So, off the beta, to the game.

Campaign mode, Brad and I played this together, of course . . . on Easy mode . . . kidding. If you fell for that then shame on you!

I will say this for the makers of the Halo franchise, whatever they are doing they are doing it right. I’ve never been a massive fan of first person shooters but they’ve managed to pull me into this world they’ve created. Not only that, but they’ve done the world right. I find that I have no issue with the way they’ve released the games and it seems they’ve even managed to avoid the whole “saturating the market” trend that’s been happening a lot lately. They’ve managed to release a good number of games while also putting together a quality storyline.

I have to admit though, I didn’t like the female character they threw in there. Her voice acting was a bit off for me. I love the whole idea of female spartans, although I kind of laughed at the way they make them walk. No woman in armor could walk like that, just to let you guys know.

I did like all the other characters, outside of the female character I did feel like they did a good job of helping you connect with your team.

The story . . . awesome. The gameplay . . . magnificent. I loved every part of it.

The new weapons are great. I like the new Elite weapons they’ve thrown in there. I approve.

Now, for the online gameplay. I have only one question . . .

What the HECK were they thinking with these STUPID MAPS?!?!

Seriously! I was all excited because the beta had the cool maps like Powerhouse and Swordbase, what the freak is this “atom” and “cage” bull?? And REFLECTION?! I feel like I’m reading names off a horrible children’s book! The maps are a nightmare, you’re basically wandering around in circles all the time. You see a person obviously in trouble, head towards their Tag and BAM a wall! Okay ummm take a right, a dead end? Wait there are some stairs . . . wait hold on no they don’t go anywhere . . . oh an elevator! *sword to face* THANK YOU!

And the good maps? I’m sure I’ll have to purchase those!

I AM HATING YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!!!! AND YET I CAN’T STOP PLAYING YOUR GAME!! ARGAHARHAGAR!!!

*ahem*

So, I will not say that we wasted money on Halo Reach. I will suggest you got out and buy it because despite the whole tragic map thing it is a GOOD game. I don’t feel like they went halfway on this, but I do feel that the $$ in their eyes made them stupid when it came to the maps.

This was one of the games I borrowed while Brad and I were traveling. I was lucky enough to have someone offer to lend it to me while we were staying in this location which I will not slip up and expose. I can’t call this game a complete disappointment because I wasn’t expecting all too much out of it in the first place. Most games that are brought about because of a movie tend to fall short with the whole gaming experience. I do admire the decision to not stick strictly to the script (try to say that five times fast . . .) It’s basically a platformer with a bunch of puzzles thrown in and you have to use your characters strategically to manipulate the situation to your advantage.

When I first picked the game up within five minutes I wanted to put it back down again. Despite what the title might allude to nowhere in the game do you play as Alice. She’s basically one of those annoying characters that follows you around, slows you down, makes obnoxious noises, and really just makes you want to leave her in a pit somewhere because she’s always in the way. I’ve never been a fan of this approach. I have yet to see a game that manages to add a secondary character that follows you around without making you want to slap them around a bit. I mean how many times have you tried to figure out if you could slap or stab the thing following you? I’ll admit there are some games that have pulled it off better than others. A Boy and his Blob for instance, I was impressed they managed to pull off the extra character without making me want to strangle the thing, it also helped that Blob was incredibly cute, but that’s not the point.

If you have issues with the whole dumb blonde stereotype I’m telling you right now that it’s probably not a good idea to play the game. I felt that was Alice’s whole purpose in the game, to reinforce the dumb blonde stereotype.

Okay, I’m being a bit negative. I will say that after playing the game for about . . . oh I don’t know . . . an hour maybe? It gets a lot more interesting. It basically gets more interesting the more characters are added to the equation. The last two additions seemed to have a lot more thought put into them then the first two. I enjoyed the art style and the animations, I could tell that was thought out a good deal. The puzzles got cool and the abilities were really neat. Despite the fact I constantly just wanted to pick Alice up and throw her, it was pretty cool all around.

