Half-Life 2 Review

Everybody's going to hate me for this, but here it is: Half-Life 2, the sequel everyone plays goes to because Half-Life 3 is taking forever to come out. This game is among LittleBigPlanet 2 as one of my favorite games of all time, and in this review I'm going to explain precisely why, while also stating some of my minor faults with the game. Also, let my me preface this by saying that even though this game was, indeed, first released on the PC, it was later released for The Orange Box on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, which means it technically follows under the rules of my blog. 

Half-Life 2 was a weird experience for me, because I had never played the first game before and at the time I first played it, I didn't really know much about the series as a whole. The good thing is that with having little to no experience with the Half-Life series, I was still able to get the basic gist of the story from the first 10 minutes, which is the sign of a good sequel. The game follows a scientist named Gordon Freeman who has to deal with aliens, the government, and all sorts of things. The story is kind of hard to describe, and it really isn't the shining point of the game, so that's why I'm being kind of vague about all of it. All you need to know is that this game is a first-person shooter, and that you are often fighting either Combine soldiers or freaky aliens. 

Gameplay is the strong point here. Of course, it's a first-person shooter, and if you've played any decent first-person shooter in your life, you could probably understand this game pretty quickly, but the way it's done here is way better than the likes of "Call of Duty Gritty Realism Into Darkness Deathly Mockingjay Hollows 7: Return of Jafar" or whatever. This game, like the first, has a great weapon known as the Gravity Gun. It picks stuff and puts it down, yo. In all seriousness, it does add some variety to the game and lead way to many really cool puzzles. The weapons you have each have advantages and disadvantages, and they're all laid out so you can switch between them really quickly and with ease. 

There's only one fault with the game, and it's any of the driving sections. Whether it's on land or on water, Gordon Freeman just cannot escape bad driving controls. The problem I have is mainly with the speedboat sections, because the steering (as in what direction you're driving, which is pretty important) goes from regular to inverted at complete random. WHY?!? Imagine how horrible it is to try and drive into cramped and narrow pathways with these controls, which, by the way, you have to do multiple times throughout the game. If I shift my left analog stick to the left, the boat should consistently go left, not switch to right randomly while I'm driving. 

Overall, great game. Probably not as great now as I used to think, but still great nonetheless.

Also no, I'm not reviewing Five Night's At Freddie's 2: Electric Bungaloo or whatever.


#getrektlol

LittleBigPlanet 2 Review

Here it is, folks! The first console game reviewed on this blog, LittleBigPlanet 2! The first game in Media Molecule's hit series was a game that most certainly left a huge impact on me when I was younger, but the second entry in the series is what really stuck with me. Why is that? Well, there's no point in really delaying questions with obvious answers, so let's jump into the review!

What is the LittleBigPlanet series about, anyways? You play as a cute little plush character named Sackboy (or Sackgirl, before you grab your pitchforks and torches) who you can customize to your liking thanks to lot of hats, shirts, pants and other accessories you obtain throughout the game. The game has a Story mode, where you go through several different levels, a Create mode, where you  make your own fantastic levels and upload them online, where you can play everyone else's cool little levels. Put simply, if LittleBigPlanet is an elementary school science kit, then LittleBigPlanet 2 is a professional laboratory. The first game gave you enough tools to make some pretty standard levels, but the sequel is for all sorts of creators. If you like making simple platformers, you can very easily jump in and make it quickly, but if you want to do something a little more advanced, something one step ahead of everyone else, you will be stuck for days. This is the hook of the LittleBigPlanet series; jumping into the fray and giving a new and unique perspective that nobody has seen before. There's so many new things in the sequel, I'm gonna need a little bit to gush, so just bear with me.

LittleBigPlanet 2 introduces Sackbots, robots that can be programmed to act the way you want. Do you want your levels to have a buddy that can pick up stuff that's in your way and throw it around? Just program a Sackbot to follow you around and pick stuff up. Another really awesome thing enabled is the ability to make Movies on LittleBigPlanet 2. This is an incredibly complicated process, but it definitely pays off when done correctly. Some movies posted online in the game have ranged from about a minute long to 45 minutes long! The Create mode in general in the game is really good and well-made…

…except for one major problem. The Tutorials given for each tool in the mode are really good, but they only really give you a sense of what they do, and sometimes even that is really vague. The main issue is that I've went through almost every tutorial available and I rarely came out of any of them with any real knowledge of what just happened. I know what each tool is capable of doing when used correctly, but I don't know how to use them correctly. Because of this, even though the rest of the game is almost perfect, the Level Creator feels too complicated, which is a shame, because as I just said, the rest of the game is great. 

The Online mode functions alright, although I really wish loading times weren't so long, but whatever. The levels people create in the game are amazing and the best ones are the levels that deviate, that defy what's expected and try to replicate other games, and that's amazing. Of course, there are also simplistic platformer levels, which are also loads of fun. And the Story mode, my god this is so hard. Oh no, it's not hard to finish the levels normally, I mean that it's bone-breakingly, soul-crushingly difficult to finish each level WITHOUT DYING. In the Story mode, you often get prizes. There are four ways to get prizes from levels: In the level itself, by completing the level, by getting all the prizes in the level, and by beating the level without dying. Beating a level in the game without dying is referred to as "Acing it" (as in "Ace", like the card). Trying to get an Ace on some of the levels is really easy, but the later stages drag on and on and the second you die, you have to restart the entire level all over again. Get ready to throw your controller across the room, because this game does not mess around. 

Overall, LittleBigPlanet 2 may have some problems, it may have a tough level creation tool, but it still remains one of my favorite games of all time. Sorry this review was also late, but next time, get ready, because I'm gonna review the long-requested sequel to everyone's favorite horror game...

