Review – Pokemon Platinum

• Game: Pokémon Platinum
• Format: Nintendo DS
• Other Formats: None
• Developer: Game Freak
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Genre: RPG

Pokémon… a series that has taken the world by storm, blasting it with tons of anime, 12 of its own movies, a countless number of games, (seriously, I tried, I lost count after a while…), and quite frankly one of the biggest merchandising bases ever to be seen, from bed sheets to cuddly toys, figures, watches and electronics. Platinum is the newest game to come out of the cellar of the Pokémon designers. This one is the third game in the fourth generation to come out, where it’s the two first games combined. Now, usually they don’t really change too much when making these; they keep the story similar and probably the most ambitious before Platinum was Yellow, as it changed how you got certain Pokémon and most memorably, you had your adorable friend Pikachu following you.

There is quite a big difference between Diamond/Pearl and Platinum, and you’ll notice it almost immediately, how you meet Professor Rowan and get your first Pokémon is completely different. They’ve also changed how the Team Galactic buildings look and in my opinion it was definitely for the better. The whole game just looks and feels a lot better to play than D/P; there’s more added content to keep you busy and it seems like they’ve put more focus into the parts of the game which weren’t as exaggerated in the last ones.

Wait… isn’t this the final scene of Ghost?

There’s also, as has been the trend in most of the third games, a lot more double battles, which means more shared exp which means more levelling-up This is always a good thing, although one problem is with wild double battles you have to knock one Pokémon out to catch the other, which gets quite annoying but thankfully it doesn’t happen often in the game.

Another new addition to Platinum over Diamond/Pearl is the fact they have thankfully sped everything up. This means that battling, move animations and talking is all faster making the game a lot more fluent nicer to play.

Overall this game is definitely worth buying if your a fan of Pokémon, and even if you already have Diamond and Pearl as it has new events which means more ways of catching Pokémon, for example the current event is the Rotom event where you get a key to a secret room.

Score:
9/10

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Kid Icarus – Retrospective

Featuring Frankenjam

• Game: Kid Icarus
• Format: NES / Wii (Virtual Console)
• First Release: 1987
• Developer: Nintendo R&D1
• Publisher: Nintendo
• Genre: Puzzle Thingie

Our second assault on gaming’s past drags our puny minds deep into the recesses of Greek mythology as Frankenjam plays Kid Icarus! A little more well-known than Lolo, I’ll admit, but who can honestly say that they remember it when it first came out?

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Adventures of Lolo 2 – Retrospective

Featuring Frankenjam

• Game: Adventures of Lolo 2
• Format: NES / Wii (Virtual Console)
• First Release: 1990
• Developer: HAL Laboratory
• Publisher: HAL Laboratory
• Genre: Puzzle Thingie

Join us as we take our first dive, deep into the heart of gaming from yore, giving you our initial impressions of the games that made today possible… ish.
Our first plunder is that well-known masterpiece, Adventures of Lolo 2:

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A Guide To Hexic

A Guest Article by Funk

OK, I don’t purport to be a Hexic master myself but I know there are a few people out there who don’t know where to start and might appreciate some pointers on how to get going. Hexic can seem more complicated than it actually is at first and if you’re having trouble making your first black pearl or even your first starflower, maybe my ‘common sense’ guide to maximising your potential might be able to help. I wanted to just write some basic tips that I know would have helped me when I started playing.

TGN – A Week in Pictures

A Guest Article/idea by Falco

Lets take a look at the past week or so of TGN, in picture form so our tiny minds find it easier to process.

So I was thinking…

Review – Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen

• Game: Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
• Format: DS
• Other Formats: N/A
• Developer: Square Enix
• Publisher: Square Enix
• Genre: JRPG

The first thoughts that you might have when you hear the letters ‘RPG’ may be that of semi-epic storylines interwoven with poor voice acting and random battles. After those letters, the word ‘retro’ and no doubt the word ‘grinding’ might also come to mind. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen doesn’t break the grinding trend but it does thankfully reduce the need for it. DQIV a remake of the formerly unreleased in Europe NES (and later PS1) game for the DS, with what seems to be a trend in RPG remakes, a few extras on top.

