TZH Game Reviews II: Sins of the Reviewer

[TheLastOutlaw]

I have the first Two Broken Sword games that were ported to the PS One, do you know if any content in the DS version is new or different compared to the PS One?  (Which to my knowledge was the same as the PC Version.)  I loved those games and keep meaning to buy the third one but oddly enough never have.

[--Pappa Cricco--]

Shit man, we have the PC trilogy for £5.99 at my work.

Or is it £6.99...

[HK-47]

I have the first Two Broken Sword games that were ported to the PS One, do you know if any content in the DS version is new or different compared to the PS One?  (Which to my knowledge was the same as the PC Version.)  I loved those games and keep meaning to buy the third one but oddly enough never have.

I haven't played any other version, but all I know is that the Nico storyline is new, there are no voice overs and there are some extras. And there might be a few other minor changes that I didn't notice.
Sorry if I'm not much help.

[Yutrzenika]

Recently Completed: Dementium II

System: Nintendo DS

Story: You assume the roll as William Redmoor, a man who had undergone surgery in a psychiatric ward, and was out for 5 weeks after allegedly killing his wife and daughter. After being returned to your cell by some guards, you find a post card from paradise telling you to escape. After reading it you are thrown into a twisted hellish version of the ward, bodies chained to walls with chains coursing through their bodies, blood and guts strewn about, and twisted freakish monsters. As you progress you encounter a doctor who tells you whatever was wrong inside your head was let out. From then on your goal is to explore the deepest crevices of the now monster rampant ward, and find your wife and daughter.

Time Spent: 3 Hours (I literally just beat the game, and haven't started a new one yet, or have done anything else)

The Good:
+ The absolute best 3D Graphics in a DS game out there. The levels are very detailed, and there's even some OK shadow casting effects on some enemies, where as in any other DS game there would just be no shadow, or a little circle shadow below the character.
+ Nice level design. You'll be in bloody corridors, outside in the snow, with snow flakes falling down, or in a hellish nightmare world.
+ Lots of improvements over the original game. The Save system has been made better with save stations, and there is now an on screen map, instead of having to constantly switch between game and map.
+ Cool new weapons including a nail gun, double barrel shotgun, aerosol and lighter, and some returning weapons like your basic pistol, and the buzz saw.
+ Diverse array of enemies. In the first game there wasn't a huge variety of enemies to kill, but now you got big freakish hulk like monsters, acid spewing creatures, guards with shock batons, floating creatures that explode, black ghosts that stick you into the nightmare world where you have to kill some enemies to escape, flying heads that will spew...something in your face to blind you, and a few others.
+ Sweet boss battles. I don't want to spoil them, but a couple of the bosses you face are really big massive things. The others are cool as well.
+ Great haunting music.
+ Some alright voice acting, very creepy sounding stuff usually.
+ Nice sound effects, whether it's the screeches of a flying banshees head, or the sound of a hammer to their face.
+ A lot less repetitive than the first game.
+ Fun Survival Mode levels to play.
+ Once again, the game has excellent controls.

The Bad:
- Short, as I said only 3 hours to beat it.
- Little Replay value, I can see myself playing through it again a few times, but other than that, different difficulties, and the survival mode, there isn't much else to do.
- Ending was pretty meh. The ending of the first game surprised me, but this one was just plain meh.
- While it is nice the map is now on the bottom screen, I don't like the way it shows your character movement. It's like a big grid, and when you move along you pop into another square in the grid. It doesn't show precisely where you are or anything.

Score: 7.8/10. Renegade Kid improved Dementium II very much over the original game, and it not only looks great, but plays great too, but the game's major flaw is it's really short 3 hour length. So maybe just rent, borrow, or download this one, if you really like it and can see yourself playing it through numerous times, then buy it.

Better Than: Dementium: The Ward

[HK-47]

Recently Completed: Orcs & Elves

System: Nintendo DS

Story: In the grand scheme of things, an Orc army has joined forces with the Vaettir, an Dark Elf sect, to lay siege about the Dwarven realm of King Brahm. As an elf warrior named Elli, whom wields a talking wand named Ellon, you receive a message that says to find King Brahm. Your journey begins in the Entrance Hall, as you are greeted by a Dwarven Ghost.

