Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder Review (PC)

Genre: Adventure/Point 'n' Click

Developer: Zoetrope Interactive

Publisher: Lighhouse Interactive

Release Year: 2007

System: PC

At last after many hours of searching trying and aborting many wannabe adventure/horror/point'n'click games i finally found out this masterpiece! Im surprised with all my ignorance all these years for this adventure lovecraftian gem, because im a huge fan of Lovecraft's work, but never it's too late i guess. I bought it surprisingly cheap and gave it a go in an instance. One more good thing about it, is that it is one of the very few games i tried lately and it worked without any unexpected errors, crashes, glitches etc. Despite the 10 years that it has on its back it seems to run pretty smoothly on an windows 8.1 system!

PLOT: 10/10

As police detective Howard E. Loreid, you are tasked to solve the murder of Clark Field, a wealthy man involved in the occult. Your number one suspect is Loath Nolder, a highly respected private investigator. After mysteriously abandoning his last case and abrutply resurfacing five years later one wonders how venerated P.I. Loath Nolder has turned fugitive murder suspect. Your seemingly routine investigation takes a dramatic twist as terrifying happenings begin to plague your psyche. Staying true to the original author's atmosphere, the plot is a genuine child of Lovecraft's work as if he wrote it himself. There even similar names to his as he used to do in his writings. Not much more to say here, the rating speaks itself.

GAMEPLAY: 9/10

The gameplay is like those we have seen on so many gems of the genre like Dracula, Scratches etc. With 360' angle to turn around and still environments to explore. You have your inventory in your right click and you interact with ur environment by left clicking. The really nice addition to the gameplay is the way that you collect clues through letters and notes. You actually rea them underline the important things and think about them! Other than that there are the choices to combine stuff in your invenotry or with your surroundings. Just one of my hesitant thoughts here is that maybe they could make clue collecting process somewhat easier (when it comes to where you click and all that).

GRAPHICS: 7/10

The graphics of Darkness Within is what would someone expect of development companies that we dont see very often. They are pretty decent for what they want to give us imagine and narrate. Nothing more or nothing less. They are pretty and stiff in formal rooms such as offices and dark gothic and grotesque in more threatening and unfriendly territories. Only when it comes to the cutscenes we are reminded that maybe this games was a low budget production. With not so much of a texture depth and stiff movement it reminds games even 5 years back of its release.

MUSIC/ATMOSPHERE: 10/10

Its music and atmosphere couldnt be better! Eerrie, stressful and ominus piano keys cello strings and many more are there to highlight every action from the clues discoveries that you makes as you progress to the windy drafts of dark basements. The sound is dressing really creepy what the story wants to tell us without overeacting and there is to raise every single hair on our backs when it must!

OVERALL: 9/10

Without wanting to waste your time (you should paly the game by now and not read those bubbling lines) id say simply that its a games that every H.P. Lovecraft's fan must play as well as every adventure fan. It combines all the classic elements we loved in masterpieces such as Atlantis, Dark Fall, Dracula, The Legend of the Prophets and the Assassins etc. with some really innovative gameplay elements.

Fiend Review (PC - Freeware)

Genre: Adventure/Survival Horror

Developer: Frictional Games

Publisher: Frictional Games

Release Year: 2001

System: PC

Hmmm... I dont get used to reviewing freeware or that unpopular games but thats doesnt mean I am against them! On the contrary! I kinda despise popular titles such as God of War that to me look really shallow and I think that by really digging and searching you can masterpieces that are just well hidden behind the glam of national companies or bad promotion etc. One of the hidden gems is that title here called Fiend. Fiend is a 2D survival horror game with a pokemon like point-of-view that its influences lie on the Resident Evil/Alone in the Dark series and the Lovecraft tradition. And guess who's behind all this... Frictional Games, the company that gave us the Penubra and Amnesia series!!!

PLOT: 9/10

You are Nick Cane a guy that works for a mining company and you are sent from Boston to a small village of Lauder for work. You gain Control as soon as you step foot on the village's grounds, village that for some strange reason it reminds me the town of Lucky Luke. There you are searching for a guy named Smith but soon you will realise that this will be the least of your concerns as you discover that horrid events haunt the village area that go way back. I wont reveal any more of the plot since it will be a spoiler but feel free to find out yourself.

GAMEPLAY: 7/10

While the idea and the theoritical part of the gameplay was really promising the actual thing is a different story. The walk around part of the gameplay it is an imitation of the RE series but there they were kinda cool cos it was somewhat of a 3D game but here the movement can be quite tricky. You open the inventory with SPACE where you hold your files guns etc. Run with SHIFT and fire with CTRL (you should waste your ammo very wisely because you run out quite quickly). You have to collect keys and stuff in order to unlock doors or talk to people to reveal new hints to progress in the game. 

