage. She isn’t as strong as most fighters.

Gadgets: Like Amy, Ruby attacks with a giant piko piko hammer. This one is a much more deadly one, having spiked edges. Name pending.

History: What is known of her past is similar to the other Deadly gems and Joz. Here’s her story in Diamonds own words (taken from The 3 Shadows: Episode 4: Hunters: chapter 5)

Emerald, Ruby and myself joined GASH at a very young age. We had lost our families, and the foster ones only upset us. We felt angry at the world and started lashing out. We robbed people and tested our limits every time. Soon we found we had no moral limits. GASH saw this in each of us and sent Sapphire to collect us. To this date she has never told us her story, but she became our mentors. For years we trained under her, learning expert sword skills and enhancing our strength, speed and agility. We were being trained to kill, to be cold, ruthless and professional. We learned stealth and tracking skills. We were being trained to be the best Assassins, Spies and Bounty hunters this world has ever know. We've worked hard to be GASH graduates. When we passed all 3 of us begged to be Sapphire's apprentices. She accepted and soon we were a team.

Rivals: Joz the bat aka Master hunter. She also wants to take over from Sapphire’s reign as Leader, though she is more passive in this pursuit.

Link to Sonic's time: Amy’s Grandmother. Due to something completely overlooked I had to come up with an explanation as to why she didn’t change her name when she got married. Simply Rose is such a famous name that the men take that name.

Other notes: Once Diamond and Sapphire were set in stone, Ruby and Emerald were natural choices. Emerald seemed better as a Chameleon since they are usually green. Also Ruby fits the Hedgehog better as Amy is pink. For her special skill I went down a clichéd route, with red = fire.

Character Profile - Sapphire the Bat

2006-02-04T01:17:00.000Z

Sapphire the bat

Appearance: Female bat. Not too different from Rouge. Has blue fur and dresses for practicality and to hide her appearance rather that to seduce.

Clothes: Currently undecided on exactly what she wears, except that clothing is practical and concealing to match her spy and assassin lifestyle. She has a sword strap similar to Joz's, with strong black boots.

Strengths and Abilities: She can fly using her wings and can handle extreme temperatures. She has an intense rivalry with Joz the bat and knows all of his moves. She usually does research on all her opponents before facing them. She is a master of martial arts and has lots of skill with a blade. She is cold, ruthless and professional with all the skills and agility normally associated with bat type creatures. As a member of GASH (the Guild for Assassins, Spies and Hunters) she has aquired many skills associated with spies, bounty hunters and assassins. She is the leader of the Deadly gems because she has mastered these skills more than her 3 teammates, Diamond the Rabbit, Emerald the Chameleon and Ruby Rose.

Weaknesses: Besides her sword she has no gadgets. She relies entirely on her skills unlike Joz who is supported with his Armour, Stealth and Jet wing modes. She can also he overconfident and unprepared for the unexpected. Joz took advantage of this when he first beat her using his new technique the Shadow blade. Also unlike Shadow for example, she had no extreme strengths like extreme speed of strength.

Gadgets: Her Blade is her only gadget. Name pending. The Blade is a standard katana. She is also said to have small daggers on her boots that are normally hidden until she needs to use them.

History: Not much is known about her past. She joined GASH at a young age and developed the skills she needs to become a legendary mercenary. Unfortunately this has not been enough to earn her the title of Master and because of this she is envious of Joz and despises him. She is generally called upon for missions Joz won't take or when GUN know Joz wouldn't take them. Most notably the attack on ARK was led by Sapphire.

Rivals: Joz the Bat aka Master hunter, a male bat who got his title from being the best bounty and treasure hunter in the world. Shadow the Hedgehog, once her secret was revealed Shadow became more threatening to her than Joz.

Link to Sonic's World: She is Rouge's Grandmother. You know Rouge right? The bat in Sonic adventure 2 who is obssessed with Jewels. She is a decendant of both Joz and Sapphire.

Other notes: Blue is my favourite colour, the gem Sapphire is blue, this is where her name comes from. Her name went through many changes, Blade, Sharpedge, Jewel. Eventually I picked Sapphire and to introduce her I suddenly came up with the idea of the Deadly Gems. The idea behind her leading the attack on ARK was to make the Episode "Hunters" a little more interesting. It also helped in making her an enemy of the 3 Shadows as whole, not just Joz. I want her to have all the traits Rouge has that Joz doesn't, like the spy skills and deviousness.

Character Profile - Miles Prower

2006-02-04T01:15:00.000Z

Miles Prower

Appearance: Taller than Tails. Singled tailed orange fox with black tiger like stripes. Features similar to Tails.

Clothes: None besides the wrist shooters and the ammo storage backpack.

Strengths and Abilities: Miles is a brilliant mechanic, just like the other prowers. He is an excellent shot also, which is a skill developed by Paintball championships. Builds upgrades for other characters.

Weaknesses: Miles has no physical strengths. Instead he relies on intellegence and his wrist shooters to get him through any situation.

Gadgets: Miles developed his own Paintball guns known as the wrist shooters. These are basic guns with pipes leading to a backpack that contains his ammo. The pipes were late replaced with bullet chains.

History: The youngest of the prower family of green woods. At a young age he found an interest in paintballing that led to him being a champion, and more importantly a very good shot. Being a Prower he also learned mechanical skills and found a way to combine his two main interests with the Wrist shooters. At the age of 12 he met Shadow in green woods, unconscious and in need of rest. Miles took Shadow in and the two became friends. When Shadow became a fugitive with Gerald, Joz and Miles chased him, Miles being the voice of reason. He naturally became one of the 3 Shadow's when Joz and Shadow teamed up to stop Gerald destroying the world.

Rivals: Gerald Robotnik

Link to Sonic's time: Miles if Tails' grandfather. After the 3 Shadow's time had passed Miles started a family. His only child started a family also, which only bared one child. Miles Son named his own son Miles in his honour. However an accident, which happened when Tails was too young to remember, took the life of Tails' parents and hence he became an orphan. Miles believed Tails had also died and hence Tails and Miles never knew each other.

Other notes: Miles does become the first prower to have a second tail. Like Joz's unnatural wealth sense, Miles has difficulty understanding the new abilities this brings.

Character Profile - Joz the bat (MH)

2006-02-04T01:08:00.000Z

Joz the bat aka Master hunter

Appearance: Male white fur bat with features similar to Rouge the bat.

Clothes: Long black coat, Sword strap put on upside down, belt, big boots, sunglasses

Strengths and abilities: Joz is very agile and has all the traits that bats usually do (e.g. ability to hang upside down with ease). He is also a very skilled swordsman, which helps in his hunting skills. He is the best hunter on Earth and hence earned the title Master hunter. But above all Joz's greatest skill is his "wealth sense", which is the ability to sense anything which can be valued. The higher the value the greater the feeling. He has mastered this to sense bullets and the trajectories from guns and hence can deflect and adequate number of bullets using his sword. He can also scan areas in infra red and ultra violet. Finally thanks to Miles' upgrades his wings, normally reserved for flight, can be used to guard, hide and fly at tremendous speeds.

Weaknesses: Joz does not have the speed of Shadow/Sonic, the strength of Knuckles/Vector or the intelligence of Miles/Tails/Eggman/Gerald. Although he is adequate in these skills he does not excel in them. Also there is a limit to the number of bullets he can deflect, hence the usefulness of the armour wing. His wing upgrades, stealth and armour need to cover his body to work perfectly and this requires him to crouch, thus limiting his movements and can prevent flight. Jet wing, his other wing upgrade is hard to control and so is usually reserved for high-speed escapes. But above all his greatest weakness is his obsession with Jewels, a rather nasty side effect from his unnatural "wealth sense". This obsession makes him go into "Gemcrazes" occasionally, in which the only known cure is to find all 7 chaos emeralds. When Joz has a "gemcraze" he puts the persuit for gems above all else, including the law and even his friends, the other shadows.

Gadgets: Sunglasses equipped with several scan modes including infra red and Ultra violet. 3 Wing upgrades created by miles, The stealth wing, the Armour wing and the Jet wing. But his most important gadget is his sword, the Annemuir. Found from an ancient temple, the Annemuir is a blade that seems perfectly built for Joz. Its creation details are unknown, but what is known is that a legendary warrior used it centuries ago.

History: Joz grew up normally but at the age of 16 he had no source of income and his family had been killed. In desperation he turned to R.E.E. (Robotnik's Experimentation Enterprise) and volunteered for an experiment which would change his life and define who he was. This experiment gave him his Wealth Sense ability. From this he started using his new sense to find hidden treasures, one of these being his sword the Annemuir. He soon found himself able to master the blade as he kept searching for more jewels. By now Joz was rich and word was getting around of this hunter who had mastered a blade. He ended up being confronted by many agencies, examining his sword skills and hiring him as a bounty hunter. He never failed and soon became known as the Master hunter. However by now he was finding the side effects of his wealth sense becoming more intense, to the point in which he hated his "Gemcrazes" and felt cursed by it. He vowed revenge against the monsters that gave him the curse despite its blessing. When the CEO of R.E.E., Gerald Robotnik became a fugitive, GUN hired him to hunt him down. It is during this job he met up with Shadow and Miles. Normally working alone he decided to team up with them and become the 3rd member of the 3 Shadows.

Rivals: Sapphire the bat - A female assassin and spy envious of Joz's title of Master hunter. Gerald Robotnik - the genius professor, turned insane by what GUN did to him and his family.

Link to Sonic's time: After the 3 Shadow's time Joz started a family. One of his granddaughters is none other than Rouge the bat, skilled treasure hunter and Government spy, who first appeared during Shadow's awakening and Eggman's attack on Earth using ARK (Sonic adventure 2).

