The 10 of '10

And with that, 2010 is done. Through the course of five months, I've beaten a whopping measly 32 games. Crap. At this rate I shall never beat all games. :(

Oh well, perhaps 2011 will prove to be a more fruitful year. I know I have a lot of games lined up that I'm really looking forward to, and I still have about 15 games I'm in the middle of. Anyways, now that the end of the year is here, I thought I'd look back at those 32 measly games and pick out my personal favorites from the bunch - those that really stuck out and screamed fun and excitement. Despite what my ratings may state, this list is based on overall fun and potential replay value - games I know I'd enjoy if I went back and played them again.

10. Hotdog Storm
-Short but sweet, this game just outright surprised me in every way possible.

9. Disney's Aladdin
-Just a straight up awesome platformer, 'nuff said.

8. Chrono Trigger
-As much as I hated Lavos/Lavos Core, this is still probably one of the best games ever made.

7. Milon's Secret Castle
-I seriously wouldn't be surprised if there's still a ton of stuff I've yet to uncover in this game.

6. Crash Bandicoot
-From the very beginning I could just feel that this game would own, and it did, bringing platforming to all new dimensions, even if they were just pseudo-dimensions.

5. Illusion of Gaia
-I've always loved action-adventure games, and with a storyline built around a strange mystical history so akin yet so different from our own, what's not to love?

4. Magical Chase
-Along with the various Touhou games, I found a newfound love for STG's thanks to this game.

3. Banjo-Kazooie
-Despite my deep-seeded hatred of the Nintendo 64, this game is brilliant and proved that even a shitty system can have amazing games.

2. The Bard's Tale
-There's far too much I could talk about regarding why this game's awesome so just go read the post.

1. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
-Five words: New Super Mario Bros. Wii - discussion over.

Arcade - The Lost Castle in Darkmist

Haiku-Review:

ever endless loop
where strategy is questioned -
is there strategy?

Additional Comments:

Well, with the closing of the year, I wanted to see if I could knock out one more game beaten. I knew any attempt to finish any of the games I'm currently in the middle of was pretty hopeless, so I figured I'd pick something quick and easy, but at the same time, something remarkably different. Hmm, I thought, arcade games are usually pretty short, but which one shall I play? After doing some quick research online regarding the few arcade games I currently have access to, Lost Castle sounded intriguing. So I decided to give it a whirl.

Holy crap, I certainly got what I was looking for, something remarkably different. This is one of the most unique games I've ever seen. The best way I can describe this game is that it's the long forgotten bastard hybridization of an old school, top-down hack n' slash and a fantasy STG, except when it comes to gameplay, it unfortunately got the short end of the stick, on both counts. And therein lies the problem. Because of its funky DNA jamming up what could potentially be a fantastic game, this game is a confusing mess that is hard as fuck. Seriously, this is one of the hardest games I've ever come across - harder then some of the modern day Danmakufu-born STG's. Off the bat, I played this game for a good 20 minutes or so before I could really even grasp what the heck was going on. And being that there is literally zero information regarding this game on the net, it made it all the harder.

Eventually I got the hang of the game, but I was still lucky to make it through one or two levels tops before loss of life - and oh yea, you only get one of those. Thankfully, being an arcade game, I could keep it well fed with a heaping pile of theoretical quarters, and damn, did I ever go through a lot of them. Even still, I was pretty confused as to the nature of the game. In one hand, you face level after level of auto-scrolling STG madness, albeit I use the term STG ever so lightly since your main weapon is a freakin' sword - that's right a melee weapon in a shooter. What!? Yea, you have a magic shot, but in my opinion, it's pretty useless except when fighting the Grim Reapers since you want to keep your distance from those guys. But then, in the other hand, you have these non-scrolling death labyrinths filled with hordes of nearly invincible creatures that easily sap over half your energy in a single hit. The yellow-gem lightning shield is your best hope for tackling these areas - too bad they only last about ten seconds. But that's not all - every now and then you'll come across a town replete with shops and a church where you can heal, but there's a catch: they auto-scroll. You have got to be kidding me!