GRAPHICS: 7/10

The graphics part of the game though they look a bit amateur the depict really well what they want to represent and this the most important for an indie freeware attempt. They are 2D with a bird eye view and will reveal only what is a few meter ahead of Nick and thats pretty scary! One thing that stuck in my mind are a avatars of the characters .. Why the protagonist has to be soooo ugly?! 

MUSIC/ATMOSPHERE: 9/10

Though almost musicless, Fiend, depends a lot on the surrounding sounds and the sound effects . It is the main source of stress creation and it does a pretty good job if you ask me! It seems quite realistic that there is no music at all. Silent Hill is scary gory and all that but music makes it sentimental as well for instance but this has a different result. Thumbs up!

OVERALL: 8/10

Catchy, scary, gory, old, oldschool, free, Frictional Games!!! Need anything more?!

 

 

Alice Madness Returns Review (PC)

Genre: Action/Platform/

Horror

Developer: Spicy Horse

Publisher: EA

Release Year: 2011

System: PC, PS3, Xbox

I had so so so long time to be amused by a classic platform/action game. You see, all those years we had sequels of the sequels and so on, Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed goes to Hollywood and blah blah... Nothing productive if you ask me or innovative. But surprisingly EA and Spicy Horse stood up by giving us in 2011 an incredibly nightmarish platform game (served in a psycological horror taste) that I have not played anything like it in a few years. In a few words I would describe it as disturbed grotesque english adaptation of the classic Alice's Adventures In Wonderland the classic novel of 1865. Quite cheap surely worthy of your attention.

PLOT: 8/10

Alice: Madness Returns takes place 10 years after the conclusion of the original game, with Alice struggling to recover from the emotional trauma of losing her entire family in a fatal fire. After spending a decade institutionalized in an insane asylum, she is finally released to the care of a psychiatrist who just may be able to help her conquer the nightmarish hallucinations that still haunt her. Alice embarks on a mission to root out the true cause of her family's mysterious death, jumping from a gloomy and stark London to a rich and provocative Wonderland.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10

"The Mangled Mermaid Bar"

The gameplay of Alice MR is a bit simple staying true to all that we know about action and platform games. There are two worlds to explore the real one and that of nightmares. To the real world all you can do is run around the city without being able to perform any other actions. Those become available once you enter the nightmare world. Once in there Alice changes appearance to a gothic Tim Burton-ish style while the environment is like a fairy tale but but dragged out of the mind of a lunatic. Strange mushrooms weird colors, even more weird creatures and flowers, out of place objects floating everywhere around you and many more obscure things are those everyone should see while playing.

Alice Madness Returns Real World

Alice can perform jumps with SPACE button while pressing it again will take her even higher and keeping it pressed will float her in the air. Early in the game she obtains the Vorbal Blade a legendary knife for melee encounters (left click) and a pepper grinder for shooting enemies from afar (right click, note that if you overuse the pepper grinder it will overheat and you must let it cooldown). She can also Shrink with CTRL button allowing her to reach places that her normal size can't fit into, lock onto an enemy with Caps Lock. Later in the first chapter she finds the clockwork bombs (Q) for breaking weak walls and floors and the umbrella for defense (E). 

The game is a bit of one way linear so its a bit impossible to get lost and with the difficulty level to Easy it flows really nice and smoothingly. All you have to do is run around jump on platforms defeat enemies with various ways mentioned above blow up walls and talk to a large number of freakishly drawn characters. It is sure that you will be amazed by how the world of AMR is drawn. Such misery, class, menace and insanity all in one combined can be found to very few games.

You can't save you progress wherever you want it just autosaves to specific spots on the profile you are currently playing. The game is divided in Chapters. In each one of them you have a list of objects that you should collect such as Memories, Bottles etc. Mario collects coins, Sonic rings, Alice prefers .. teeth!!! You can exchange, in the pause menu, the teeth you have collected with weapon upgrades.

GRAPHICS: 9.5/10

Chapter 2 Alice Madness Returns

Graphics is one of the sections of the game that made it really famous. Its 3D graphics are thoroughly designed with so much details that immediately put you in its world from the moments you see the title screen. From the very beggining the game gives a taste of silent grief. The tight rooms of the asylum the peculiar faces of the NPCs the dull colors everything point to the mood that it wants to emit. And once you step foot in the nightmares then you get carried away even more in the madness. Being designed with the Unreal Graphic Engine at least we are sure for the outcome! 

MUSIC/ATMOSPHERE: 10/10

And this is the cresendo of the game. The music and the atmosphere is chilling and causes goosebumps to say the least. Sad cellos and heart pumping percussions are present to dress musicaly every scene and point out their emotions. Classy, nostalgic, melancholic, creepy and insane! The fact that EA turned that classic fairy tale into a bloody twisted nightmare is enough. And such a music dressing would be expected in a game such as Silent Hill but in a game such as this ... It just makes it more and more weird!

OVERALL: 8.9/10

I usually don't like EA games and to be honest I didnt know what to expect until I got my fingers on the keyboard. Totally worthy of your time. An authentic and twisted adaptation of the classic work of Lewis Carroll.

