| mariomon64's Last 25 Game Reviews |
Adventure Time: Hey Ice King
11-08-13 07:52 PM
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If Nothing Else, A Hilarious Game
I am a pretty big fan of Adventure Time, so when I heard that there would be an Adventure Time game coming to the 3DS, I was ecstatic. The gameplay was to be based upon Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and the script would be written by Pendleton Ward, the creator of the show. When I got the game, I was not disappointed... for the most part.
Story/ Writing: Basically, the plot to this game is that the Ice King has stolen Finn and Jake's garbage. Finn and Jake are not happy about that, so they go on a quest around the Land of Ooo to get it back. If you can't tell, the plot to Hey Ice King is kinda weird, which really lets you know that this game will be true to the show right from the get-go. The writing in this game is definitely its strongest point. As I said earlier, show creator Pendleton Ward helped to write the script to this game, and all of the spirit and humor in the show is also present within this game. There were many times in this game where I started laughing out loud, almost to the point of crying. I don't want to spoil any of the jokes, so just trust me here; they are definitely up to par with the show. The humor is sort of an acquired taste, though; it tends to be really random. I would suggest watching some Adventure Time first before getting the game, since the humor is such a huge part of the game. Actually, I would suggest watching a lot of Adventure Time first before getting the game, because otherwise you will not get many of the jokes or character appearances.
Gameplay: For a game with such strong and hilarious writing, it is surprising how generic the gameplay is. I mean, its fun, but its still pretty generic. If you have played Zelda II already, you know what to expect; you explore a top down world and when you enter a village, dungeon, or other action area, the game switches to a sidescrolling platformer. The game follows the age old formulaic structure of do quest, find dungeon, get item, beat boss etc. Now, this would be ... Read the rest of this Review
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Batman: Arkham Asylum
06-16-13 12:34 PM
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The Best Superhero Game I Ever Played
Batman: Arkham Asylum is quite easily the best Superhero game that I have ever played. I remember when I got this, I was at a Gamestop going on a birthday spree, and I saw this game and thought I heard this game was pretty good and bought it. Now, this was not on my list of must play games, like some of the other ones I got that day, so it took me a while to get to this one. Once I did get to it, though, I was hooked.
Gameplay/ Addictiveness: This game, like most other Superhero games, is a beat-'em-up. The controls are pretty standard to that genre, for the most part; one button for main attacks, one to stun, one to block. However, the action is a lot smoother here than in other similar games. Rather than having to memorize a combo attack, it will come up onto the screen when you can use it. This makes the game a lot more user friendly. The combat does get a lot more in depth than just beating people up. There are many stealth elements in this game that will make it easier if you can pull it off. There will be many times where you will be in a room filled with guards armed with guns, and if you get detected they will completely obliterate you, meaning you have to find other means than just jumping into combat to take those guys out. One way you can do this is maneuvering yourself unseen throughout the area to get behind an enemy and perform a one-hit stealth kill. However, one thing that I do not like about this game is the boss battles. I mean, there are a few that are pretty good, but the vast majority of them involve jumping out of the way as they charge at you so that they hit a wall, become stunned, and can be attacked by you. That sort of gets old after about the tenth time. Like I said, there are some boss battles that play out differently than this, but it would have been nice to see more creativity than repeating a boss battle many times in a game that has such fun level design.
There are a multitude of gadgets to collec... Read the rest of this Review
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Resident Evil 5
06-15-13 01:25 PM
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Cooperative Awesomeness
(Reviewer's Note: Yes, I know the enemies in this game are not really zombies, but I am still going to refer to them as that anyways; it just comes more naturally, and that is what I normally refer to them as anyways)
First of all, this is not a survival horror game. Second of all, it is still a really fun game. This was one of the first games that I got on the PS3, and I have to say I don't regret it. This game gets a bad wrap for not being survival horror while supposedly being a Resident Evil game, but taken as it is it is still a really fun game, especially if you have a second person to play it with you.