Other notes: Joz wears sunglasses for two reasons. Primarily to scan areas for hidden items and stuff, but also to hide his eyes. His wealth sense is linked to his eyes. When it is in use (i.e. whenever he's near something valuable) his eyes flash the colours of the chaos emeralds (c.f. Hyper Sonic). Sword strap is upside down so his wings don't get in the way. It has a locking system to prevent gravity's obvious effects.

Scourge? Another Sonic recolour?

2006-02-01T23:43:00.000Z

WEM may have taken priority over my blog but now it's over I thought I'd share with you something I discovered on Sonic Hot Dimensions.

The cover of archie comic 161

If you're too lazy to click that link essentially Archie has come up with another hedgehog character. He's Green with Blue eyes (Sonic inverted), Called "The Evil Hedgehog" (Hello, Shadow), Dressed like some kind of biker rogue, and called scourge.

Sonic/Shadow recolours are so commonplace fans are generally very critical of them. Essentially Sonic Recolours often suck and it's really annoying to see an official universe as popular as the games, if not even more popular, doing one.

Maybe harsh to judge a character from just a cover but at the moment he doesn't seem to be more than that. And I can see him becoming as popular as Shadow. So much that soon being Scourge fan will have the same stigma as being a Shadow fan. Too many, too much.

Generally Archie sums up what is too cliched in Sonic fandom, and Scourge really isn't a surprise. There is an awful lot of matchmaking and Romance in Sonic Fandom, and it's only really Archie that has a lot of Romance. Coupling the characters seems to be a Sonic fandom obsession. No wonder it's the second most popular forum on fanfiction.net, just under the fan characters one.

And this is why I don't care for Archie. Not only is Sally a Mary-sue and generally filled with lots of Romance, but adding another Sonic Recolour. It's a comic that features everything wrong with Sonic fandom.

Also with Puke Green colouring and a Biker-esque "cool" image, if he starts talking like a surfer you can tell where they got the inspiration (Manic from Sonic Underground).

WEM 06 - LOZ: Ocarina of time

2006-02-01T01:41:00.000Z

And so Winter-een-mas ends and we come at last to my favourite game of all time.

Yes it is of course Ocarina of Time. Since I was up quite early today I attempted to finish the main story all in one day. Let me tell you unless you go with next to no sleep at all it isn't possible.

I started at 11:30am and stopped at 22:15pm and I had only reached the water temple.

Not to self never push yourself to play a game. It ruins it.

well enjoy

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The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

If you’ve ever picked up an N64 pad, hell any joypad, chances are you have heard of this legendary game. Legend by Name, Legend by Nature, Ocarina of time is frequently found very high on top 100 lists everywhere. So many have a lot of respect for this title even if it isn’t in their personal top ten lists, though the majority of the time it is.

Released at the end of 1998, Ocarina of time came out as the N64 was starting to become popular. It was the first time Nintendo favourite Zelda had been taken into the third dimension and the results were amazing.

Let me start by saying this is for the gamer who wants a fairly long one player experience. It’s not the kind of game you can play for 5 minutes and with no multiplayer options it was never going to be the highlight of a party.

Though rarely does a player get so caught up in the world. The game centres on manipulation of time. Environments change as they go from day to night, and dramatically change when you start going to a dark future seven years later. Most of the NPC’s seem to have their own personality and will be as memorable as you play it as most main characters. Seeing how their lives change really gives you the sense that Hyrule is a living breathing world.

Really that’s what makes this game so great, the feeling. It was the first time I ever felt like I was taken away to a living breathing world in a game. Others have made believable worlds in games since but Ocarina of Time was the first for me.

But besides feelings what other merits does this game have? Well possibly one of the best control schemes ever devised the brilliant Z-targeting system. By holding Z the camera centres behind you, waiting for something it can lock on to. Once it locks onto a person to talk to, a strange object to check or an enemy to fight the camera will focus your view on that target no matter what you do.

By targeting enemies you can get info on their weaknesses, defend their attacks directly, back flip or sidestep around them, and strike with much stronger attacks. However you are completely focused on that one object, leaving you vulnerable to attacks from behind and making it really hard to do the actual levels.

Used primarily for fighting, testing your reflexes and skills, it’s also useful for interacting with other things in the game. It’s pretty easy to master too.

An odd feature for games in this genre at the time, considering the number of jumps your expected to make, is the lack of a jump button. Instead there is an auto jump system in place. Walk up to a gap and Link will automatically jump across it best he can. It may sound dodgy but it actually works very well. It’s important to remember this isn’t a platform game; most of the gameplay is around puzzle solving and combat.

Typically the same formula from the prequels is in place here. You have an overworld that links all the towns and dungeons. Towns have shops where you can buy items, mini games and side quests, and lots of people to talk to. Dungeons are the meat of the game as you venture through enemy filled caves and temples, solving puzzles, avoiding traps, collecting keys to unlock doors and finishing with an awesome boss battle.

The bosses are one of the many highlights of the game. They are challenging and tense with each one being memorable. The extra dimension has really allowed the bosses to seem huge and intimidating. It has also let the team create some fantastic though provoking dungeons. Such as the water temple that really feels like a labyrinth most of the time.

The only bad thing I can say about the game is it does feel quite slow sometimes. Link seems to take forever to walk across the main fields, which in his defence is quite large. Though it is still annoying when you want to move on and you’re spending what seems like an eternity moving across a field.

You do get a horse that speeds things up a bit though and it more than makes up for Link’s slow running. There are some moments with Epona that are just as memorable as some of the other things I’ve mentioned.

It’s hard not to call this game perfect. And best of all there’s plenty of it. The main quest, despite not being a Final Fantasy style RPG quest, will still take some time to complete. Many games these days can be done in a day when you know what you’re doing. Not the case for Ocarina of Time, unless you pretty much avoid sleep.

And with plenty of good, easy to find, side quests including a fairly long find 100 enemies and beat them quest, you first time has the potential to last months, quite a few months.

Visually it was ahead of it’s time. Today the N64 limitations are clear as day, but back then the effects were just stunning. There’s a particularly cool effect with a twisting corridor about half way through the game that just really summed up what the graphics well, mind blowing.

The soundtrack has its ups and downs. There are some fantastic melodies particularly in towns, which are hard not to hum along to. But there are some tracks that grate after a while, mainly the temple stages. The forest temple stage music for example is quite creepy but repetitive.

Overall Ocarina of Time is an incredible game worthy of being hailed as a classic for all eternity. It was ahead of it’s time both gameplay wise and visually and it has enough to keep any gamer going for ages. But above all the feeling you got when playing it back in 1998 is indescribable. It was one of the first, if not the first, to offer a convincing living breathing world. Add to that loads of memorable moments and it’s clear to see why people rate it so highly.

+ Loads of quests on offer including a fairly lengthy main quest
+ Ahead of it’s time visuals
+ A convincing living breathing world with plenty of memorable moments
- Perhaps Link could move a little faster
- The plot isn’t going to win any awards
- Music can get annoying late on during dungeons

10 out of 10

WEM 06 - Sonic 3 and Knuckles

2006-01-31T01:23:00.000Z

Did I mention that banner got an update?

Well anyway Chapter 9 of Shadow is up, just one more to go probably.

As there is just one more review after this one. My 2nd favourite game of all time and probably the best Sonic ever, Sonic 3 and Knuckles. It was really hard to fault it and squeeze the best of it into 3 positive points.

Tomorrow is the last day of Winter-een-mas and I should reveal my favourite game of all time.

enjoy!

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When gamers often talk about their favourite Sonic’s there are usually only two names that appear above all else. Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 and Knuckles. While both games are excellent it’s the latter that I would rate as the best Sonic game ever.

Ok so technically its two games but only the most stubborn person who see that as an issue. It’s clear to see that the two games were designed to be played as one, and it’s only when they are locked together that its true potential comes through.

Separately the games are just too short. With only six zones each it feels like a massive step back from the nine/ten in Sonic 2. They also miss a character each, Sonic 3 has no playable Knuckles, Sonic and Knuckles has no Tails. It’s just not the same experience until you merge them together.

Story wise the game continues directly from Sonic 2. The Death Egg has crashed into a Floating Island called Angel Island, long considered to be nothing by a myth. The Island crashes into the ocean but the thought of the Death Egg returning to orbit is enough to get Sonic into action. But to get to the Death Egg he’ll have to get past a new enemy Knuckles.

The locked on version allows you to play as 3 characters, with a co-op option with Sonic and Tails. Each has their own distinct advantages. Sonic can make use of the new shields special functions as well as creating a second long shield. Tails can fly for a short period of time, allowing you to explore levels more carefully. Sonic can also grab hold of Tails as he flies for the first time, giving more to the co-operative experience.

Knuckles can glide until he lands on the floor and climb up walls. Unlike Tails he can climb for as long as he needs to, thus allowing you to get even higher. Also certain walls can be smashed open only be Knuckles, allowing him to access secret routes through the levels.

Sonic Team were well aware they would need to cartridges to do what they wanted to do, and so had these secret routes in Sonic 3 that were only accessible by use of the Debug Cheat. Locking with Sonic and Knuckles allows you to explore them as they were intended to be explored, meaning the Sonic 3 levels can be properly explored without cheating.

Conversely the save function from Sonic 3 was left out of Sonic and Knuckles, and by locking on you can now save through the Sonic and Knuckles levels. As well as allowing you to explore areas in Sonic and Knuckles that only Tails can reach.

But one of its best new features is the extra emeralds. There are now another seven to collect making 14 in total. Blasting through the levels of Sonic 2 as Super Sonic was awesome and now you get to do it as Hyper Sonic, Super or Hyper Knuckles and Super Tails.

Getting the emeralds is worth so much more than a good ending as you’ll have an extra level to fight through as Sonic as well. With all of these reasons for getting the Emeralds you be driven to get them.

There are a couple more minor features like the new shields added to what has been mentioned so far, which all blend nicely with the stylish gameplay Sonic is associated with.