However, they completely downplay the Queen of Hearts, MAJOR disappointment for me because I loved her character art. Not to mention the Queen of Hearts seems like the type of character you would really want to exploit in a game. I mean she’s a raving, self obsessed, whiny baby. How many people would LOVE to just throw a flamingo golf club at her? It’d be awesome.

The White Queen creeped me out majorly. They made her about as obnoxious as Alice. I was waiting for her to pull out an insanely large lollipop, stare at you with empty eyes, and just giggle. Creepy giggle, not cute giggle, creepy.

Of course through this entire game I was thinking “Well it keeps getting better. The gameplay is getting better, the characters more interesting. I’ll bet the final boss fight is going to be AWESOME!”

In short, that was THE most disappointing boss fight EVER. I figured they’d bring puzzles into it, no. The characters’ abilities? Not so much. Not to mention Alice decides to go run into a corner and shiver with fright. For some reason I got the feeling I was actually going to be able to USE her character. I need to stop expecting so much from games. However, I think I now fully understand how those guys/girls in movies feel when the obnoxious tagalong decides to make their job harder. I mean if it weren’t for wanting the game to continue I would have just let Alice get eaten. That would have made my life so much easier.

I just wonder how a game that seemed so close to getting it right could go so so so SO wrong. The art was cool, the plotline decent, the gameplay was interesting, but none of that matters if the final boss fight is HORRIBLE! I could have beaten that part of the game with one hand and blindfolded. I could have probably beaten it if I decided to use my nose instead of the stylus. I mean geez . . .

In short, this game is just a time waster. If you don’t want to think or deal with anything intense then buy the game, WHEN IT IS ON SALE! (write that down)

btw I do have reviews waiting to be posted. I just want the anger of the lack of reports to simmer down a bit first . . .

There is only one thing that left me fearful in the Iron Man 2 movie, Scarlett Johannson. She was obviously chosen for her looks and not for her acting skills because Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts left Scarlett in the dust. I can only hope that she either ups her acting for the Avengers movie, or she just doesn’t talk at all during the movie. She does well as a pretty face and kind of a back character but she’s just such a flat actress. When she’s bantering with Tony Stark or Pepper Potts you just don’t FEEL anything. I wanted a witty, cocky, smart aleck chick, it’s just NOT there. There is no WAY she could be worried about upstaging the Pepper Potts character because . . . that just wouldn’t happen.

If you are hoping for major action scenes in this second installment you will be disappointed, as with all sequels it is mostly plot and relationship development. You get more of a back story on Tony Stark and his father, which is nice. I teared up a bit, not going to lie. But DON’T worry it’s NOT a chick movie! However, it does have less action. In a way you can understand it though because the entire first installment was about perfecting the suit, which of course meant we all got more of a visual dose of what it was capable of. In this part you get to know more about all of the individual characters. That made it a perfect time to bring in the replacement actor for the original guy who played Tony Stark’s best friend.

I have to say I was extremely happy with the replacement actor. The play off and banter seemed much more natural then it was in the first one. The two actually seemed like they had been friends for a very long time, and less like they just served as an annoyance to each other. You could actually see the bond there. So major props to the casting people.

I was extremely impressed with the villain, Mickey Rourke was an excellent choice to go up against the acting of Robert Downey Jr. His calm and collected mockery went great with the witty one liners that Tony Stark delivers constantly. The back story of this villain was equally as fascinating. They are definitely sticking with a villain type though, seeing as the villain in the second one is a bit similar to the one in the first.
Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts didn’t come off as annoying or ultra macho feminist (which I greatly appreciated), all in all she still remained a nice feminine balance to Tony Stark’s machisimo attitude.

The plot was very difficult to predict, and I must say I was surprised a few times. However I was very disappointed that they cut out the line they constantly showed in the trailers, where he says “You complete me” to Pepper Potts as he jumps out of a plane. I mean WHY? I loved that line specifically because it truly showed the relationship he had with her as well as his personality. I felt they removed a way to understand Tony Stark’s character when that was taken out.

The movie does get a bit emo at one point, not Spiderman 3 emo (thank God), but kind of that tug at your heart emo. Where you actually feel sorry for the character instead of wishing you could gouge your own eyes out because you can’t handle the utter stupidity.

