Trials Evolution Review

The intro songs in this game suck.

No quirky pre-intro.

WEEEEEEEEHHHA! *falls off bike and smashes head in ground*

[silence] 

Driver's License

We all remember the Trials flash game. Well you should! We all should have been doing homework those wonderful days Red Lynx took from us. Then a few games later, in 2009, Trails found a home with Microsoft Game Studios and of course, as an XBLA. Proves to anyone, that if you got a good game idea, get some poeple to make a crappy flash version and you'll be on a way to making lots a lots of mooney! 

Now this game, Trials Evolution, is what that great idea of a bike physics based puzzle-y game evolved into and has gained a large popularity. It is game for the budget-ly challenged and the challenge challenged (if that makes sense). I mean games that lack a challenge to people. Let us see if this game has evolved at all. 

Bronze Medal 

Well, to not surprise anyone, Trials Evolution is exactly like Trials HD, but with more different courses and mini games to play. Just finish the course in time with a few or no faults and you get a Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum medal(s). Easy, medium, hard, and hrrgme, extreme. Diabolical is back n00bs! The mini games are very interesting and fun to play. The tracks are the same way; fun and cool. It gets very challenging toward the harder tracks, but nuthing anyone could have many times trying to improve and beat their friends and brag; no one really give a crud. Anyone will have lots of replaying time to enjoy and/or scream their lungs out on it.... like me. heh

Interestingly, this game gives you all medals after- un say you get a gold, you get the bronze and silver too. These then add up to a count that will unlock more tracks and bikes to play with. This game also features a monetary system that gives the player a certain amount of money for completing a track with a bonus for the 'top' medal earned (like Gold, not the ones < it). This "coin" can be used to purchase articles of clothing and useless, aesthetic bike parts. A definite change for this game series and it's not too over whelming or hard to understand. OOOhhhh yyyeeaaaahh!

The customization is a great way to like the guy your killing on the motorcycle. Maybe you'll a bit if empathy for the poor guy. They need to add a gender option, sorry ladies. 

Yay, IGN!

Silver Medal

Another company that thinks they can put multiplayer in the freakin game just because it's the "popular" thing to do now. THANK YOU Red Lynx! Yes multiplayer is quite the fun moto trial frenzy. Up to four players online and two local, mutiplayer is great way to show how much better you are at a game that others only play casually(I adtmit nothing!) or for the better players to better than you. The single-player game is not diluted at all to remedy the multiplayer. In fact, you need the entirety of the single-player game to play multiplayer because they use the same maps and new ones just for super-cross.

Oh yeah the game modes, okay. The first one is, well super-cross, and that's the only one played with four people at once. It is very distracting to look and see three other players kinda in your side view and to see them flipping and sucking is very amusing and irritating when you flip and fall too. The next one is just Trials from Easy to Medium difficulty. Three other player's ghosts are visible on your screen, which is distracting too, but easy maps to complete and may be a challenge competitively. Lastly, thar be the Hardcore Trials, which are Hard and Extreme courses. So, good luck on those. It is fun to think you'll beat a noob, but you wont. There's also a quick match that picks one the modes fastest to connect to. Three chambered Russian Roulette, if you will. Oh, and you can got to level up to level 6 (in multiplayer) to get the Hardcore matches. Just play a few.

Gold Medal

  

In Trials HD, the whole setting for each course was in a huge and infinity large warehouse. For the course maker/editor twas the same. In Evolution however, there is an entire almost Alan Wake-esque mountainous rural area that courses are in and the map editor's realm spans into creator imagination. The map creator is outstanding because it has greatly 'evolved' from the last title and because the options are vast and awesome. By the way, I suck at the map maker, but the things people come up with is astounding. You can see I writing about a game, not making one. Hence I can't do the map thingies.

You gotta play it to see the fun maps people make! Portal 2 (a good one) course, enough said. To me this mode is confusing to handle, but Red Lynx made it so easy to get anyone's maps. They have a menu option called 'Track Central' (another word to add) where the devs have some map picks, top downloads, top rated and so on. They also have a search, which is more like a browse with chosen parameters for a search and they give you a bunch of creations close to that. Plus you can type in a gamer-tag and get all of their creations. The gold medal this game gets is definitely for the course maker/editor/share-er. Did I mention that side scrolling is not only thing you can do?

I just saw this! \/

Platinum Medal

Trials has evolved for sure over the years. Where will it go next? It seems that the fun of Trials well never end and please don't. I dare say that the Trials series might become (if not already) Xbox's answer to Little Big Planet and that's still a while aways though, but look above! Anyone with an Xbox, get a Trial for this game and Evolve your game experience!