Unlike the later Sonic games Sonic 3 & Knuckles offered both the ability to explore and the ability to just blast through the levels at a top speed. And there is so much more of the game when you lock them together. The zone count becomes twelve, split with two acts each and a boss at the end of each act. Make Sonic 2 feel a little small in comparison.

Visually it’s still the best 2D sonic in my opinion. The sprites look their best and the animations are superb. It looks less cartoony than the advance series and only really the latest game Rush is a challenge to its visuals. Levels like Carnival Night, Launch Base, Sandopolis and Death Egg still look amazing for the 16 bit generation game, and still match the later 2D Sonics on more advanced systems.

The soundtrack and sound effects are classics still loved today. Ice cap (not the PC version) is probably the most remixed videogame track; at least amongst the Sonic game remixes. If this is you first time playing then you’re in for a treat sound wise.

The Versus mode from Sonic 3 is left intact. It even feels like its own little game having its own levels with a sort of time trial mode too. If you want to take a break from the main game or you’re just looking for a new challenge, you could always try beating your times here.

By today’s standards you could say it might’ve benefited from some extra missions, or a ranking system. Though to be honest it doesn’t need them. It’s hard to fault this classic Sonic title, which is probably the reason why it’s loved so much by Sonic fans and gamers alike.

There are general complaints that the latter Sonic’s, particularly the 3D ones, that they’re not as good as they used to be. Though to be fair it’s not exactly easy to top this title, and it’ll be rare to see Sonic Team better this.

A classic that will stand the test of time. Sonic 3 and Knuckles pushes its system to its limits so much so that it needs to come on two cartridges. Its music is still loved today and is quite possibly the best Sonic there ever will be. With a brilliant one player and quite good multiplayer it’ll last you a lifetime as you’ll keep coming back for more.

+ Pushes the system to its limits
+ Loads of levels, bonuses and classic moments with plenty of replay value.
+ An awesome soundtrack
- Technically two games, which at the time was expensive
- The game itself isn’t long, even though you’ll play it again and again
- The save system can make it a little too easy, but then there is a no save option if you really want to test your skill

10 out of 10

WEM 06 - Super Smash Bros Melee

2006-01-29T01:11:00.000Z

Updated the banner to show how my new links system will work. Also the blinking has been aligned properly. Just to make each of those links open a URL in a new window.

Anyway as promised here is my Super Smash Bros Melee review. 2 days late but it's done.

I've also coloured Shadow in my 3 Shadows PSP wallpaper.

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Super Smash Brothers Melee

During the first couple of months of the Gamecube’s life one of its biggest games was the brilliant Super Smash Bros Melee. Generally praised and loved, you’ll find it hard to find a gamer that doesn’t have a favourite character they play as. It’ll be remembered as one of this generation’s greats, but why?

For those who don’t know (which I’m guessing isn’t many), Super Smash Bros is a quite unique concept. Every fighter has a damage meter. Hit them at the damage meter goes up. The higher the meter the further they will fly when they’re hit. The aim of the game is to smash your opponent off the stage to get a point. The winner is the person with the most points. Did I mention that up to four people fight at the same time?

Turbo charge its speed to insane speeds, add power ups and fill it with loads of modes and characters and what you have is SSBM. A unique, frantic, beat-em up that simply rules in multiplayer.

At first though it’s very different. It can seem to fast with little more than button bashing needed to finish a mode. Yes finishing the basic modes doesn’t take long, if by that you mean reaching the credits.

There are three main one player modes with an extra one to unlock. These are called Classic, Adventure and Event.

Classic is an updated version of the game you got with the N64 version. You’ll go through a set path of enemies, where who you meet and where you fight will change every time. You’ll face special versions of that character from giant, loads of weak clones, metal version and basic team play. In between these are basic 1 on 1 fights and mini games finishing with the final fight against a floating hand.

Adventure has you doing some light Platforming in between fights, starting from a little remake of classic Mario levels, finishing with a fight against Bowser and fighting characters in between by their rules. For example before facing Captain Falcon you’ll have to run across a small section of a race track during an F-zero race. If you don’t get out of the way from the cars as they speed through the track you’ll probably end up losing a life.

Event mode has you fighting with different rules every time, with challenges is getting harder as you progress. The latter half in particular takes much mastery of the game to accomplish.

You also have the ability to play the mini games you’ve unlocked. These range from hitting a sandbag as far as possible, to breaking a series of plate targets.

There is also a trophy collecting feature that will soon become your main objective. Collecting them all requires doing secret challenges, finding them during the Platforming stages, reaching certain targets in the many modes, completing the game with each character in each mode, and winning them in a lottery system.

All of which can seem to be nothing more than hours of button bashing, but you’d be wrong. Increase the difficulty in any one player mode or raise the ability level of CPU fighters in versus and you’ll see how deep it goes. Within the frantic nature of the game you’ll need to master evading, defending, rolling, and basically learning every characters attacks and recovery abilities.

Each character has their advantages and disadvantages. Heavy characters are harder to smash off the screen and generally have harder attacks, but generally move much slowly or have poor recovery. You’ll need to master them all to complete the game properly. You’ll need to know how affective each individual move is and what its weakness. For example Kirby can turn himself into a heavy weight which smashes into the ground with plenty of force, causing heavy damage to those in the way. Though it leaves him open to throw attacks in the couple of seconds he’s frozen.

Try and button bash through the harder difficulties and you’ll be KO’ed a lot. You’ll be expected to have lightning fast reactions as you counter your opponent’s attacks. Not only that you’ll have to do it with two other fighters at the same time. It’s the ultimate test of mastering skills and reflexes and the more you play the more you’ll realise who deep it really is.

Graphically the game is superb considering it was more or less a launch title. Ok so Samus looks better in Metroid Prime, Fox looks better in Starfox Adventures and link looks better in Twilight Princess (though oddly in my opinion Mario still looks his best here). But overall the graphics are nice and with Rogue Leader showed the potential of the machine early on.

The soundtrack is typical Nintendo. Each stage has remixed or remade versions of classic Nintendo tracks from all the different universes. The sound effects also fit each character well. Overall the game looks good and sounds great.

But it’s the lasting appeal of the game the will win you over. There are loads of challenges in 1 player that’ll keep you going for several weeks, as filling that trophy collection will that ages testing you all the way. And with the frantic unique multiplayer perfect for parties it’ll last an age.

The multiplayer really brings this game to life as all that mastery is still there. With plenty of options for rules and the frantic nature of the game it rarely gets boring. Few games can claim to have an awesome 1 player and multiplayer experience but Super Smash Bros Melee can.

A lot of what makes SSBM so great is the way it makes you feel. There’s generally a character for everyone and they’ll feel like an extension of how you like to play, that tactics you use, etc. It’s something that’s pretty difficult to put into words, but if you visit a gaming message board, particularly one that’s been going for quite some time, and search for Super Smash Bros Melee, you may just see what I mean.

Overall Super Smash Bros Melee is a game loaded with challenges that’ll keep you going for ages. While it may seem like a button basher at first, the more you play the more complex it will seem. And with this translating perfectly from one player into multiplayer and vice versa, it all adds up to a genuinely unique and frantic experience.

And best of all it doesn’t matter whether you still hooked on the game or whether you’re just reliving it from some quick stress relief, the feeling you get is always the same. The only thing missing is online play and that’s very likely to appear in the sequel.

+ Frantic, high charged fun in both one player and multiplayer
+ The more you play the more complex it seems
+ Awesome soundtrack filled with well known themes.
- Feels like a button basher with no real challenge at first
- May be too frantic for some
- No online play

9 out of ten

WEM 06 - Sonic Adventure 2 (battle)

2006-01-28T01:47:00.000Z

Welcome to my next review. My third favourite of all time Sonic Adventure 2. Went though the hero side story and raised my little Shigeru high enough to finally beat that git Flash. Went into a panic when I couldn't find him, turns out he was in Adventure DX. Wish I knew that before I frantically checked every tiny chao garden I had.

Also makes it the fourth time I've gotten the 180 emblems.

Anyway here's the review and I hope to have Super Smash Bros Melee's done tomorrow (which is my 5th fav game, SOAL is my 4th)

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There is still much love for the blue blur. Maybe he’s not a console seller but generally since he went multi format Sonic game sales have regularly been high. Sonic Adventure 2 probably won’t be as recognised by the non hardcore as say the Mega Drive/Genesis Classics, but shall we condemn it now and wait for one that will?

Generally a marmite game, Sonic Adventure 2 is hated by many but loved by some. I’m in the latter category but I’m going to try and stay neutral despite being Sonic’s biggest fan. So why do I rate this so highly and why is it in my list of favourite games? Read on.

Sonic Adventure 2 was released in June 2001 for Sonic’s tenth anniversary. Later an enhanced port with the subtitle battle was released at launch for the Gamecube. It attempts to give Sonic a decent enough plot to follow and hopes to bring the series into 3D. In some areas it succeeds, in others it fails.

One of the biggest issues seems to be incorporating all the characters of the past. You see stick with just Sonic and you’ll have an uproar from fans of other characters. Use too many and you’ll be criticised for it. Sonic Team attempt to cover the middle ground, sticking with the basic three Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, and giving them darker counterparts, Shadow, Dr. Eggman and Rouge.

However some of the more unique features of Tails and Knuckles don’t translate all that well from 2D to 3D. Flying through the stages freely as Tails is a massive task due to the length of Sonic levels. Knuckles exploration moves like Climbing and Gliding don’t work either. So instead they split the game into 3 smaller games. Racing style Platforming for Sonic, Exploring areas for treasure for Knuckles, and Shooting enemies from an armoured mech for Tails.

This is what will make or break the game for you and what makes it a marmite game. Hate one style; you’ll wonder why they poison the game with it. Like all three and it’ll be a favourite.