All in all, I will beg Brad to buy this movie when it is out on Blu-Ray and I highly recommend watching it. They didn’t ruin the franchise. I swear if they lose Robert Downey Jr. the whole thing will go down the drain though . . .

btw Sherlock Holmes was pretty cool too.

oh and Scarlet Johannson better start getting by on more then her looks if she wants to really pull off the Black Widow. She’s going to be up there with Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, and (fingers crossed) Edward Norton. DON’T SCREW THIS UP FOR ME BLONDIE!!!!!!

*ahem*

So yeah.

Anyway, the game.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Phoenix Wright series, basically you play a defense lawyer that defends his clients. It sounds boring, I know, I felt the same way when Brad handed me the DS game. However, if Brad is addicted to a series then that counts for something.
Anyway, Miles Edgeworth is a recurring character in the Phoenix Wright series, basically he’s the Chuck Norris of prosecutors so he IS technically your enemy but he’s way too awesome to hate. His character is developed throughout the Phoenix Wright series so I suggest before you play this game playing through the Phoenix Wright series because Miles Edgeworth:Investigations has several allusions, throwbacks to old characters, and flashbacks. They should be relatively inexpensive now that they’ve been out for . . . well . . . .forever. Before you roll your eyes at this suggestion I WILL tell you that this series has proven it’s amazingness to me because my younger brother, J.B., became just as addicted to it as I became. It made me realize I wasn’t just crazy or fooling myself because I dearly love my husband and I would hate to tell him that one of his favorite videogames is complete trash. My usual gauge of how awesome a game is before I play it is how much Brad likes it and how much J.B. likes it, so when I handed the games off to Jude and he told me how awesome they were I knew I’d struck GOLD! Sort of.

Okay, well, for those of you who have played Phoenix Wright you may be a bit disappointed to know that pretty much none of the game takes place inside a courtroom. Strange, I know, but the game definitely makes up for it in the abundance of characters (some old faces, some new, play the games earlier in the series . . . ) I did wonder what kind of insult the other characters would give ol’ Miles (in the past games usually people made fun of the main character’s hair) and I did get a chuckle when everyone just referred to him as “pretty boy” or the girls around him just had massive hearts in their eyes whenever they gazed at him. For the record there were no real hearts in their eyes like the sometimes do in anime, it was just implied.

I did find it funny that all of the annoying ticks that Miles Edgeworth had in the earlier games made me feel nostalgic and they were pretty much endearing whenever he did them in this game.

Oh, the “adversary” that appears a bit later in this game is pretty awesome. The people that do the character art for these games are geniuses. The dialogue can get a bit PG-13 (mild language) but the game is more of a teenage to adult game anyway. I can’t imagine an eight year old picking up a game where you play a lawyer . . . no offense to all the lawyers out there. Character art is genius though, and the development of the games are always flawless. Sometimes the cases run a bit long so I ALWAYS suggest saving after Miles makes a point or solves something. Which brings me to the next addition to the game . . .

Milezy apparently is huge on logic, so whenever he discovers something that could potentially be “connected” to something later it flies off into his Logic box (or something). Usually when you are stuck and you’ve gathered evidence and questioned everyone, that means that you have two things in your Logic box that need to be connected. It’s pretty cool how they did it, I thought it’d be annoying at first, but once you get the hang of it you can see how it brings a different dimension to the game.

I’m getting up to around 800 words so I should probably cut the review off here lest I start revealing stuff that shouldn’t be revealed o0o0o0o0o0o0o . . . . yeah stupid I know but whatever.

In short, if you are a huge fan of the Phoenix Wright series buy this game. I had my doubts, I was not disappointed. If you’ve never played the Phoenix Wright games WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE GO BUY THEM NOWZ!!! SRSLY . . . . waiting . . . . you’re still here aren’t you? Oh well I tried.

