Kirby Air Ride

Does a lot with a little on September 11, 2007

The controls for this game are ridiculously simple: it uses only the control stick and the A button.

With such a simple basis, Kirby Air Ride manages to play extraordinarily well. Most of the things you can ride on are pretty good, although a few disappoint. (Bulk Star, Rocket Star, I'm looking at you here.) You can even play as Meta-Knight and Kind DeDeDe. There are various enemies from the Kirby games littered in all the stages, and some of them can be inhaled to steal their abilities. The stages have that fanciful, cartoony, abstract look that is signature to a Kirby game.

But mostly it's the good gameplay that makes me give it the 4-star rating. It just handles very nicely.

Worms Blast

Cheap spinoff that's mostly just awkward on September 11, 2007

This game attempts to merge the puzzle action of Bubble Bobble and its clones with...rafting...and, um...bazookas. Yeah. Pure genius. Wonder who thought that up? Unfortunately, aiming is poor because shots are affected by gravity--definitely out of place in this game, where hitting the wrong block accidentally can ruin your whole strategy. Also, since you're floating in a raft, you have to occasionally paddle around back and forth to dodge falling blocks and stuff like that, which only serves to take away from the actual blocks. Oh, and there's a power bar on your bazooka, which is supposed to be for consistency with other Worms games but ends up making it really annoying to hold down the button when you shoot, for no good reason.

As for the puzzle engine itself, it's a simple falling blocks deal: blocks fall, you shoot them, matching colors to destroy them. In this case hitting the wrong color will cause its color to change. It's not exactly what anybody would call original.

You do get to unlock the concrete donkey as a playable character, which is a little funny...but it makes you wonder how he can float at all.

Anyway, bottom line, there isn't really anything interesting or exciting about this game at all.

Masters of the Universe: He-Man -- Power of Grayskull

You'd have to be a rabid fan to enjoy this. on September 04, 2007

I'm not entirely sure who the target audience for this game is supposed to be, but frankly, it's not my cup of tea. An isometric viewpoint that looks really stupid combined with action that isn't very exciting and level design that's uninspired, plus a dumb generic plot...essentially, there's nothing good I can say about this game. Maybe if you really like He-Man for some reason.

X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse

Good gameplay, but not challenging enough on September 04, 2007

I love the hack-and-slash action of this game, and it makes for some fun times. Unfortunately, the difficulty level is very low. None of the puzzles are challenging--they're essentially "You need the blue key to enter this door" type things, or else all you need to do is have Rogue drain the batteries out of a generator, or get Iceman to put out a fire, or something dumb that requires only the presence of a specific character on your team. Also, the enemies are weak and lazy and can't really provide much of a challenge--even the bosses are pretty pitiful.

This game improved on the previous one with the addition of a level select, a storage box for extra items, the ability to create a portal back to your base once every five minutes, and the ability to buy upgrades to your character from Forge's shop. You can also use more than the previous 4 special abilities; however, the powers you get to pick from don't vary a whole lot from character to character. Bishop's beam attack is basically the same as Cyclops's which is the same as Scarlet Witch's etc.

The level design is not particularly excellent. Basically a large area with enemies scattered around, and after you kill the enemies, the whole thing is empty and boring. And the potential for maze-like areas is kind of ruined by the map that shows up on the screen.

On the plus side, playing as semi-customizable superhero characters alongside a couple friends and just bashing up the various enemies can be a blast. But walking across an empty city block unopposed...not so much.

Pokemon Colosseum

Not as fun as the other Pokémon games on August 03, 2007

Allow me to go over all my grievances with this game.
1. There's this annoying girl who follows you around everywhere. It's like Pokémon Yellow, only worse.
2. You move realy slowly and there's no bike.
3. There are no routes. You go from city to city by means of a cutscene. So much for the intrepid adventurer.
4. There are no wild Pokémon, and very few shadow Pokémon to snag. This strongly detracts from the team customization element so beloved in the series.
5. In addition, shadow Pokémon can't level up until they're purified, and leveling up is fun.
6. The storyline is riddled with gaping plotholes. For example, Pokémon seem to always follow their masters' orders, even if their master is evil. So why does Cipher need to alter their genetics to make them do evil things? All they'd need to do is order them to bite someone. Voila.
7. The Pokémon don't really attack each other. It's like, one Pokémon shoots a blast of fire out in front of them. Then it cuts to a shot of another pokémon being hit by a blast of fire. There's no real interaction.

