Nintendo DS Review: The World Ends With You

9.0

By Pierst179

For companies like Square-Enix that have a huge group of gaming series that are known worldwide and generate incredible hype among fans whenever a new installment is coming, it is fairly easy to create a new game. All the developing team needs to do is to use most features and characteristics that make those critically acclaimed series so amazing and bring them to a "new" game that will present a new world, a different group of enemies and a nice storyline. The result will obviously be a great package that unfortunately won't contribute neither to the growth of the industry nor to the genre itself.

The true challenge behind the developing process is taking the risk to create something so fresh and authentic that even people who are supporting the project will doubt its success. And when Square-Enix is willing to take such a leap chances are fans all over the world will be pleasantly surprised with the outcome of the experience. The World Ends With You is exactly that, a game overflowing with a unique vibe that appears on a moment where titles that are way too similar dominate the market.

The game takes place in Shibuya, one of Tokyo's wards, a place filled with many young people where big brands are fashion centers are the most popular subject among the local dwellers. It is in this vivid and vibrating place where we first encounter the main character of the story. Neku Sakuraba is a teenager with the "I don`t care attitude" that has many doubts about the world and people who live around him.

He wakes up in the main area of the district unable to remember anything about his life besides his own name and a couple of minor details. He has no idea how he got there but a few minutes later his whole world will change dramatically once he discovers that he is part of a game controlled by The Reapers – a mysterious organization – where in order to survive the players have to accomplish each one of the missions that are received via a cell phone on a daily basis during an entire week. Failing on a mission will lead to erasure.

In order to survive on this game players need to team up in duos. Neku quickly meets a young girl named Shiki and both of them form a partnership despite the fact that Neku somehow refuses to befriend with anyone. Basically that is all the information you will get in the beginning of the adventure, so questions like: Who are the Reapers? What is this game all about? Who Neku truly is? And what is the backstory of some of the characters? will be constantly hovering over your head as you progress through the game. The storyline therefore is extremely compelling because of the mysteries the game presents to the player as soon as the game kicks off and will be one of the main reasons you won't be able to put the game down.

In order to get through the game Neku and his partner will have to advance through Shibuya to solve the missions. Most of them are pretty straightforward as you will be battling your way to certain locations until you reach a big bad boss but some others require some more investigation and exploration. In certain occasions – those are rare though – you will feel like you are simply moving from one place to another while fighting enemies because the game can get very linear sometimes.

The battle system is one of the highlights of the game. Players who dislike random battles will be glad to know that you will only face enemies in Shibuya when you want to. This is accomplished by using the "player pin" which is displayed on the screen as an icon. By touching it with the stylus Neku will use his senses to scan the area where you are located. When you do so you will be able to read the minds of people who are nearby – except for other players – and also locate the "noise", which are the enemies of the game. Touch the noise icon and battle will ensue.

In batlle Neku will take the botton screen while his partner will fight on the top one, to suceed you will have to control both of the characters. In the beginning you will be fumbling with the controls a little bit since fighting on two screens at the same time can be confusing but after a few missions you will naturally perform movements with both characters. For those who are not able to master the dual battles there is an option that permits the CPU to take control of your partner automatically.

Both of the characters have different battle controls. Neku uses different pins for attacks, each one of them has a different function such as sending bullets towards the noise, generating an earthquake or dragging objects on the screen to attack the enemies. There is an endless variety of moves all of them being activated by different actions with the stylus like tapping the enemies, slashing neku or scrathing the ground. Sometimes the system will not identify those actions properly causing the character to perform the move incorrectly which can become frustrating sometimes.

Another minor flaw is that when you equip two pins that are activated by the same move the game will randomly choose one of them to use first, and you will only be able to use the other attack once the other pin has alread been used to its limit and is recharging its power for another usage.

Meanwhile, the partner faces the same enemies on the top screen by atacking them with moves made by pressing one of the directions of the D-pad. Once you press one of the directions a combinations of arrows will appear on the screen and by following them correctly you will land a combo. By succesfully performing many combos you will activate the fusion move which is a powerful attack performed by the duo that will heavily harm the enemies and recover a little bit of your HP.

Another noteworthy detail during battles is a green light puck that is passed from one character to the other. Whenever you land a combo one character will hand the puck to the other one this will temporally increase the attack of the one that received it, kepp the combo going and the puck will keep being passed and its attack boost will subsequently increase.

The battle system is very solid and it creates some truly memorable battles. It has some minor setbacks that could have been fixed but overall it is very original and most importantly a lot of fun. During the battle your character will receive some EXP points and his level will raise, improving a few stats automatically.

As on most RPGs out there, on The World Ends With You your characters should be well equiped to conquer the challenges but in the modern Shibuya there are not swords or iron ammo. All you are going to find are many stores that sell clothes from certain brands, buying them may make your character stronger.

One of the most interesting aspects of the game is the fact that brand charts rule this place. Most of the pins and all clothes acquired during your adventure belong to a certain brand and if this brand is on the top-3 of the brand chart your stats will gain a very good boost – especially if the brand is on the top of the chart – however, if the brand is the least popular of the area your stats will be halved. So taking a look at the chart is always a good idea if you intend to enter a battle.

The presentation of the game is absolutely astonishing. Everything here transpires originality from the graphics to the stylish menus. The different locations of Shibuya are close to perfect reproductions of the actual place and when playing the game youi can actually feel how alive that corner of Japan is. The character models are very nice and the storyline is shown via text boxes and steady characters with a few impressive cutscenes appearing on some dramatic moments of the plot. You can easily see the producers were very careful when polishing this product to this level.

The only thing I think is missing is a map of the Shibuya. On most missions you have to visit some certain locations but since the world is pretty big sometimes is easy to get lost while looking for your destination, still a map is nowhere to be found and if you don not have a good memory chances are you will eventually go through the wrong path at least once.

The soundtrack is one of the things that makes this game so thrilling, you may not like some of the music genres that the game uses but truth be told you will probably end up enjoying them when you are caught up in a battle or simply because the songs perfectly capture the young and brand-new feel that the game has.

The World Ends With You also has an incredible replay value because during your first playthrough – which must take around ten to fifteen hours - you will find out the solution to all questions I listed in the beginning of this review but your curiosity about some details of the plot and some rather obscure characters will make you replay the game since some pieces of information can only be acquired by playing the game once again. Do not worry though, the first ending explain enough to satisfy all players who do not feel like going through an extra adventure.

In the end, The World Ends With you is as original as an RPG created by Square Enix can be. The game may have its share of problems but none of those will make you forget about how big of an accomplishment this game is truly is, because adventures with such a perfect storytelling and refreshing gameplay do not appear as often as we would all like nowadays.

Wii Review: Zack and Wiki

Review by: Pierst179

The Nintendo Wii, throughout its life span, has seen lots of bad games, some companies are just too lazy to sit down and think about designing something new, something gamers have never played before. Fortunately, for us gamers, there a few companies that actually care and Capcom is one of them.

There is no way to describe Zack and Wiki in a few words, since it doesn't belong to any of the existing genres. One could say that it is a puzzle game, but those are usually too simple and don't have any kind of storyline and a main goal to be achieved. So, you can assume it is an adventure game or a platformer, but once again you would be totally wrong, because it is actually much more deep and puzzling as most games of these genres.



So, how can we describe Zack and Wiki? Particularly, I would say that it is a game on which you have to control Zack, a rookie pirate, and its mechanical golden monkey, Wiki, on an adventure filled with astounding puzzle, marvelous scenarios and a couple of interesting battles.

The storyline, not compelling by any means, takes us into a pirate world where there is a legend of a treasure. But this is not an average treasure, it is actually the loot of the most legendary pirate ever, Barbaros.

During your quest you will come across more than twenty stages. Each stage is a huge puzzle itself, and it is composed by lots of smaller puzzles, each one of them can be solved by using more than fifty cool items that will use most of the Wiimote's capabilities. It sounds complicated, but it isn't. The game concept is brilliant, you can looks everywhere you want to, but I assure you will never a game that can be compared to Zack and Wiki.