Edit: btw guys I was thinking of possibly reviewing a few flash games just so there is some filler when I’m playing a long game, is that something y’all would be interested in reading? They’d be shorter (obviously) but could be interesting.

bleh that link kind stunk so here’s the link from gonintendo . . .

http://www.gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=118173

Miles Edgeworth Investigations review coming soon . . .

Forewarning, this game does have a bit of language in it. Not harsh language, but I’m not suggesting this for anyone under the age of . . . 12? It’s mild language, I don’t know how ratings go nowadays, they’ve become a bit less strict since I was young. Sooo I’m going by MY experience, because I’m a genius and all. (right . . . ) Anyway! Back to the game!

The first thing that made me a little averse to the game was the title, I mean . . . “The World Ends With You.” I’m used to short titles, the ones that don’t make you think. Well, this game will make you think. HOWEVER, it’s absolutely perfect in it’s simplicity. The plot is straight forward and the fight sequences take full advantage of the DS’ feature set. The fight sequences use both screens, the stylus, AND the D-Pad. Yeah, I was intimidated too. It is the first time I’ve gotten an utter sense of panic playing a DS game, the same panic I get playing a crazy console game.

It was a bit amusing have a generally “emo” protagonist and the plot throws you left and right punches throughout the whole thing. I had so many jaw dropping “omg I can’t believe that just happened” moments and any time you think you’re finished, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The bosses were interesting and it’s the first game where you can actually CHOOSE to go into a fight for the experience. You turn on this “senser” in your mind and all of the sudden you see these weird icons floating around, the bigger the size the harder the fight, and you can actually click more then one icon so you can line up fights. It certainly makes the whole game a lot more entertaining. The enemies are creative and some of them you actually form a weird connection with.

There are parts of it that are a bit . . . well . . . biblical in the most elusive sense. The ending was this head tilting moment for me, where all of the sudden you feel an utter sense of clarity and you GET IT. The whole storyline is so riveting that when you have to watch the credits to get the whole story you will sit and watch all of the credits. This is the first game (outside of the Phoenix Wright series) that I have watched the credits with full attention because it’s the end where it all comes full circle. I have to admit I teared up a bit too, the ending was totally cheesy but so totally worth it.

I wish I could tell you more about this game but the whole story is intertwined so much in the surprise that if I went too far into it this review would be nothing but spoilers.

If you can find this game I suggest you buy it. If you’ve played the game and stopped in the middle of it because of frustrations I all-too-well understand, go back and play it. When I commented on how much I loved this game on my Facebook one of Brad’s old buddies in the flash world commented saying he didn’t really like the game; he thought it was too frustrating. He had stopped in the middle of it. I told him to go back through and play it ALL the way through, I understood the frustration but it was well worth it.

Honestly , if it wasn’t for having to review the game I probably would have given up in frustration. Then again, Brad probably would have made me go back and play it all the way through. So who knows!

I will say that if you don’t like to think and, in a way, realize your own mortality, you might not like this game as much. It’s very heavy handed when it comes to the whole emotional, why am I here sense. I like that a lot because I appreciate anything with a slightly philosophical touch. It’s not very often you can find a game that allows for entertaining story, gameplay, and comes with a heavy message that (I think) everyone should be exposed to.

Sorry to be so vague guys, but you know how I hate spoilers!!

Sorry for being so absent as of late; with removing wallpaper and painting + refinishing floors my time has been limited. Please do not be angry with me *whimper*

I just wanted to ask all of you a question, please answer in any way you see fit (rant, outlined format, etc). Brad and I are attending GDC this year and there is a panel that’s addressing “Are Girls the New Hardcore Gamers?” Brad has issues, as do I, with the term “hardcore.” I, personally, do not consider myself a hardcore gamer. I lean more towards the retro historical aspect of games and most of my experiences are directly effected by my previous experiences. I do not sit down and for five hours straight perfect my Halo technique, although I believe L4D2 and Uncharted 2 could potentially suck me in rather easily (one of the reasons I’m afraid to start playing them, hah)

So what do you consider “hardcore”?
AND do you believe that people tend to be more loose on the application of the term “hardcore” when it comes to girls?
Don’t be worried about making comments “too long” I really want to know what y’all think.
(and please don’t be worried about offending me)
Thx guys =)

Edit: Love the comments, I have another question to add on inspired by the comments. Are you more likely to avoid going after someone who identifies herself as female (to go easy on her in a fight), have you seen this happen?