On the bright side, you do get to wear a cool cape. But that can't really rescue the game from mediocrity.

Pokemon Dash!

A boring spinoff with very little going for it. on August 02, 2007

Pokémon Dash is, to put it bluntly, a piece of junk that has to cling to its franchise to sell more than a dozen games. It's unexciting and shallow; every level is pretty much identical to the last. You can insert GBA Pokémon games to import the Pokémon in your party as tracks to race on, which is an interesting novelty, but not much fun in practice.

Bottom line: An attempt at a spin-off that I consider to be a miserable failure with nothing going for it except the name Pokémon.

Sonic Advance 2

As usual, Sonic provides good gameplay, but this time there are a few too many frills on August 02, 2007

You know the drill: for high-speed platforming action, there's no better hedgehog to turn to than Sonic. This game definitely delivers all the great things you love about Sonic...but if you're a long-time fan like I am, you might be disappointed with all the unnecessary additions they made to Sonic's 2-D formula, most notably grinding on rails, and an extra midair jump. I feel like they add very little to gameplay.

Besides that, it's very difficult to reach bonus levels--you have to collect a full seven Secret Rings before you can access the chaos emerald minigame. This is easily the most difficult and frustrating requirement out of all the Sonic games I've ever played, and I dislike it.

Also, you can't play as all the characters from the start. You have to unlock them. And unlike the first Sonic Advance, if you want to link it up with Sonic Adventure 2: Battle's Chao Garden, you have to get all the chaos emeralds before you unlock the Tiny Chao Garden, which is IMO a shame.

Despite these faults, it's still a great package of Sonic-y goodness. It might not be perfect, but it's still a lot of fun to run around at high speed.

Kirby: Nightmare in Dream Land

A typical Kirby game on August 02, 2007

What we have here is a port of the original Kirby's Adventure for NES, repackaged for the GBA to look shiny and new. It exhibits all the characteristics of a traditional Kirby game: gentle, cartoony graphics, inhaling and floating, and a low difficulty level. Any experienced gamer should be able to laugh and breeze through it with flying colors, and long-time Kirby fans will be disappointed at seeing a mere rehashed version of his old NES adventure. Thus the game is left to the little kids, who will no doubt enjoy it very much.

Personally, I think it's still too easy. Kirby may look small, but he's pretty overpowered for a marshmallow. The boss fights are fun, though, and multiplayer minigames are sort of nifty.

Bottom line: If you missed the original, you might give this a spin, but the low difficulty on most levels means you will probably sail through the game very quickly.

X2: Wolverine's Revenge

A poor-quality attempt at a movie cash-in. on August 02, 2007

I found this game to be wholly uninteresting. Just about everything in it is drab and unexciting. The music is irritating and the plot is kind of lame. All in all, there's very little in it that's actually fun.

Amazing Island

A really great concept, but with little depth to the gameplay on August 02, 2007

Amazing Island has a really great little engine. You get to fully customize a monster. And when I say fully customize, I mean FULLY customize. That means literally drawing all of its body parts and then inflating them to a 3-D form which you can then pimp with all sorts of accessories, like fangs and claws, wings and beaks, geometric shapes, medieval armor, silly hats, gatling guns and missiles, giant drills and saws, little umbrellas and broomsticks, flaming manes and horns, and so on. Then you'll be able to change the color and texture and so on of its skin, with selections including cow spots, a Santa outfit, a pattern called Zigzag that actually moves, a see-through Glass pattern, and a Chameleon pattern that makes your monster nearly invisible. Or, you can of course paint it manually. With this system, the possibilities are limitless. It's especially fun to create Amazing Island doppelgangers of favorites from other games, such as Pokémon. If you don't feel creative, you can use unlockable pre-made monsters, some of which are pretty silly. For example, there's one that's just a floating bucket with a cat inside.

But despite the awesomeness of this crazy premise, once you make there monster, there's very little for it to do. The only quests it can challenge are a series of Olympic-style minigames, which tend to require little more than button-mashing. Completing the events furthers the story and unlocks new options in the monster-making mode. However, the story is really short, with only three levels before the final boss. The second and third levels have branching paths, each of which must be completed separately...but it doesn't change a lot, to tell you the truth, and the first events (before they branch off) are still the same. And like I said, it's mostly just button-mashing.