Anyway let’s start be analysing these three gameplay styles. Traditionally Sonic and his dark counterpart Shadow race through levels at high speed. They appeal to the player who likes to beat times, testing reflexes and quick moves more than anything else. If you’re the type that wants to see what it’s like on the building in the distance you’ll be sorely disappointed. Levels are usually thin tracks, much like a racing game, which you’ll be expected to do quickly and efficiently.

For what it intends to achieve it does it very well. You keep going forward at high speeds and you won’t suffer from many problems. The better you play this game the better it responds to you. Play poorly and the camera will be your worst foe. Like most 3D platformers this game has camera that attempts to make you do something, rather than give you the freedom to explore. Though if you wanted to explore levels this isn’t for you.

That’s left for Knuckles and his Dark counterpart Rouge. Their levels have you searching areas, which get bigger as you progress, for special items hidden in random locations. To help you, you get a hot/cold radar system to help you pinpoint their locations. Like most of Sonic they expect you to learn how to do this quickly and efficiently for the higher scores and ranks. Fortunately both are equipped with climbing, digging and gliding skills to help you get to those dark corners they may be hiding in.

In between them two styles if the shooting style. Either as Tails or Dr. Eggman (Robotnik if you just can’t let go of that, either name is seen as acceptable); you’ll proceed through a thin track like Sonic but at a much slower pace. The aim here is to get you to shoot everything down while still proceeding through the level quickly. Locking on to many enemies at once before shooting rather than shooting each one individually will give you a higher score. Much like most shooters on the market actually.

If you hate one of these three styles you’ll condemn the game due to the fact you have to play them. There are no options to only play one style of gameplay. Though each style does set out what it achieves to do well with a common theme of speed throughout.

Actually that only applies to the story. More on the other modes later but as far as the story mode goes it’s both a blessing and a curse. It is ridiculously easily to complete, obviously designed to give some challenge but to let the story flow naturally. No waiting at a checkpoint for days when you want to know what happens next. It really won’t last you all that long. It’s a good plot though. Enough questions to keep theorising fans happy, enjoyable enough to keep the rest mildly entertained. Not the most amazing story but then it’s never been about the story.

Where Sonic Adventure 2 gets its length from is the stage select mode. Here you can attempt 4 extra missions per level that has you collecting 100 rings, finding a lost Chao, doing it within a strict time limit and finally the very challenging hard mode. Each has its own score and rank system and to really get the most of the game you’re expected to get every A rank, which involves mastering each level almost perfectly. Here’s where the challenge really starts to kick in.

Amongst all this is the last time we’ve seen the brilliant A-life system called Chao. When you want to cool down and take things a little more casually you’ll have the option to raise your own little creature, increase their stats then race (of fight in the GCN version) them in tournaments. Some may find this boring but others might relish in playing with a child like creature.

Added to all this is a fairly decent multiplayer mode, again split in the three styles. It’s quite a lot of fun but not enough to challenge the more famous titles in this area. It’s a nice extra that’s reminiscent of the 2 player mode in Sonic 2.

There are also boss rush modes and a kart racing mini game, which all in all gives you plenty of options and lots to do. This is why I personally love this game. I feel a good indication of how good a game is, is how long it lasts. Getting all 180 emblems is a lengthy challenge, and with times and scores to beat there is potential for it to last even longer. I’ve done it four times, each taking at least 20 hours, with the longest being 77 hours, and have enjoyed it every time.

Visually at the time it was very impressive. Characters felt a little more 3D with areas such as eyes bulging out. Compare this to the later 3D Sonics where individual areas like these merge into one. You felt like it was pushing a system too, whereas the later ones seem like they are going at the speed of the slowest. Cities seem to expand for miles even if you can’t explore them, and levels are generally huge. Even today playing on the ARK levels is a treat for the eyes.

Sound wise things are very Sonic mixed in with another rock soundtrack. This is another area that’s hit and miss but I personally love it. Music is usually used to highlight the games better moments, such as the brilliant opening, the awesome finish and the more tense moments in between. If you didn’t like the soundtrack of Adventure, Heroes or Shadow, Adventure 2 is more of the same and I don’t see it ever changing.

Overall Sonic Adventure 2 is a thrilling adrenaline rush from start to finish, that may occasionally slow down a little. If you’re not the type to master levels for good ranks, which in turn leads to cool unlockables, or you prefer games at a much slower pace with more freedom, then this isn’t for you. But if this is what you want there’s so much in this game on offer to you, you’d be foolish not to at least try it yourself.

+ Loads of missions, modes and stuff to unlock
+ Gameplay styles change frequently giving you a little variation as you play
+ Great replay value
- Gameplay styles change frequently, even when you only want to play one style.
- Poor Camera, especially why you try to explore
- Levels can be too restrictive for some

9 out of 10

quick apology

2006-01-27T01:23:00.000Z

Sorry, I know I promised my next review now but I got sidetracked and there's no way I could do it now.

It was going to be on Super Smash Bros Melee which I played all last night (it's past midnight now)

As for my other projects I may get something done this weekend but don't count on it. It may take until after WEM before I finish another Shadow Chapter and even longer before I finish my art projects.

WEM 06 - Skies of Arcadia (Legends)

2006-01-26T01:25:00.000Z

For Winter-een-mas 2006 I've decided to play my top 5 games again and write a review for the new TGN site whatever it's called.

Today I played the last 3 bosses of Skies of Arcadia Legends all over again. I wish I could've played more but there's no way I could do the game in a day, especially when Man Utd are playing for a place in a cup final (We did win the game and we're going to cardiff the day after my birthday WHOO!)

Below is a copy and paste of what I submitted just moments ago. Tomorrow is a different game but what will it be...? Come back tomorrow to find out.

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Late in the life of the Dreamcast SEGA released a brand new franchise RPG called Skies of Arcadia. Later on it was ported with some bonus material on the Gamecube and given the subtitle Legends. Many of those who have played this game have praised it to the heavens; many have said it’s the one of the best Dreamcast games. I am one of them, I’ve been through each version and enjoyed every last minute.

But what is it that makes this game so special. From just the screens and videos it looks nothing more than a Traditional style RPG, entering a market saturated with plenty of Traditional style RPG’s. Most notably Square-Enix’s infamous Final Fantasy series. Will it be more than a match for the series or fail like many a contender before it?

You play as a young, probably teenage, boy called Vyse. A member of a group of pirates called the Blue Rogues who spend their days stealing from an iron fisted government, and generally helping those who need it. You soon meet a mysterious girl on a mission to save the world from massive weapons, sought by that government, all to stop a possible apocalypse.

The Gameplay remains very traditional in many areas, such as turned based combat, special attack limits, and controlling a party of four at once, it does have some more unique elements. Most noticeably in the battle phase of gameplay where your attacks are practically dictated by the Team Spirit Bar at the top.

Like previous titles in this genre, barring some basic actions your most powerful moves use up points on this Special Bar. However the whole team has to use it. No rushing in with your most heavy attacks and healing those character’s individual bars with items. If one character has used most of the Spirit bar the other characters must use what has been left over.

It’s a very smart system particularly with Magic as now you have sort of a magic counter. As long as you have a Magic point you can use magic, but stronger magic spells will take up more of the spirit bar. Also when you reach certain levels you will generate the right number of spirit points on the bar to use special widespread attacks each turn. This makes battling weaker enemies much easier and quicker.

This is a good thing, as unfortunately its biggest flaw is the frequency of Random Battles. It came out in a time where these types of RPG’s were experimenting with seeing enemies and being able to avoid battles. Seeing some of the systems in place now and looking back, using Random Battles seems like a bad idea.

Though what makes this game so unique are the brilliant Ship Battles. You fight as one ship against another ship but have as many actions per turn as you have characters. You can see the turn after the one your about to assign actions too and it’s really a case of thinking ahead. As you progress you can recruit crew members, each giving their own unique skill and making your ship overall much stronger.

Outside of battles the gameplay is a pretty standard affair. You move across a huge adventure field, discovering secrets and entering towns or dungeons. When in towns you can buy and sell items, weapons and armour, and find information on side quests. When in Dungeons you solve puzzles to venture deeper and eventually face a boss. Pretty much what’s expected in this type of game though just because it’s expected doesn’t mean it’s bad.

There is a small part of the game that has you customising your own base with some limited options. This is a nice feature offering you some freedom of expression in the game.

Overall the gameplay is very solid and nicely polished outside of battle, and very stylish in battle whether as your party or as your ship. It could be argued that there are a lot of menus to go through, which can put people off. Though this isn’t an issue exclusive to Skies of Arcadia and very few games try to get round it.

There are loads to do in this game. Not only will you be hooked with the nice and long story, there are also plenty of side quests that practically stare you in the face (such as the Discoveries and in Legends, the bounties).

You’ll spend ages recruiting every crew member, finding every discovery, fighting hidden bosses, tracking down bounties and collecting hidden items to strengthen your party and ship. There are also moments where you’ll be tested on your quality as a leader and rated accordingly. This is called the Swashbuckler rating and the more you progress the better it will be. The Ultimate challenge of this game is to get the title Vyse the Legend.

The bounties in Legends really open up the game. They are bosses that get stronger as you do and the only way to beat them is to use good strategy. One of the games highlights has you pitted against a group of impostors, with moves more powerful than your own. Beating them is a real challenge that I certainly enjoyed.

Visually at the time it was very good. Dungeons were presented and played in full 3D, i.e. no pre rendered backgrounds or isometric perspectives. However when Legends came out the graphics had already looked aged quite a lot, and paled in comparison to most of what had been released. It probably won’t bother you all that much though.

The music is beautifully composed and fits in well with the pirate theme. Though sound wise there isn’t much else. There’s very little voice acting and when you do hear something it can be quite annoying. But then what else is new. Rarely does a game actually have good voice acting. You can’t have many quarrels with the sound unless you’d rather hear what they say rather than just read it.