AMR At hand!

Redhead Redemption (Android) - Review

Genre: Arcade/Shoot 'em up/Runner

Developer: 9gag/Touchten

Publisher: 9gag/Touchten

Release Year: 2014

System: Android/iOS (... coming soon)

The first android app review for us just because I totally loooove those dirty little bastards! Im talking about the developers on 9Gag that came up very recently with a quite smart app that draws almost all of its features from the out posts on 9Gag. Im talking about Redhead Redemption of course that it started out just as a meme pic and a parody of the classic Rockstar game Red Dead Redemption. 

GAMEPLAY/PLOT: 8.5/10, 8.5/10

The gameplay is quite simple but very addictive you just want to kill all the mathafucka zombies! You gain the role of the readhead that one morning finds out that she's outrun by zombies and she has to survive so she takes her little bro for a reverse piggyback ride and run while he shots endlessly at the hungry creatures! Nothing new here?!? Well its not that innovation that counts .. its just how you present you idea if you ask me! The best thing is all those references to all legendary posts known to us all such as Bad Luck Bryan that reeeally make you think that the developers were grateful for all those years that we made 9gag such a fun place.

GRAPHICS: 9.5/10

The graphics are very cheerful and hand drawn and this fact alone deserves at least on more thumbs up! 2D and a mix of shoot 'em up and runner game RR came to make a difference!

MUSIC: 9/10

The music of the app is what is suitable for a humoristic splatter game like this oldschool and arcade but with a modern feel.

OVERALL: 8.8/10

Just shut up and shoot for god's sake!

Download Redhead Redemption

 

The Last Remnant Review (PC)

Genre: JRPG 

Developer: Square Enix

Publisher: Square Enix

Release Year: 2008

System: PC, Xbox, PS3

It seems that SquareEnix tries to re-live the thriumph of its golden era (I dont have to say which one that is), while adding some new features in its games but not so succesfully I am afraid. I believe that the biggest mistake that the developers make is that they never listen to what the audience has to propose or even if they do they screw up in the end. Here is The Last Remnant a jrpg with turn based battles that feature some RTS elements. More in depth we have:

PLOT: 8.5/10

The plot is quite classic yet very enjoyable with the classic fantasy world and its kingdoms. In the first intro we see Rush rushing into a battlefield while he searches for his freshly kidnapped sister! In the fictional world of TLR, there are several races such as the Mitras, the Yamas, the Qsitis and the Sovanis. With a few words the plot unfolds around "Remnants" that are ancient powerful magic relics that possess immense magic powers and have been the cause for many wars throughout the history. Each Remnant is bound to a human and only he can use its powers. If a Remnant stays inactive for some time it can spawn monsters! Enough said, I won't do any more spoilers. Play it yourselves!

GAMEPLAY: 6/10

In TLR you get to control a youth named Rush. You venture in 3D invironments in towns and dungeons while the city and wolrd maps are simple images (kinda .. "Naaaaahh" to me). 

The PC version of the game (it is published for Xbox and PS3 as well) has some issues when it comes to the controls part! For instance when you are in a shop and browse through the menu of available items pressing the UP and DOWN arrows besides the highlighted item changes, also the camera is changing angles. Which means that they have put two different functions in a single button! Quite convenient huh?! Damn no! There is not any visible effort  to rewrite the buttons from Xbox to pc but instead its like playing the game through an emulator, for instance you are prompted to hit "A" while you must hit "SPACE"! With other words it is like the company makes you buy an original Xbox controller to make your life easier! The in game menu follows the standards of older SquareEnix games where you will find sub menus as "equip", "party formation etc.

The enemies are visible on the screen and you can ambush them avoid them or get ambushed (you dont wanna do that). Well here comes the sad part! The battle system thought it seems quite promising it ends to be very boring one sided and soooo automated! Its seems like the developers would like to make it extremely simple yet strangely difficult to win a battle sometimes. What do i mean? Here is the thing. When you enter the battle there is no option of escape!! The player has to choose between some automated commands like "attack", or "back em up" or "attack with combat arts". Seriously? All you have to be careful about is not to get flanked (amonst enemies) and all is great! i mean come on?! what happened to equipping/using magic or using items manually or choose characters for their own specific abilities and stuff like that!? Many will say that TLR differs cos it is more like strategy when it comes to the battle part but i disagree! Even if it is that way its quite noobish because i dont know if it is just me but i dont see anything strategic there or anything that would related to Rome Total War for instance (there are the units instead of single characters but thats just not enough)! Unfortunately the gameplay isnt its strong part!

MUSIC/ATMOSPHERE: 8/10

The music part is one of its strong I guess, and each town dungeon and so on has its own music. It is very pompous and magnificent at parts and manages to get you quite well in the mood.