Gameplay/ addictiveness: This is definitely one of the best multiplayer experiences I have ever had in a game, right up there with Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. The entire game can be played in two player, and it really benefits it. I have been playing this game with my dad and we have both been having a great time. If you have another person to play with you, I would suggest playing it with them, as I hear that in single player the partner A.I. is pretty dumb. Anyways, the cooperativeness isn't like in many shooters with a two player option; there is a lot of team work and strategizing necessary in order to make it through many of the levels, and times when the two of the players are separated by the game. It is these moments that really shine and stand out for me. For example, there is one part where one of the players has to throw the other one up on a higher pathway so that they can go down it in order to get the key, and then some of the monsters attack the player that is still on the ground, so that person has to defend himself until the partner gets back. Another part has it so that one person is running around a zombie filled building while the other is in a safe one, and he can help out by sniping out the zombies in the other person's building. Moments like these come pretty frequent in the game, and it is just really aweso... Read the rest of this Review
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Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
06-13-13 09:20 PM
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An Epic Conclusion to one of Gaming's Most Beloved Sagas
This is the first game that I ever played on the Playstation 3, and boy was it a great one to start off with. I had recently got into the Metal Gear franchise, and when I found out that we were getting a PS3 for Christmas, this was the first game that came into my mind. I had just beaten Metal Gear Solid 3 (my first M rated game) and was ready to see what was next for the saga.
Story/ presentation: I believe that with this game, it would be appropriate to start off the review by talking about the story. When it comes to Metal Gear, one of the biggest things in the games is the story, and that is truer nowhere else but here. In fact, there is more story here than in many games. Depending on how good you are at playing Metal Gear, you might spend up to half of the time watching cutscenes. There are approximately nine hours of cutscenes within this game. If you were to watch all of the cutscenes here, it would take longer than watching the extended version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. When playing this game, you are going to need to accept the fact that for much of the time you are going to be watching a movie. Some cutscenes take an hour to watch, and the ending cutscene was even longer! I remember when I was playing the game through for the first time, I would finally beat a boss I was stuck on and then convince my mom to let me watch the following cutscene before I quit, and then I would be sitting there for an hour with an impatient mother near by. There are actually save points within the cutscenes, they are so outrageously long!
Thankfully, the cutscenes are not a bore to watch. In previous games, many of the less important cutscenes would be told through Codec or radio conversations, which would go on seemingly forever and just not be all that interesting to watch. In this game, though, they cut down the number of Codec conversations a lot. Most of the dialogue actually happens between two players that are in the same room talking ... Read the rest of this Review
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Final Fantasy XIII
06-09-13 10:57 AM
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Well, at least it functions
Well, here's a game that has received a lot of hatred in the Final Fantasy fan base: Final Fantasy XIII. People generally either hate it, or think that it is okay. It does have some good things in it (like music, graphics, and some aspects of gameplay), but falls completely flat in other areas.
Gameplay/ Addictiveness: As far as gameplay goes, this game is a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand, I found the combat system to be rather enjoyable. It kept me on my toes as I was changing between jobs mid battle to match what position I was in at the moment, whether offensive or defensive. However, one thing that I found odd with the battle system was that rather than choosing the commands yourself, there is an option to have the game pick the commands. That, along with the fact that there was only one character controlled at a time and that the whole game is just a single pathway, sort of made it feel like Square Enix was making this more of a movie than an experience for a gamer to have, as the game is essentially playing itself.
The game really is just one long pathway, too. I mean, many games in reality are just progressed through in pathways, but often times in those games there is a level of exploration. In other games, if you look around you can find secret locations holding special items or other things, making it really fun to get into the world and see all there is. In this game all you see is all there is. The player just moves in one direction for what seems like forever. At first I was hoping that it would be like the first five hours of Final Fantasy VII (which still had more exploration than this game), where you were walking around Midgar on a path that was pretty much given to you. But after playing it for around ten hours, I realized that the whole game is really just like this. This is really bad game design. There are no choices at all for the player, and you just do as the game wishes. After watching Spoony's review o... Read the rest of this Review
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Little King\'s Story
05-19-13 01:11 PM
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Little King's Story: An Underrated, Overlooked Gem
Little King's Story is a game on the Wii that not very many people know about. I, personally, never would have thought of picking it up had I never read about it in Nintendo Power (RIP). The concept interested me very much; you are a child who picks up a magical crown and becomes the king of a small kingdom, called Alpoco. As the game progresses, you conquer more kingdoms and settle more lands to expand your kingdom. After it was released, it wasn't very long until I got it, and needless to say, I loved every second of it.