The puzzles are amazing and extremely creative. On games like Zelda for example, you already know what kinds of challenges you will find, there will always be a room on which you will have to light all the torches, a mirror room and a puzzle on which you need to throw your boomerang at a few targets in a certain order.

But Zack and Wiki's puzzles are unpredictable, some of them can be solved in two or more different ways. I could list at least thirty of them here, but it would completely spoil the game for you. So I'll just say that, you can't even imagine what kinds of challenges are waiting for you.

The gameplay is nearly perfect. The point-and-click controls work fine, but sadly there a few times when you will point desperately at a certain spot and Zack will just refuse to walk there, so you will have to pick another place on the stage for him to go if you want him to move. All the items work perfectly and the controls are extremely responsive, throughout the game I haven't encountered any problems when using them.



The graphics are flawless. If you were astonished by the Wind Waker's cell-shaded look then you had better be prepared for Zack and Wiki blows it away. There some really cool light effects and all characters are very well designed. The art concept is impressive and the textures look really good. But there is a minor shortcoming. On some stages, especially those where there are either lots of enemies wandering around or a huge boss performing massive attacks, the frame-rate drops from time to time.
The cutscenes are all very cool, and the cartoony look of the game makes some of them quite funny.

The sound effects are really nice, and there are lots of them since you will be using a bundle of different items. There aren't any catchy tunes, but all of the games' songs perfectly match the mood of the environment. There is no voice work, but since the game isn't driven by its plot than it is not such a big problem. The characters actually call each other by their names, but that's it.

Zack and Wiki is basically composed of lots of puzzles, and was we know puzzle games don't have such a big replay value because once you have solved them there is nothing else to do, and the second playthrough is usually very uninteresting. But we are talking about an awesome game and Zack and Wiki does a perfect job on this area.

First of all, when completing each stage you are given a score based on what you did and how quickly you figure out how to use a certain item and how you solved the puzzle, so there is always something to improve. Besides, there some stages that can be completed in two or more ways, so figuring out all of those paths can keep you going for some time after you have finished it.



You can't let this game's appearance deceive you. If you think all puzzles here are a piece of cake you will be really surprised when you play it. The games kicks off pretty easy but as you advance the difficulty sky-rockets. As you approach the ending there are some stages that will require your full dedication. It took me around five hours to figure out what to do on one of the late stages.

Be aware that while this level of difficulty may be good for some, it can also be frustrating to a more impatient gamer, because Zack and Wiki is full of traps, on certain stages you may have to start all over again because you did something wrong, or because you were killed by an enemy. So you will have to go back to restart the level and carefully retrace your steps so that you figure out what you did wrong.

For those who are not so patient there are two items that may help you, one allows you to restart the level from the part where you screwed up and there is another item that gives you some advice as to what to do next. But those items are kind of expensive so you had better keep your wallet filled with gold.

In a nutshell, Zack and Wiki is simply amazing, it is one of the few Wii games that presents so many novelties. On a system that has seem lots of ports and games that are gimmicky Zack and Wiki is a must buy. All I have to say is congratulations Capcom and keep those coming, because the Wii needs more games like this one.

N64 Review: Paper Mario

Review by: bombermania24

Paper Mario was originally released for the Nintendo 64 in 2001, and has now made a triumphant return on the Wii's Virtual Console. Paper Mario is a role-playing game starring none other than Mario himself, albeit in paper form. It's just as fun to play now as it was back then, and it's definitely worth a slot in any gamer's library.

The game begins with Mario heading off to Peach's castle for a party. Soon after entering the castle, though, Bowser raises the castle out of the ground and into the sky. Using the power of a stolen star rod, the celestial item that grants wishes, Bowser defeats Mario and sends him flying out of the castle. And so, Mario sets on a quest to recover the Star Spirits, the guardians of the star rod that Bowser managed to capture, and save Princess Peach. Though the plot is nothing special, it has its moments, and is certainly full of charm. And, there is a wide cast of entertaining and oftentimes hilarious characters throughout the game, making the experience much more enjoyable.



The gameplay essentially is broken into two parts. The first is controlling and moving Mario around. The game plays out in a 3-D landscape, in which Mario can move in all directions, despite the fact that he's made out of paper. You can use hammer and jump abilities to traverse the landscape, as well as special abilities that you gain throughout the game. The controls work fine, and the game makes it fun to get from one place to another, unlike a great deal of other RPG's. There are some of the item-fetching quests that all RPG's seem to have, of course, but the developers manage to make it more entertaining than in other RPG's. The controls themselves work fine, and you'll have no problem utilizing all of Mario's abilities.

The more important aspect of the gameplay, though, is the battle system. If you bump into an enemy on the map, you'll go into battle mode. Here, Mario (and the allies he receives throughout the game) fight against the enemies in a turn-based battle system. You'll each take turns dishing damage out on each other. But, what Paper Mario does to distinguish itself is use action commands. The power or effectiveness of your attacks depend on how well you complete the action command for that attack. It can be something simple, such as tapping the A button fast enough, or timing specific flicks of the analog stick. You can also press A right before an enemy hits you to reduce the damage it does. The action commands make the battle system addictive and a lot of fun. They all work well, and they effectively make battles more skill-oriented than other RPG's do. You'll also get a wide variety of attacks and items you can use in battle, making each battle varied and different. You'll also have to play accordingly to what your fighting. For example, if you fight a spiky enemy, you need to make sure not use any kind of jump moves on it, unless you enjoy causing Mario pain. Or, you might have to specifically focus on flipping an enemy over with a jump attack before you can start dishing out the damage on it. The battles are always entertaining, and add a great more depth to the game.



The difficulty of Paper Mario isn't particularly brutal. With some skill and a little bit of luck, there should be no need to level up for hours on end in order to progress. The difficulty keeps the game flowing, with no annoying pauses in your progress just to grind. The game is also fantastically creative. You'll be fighting everything from a Shy Guy military commander to a team of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rip-offs. The dialogue itself is flowing with this same creativity, with numerous laugh-out-loud moments in the game. The sheer creativity and originality of the game really make up for the easy difficulty, and both keep the game moving at a good pace.

The presentation of the game is very charming and cutesy. All of the characters in the game appear to be made out of paper, giving the game a fresh and original art style. The graphics themselves are solid, though not especially demanding. But, all of the game's environments are colorful and fun to look at, giving the game some real pizzazz. The music is pleasant and catchy, and never fails to sound good. Be prepared to hum some of the game's tunes throughout your day.



All in all, Paper Mario is a masterpiece of gaming. It's creative, charming, and addictive, and will last you for a good, long time. The game has a great battle style and a real personality to it. It's hilarious and clever at moments, and truly witty. Paper Mario is a game that any Wii owner should look for, no excuses. It's a masterpiece of gaming, and truly a landmark game, one that anyone can, and should, enjoy.

Nintendo DS Review: Sonic Rush Adventure

Review by: Drizzt

A few years ago, in 2005, Sonic Rush came into existence. Developed by Dimps, it proved that Sonic was faster than ever and had some new tricks up his sleeve. Two years later, Sega and Dimps release Sonic Rush Adventure. Of course, it was the "Adventure" part that most fans and gamers were hesitant about. Their fears were proven empty and the adventure portion provides good pacing and a nice amount of 3D fun.

The presentation of the game is very well done. It starts you off watching a high quality cut-scene where Sonic and Tails, in a plane, are getting swept away by a large storm over the sea. They wind up waking up on a beach where a character named Marine shows up and helps them (sort of). A rather different character, Marine speaks with an Australian style dialect, which is also rather stereotypical. She's also the most annoying character in the game. Obviously, her intended role was for comedy relief but unfortunately, it clearly didn't work as she turns out to be mostly a nuisance. Dialogue and character speech is handled through text and 2D art animations. It's not anything really special, but it gets the job done and progresses the story nicely. Occasionally, when something exciting is happening in the story, instead of the text boxes, stylish 3D cut-scenes are used and are very well done. Although there isn't any voice acting during these parts, text serves well enough. Unfortunately, there are very few of these cut-scenes. Overall, the presentation is very stylish and well made by Dimp and Sega.