5 out 6 bails-I-I mean eggs.

Next review: Trials Evolution, I guess.

Unfortunately, that is really the only game I can do this month (March 31st today); it's technically April. I can't review Stars Wars Kinect, because I am in a wheelchair. THANKS ALOT MICROSOFT!!! Anyway, The Witcher 2 comes out on Xbox, but it has been reviewed on the PC enough already, so no on that one either. Devil May Cry HD, ewww, I can't do it! The rest are on PC and XBLA (including Trials). So that's it.

Screenshot you've seen before!

Mass Effect 3 Review

Dialogue options:
                                             _   _   --    [Bitch about ending and hate on BioWare]   
                                           /  O   \ --    Forget this review!
                                           \-------/  --    I will start this unbiased review now.

Hooray for crappy improvised dialogue wheel! (could of used HTML code but don't know how)

Here:
                       He's dead in my game
                                     |
                                    \|/

Introro: Set the Record

We all know BioWare right? Of course we (gamers) do! Did you know that their first game was called Shattered Steel for DOS and MACOS (yes MacOS) and was released 1996? If you think your a fan of BioWare then that's no news to you. We can all see that BioWare really jumped into fame with Mass Ef... wait no! They have been making very well received games from Baulder's Gate (their second game) to Jade Empire. Not to mention a little game known as the original Star Wars: the Old Republic. So yeah, sorry about that little miscalculation. I'm not as much of a fan of them as I should be, but I degrees. So, they are a very well renowned video game development company.

To the main point! The Mass Effect series is one of those few great games that defines a video game generation as a whole. Much as a book or movie series defies a generation, like the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Matrix Trilogy, a game like this does the same. Some would argue this fact more so and say it has done more. Anyway, does this latest and/or last Mass Effect game from the BioWare tell another great tail for this game generation or does it end up like the Resident Evil movies? They just wont stop!

Just a heads-up; I will not take the controversial ending into account. I have not beaten this game yet and strongly feel the ending should not criticized in any review. <-- period

Part I: A Galaxy Far-ly Close Away

Mass Effect 3 is set in the Milky Way Galaxy, where we use Mass Arrays built by the Protheans to travel to distance worlds with very advanced and relatively friendly cooperative forms of life. Mind the run-on. The graphics in this game have not improved much from the second title, but still look great. Why change them and if it looks nice it looks nice. Except sometimes while walking on uneven a rocky terrain, our Shepard (lol) seems to walk through the rocks or surfaces, but you only notice that when staring stupidly at the ground and get shot to sh** too. Not a big issue, but still there. The art style is very diverse and you can tell where many of the looks of planets and creatures are influenced from. Everything looks fresh and interesting new and different. I don't mean from the other Mass Effect games, but I mean this game compared to other completely different games.

I do say that character speaking looks a bit more realistic and it's cool to stare at turians and wonder how the hell their mouths work. One thing I have a small gripe with is how for mission objects, the game doesn't give any way points or way to set any particular mission active or not. You think with an big RPG dev like BioWare such an issue would be eradicated and is the only UI challenge with the game. One last thing that kind of grids me is the lack of epic and amazing cut scenes by Blur Studios and that's a bummer. Well, not much of an improvement, but good in this category none the less.

Part II: It's the End of the World as we know it and I feel, idk.

Okay, so bad guys are the Reapers and Cerberus are a pain in the ass and the Geth, who cares about them.The rest of everyone is just trying to survive. Reapers invade Earth and now you got to leave and get the other species to help you fight off the Reapers with some Cerberus and Geth being jerks along the way. I will go into the War Assets in the gameplay part. The story line is pretty good, but making the storyline along your choices is what makes this entire game series stand as one of the greatest of all time. Apologies for not playing the other two games, but it is very true that the choices made from ME2 do effect, to an extent, the story of your character and interactions in this game. So no time paradoxes you HAX0RS!  The choices the player has to make are very difficult and question every fiber of your moral being; they also very much affect what friends and foes you will make. (note to you all: DO NOT SELL LEGION TO CERBERUS!!!) Or you could just go renegade and look like Darth Vader under the helmet. It is all up to you! That is awesome.

You just have to give BioWare a major applause for forming this story around the last game way more than any other game has done before. You can still do romances and carry those over from ME2 as well, which is neat too. Such things make you feel so much purpose in a video game. Well in real life, now that's up to you. In all, adding a pretty good story with completely unique decision making, have profound impact not just on the game, but on the one who experiences it.  All you trolls can just suck it!