Time Spent: 5:44:48

The Good:
+ Some real old-school, First-Person, Turn-Based Adventure-RPG gameplay, that's pretty damn fun to boot.
+ Some tactics and a bit of planning are used at times, which helps to make it more enjoyable.
+ Nice cast of secondary characters, particularly a constantly drunken dwarf and another dwarf who doesn't know he's dead.
+ Humorous dialogue, particularly with the characters above.
+ A great selection of weapons, from swords and a war hammer to your wand and some phoenix eggs that act as a grenade.
+ Considering the short run time, excellent enemy variety.
+ Control scheme uses both the traditional button layout and touch screen controls and can be used at the same time.
+/- The graphics don't tax the system, but for a game with this sort of style in gameplay, they work quite well. It's unfortunate that the enemies up close look pixelated.
+ The blood splatters that show on the floor and walls when you slay enemies are a nice touch.
+/- Music is good, but wish there was more of it.
+ The sound effects are decent enough, hearing some enemies give out a final cry before they die is satisfying.
+/- Barely any puzzles to slow you down.
+/- Save anywhere may have some think it decreases the difficulty, but on Nightmare, it probably would change their mind (Even asks if you want to die before it allows you to try that difficulty level).
+/- Potions come in quite a large supply, so chances are your gold will only be spent on ammo and limited use-type weapons.
+ Unlockable artwork is a nice extra in such a short game.

The Bad:
- Real short.
- Story is kinda bland.
- Not much replay value, apart from higher difficulties.

Score: 7/10, the length really hurts the game, as it could have used a few extra hours and a deeper story. The gameplay is the saving grace of it, as it really helps keep the player going: It's a fun, enjoyable romp, slaughtering orcs, trolls, rats and hell-hounds. For those who want a quick Adventure-RPG fix and don't particularly care about graphics or sound, it's worth a look into. It's more of an appetizer than a main course though.

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Recently Completed: Polarium

System: Nintendo DS

Story: N/A

Time Spent: 3:45 (3:24 for Puzzles and 0:21 for Challenge Mode)

The Good:

+ Contains some of the most devious logic based puzzles on the DS.
+ Nice array of puzzles that have a nice level of difficulty: The first third are ridiculously easy, second third are challenging and some a tad easy and the final third will wrack your brain, especially the final ten and the notorious Puzzle 100.
+ You're given a puzzle and your task is to make the rows black or white with one line. Instructions don't get more complicated than that.
+ The hint system is there, but real men don't use it.
+ No cheesy/corny/pointless story to get in your way: Just some puzzle action.
+/- The graphics are simple and bland, but it doesn't clutter up the puzzles with unneeded graphics.
+/- The touch screen is precise and you can easily recover a mistake. At times I did wish I could use the d-pad though.
+ Say you are on a puzzle and you finish it, only to get it wrong. Continue on that puzzle and the game saves the last attempt on it. That, is a lifesaver.
+ Ability to create your own puzzles.
+ Multiplayer is a nice addition, and I believe that only one person needs a copy of the game.

The Bad
- 100 puzzles really isn't that much.
- Challenge mode is crap and feels a bit out of place.
- Music is weak and you would be better off listening to your own.
- The sound effects would get annoying eventually.
- Overall, the presentation is really dull and lacking. Pretty much gray, white and black for most of the game.
- No unlockables or extras.

Score: 6/10, unfortunately I have to include Challenge mode into the score, as it would have done better without it. The main attraction here is the logic-based puzzles, which are some of the best out there. But that and the option to create your own are the only real selling points for this. This is mainly for puzzle junkies who need a quick fix as it's hard to recommend it when there are so much better DS puzzle games out there. But for what it's worth, I do feel a bit smarter getting past quite a few of the puzzles.

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Recently Completed: Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard

System: Nintendo DS

Story: The Duke of High Lagaard is sponsoring research expeditions into the labyrinth to uncover the secrets and mysteries of the Floating Castle that resides above it, as well as to retrieve the Grail of Kings that resides in the castle. The expeditions consist of guilds, and that's where you come in; a guild just starting off with the dream to be the first to reach the castle and retrieve the Grail of Kings.