It's even got a stylish menu!

The meat of the game is in the action stages. The gameplay here is high octane speed with some platforming mixed in. Although the platforming isn't quite prominent until the later levels, the Sonic Rush series, as can be derived from the name, focuses more on speed. This is not a bad thing, however. It's a lot more stylish this way and if your platforming needs aren't satisfied, play the missions! The second part of the game is the sea travel stages. These are surprisingly well done and a lot of fun to play. The first sea vehicle you get is the water bike. This is built for speed but it can't travel very far. You also later get a ship, hovercraft, and submarine. Each of these play rather differently. These sea travel levels are controlled by the stylus. For example, the water bike must be maneuvered by the stylus. The ship and submarine move for you while you shoot enemies and coins and the hovercraft is similar to the water bike, except you can shoot. These levels really nicely pace the game so that you don't get tired of the actions stages. Plus, by creating these sea travel levels, you can travel to different islands to progress the story. Since there is a fair sized map, there are also several hidden islands which you can find. This increases the replayability of the game overall. Along the story, you face different bosses. These boss battles are all epic and completely 3D. They are very well done and the difficulty for them feels just right. The game overall, though, has a great learning curve that starts off as it should: with a tutorial. As you progress, the levels increase in difficulty and so do the bosses.

There are additional modes that you should want in a Sonic game. These modes include time trail mode, mission mode, online racing and battling, as well as local wireless multiplayer. These modes can be a lot of fun and they're all done very well. The time trail mode has it's own online leaderboards so you can compare yourself to players all around the world. Online mode has a nice ranking and points system as well. Local wireless is both single card and multicard play so even if your friend doesn't have a copy of the game, you can still enjoy the full multiplayer experience. There are also 100 extra missions you can do to unlock many new things that not only increase the replayability, but can further expand on the story. These missions can range from passing through flags in the proper order on a snowboard, collecting 100 rings in the time limit, or doing a certain amount of tricks in the time limit. These missions can unlock several extras such as music in sound test or give you medals.


Sea levels provide great pacing to the game

The graphics are also very well done. The 3D models look clean and polished and the environments blend in with everything without a hitch in the frame rate. Everything goes together smoothly and it just feels right. The backgrounds consist in creating a nice environmental theme for each level and each level contains different hazards that suit them rather nicely. The audio is great too. Although there are some songs you can question in their quality, others are great and the game has a great original soundtrack. Some songs that stand out are the Blizzard Peaks songs and the interesting boss battle theme. Sound effects are also exceptional. Voice acting for both Sonic and Blaze is well done and their sound effects for running and jumping are reminiscent of their Sega Genesis predecessors.


Sonic and Blaze both play fairly differently

Overall, Sonic Rush Adventure proves to be a reminder as to how great Sonic can be and how fast he can go. Action stages are well done in providing a great sensation of speed while the sea travel stages provide good pacing to the game and are a lot of fun to play. The graphics and sounds are all great and make proper use of the DS's capabilities. Multiplayer and time trail modes also make full use of the DS's capabilities with leaderboards and rankings. In the end, Sonic Rush Adventure is one of the best platformers for the DS and a fine game overall.

Wii Review: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Review by: Drizzt

The Metroid Prime trilogy is a first person adventure (FPA) series that deals with exploration and puzzle solving as well as combat. Some have classified the game as straight First Person Shooter (FPS) but it's really so much more.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is the third and final entry into the Metroid Prime Trilogy and it's no disappointment. It starts off with a short but cinematic opening showing...what's this? Dark Samus? Correct. Dark Samus is back and causing more havoc and problems then ever. The game takes you behind the visor of bounty hunter Samus Aran in her familiar space ship and soon enough it leads you through a tutorial level of sorts although it's part of the story.

The game's learning curve is extremely well done. By the end of the first area, you'll be completely comfortable with all the controls. This first area has two boss fights. The first one is with the colossal arch-rival Ridley. He ambushes you and you both fall through a very long tunnel. Your aerial distance with the ground is shown at the top of the screen and you must defeat Ridley before you go splat. The other one is a challenging and epic fight as usual of each Metroid game.


The last thing Metroid games fail at are epic boss fights.

This time around though, Samus isn't the only bounty hunter. Three other hunters are put up with the same task as you are. They act as friends and protect you and help you several times. There's Rundas, Gandrayda, and Ghor. These three hunters each have a special ability. Rundas is able to ride on ice in mid-air and summon ice attacks, Gandrayda is able to turn shapeshift to appear as someone else, and Ghor is just large and powerful. It may sound like you're able to control these three, but you can't.

This all seems a bit different than the other two Metroid Prime's. They both put you on an isolated planet and immerse you into a world that's fairly eerie. Metroid Prime 3 starts off differently but still stays true to the series. After the first area, you are sent to a planet where you must stop corruption from a large space object called a Leviathon that crashed into this planet. Your mission as Samus is to stop this corruption and learn the secrets behind it all. The plot is very well done and is not confusing at all.

The controls are one of the key points of this game. Your Wii remote acts as Samus' arm cannon. All you do is point at the screen (sensor bar really) and look around. You move by using the nunchuk control stick and you fire with the A button located at the top of the Wii remote. The B button at the back allows you to jump, the Z button on the nunchuk allow you to lock on to targets, and the C button also on the nunchuk lets you turn into the morph ball. Once you get the grapple hook, you are able to flick the nunchuk and use it to, for example, rip enemies shields off. This is quite useful and is also used for puzzle solving as well.

It's all very simple. And as you progress, you gain the ability to go into Hyper mode. You just hold the plus (+) button on the Wii remote and you are now in hypermode. This mode allows you to deal heavy damage to enemies but at a price. It requires a full tank of health to activate but how much of this tank you use is up to how much you fire.


Things getting a bit too crazy for you? Go Hypermode and finish the job!

Metroid games in general are noted for their epic and difficult boss fights. Metroid Prime 3 is no exception. The only difference is that there is a lot more boss fights (some of them are mini bosses). You'll fight giant monsters and creatures that aren't all about blasting away at them. Most of them require you to think about what to do and how to do it.

The audio part of this game is on-par with the rest of fabulous quality of this game. Some great tunes immerse you into the worlds you're wandering through and some more upbeat tunes are played when in combat with a room of enemies or a boss of some sort. The sounds like shooting or grapple beam use sound as it should, which is futuristic and sci-fi'ish. It's very well done.

After you have completed the game, you are rewarded with the ability to replay the game but on a new difficulty setting: Hyper mode. Obviously this mode is much more difficult which means enemies are stronger, take longer to kill, and hyper mode itself must be used much more often then in the other two difficulty settings. Expect to die a lot more in this setting.

During the course of the adventure, you are awarded tokens for completing special events or tasks. This is similar to Microsoft's "achievement system". There are 4 different types of tokens and each are earned differently. One type of token can be earned by defeating boss monsters (mini bosses included) on different difficulty settings. So if you beat the game once on, say, normal difficulty, you cannot earn this type of token anymore. You must switch to hard or hyper mode. The second type of token is awarded for clearing special events. These vary and are hard to explain. You can also get this type of token by scanning lore across the worlds.
The third type of token is earned by scanning items and enemies.
The fourth type of token is earned by receiving it from friends via Wiiconnect24. You can also send "friend vouchers" as they are called to friends and when they reach your friends system, they are converted in tokens.
So what exactly do these tokens do? You can use them to purchase extra content such as artwork, music, and cool things like the screen shot taker. This allows you to take screen shots during the game by simply pressing the up button the D-pad. These get posted onto your Wii message board and you can then send these to friends and share epic moments you had.

