This review is for Monopoly on the PlayStation.  This version of Monopoly contains short graphic clips of each property when you land on different spaces around the board.  There are options to remove the clips and shorten the animations of the pieces going around the board.  The biggest flaw with the game is the lack of aggressive AI for example the AI always low balls the bids it places as well as the ones it accepts opening the game up for a user to exploit that weakness and make for a game that is all too easy.

Graphics: 6
As mentioned above there are small cut scenes that are specific to each property on the board.  there are also animations of the pieces going around the board that are pertinent to the piece being played.  These cut scenes and animations can be left out through the options menu at the start screen.  After you have seen them once the game is certainly much more enjoyable without them as it will move along much faster. 

Sound: 4
The sounds that are employed in this game are very standard.  The music becomes a bit grating after a while and the sound effects are present in the ways you would expect.  The pieces have sounds that play each time they begin movement around the board.

Replay value: 6
The game is certainly replayable especially if you turn off the animations.  The problems with the replayability or addictiveness of the title is that the AI will try to trade with you on every turn.  The annoyance factor of this is compounded by the fact that they bring the same offer every time only fluctuating 3-5 dollars.  In the reverse though the AI is easily taken advantage of and this enables the player to keep the AI from acquiring sets of properties to put up houses and hotels.  To give an example of the problem the computer would purchase boardwalk at $400 (full price).  On the very next turn the player could offer the computer $250 in trade for that same property and the computer would accept.  The same goes for auctions.  There is never a need to buy properties at full price like the computer will do.  All the player has to do is start an auction and they can low ball the price while the computer doesn't match it.

Story:
Well some may think Monopoly has no story, however Monopoly is essentially the story of life.  You can make your way around the board many times and still find yourself broke because you happened to land of the wrong spaces. 

Depth: 5
There are some good options to mix up the game play a bit.  I won't mention all of them here, but there are options to increase the fines as well as the $400 bonus for landing on the go space.

Difficulty: 2
As I've mentioned above in the replay value of the game the difficulty is low.  After you have mastered the simple tricks on how to manipulate the AI into giving you what you want you will breeze through the game.  You can acquire all the properties and slowly bleed out the computer player or you can put houses and go right for the jugular.  Either way it's certainly not a difficult game to win every time.

Overall: 6.5
On the whole the game is still enjoyable for a quick romp every now and again.  The space bar will also come in handy to keep the game short. 

This isn't in effect yet so as of right now you can't make $300/week making minimum wage.  The real problem that we face isn't the rate of the minimum wage.  It's the disparity in income between those at the top and those at the bottom.  Until this gap is closed this problem will plague the country.  I agree with you when you say that the only thing raising the minimum wage will accomplish is the inflation of the dollar making our everyday items more expensive.  However, I do believe things will get worse before they get better.  I myself work in salaried management and companies take full advantage of that too by paying you a decent wage and then working you 60-70 hours a week.  It makes it tough to spend quality time with the family.  Meanwhile since there is no cap on the amount of hours that you can put in as a salaried employee the employer makes you feel like you are stealing from the company if you work less than 50 hours even though you are technically paid for 40.

Always.  I was on the road for about 5 hours one time and I stopped at a dunkin donuts in New York.  It was right off the highway and I figured that after I'd relieved myself I would grab the wife and myself a donut for the road.  To my shock there were no paper towels and no soap.  This place was a shack and had to be the only bathroom.  Needless to say I skipped the donuts.

1.  Garland from the original final fantasy.  He was one of the first bosses that I ever smashed.
2.  Bowser from any of the Mario games. 
3.  The dragon from Phantasy Star Online.  One of my all time favorites especially when you were working together with other people to defeat him.
4.  Mike Tyson from the original punchout.  I still remember being wiped out in like to hits.
5.  The dragon from gemfire.

I know these are all old school bosses, but don't judge those are mostly the games that I play nowadays because I don't have to put too much thought into it while I play them.

I start the day with coffee and immediately start to drink water after that to replenish my fluid levels while I'm at work.  I also work in Texas so I usually take down 4 to 5 water bottles per day when it starts to heat up.  I like to have a couple caronas with lime when the day is done.  And then finish the day with a bottle of water at bedtime.  So I guess I would say that I drink enough.

It's not the worst thing to watch since there is typically a fair amount of action, but I was never big into ice skating so I chose ice hockey since it's not something I'd be particularly interested in playing.

I just had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with my 3 year old.  We had a potluck at work to send off one of our management that received a transfer.  So when I got home I still had my elementary sandwich in my lunchbox.  My boy thinks that everything tastes better when it comes out of my lunch bag so he immediately honed in on my sandwich.  Now that he's got a full belly he passed out in the middle of the living room floor. 