SteamWorld Dig Review

We've covered Smash Bros, Kirby, and Zelda so far. Let's tackle a Nintendo eShop title!

SteamWorld Dig is one of many games you'll hear a wealth of great things to say about on this blog. It's also the first game I've reviewed thus far that is, in fact, not a game from retail. This game is available exclusively online, and although it is on many other consoles currently, I am reviewing the Nintendo 3DS version, because that's the one I have. Besides, from what I've heard, the game is almost identical on other consoles anyway. Without further ado, let's dig into the game! Get it?

Imagine Minecraft, but in 2D, and replacing the retro aesthetic with steampunk. Now you have the basic sense of what SteamWorld Dig is. Of course, there are many things that make the game so interesting. The game has two sections that you will be seeing a lot when playing the game: the hub-world of sorts, where you trade minerals for cash and buy upgrades, and the caves, which takes up most of the game, where you mine around, get cool minerals, find baddies to either kill or get killed by, and have a grand ol' time. You start off with a basic pick-axe and minerals that don't really get you that much money, but gradually you get to upgrade your pick-axe, get a drill in one of the special caves (which I'll get into later) and find more valuable minerals like rubies, diamonds, and more. Again, sounds a lot like a Minecraft ripoff, but there's still a ridiculous amount of stuff to talk about.

One of the things you will come across in the game are cave or dungeon levels, that you go into to get the better upgrades in the game like the Drill, the Steam Jump, and more. Instead of being auto-generated, they are pre-designed and are basically a test of your skills. These are some of the highlights of the game, as they help you get through the regular caves a lot easier. You can make your digging experience a lot better if you dig smartly and conservatively, but it's also quicker and easier to dig straight down. Oh, and that leads to another thing, you can dig one block above you when staying in the same place, and no more than that. You also cannot mine while in mid-air or sliding down the walls, which means you have to dig very carefully in the mines. It's a neat touch, and it definitely makes the game way harder than you would expect. This is one of the other areas in which SteamWorld Dig sounds simple, but is actually way more complicated depending on what situation you're in. 

Oh, and let's take a bit to appreciate the music. The graphics and art direction are also fantastic, but it's the sound in particular that is amazing. It's not all intense, complex, Mega Men-style music, it's a lot slower, more atmospheric. More and more often I become so enveloped in this game because of the sound. The loud and distinct clanking of your pickaxe when you mine, the moans and other sounds from all the creatures, the sound of machines buzzing, it's just so immersive, and there's really nothing quite like it. Each of the three different areas in the game have their own distinct music and feel, and the little snippets from the above-world characters about what happened to the world are very interesting, although I am glad they didn't make the ending into a big reveal of what exactly happened, because it leaves the stuff you don't hear completely up to your imagination.

Anyway, among the gush-fest 5000 that was the last few paragraphs, what isn't quite good about the game? Only one thing: It's way shorter than it should be. But maybe that's just another sign of how much I like this game. It's really fun, and I actually wish more people knew about it.

Anyway, leave a comment down below suggesting a franchise for me to tackle. Thanks for reading!

The Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds 3DS Review

No suggestions? None? Okay, let's do another 3DS review. 

The Legend of Zelda series has a weird history with me. I have almost never been good with puzzle games, I rarely ever played Zelda games aside from the first game and Wind Waker. Whenever I would see a Zelda game I would respond with "oh, well, that exists, I guess" and forget about it. But finally, Zelda fans, the day has come, for that kid named Ian who none of you actually know has found his true introduction into the Zelda franchise, the very game that will get him interested in the series! 

The Legend of Zelda: Link Between Worlds is the first Zelda game I have ever played all the way through and beaten. It's the first Zelda game that had me sucked in for weeks, and in case you couldn't tell by the way I was talking about it, I really like this game. Throughout the review I will try to explain the gameplay, puzzles, and more, but keep in mind that because I don't play Zelda games very often, I'm not familiar with some of the more subtle tropes from the series. Anyway, without further ado, let's dig into what I think!

First, the story. This game takes place many, many years after Link to The Past for the SNES, which explains the similar design, camera view, and gameplay. The idea is that some villain who's name I can't remember because of how generic they are (this is Zelda, I should expect these things) is wants to remake Hyrule in their image, filled with all sorts of painting versions of the different characters. So, he/she is after the Triforce because of course they are, and so you, Link, have to get the Master Sword (again), obtain the Triforce (again), and save the world (again). So, it seems pretty run of the mill, but the gameplay is its own story…

In this game, the main star of the show, the power that completely flips Hyrule on its head in this game is really cool. At one point, early in the game, you get a purple bracelet that, at first, doesn't do anything. But when the generic evil knevel villain magoo fires their magic beam of whatever at you, you get to use the bracelet as a way to go into walls in a painting form. This small gameplay change almost completely turns Hyrule on its head, giving you new and cool ways to solve puzzles and snag new items. It's really cool and the mechanic alone and how it was executed had me hooked for weeks. Great job, Nintendo. Give me more.

Now let's discuss the difficulty, since that's kind of important when talking about Zelda games. The difficulty varies a lot throughout the game. The main world has the most easy puzzles yet the stuff with collecting all of the Maiamai is awful, whereas the dungeons kept consistently rising level of challenge all throughout. Most of the fun I had in this game was in going through the dungeons or fighting bosses, as whenever they got seriously challenging, it was never because of bad controls or poor level design, it was because I just didn't quite have all the pieces together yet.

Overall, this game is great and I really need to get to the next review. 10 outta 10, A+, whatever, go watch Big Hero 6.

Please leave a comment suggesting game franchises I should talk about down below and please be patient, I know these past few reviews have been way overdue and I apologize greatly for it. The next review will be of SteamWorld Dig for the Nintendo 3DS.