It would make a bit of sense, I know that I had to knock a few males down before they took me seriously in different male dominated pastimes. However, I had a tendency to go easier when I was playing against girls because I was afraid I’d hurt them.

Thoughts?

There are a few relatives of the characters from The Phantom Hourglass, I was hopeful, I was disappointed. I was psyched about the final boss fight because the boss fights leading up to it were . . . well . . . really NEAT. The sand realm boss was by far my favorite, but the final boss . . . disappointing. The ending was empty. I have no idea what to say about the game. I guess I just had such high hopes for it because everyone was saying it was better then the Phantom Hourglass. I was complaining about the game after the first few hours of playing it and Brad told me that reviews said it picks up as you get further in the game. I beat the game, there was no pick up. The sand realm was pretty freakin cool, the first part of the final boss fight was awesome, annnnnd yeah. It was all hype and no delivery!

I did appreciate the thought into the side quests. I had a blast toting people around in my awesome train and having them get all upset when I passed a sign without doing the appropriate thing. Oh, I also appreciated the fact that I could blow up the signs with my cannon. I had fun with that one for quite a while. They could have given me side quests for the entire game and I probably would have been happier then what I ended up with!

And train cars, I do wish that they would have pointed out earlier that you do not BUY the train cars you trade treasure for them. Luckily I hadn’t saved when I realized this so I could restart the game and go back. Always ALWAYS remember to save your game because you never know what’s going to happen or pop out. There were so many bad guys to FIGURE out how to kill. You would think it would make this game all the more entertaining but meh.

Nothing about this game seemed inspiring, nothing about the game was inspirational. I kept trying to figure out why in the HECK people were raving about this game. Brad was blunt and told me that Zelda obsessees have to be somewhat delusional, otherwise they are constantly disappointed. I was a bit insulted until I realized he was telling me I wasn’t delusional, I expected MORE, and there was no more. If this was how the franchise had started out, I probably would have never played another Zelda game again. I mean I was so bored I was noticing how annoying the characters’ FEATURES are! What kind of game makes me bored enough to wonder why Link’s nose is about 400 times smaller then it should be!? Or why in the heck Zelda is wearing all that makeup!? These aren’t things I should be thinking about AFTER finishing the game.

The music wasn’t interesting, except for in the tower. It was pretty cool because it builds as you run up the steps. Too bad they didn’t do that with the rest of the music . . .

The weapons were pretty cool, as always, my comfort weapons. I DO appreciate that there is repeated use of the weapons even after you finish the temple they are in. I hate it when you find this ultra cool weapon and can only use it in one place. HOWEVER, the cool weapon/item thing I got drove me absolutely mad because it wasn’t reacting where it was supposed to. You’d think that they would be extra sure to get the perception right on it, but it DOESN’T work that way. Blah.

There were a few allusions to things that were in Twilight Princess and in Ocarina of Time. I wasn’t uber happy with the flute pipe thing. You didn’t use it a whole lot, and in some ways it was TOO much of the primary focus, but not enough of the primary focus. It’s a magical flute and when you discover tunes Zelda dances around in the air, wheeeee . . . eee . . . e.

I mean my GOSH what were they thinking! They could have totally incorporated the train more, it’d be awesome if there was some way to be derailed not just run into things. I mean why isn’t there some annoying pirate giggling by the train tracks ready to throw a giant penny or something and send you off into the grass or off a cliff.
When I driving the dang thing I’d take turns at full speed and NOTHING would happen. I get that it allows you to do whatever you want without being punished but geez, couldn’t we make it a BIT more difficult? There was no “Geez how do I do this?” or “ARRGGHH” or “GRRRR” unless it was ME being mad at the game for being so stupid. Throw a curveball or something! Something new! I mean my gosh, it drove me mad. The game didn’t challenge ME, I just tried figuring ways to make it challenging for myself!