Living down south I've got to go with Jack in the box.  The other options on this list I ate when I lived in the northeast, but I vastly prefer the buttery rolls and greasy curly fries from JITB.  While I'm speaking them into existence on this thread I ordered 14 of there tacos on a fast food binge last month.  I'm not proud of it, but they were super good and cheap to boot!!  Luckily I have a crazy fast metabolism, I don't gain weight no matter how much I eat. 

I can only speak from my own experience with my father when I say try not to hold a grudge too long.  The day will come when you become the patriarch in your family and your father will need you.  I experienced this with my father growing up similarly choosing his girlfriend over his children.  The woman he was with then went on to drive as deep a wedge as she could between my father and I as well as forcing my sister to move out and go live with my grandmother 4 hours away. 

My father has since come around and if his wife acts up around his children or grandchildren now he will put her in her place.  My father taught me through these things that you can make some big mistakes in your life and still set things right it just takes time and effort to repair the damage that was done.  Hope things work out for you and you don't carry the weight of being angry for too long.

I love to run now so smoking is out of the question.  There was a time when I was 11 and my best friend started smoking he said he liked it and I wanted to see what it was like.  Before I went to school that day we went to the tennis court and had a smoke, it was pretty gross and my friend told me that it's only like that at first.  While I was at school that day I remember more than one person telling me that my breath smelled terrible.  One of my other friends even gave me a piece of gum and then told me my breath was still stank!!  Needless to say it was more than enough shaming to keep me from ever wanting to try another cigarette in my life.  Looking back I would thank all of those that told discouraged me from it.  At the time it made for a pretty lousy day, but it saved me from a bad habit that would've taken a serious toll on my health and kept me from running.

Overall 9.2 - This is a review for Comix Zone on Sega Genesis.  The comics inspired beat 'em up brought to life through a martial arts superhero trapped in his own creation.  At the start of the game you watch as our hero gets literally drawn into his own comic after lightning strikes his latest comic releasing Mortus from the pages.  Mortus then draws Sketch into his own comic in an attempt to kill him and be able to live in the real world.  If he is to survive he will need to beat the stuffing out of everything he comes across and discover that there is a super hero inside of himself.

Graphics 10 - Graphically I think anyone that played this game can plainly see that it was very well done for its time.  I went back and played this game some years later and I still found myself impressed by the graphics.  It's not just the details they put into the characters themselves it's the way the characters move and respond to their environment.  The other part that makes the graphics so cool is how they make you feel like you're actually in a comic book.  To give an example of this if a crate is blocking your way and you decide to take it out through brute force when it busts you will see shreds of paper come off the sheet. 

Sound 9 - This game had a very nicely done soundtrack with music that I remember even to this day.  Not only is the music a treat, but it feels like each piece was carefully selected to compliment the section in which it's played.  The music behind the game apart from being well selected was also fitting for the era the game came out during.  There is a distinct 90's sound to the pop rock that plays during the game.  The sound effects are also a treat.  Your main character has quite a few moves including some special ones and these all sound crisp when they land.  As an added bonus to help compliment the sound effects in the game the developers put in comic book wording to go along with the hits such as your typical POW! and Kaboom!.  It sounds cheesy, but it really adds to the overall effect of feeling like you're playing a game inside of a comic book. 

Addictiveness 9 - Not gonna lie I spent some serious time on this game as a youngster.  There are quite a few moves to employ and they all look great my favorite being the roundhouse high kick and the uppercut.  This is a short play through however you can play through it employing different methods.  There are many puzzles to figure out along the way and it will be up to you if you want to use brute force which often spends health, or figure out the puzzle usually through employing your little rat friend who is somehow really smart at deciphering what to do when you release him from your inventory. 

Story 7 - The story is not epic by any standards and there are certainly a fair amount of cliché's thrown into the story line.  This isn't to say that it isn't satisfying even though it's short.  The story is well written enough to flow smoothly as the game progresses.  There are also multiple points along the way to help with character development and move the story along.  This isn't a game that sets the stage and then just lets the rest of the game play through until they give you more at the end.  You will see cut scenes as you move forward through the pages of your comic.  These are in game and often involve the main protagonist drawing in your enemies.  There are also 2 different endings depending on how the last scene goes down. 

Depth 4 - If there is one short coming on this game that I'd be quick to point out it's the overall depth.  As mentioned there is a decent list of moves and strategies that can be employed, but once you've played through the game once you pretty much know what to expect.  Not that it's not fun to play through multiple times and sometimes it's nice to have a game that you can play through in under a couple hours.  Just don't expect to be able to have an entirely different experience each time.  The other bummer with the depth is that there isn't anything playable besides the single player quest.  It would've been nice to have some multiplayer options or even a free for all/ survival mode added in.