Time Spent: 70+ hours

The Good:
+ Improved over the first one in nearly every aspect, but it's still the same old-school, map-making experience...
+/- ...But now more difficult, brutal and masochistic than ever before!
+ Additions to the map-making aspect are most welcome and a bit surprising, as the previous one was already amazing. The map making is half the game.
+ Combat is still fun and traditional.
+ Three new classes to play and experiment with; Gunner, War Magus and Beast.
+ Ronin class is now playable and easily a top-tier character now. (You don't have to activate a stance to perform a skill, which is a huge plus)
+ Overall the classes are improved and more effective for certain situations.
+ Generally, all skills have their use, but what really matters is what you choose as you can't invest in everything.
+ Stat upgrades (By using skill points) are universal and not restricted to certain classes.
+ Huge customization options, with equipment as well as the aforementioned skills.
+ Force Skills are changed completely for the better, now instead of a one-shot power boost, it's a special ability that's different for each class (An example is the Ronin's Issen slash, targets all enemies, deals heavy damage with a chance of an insta-kill)
+ When resting a character, you only lose five levels, unlike ten in the original.
+ Geomagnetic Fields, you'll learn to love them. Only one can be activated at a time, but you can go from the town straight to that field, preventing any unnecessary treks to that spot and saving a lot of time.
+ Auto battle option is available, but never used it (Needs the L-Shoulder button and mine's still busted).
+ From what I've heard, over 100 side quests are available.
+ The layout of the menus looks much cleaner and user friendly than before.
+ Graphics are nice and there is no slowdown...
+/- ... Battle scenes on the other hand are clean but there's little animation when you actually fight.
+/- Music is as great as always, but the theme for when you're walking around may get repetitive, considering how much exploring you'll do.
+ When you kick the bucket, you have the option to save your map. This is a real time-saver.
+/- Dialogue is better than before and decent enough, at times humorous, but nothing special.

The Bad:
- As before, the story takes a back seat to the gameplay.
- Still the same amount of excessive grinding.
- It's a tad unforgiving (Maybe a bit more so than before), but that should be expected from a game of this genre.
- Enemies that have insta-kill moves. Particularly those in the last stratum.
- Defender (Protector), Immunize (Medic) and Relaxing (Troubadour) are now gone. The first two combined with Bravery made you exceedingly powerful and the latter restores TP (Equivalent of magic points) every turn, making it abusable.
- FOEs no longer provide Exp.
- You mess up your skill allocation, you die. Painfully.
- You know you suck when a pack of butterflies kick your ass.
- Secondary characters are just there to do tasks and such (Shopkeeper, Healer, Inn-Keeper, Bartender who gives quests), but the game isn't about deep characters and development.

Score: 8.5/10, once again, cartography is half the game. You'll be making maps of each floor; keeping track of everything as a poorly made map will lead you to the grave. The other half consists of you getting your ass kicked in fights until you level up enough to get your ass kicked in boss fights. This game pulls no punches in beating the crap out of you, and that's one of the perks. It's not an easy romp, and the game gives you no hints or tips on how to create your characters well. It's not particularly inviting but it has spirit, and a style that screams old-school. This is for a fan of the niche genre and newcomers are advised to try out the first game as it's arguably easier (Even without the quick save) and more forgiving.

Nevertheless, if you think you're up to the challenge, then check out this version. It improved on nearly every aspect over the first one and is what a real sequel is about.

Better Than: Etrian Odyssey

[BrainBlow]

I'll join this.

Recently Completed: Assassins creed 2

System: PC(laptop)

Story: You, once again, start of as Desmond Miles who is imprisoned in the facility of the company "Abstergo" which is owned by The Templar order who have been working in the shades after their order was dissolved. They are using a machine called the "Animus" to scan through Desmond's genetic memory in order to find a device called "The piece of Eden" which gives the wielder the ability to take control of others minds and create illusions. As the ending of the previous game revealed, Abstergo plans to link it up to a satellite and take over the world.
The game starts with Lucy Stillman, who it turns out belonged to "The Assassins", breaks Desmond out of Abstergo(Also stealing the memory core of the animus that Desmond had been using) and escapes to a warehouse where two other Assassins members were waiting with an upgraded version of the animus.
Lucy plans to use the genetic memories of Desmond's assassin ancestor Ezio Auditore da Firenze, whom you will be playing as most of the game, to train him up to become a proper assassin. Years of training would be achieved in a few days with the "Bleeding effect" of the animus.
You start out in early renaissance Italy where Ezio is living a relatively good life with his family.
His family is then victim of a Templar plot against his father, who was an assassin in the shadows, leading to both his father and brothers being executed for treason while Ezio barely escapes the clutches of the conspirators.
The truth about his father and the history of the Assassins is then slowly revealed to him as he plots revenge for his family.
It also turns out that the previous user of the abstergo Animus, known as "Subject 16", had been hiding clues in the animus system that would reveal what he called "The truth".

Time Spent: Didn't take note of the time, but even leaving out the side-missions will give quite a large amount of playing.