*sigh* So yeah, if you are a huge Zelda fan, buy the game, play it, figure out if you like it yourself. If you’re not but curious, buy it . . . I’d suggest buying it used . . . at a lower price . . . it’s a decent game but not jaw dropping amazing.

I mean, my gosh, are they just going to live off the fact that Zelda is a BIG NAME! Why not? It’s what Final Fantasy did (one of the reasons I stopped playing that game.)

*bangs head against wall* WHY WHY WHY!?

Blah . . .

On the bright side though! I’m finally playing a game that Brad has been telling me to play for a while and I’m utterly addicted! I’m resting my thumbs right now because I think I damaged them in the last fight =/

P.S.
Isn’t FPM’s pencil awesome?

I have one main complaint about the film, and it’s not even about the film itself, it’s about the man who made it. I hate, HATE it when people make a movie all about their politics. I would like to simply go watch a movie and just not THINK about it, I want to take away from the movie what I think, not think about what someone else meant it to be. It’s one of the big pet peeves I have with certain English teachers as well . . . or Literature professors, they like to take their interpretation and force it on their students. I’ve experienced this several times and it drives me absolutely mad. I’ve also taken lower grades because of it. Yes, my professors have written in their notes that my personal interpretation is “wrong.” I’m not sure how a personal interpretation can be “wrong”, but whatever.

Anyway, now that the rant is over, ON TO THE MOVIE!

Brad and I loved this movie. I was EXTREMELY skeptical going into it, so the fact that I liked it says a lot. However, I will take the non-chick route and say I wasn’t a huge fan of the love story in many ways. It might have just been the dialogue though, the dialogue was lacking. James Cameron has a thing for throwing chick flick undertones into high energy movies. I don’t know how I feel about that, but it works for his numbers so more power to him.

The first time we went a saw it was in the 3d, IMAX theatre, I suggest seeing it this way if you can. If you didn’t see it in the IMAX I suggest you go back and give it another try. The visuals are AMAZING. We actually saw it a second time, 3d, no IMAX and I got a headache, go figure. Still breathtaking, but not AS breathtaking And yes you should see it in theatres, I demand it. Yes, I am demanding it.

So why was I skeptical? The hype, for one, the politics, and the fact that there were blue people in it and it reminded me way too much of Fern Gully + Pocahontas + Smurfs. You can see why I might be worried. I didn’t want to see this movie, I went because Brad wanted to go. Why did Brad want to go? The technology. The cameras and methods used were invented specifically for this movie and he desperately wanted to see the new facial rendering in action. He wasn’t disappointed. Neither was I. I came out incredibly impressed, the “Na’vi” (everytime they said that I immediately heard “Hey! Listen!” in my head, it was torture) were neat, the animals on the planet, Pandora (wheeee free radio of all your favorite songs!) pretty cool. The animals basically looked like earth animals skinned and with more teeth . . . and occasionally more legs. The main actor saved this movie, I give him props. Sigourney Weaver was amazing, and the “bad guys” were pretty darn cool too. Some of the dialogue was a bit cringe worthy though, I mean people don’t TALK the way these people do. Some of the dialogue seems a bit forced but that is kind of thrown on the backburner when your mind is just going “oooo pretty” at all of the surroundings.

Favorite scene, definitely, is the marine’s first scene in the Avatar body, and his first time experiencing Pandora. Basically he is just running around poking things and feeling the earth under his toes. It’s pretty cool because you are thinking in your head “Oh dude, I would TOTALLY be poking that plant!”

So yes, amazing movie, dialogue is saved because of the amazing visuals and a few of the supporting characters that really make it work. I ENCOURAGE everyone to see this movie in theaters. It won’t be the same on a regular TV, guarantee it. I mean COME ON!!! It’s PRETTY!!!!!

I will be posting a review of Spirit Tracks soon. My DS died before I saved (Stupid STUPID) so I lost a good deal of data and there are a good deal of side quests that MUST BE FINISHED!!!
Oh and I’ll be posting another “nostalgic” game article soon, Promise.

Be awesome to each other!