If you want a very long one player experience you can’t go wrong with Skies of Arcadia. Its story is a good 40 hours at least, with around 15-20 hours of side quests and a further 15-20 on legends. You’ll be hooked from start to finish and the feeling doesn’t fade on your second run through.

And this is why I love it. It’s long, quite addictive, challenging and gives the same feeling every time you play. Arguably the best in the genre and it’s a crime that there hasn’t been a sequel yet. It has its flaws like any other game but your honestly won’t care. A worthy addition to any collection

+ Loads to do including a lengthy main quest
+ Stylish Battling including an awesome team spirit system
+ An awesome soundtrack
- Do we really need Random Battles? Especially at this frequency?
- Might benefit from more voice acting, though only if they can get it right
- You may feel there are too many menus during battles

9 out of 10

Not another computer rant

2006-01-24T00:48:00.000Z

Yeah sorry, Been trying my hardest to get my piece of shit router to actually do what I need it to do.

You buy the hardware, connect it all up. If this was a console you'd be done by now.

But no. You install the software, you use the automatic settings, may adjust with stuff like usernames and passwords and then...

NOTHING.

That's right. So you access the Advanced settings. You get a list of terms that completely alienate you. You look at the manual, it's no help. It assumes you know what you're doing too.

You go to Tiscali for help. They repeat what's in the help section even though any dumbass has already gone there for advice. You send them an attachment with all the menus but do they say what goes where? NO.

You go to the manufacturers website. The systems obsolete. FAQ's are ancient but still no help at all.

3 weeks after going through a return hell you've got a £35 paperweight all because somewhere the settings are wrong or something and I just can't get the help I need.

All I want is something that will connect to Tiscali with very little setting up, that I can connect to my Xbox. Why the fuck does it have to be this fucking complicated.

I might as well spend more on a wireless router instead and maybe sell my piece of crap on. Though I've been on Ebay and I see a LOT of my modem/router. FUCK!

Just for the record the modem/router is a "Safecom 5 port combo ADSL Modem Router". It's sitting under my SAGEM modem, which was so fucking easy to install why can't they all be like that.

On the subject of help, why do they treat you like a retard everytime. I'm having problems with Play.com. I've ordered through them loads of times in the past though for some reason when I use Firefox it just won't let me order. I can do it in IE but not firefox for some reason.

Before I knew of the IE thing though I contacted them about the issue. Their response was that they couldn't find the order codes (well duh I couldn't make the fucking order) and that I should confirm them in the checkout (again duh! I've done it before). I asked them again nicely mentioning how it's the final confirmation in the checkout which is giving me the problem, no answer.

You know all these little technical problems and shit are what makes computers so shit compared to consoles. Things go wrong and you need help. Either you make a call to india or deal with being treated like a retard over E-mail. It's just stupid and retarded, needlessly complicated and very very annoying.

Pokemon rant

2006-01-22T01:22:00.000Z

I love pokemon. Strange way to start a rant but give it time. Anyway as I was saying I love pokemon. I love it's depth. I love creating a team and I love filling out my collection. I love facing trainers and gym leaders, all to lay the smacketh on the elite four and the champ. Those that think it's only for kids haven't played it enough to truely get into it. Your team becomes an extension of yourself. It's brilliant.

Though it is also annoying. Very annoying. You may remember back in october I was saying how I needed to finish Leafgreen and do another quest before I could trade between versions and get my old party back.

It gets worse.

There is only one tool that allows you to transfer by box, Pokemon Box. Some may say that this is pointless, but I'm glad I used my stars to buy it. When you want to move your entire collection between versions you'll praise the fact you don't have to do it six at a time. Also you can't trade into an empty space, it's only pokemon for pokemon. Do you know how many Pidgeys and Rattatas I've collected just so I had something to trade with when I moved my collection? Too many.

But even that's annoying in that you need to get 100 pokemon in each version before you can transfer pokemon from box to your GBA cart. I restarted Sapphire to get the other fossil and another starter. I rushed through the story again while my collection stayed on LeafGreen. Didn't bother filling out my pokedex and only got 34 entries.

Now I have to capture 60 odd pokemon just to transfer my entire collection which has those pokemon already. Worse if I want to bring a high level party across I have to transfer from Box to LG, from LG to Colloseum, to Collosuem to Saph. It's just pointlessly annoying.

On top of that you have those events which give you special items to get special pokemon. Do they ever come near me? No. It's a 3 hour car journey just to attend an event designed for youngsters.

Only way to get Mew is to buy Emerald. Just for that ONE pokemon. Actually I can see three worth collecting on it (Mew, Groundon and Latios). Still a lot of momey for a game I already own just to finish a collection. I mean do you honestly think an Emerald owner is going to just give me their mew? or a Ruby owner willing to let go of their Groundon and Latios. Stupid.

And then there's Pokemon XD. Has only ONE exclusive pokemon, Lugia. Would've been nice to have Celebi, Jirachi and Dexoys available for capture.

And the worse thing, I'm betting that when Diamond and Pearl come out we'll have to do it all over again. Is it so hard to give an option to bring over your GBA collection? I mean you have the GBA slot, you have the interaction between DS slot and GBA slot. Come on give us the option, PLEASE.

I love Pokemon but sometimes it feels like they go out of their way to make it so annoying you rip out your hair, and tempt you to spend more money on the same game with a little bit more.

Right now I feel I need Emerald...DAMN YOU NINTENDO, ARGH!

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Update:

Started adding the links to that menu and fixed the blinking.

Uploaded Chapter 8 of Shadow. 1, maybe 2 to go.

Update lost count +2

2006-01-19T01:18:00.000Z

updated Shadow and put up Joz's PSP wallpaper up on my DA.

Up there

2006-01-17T23:35:00.000Z

You may have noticed the above has changed quite dramatically.

Of course it's not going to end up like that, I have to match stuff up properly and fine tune, but it'll look something like that.

Hopefully those tab menus will open over the rest of the blog and not disappear under the table border.

I know of some issues I'm just experimenting how.

Though you see that Joz in the banner, not only do I hate his left hand but that was going to be Joz in the PSP wallpaper and also a picture profile. Stupidly I saved over the non cropped version and I have to colour and shade all over again!

That banner has been cropped to 120x500 so I can use it as a sig pic.

Edit: A change in direction. I hope to have the links appear in the black space, but I still want Joz to blink. While I could do a menu by going to specific frames that's going to mess up the auto blinking. I'm going to have to experiment.

Two categories for links, links relating to Sonic fandom and Master hunter in general. The other for my favourite links. All to shrink the sidebar.

Shame I have to get rid of the Make poverty History border but it was getting in the way.

Edit2: As soon as I finished the first edit I knew what to do. All systems go, now to add the links.

And for some reason the make poverty history banner won't disappear, it's not in my blog template.

Let's all whine, we can get our way

2006-01-16T00:38:00.000Z

Now you may have remembered that around june last year, maybe late may, I mentioned how Liverpool fans were complaining that UEFA bent over backwards for them to enter a tournament they had no right of entering, in the Qualifying stages rather than straight through.

Now they feel like their Champions League, no, the Flukey Champions league win should be honoured with OBE's and shit. In fact I think they're actually doing it in the summer now. WTF? They win one cup and think they deserve this honour?

The England team that beat the Ashes were all honoured because it was an ENGLAND team, not an ENGLISH team. Their Victory was for the whole of England, not just Liverpool.

Onto Sir Alex. Sure he was Knighted after he won the Treble. But let's take a closer look.

1. Only the manager was honoured
2. That was for three cups in one season not one
3. And winning so many trophies in such a short time
4. That Champions League, the one that completed that treble, was settled on goals not penalties.

You expect the ENTIRE TEAM to be honoured, for winning ONE CUP on PENALTIES, with that ONE CUP being the ONLY CUP won by that manager.

Madness.

In other footballing news I was watching Sunderland vs Chelsea, hoping that Chelsea would slip up and make our terrible derby loss seem a little better, and Arjen Robben got sent off for "celebrating".

Actually he got a SECOND YELLOW for jumping over the AD BOARDS to celebrate with the CROWD. Even if it was the teams own fans it doesn't matter. It's a yellow card offense. I do believe Van Nistlerooy got the same punishment at Charlton. Two Yellows and you're off.

Sorry despite your claims Andy Gray, Robben was rightly sent off. Not for Celebrating but for jumping the ad boards to celebrate with the crowd. You can't do that. The Crowd aren't supposed to interfere with players at all. All they can do is chant.

Speaking of Sending offs, Ronaldo's shouldn't have happened. That referee was crap giving many a decision to city. Not saying city didn't deserve their win, united were awful on the day. But Ronaldo got a straight red for a tackle with no contact. After the much worse challenge on Ronaldo only a couple of second ago, that went unpunished, it seems very unfair to give him a straight red.

I do applaud the journalists though. Surely this was the perfect excuse to bring out the old "FERGIE OUT" comments. Glad to see none of that crap. Mine you I'm kinda concerned about Danny Fullbrook. He wants to see Fergie leave but Souness to stay? If you look at form, league position, top scorers, defence records, etc you'll find Man Utds are high and Newcastle's are down. Usually you replace a manager when you do poor.

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In other news I got a new router but I can't seem to get it to connect to the net. There are just so many setting and I haven't a clue what they mean. The "manual" is no help either. Some how I'm supposed to know what the hell a VCI and a Subnet Mask is. Oh and if I knew what the difference between a static IP and a Dynamic IP I might've got it sorted by now. Depends what Tiscali use to be honest.

I also have a job interview tomorrow. It's a short temporary position but it's vital money and experience.

God of war mini review

2006-01-13T01:23:00.000Z

Like the new look? It's not finished yet, I want a proper flash image menu for the title so I can shorten the side bar. I also want to add an image or two.