Anyways, the next thing that struck my curiosity was regarding the game's length. After fighting my way through hordes of enemies, I was greeted with my prize - which I can only assume was the lost castle itself. However, there was no Staff-Roll to follow, just another level. But it was a whole new level. Huh? I began to suspect foul play was afoot, something akin to an endless game loop common to most early era, score-based arcade games, especially after the second lost castle, followed by a third. How many lost castles are there in Darkmist? But every new challenge I faced was visibly different: new settings and new, more powerful enemies, so this couldn't be the case. And then, a fourth lost castle emerged. Please let this be the end, I cried. Dammit!!! Another level!!! But wait, this one looks familiar. Finally, the game looped, and so my original suspicions proved fruitful. So it appears this game has no formal end. That's a shame, but I suppose it should have been expected.

The interesting thing about this game though: it could have been a truly stellar game. It definitely has potential, and you can see faint glimmers of this potential everywhere you look, but somewhere along the way the wires got crossed and fried any hopes of an amazing game from fully emerging. But, at the same time, it's not a bad game either. It's got some cool graphics, especially considering it's from '86, and some pretty catchy music. The controls are fairly descent and although there's no turbo feature, being an STG and all, it doesn't even matter. However, the in-game mechanics are a tad funky. Although, if you didn't have to rely on the sword so much, it'd probably be a different story. And the fact that the game is as unique as it is definitely makes it an interesting play.

Nano-Rant:

Besides having an STG where your main weapon is of a melee nature, the other thing that really stuck in my craw was that it began to become apparent that the best strategy was to just avoid everything. Kill nothing until you get to the boss. What a stupid tactic for a shooter.

Rating: 2.5 Flying Sabers out of 5

GEN - Golden Axe

Haiku-Review:

war on a turtle
cast magic on an eagle
bring it on, Bringer

Additional Comments:

When it comes to some serious beat 'em action and hair-pulling, wall-punching, controller-throwing difficulty, this game delivers. Now, I've played Golden Axe II for the Genesis countless times, and I've only toyed briefly with Golden Axe III, but I'm not sure if I've ever played the first one, although I have played one of the Golden Axes in the arcade, and I want to say it might have been this one - not totally sure, but whatever.

This game definitely excels in difficulty compared to the second one. Despite the agonizing torture this game just put me through, it's still everything I remember and loved about the Golden Axe series and I enjoyed playing every minute of it - erm, almost every minute of it. The battle against Death Bringer is a different story entirely. I was fighting him for a good thirty minutes or so before I began to suspect that perhaps his skeleton guards are indestructible. Well, they're not, but they're pretty damn close to it and I blame all my frustration solely on them. Ok, the battle's really not that bad once you figure out the proper tactics on how to bring down the Bringer, but until then, it's hell.

I'm not entirely sure if there's a difference in HP and attack power for each sprite between Beginner mode and Arcade mode, but it definitely seemed to be a substantial jump in difficulty, but maybe that's just me. It's not so much that Arcade mode played that much harder, but that Beginner mode seemed to be too much of a breeze. Of course there's the game length differences, but that's beside the point. Duel mode, which I often enjoyed playing through in the sequel, is still just as enjoyable here. Though it definitely keeps you on your toes since you only get 8 life bars to play with through all 12 rounds whereas in the sequel I believe your life would get replenished.

All in all, the game is hard, but fun - the classic beat 'em up with a brilliant fantasy twist that is uniquely Golden Axe. It owned in the arcades, and it still delivers on the home console. But I have to ask this one question, is it just me or are the levels really short? Well, while the jury's out on that one, let's listen to some classic Golden Axe music with Wilderness.

Nano-Rant:

Oh my god, why does it always feel like the player character and enemy sprites are suffering some sort of magnetic repulsion? I go up, they go down. I go down, they go up. What the fuck are you guys so antsy about!? Arggghhh!!!!