Part III: World at-I mean: Galaxy at War!

Mass Effect 3 has a very smooth and fluid feel to it. It feels so good to play. The balance between RPG and TPS elements is so well done that gamers hardcore or soft, from any side of the Action RPG spectrum can pick up this game and just have a blast playing it. The squad system is great and the NPCs that fight along side and against you have a very smart AI and create a very realistic combat atmosphere. The usage of squadmate powers is almost perfect and your teams can even shot and kill (that's right) the opposing enemies too. Mass Effect 3 also allows weapons to be upgraded and attached with two different items that increase or decrease certain aspects of the weapon. A new feature added to this game is called War Assets and essentially the player needs to play side missions, main missions, scan planets, and say the correct lines to gain more and more of these. War Assets then can be used, in the end to fight off the Reapers and restore order within the galaxy.

Now in game choices really could go in gameplay and story, but as you can see, I put them in the story category.

The multiplayer is very much like Horde mode and Spec Ops Survival, but with many classes to choose and use. Multiplayer also is part of the War Asset feature that utilize a percent system. Based on playing a certain amount of time in multiplayer the percentage goes up a acts as preparing for the war. Are leveling up to 20 of any class you can promote that character to Galaxy at War statues, which is like prestiging in COD. In this game though, that character from multiplayer becomes your own war asset and increases the number you have to fight for the galaxy. Finally multiplayer that incorporates into the actually campaign of the game. Not as much as BRINK, but lets just avoid that.



 Extro: The End........?

Mass Effect 3, amazing game, but questionable ending. Is it really over? Realize this: Shepard died in the second game (not saying he will or wont in this one) and was rebuilt, so death may not even stop him. Anyway, this game is up there (so far) as one of the greatest games I have ever played. If you like Sci-Fi, Shooting, Action, and RPG video games; buy this buy this buy this BUY THIS!!!!! Still on edge with the ending? Don't spoil it for yourself! Rent it, and let the first few hours tell you if this will be the greatest game ever! Now I gotta the play the first two!

 Damn Reaper laser!

Supah Trickah SSX Review

This game did a Backside 450 Indy with the Tailgrab! Ouch, I leave that out of the review! Speeeedd Booosst! Boost right into the finish with my Supah Trickah SSX Review.

Not really.



Intro: It is not SSSEX!

Well if you did not know, I was trying to reference the first SSX and how the announcer(s) (I don't so remember) call out the player's tricks, boosts, and falls during a race. Okay, so the first SSX came out about 12 years ago, and wow I know. Now after 4 more games, we finally get this game on our 7th gen consoles and it is about time. Now as to be expected, the game has much better graphics, longer and more in-depth gameplay, but lacks majorly in storyline. My reader will soon learn what really is important in a review for this game. Green is GO!

The video is a taste of Africa snowboarding. I said it!

Part 1: What is not important

The storyline, ugh the storyline. Where to end, where to end. The campaign is called SSX World Tour and three "legends" of Snowboarding, Surfing, and Motocross (SSX) join with a team of others to conquer the 9 Deadly Descents of the world. For some reason a kid named Griff bails on the team and they lose their funding. Some how getting their fans to watch them around the world will give them enough funding for the tour they. Are. Already. On. Yeah, right. Now Griff is a rival of them... Okay so story makes no sense and totally stinks, but that is not important (as the subtitle says). Lets move to characters which are a minor importance.

There are few characters here and there from the first game and many more new ones. Many fans will pick some old favs and some new guys (or gals) from this one to "Own the Planet". After beating and recruiting each character, a little moving and sounding comic-style cutscene shows the background of that person. Those sequences aren't bad and are even a little interesting and such. The game also features three different and stereotypical helicopter pilots: one Australian and Russian guy, and a Asian gal. Each of them give some feedback like the announcers from the first game, but don't call out each move you do and they tell you of the certain terrain the track is heading into. So bad story and decent characters. One egg for effort!

 Part 2: I am already cold enough!

I'm from Illinois, so February (and March) isss sssoo vvvvveryy cold around here. I'll I need is more cold and snow. Actually it was a record low for snow in a long time in this state. This game has definitely made up for that lack of snow, but certainly lack of cold. Stop me! Alright the graphics and great, the snow looks good. Well, it all looks very good graphics, snow, track design, and characters. One thing to take into interest is in the cutscenes like from the image above. All of these look like very long elaborate YouTube intros with the 3-D affect and the average person not knowing how to make it! It looks good, it changes it up compared to any newerish game I've seen around. It must have saved some money and it looks nice too.