Visuals in Metroid Prime 3 are quite frankly, amazing. Textures are smooth and well done, frame rate never dips, and the art style of this game is unbelievable. The main improvement though from the other two Metroid Primes on the Gamecube is the lighting and bloom effect. It must be seen to get the full effect. Metroid Prime 3 looks great but it's not the graphical difference that it should be from the first two Metroid Primes.


Beautiful. True art.

Also a problem is the door loading. Metroid Prime games are known to not have any loading screens. The first two Metroid Primes disguised their loading screens with doors. When you shoot doors to open them, it takes a moment to load the next area and it was never a major problem as it went quick and about 95% of the time was never noticeable. Unfortunately Metroid Prime 3 has some bad door loading times. It can take up to 10 seconds for a door to open. This is especially annoying when being shot at so you can't always make a quick escape. This game does have loading screens although they don't say "Loading" or show any progress bar. Instead it shows a short clip of, for example, your ship entering into a planets atmosphere. These disguised load screens are really no problem unlike the door loading times.

There's a lot to see in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. It might be familiar to some but it really isn't a problem. Overall, Metroid Prime 3 is a great game with lots of action, ingenious puzzles, and a great story and cinematic scenes to boot. Highly recommended worth getting.

Overall this is an incredible game with only a few minor flaws.

GCN Review: Super Smash Bros. Melee

Super Smash Bros. Melee
Genre: Action/Fighting

Review by: Wiifan001

The sequel to Super Smash Bros back from the N64 comes out to the Gamecube. SSBM is a 2d platformer. Unlike other fighting games, you attack and the opponent will rack up percentage damage. They don't die, just fall off the stage. The higher their %, the farther back they'll fall off. You can recover by jumping and other special moves.

All the original characters from the N64 are returning to Melee, including some of your favorite Nintendo characters such as Mario, Pikachu, Donkey Kong, and Yoshi. There are some added characters. One of them is the Ice Climbers. They are unique because you can control 2 characters, one named Nana and the other named Popo, at the same time. Another character is Zelda. She is also uinque because she can literally transform into a completely new character. Also, you can play as Mario's greatest nemesis, Bowser, who has a lot of powerful attacks. Finally, I'll say one last character, also from the Mario series, Princess Peach, who can pull vegetables from the ground and has a unique hovering ability.



The stages are as neat as ever. A few are just like the N64 version with minor changes such as Brinstar and the Great Fox. New stages include an F-Zero stage. You'll be fighting on a race track with F-Zero vehicles racing each other. You better look for them. Another great stage, one of my favorite, is Pokemon Stadium. The entire stage transforms from time to time. It's great fun. There are 20+ stages in the game.

Items are fun to use too. You'll get new (2nd generation) Pokemon out of the Pokeballs and the Home Run Bat is still as devastating as ever. The only item that didn't return from the N64 version is the Bumper (don't know why). New items include a Metal Box, which makes your character temporarily become metal. You won't be knocked back as far. If you do get knocked off the stage you'll fall faster. Appearantly the laws of gravity are being broken. Another new item is the bunny hood which lets you jump higher and run faster. There are arguably 29 items in the game (Capsules, crates, barrels, and eggs are kind of debatable.)

On multiplayer you can switch any item/items off except those in paranthesis above. Let's talk about the 1 Player mode. There are several things you can do as to one player. The classic mode is still there. However, this time you will be fighting with different characters on different stages instead of playing the exact same thing over and over on the N64 version. The good old Master Hand is still fun to fight. This time around, depending on a few circumstances, you can fight the Crazy Hand, a left handed Master Hand.

Adventure Mode is where you'll be doing the same thing over and over and over again. Like the Classic mode, there are 5 modes of difficulty- Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Very Hard. The 1st stage is a lot like Super Mario Bros. stage where you run across getting past Goombas and Koopa Troopas. It's very fun. But then, you got an underground Zelda stage and Metroid stage which really aren't much fun to do. At the end of Adventure mode, you will fight a Bowser that is bigger than the one you can play as.

Another 1 player mode is called the Event Match. There are 51 stages total where you'll have to do mini objectives, most of them which you simply take out the player/players. Then there's the Target Test which you have to break 10 targets without falling. The Home Run Contest is a mode where you hit a sand bag with a home run bat and it will fly across the stage several hundred feet.

In multiplayer mode, you can play with up to 4 people and can play against CP's. You can do team battles with all the multiplayer modes too. Modes of multiplayer include the classic time and stock battles. There's coin... basically you have to collect the most coins at the end of the match. You will lose 1/2 of them if you fall off the stage. There's special kinds of melee. There's Lighting melee which speeds up all characters dramatically. There's Giant Melee... which increases the size of all characters. Heck, there's even tournament mode in which you can have up to 64 people playing. Sweeeeet.

The graphics are fantastic in the game. The characters all look great. The stages are clean with all sorts of varieties of backgrounds with different artistic views. The trophies that you collect in Melee are animated great with only minor polygon problems in the stages. Very nice graphics.

Every character has at least 20 different sounds, whether attacking or sleeping or crying. It all blends in really good. Some of the most popular sound tracks in video game history are in this game and play on certain stages. Some old-school songs have been redone like the F-Zero music and others like the Earthbound and the Super Mario Bros. music are left untouched.

Multiplayer mode is probably the most addicting one of all the Gamecube games out there. You'll spent many, many hours on multiplayer. Don't worry, you will get a LOOOOT of playing time on single player mode, too. You could also attempt to get all 290 trophies (all from Nintendo games of the present and past) released in America. Tilt- If you have a Gamecube, get this game. Imagine Pokemon, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Mario, Ice Climbers, Ganon... (never mind) all together in one game. This easily has the best multiplayer out there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.6


By Wiifan001

SNES Review: EarthBound

Review by: Pierst179
Edited by: Pikaboo

Earthbound is an RPG where you take control of a normal boy that suddenly becomes a hero, the chosen one. It all happens when a meteor crashes into the peaceful town of Onett in the middle of a scary night and he decides to explore. And is here in the beginning of the game that you start to realize that you are not playing an average RPG.

As you advance to check out what has happened, with one of your friends, the music gets creeper, when you get to the top of the mountain a strange bee comes out of it, and tells you that in the future, 10 years later, Earth had been transformed and dominated by aliens and that he is not a bee he is actually human!!



An intelligent storyline that keeps EarthBound away from any game. The battle system is turn-based, and while battles happen you will get strange information about what your friends are doing and how they are reacting to the battle, which is really funny as they can cry or pass out. The battles, as expected from a turn based RPG, can be really slow paced because everything you do the information appears written on the screen, so it takes quite a while for a single turn to end, but if you are fed up with the slow pace you can press AutoFight and battle will just happen. The most interesting and innovative aspect of the battles is that your HP or Health doesn't just go down automatically. It uses a "rolling counter", a feature where your HP rolls down however you can still continue your turn while it is rolling down. Because of this, if you're fast enough you can heal before your HP hits zero, thus saving your life. However, because of this, this makes the game much easier, a double-edged sword. During the battles you will be able to equip lots of different items and use many Psychic powers.

But the game isn't all about battles, there is also lots of exploration on Eagle Land, you will need to communicate a lot to discover what to do next or where is the problem. While speaking to the characters, which are magnificent and full of personality, you will see some lines that are just the funniest things ever.



Graphically the game is just great, there are many different scenarios to go through, and you will always be amazed by the huge and colorful view, it doesn't matter where you are. The best thing about the visuals is that it gives the game its own style.

Sound is just great, all songs are awesome and could easily make it to the top of any hit parade. During battles an alien-like song will be played, and the game is filled with electronic sounds that give you the feel that we are being struck by aliens.

Replay value is something that this game would have a lot if it wasn't for its long battles, when you finish it you will think about doing it again, but I believe you are going to be a little bored just to think of defeating all those bad guys again.