Rating: 3 Longmoan's out of 5

GB - The Ren & Stimpy Show: Space Cadet Adventures

Haiku-Review:

what the hell is that?
is it going to hurt me?
can I jump on it?

Additional Comments:

Having owned this as a kid, I remember playing it quite a bit - or attempting to play it at least. Good grief, this game is balls hard. It was way back when, and it still is today. Now, other than the title screen and opening cut scenes, I remember almost nothing of this game. I thought I did, but as it turns out, I don't. So what the hell game was I thinking of, I wonder - some other ludicrously hard platformer where you're jumping over indestructible alien lifeforms I guess. About ten minutes into playing the game, I began to wonder if I was even playing the right game. Well, I think I can attribute my lack of memory regarding this game to some of its key issues.

First off, ninety percent of this game is made up of stuff that my haiku rightly described. I understand we're talking about a four-toned title on the GameBoy, but come on. That is one of the biggest problems with this game. There were a couple points where I didn't know what to do because I didn't realize that that wall was not really a wall but just a part of the background design or that you could stand on door/window frames. And what about all the stuff that can hurt you?. Basically, if an object has animation, not just movement but a palette animation as well, you're going to lose health. And by god, the shit's all over the place. This game is more about precision jumping in far more circumstances than necessary.

My next issue is that the levels are too damn long. I'm all for long levels, but the designers have to do them up right - packing as much fun and entertainment out of them as they can every step of the way. Here, it's nothing but waves of infantile level design and rampant aggravation, especially since I'm constantly trying to figure out what sort of interaction an object should have on the fly. Also, this particular issue of length is what really wracks my brain regarding my personal memories of the game. All these years I always thought the spaceship held the entirety of the game with each room being its own level. There's three more fucking levels of this crap!!

I suppose I should be thankful there are no bosses in this game, as if you'd be able to hit them anyways. Yea, off all the enemies in the game, I think there's only about six different sprites that are actually killable. What a joke. Anyway, in lieu of end-level bosses, you have a timed section in which you must reach Ren, Stimpy or, in the case of the second level, a ladder. I say take the easy road - if you have full health, just let the shit hit you. Trust me, it's a lot less painful. Besides, you're health refills upon each new level.

I guess if there's any grace from this game, it's watching Ren slap Stimpy repeatedly during the end cut scene. What a stupid ending. But then, it somehow reeks of good ol' Ren & Stimpy, so I guess it's only appropriate.

Nano-Rant: (Haven't had one of these in a while):

I still can't get over the fact that I never even beat the first level as a kid. Fuck, this game is hard!!

PS, the music sucks.

Rating: 1.5 Powdered Toast slices out of 5

NES - Super Mario Bros.

Haiku-Review:

Oh! Mushroom Kingdom:
you're infested with turtles-
the plumbing's awry

Additional Comments:

(It was bound to show up sooner or later, so why not as a Christmas treat? Frankly, I'm surprised it took me this long to get around to SMB for Beat All Games.)

Having grown up on the NES, it's hard to talk about this game and not be nostalgic. Unfortunately, I no longer recall the exact specifics on how I acquired my NES, though it seems most plausible to associate it with my birthday, but I do recall hooking it up to my TV for the first time and inserting the cartridge for Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt. It truly was a glorious moment in my childhood. Albeit, I had an Atari 2600 up until this point (which I had to let go due to some BS-only-one-video-game-console-per-household rule that had been instilled on me; still infuriating me to this very day), and was quite familiar with the video gaming experience; the difference was just night and day. Watching that 8-bit plumber stomp Goombas on an 8 world quest through the Mushroom Kingdom to save the princess was something else. The experience was something that I really don't think anyone who has grown up on any of the later systems (except for maybe the N64 - as much as I hate that system, I do acknowledge the impact of the "next-generation" vision it tried to create) will properly understand or appreciate, much like how I will never fully appreciate how some of the original kingpins like Pong, Space Invaders or even Adventure may have affected those during the 70s.