Finished God Of War today thought I'd rate it like the others of 2005

God Of War (PS2)

A game in the same vain as Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry and at a stretch Prince of Persia (latest trilogy). Quite polished and very playable, decent difficulty and a plot you can follow quite well. Could do with some camera control though and the high beam sections are quite hard control wise. Plenty to keep you going, well worth the asking price (especially at Play.com). Plus it has lots of Blood and a fair few pairs of tits. Not often you get a good game with them as they usually become the focus point.

A

Update lost count +1

2006-01-12T01:02:00.000Z

Chapter 6 of shadow is up now.

Miles' tag profile is up on my DA

I have linearts of Joz and Miles for my 3 Shadows PSP wallpaper drawn. Just being lazy with it. Been playing games and watching DVD's.

Bored post

2006-01-08T01:15:00.000Z

I be bored. I suppose I could log off earlier than usual this time. Not enough time to write or draw and I've checked all my regulars.

I thought I'd list all my plans/ideas for fanart/fanfiction.

Fanart

A PSP wallpaper featuring the 3 Shadows
A new sig and Avatar.
Some images to brighten up a few of my places, especially here. I wanna do a flash navagation system at top sometime
Becky NMS
Lothar NMS (and the rest of EN)
The rest of my favourites NMS'
The rest of the demons properly
Picture profiles for all my characters
Joz Sonic riders style
Proper Jade Falcon and co.
Covers for fics.

Fanfiction (*Name may change)

Finishing "Shadow the Hedgehog: A Rogue's adventure" is my current project
The 3 shadows Episode 9: Level 3*
The 3 shadows Episode 10: G-009 Pluto*
The 3 shadows Feature: Negative Reflection*
A 3 Shadows episode that features the Black Arms.
A separate fic all about how Joz got his sword.
Eternal Shadow*
Sonic Adventure 1: Perfectly Chaotic* (possibly for Sonic's 15th birthday)
The Sonic Preludes*

A lot of 3 Shadows it seems, to be honest I can't think of anything Sonic

Little update

2006-01-02T21:32:00.000Z

Missed out Yoshi's touch and go (NDS), world tour soccer (PSP) and Pro Evo 5 (PSP). The last two need more play. More on Yoshi later.

First though I've added a survey for Extra Life on the Extra Life website. Do me a favour and check it out, http://extralife.homestead.com/files/home.html and click the link to the doc file.

Onto Yoshi.

Yoshi's Touch and Go (NDS)

A lovely little game that really uses the DS's unique features at it's best. It is however nothing more than a top score beating game and it gets old pretty quick. Worth it on budget if you're bored

C

Best of 2005 GAMES

2006-01-02T00:41:00.000Z

As you all know I'm a gamer and this a list of my favourite games of 2005. January and February seemed to be more getting the games I missed for 2004. I got Ninja Gaiden, Sonic Mega Collection Plus and Metal Arms Glitch in the system.

March really started the year off with a bang. The UK got the DS but since I imported I only really got one PAL game.

GRADING SYSTEM

AAA - You'd be mad to miss it.
A - A must have which may not be as good as AAA, but certainly worth buying
B - A great game, often sitting on the fence of Budget or must get now
C - A good game, best for Budgets and whenever you're bored
D - An Average game, might consider a budget purchase when you're bored
E - Not worth it at all
M - A Marmite game. Some may like it, some may not. Try before you buy

(format played, other formats)

Project Rub (NDS)

Not too bad. Some interesting mini games and some good use of the DS's unique features. Just not all that gripping and quite short. Good budget game

C

Timesplitters: Future Perfect (XBX, PS2/GCN)

Simply one of the best FPS' ever. Frantic fun throughout. Graphically very nice, Sound is good. Plot, characters it's all good. It's hard to think of something bad to say about it. Long Lasting, excellent multiplayer, quite awesome mapmaker. Maybe too much like it's prequels but that isn't a bad thing. A must have.

A

Resident Evil 4 (GCN, PS2)

Everything a survival Horror Game should be. Creepy, disturbing, tense, completely playable and with looks to die for (bad pun I know). Definately one of the best games of the year. Simply brilliant and a Must have.

AAA

APRIL: Viewtiful Joe 2 (GCN, PS2)

More of the same which isn't a bad thing. Challenging, quite addictive, stylish. A solid game in more ways than one. A worthy purchase.

A/B

Metal Gear Solid 3 (Was it march or April, can't remember) (PS2)

Very cool game. Some new directions from the usual Metal Gear Solid that don't really feel like an improvement, just different. Involving plot every step of the way. Emotional ending. Some cool details. Hard to fault it really. Worth getting

A

Another Code: Two Memories (NDS)

An awesome game that just feels too short. Some ingenious puzzles that uses the best of the DS's features. Involving plot and great gameplay. Worthy Purchase but should consider budget release due to it's shortness.

B

Destroy All Humans (XBX, PS2)

A brilliant unique game. Quite quirky and often funny. Quite Challenging too. Definately a must have

A

Conker's Live and Reloaded (XBX)

Conkers bad fur day didn't really get me going. It felt too slow and a little awkward. CL&R fixes these problems and if you didn't get CBFD it's a must have. Otherwise you may just wait for budget. I really enjoyed it this time as all the problems I had with the N64 version were gone.

A/B (depending on whether or not you have CBFD)

Killer 7 (GCN, PS2)

A stylish game that some may feel is restrictive. It's plot will grip you and confuse you all the same. Creepy, disturbing, wierd and a little frantic at times. Definately a Marmite game though. To me it's a must have

M - A (like)/ D (don't like)

Wipeour Pure (PSP)

A lovely little racing game in the same sub genre as F-zero. Don't feel as tense though as F-zero GX. A pretty worth purchase

B

Fahrenheit (XBX, PS2)

A stylish game that questions the whole interactivity issue (whether it intends to or not). Many a time you will feel like you're just pressing some buttons while the action happens during an uncontrollable cutscene, much like Shenmue's QTE's. It intends to appeal to a different side of you and it suceeds. A great plot the involves you every step of the way. You have to play to understand and trust me you won't be disappointed. A must have.

AAA/A

Sonic Gems Collection (GCN, PS2)

A pretty nice collection with a quality title or two. Should really have more though. Worthy Budget.

B/C

Advance wars: Dual Strike (NDS)

Awesome, Amazing, Addictive. This defines triple A. Addictive, Challenging, simple interface, good use of touch screen, decent enough story to follow, plenty to unlock and do. I'll be keeping this close to my DS. GAME OF THE YEAR

AAA

Fable: The Lost Chapters (XBX, PC)

Ok so this really didn't come out this year, well the Lost Chapters version did and that's what I bought. A fairly involving game, some nice ideas, and a good plot to follow. Some freedom too. Definately a highlight of the year and if you missed Fable you really need to get this.

A/D (Not got Fable/Have got Fable)

Shadow the Hedgehog (GCN, XBX/PS2)

A game that fails so much at first. You lose control easily, you're thrown into the thick of it, the camera fails, it's too easy and boring, the music is boring and the graphics hardly look inspired.

The more you play though the more you see it's beauty. The different routes and other choices you make are what makes Shadow good. Far from Amazing but if you give it a chance it won't be so bad.

C

Sonic Rush (NDS)

A little Marmitey, to me this is what Sonic should be. Fast, tense and challenging. Sometimes it can feel challenging for all the wrong reasons (too many bottomless pits), and it does end quite quickly if you're an expert. But you won't care. Like a firework, it may end quickly but it's one hell of an explosion of greatness.

A

Mario Kart DS (NDS)

A game made for multiplayer. The 1 player is no slouch but it's multiplayer, especially Online, where the games true beauty shines through. Online may not be perfect and quite a few things need to be fixed, but the overall experience is amazing. Loses out on AAA for being one of those games that need to be played in Multiplayer before it's greatness is truely shown

A

Prince of Persia: The two Thrones (PS2, XBX/GCN)

More of the same. Not a bad thing. Feels like the best of Sands of time plus the best of Warrior Within all in one. Involving Plot, great quite stylish gameplay. If you've not played a PoP game of this trilogy play them in order. Not as good as sands of time but still a must have.

A

Donkey Konga 2 (GCN)

Something feels different, I not sure what it is. Maybe it's the freshness that's just gone. I dunno I felt underwhelmed with it. Songs just don't seem to inspire either. Not bad but closer to Average than good.

C/D

GAMES UNRATED (cause I feel they need more play)

God of war (PS2), Burnout Revenge (PS2, XBX), Mario Mix (GCN), Pokemon XD (GCN)

It's 2006 / Review of 2005

2006-01-01T01:43:00.000Z

Well it is here, has been for 1 hour 40 minutes ish.

Kinda lame this year. Folks are in bed, mum's going to work, dad has to take her. Leaving just me and my brother. This could be the first new year I go to bed at my usual time. How lame.

Tomorrow (or when I have time) I'll post my top games of 2005.

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Well it has been quite average year this year.

January started kinda bad with being slapped with import tax and my PS2 braking down. All that month was really was playing my Xmas games. And to be honest it looks the same this year. But with God of War, GTA:SA, Burnout Revenge and Pokemon XD to try, PoP3 to finish and Fahrenheit to explore it doesn't seem all that bad. God I love January sales, I also have 8 DVD's coming my way.

Oh and I see I was writing my favourite of my fics, Chaos Demons back then. Cool.

Feburary, ah the month of my birthday. Got a great present. Arsenal 2 - Man Utd 4. They play on tuesday as well, same fixture. Can't wait. Got FanArt and even Fanfiction of my Fanfiction. I started drawing myself. I finished Chaos Demons. My Sonic fandom really picked up this month. Cool. But current events were lame and our main computer fucked up

March, The month of the TGN ninja craze and a shit load of quality stuff coming out. This month we got the new Stereophonics album, Timesplitters 3 and above all Resi 4! Though what happened to the GBA2. Around this time I was praising it but it just seems to have gone. Shadow was announced, fears were justified.