Earthbound is one of the best RPGs ever, its humor, its creepiness, everything is just awesome, and while some SNES game struggle to keep in shape and up to date EarthBound manages to still be looking good after such a long time. A timeless game.

Wii Review: Okami

Review by: Pierst179

The gaming world is not a fair place at all. While uninspired titles with shallow gameplay that were initially developed to get some easy money from a few casual gamers bask on the spotlight of success, some games that can be best described as epic masterpieces struggle to sell a few copies due to bad timing and poor advertisement. Unfortunately, Okami belongs in the last category.

The game was produced for the Playstation 2 and won awards all over the media. Sadly a new generation of games had already hit store shelves and most gamers seemed too caught up in excitement to pay attention to a new game that featured a wolf as its starring character, had cell-shaded graphics and had a storyline based on Japanese folklore.

Developers usually joke that "Games with a cartoonish look are produced to die" and that applies to this game. As the title sold poorly the talented group of professionals responsible for this modern masterpiece had to close their company - Clover Studio - and look for new projects. Meanwhile, Okami seemed destined to fade and eventually disappear as time passed. However Capcom still believed in the potential of the title and wanted to give it another chance to shine, and so Okami Wii was born.



The game starts at a small village located in the outskirts of Nippon - a huge continent where the game takes place. With a flash back you are transported 100 years to the past where history is about to happen. Yearly an eight-headed serpent, called Orochi, that lurks in the Moon Cave sends a silver arrow directly towards the village, the arrow is aimed at a maiden's house. The maiden then needs to be sacrificed and offered to Orochi.

However, on that year 100 years in the past that silver arrow hit the house of a maiden that was deeply loved by the village's warrior. In order to save his damsel from such a terrible fate the warrior heads to the cave with a white wolf. Inside the beast's lair they fight an epic battle and manage to seal the serpent with a sword. The legend of the warrior and the brave wolf is still told over and over again in Kamiki Village. Unfortunately, the seal has broken and Orochi dangerously waits for the time where he will once again fire his silver arrow.

The storyline is one of the main factors that contributes to the amazing experience you will have with this game. As impossible as it seems, the plot is very well developed throughout the adventure and your journey will gain urgency as you approach the end of this long adventure.

Characters contribute a lot to such a solid plot development. Okami is overflowing with charming characters with different personalities, and during your adventure you will notice how they change their behavior based on a few facts that may have happened on their lives. It is simply amazing how the producers were careful with every single one of the people you encounter.

The highlight of the game goes to Issun which is a small mysterious being that will be your partner throughout the game. He will tell you what to do, and will always talk with other characters in the game since you will be controlling a wolf. He is responsible for some of the funniest moments in gaming history as he hits on beautiful ladies by commenting on a few features of their bodies in a naughty manner, or as he loses his mind and gets mad at a certain situation or a at some characters.



On the game you take control of a wolf that is actually the sun Goddess, Amaterasu. The game plays on a similar way to The Legend of Zelda as you will be constantly exploring vast areas or trying to figure out creative puzzles that are hidden inside dark dungeons filled with enemies. What really makes those two games different is that Okami focus more on the exploration than in dungeon exploring. What makes Okami such a special game is the fact that you can draw different things on the screen as if it were a canvas.

During the gameplay when you press the B-button the action will stop and your Wiimote will become a huge pencil. By using it you can draw lines, circles or other objects that will be interpreted by the game's engine and translate into moves that are magically performed by the starring character. On the adventure you will learn a vast array of techniques such as restoring missing objects, laying bombs, cutting enemies as if you were using a sword or using elements like fire and water to your advantage. With the Wii's motion controls those actions become very intuitive and quick, therefore the game won't lose its flow simply because you had to slay an enemy or make a tree bloom.

The battles are one of the most unique aspects of the game. While on most adventure titles you would find your enemies wandering around freely in this game they will appear on the field as some cursed signs, if you would rather keep on going on your adventure you can simply avoid them but if you feel like engaging in a frantic battle to earn some money you can walk directly into those signs and you will be transported to a restricted battlefield as it would happen on an RPG.

Inside a circle of fire you will battle a large group of enemies using your techniques of beating them up by shaking the Wiimote. Unfortunately your movements will occasionally not be correctly interpreted by the game and you may end up taking some damage or missing an attacking opportunity because of that. But it doesn't affect the gameplay deeply because battles are not the main part of the game. Once you beat all the enemies you will get an amount of money based on the time it took you to finish them all and the damage you received. Afterwards the fire barriers circling the place will disappear and you will move on with your adventure.



The boss battles are simply amazing and they will make a great use of all the techniques you learn. There isn't an impressive amount of bosses since there aren't many dungeons in the game, but all of them are very creative and unique. The game also has a bunch of lengthy side-quests that will keep you entertained for a long while. The prize on most of those quests is called "praise" which ca be compared to the exp points you will find on most RPGs. By using praise you can increase your life bar, or your ink that will allow you to use more techniques within a certain period of time.

There are not many differences between the two versions of the game. Obviously the Wii version makes good use of the motion capabilities that the system posses, but apart from that you can't really tell one version from another. Graphically they are similar - although the Wii version is slightly better. If you are worried about purchasing a two-year old game, fearful that it may look outdated you should erase all those thoughts from your mind because Okami looks as colorful and vivid as ever.

One of the biggest advantages cell-shaded titles have over games that attempt for a realistic look is that the former group - when it is well executed - will never look old or unpolished. A good example of this timeless effect is The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, a game that was released five years ago and it can still be considered one of the best looking titles available on the market. If you were stunned by The Wind Waker's visuals you must be prepared for the things you are going to find here in Okami. The continent of Nippon spreads through a vast area with very different landscapes. Forests, rivers, valleys, mountains, temples and beaches are some of the outstanding scenarios you will find in this game.

One of the biggest prowesses of the title is that the game flows naturally and you will actually feel like you are in an old museum looking at an ancient Japanese painting when all of a sudden the animals and trees on the background start moving and gain life. During your play through you will naturally stop at certain locations simply to admire the way things were drawn and how attentive with the details the art designers were.



During some moments on the game you will restore huge portions of the map that had been previously cursed by the villains. As you make things bloom with your special powers you will watch a dark and sinister landscape become a green field with singing birds and with a beautiful sun shinning upon the land. While this may sound like a simple cutscene, I can tell you that there aren't many games that fill you wit such a rewarding feeling as Okami does when you restore life to vast area, feed animals or make a tree bloom with its full splendor.

Overall Okami is one of the best titles available on the Wii despite the fact that it is a two-year old title. The game is still as strong and fresh as possible and it will please Zelda fans and gamers that have been waiting for a new series to appear for a while. It is a beautiful game, both visually and conceptually. Ultimately it is a story about faith and belief, and one of the most rewarding games that has ever been created.

Wii Review: Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition

Review by: Pierst179

Resident Evil 4 was the biggest success among all games of Capcom’s famous thriller series. Perhaps because of its outstanding graphics, that even one generation later still look as sharp and overwhelming as they can be, which made every single dark corner, locked door and unexplored forsaken house even more real and for a game like Resident Evil that’s one characteristic that is definitely necessary.

It seems very reasonable that such an amazing game united with the Wii’s inventive controls would compel developers to produce a remake that would keep all of the original game’s prowess. Resident Evil 4 Wii edition is exactly that, a classic game compiled with new controls and a few extras for those who had only played the Gamecube edition.

The storyline is kind of different from all previous games, although you will still have to deal with a virus that has been infecting people. Instead of exploring Raccoon City and its outskirts while blasting some zombies Leon S. Kennedy will set to a remote Spanish village to rescue the kidnapped daughter of the president of the United States, what seemed like a piece of cake because what problems would you encounter in such a small village, turns out to be an ordeal in which you will find infected villagers that are really willing to stop you.

The game plays very different from its predecessors. In all past Resident Evil games you had to get used to that unpredictable camera that could not be controlled by any means, that camera did help when it comes to hiding enemies who are just around the corner waiting for you to pass or inside a room that you can’t see inside unless you actually enter it, but I must confess I was a little bit annoyed by that since you have to change the way you control your character every time the cameras shift.

