Masem’s Gaming Blog

As I’ve been a bit slacking in getting out reviews, I’m going to approach these in a slightly different format, avoiding the headers I used before (though I still plan to call out the individual grades I give).  As this year we had 6 (6!!!!) music games on the market, here’s my mass music reveal to cover all those.

These are all based on the 360 version. I’m aware of Band Hero and Lego Rock Band DS version, but have not tried those yet.

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Klonoa is a remake of the classic PS1 game, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile, both games made by Namco.  The remake does not attempt to change the core gameplay, which though simple to learn, leads to numerous possible uses in puzzles and boss fights; instead, this remake redoes the original game from it’s sprite-based version on the PS1 to a full 3D version taking full advantage of the Wii graphics. It is a very lovingly-redone remake, and for enthusists of the series, it is well worth it, but newcomers may find the game, while a solid experience, a bit lacking in difficulty and gameplay.

Review Helpfulness: (2 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Resistance: Retribution is a expansion game for the Resistance series (that made by Insomniac Games, of Ratchet and Clank fame) made by Sony Bend for the PSP which tells the story of what happened in Europe after the completion of the first game in the series, and dropping hints that lead into the second game.  The game is a shooter, which may be an immediate put-off when considering it on the PSP, but Sony Bend took a number of good steps to make sure that this shooter works with the limited PSP controls, and is actually quite playable and enjoyable. While it stays close to the source material from the other games, it doesn’t have much uniqueness about it, but is definitely a strong attempt.

Review Helpfulness: (4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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Turning Point: Fall of Liberty is a first-person shooter created by Spark and published by Codemasters to create an alternate version of the end of World War II in which England falls to the Germans, creating a stronger force to attack the United States.  While the concept is sound, it is never fully expanded in the game, leaving a thin story with very mediocre gameplay and some questionable design choices that make this game one to safely avoid.

Review Helpfulness: (1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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Rhythm Heaven, a DS game that is a sequel to Rhythm Tengoku, a Japanese-only release on the GBA, has come to the states and provides a nice alternative to standard rhythm games while still providing that quirkiness factor that such games often bring with them. While the core game is pretty easy to get through, it is difficult to master, and backed by a great presentation to make it worth struggling to master it all.

Review Helpfulness: (1 votes, average: 1.00 out of 5)
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Following on the success of the immensely popular Final Fantasy 7 and the various spin-offs and media from that work, Square Enix has turned to a portable spin-off for the PSP in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 that explores the character of Zack some years before the events in the main FF7 game.  While the game does try to standalone from knowledge of FF7, it is best appreciated with full awareness of the previous title.  The game itself is very well done and works perfectly as a PSP title, but some odd, though not game-breaking, design choices lead to the game being a lot easier than I believe the creators envisioned.

Review Helpfulness: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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The folks behind MadWorld, Platinum Games, have a lot of previously impressive games under their belt: Okami, Viewtiful Joe, and GodHand, to name a few, so it should be no surprise that MadWorld aims to keep up that trend, falling back to the developers’ more fighting-game style approach.  Thankfully, this assumption proves correct, as MadWorld delivers what exactly is promised with an awesome presentation.  While the gameplay does somewhat flatline in the latter part of the game, and there’s some aspect to its shortness, the rest of the game is really well done.

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Guitar Hero: Metallica is the second band-specific game in the series, and given how woefully flat that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith came across, it’s very reasonable to have certain cautions about how well this game will be.  Fortunately, Neversoft did a lot of extra work to spit and polish this game up, paying a much better tribute to the band Metallica while also learning some of their lessons from past Guitar Hero games, making this game their best effort yet on the series and shows about as much skill towards music games as Harmonix has already.  It’s still got a few problem, mostly that if you’re not a fan of Metallica’s songs, you’re not going to find anything here, and that you’re going to spending the same price as a full game for a reduced soundtrack and fewer songs. However, the added features and touches really do make this game a great example to follow if they do attempt any more band-specific titles.

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Keeping this really short and simple – the Peggle translation to Xbox Live is pretty much all forms of awesome, with the “Peggle Party” addition for XBox Live being a perfect touch.

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LocoRoco 2 is the sequel to the popular LocoRoco game, does exactly what a sequel should do – it provides the same fun, if somewhat simple, gameplay with a few added twists which don’t detract from the game’s core entertainment value, keeping the strong presentation in graphics and music that also made the game what it is.  Studio Japan’s put out another great game that works perfectly on the PSP and should be a part of any PSP owner’s collection.

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