April, big month for current events. Mainly the pope dying and the whole voting thing. I also did the Gateway to Work course and learned how the Government really tries to help people find work. It's a system that's easily taken advantage of but it works for me. Man Utd crashed. Over the last three months I had critised channel 4's "lists" too.

May, The disaster month with E3 being the shining light in the darkness. My aunt died and Man Utd got taken over by an American Tycoon who sounds so dodgy. Not only has he used a lot of debt to get us there, what he did to that American Football team and the fact that he knows nothing about our football, it just seems like we're doomed to fail. Gladly we aint doing that bad. Oh and Labour stayed in charge of the country, a small ray of light to accomply E3.

ARGH! Just remembered that the scousers fluked the Champions League too.

June, Ah the month of Sonic's Birthday. My thoughts were focused on that. Though I was rather annoyed how the scousers felt cheated that UEFA/FIFA bent over backwards to let you in the competition. There is also the small matter of me joining DeviantART and I think I discovered Photoshop too.

July, This month was about getting rid of poverty, Well at least raising awareness of it. That's what Live 8 was all about. Instead it'll be remembered as the month of the London Bombings. A true month where Good and Evil collided (sp? I am getting tired). We got the Olympics for 2012 this month, and I started a voluntary work position to raise my overall experience. An eventful month.

August, Two things come to note as I overlook my blog. How much Tenerife could improve, and the start of Jack Thompson's insane Ramblings. Not much happened really. Was this the month of Hurricane Katrina? Meh! I commented on it the following month.

September, My mind was on finishing my placement. Though Football took centre stage as people claimed it was getting boring, and Roy Keane said he was going to leave Man Utd. We also got TGS which restored some faith in future gaming. Oh and we found out that 4kids have taken over the voice acting for the Sonic games. That's the reason Rouge sounds like a whore in Shadow the Hedgehog, rather than the sneaky manipulative bitch she really is.

Oh and I joined Sonic Hot dimensions this month, after familiarising myself with Becky's amazing SA tutorial I felt I had to do something more than lurk.

October, The games of last month got plenty of play, especially Advance wars DS. Probably best game of 2005 for me. TV started to pick up with Hex and The 4400. And this was certainly the month of Jack Thompson too. Overall pretty uneventful though.

November, two Sonic games in a single month, I must be in heaven. Plus Mario Kart DS came out and it's gotten the ocassional online play ever since. CUBE died, Man Utd beat Chelsea. We also got the redesign of TGN 2, which is ace. The Death of George Best dampened the spirits around britain, but the amount of support he got took that away. An Amazing month overall.

December, This month has literally flown by which is good because despite christmas the only thing I can say about it was that Man Utd crashed out of Europe. Oh and there is this little thing of Microsoft rushed launch of the Xbox360. A quick end to what has been quite a quick year.

2006, My hopes are that I start Extra Life, seriously. I get into the habit of doing sit-ups again. I find that someone special and overall I start earning money. No doubt though I'll still be doing nothing but writing Sonic fics and Drawing Sonic fanart.

This is Joseph Rafferty aka Master hunter wishing you all a Happy New Year.

My thanks yous for 2005

2005-12-29T19:53:00.000Z

All the people at TGN, especially Kidderz for keeping it going and Android18a, Sean Mill, Raine and AirRaven for being good sports when I used them to make characters from. Oh and the Magazine people for making a brilliant magazine cut short in it's prime.

All the people at Exterminatus Now, especially Lothar, Silv, Eastwood and of course Virus for creating a very entertaining and brilliant comic. Oh and SilverenX for drawing Joz.

All the people at Sonic Hot Dimensions, especially Becky for her awesome SA shading tutorial.

All the people at Cubed-3 and REE, Shame the latter doesn't seem to be working.

All my Watchers, favourites, friends and clubs on DeviantART for the never ending supply of quality Sonic and NiGHTS styled ART. Oh and the guys who made the site, without you there wouldn't be DA.

All the people who have read and commented on my fics at Fanfiction.net, as well as all those who are trying to keep the Sonic community there going which has just started. And just people generally at ff.net, especially Arorn, Lonewolf and Kranapple who's help and collaboration has been much appreciated.

CTRL+ALT+DEL, Penny-Arcade, VG cats, Neurotically Yours, Megatokyo and RPG world for creating brilliant webcomics

Google for offering a fantastic mail service and cool new homepage.

Guys at Overclocked Remix and VG remix for creating superb remixes all year round.

Blogger for a brilliant blog service

Play.com and Amazon.co.uk for their great prices on new games and stuff.

Sky one for showing some quality shows like New Simpsons, Brainiac, The 4400 and Hex

ITV for showing a bit of Al Murray

Al Murray for being such a great comic god

Stereophonics and Foo fighters for creating fantastic albums this year

Sega (esp Sonic Team), Nintendo, Ubisoft, Konami and Capcom for producing quality games this year.

Alex Ferguson and the team for creating some fantastic football.

Fox for bringing back family guy, Even if I do have to download the torrents to see the new episodes. Now if you could bring back Futurama...

The guys at Home Appliances for putting up with me all summer

The guys that did Gateway to Work with me for making two weeks of boneshattering boredom and little better

And finally all my real life friends, most of whom will have seen me completely smashed on Christmas Eve. You know who you are.

Oh and of course my folks and brother who have supported me through a difficult year of living of dole, when can only just make it.

Most of these people probably won't see this but it has to be said, thanks for making 2005 great.

--------------------------

My christmas/New year project will be up as soon as DeviantART let's me submit. Just stopped halfway through and now I can't get on it again. It'll feature a copy and paste of the above.

Best of 2005 MUSIC/TV/MOVIES

2005-12-29T00:52:00.000Z

So it's the end of the year and like everyone I feel it's time to highlight the best parts of this year. For now I'm sticking with Music, TV, and Movies.

Oddly I don't remember going to see anything this year. That could have more to do with having no-one to go with but I can't comment on anything movie wise. Sad but true.

-------------------------------------

Music has changed in a way of how we get our music. Before you could only buy CD's/Tapes/LP's etc or see a local band live. Now MP3's are as common as muck and bands don't feel the need to release as much. You really do have to go looking to find quality and to be honest I don't look. The highlights music wise have been new albums from two of my favourite bands, Stereophonics and Foo fighters.

Stereophonics - "Language, Sex, Violence, Other?" is a great album with a very rock feel. I don't know why people ignore this in there lists, even top 100 lists. Definately a highlight for mainstream releases this year.

Foo Fighters - "In your honour" is fantastic. I love the 2 CD format. Listen to the CD you're in the mood to listen to, while overall not neglecting either side of the rock spectrum. Can think of a highlight cause they're all great.

Generally music, especially pop music, has done the impossible. It has actually gotten worse. This year we got Crazy frog, enough said. We also got even more 10 second artists that will become forgotten as soon as the next X-factor/Pop idol winner comes along.

Radio stations should be ashamed of themselves. During the year there were fads where you were guaranteed to hear these songs at least 10 times every day: "Is this the way to Amarillo", "Your Beautiful", "Wake me up when september ends" and "Crazy chick". There were other songs you know.

Live 8 was an unexpected event that just amazed. It was so great with some amazing music. A great idea let's just hope it works. I support it.

-----------------------------------------

TV has gotten worse too. We've had to suffer from the disgrace to british comedy that is Little Britain so much, BBC never bothered with anything else. Thank god it's finished and maybe we could actually have some TV programs instead.

Reality TV has also completely taken over. I didn't know how it could get any worse but they are even coming up with MORE shit reality stuff. It's so annoying. Every three months you see them rotate through Big Brother, I'm not really a celebrity get me a career, Strictly come dancing, X-factor, and some other random shit. All of which only seem to last two weeks.

We just got Space cadets which was the biggest con ever. It was supposed to be people being conned into thinking they were going into space. Yet one of the guys was in the Give Blood ad as he had something to do with Gordon Ramsey. Pathetic.

There have been some diamond in the rough, but besides the footy there hasn't been much. Here's my highlights:

Brainiac - Simply brilliant. Full of cool experiments and things that just make everything cool. You learn little things about you and the world around you with no boring subject. Some of it's just stupid with the tina turner/Diana Ross thing, and the Brainiac Golf/Snooker thing. But overall I find each episode brilliant.

Hex - A story with some great twists and some overall well thought out elements. Some things just surprise you. It's creepy, sexy and a little funny. My only criticism is that it felt dragged out towards the end and very soap opera-ry with all this sleeping around. It could've ended so easily but they kept it going.

The 4400 - Another class show. This is so well thought out it's amazing. There are moments when you realise all the smaller things lead to the big things, and each character has their part to play. The twists, the excitment, the ideas it's all been done with an incredible amount of polish. I love seeing it develop and I can't wait for the third season.

Fact hunt - Al Murray is god. Fact hunt maybe wasn't his best work but it still rocks so much. The way he interacts with people is just brilliant and never fails to make me laugh. Incidently get his new DVD "giving it both barrels", it is so funny I felt my sides split.

The Simpsons - May not be going as strongly as before, but it's still good entertainment and still a highlight of Sunday night.

Top Gear - I'm not into cars but even I can appreciate this show. It's good, funny and well structured. The features have been very entertaining.

Doctor Who - To be honest I only saw the christmas special but it was ace. Well done.

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Well that's a little summary. I may think of other things to praise in these areas but for now I'm off for another night.

Oh and one last thing, My Shadow fic has been updated.

An apology to all my followers

2005-12-27T01:31:00.000Z

Before I begin I know I'm not god, I know I don't have all that many fans, but if there are people out there wanting to know what's going on Art and fic wise, well here we go.

Art: Ok I'm abandoning the whole decorations for all those I want to thank. Just not finding the time to do it. Hell I haven't even gotten around to finishing the last part I need to. Soon I'll just give out one big message everywhere.