But enough of that, let's talk Super Mario Bros. As a nostalgic piece, the game is tops and is one of those games that every gamer should try at least once in their lives. Even 25 years later, the game is still pretty phenomenal. However, as with any gaming franchise that has been spitting out title after title, the original is bound to fade into a pool of mediocrity compared to it's long line of successors at some point. And unfortunately, this is also one of those franchises where each successive title took monstrous strides, leaving it's predecessor in the dust. But that's not to say it's a bad game - it's anything but. It's just, if you want to play a genuine NES timepiece, play Super Mario Bros. - you're going to love it. But if you want to try your hand at a quality game from the Super Mario universe? Well, let's just say there's countless titles I would steer one towards before I'd suggest SMB.

Regardless, it's still an amazing game. But I have to admit, I haven't really sat down with this game in a long, long time. I've made a few minor attempts on the SMAS version over the past few years, but more out of boredom than anything. So, honestly, it's been at least a good 12 years since I really attempted a serious playthrough of the game. I've beaten the game numerous times in the past, attempted RTS's years before I would ever come to know the term, and glitched the hell out of it with a Game Genie more times than I can possibly recall. Basically, I learned every little secret I could. Amazingly, even after a decade's absence, it's still amazing what I can remember in this game. However, and I'm sad to admit, I completely forgot that there's a second quest. I don't think I can even express how shocked I am that I had forgotten all about it. Maybe it's because the second quest is exactly the same as the first, except for added/changed sprites. But what's funny, once I started through the second quest it suddenly hit me - I do remember this! Anyhow, I'm not entirely sure if I ever completed the second quest, and if not, well it's beaten now.

Despite it's purely 8-bit characteristics, I still love the design of the game, from the graphics to the music, but again, that may just be the nostalgia digging it's nails into me. However, stepping up from a 2600, it was amazing to see a game that had graphics that actually looked like stuff - and not just stuff, but lot's of stuff. And there was music, and it was catchy as hell. (I'd showcase some songs, but seriously, if you don't know any, or all for that matter, of the SMB tunes by heart, then you're on the wrong site.) And to top it all off, there was some serious freedom of movement compared to my early days of gaming. There were all sorts of impressive little movements you could make Mario perform.

Which brings me to my final thoughts: Mario's physics. Ah, the ability to play SMB as a virgin player is undoubtedly lost in time, and very nearly impossible for anyone nowadays. Having been one, I can recall how fluid the gameplay was. There was nothing to complain about, because as far as I was concerned, it was the best gameplay experience out there. But eventually, I too would lose the fantasy of this so-called "terrific gameplay" à la Mario's physics once SMB3, and later SMW, emerged on the scene. With Mario's physics now so much more controllable, the SMB plumber was nothing more than an unrestrained ice cube sliding off platforms or into enemies without a care in the world. Unfortunately, it seems Nintendo had reverted to this style of physics for its NSMB titles. Yea, t's not the end of the world, but I think Mario was at his best, physics-wise, during his SMB3/SMW era. So, although I could potentially rant about the physics, it would be heresy since I was lucky enough to experience the game fresh and enjoy the physics for what they were in their heyday - amazing!

Rating: 4 Minus Worlds out of 5

NES - Micro Machines

Haiku-Review:

tiny cars race hard
win the race: bonus! but then -
lose the race: bogus!

Additional Comments:

Another all-time favorite from the NES era, Micro Machines has got to be, hands down, the best racing game for the NES. I remember renting this nearly every weekend while living in the middle of nowhere one summer. Having nothing else to do, renting NES games and watching MTV were pretty much my only options and I could only withstand so much Tom Cochrane, so I spent a lot of time experimenting and exploring the interestingly themed tracks in this game.