You can also link up with a GBA to play different games, in the form of some sort of card game. I'm not entirely sure how it works, but if you play it you can earn new accessories to add to your monsters. Unfortunately, it's even more boring than the Gamecube mini games.

It doesn't help either that each monster you make takes up a huge amount of space on the memory card. So unless you have a lot of empty space, you won't be able to save a large number of your creations.

Bottom line: The concept is really cool, but the gameplay doesn't deliver.

Naruto: Clash of Ninja

Far too short and far too shallow on July 14, 2007

This game has a lot going for it. The fighting style is really great, and it handles in a unique way that's very different from other fighting games. You automatically block by standing still, and you can easily escape from other people's combos by pressing L or R and spending your stored up "chakra." Fighting from a distance is easy, since most characters are equipped with shuriken that they can throw with a simple press of the A button, mainly for distractions, but the damage adds up if you aren't careful. And the graphics style is playful and cartoony, which is a good fit for the game.

But the thing that kills it is lack of depth.

With only eight characters to choose from, it gets old fast. Really fast. Sure, the fighting style is fun. But it basically just sucks, because you only have so many guys to play with. Add to this that the vastly, vastly, vastly better sequel, with three times as many playable characters, four-player simultaneous, and lots of other goodies, was released just a few months after this, and this game is really just a waste of money. Get Clash of Ninja 2 instead. It's probably even cheaper, since it's Player's Choice. Skip this. You might get four hours of gameplay if you're lucky.

Naruto: Clash of Ninja

Far too short and far too shallow on July 14, 2007

This game has a lot going for it. The fighting style is really great, and it handles in a unique way that's very different from other fighting games. You automatically block by standing still, and you can easily escape from other people's combos by pressing L or R and spending your stored up "chakra." Fighting from a distance is easy, since most characters are equipped with shuriken that they can throw with a simple press of the A button, mainly for distractions, but the damage adds up if you aren't careful. And the graphics style is playful and cartoony, which is a good fit for the game.

But the thing that kills it is lack of depth.

With only eight characters to choose from, it gets old fast. Really fast. Sure, the fighting style is fun. But it basically just sucks, because you only have so many guys to play with. Add to this that the vastly, vastly, vastly better sequel, with three times as many playable characters, four-player simultaneous, and lots of other goodies, was released just a few months after this, and this game is really just a waste of money. Get Clash of Ninja 2 instead. It's probably even cheaper, since it's Player's Choice. Skip this. You might get four hours of gameplay if you're lucky.

TimeSplitters 2

A great game worth of praise, but with some faults on July 14, 2007

There's a lot of good things to say about this game. The gameplay is great. There are tons of characters to choose from, with lots of silly ones, like a duck, or a monkey, or a dinosaur, or a snowman, or a dancing bear, or a guy with a giant glove instead of a head, or a shirtless blue-skinned lady with four arms, or an Elvis impersonator, or a lawyer...weird, but in a cool way. And the Mapmaker option adds some nice depth to the game.

Oh, and there are lots of different multiplayer modes to choose from. You can do Capture the Flag, where they use a Bag instead of a flag, but it's otherwise very standard and lots of fun; you can do your standard Deathmatches, teamed-up or otherwise. You can do a bunch of extra types of Deathmatches, such as a mode where the contestants grow or shrink depending on their scores; or a mode where you have a deplenishing life bar that kills you when it runs out, and gets refilled when you score a point; or a mode where every damage you deal to others makes you gain life; or a mode where the contestant in last place gets a bunch of AI-controlled monkeys to fight on their team. You can also play Zones, where two teams battle it out for control of up to four "Zones" placed in certain spots on the map. You can play Bag Tag, which is a lot like King of the Hill, but instead of a Hill, you have to be King of "A Suitcase That You Carry Around With You." So plenty of options.

Also, the controls work very well, and the piece come together for a very fun game.