This time around you will have a third person vision exactly behind Leon and whoever you are playing with. You can aim by simply pointing your Wiimote at the screen, which will make your accuracy skyrocket because it is much smoother than trying to headshot an enemy with an analog stick. In spite of that fact, the game’s difficulty is still enough to make you get killed around 70 times during your first playthrough.

Another fact that makes this game’s gameplay so awesome is that during part of the game you will play as a pair, you will control Leon while Ashley the president’s daughter follows you, in most games she would probably make you mad by standing in front of you when she is not supposed to, get stuck in walls or run towards enemies just to get killed, but in this game it doesn’t happen. You can control what she will do just by pressing a button, you can tell her to either follow you or to wait so that you don’t get annoyed, just don’t forget her.

One would quickly assume that the game is not quite scary as usual due to the fact that the zombies are nowhere to be found, but do not believe that. The Spaniards, despite not being as ugly as zombies, will make you pretty tense this is all made possible because of the game’s atmospheric graphics and sound that match so beautifully.

The graphics are impressive, obviously they don’t deserve to be called perfect since this is a last gen game and the graphics have not been improved, but anyway they still work quite well, especially because we are talking about a game produced for the Wii that is not such a powerful system. The main characters are all amazing, they look very real, and so does the scenarios that won’t actually vary much as you go through the game. The same can’t be said about the enemies, bosses aside, the Spaniards aren’t quite polished models but that can be understood since too polished enemies at the screen at the same time would cause massive frame rate problems. The cutscenes are also damn cool. The music is also very nice, if you agree with me that in a game like this one the music’s goal is to make you feel creepy whenever you are walking in a dark hallway or exploring a dark sewer then you will have no complaints here. It can be noticed when you are inside a house entering different rooms and then all of a sudden a strange music starts playing, you sure get scared and start exploring the place in a more careful way knowing that you are going to have some problems.

The sound effects are very close to real, the gunshot sound, thunders, squeaking stairs, box breaking and many other sounds. Voice acting is also done with perfection, the actors are good and their voices match the movements of the character’s mouths, the Spaniards scream whenever they see you, they call for help and warm other villagers that there is a “Forastero!” in the village.

Besides the regular adventure there are also a bundle of nice extras that are unlocked once you beat the game for the first time, those extras were available on the PS2 version of the game but were excluded from the GC version probably due to lack of space in the Mini-DVDs. So, for those who have been following Nintendo and didn’t play the PS2 version, such as me, will enjoy those extras for a long while and that’s just another reason to buy this game.

The extras are Assignment Ada, Separate Ways and The Mercenaries. The first two are missions to be completed as Ada it is interesting to play both since they will fill some voids that were left in the regular adventure’s story. While the latter is a mini-game where you can select from 5 different characters, 4 of them are unlockacle, in this mini you will find yourself in a scenario where you have got to kill as many enemies as you can in a certain amount of time.

Besides that you can also replay the whole adventure in a more challenging difficulty, you can also buy new guns from the merchants. All that considered Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition is a game with loads of replay value, perhaps one of the most “replayable” games ever.

Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition is a definite must buy for Wii owners that like this genre. It has amazing graphics, great gameplay and tons of extras. It is a good game for either people who have already tried one of the last gen versions and are allured by the Wii’s controls being used in a shooter or people who have never played it.

Nintendo DS Review: Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

Review by: Pierst179

When first announced, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was expected to be the big sequel for Ocarina of Time that most gamers had been waiting for since 1998, but disappointment struck almost everybody who watched the first minutes of footage from this game, instead of the mature Link presented some years ago we had the cell-shaded Link and Shigeru Miyamoto quickly went from a genius to a stupid guy.

But time would prove us all wrong and Wind Waker turned out to be an astonishing game, it is nearly impossible to find a game with such a unique and beautiful style, the huge overworld was hiding tons of sidequests, and the main quest, despite not being too long was still really fun. Nintendo had shown once again that they always know what they do, it doesn't matter how wrong it seems to be.

The success was so big that many fans of the franchise started to claim for a sequel. But not a sequel that would finally present the adult Link, what people really wanted was the cartoon graphics once again, the sea, the pirates and all that overwhelming feeling contained on the Wind Waker. Fortunately Nintendo heard everybody's pleas.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass was developed to be this sequel. The game starts exactly after the ending of the Wind Waker, and it is one of the most blatant sequels of the whole series since the main characters have all been maintained, which is awesome since the Wind Waker characters are really nice, and so Link is sailing with his pirate friends.

Tetra and her crew are looking for the fabled Ghost Ship, an evil vessel that according to the local tale is kidnapping sailors and villagers that live in that region of the Great Sea. Tetra thinks that this story is a big lie and that the Ghost Ship's crew is actually a bunch of pirates trying to threat their domain over the sea, so in order to stop their plans they need to find the ship.

Not surprisingly they succeed on their mission and a few minutes after the game starts the Ghost Ship is spotted. Tetra quickly jumps of her ship and swims toward the haunted boat that suddenly vanishes, Link tries to follow but he doesn't make it and he ends up on the shore of some mysterious island, then your adventure finally kicks in and you get to control Link for the first time.

Using the touch screen instead of the D-pad to move him soon proves to be not such a smart move. The overall result is pleasant, but there are some minor shortcomings when it comes to the gameplay.

For example, if you are right-handed then every single time you need to head to left your hand will stand right in between you and the screen therefore completely blocking your vision of what's going on, and if you are left-handed going to the right will be a problem. And this can be a tad annoying, especially if you are running away from some enemies.

Generally the touch screen is very responsive to most commands, but sometimes when trying to move while holding an object Link may decide to drop it on the ground when you touch the screen intending to make him walk. Rolling can also be a problem, to activate this action you need to draw a circle at the edge of the screen but sometimes the game just doesn't get it, but since rolling is not so important it won't bother you so much.

It is also very important to say that this is the first 3-D Zelda that doesn't make any use of the famous lock system that has been used since Ocarina of Time. This makes the battles harder, especially when you encounter armored knights, because you will spend most of the time just running away from them waiting for a chance to use your sword. Fortunately there aren't many of those enemies during the game.

The classic items of the Zelda franchise are all back. But this time around they have some new twists, because in order to use them you will have to perform some actions with the stylus on the touch-screen. The items itself are the same, but the way you use them makes the whole game feel more fresh.

In a nutshell, the gameplay is good but I definitely think Nintendo should have given us the option to control Link with the D-pad if we felt like it, because the items work very well with the touch screen while the movement is not so sharp.

Sailing from one island to the other is not as boring as it used to be. This time the wind isn't so important because you will be controlling a motorized boat, I love technology don't you? So if you want to travel you just need to draw a path on the map using the stylus, and the boat will follow the exact same path, just don't leave your DS while doing that because the sea is filled with enemies that can sink your boat.

Speaking of which, the boat can now be customized, you will collect some new parts as you advance on the game and you can head back to a shop at one island where they will add those parts to your ship for a steep price.

The soundtrack is good, you obviously can't compare it to the console games, but it does justice to the franchise, as usual there are some remixed tunes, most of them based on Wind Waker's songs. The sound effects are also very well done.

The graphics are outstanding. I thought it would be nearly impossible to translate Wind Waker's amazing world and feeling to a handheld, but I was wrong. Link and all other characters remain very expressive and funny. All the islands have their own unique characteristics, the textures are good and there are some nice effects.

Now off to the most important part of any Zelda game, the dungeons. Some may be disappointed and some may be happy with the fact that there is no backtracking at all involved on the process of finishing the dungeons. You will solve a puzzle, open a door and head to the next room where you will basically do the same thing until you get to the boss key that's usually very close to boss room.