A top-down racer, Micro Machines pitted tiny cars in some mundane, yet rather innovative environments: jeeps on a breakfast table, boats in a bathtub, helicopters in a patio garden, open-wheel racers on a pool table and so on - simply awesome! Each vehicle type has its own unique handling characteristics, which in some cases, such as the tanks, is extremely stiff or in others, such as the sports cars, is so damn loose that you're fighting just to stay on track. There's still a section in Crayon Canyons that I can't figure out how to perfect where a binder/ruler combination precedes a sharp corner at the desktop's edge and then you need to quickly line the car up for a single-wide ruler bridge. Not only did I desperately fight my way through this section, but I noticed the AI is apt to plummet to their doom as well.

Besides the aforementioned Crayon Canyons, the tracks do start getting extremely technical as the game progresses and it becomes more of a situation of ferociously battling the course layout as opposed to your rivals. Fortunately, each character has their own unique driving style and it becomes quickly apparent who's good and who's not. And combining that with that fact that every third race, the lowest ranked driver is given the boot, it's easy to predetermine your rival line-up so that you end up racing all of the slow-movin' dimwits on the harder tracks near the end of the game.

All in all, for being an unlicensed game, Codemasters created a fantastic racing game in an era where racing games were pretty much bleh. Although F-Zero, which in my mind revolutionized the racing genre, was released the same year, it was still a few months down the road. Of course, there were arcade classics like Out Run (ok, technically it's not a racing game) and Super Hang-On ported to the Genesis, but it was still a good while before I could get my hands on either of those. And besides, none of those games are top-down racers. So then, what games do we have to compare? RC Pro-Am? Super Sprint? Ivan "Iron Man" Stewart's Super Off Road? Yea, they're descent games (actually, I like Super Off Road), but they're nothing compared to Micro Machines. The creativity in the tracks alone here can put those games to shame.

Oh! How can I forget to talk about the music? Well, maybe because there's little to no music in the game. That's right, the whirs of tiny engines is all you hear (which turns out to be rather amusing for the helicopter races), but the game does have a gem of a song: the Menu Theme. Huzzah!

One final thought I figure I'd throw out there: although I haven't played the 2 player mode since I first played this game way back when, I do remember it being a lot of fun. But then, I was also a kid back then, so who knows.

Rating: 4.5 Topples' boxes out of 5

GEN - Disney's Aladdin

Haiku-Review:

what makes me wonder
about the Cave of Wonders:
why the panther head?

Additional Comments:

Another fabulous Disney platformer by Virgin Interactive; I remember playing this game countless times growing up. I always thought of it as one of those games that's not overly difficult, is really fun to play and just held its own when it came to replay value. Every level, based on various scenes from the movie, is beautifully drawn and incorporates interesting design - especially Sultan's Dungeon or Inside the Lamp. Even the music is great, and whether or not you liked the movie soundtrack, hearing everything driven through Sega's gritty sound engine presents a fresh take on some of the better known tunes. However, some of my personal favorites are Turban Jazz or Arab Rock.

What appears to be a trend among games developed by Virgin, the difficulty curve between each mode seems rather negligible. Yea, there are some added sprites here and there, but overall, much like Lion King, the curve seemed to be pretty shallow across the board. Also, something I should point out: much like Lion King, I decided to play the Genesis version, for again the same reasons as previously stated in that game's review. However, although I have dabbled with the SNES version, I never realized that it's a completely different game. Not only that, but the SNES version was developed by Capcom, and appears to be the last of the the Capcom/Disney games. Hmm, I always thought the SNES version just happened to be a weak port of Sega's (shows what happens when you play the game haphazardly, not even realizing the absence of the scimitar), but this puts a whole new perspective on everything. Well, now I'll have to give the SNES version an actual go.

Rating: 4 magic carpets out of 5

PS2 - The Bard's Tale

Haiku-Review:

drunks and trow sing songs-
skull, tree, moon, sun, chicken, lute:
portal puzzle beat

Additional Comments:

Straight up - I love this game! This is probably my favorite hack n'slash game out there. Now, I've never played any of the original C64/PC titles, but sometime in the late 90s I bought the NES port and played the heck out of it. It was one of the more innovative takes on a typical dungeon crawl/RPG that I had seen allowing for a wide variety of party setups with a large cast of characters. Needless to say, when I saw that there was a new Bard's Tale available for the PS2 sometime in 2004, I just had to have it.