Difficulty 6 - The game is not overly difficult.  Once you have mastered the moves well the villains will drop with relative ease.  You may even find yourself toying with the enemy in the early portions of the game.  Comix Zone is also pretty forgiving when it comes to its puzzles as well often times giving the player multiple ways of solving the problem.  The enemies don't really get tough until you get towards the end of the game and even then it won't take but a few tries to get the desired outcome.

Conclusion - Comix Zone is a fun game that is certainly worth a try if you've never played it.  This game represents how to pull off a different concept well.  The game flows well at each stage and has some very memorable moments.  One of my personal favorites is when Sketch is down in the tunnels fighting the sewer thugs and they come at him with a crowbar hollering out "Give me the respect I deserve".  At that point you have no choice but to give them the respect they deserve and pound them into oblivion.

Nice review, I totally agree with the points you made about the difficulty level.  To this day castlevania is a game that I don't dare play unless I'm feeling patient!

For my kids I'll make sure that they never have to feel like this isn't there house.  I grew up with my mother, step father, and half sister.  It was always made pretty clear to me that I was living in another man's home and he was the one bringing in the money.  Nothing major just situations where I was a growing boy and I would still be hungry and want seconds, but those seconds would be reserved for my step father so that he could have them for lunch the next day.  The other part of it was that it was made very clear to me that as soon as I turned 18 I would be looking for my own place to live and in the meantime I would be paying 80 dollars a week to help support the house.  I learned a lot of hard lessons growing up and the things that I wanted I ended up getting with my own money since I had a paper route from the time I was 12.  These lessons hardened me to a certain degree and I want my children to have it better than I did, but I also want them to have a survivor's mentality and know what it's like to have to earn the things you want in life.  I've decided with my wife that the main thing we will change is the whole eating thing.  If either of my kids are still hungry then I don't care if I have to eat something else or even feed them off my own plate they will have plenty.  After that I'll just have to make sure that they get plenty of exercise so they don't get obese.

Granted now the A I is so friendly that your the only person in the game that wants to initiate action.

I wish Whataburger wasn't so expensive.

Overall 7.2 - This is a review on Ballz the over the top humor filled fighting game for the sega genesis.  In this game the player will choose one of ten characters to take on the challenge of defeating the Jester.  Along the way there will be interim bosses that will be quite difficult to dispatch of, but will raise the players belt level.

Graphics 7 - The graphics in the game are rather nicely put together for the time period that the game came out during (1994).  The characters are 3d models made entirely out of balls, thus the name of the game.  As for the arenas that you fight in during the game they are rather bland and nothing too exciting.  The only cool feature that I found while playing this game as far as the backgrounds go was the jumbotron that displays the action of the fight.

Sound 4 - The sounds in this game are flat out annoying from the whiny mercy gestures to the boy yeah uh huh intro.  The music is fairly catchy in spite of this though.  The striking sounds are flat as well though I can't honestly say exactly what balls hitting up against other balls should sound like I don't think a muffled thud represents it accurately.

Addictiveness 5 - The game is fairly shallow.  There isn't much in the way of replay value other than honing your abilities with the different characters.  Learning the special moves can be a good bit of fun however the novelty of farting at your opponent or turning them into a baseball and hitting them out of the park grows old after a while.  There are also finishing moves for the characters which helps to add a little to the overall replayability of the game.

Story 2 - The story centers mainly around the jester's challenge to beat him and to quote one of the opening lines of the game "become the champion if you have the balls", get it.  If you defeated the jester then you would be granted your wish.  What the wish is I won't say you'll just have to play and beat the game to find out.  The story for most of the fighting games from that period wasn't particularly strong however I feel this one stands out in particular for not really even trying to develop any kind of story or real attachment to any of the characters that you'll play in the game.

Depth 5 - As for depth this game is not very deep at all, but it will take some time to beat it due in large part to the overall difficulty of the game.  As mentioned above there are also finishing moves for each of the characters as well as them having their own set of special moves depending on the characters theme.  For example there is a character with the theme of being a superhero and one of his special moves is to blow his opponent away literally.  There is also a ballerina which can frustrate you half to death with her spins and twirls making her one of the best characters to play in the game or the cheapest one to beat your friends with.

Difficulty 9 - If you have your heart set on beating this game you'd better be really good at video game because if you are of average skill like myself you will need to work on your timing and special moves as well as figuring out which character works best for you.  The bosses ramp up appropriately in difficulty reaching a pinnacle with the jester.  Be prepared for some frustration due to the overall cheapness of the moves that will surely block a new player from finding out what the wish is.