The Good:
-Upgraded climbing techniques makes scaling buildings both faster and more fun.
-Huge amount of playable content and optional side missions.
-Non-linear gameplay and no repetitive and annoying missions like in the previous game.
-Being able to wield a wide variety of weapons and disarming opponents which provides a much more entertaining combat. Hand to hand combat is also upgraded and really awesome.
-Amazing open world.
-Improved AI, both civilian and enemy AI. AI combat system is also better. The "counterbutton=always instant kill" is removed and makes combat a bit harder. Enemy AI gives less stupid openings in their defense too and they are a lot less cocky in this game.
-Being able to taunt.
-Ability to swim.
-Being able to fight with the hidden blade + Dual hidden blades.
-Being able to dye your clothes.
-The game is big yet the graphics is awesome.
-Blending ability and stealth is improved magnificently.
-Health bar(which can be improved upon) rather than a "synchronization bar" like in the previous game. Also: Armor.
-Notoriety system gives a lot better experience when it comes to stealth and alarming of enemies.
-GUN and a flying machine. Also: Leonardo Da vinci is your best bud. Which explains the previous mentioned gun and flying machine.
-The story of the entire game is rather awesome.
-So incredibly much more time is spent in the animus in comparison to the first game. So it is bybye to the constant "get some rest" interruptions when you are done with missions.
-The ending is awesome and pretty much promises a sequel.
-The main soundtrack is simply amazing! Listen to this shit!

The Bad:
-No matter how good many of the soundtracks are, many of them are simply unable to set the right MOOD like those in the previous game could. You know what I mean?
Cool music is one thing. Awesome music which matches both the game setting and situation is another.
-Enemy AI still have the tendency to accidentally kill each other during battle. That is lame.
-Why is Ezio the ONLY character who show signs of aging in this game? That is kinda silly.
-AI's repeating the same lines over and over and OVER again! I take my sweet time assassinating a target and they just won't shut the fuck up! No, they repeat the same set of lines again and again!
-Can only switch armors once you have bought them and not remove anything. I think Ezio looks cooler with just shoulder pads and boots. It would be a fun way to increase the difficulty and increase the feeling of realism when you swim(why doesn't he drown with all that armor?)
-Mixing Italian and English. Without turning on the subtitles I won't know what they are saying a lot of the time.


Score: 10/10. A must-buy.

Better Than: Assassins Creed.

[HK-47]

Glad you did!
And our first 10/10.

(I think my review of Etrian Odyssey II is the size of the other two combined in that comment. But it's longer than both of them combined by a long shot.)

[BrainBlow]

Yes, I felt I had to do a review.
Assassins creed 2 was a game which made me cheer at the ending.
I have played many games before but making me cheer isn't the most usual thing.
I just can't wait for assassins creed 3.

[Yutrzenika]

They're making an Assassin's Creed Brotherhood where in you play as Ezio, and you lead a group of Assassins.

[Log!]

A few things, though, like "You can't change your armor" (You can at the Villa), and "The ending is awesome".

Um... Spoiler.
Really? You thought that magic flying pope bullshit was awesome? Like, I'm totally down with ancient conspiracy theory and such, but when I'm playing a game and it's pretty close to trying to stay kind of realistic, and then it's like for the last ten minutes the guy keeping the "Hey guys, wouldn't it be AWESOME if..." retards in line just fucking died and they went to town. Magic popes! Magic duplication ninja jutsu bullshit! Mystical ancient gods! The Sun blowing up in a "near future" plotline! Also, it had the SAME FUCKING ENDING THAT EVERY GAME HAS NOW. "Oh, hey, I heard you liek full stories so we put a bullshit ending in so you can be dissatisfied with the end of the current story while you wait for the next one." The ONE THING that I'm okay with with the ending of Assassin's Creed 2 is that it opens it up for Desmond to become the main character in the final game, which is a badass concept, unless they do lame shit with it.


Granted, I guess that's all based on opinion, but as we all know, MY OPINION IS NEVER WRONG.

[Yutrzenika]

I thought you we're just never wrong. Not taking opinion into consideration. XD

Anyways, I liked the ending.

[Log!]

My opinion, much like everything I say, is never wrong. So you are still right.


But also wrong.

[Yutrzenika]

OK, I understand. I think
So if you were to say that the Germans won during WWII, would you be right?

[Log!]

Don't be silly, my awesome always correctitude isn't awesome enough to change history. Besides, I would never make a statement like "THE GERMANS WON WORLD WAR 2. THEY WON IT. HITLER WON. THE GERMANS WON WORLD WAR 2. YOU ARE DREAMING" because that would just be ridiculous.

[Yutrzenika]

Ah, OK, that makes sense. I mean, when are you ever wrong.