GRAPHICS: 9.5/10

Graphics are wuite detailed and "clean" with lots of colors and drawn and designed with creativity and talent! The only thing is that sometimes it gives me the impression that there is so much symmetry especially in towns! 

OVERALL: 8/10

In general terms TLR is a game worthy of your time and money that every jrpg games must at least once experience if u try to be openminded and dont try to relate it to the FF series!

Septerra Core Review (PC)

Genre: RPG
Developer: Valkyrie Studios
Publisher: Monolith Productions
Release Year: 1999
System: PC

This is another gem originated in the 90's yet not so well known in the gaming community because it focuses only on the true rpg fans. By being one of the few games of its kind for computer systems, Septerra Core combines features of some of the best games out there such as the turn based system of Final Fantasy, the atmosphere of Baldur's Gate, a post apocalyptic / sci-fi kind of scenery similar to Fallout's etc. Its gameplay is quite easy yet addictive and the good thing about it is that it can initiate gamers new to the rpg genre quite easily. And the most important of all things ... How often do you find good american rpgs that worth ur time?! 

PLOT: 9/10

A random battle in the Northern Forest

Septerra core narrates the story of a planet called Septerra that was fashioned by a being only known as the Creator. Septerra consists of 7 layers that its inhabitants call them world shells, thats they rotate around the axis of the planet which collects the energy of that very rotation. That energy is stored in the core of the planet and its called Core Energy. The inhabitants of septerra use that energy as fuel to power, ships, weapons, even magic.

The player takes the role of Maya, a Junker that lives in Oasis town in one of the world shells speciafically on the 2nd, of Septerra. After her home was destroyed by the inhabitants of the 1st world shell, known as the Chosen, Maya came under the protection of a man called the Uncle. From then on she has been scavaging from junk and scrap metal discarder on the land by the Chosens, which Grubb, her friend uses them to built his robots. The plot thickens as Maya sets out to save a friend and along the way she makes allies and friends. I won't spoil the rest of the plot because its really intriguing to discover it by urself while playing!

GAMEPLAY: 9.5/10

The World Map

As you already should know gameplay is one of the strongest aspects of rpgs especially of turn-based ones. And Septerra Core manages to be really high in the list of those games. Septerra Core seems to have all of the pros and none of the cons that there is among those games. More specifically, even by devoting a little time playing, you surelly will notice that it has almost everything an rpg gamer wants. You can perform pretty much every action just with ur mouse. Thats quite convenient cos i dont want my fingers spread all over the keyboard like im playing finger-twister!!! Its interface has all the necessary for the player to know about! Also amost every action has its shortcut on the keyboard but that is secondary if u ask me. The battle gameplay system combines that of a pc's and the one u can find in console rpgs. You perform every action by clicking and u attack, use items, cast spells etc. by waiting for a time gauge to fill up. That time gauge has 3 levels. And the next is more powerful than the previous one when it comes to attacking.

Exiting the Graveyard

Also when a character leves up, his attributes automatically increase. They also can be increased by equiping armors weapons and accessories. Another nice aspect is the elemental one. Elemental spells can aid u and serve u really well in battle as some enemies are weak to certain elements and strong against some others!

Wind City

ATMOSPHERE/MUSIC: 8.5/10

Once you run Septerra Core you will notice the strong emotion its imposing music possesses! Its battle themes reminds of battle marches conditioning the player for very ominous encounters. Its a pity though that many are the times in which no music is heard at all. Just the sound effects of each region. But what really catches the eye almost from the beggining is that post-apocalyptic-retro-sci-fi atmosphere that the game transpires. Every location reminds of a world damaged or polluted. There are location with wild life that every corner hides evil creature ready to gut you! And of course there are some locations in which richer people live that are prettier with beautiful bloom.

GRAPHICS: 9/10

Graphics are one of Septerra Core strong points. U want see any disturbing dissappoint pixels as the world is designed in a 2D environment with pre-rendered graphics. You will only see some sprites that are animated quite cheerfully. I liked the fact that they didnt try to maked any 3D graphics and they dedicated their data space in order to give the characters real voices. And this is something that back in the day was really rare (plus that there is some decent voice acting as well)

Battling the undead in the Graveyard

OVERALL: 9/10

In other words Septerra Core is a really promising retro title from a less promising region (in matters of game designing speaking) that has everything an RPG fan is searching for in a PC RPG. Give it some time if u are not the kind of gamer that seeks trill only in graphics and really quick you will find urself googling for a sequel! Have fun exploring the Septerra world! Cheers!

Cryostasis Review (PC)

Genre: Survival Horror/FPS
Developer: Action Forms
Publisher: 505 Games
Release Year: 2009
System: PC

This is gonna be a controversial review of a really deep yet simple game. I got u confused maybe? Well what i mean is that Cryostasis is a survival horror game with the classic gameplay but the story is its most attractive feature. Along the years we have seen many horror games but cryostasis is one that worth a gamer's attention because is a combination of X-Files, The Thing, The Thaw etc. You ll get my drift after reading the following review. Enjoy! 