Another interesting note to note (redundant), is the fact that for 28 'drops' or tracks, they used NASA data to create them. You can thank Mother Nature for designing those! The snow 'spraying' looks more real and the shadowing is very much improved. Most of dialog is better acted and expressed. The character's recruitment comics look like a mix of good and bad art just like Metal Gear Awesome (go watch them they are funnuh). No more urban scenery like the previous games; they look more natural and sometimes industrial. One bit of the game that won't be taken into this review is the soundtrack. It has lots of songs, none of which I like (I am a Rock/Metal fan). It seemed to have allot Dub-Step music and has one Skrillex song, but not any of Korn's new songs *sad face*. Two white frosted eggs for art.

Part 3: TRICKEY! TRICKEY!

The gameplay is the heart and soul of this game and makes it awesome! I'll tell you already: 2 golden eggs for gameplay. This game is fun and hard and everything awesome! Time to settle abit; SSX features many different drops for the World Tour that are not very hard at all to get golds in stuff and complete. Now in the Browse mode you can choose from over 150 (153) drops to play and that includes these modes. Race is race whopdeedo! Trick it is where you need to rack up as many points with tricks and failing a trick spells minus points. The hardest ones are survival mode; with each different drop of these the play must use different gear to help you survive. Play it to find out. They work great and the game's economy system is not at all explained, but very easy to use and money is earned as a reward for placing in top three of any mode. Before each drop, the game tells you the percentage of your survival. You can also do drops that require gear without using it and get some Achievements/Trophies, but good luck. Never tell me the odds!

Now into the playing of this game. Much like the first one, this is very easy for about any gamer to pick up and have many hours of fun. It's no Skyrim lengthen game, but it's over all difficulty in getting all golds in everything is gonna take some 100+ hours. Not to mention the multiplayer. It is good, but you only can play and compete for the highest everything in this mode. You can start some rivalries or just scream at each other over a stupid race some one is gonna cry over. This game is very intense no matter how many replays you do. Spend your money too, because an impossible seeming drop might be a little less impossible with a few mods and better gear purchased from the store. I didn't say it would be Goldable just not impossible to finish in 3rd place. Good luck once again! Most of all have lots of fun.

SSX is very nice complete redo of a 6 gen classic game to a 7th gen console. It has really astounding visuals, and not so good who cares attempt on a story and okay characters, and intense unforgettable gameplay. SSX is a very extreme sport game the really can 'Defy Reality' to the world and a gamer's world as well. Play the demo and see it too. Rent it then or even buy after that or before. Any lover of the first game who forgot the other 4 (like) and long time lifers of the series need this game at any time of the year for a great experience every play through again and again. SSX 2012 greatly earns 5 out of six eggs!

They need warmth to survive!

A paper I forgot about

Read the title. If I decide to review SSX, it will be done before Mass Effect 3 comes out. Hmm wonder why... I am reviewing that for March.

Alan Wake's American Nightmare Review

                        

What you are about to read may entice the world of one's imagination, where games and stories converse into one being. Where one's look at something stirs one of an other's criticism on another creation of a group of artists: The Alan Wake's American Nightmare Review.

    Intro: Previously at Remedy Entertainment

Two years ago Remedy Entertainment released the "First Season" of their second video game franchise, Alan Wake. The last franchise they developed was the critically acclaimed games, Max Payne. Alan Wake is about a writer (Alan Wake) who writes things that come true, but are twisted by a dark presence. He is able to fight by using a flashlight and a gun. Now, Remedy has released a 'stand alone' sequel to Alan Wake, but is no way Alan Wake 2. The developers stated this game as a "Pulp Action Thriller", as opposed to the first game's "Psychological Action Thriller".  Alan Wake's American Nightmare is an Xbox Live Arcade game that really seems to push the boundary on arcade title.

Part 1: New Nightmare

After two years of being in the "Dark Place" , an evil doppelganger of Alan Wake has been created and he is Mr. Scratch. Mr. Scratch is the accumulation of all the urban legends about Alan Wake the crazy writer that where made up during the time of his disappearance from the real world. Mr. Scratch is a malevolent caricature of Alan Wake who impersonation him to try and open the door between the world of imagination and our world. The real Alan won't let that happen. There are three more new characters in this game, all of which, are not very fleshed out, but there is no time for that in an arcade game. The voice acting of these new characters is very mediocre, but the voice of Alan Wake and Mr.Scratch is as excellent as ever.