Story: The story and writing are definitely the strongest points of the game. This is one of the few games I've ever played that have made me laugh to the point of pain. The game features a colorful and hilarious cast of characters, ranging from a priest from the "Sect of Soup", named Father Campbell (who pretty hilariously satirizes religion), to a drunkard king that rules over a kingdom of partying. The dialogue is hilariously written and you really get the feeling of being a king, as well.
Addictiveness/ Game-play: This game is highly addictive and all around fun to play. The game-play is pretty Pikmin-esque. As you are exploring the continent, you have an army of your citizens behind you to do as you bid. There are many classes, each with their own set of skills. For example, carpenters have the ability to build bridges and other structures needed to progress through the game's world, lumberjacks are especially good at collecting wood from fallen trees that can get in your way, and soldiers excel particularly in combat. In order for your people to do what you want, you literally have to through them at things. It can be annoying, though, since once in a while you'll try to throw someone at something but then they will go to another thing, but that isn't too big a problem. With combat, you yourself can attack, but it does far less damage than throwing a knight at the enemy, so that's really only good when all of you... Read the rest of this Review
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Zelda II - The Adventure of Link
04-20-12 11:24 AM
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My opinion on a controversial game
People have mixed opinions about Zelda 2: The adventure of Link; Some people enjoy it, some people don't. Personally, I really like this game. While it is easily one of the hardest games I have ever played, the difficulty makes the game especially addictive. This game is a side-scroller, which is rather unusual for a Zelda game. However, playing from the side brings in more potential for deeper sword-play mechanics, which it does quite nicely. When you are head to head with a challenging foe, you may find yourself ducking, jumping, and trying to figure out its strategy, which gives the fighting a little Punch-out feel to it. It isn't like in the original, where you just run around and put out your sword to kill the monsters.
There is actual strategy to it, which I like. This game also introduces the use of magic in the series. There are also many more uses for the magic meter, a wide variety of spells that you can use. An interesting hook that is exclusive to this game is a level up system. By killing monsters and picking up "P" bags, you can level up and increase either your health, magic, and damage inflicted upon enemies. This gives more purpose to defeating enemies, since it will actually make you stronger instead of giving rupees, which at some times in games with them you do not really need.
You will find yourself dying a lot in this game. The annoying thing about all of the dying is that every time you run out of lives and hit game over, you will go right back to the beginning of the game.
Now, regarding the story, it isn't bad for an NES game; it takes place right after the original Zelda and you have to defeat the baddies who are trying to resurrect Ganon and save the princess. The story isn't that deep, so like many games of the era and some games today (i.e. The Elder Scrolls), this game is more about the game play, which is superb. Another difference between this game and the original game is that there are towns for you to visit in t... Read the rest of this Review
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Super Smash Bros.
08-19-11 04:27 PM
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Fun but outdated
I own and have played Super Smash Bros. Melee and Brawl, so I decided that I would check out this game (plus I was curious about the Saffron City stage). What I found was a fighter just as good as the later two games, but with less content. In the most recent one, Brawl, there are around thirty characters while this one has twelve. There were a bunch of things to unlock and different game modes, but here there is just the brawling, the small story mode, and the bonus stages, as well as the only things you could unlock were four characters. But that is besides the point. I'm reviewing the original Smash, not Brawl.
The first thing I noticed about this game was the graphics, since I saw the opening scene. I was impressed. I wasn't expecting something that looked that good on the n64. Maybe it's because I haven't played that many n64 games, but none-the-less I was impressed. Then I started actually playing the game. I was further surprised by how smooth the characters were looking, and how quick the action was. There wasn't any lag accept for some caused by my slow computer. The enemies were quite a challenge to beat, too. The controls are as smooth as the characters, too. I stayed on my toes while fighting the other seven characters. The sounds of this game are great as well. The sound that comes from hitting someone is as satisfying as ever in this series, and the music as catchy.
All in all, this is a good game. It is still entertaining to see classic Nintendo characters fighting each other. However, if you own one of the later Super Smash Bros. games, you probably won't play it that much.
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Street Fighter II - The World Warrior
08-16-11 09:06 PM
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A really good fighter
This game is really fun. At first it is really hard, but after you know the enemy's moves, you can beat them with a little time. Seriously, once you start playing this game it is pretty hard to stop, at least in my opinion. The music is great and the sound effects are satisfying. Plus it feels really good to beat a guy that beat you twenty times. The controls are great, too. Try this game! You don't know what you're missing if you don't!
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