PLOT: 9.5/10

You play as Alexander Nesterov, a meteorologist that investigates the nuclear ice-breaker "North Wind", using your unique ability "mental echo" that grants you the power to witness and influence the final moments of the dead. Really soon in the game will discover that you are not alone on the wrecked steell creature but something has disfigured and returned to life the members of the crew. As you work your way through the game you will see as flashbacks the captain of the ship and learn step by step its history. Cryostasis is a dramatic story about a captain his ship and his crew. The rest its up to you to discover!

GAMEPLAY: 7.5/10

Cryostasis' gameplay is really simple and quite known to almost any fps/pc gamer. You move Nesterov with W,A,S,D, jump with SPACE, duck with CTRL, run with SHIFT, turn on/off the flashlight with F, and interact with the environment with the RIGHT CLICK. When Nesterov is in combat more the right click serves as block. You can hit with simple punches by left clicking but you can also perform combo attacks by simultaneously pressing two of the navigation buttons and left click. At the beggining you fight just with ur firsts or with whatever u find around u such as chains, and later on in the game u can be equipped with a whole arsenal including tommy guns and riffles! 

The gameplay is as simple as it can be, you navigate through narrow corridors with frozen walls, click to open doors, or click on switches to unfreeze doors. The really attractive element about its gameplay is the "mental echo" mentioned above. Nesterov during his investigation comes across with several bodies and with his unique ability he can relive their final moments and eventually save them. To the lower left corner of the screen there is the temperature indicator along with a stamina indicator. In Cryostasis ur temperature is ur health so instead of meat, pills, potions or first aid kits u use sources of light to stay alive. Thats another one new and clever element! By pressing the ESC button u access the menu of the game where there are the classic choices such as save/load game, options, continue and the Diary option. In the diary he collects every paper he finds on the ship. Note that during the "mental echo" u can't save so u ve got to complete it or lose in order to be able to save! 

ATMOSPHERE/MUSIC: 8.5/10

Hmmm... well this is one of the strongest aspects of Cryostasis. Claustrophobic, lonely, icy cold, and helpless. These are some of the things that each gamer should feel when wandering through the narrow corridors of the "North Wind". The designers made a really good job at the claustrophobic part (u really feel that u can only fit in there and no one else). They designed the ship based on the designs of a real russian ice-breaker. That alone is enough and makes the game is a pretty realistic frightening experience. Throughout the game u can hear the heavy breathing of Nesterov, footstep, water flowing and metal clanging and of course the monsters roaring around  giving u that many reasons for heartattacks that u wont find elsewhere! A real ominous soundtrack can be hear in the main menu as well. 

GRAPHICS: 9/10

Cryostasis's graphics are quite impressive dark yet clear and simple. They give the impression that the gamer is trapped in the ice-breaker himself. There is also that nice visual effect at the screen edges that resembles that even the screen is frozen. Its noteworthy that the game is the first to make use of the Nvidia PhysX real time water physics as displayed in a tech demo of the game engine! 

OVERALL: 8.6/10

In a few words u can call Cryostasis a master piece of its kind because it combines dramatic yet horrifying scenario with a simple and addictive gameplay dressed with realistic sound effects and ominous soundtrack. Its what every horror gamer is looking for so if u haven't played it yet give it a try without thinking it twice! 

The Lucky Dime Caper Starring Donald Duck Review (Master System)

Genre: Platform

Developer: SEGA

Publisher: SEGA

Release Year: 1991

System: Master System

Going back in time we had several games that shook us up pretty good as kids! Simple yet marvellous those games came to mark up our little minds minds with beautiful graphics sounds and vivid colors! One of those video games were also SEGA's The Lucky Dimer Caper Starring Donald Duck that were released for Sega Master System and Sega Game Gear in 1991.

PLOT: 8/10

The game begins and u take over Donald Duck. Magica DeSpell has kidnapped his three nephews and also stole Scrooge's McDuck Number one Lucky Dime!!! Well only Donald Duck seems capable and crazy enough to start an adventure around the world to rescue his family and to retrieve the Lucky Dime. A classic plot staying true to the comics' ones with well known and beloved characters! What more is there to ask?!

GAMEPLAY: 7/10

The Lucky Dime Caper is a 2D one-way, side scrolling platform game! You control Donald Duck who is equipped with a hammer. The game is divided into stages You attack enemies by hitting them with the hammer (1 button) or throwing discs or jumping on them with the 2 button. The game pauses with the console pause button. To the down left corner of the screen there is a time bar. The red squares on the upper left corner of the screen is Donald's health indicator. A prety simple gameplay and arcade like i could  say. The "traps" and "monsters" are there just for the stage to be created and they are not justified by the games plot. Yet the gameplay a bit tricky in a way. For example Donald slides a bit after running resulting many times in very critical situations. He may fall onto an enemy or off a ledge really easily that way.