The  game begins exactly like an episode of the fake TV show from Alan Wake called Night Springs (Twilight Zone copy). The narrator does a fairly good Rod Serling impersonation throughout the entire game, but not annoyingly so. Alright, so the story is cool and all, but the character gets stuck in a time loop. A concept like that is a perfect match for a Twilight Zony pulp story to it. The game also features TVs, Radios, and Manuscript pages to interact with to give a little back story to each element and story in this game. One must have a very open mind when trying to enjoy this story. It is definitely a great spin off story for the Alan Wake fan. For any new comers, play the first one, then play this one or if not, just keep an open mind while in this one. 1 egg and a half for Story and Characters.

Part 2: The Flashlight is mightier than the Gun

 The gameplay of Alan Wake is something very different and never done before. Instead the Run-And-Gun approach that Max Payne had, you need to play much more defensively. The player must use the flashlight to burn the surrounding darkness away from the "Taken" (taken over by darkness) and only then can you shoot them. Sometimes the player must dodge to avoid getting hurt and use anything that can convey light to fight your foes. Some objects can become possessed and you can only burn the darkness away to destroy them.

It would seem that such a gameplay style would get very boring, but Remedy remedies (lol) this situation with a change in enemy combat and storyline gameplay. For example, some enemies like the Splitter are very hard to kill as one, but you can shine the light on them to split them up twice and make them easier to kill with more numbers. Other enemies such as the Birdmen turn into a flock of ravens when impacted with light. The Grenadiers use dark grenades, are easy to burn dark off, and attack at longer ranges. They even introduce an enemy called the Giant, he carries an enormous buzz saw and is about 8 feet tall and take a lot of light and bullets to kill. Certain parts of the game make you look at a manuscript to set up the change in reality, but presents no more challenge then do this and that in any dumb order and fight a  bunch of guys.

Where the gameplay really shines is in the new wave based mode called, Fight Til Dawn. In this mode you have 10 minutes until dawn breaks and you must survive waves of increasing difficulty Taken. You can just evade until dawn, but there is no fun or points to be awarded in doing that. This mode features 5 different areas and 5 of the same with the Nightmare difficulty. None of these levels are at all easy and you will be screaming after playing some of the Nightmare ones. 2 Eggs for Gameplay.

Part 3: Pulp is a type of paper!

Alan Wake's American Nightmare uses the same stunning graphics as the previous title and as a 5 hour long arcade title. I give much praise to Remendy for doing such a great thing. They really made this game look like a convincing direct sequel even though its not nearly as long or uses a disc to play. Small parts of this game use live action cut scenes and they are also during the TV interactions (by that I mean turning on and viewing) much like from the first game.

Now something you didn't expect to be reviewed, the writing and music! The writing was very interesting and didn't seem to have that same worry about everything the first game had. The manuscript pages seemed more poetic and also blatantly explanatory of some situations faced in the game. One must realize that these pages were written to explain the other parts of the game looked into as apposed to telling a story the way the previous game did. The composed music wasn't very special and it was weird having the Kasabian Club Foot song the game and Ed Harcourt's Watching the Sun Come Up fit better because of the title more than the lyrics. A group by the name of Poets of the Fall with two songs make the music in this game great. They have a song called The Happy Song (I'm a physco!) and song called Balance Slays the Demon (as Old Gods of Asgard) If the first Alan Wake didn't get you into Poets of the Fall this one should. 1 and a half eggs.

Extro: Only in....

Alan Wake's American Nightmare is a fairly good spin-off to a very good game that must be tried by anyone who even thinks one second about it. This game keeps the fun gameplay of Alan Wake and pushes it a bit further; it also challenges the player in Fight Till Dawn and finishes off smoothly. It may lack in suspense and acting, but is not big price to pay for a much worth $15 for a game. Go get the trail version right now and enjoy it, because it is good. That's the bottom line.

A video game is meant to be a world of mystery and fantasy, not at all of events that took around in a certain time and place. Only a near disposition of a false reality and horror. Would we ever know if such events in this game happened? Would we really know what are in these eggs of light or dark. One could guess and be right or wrong in their imagination. False would be true only in Night Springs.

Hmmm Next Reviews

I'm going to review SSX and Alan Wake's American Nightmare, which came out today. Both I hope to have done by the end of this month.