List of games everyone liked but me. Part 3

You ever had it where everyone plays a game and loves it, and you hear about how great it is, and when you finally play it, it's really not that great, and you don't see why anyone would like it? Well, then, you know how I feel, here's my list of such games. PART 3!


Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare - PS3/360/PC - Published by Activision - Developed by Infinity Ward - 2007.

Ah, Call of Duty, a series made famous by featuring World War II first person shooters, finally taken away from the axis and allies, to a modern setting. This game won numerous game of the year awards, and lots of praise. It even kicked Halo 3 from the top spot on Xbox Live, wow.

So, one day, I decided to rent it, as the game I was looking for was not in. This game is pretty good looking, so let me get that off my chest. The game is a realistic shooter, which is based somewhere middle-east/russia if I remember correctly.

Everything in the game works, and works pretty smoothly, the sound is pretty good, and the framerate is locked at 60 Frames per second, making it really smooth.

So, this sounds like the making of a good game, right? Well, sort of. You could polish a sculpture of president into a mirror shine, but it's still a statue of a president. Thing is, there are a lot of statues of presidents. The game feels like every first person shooter I've played before, with not much new, it just feels like any WWII shooter, done in this time period.

It falls in the same category as Counter-Strike, in being okay, but completely generic, and, In my opinion, boring after a short time. To me this game was completely uninteresting, which may be a shame, but oh well..

Tekken series - PS1/PS2/PSP/PS3 - Published by Namco - Developed by Namco - 1995-2008.

Ah, Tekken, apparently king of fighting games, with smooth animations, great character balance, and amazing graphics.

I will make this short, as in general, I don't like fighting games. I did like Mutant Academy, but that's because it was something *really* special, in my opinion. I did play Street fighter II, and suck at it, but I was never super fond of it.

Now, I don't have too much to compare it to, but if this is the best fighter series, no wonder they are slowly dying off.

This game is slow, and clunky, not to mention just ridicules. The most fun I had with these games, were just laughing at how bad they were.

I know, there's going to be someone that's all mad at me for this, but I'd have you know, this is my opinion, and not fact or something.

Prince of Persia trilogy - Last generation consoles - Published by Ubisoft - Developed by Ubisoft - 2003-2007.

Prince of Persia was a Dark Castle-like 2D side scrolling platformer made in 1989, apparently someone found it 20 years later, as a sequel was made in 2003. It combined platforming, sword fighting, free running, and time altering.

When released this game was met with loads of good reviews, and good press, it won lots of game of the year awards, and most of the people I knew owned a copy.

So, not expecting much, I tried it. Surprisingly I was met with a slow paced, boring game, with horrible fighting and bleh story.

I tried to like this game, but simply was bored out of my mind. There was just nothing about it that interested me. A year or two later, I tried again, and still didn't like it. Then again, a year or so ago, I got another chance to try it, and I *Still* didn't like it.

I didn't like the stuck camera angles in some places, and not in others, I didn't like the swordplay, which I found to be repetitive, and uninclusive. And, I will say it again, this game just bored me so much, I had trouble even putting an hour into this game, which I forced myself to do, as I wanted to think it would get better.

It didn't.


So, I know I've pissed off a few people with this, but as I said before, this is my opinion, and not fact. These games are probably wonderful, but are sadly, not for me.

List of games I loved, and no one else played. Part 1

You ever have a game you played, but seemingly no one else you knew played it? Like, it seems like it should have been some huge hit, but no one's heard of it? Well, this is a list of games I've found that follow the above description.



Deadlock: Planetary Conquest - Mac/PC - Published by Accolade - Developed by Accolade - 1996

Ah the years of turn based strategy games with sprite graphics. This was a semi-popular Mac and PC turn based strategy game, in which a few species tried to conquer a planet at the same time, which leads to... Well, whatever you want, victory by military might, or victory by diplomacy.

The game is for the most part quite simple, though it has a lot of breathing room, with a bunch of interesting options, the gameplay, take over square by square, build solders, research to build better buildings and solders, ect. However, this game is just *fun* I can't really say why, other then it has a sense of it's own style, and it's just complex enough to not be generic, but not be overkill for a beginner.