Conclusion - I can't say I didn't have some good fun playing this game especially with friends, and the fact is that when it came out I was a prepubescent teen that still chuckled at the innuendo behind the game.  Ballz ha ha.  In retrospect I can see that this game was really lacking in some areas.  I still give the game an overall 7 in spite of its flaws just for the fact that I remember it being quite an innovative idea for the time and also as listed above it was fun to play for a while.

This is a great review!!  I was going to write a review for this game, but I think you've already covered all of the points that need to be made on it.  This is a game that really didn't age well.  When compared to games that came not long after this game is very short on features, however I remember I had a ton of fun playing this game with my best friend when I was like 5 or 6 years old.  So I think part of the game's replay value depends on the maturity of the gamer as well as the time period it was played.  Thanks for the review.

Overview: 9.2 - The main premise behind the game Gemfire is, Princess Robyn has gotten fed up with her overlord father the king.  She decides that the only way to set things right is to release her father's collection of gems across the land.  Each of the gems holds power over a wizard or in the case of the ruby a dragon.  The gems are dispersed to most of the families and the stage is set for one of the king's offspring to dethrone him and reunite the gems and the country as a whole.

Graphics: 7 - This game was available across 3 systems and played pretty similarly on each one, however the graphics were just slightly better on the SNES than on the Genesis version.  The sprites that showed during each battle were well drawn and often provided a satisfying depiction of a large army wiping out a smaller one.  There aren't a lot of animations other than the battle cut scenes.  Most of the graphics are pictures showing a glimpse of what's going on across the land such as a Unicorn empowering your chosen leader or a banshee bringing an omen of death.  There are also short scenes depicting seasonal events on the map such as a skeleton that circles the map and indicates a plague or a fire ravaging the land.  

Sound: 8 - The sound on the SNES version is clearly superior to the Genesis and NES versions.  The songs are repetitive, however they are also catchy simple tunes that you'll find yourself humming later.  The music in general fits the game well and adds to the overall atmosphere of what's going on.  The sound effects are also nicely done with clear positive and negative event alarms as well as the battle sounds being appropriate.  In battle you mainly have 4 sounds the swords tink, the arrows give a whoop, the horses charge with a drum beat, and the 5th unit can carry one of those sounds or a blasting sound depending on the type that is being employed.

Addictiveness 10 - This game is quite simple in that you will pick up how to play it very quickly.  Once you have learned how to play the game well enough to amass large armies there is a certain satisfaction that comes with being the big dog on the map when you aren't supposed to be.  For this reason I like to start new games as the families that have no gems.  The story makes no bones about the fact that the other rulers have generally written those that didn't receive any gems off as a non threat.  When you start a game with one of these families the vassals to the lord also show no signs of hope.  Taking one of these families and bringing down the king is a lot of fun and you can also employ different tactics such as allying with other families or cornering a smaller family and getting them to surrender taking all that they possess.

Story: 7 - As covered previously you will play as one of the king's sons to take back the crown through reuniting the gems.  The story portion is fairly short and once you are actually in game the story that plays out is only one of who holds authority over which lands.  The story is really only told through the start and end of the game, and it would've been nice to see some in game story progress.  One of the shining points to me with the story that's open to interpretation by whoever plays the game is that this game leaves a lot to the players imagination.  You can make up whatever story you'd like by imagining how the events would play out if it was really happening.  I know that sounds disneyish, but what I mean is it's kind of like when you read a book and every person imagines the characters looking slightly different.

Depth: 9 - As mentioned above you can play the story in a variety of ways.  You can also play 4 different scenarios each with different families to choose from that are unique to that scenario.  How you go about recapturing the gems is up to you as mentioned you can ally with other families or just target a specific family.  My favorite way to play is to give a lot of food to the people and inspire their loyalty.  When you do this you will have positive events happen that can make your commanders much more powerful as well as helping you in your early development stages with added soldiers, food, or a special 5th unit called pastha. 

Difficulty 5 - This game is admittedly easy.  Once you get the basic concept of buying and selling your food at the right times depending on the prices you will quickly amass armies that even the king's dragon can't stand up to.  The game is so easy in fact that the player will sometimes need to handicap themselves a bit by starting with no 5th unit just to make the game a bit challenging.  Another thing to do for a challenge is a speed run to see how fast you can finish the game. 

Conclusion - This game is a lot of fun and is simple enough to where you don't have to be particularly good at video games to enjoy it.  You can pick it up and put it down easily.  I do wish they had made a few tweaks to the game overall especially in the difficulty department, but overall it is still a satisfying experience that's worth checking out.

If I could choose the way I die I would want to pass away from cardiac arrest while I slept.  I want to make it at least into my eighties, but if I go sooner that's okay.  The main thing is making sure that my loved ones are taken care of and will be okay after I'm gone.  I believe that only the body dies when we pass, and the soul is reborn to learn more about what life is.