ATMOSPHERE/MUSIC: 7/10

Not having quite much to say to this section The Lucky Dime Caper features really funny and pleasant 8bit music that is really addictive in a way ( i had caught myself many times uttering those tunes). The atmosphere is what you can find in the most platform games of its time without being the reason to play it of course!

GRAPHICS: 8/10

Trees, ledges, grass, volcanos, dungeons is what you will see if you spend some time playing the Lucky Dime Caper. Designed with 8bit colors in a 2d environment cheerful graphicswas one of the reasons that kept me playing!

OVERALL: 7.5/10

Despite its clumpsy Donald's movement The Lucky Dim Caper its a really fun way to spend your time on a retro console that surely will give u you some reasons to smile reminding you of the golden era of Disney! So if you are a Disney or a retro games fan i suggest you dedicate some hours on this cute game!

The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening Review (Game Boy)

Genre: Action RPG

Developer: Nintendo Entertainment and Analysis Development

Publisher: Nintendo 

Release Year: 1993

System: Game Boy

Hello dear bloggers!!! In this post ur gonna read a review of the so-called legendary classic The Legend Of Zelda: Link's Awakening. That's the 4th installemnt of the series and the only one that was released for the classic Game Boy.

PLOT: 9/10 

Link's caught up in a storm

After the incidents of The Oracle of Seasons and The Oracle of Ages link travels with his boat across the seas only to be destroyed and washed ashore Koholint Island. Link is getting rescued by Tarin and his daughter Marin (she looks so much like Princess Zelda doesnt she?) and carried to their house back in the Island's village. After Link retrieves his sword from the beach a mysterious owl tells him that if if desires to escape leave that island he must wake the island's guardian the Windfish that sleeps in a giant egg on the top of Tamaranch Mountain. He can do that only by playing the Ballad of the Windfish in front of the egg when he would have collected all the eight instruments that are scattered in the eigt dungeons throughout Koholint Island. The plot features a golden age of the Zelda series being deep and quite ispired. Authentic and very Zelda! (I think its the only Zelda game that you actually see Zelda only in the title).

GAMEPLAY: 9/10

Retrieve the sword

The gameplay of the game follows the same logic as almost every installment there is. You cotrol link throughtout the game looking the world by an overhead perspective for the majority of the game. Link progresses in the game by entering and completing dungeons collecting weapons and accessories that will help him overcome obstacles that they were once impossible to pass. He collects heart containers that give him a bigger amount of life energy meaning that he lasts longer in battle.

Witch house

He carries quite an arsenal with him but he only can use 2 at the same time. One assigned to "A" button and one to the "B" button. The select button shows the map of the island and reveals only the location that Link has been to. With the Start button the player has access to the inventory of the game where he can see the weapons and the instruments collected (the map and compass if in dungeons) and the amount of rupees and hearts. As u already guessed the currency of Koholint island is what else? Rupees of course! With Start and Select pressed together you get the saving menu where you can save and exit or save and continue I really loved that thing Nintendo did there, putting characters and stuff from the Super Mario series like a coin-operated Yoshi doll trophy. The gameplay is easy to learn and addictive to play! A killing combination! Just a trial will convince you!

ATMOSPHERE/MUSIC: 10/10

Though a 2D game, the atmosphere is so maturely given that you can rarely find in games nowadays! Each location has its own unique soundtrack that expresses really well what graphics try to depict. This game has everything when it comes to music adventurous tunes, sad ones, or cheesy happy with the best of them being the Ballad of The Windfish (especially when played by all instruments together). Although the 8bit nature of the sounds and music themes Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening manages to pass the meanings to the players with a very charismatic way!

GRAPHICS: 9/10

Awakening the Windfish

Having to see it with a perspective like i am playing it in the 90's The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, has some really fancy and detailed graphics despite its lack of colors. With some nice physics and character movements Link's Awakening gets a 9/10 only because some items fail to look like what the really want to depict. Like some trees or ledges out in the wilderness but that just minor details. The graphics are really well entwined with what the game wants to offer.

OVERALL: 9.25/10

In a few words The legend of Zelda Link's Awakening is a fantasy story driven action rpg that draws te player in the dreamy world of the Windfish a must game of the Game Boy owners and an one life time exeprience for quality gamers! 

Broken Sword 2.5 - The Return Of The Templars Review (PC)

 

 

A few days ago i was very pleasantly surprised to discover one more masterpiece by MindFactory team, a tribute game to Revolution Software. This is no other than Broken Sword 2.5 - The Return Of The Templars. And there are several reasons that justify my so called surprise. Well First of all Broken Sword 2.5 is an unofficial, full-length sequel to the series completely designed by fans for fans!!! Yes you heard right! A Smoking Mirror sequel with traditionally hand made graphics and  really applausable designed characters and plot that if u ask me is way better that any other official release after the second installment!