Right from the get go, I enjoyed this game. From its unique summoning system to its deeply rooted Scots' environments to its wonderful voice-over cast (it's got Cary Elwes as the Bard - what else is there to say?), everything is just amazing in this game. The music alone is fantastic, presented as appropriately styled period pieces, such as The Nuckelavee. There's literally nothing for me to complain about regarding this game. Even the fact that you have to double-back through the first two towers after defeating the guardians has never bothered me since the concept has been worked into the storyline. Normally, I'd be annoyed with such a setup, but not here.

Another thing I love about this game is the constant battle of the cynics between the Bard and the Narrator: the Bard completely jaded on the whole notion of adventuring and princess-rescuing and the Narrator, well he's just generally annoyed with the Bard and all of his needless tomfoolery. Not only does their quibbling bring laughs, but it continually moves the story forward in a rather unorthodox fashion regarding the player or Bard's sudden newfound omniscience, or what would typically be the lack thereof in any other game. Either way, the Narrator's remarks, whether it be about the Bard or some random acquired token, are just priceless.

Ok, I do have one teeny-weeny, little issue with this game, but it's almost not even worth mentioning because it doesn't even effect the gameplay at all, but I must. Why the hell does it take so many donations to collect all the extras? Seven-hundred!? Are you kidding me!? And other than the artwork, they're not even worth it - trust me. I foolishly sat around for an hour or so making all seven-hundred donations so I could achieve the 100% completion benchmark I set myself. First off, you need ~70k silver (depending on your Charisma) to even manage all the required donations, and that's not an entirely easy feat in and of itself. The whole thing reminds me of the 200 consecutive jumps you need to achieve in the Thunder Plains in Final Fantasy X for Lulu's ultimate weapon (or whoever's weapon you get). It's as if the whole thing is just some sort of sick joke on the developer's part to see if they can con any idiots into trying it. Well, they got me. (jerks....)

Rating: 5 Bodbs out of 5

NES - The Legend of Zelda

Haiku-Review:

one hero, two quests
a triangle and princess
romp through nostalgia

Addition Comments:

Well, I suppose I should start by stating the following: unlike most gamers who grew up on the NES, I never played LoZ as a kid. I had some friends that had the game and yea, it seemed mildly interesting when they showed it to me, but not enough to really grab my attention. After all, as stated before, I was an avid fan of platformers. Anyway, the years passed and eventually, after the 8-bit and 16-bit systems fell out of style due to the N64 and PS1 taking the reins, I rekindled my affinity for the old systems and started seeking out a lot of those old games that I missed out on. Legend of Zelda was one of the first I sought out, as I was well aware of the prestigious ranking the game held among retro gamers and sort of felt guilty that I never gave the game a fair chance as a kid. From the opening theme to the final showdown with Ganon, I was enthralled - I really did miss out on a classic as a kid.

Here it was, the late 90s, and I finally realized why gamers went nuts over this franchise. Eventually, I bought the Zelda Collection for GameCube and played through the entire game again, for the second time, and I think it was at this time that I actually gave the master quest a fair shot as well. I don't remember much, although I know I never completed it and am fairly certain I quit in frustration sometime after the third labyrinth.

Fast forward to the present - with my latest completion, I believe I've knocked out the first quest four times now, but finally, after all these years, I have driven the final nail into the coffin that is the master quest. Holy Shit! The master quest is one of the most unforgiving, convoluted mindfucks I've ever come across. With the introduction of invisible passageways and 1-way secret passages, the frustration level just skyrockets once these annoyances start teaming up with 1-way shutters. I can't even recall the amount of times I had to keep redoing the entirety of Labyrinth 7 due to a wrong turn involving a 1-way shutter or bad usage of the labyrinth's included 1-way secret passageway. Oh, and tracking down Labyrinth 6 was a nightmare on its own. I think I bombed every rock I could and burned down every tree I came across. Sheesh....