Review – Beneath the Ashes (Tomb Raider: Underworld DLC)

• Game: Tomb Raider: Underworld – Beneath the Ashes (DLC)
• Format: Xbox 360
• Other Formats: None
• Developer: Crystal Dynamics
• Genre: 3^rd Person Adventure

Not content with letting sleeping Tomb Raiders lie, we – the rabid excuse for a public – are once again force-fed another nauseating chapter from the life of the world’s most questionable archaeologist as she bends over in front of cameras in new and exciting locales. We are “treated” to an extension of Tomb Raider: Underwear in the form of downloadable content, as Lara ventures beneath Croft Manor for some reason or another that I shouldn’t give two green pasty shits about.

Review – Burnout Paradise: Ultimate Box

• Game: Burnout Paradise – Ultimate Box
• Format: Xbox 360
• Other Formats: PS3, PC
• Developer: Criterion Games
• Publisher: Electronic Arts
• Genre: Racing, Sandbox

Early 2008 saw the arrival of Criterion’s Burnout Paradise – a balls-to-the-wall, adrenaline-fuelled arcade racer that scrapped the menus for a free-roaming city with which to confound and annoy you. Upon lending yourself to the city for a few hours however, you soon found that navigating the twisty-turny streets like a twisty-turny thing became second nature, so fans of the game should feel right at home with the expansions as they are set once again in this ‘paradise’.

Review – Street Fighter IV

Co-written with Boss Man

• Game: Street Fighter IV
• Format: PS3
• Other Formats: Xbox 360, Arcade
• Developer: Dimps/Capcom
• Publisher: Capcom
• Genre: 2.5D Fighting

Street Fighter II defined a genre and created an impression still felt today, a game known for great characters and great gameplay. After years of re-releasing it with new additions, Capcom released Street Fighter III – a great game in its own right, introducing the series to a parry system and an array of new characters. Many of said new characters had an almost cloned move-set of those from the previous game. As good as it was, it failed to draw as big a fan -base as its predecessor. Many games have even tried to imitate the series: King of Fighters and Dark Stalkers spring to mind, but none so universally accepted as Street Fighter. Nine years since the last game, Capcom have finally created a new addition to the already bloated series. So after countless pretenders, will this new installment prove itself to be worthy of its title, or will it be another impersonator and eventually be forgotten?

Street Fighter IV is purely a fighting game. If you’re hoping for mini-games, customisation of characters or anything other than a toe to toe brawl, then this isn’t the game for you. The fighting game staple that is Arcade mode is included – this is simply you going one on one against a number of computer controlled opponents until you eventually reach the final boss. On completing the mode you get the second anime bookend to your character’s story. The more appealing mode is Versus, where you can play local, or online battles against real opponents. New to Street Fighter is Challenge mode, where you can find multiple tasks, like Time Attack (you are given a time limit to defeat a number of opponents), Survival (you have one life bar through a few fights) and Trial, which is very much like training mode but introduces players to moves and combos with increasing difficulty.

Kameh-hameh… wait a minute…

As for the game’s graphics, it looks nothing less than gorgeous. Cel-shaded style not too unlike Prince of Persia‘s is used to stunning effect. For fans of the previous games it may take a while to get used to Ryu and Ken’s added bulkiness, other than that slight qualm the graphics are fantastic and even better in motion. Street Fighter IV keeps the gameplay strictly 2D, but allows the characters and levels to stray into the third dimension, in a similar way to Super Smash Bros.

Street Fighter IV returns to its roots, with the original twelve characters from Street Fighter II. As well as the returning 12 there are four completely new characters, all with their own fighting style, moves and inputs. These four new characters are welcome additions and fit the bill perfectly. There are also three playable boss characters you can unlock. Included with the console versions of the game, you also have six extra characters from updated versions or spin-offs from the original series. In total there are 25 characters in the home versions of the game. There’s plenty of variety so there should be at last one character that takes your fancy.

“And what do they call you? Wheels?”