PLOT: 9/10

George Stobbart being in America receives a message that his girlfriend, Nicole Collard, has died. Having lost his father as well in the near past he takes the first plane to Paris only to find out that Nico is alive and sound but quite abrupt and unwilling to accept the unexpected visit of George. Later on George finds out by the not so much friend of his, Andre Lobineau, that Nico is the main suspect of the murder of the mayor of Paris. Now George is being called to find out the real facts behind the rumors with ways that only in a Broken Sword game one can find!! Not wanting to make anymore spoilers the rest is up to you to discover!

GAMEPLAY: 8.5/10

Now thats what i love about a really really memorable point n click adventure game. Its gameplay. If you ask me it has to be simple, short and sweet if u want but without neglecting anything! I still remember how i was surprised when i played  Broken Sword - The Shadow Of The Templars for the first time. And that was because i was more addicted to that gameplay than any other adventure game I had played. 

You move George by left-clicking the mouse wherever u like. If the cursor turns to 2 joined cogwheels then u have an item with possible interaction if you left click it. You can also combine it with items from ur inventory. By right-clicking George just describes what he sees and maybe gives some useful tips about the item. If the cursor turns to a moving hand that points downwards then its most likely that item can be picked up! When the cursor turns to a "follow me" hand, then you can move further on the 2D environment screen left or right. The mouth cursor over a person, indicates that George can start a dialogue with that particular person. 

There are 2 black tapes on the upper and the lower side of the screen. The upper one has save and load options and options such as language, volume etc. and the lower tape of the screen is the inventory. When George starts a dialogue on that lower tape the player can find the potential topics of the conversation. As in any other Broken Sword George can die (game over) and that means that there are times that the player must act quickly to prevent hazardous situations (i love those BS moments!!!). 

The gameplay aspect of BS 2.5 gets even more intriguing because the developers had the wisedom to include familiar faces and places in that unofficial installment, which certainly brings back lots of memories! My only "complaint" is that the puzzles and riddles of the game are quite easy and if you want a bit dumb (i could spoil but you should play and find out for yourself). The actions that the player must do to proceed in the game are as such: he has to speak with all the people about anything and for whatever George carries with him, he has to check stuff from his invetory by right-clicking on them (sometimes a woman's bag can hide very interesting things!), combine them with items on the environment, cheat, bribe or threaten! As i said before a very addictive yet simple gameplay quite suitable to a game like this!

ATMOSPHERE/MUSIC: 9/10

To be honest when i first learnt about it i was excited but quite wary at the same time! Because we are talking about one of the most famous adventure games here and this attempt was by "amateurs" (that succeeded where professionals fail many times...). And the graphics part to make 2D for an hand-drawn adventure game  is  not so difficult but when it comes to music..??? As I have said in the past many times the "sound" (music, voices, sound effects) of a game is half the game at least for me! It is what draws you in the digital world and makes you distinguish masterpieces from non-sense football games for example! Who hadnt had goosebumps by that chimy sounds when George tricked the watchman's dog to fall in the water in BS 2? Or even by the soundtrack at the intro of BS?

So in that sequel the music part fulfills its purpose in the best possible way! The same happens with the characters voices. The designers did such an excellent work, that they even did patches (voices and subtitles) in several languages except German. And guess what!? They are very similar to the original ones!! Well... what more is there to ask?! 

GRAPHICS: 9/10

The graphics of that BS sequel are traditionally (Broken Swordish) hand-made, 2D, cartoon style. The locations consist of original backgrounds that  pre-existed in BS 1 & 2 and totally new ones. The only "problem" is that with a bit of observation (if you hadnt played the previous installments that is) you could tell which are the original scenes taken from the previous games and which are the new.. not that i thought about it too much when i played it but i just found it note-worthy! In general terms i liked the new scenes and really admired the work of the designers!

OVERALL: 8.87/10

In a few words, Broken Sword 2.5 - The Return Of The Templars, is the most fascinating unofficial indepedent adventure release that has ever fallen into my hands! A script related to the general plot, good old-fashioned graphics, and atmospheric music can promise you some hours that many of us would like to experience but a few have got the guts to risk making it true! Just ENJOY!!

P.S. Since the download sources are limited and the game is distributed totally free here is the link to the site that u can download the actual game and the patches for the English audio and subtitles! 

Download

http://www.brokensword25.com/

White Knight Chronicles Review (PS3)

Every Christmas that free time is more than the rest of the year i focus on to games that need more attention and devotion than others. And most of them are RPGs. (yes u are gonna hear a lot RPG's stuff from me). So last Christmas i gave my heart to White Knight Chronicles a part turn-based time part real time battle JRPG developed by Sony Computer Entertainement. Though the sceptre of the genre if u ask me goes to Squaresoft (yes i know its SquareEnix nowadays but i liked Squaresoft more) Sony has a really decent and competitive past in the RPG history with its best release being the Legend Of Dragoon for Playstation. So this review is about White Knight Chronicles one shiny diamond for the new generation RPG fans.