Nevertheless, LoZ is a great game. However, and it is really hard to criticize the game, I really don't think it's the best NES game out there as so many claim. I'll admit, for its time, the game was revolutionary and it completely redefined the action-adventure genre, but when it comes to the fun and replayability factor, this game just doesn't rank as well as other NES games for me. Frankly, it plays slow and being a puzzle game, the replay value is fairly diminished every time I give it a whirl. But that's not to say it's a bad game - far from it. After all, as my top 25 states, it's in my top 15.

As far as the franchise itself, it's hard to rank - maybe 5th favorite out of the titles I've played (I've played 9 different Zelda games to date for those that are curious). Again, it was amazing in its day, I'm sure, but after the material presented in both LttP and OoT laid the groundwork for the future of the franchise, completely reshaping the mechanics and nature of the game, LoZ just doesn't have a fighting chance. I don't understand these people who still think LoZ is the best one of them all. Personally, I think they looking at the game through nostalgia goggles, but to each their own.

But enough of that - criticism aside, amazing game with equally amazing music, although I will admit, about a third of the way through the master quest, I was getting pretty damn sick of listening to the same OW and Labyrinth music forever and anon. So, to continue my aurally induced illness, I present the Labyrinth Theme. (I never thought I'd grow to hate the music of Zelda.)

Rating: 4 Like Likes out of 5

XB360 - Bioshock 2

Haiku Review: 

From a drill melee,
For a little sister's cries,
You're the Big Daddy!

Additional Comments:

First: yeah...that haiku sucked. But, second, DUDE, this game was awesome! I was huge fan of the first game. In fact, I think that Bioshock (1) was probably the best game ever made. The environment was wonderful, the story was riveting and suspenseful and philosophical, the weapons and plasmids (magic) were satisfying, and the many other little things in the game made it a delight to play. To me, Bioshock is the maturity of the "Fallout direction" in gaming--meaning that the world is certainly one of the biggest stars, and survival one of the biggest gameplay devices, but you don't have to sacrifice story and content to prove you can make a survival game.

So I hear that BS2 is coming out, and I honestly have pessimistic feelings about it right off the bat. I'm kind of an anti-advocate for the trend in gaming to hammer out a new sequel to cashcow franchise every year, and after the satisfying conclusion of the first game, I didn't think they had anywhere to go with the story, for one, but also I didn't think they could even make a successor that was even remotely close to the penultimate paragon of my gaming experience. And it wasn't even made by the same developer! Needless to say, there were many obstacles in my mind.

But I gave it a shot, and borrowed it from my brother. I played it for about an hour on the first night, and I had to admit, this game is awesome. The story is still good. Even though it's a sequel story-wise, and I thought there was nowhere to go, they actually went to the back-story of how the Big Daddies and Little Sisters started. The world is as beautiful (in a broken down sort of way) than ever. But the biggest delight was that all the little inconveniences in the first game were streamlined and honed into a better version. The hacking is better, the guns and upgrades are better, the combat is better, the plasmids are better. And the new addition of the Big Sister surprised me at how good it was.

My only gripes are small ones. The music is virtually nonexistent in this game. I understand why, though, since it adds even more immersion to take away the music in this case and have the natural sounds fill your ears. That said, it still does have music, but more in the theatrical sense, along the lines of a suspenseful movie. It's there only when you want to build drama. My other quibble is that the dramatic tension in this game is somewhat less than in the first. There were many scenes and stages in the first where I literally sat on the edge of my seat as I played, hoping to not have something pop out in front of my face, having something do just that. In this game, there are couple of moments where it seems like that, but it just isn't all there. But, like I said, that's just a quibble. But my biggest (minor) gripes are about the story. Though the story was almost just as good as the first--and certainly just as immersive and satisfying--it seemed a little convoluted at times. And the ending scene dumbfounded me at how close it resembled the ending to the first game. It was almost identical.

Minor--very minor--gripes aside, this was a huge surprise, and was a really great game.

Rating:  5 crazy Big Sisters out of 5