While the dungeons are extremely linear the puzzles within them are creative. I have to say that out of my favorite puzzles of the franchise quite a bundle of them belong to this game. The use of the stylus adds a lot to the solving of the puzzles, sadly they are not hard enough, and if you enjoy getting stuck on a temple for a while trying to figure out what to do next you can just forget it because it won't happen on this game. Another quality of this game is the bosses. Believe me, they are all absolutely amazing. They make full use of all DS capabilities and on some battles the developers have used the hardware power to the absolute edge. You will be surprised when you discover a way to defeat them, they are all very inventive. Once again the main problem is the level of challenge.

Finally, the replay value. Zelda games have always been famous by its dozen of sidequests and Phantom Hourglass is not different. There aren't nearly as many here as in the Wind Waker for example, but you will have some fun exploring the Great Sea, discovering uncharted islands and strange creatures.

Phantom Hourglass is a Zelda game, what else can be said. With awesome puzzles, bosses and dungeons it stands out from most other DS titles therefore this game is a definite must-have. While a little bit too easy, it is still a lot of fun, the whole adventure can be finished in around 20 hours, which is quite a good length for a handheld adventure.

Most of its characteristics set the bar for every DS title that's still to be released.

Wii Review: Super Mario Galaxy

Review by: wiifan001

A decade ago, the ever popular Super Mario 64 brought amazement to all and defined how 3d games should be. A decade later, many Mario games have been released since then. Now we have Super Mario Galaxy available for the Wii. I can safely say that this is the best Mario game we've had since.

The game begins with Mario heading up to Princess Peach's castle. Just before Mario makes it, Bowser seizes the castle brings to space, the center of the universe to be exact. Mario is struck by a Kamek and sent to down to a planet. This may very familiar to Paper Mario fans. The story line is the same on that note. There are even 7 Grand Stars to collect. Mario must collect 120 stars and save the princess. I know, it's a combination of Paper Mario and Super Mario 64. This time the Grand Stars will be used to open more galaxies rather than help fighting off baddies.

There is a different story in contrast to this. This one involves a new character named Princess Rosalina. As you go on you'll hear about her story and how she's connected to the hundred year comet that passes by every hundred years and these little Star creatures called Lumas.

The first level starts out looking for 3 bunnies on this planet which will lead you to the First Grand Star. Then you'll unlock an observatory which will lead to these galaxies. Mario Galaxy provides some of the craziest level designs that video games have ever offered. It's all mind blowing and an crazier thing of these "planets" is that they have their own gravity. This is revolutionary because this is the first platformer game to have ever used gravity effects. With gravity you'll be walking upside down, backwards, and sometimes even both.

To go from planet to planet, these stars (not power or grand stars) will launch you to the other planets. This is done by shaking the Wiimote on the star. Mario will literally fly through space to the other planets Superman style. His arms wave out and the way the camera moves while he's flying is just jaw dropping. There are a few dozens galaxies in the game. Each are incredibly unique and on galaxies where there is more than one star will often times lead you to a completely different part of that galaxy leading to new exploration. Often times you'll have to find 5 parts to the star which will create it.

Mario gets a lot of old techniques as well as some new ones. The backflip, triple jump, and crouching are all back in the game. Wall jumping has been made so much easier. You simply jump against the wall and pressing back and forth without having to use the analog stick. A new move of Mario that really helps out and used effectively throughout is the Spin Attack which is done by shaking the Wiimote. It's used to attack enemies, break through shards of crystal, and sometimes even raise jumping. It can also deflect enemy projectile attacks right back at foes.

The controls are very precise. The Wii Remote is used for a several pointing functions. Shaking the Wiimote not only does the spin attack. It can be used to collect Star Bits. Star Bits are found everywhere. You just simply point at the bits you see and you'll collect it. It's really nice because you know you don't have to walk all the way over to reach it. Just simply point. It becomes so natural in only a few minutes time or less. Star Bits will help unlock galaxies and stunning enemies by pointing at them and pressing B. Another reason for pointing is grabbing blue stars. Blue stars will bring Mario up to it and will keep him there until grabbing another blue star and moving across or until crossing a star or planet. Blue stars are never alone and will always come in clusters.

Motion sensing with the Wiimote has done more than pointing and grabbing. Its motion sensing technology is used for the activities found in some levels. Manta ray surfing is riding on top of a manta ray and steering it with the Wiimote. Some levels you'll be on a ball and rolling it to its destination also by using it with the Wiimote. Finally, you can push Mario around in a bubble and blowing it through the planet with it. Each of these is so fun and intense you won't care if you die or not. Even better, the controls continue to be responsive and don't play a problem.

The boss battles in the game are fun but not really rememberable. Naturally you'll fight Bowser a couple times. You fight Bowser Jr, a couple Kameks and other bosses which I won't spoil for you. They're not too terribly challenging except in under specific conditions for a couple that I speak about.

The quest for searching for stars will require transforming into different types of Mario's. Seriously, a couple kinds include the Bee Mario, which transforms you into a bee and you briefly fly around. Of course Fire Mario is implemented. For the first time ever, Fire Mario is 3d. Some people have been waiting for that moment for over 20 years. It's finally here. There are a few other Mario suits, each having their own unique effect and be used a few times over, but I won't spoil them for you.

Comets. Several kinds of comets will be in the game. Comet levels are levels that have been completed already but must be beaten again under specific conditions. An example is the Daredevil Comet. This comet requires you to beat the level with only 1 health point. Purple Coin comets require to search the galaxy and collect 100 purple coins. Note that this is taking place of the 100 coin challenge back in the days of Super Mario 64. Except this time 100 purple coins will be laid out and must collect all of them to get the star. These are only 2 of the many comet types to see in Mario Galaxy.

Though you can defeat Bowser the 3rd time with only 60 stars, something amazing will happen collecting all 120 stars and will likely want you to play the game all over again with this "new feature." As a matter of fact, you really don't beat the game with only 60 stars because you haven't been to all the galaxies.

Two player co-op is available. While one player controls the character, the other can use the Wiimote to collect Star Bits, help them jump really high, and freeze enemies when holding on them pressing the A button. It's not exciting but it is a nice idea and doesn't really get in the way.

There are a couple issues that could've been worked on just a little bit. Sometimes the analog stick can be a little confusing. I've gotten mildly nautious from it, but only playing it for an extended period of time. This may or may not happen to you. Furthermore, occasionally you'll spot a camera problem. Most of the time, pressing the D-pad can help you get out of these situations. But there are still a few cases where the camera didn't go right, but it is rare.

The graphics are the flat out no question about it BEST graphics so far shown on the Wii. No Wii game competes with its artistic design. . It's possible to beat the game and not notice frame rate problems. But no Wii game compares to this one in graphics. [Do not compare Wii graphics to XBOX 360 and PS3. Wii focuses on revolutionary techology while the other 2 stick to their old roots.

The sound tracks on the game are ochestrated beautifully. There are remakes of songs back from Super Mario Bros 1 and 3, and lots of new sound tracks are heard and sound right to the atmosphere. Mario, Peach, and Rosalina all have very short, voice acting phrases heard every once in a while. Nintendo continues to keep it minimal for the Mario series, which is actually a good thing.

Collecting 120 stars will take about 15 hours or so. Doing it over again under the "new feature" which I mentioned earlier and you're looking at about 25-30 hours of the game. You can always go back and play and a level that you want to do again.

So having a game with responsive controls, smart uses of the Wiimote, the best graphics the Wii has yet, an amazing original sound track, multiple types of Mario's, flying through planets and space, co-op mode, being a Mario game, there is no excuse of not owning this game. Even if you're not a fan of Mario series, I"d recommend this to anyone, whether 6 year old or adult and everyone in between. This will be looked back years from now and Super Mario Galaxy will be argued as the greatest Wii game ever made.

Wii Review: Super Mario Galaxy

Super Mario Galaxy
Genre: 3D Platformer

Review by: Average_Joe

Good:
-The level design is superb and the new gameplay mechanics reinvigorate the Mario franchise.
-Wonderful visual style really takes full advantage of the Wii's capabilities.
-Definitely lives up to the high standard of previous Mario games. Best title in the franchise since Mario 64.