PLOT: 7.5/10

Hmmm.. well the plot if u think about it, it isn't anything groundbreaking but its unraveling pretty well as the time goes by. Its about a phenomenically insignificant young lad named Leonard that tries to save the kidnapped cute and innocent Princess Cisna from the malicious hands of the Dark Lord Dragias as she is the key to their evil plans. When Leonard recklessly tries to wear an ancient armor-artifact he then realises that he is being chosen by it and his quest (as urs) beggins. Well thats a quite raw summary of the plot dont think that its that simple but that is the main story, around which is being built a quite deep non-linear and flexible scenario. It is worthy to be noted here that as i was playing WKC i noticed many similarities with the Legend Of Dragoon such as the ability of each character to transform into Knights as in LOD u could transform into Dragoons.

GAMEPLAY: 7.5/10

In WKC u have to do things as in most of the classic JRPGs. You control the main character Leonard and you built a party of 3 (including Leonard (sometimes the party joins one guest uncustomisable character who aids in battle)) and u set off to complete your main quest which basically is getting updated regulary and completed when u finish the game and along the way u are given the chance to do various sub-quest as well, just to buff ur party up! Character equipment includes swords, axes, lances, bows, shields, bracers, gauntlets, boots and so on and they are visible on them if equipped, which is an aspect that i actually liked quite a lot and it's rarely met on JRPGs. Menu is accesible with Triangle button where there are options such as Combat Setup, Items, Magic, Learn Skill etc. where u can optimize ur party and its battle behavior. Oh, i said battle... One of the things i anticipate to get to know to when i firstly play an RPG is the battle system. So it happened with WKC as well. But thats what filled me with thoughts... Well u see a fully turn-based time battle system is fully customisable as u can plan ur strategy precisely and turn the outcome of each battle to ur advantage. In a part turn-based time battle system the things are a bit more automated. What does that mean? Having to control actually only one character, ur focus is turned mostly on him/her. The player just adjusts the behavior for each possible situation for the secondary party members as he can control only one at a time. It may seems that the choices are many but in reality you will find urself making pointless circles around an enemy (and i say pointless cos u cant even avoid being hit that way) waiting for the time gauge to fill just to strike again.

One new thing is that the player has the option to fully customize combos choosing moves from a list of learnt ones and he is also being given the opportunity to name the combo as he wishes! Each character has his limited capacity for items (same thing at LOD ;) ) and the characters can exchange items to make room in each one's inventory. The character can attack, defend, use items and transform during battle. Simple attacks dont cost anything but some moves or combos cost a certain amount of AC. Same for the Knight tranformation option. The character must have the wanted amount of AC to be able to transform into the Knight. In the beggining  you are called to create ur own character. The options are a lot as u go through shaping him/her but unfortunately if u plan playing offline he will be just a secondary character. The offline WKC focuses on Leonard. The created character starrs in online mode! One more thing i found interesting is the presentation of each location and character! Also there is the choice of downloading new content (DLC) through the PSN.

Now about the online mode of WKC. Its a really decent attempt to make an offline JRPG with an online aspect and gameplay choice. The player has to play a bit of the offline storyline at least till the appearance of the first Knight. Then, near the town outside the castle, u are given Geonet which can used in save points in order to go online. There there is a brief setup such as assigning online ID, online status, choosing photos ... and finally the online interface is up. This is where there is the homepage, adventure log, friends (that u have made online), some rooms to choose whichever suits u etc. The online gameplay is almost like every other online rpg. The player can team up with other player from around the world. assist each other to complete quests, make gestures for fun, take pictures etc. Personally, i prefer the offline mode as well because the story in online mode is neglected and usually online games in consoles have "expiring dates".

ATMOSPHERE/MUSIC: 9/10

This is the part where WKC is at its best. The music is so well composed that it takes u to a different place. Its epic fantasy-medieval touch suits so well to the scenery that it couldnt be better. The battles themes are so intense that they give the feeling that u are in the battle urself. The atmosphere is really well given that combined with the medieval music it gives a magic almost ideal sense of how a world should look like.

GRAPHICS: 9/10

One more strong aspect of this JRPG is its graphics.  Designed with details, vivid colors and a lot of fantasy and creativity they give the impression tha it is a an interactive, grown-up, fairy tale on screen! Its landscapes are breathtaking the nature around the characters is realistic and their costumes suit really well in the "age" and world that they are in. The cinematics are plenty and a very nice break from the endless battles that can be tiring and, personally, they reminded me those of FF IX and Legend of Dragoon.

OVERALL: 8.25/10

Summarizing White Knight Chronicles is one of the best choices for an JRPG fan, especially if he had played Legend Of Dragoon in the past. Its a game with deep story, stunning graphics, wonderful soundtrack and it can promise you that you will spend more than 40 hours with it so why not give it a try?! After all the JRPG choices on PS3 are quite limited!