Got absolutely tanking on Xmas Eve, Xmas day was recovering and enjoying prezzies, Boxing day was all footy and finishing off my DVD's.

Fic: I leave updating until 12am-1am (as I type this it's 1:36am). Usually I finish my regulars and I can get to writing a chapter. But ff.net has given forums for the sonic section and I'm using these so much time just seems to fly by. Normally in the advice forums.

So yeah not started the next chapter of Shadow because of that. The forums are great but they just eat time.

Snake or lose, is this the only way?

2005-12-20T12:22:00.000Z

Ok picture this

You’re playing Rainbow Road on Mario Kart DS. The race has been intense, shells have been flying, places interchanging loads of times, it’s the final lap and you’re facing the final bend in first. You heart starts pounding, you begin to panic. One red shell from 2nd place and you could see yourself 4th. One Blue Shell, One Lightning, One Star, One Bullet Bill, One set of Triple Mushrooms for your opponent and it could all be different.

The points are tied; whoever wins this race gets the overall victory. You briefly scan the bottom screen praying that their items won’t effect the current positions. Sweat it starting to form, you start to itch but ignore it. Final Bend and it could go either way as 2nd place has their red shell. They fire, you scream at the screen, “Come on! Faster!”

What’s the result? Who the hell cares? The tension, the passion, the fear. This is what makes Mario Kart great.

So it’s a shame to see a new mentality generally. The must win mentality. The mentality of a Snaker. Now I’m not going to say it doesn’t take a vast amount of skill to master Snaking but you have to admit it takes the fun out of the game. The above scenario rarely happens as the Snaker’s Mentality becomes, “Slide, left, right, left, right, Slide, right, left, right, left, I will win”. The power ups that make Mario Kart unique seem worthless now. There is no tension, no fear, only win or disconnect (another problem Mario Kart DS online suffers from).

I refuse to Snake. Not because I find it difficult but because it ruins the game. Sort of like how camping in an online Deathmatch FPS ruins that. Although waiting at respawn points to take out an opponent requires zero skill as apposed to snaking, you’re still denying yourself the thrill of the hunt for a few cheap frags.

It wouldn’t seem so bad if only a select few did it but now it seems Snaking is becoming the standard. With no way of knowing whether or not you will play a Snaker you either become scum and disconnect to avoid losing, or you play 4 matches with no tension.

In one hour and a half session I met with a Snaker in 7 out of 8 games. One even had two. Those that refused to snake tended to disconnect when they were losing. Is this what Mario Kart online is becoming? If so I don’t want to be a part of it.

My current record is 110 wins 42 losses and I have snaked very rarely (if I have it's only to keep up with other snakers). I have disconnected once from a game, it had just started and I saw the friend logo. There was a snaker and I decided I'd rather play the friend.

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art update:

A scrap of an idea I wanted to use for my christmas pic on DA is up there.

Fic update super extreme turbo edition

2005-12-14T01:01:00.000Z

Finished and uploaded chapters 2 and 3 of Shadow.

Oh and Merry Christmas everyone

Update lost count

2005-12-07T01:05:00.000Z

Started a new Shadow the Hedghog fic based on the game. Chapter 1 is up and I'm 2/3rds of the way through Chapter 2.

There's also some sketches in my scraps on my DA.

Mario Kart rules

2005-12-03T01:09:00.000Z

This week I have mostly been playing Mario Kart DS. This game is absolutely amazing, though it happens to be one of those games that is rather limited in one player. It really is a game that has to be played Online, and if I said it for Halo 2 I have to say it for Mario Kart.

Actually I don't cause with Time trial and mission mode as well as a lovely grand prix mode it does last a few days (for experts and those who have played a Mario Kart before).

Mario Kart DS is like the best of the other 4 Mario Karts squeezed into one. You have the techniques from Mario 64 such as Shell Shielding and Power slide boosting. You have some of the better Mario Kart Double Dash stages, Unlockables, Lan play and slipstream technique. You have the GBA versions Ranking system and retro track cups. And of course you have the heart of the original, at a nice speed (ok it's no F-zero GX but it's faster than Double Dash) and thrilling every step of the way.

Though it's Online where the game really shines, but it's not without it's faults. While the online aspect is meant to be much easier to set up and cheaper than Xbox Live!, the first is not so true in practice. So many people are having trouble with compatibility with Routers and Dongles.

There is a rule for Peripherals though many seem to be forgetting, ALWAYS GO FIRST PARTY. The Nintendo Dongle works like a dream and I hope that it can be compatible with the Xbox360 so I go use it for Live!. However Nintendo are rather pissed at retailers that have generally refused to stock it! Madness.

Also no lobby system and yes like I said before you can't choose you friends. My advice MSN it first. Some of the TGN members and myself have had 4 player friend matches, when it's rare to find one at any given moment, just by using MSN as a quick chat room.

Bandwidth can also be a problem. I find occasionally people jump around the screen, especially when you're active on the net or downloading something at the same time. Also it doesn't number those who disconnect which is bad because DCing means a worthy winner doesn't get his win, and the other players don't get their loss.

So many times I've been winning, or at least made it so the best my opponent can do is draw, and they disconnect. Sad, pathetic. A loss is a loss, accept it! It would be nice to have a DC number alongside Wins and Losses so you can tell who does this.

Gameplay wise it does suffer from some Double Dash problems. Many races can be settled on Luck and there's very little to guarantee you a win. Sometimes someone is last place will get 2 blue shells in a row, other times you'll get a banana! Whereas if you're in first you'll 90% of the time get a banana. This is alright in Multiplayer, that's the fun. But it can be frustrating in one player when you miss out on a cup cause you've been blue shelled 3 times in a row.

Visuals and sound are superb I have no quarrel with them.

Overall an amazing game with some faults you can overlook. You definately must take this game online and experience it for yourself. Get the Nintendo Dongle (or make sure your connection is working fine) and see the real beauty of this title for yourself.

I will only swap friend codes on message boards and over MSN, my Address is Joz@sinkorswim.co.uk (but don't use that for E-mail).

RIP George Best / Play fucked up

2005-11-28T00:10:00.000Z

Even Legends don't live forever. One of football's (Or Soccer for you annoying Yanks) all time greats died on Friday. He had problems with alcohol and it finally caught up with him. As a Man Utd fan, despite being too young to actually see him play, I consider him one of the teams great legends.

I would also like to personally thank and show eternal respect to all but Leeds United fans. Your support for George Best despite only playing for Man Utd has been nothing short of amazing.

There's another Red Devil amongst the angels in Heaven. RIP George Best

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I would also like to express my annoyance at Play.com. Now usually they are amazing for Pre-orders, but I'm still waiting for my Mario Kart and Dongle. Instead of Shipping the game two days early so it arrives on release, I'm having to wait until 3 days after release (I hope) to play a title I'm begging to play.

Please don't fuck up like this again Play.

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Art Update:

Speaking of death, I did a "goodbye to CUBE" pic which is up on my DA.

Fic Update

2005-11-23T01:12:00.000Z

Well not really an update but there's a new Sonic Overview and Full fics of Eclipsed, Deep Pressure and Two Tribes up on my profile. You may have to wait 24 hours for these to appear.

Shadow and Rush

2005-11-22T01:23:00.000Z

I said I'd post opinions on them and here they are. Keep in mind they are only first impressions (well a bit more a review for Rush)

Shadow the Hedgehog:

This is a game that if you expect a lot you'll be disappointed, Expect little and you'll be surprised.

At first you'll hate it's loose feel. You have almost no control over Shadow and the slightest jolt in any direction sends him flying full speed. You can't target enemies despite needing to only hit some to complete certain missions. The game offers no multiple routes during the levels and the whole game gives an average impression.

But the more you play the more you can lost past it's noticable flaws. The Good/Bad system is quite well done. The game may be short but it needs to be done ten times before you can get the real ending. Plot is confusing at times and I suspect it'll make more sense once I've done everything.

Levels may be restrictive but it has a lot of freedom. You can choose to use guns or just Shadow's natural abilties. You can choose to use Vehicles or just run ahead. You can choose to kill or go straight for the goal.

The Level music is pretty meh! but the visuals can simply make you jaw drop. The Cyberspace levels look amazing and the base of ARK is stunning.

There are lots to play about with and the more you play the more you'll realise this and overlook the control and gameplay faults.

Above Average, better than Heroes but a long way from being Amazing.

Sonic Rush:

This game is by far the most fun I've had in a Sonic game for such a long time. The speed is always there, you can boost to full speed at the touch of a button. The trick system offers a reason to do more than just plough forward. And for once it's very noticeable that there are multiple routes to the same goal.

The levels are huge and are accomplied by awesome Jet Set Radio-esque music and great visuals. The bosses feel similar throughout but are great nethertheless. The special stage system is fantastic, first time in ages. Leaving the touch screen just for that was a smart move.

Though it's not without it's faults. Sonic and Blaze are more or less identical in how they move. No Flying as Tails, no Gliding and Climbing as Knuckles, No hammer smashing as Amy, etc. The only difference is Blaze can be sent flying with a well aimed stunt and Sonic can do the Special stages.

Also enemies are pretty basic and are as about as threatening as flies. They will only really take rings from you and stop good runs. Death will be the result of falling into a bottomless pit 99% of the time. Unless you're up against a boss and then it'll be getting crushed by special attacks that kill you even when you have rings.

The whole game reeks of evil traps and getting through them all is a real challenge.

And since you'll be hooked from the start you'll have the finished in no time at all, which is the final and biggest fault. It's too short. Only two characters and needing to get the emeralds once means all in all it took me 3 days, leaving me with only time beating and S ranks to get. This seems like a step back from the Advance games.

Challenging, fun but evil and short. A worthy purchase I just wish there was more to do.

Great, One of the best Sonic's since Adventure 2 and at least up there with Advance 3 if not just better.