Now for the online, the options here are simple; Player Match or Ranked Match. Player Matches allow you to invite a friend for some matches with the online system. Lobbies here are limited to two people so unlike a local multiplayer match you can‘t have a group of friends taking turns. Ranked Match is you versus an opponent of equal or higher skill, fighting to be the victor. As you win a ranked match you gain points depending on how strong your opponent is and these points are deducted accordingly if you lose. Through these online battles you can unlock titles and an avatar for your online moniker, these give your Street Fighter alter-ego a personal touch.

Being a 2D fighter, it can easily be looked down upon for being shallow, but as fans know, Street Fighter can be exceedingly deep in the right hands. Unlike many fighting games, Street Fighter‘s simple controls give ease of access to newcomers, allowing them to play the game and have a good time in the process. Veterans of the series will not be alienated either, controls have been left untouched, even though some systems have changed. An example would be the exclusion of the parry system found in Street Fighter III, something called the ‘focus system’ has took it’s place and has proven to be quite a good inclusion. A focus attack when charged is unblockable, and when used properly they can lead into devastating combos. Street Fighter IV is almost perfectly balanced. If you lose, you know it’s because the other guy played better then you, but if you win, you know you deserved to win.

So does Street Fighter IV live up to it’s predecessor? Of course it does. With awesome characters, great gameplay and fantastic balance, this is easily one off the best fighting games ever, if not the best. Like Street Fighter II before it, Street Fighter IV doesn’t just impress, it pushes the fighting genre forward in one redefining leap.

Score:
10/10

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I Heart Zombies!

It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking in the dark. There he is, shuffling towards you. A vaguely comical appearance, but there’s nothing funny about him. He is dead but he is walking, and he is walking towards you with only the hunger for your flesh and brains driving him on. He is soaked with blood, most of it spewing from his gaping wounds. His jaw is hanging from his skull only by a stubborn bit of sinew, the tongue dangling from this unnatural cavity in his head. His ankle is broken at a viscerally nauseating angle, yet still he walks on it and you can hear it cracking every time he puts weight on it. It closes in. You’re cornered. There’s nowhere to go now. He gets closer, you can see your whitened reflection in his cold, dead eyes… you’re paralyzed.

It’s a rather unsettling thought, but deep down, every gamer wonders about what they would do to survive the Zombie Apocalypse that is definitely going to happen one day, when they terrorise y’alls neighbourhood. We all know we would probably just defecate ourselves out of fear and hope the smell scares the zombies away. But we dream of heroics, of saving our loved ones and guiding them to safety. A rather noble thought, and one not too dissimilar to other dreams of heroics, such as saving the beautiful lady from some form of danger and being rewarded with a kiss or a quick go on her breasts and then being giving three million pounds by her rich Father. But what’s more appealing to us in the zombie scenario, is the chance for bloody violence in a completely righteous form. “They’re dead anyway,” you’ll say, “but they’re trying to kill us. It’s self defense and it’s euthanasia, we might as well enjoy ourselves if we can. Someone get me a chainsaw.”

There’s a blood lust in us all, a primal state of mind that makes us violent, that makes us beat each other up and sometimes makes us kill each other. Primates do it, and so do we; it’s instinct. However, we (I’d like to think) have morals, and we know killing another is a most reprehensible crime. We do like to see films and games with bloodletting content, though. Think about this: it’s weird that horror films are so mainstream. We revel in being scared and some of us actually like to see gory stuff in horror films. It’s the part of us that slows down for car crashes, it’s the part of us that crowds around a fight, the reason hangings and executions drew a crowd. The fascination in us all of all things morbid and macabre. And, truly, what is more macabre than a reanimated and cannibalistic corpse? Let’s not analyse, but merely accept the fact that we’re all pretty damn morbid, some more than others, obviously. In this respect, zombies are awesome. Whether they’re the slow variety from the classic Night of the Living Dead and Resident Evil, or the fast-running motherfuckers from 28 Days Later and Left 4 Dead.

No mere mortal can resist the appeal of zombies, and when we go to bed at night we should all thank all those wonderful men and women who give us zombie films and zombie games, for they are preparing you for when grizzly ghouls from every tomb are closing in to seal your doom.

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