Bad:
-It may take some players a while to adjust to the game's unique gameplay.
-The camera moves in strange ways during the space levels.
-The multiplayer mode is weak and feels tacked on.

The plump mascot of Nintendo has been around for what most would label forever. It's a true difficulty to think about video games and not recall pictures, memories and so on of this cheery plumber. He is responsible for an entire generation of gamers with his numerous adventures and antics. Nintendo truly deserves credit for this: they've managed to keep Mario--lets not forget their other main franchises like Zelda and Metroid--relevant across several different platforms and titles, helping to shape the entire industry as a whole along the way.

The Mario series has definitely proven influential: the first Super Mario Bros. game has acquired mainstream status amongst gamers and non-gamers, and deservedly so. Super Mario Bros. 3 was, at the time, a revolutionary title that gave the NES a huge boost late in its life cycle, while Super Mario World helped usher in the 16-bit era and gave the Super Nintendo system a strong push.



Then came Mario 64, which greatly assisted in opening our eyes to the possibilities of a 3-D world. And we haven't even touched upon related franchises like Mario Kart, Super Smash Bros. and Mario's foray into the RPG realm.

Now onto Galaxy: Super Mario Galaxy starts off with our hero Mario receiving a letter from Princess Peach inviting him to the castle for the Star Festival. When Mario arrives, Peach, The Toads, and everyone else in the Mushroom Kingdom are celebrating something that occurs once every 100 years: the arrival of a giant comet that flies over the Kingdom. Pieces of this comet will break loose and turn into multicolored shooting stars called Star Bits which light the night the sky and crash into the ground.

The festival is running smoothly and everyone is enjoying themselves until Mario's arch enemy intrudes. Bowser and his sinister-looking fleet of airships block out the view of the sky and begin a full scale attack on the kingdom. But this time around, Bowser does more then just snatch the princess, he takes the entire castle using a UFO. No, you read that right: Bowser has a UFO, which means Mario must travel to different galaxies in order to save the princess.



Galaxy's gameplay is split into two main level types: there are levels where Mario is actually in space, jumping from planet to planet and then there are more common platformer levels similar to Mario 64. But in both level types, the player finds good use of the analog stick on the Nunchuk to move around and the Wii Remote to execute Mario's Crash Bandicoot-esque spin attack. The Wii Remote is also capable of collecting Star Bits spread throughout levels which can be fired at enemies and objects on command, which is a key aspect of the game.

The levels where Mario is actually in space definitely provide some of the more interesting moments in the game and offer up a number of new experiences unlike anything we've experienced before in a Mario title. There are a number of miniature planets, each having its own gravitational pull, allowing Mario to run all the way around them literally in simply seconds without floating off into space. The gravity varies depending on what planet Mario is on which may or may not effect the gameplay. The only problem with this new feature is that it can take a few seconds for the camera to adjust.



Another great feature for this game is the various power-ups throughout the levels. Each will assist in progressing through the game in some way along with providing a change of appearance. Most of these power-ups are new and fresh but there are also some that are classic to the series such as Fire Mario. Other forms include Bee Mario, allowing Mario to fly for periods of time, Boo Mario which can go through solid objects and Ice Mario which allows the player to walk on water and skate. However there are many other forms. It's quite obvious that the game-developers put a large amount of thought and effort into their design due to how well the power-up are implemented into game-play.



One thing I noticed in the game which I was not too fond of is the so-called two-player mode which seemed gimmicky and tacked on. The only thing the second player is capable of is the ability to collect Star Bits with their Wii Remote, which is pretty much useless. Although the Mario franchise never had a strong, true multiplayer component, so this isn't a huge concern but it is a little perplexing that they'd even bother to have it in the first place.

But this small minor issue aside, it's quite obvious that Super Mario Galaxy raises the bar in terms of what can be achieved on the Wii. There is always so much going on around you as you play through this game, making players want to go back and play again.

Sum Up:
It's everything you loved about Mario 64 and nothing you hated about Super Mario Sunshine
--------------------------------------------------------------
Graphics: 9.5
Sound: 8.5
Gameplay: 9.0
Controls: 9.5
Replay Value: 10
Overall: 9.3





By Average_Joe

Wii Review: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Review by: Trogdor390

Sharpen your sword. Fletch and nock your arrows. Mount your steed and move out, the long awaited Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess is here. Nintendo's silent, Epic Hero Link is back and better than ever. Some say that is perhaps better than the Ocarina of Time, widely considered the best Zelda game ever. Is it? Let's find out…

Let's talk about Story, since this is an Adventure game and adventure games are built around stories. Similar to all Zelda games before it, You start out as a young farm boy in a remote forest town (Skywalker, anybody?) named Link (you can change the name, but Link is the default and general given name for the character). All is well and good until a band of goblins starts wreaking havoc and capture you and you friends, mainly your love, Ilia, and the kids of the town. You learn that the world has been taken over a strange Twilight and once dragged into it, you become a wolf. Yes, a fuzzy little wolf. But soon a strange creature called Midna comes and decides to help you out and get the world back to the way it was. Without giving away to much more, the story is of epic proportions and rivals that of fellow video games like Final Fantasy VII and the Tales of Symphonia, and even movies like The Lord of Rings and (dare I say it?!) Star Wars. There are some good plot twists and you WILL get choked up at the end of all of this. My one and only beef is I would've liked more voice acting rather than just yells and gasps. Could move past text-only, please?!

Now controls. I am a firm believer that game play alone makes the game, and I was dreadfully afraid that Nintendo would be idiots and jack-nail the game to fit the Wii. Not so! You don't slash so much as you waggle. That's it. That's all. Waggling for sword slashes is a simple and easy to do maneuver to do while using the nunchuck for movement and lock-ons. Aiming for the Bow and arrows is nothing more than point and click, but some times precise aiming is a chore with out the scope (known as the Hawkeye), and good aiming in the heat of battle with the scope is difficult and cumbersome. In battle I much more like to lock on and fire than aim, especially when on horseback. But the controls are simple and easy, and that's the way they should be, because once you get the hang of them, it is actually quite fun and addictive.



Now in such an epic game, epic sound is needed. Sound effects are realistic sounding and fit with the Zelda franchise. Maestro Koji Kondo has done it again with music akin to that of Lord of the Rings or the Chronicles of Naria. It is regal a majestic at times, and dark and unsettling at others. The music more than overdoes it with the mood and I love it! It gives it a mature tone to it that I think was long over due when the too kid-ish Wind Waker came out. I personally have no beefs with though my friends have said that he has abandoned the classic Zelda music and ruined some of the songs. But I'm not one to dwell on the past too much so I can put it past me…

Now my least favorite section to review: Graphics. But this one made me smile. The light side is bight and colorful. The twilight is dark and over saturated. Link is heroic and amazing looking. Ganondorf and Zant are evil and crazy looking a hell. All is as it should be. Some people continue to whine about the game looking like "GameCube 1.5" and that the look last-gen. I will admit that if the Wii was the Xbox360 or the PS3, I would be wanting to eat my TV because the graphics look so amazing and tasty, but the Wii's hardware, I think, is pushed to overdrive in this and, for a Wii game, this is the best looking Wii game out there.

Lastly, is replay value. Much like Guitar Hero III, you're pretty much done, once you have beaten the game, that's it. You're done. There is some extra stuff for those completists out there, like getting all the hidden bugs and all the hearts, but there's not a lot. That's all I really have to say about that. It's a one-player adventure, not a party game, so it scores very low here but I'm not going to weigh it as much.

So is this game good? Yes. Amazing? Oh God Almighty, yes! Better than the Ocarina of Time? Well, no… it's a great game, don't get me wrong! But, it is not the Ocarina of Time, though it may as well be breathing down its neck with how close it is.