I really wish a OSX version of this game was released, because I would still be playing it now, that and fix the randomly quitting glitch. :P

It's extremely addictive, easy on the eyes, and simple enough for anyone to get into. It's sadly forgotten, and or never been heard of, quite a shame.

Interesting Note: They made a PC only sequel, which I was luck enough to play the demo of once, seems more like an expansion pack. Still, maybe someday I'll try it.



Myth II: Soulblighter - Mac/PC - Published by Bungie - Developed by Bungie - 1999

Ah Myth II, how I love you so. *Ahem* Myth II is hardly a fair choice, because it was an extremely popular game, however, most everyone I talk to these days have never even *heard* of it, let alone played it.

Myth II is a Real Time Strategy game, though, it seemed to make it's own sub-genre of that, as it contained no building cities, units, or researching technologies. You got a group of units, and absolute control of them, rather then just clicking units and having them attack, there was a fair bit more you could do, with special abilities, status effects, and different units being very different from each other.

Myth II had an amazing story that you actually cared about, taking place in a mid evil time period, somewhat akin to Lor od the Rings. The story was presented through a narrator reading from his journal, animated cutscenes, and in game voice acting. The narration was wonderful, and fit the game so well, you can't imagine the game without it. The animated cutscenes were decent, but nothing to write home about. The in game voice acting was sometimes cheesy, but only slightly. Overall, I completely love the story, and have played it over and over again.

The graphics where good for it's time, but the sprites were a bit low res, and a lot of scenery is 2D, however, the game is still completely playable. It's great to look at the landscape after a huge massacre. And let me tell you this game is pretty bloody, with people bursting into pieces after explosions, and burning to death by fire arrows.

The game's music is phenomenal, it sets the mood, and goes beyond almost any music of the day in gaming. It still holds it's own against the best game scores of today. I found the soundtrack as fast as I could, and still listen to it today. Simply amazing.

The gameplay is just downright amazing, really, I can't say more then they got it as close to perfect as they could, everything works, and is satisfying. The balance is impressive, and the overall gameplay is really addictive. There are a ton of difficulties, and people still play online to this day, there are also a ton of mods for the game, probably over 1000. Tons of extra single player, and multiplayer mods, of which there are quite a few outstanding ones, ones that could be their own games. The most famous online one, was WWII: Recon, which was a World War II mod for multiplayer.

The game shipped with powerful yet easy to use modding tools, and there are still people making mods for it to this day.

This is one game which withstood the test of time.

Interesting Note: Bungie, the company that made this later became famous for the Halo Series.

Star Wars: Droid Works - Mac/PC - Published by Lucas Learning - Developed by Lucas Learning - 1998

I knew a lot of people that bought this, however, most people I know now have never even heard of this title, which is somewhat to be expected, a Star Wars game for kids, based on education.

However, this game was far more then that, with a overall dark feeling, which was probably due to the game using the same engine as Dark Forces II. The game had tense moments, puzzles, and a large customization element.

The game starts with a for it's time beautiful pre-rendered cutscene, explaining the story, and introducing R2D2, C-3PO, and the new character, Holo-Cammy. The game then lets you play around with the advanced droid editor, which lets you make both wheeled and legged droids, with your own combination of arms, hands, torso, head, and legs. You could color your droid, and save it for later, or take it on one of 27 missions.

The missions in the beginning are pretty straight forward, however, later on they become much more adventure oriented, and better. Even so, the beginning missions are pretty fun, and can sometimes take a few tries to get right.

I really had fun with this game, it looked great, albeit a bit dark for a children's game, it had a great musical score (taken from the movies), a good enough story, and just fun gameplay with the deep customization factor.

I can't ignore the somewhat stupid ending, but overall, I really enjoyed this game, shame it stopped working for me in classic mode.

Interesting Note: The music for the game is on a separate audio-CD part of the disc, and is easy to rip. :)


So, there you go, this was great fun to write, and I hope you find these games as fun as I found them.