It does have a couple flaws that bring it down to a four, though. First, it's very difficult to aim. When you hold down the L button to bring up the crosshair, you can't just move it. You have to sort of flick your c-stick, and the crosshair will jump a little, then jump a little back to center again. It's really annoying when you're trying to snipe, and it effectively makes long-range shooting impossible.

The other flaw is that you can't make outdoor levels in Mapmaker, which is a shame, because dark indoor tunnel-like levels start to get depressing after a while. It's bad enough that you're cooped up inside in front of the TV. The least it could do is let you create a level where you can go outside.

I like this game, but I'd probably recommend getting its sequel, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, instead.

X-Men Legends

This is a great game. on July 13, 2007

The hack-and-slash action makes for great gameplay. It's fun and intuitive. I really like it. The level-up system is exciting and makes you really want to get to the next level so you can afford to get that new special move. The 4-player co-op mode is a great feature that adds a lot to a game in this style.

If it has any flaws, it's the lack of balance between characters. Jean Grey, for example, can take out an entire screen full of even the most difficult enemies with a single R + B, if it's boosted by her Mental Mastery...and this takes very little energy to accomplish. In contrast, Jubilee has very poor special moves even if you upgrade them to their highest levels. And even the bosses are an easy matter if you just put Cyclops and Storm both on the same team--their Leadership abilities, when combined, will allow you to do ridiculous, ridiculous amounts of damage. Also, the game would sorely benefit from a level select. The lack of such an option removes a lot of replay value.

Still, it's likely to provide many hours of fun, whether you're an X-Men fanboy or just looking for a cool action game to play with your friends.

Super Smash Bros. Melee

Easily one of the greatest games I've ever played. on July 06, 2007

What can I say? The gameplay is flawless. The competition is fierce. It's deep and complex, while at the same time, intuitive and simple. It's probably the best game ever to hit the 'Cube.

Pokemon Pearl Version

More of the same...and I love the same on July 06, 2007

In my humble opinion:

Good

The Pokétch
Having access to such handy information like the location of all the ripe berries you've planted, the remaining HP of your Pokémon, the time of day, the status of the Daycare, and so many other things, all in one convenient location, is clearly a worthy boon.

The new physical/special split
This is the biggest thing that's happened to battling since special defense broke up with special attack. All those poor Pokémon with high attack but a special STAB type or vice versa, like Kingler and Feraligatr and Gengar and so on and so forth, are very happy about this. And it didn't make much sense that Dragon Claw was special while Shadow Ball was physical. Hurrah for fixing a mistake that never should have existed!

Wi-fi
In-game battling and trading have moved online! A giant leap for Pokémon! This is easily the biggest and best change of them all, because it adds so much functionality. The GTS makes getting difficult Pokémon to get, like the starters you didn't pick, or Pokémon exclusive to the other game, a cinch to obtain. Online trading takes a lot of the headache out of completing your Pokédex. And as for battling over the internet, I shouldn't need to explain why that's a good thing.

The Choice Specs
It wasn't fair having just a physical version of this item, and I'm glad the wrong has been righted.

Backwards compatibility
It's really great being able to trade in pokes from the previous generation. I really like that functionality. The older games always seem to feel obsolete when you leave them behind for the new ones. So this is a good feature.

Having day and night
This feature was sorely missed by many when it departed after GSC. It's good to have it back. Plus, they made it more accurate than simply morning/day/night, with stuff like evening and all that.

The Pokéradar
The Pokéradar was an elegant and creative way of letting players catch Pokémon from previous gens without having to transfer them from R/S/E/FR/LG. "Chaining" is an odd idea, but okay.

Bad

Super contests
Take the fairly interesting and fun contests from Ruby and Sapphire. Add an idiotic dress-up competition. Force players to go out of the way to obtain accessories for it or lose. Then put in an even more idiotic dance competition. Finally, take the interesting system of appeals and jams and move combos in Ruby and Sapphire and replace it with a three-judge system based almost entirely on luck, without any combos and without any jam. Oh, and while you're at it, take out Pokéblocks and insert a boring minigame that feels like a dumb excuse to "innovate" with the touch screen. You'll end up with the drab, uninteresting, and altogether lame Super Contests that makes the relevant trainer star feel like a chore.

No "down" button on the Poketch
If you want to go to Poketch app #5, and you accidentally press the button to change apps one extra time, you can't just hit down and go back to #5. You have to go a