List of games everyone liked but me. Part 2

You ever had it where everyone plays a game and loves it, and you hear about how great it is, and when you finally play it, it's really not that great, and you don't see why anyone would like it? Well, then, you know how I feel, here's my list of such games. PART 2!



Counter-Strike - PC/Xbox - Published by Vivendi Universal/Microsoft Game Studio - Developed by Valve Software - 1999/2004.

(First off let me note: This is based off of the Xbox version, and I know many hardcore Counter-Strike players will just laugh off this whole article, and perhaps blog. However, I have played the PC version as well, and besides control, graphics and mods, it's the same game. With a game that has no single player, gameplay is what counts, and it's pretty much the same on the xbox)

Ah Counter-Strike, kick of all online First Person Shooters, and as many would have you believe, all First Person Shooters. It has addictive online play, a huge community, tons of mods, and is the most played online game that's not an MMORPG.

I have watched people play this, I have heard them rant, I have seen the reviews, and read people's comments on forums, I know what people think of this game, so one day I saw it for $8 at blockbuster (For Xbox), and bought it.

So, for all of the good hype I heard from it, what did I think? Well, I found it to be really generic, with poor graphics, really chancy gameplay, and just not enough content.

let me qualify my statements, of which I will start with generic. Yes, it's generic, normal guns shooting at normal people, in normal locations. There's no twist, there's no gimmick, you just shoot people, you throw grenades, and that's it.

The graphics, are pretty poor, and that's because the game runs on the dated Half-Life 1 engine (Though, Counter-Strike source fixed this), and because of this, the blood looks like play-dough, and everything looks blocky, and just dated. This whole part could be ignored on the PC version, because it came out when the graphics were decent. The Xbox port came out the same year as Halo 2, and it looks like late Dreamcast-early PS2 era game, really unacceptable for the year it came out.

The gameplay is addictive, I'll give it that, but I still didn't find it to be that great, decent, but no more. It felt really clunky compared to other first person shooters I've played, such as Halo, and Killzone. Jumping and ducking are kind of strange, and you can't Melee or throw a grenade without switching weapons. But down to the actual combat, often it's just who shoots first, because you die so fast, aiming is only a secondary skill, where most it is just who can sneak up on another player, or shoot them without getting shot. Often it feels really random who will win, when you shoot at someone and they shoot at you at the same time.

This game has no single player, and relies on having multiplayer. The games does have botmatches, and quite a few levels. In my opinion though, this game just doesn't have enough to it to keep me playing, I just play for maybe an hour and think to myself "Is this it?"

I know many people will just scoff at this, but this is the opinion I have of the game. Sorry for having my own opinion.



Final Fantasy X - Playstation 2 - Published by Squaresoft - Developed by Squaresoft - 2001

Ah, Final Fantasy X, one of the most popular in the series, it's grand debut on the Playstation 2. Many people consider this to be one of, if not the best Playstation 2 games, and one of the best games of all time, with it's touching story, pretty graphics, and memorable soundtrack.

I heard so much good stuff about this game, but somehow, when I got my PS2, it kind of slipped under the radar, but was pleasantly surprised when I received it for christmas one year. I remember fondly thinking of the Playstation 1 Final Fantasy titles, and curiously thinking of what magic this game would hold.

It was sad when I was greeted into the world with an extremely annoyingly voiced main character, and when I finally got to it, combat which felt worse then previous games. As I continued on, I found that the other main character, was also just as annoying.

It's funny because the voice actor who played the main character, Tidus, is the same voice actor that plays Ratchet, from the Ratchet and Clank series, (James Arnold Taylor), in that role, he did great. Maybe the vocal director was on the side yelling "Sound more annoying" the whole time or something, but he manages to become your worst enemy, because you just don't want to hear him talk, and spew out the stupidest, and most unhelpful words ever.

The combat in this game feels like a step back from the original games, with turn based combat, over the previously nigh-perfected ATB (Active Time Battle), so you can take all day using a potion, without having to worry about the monsters even sneezing. It feels really strange especially because of how much more it's leaning towards making sense, in a realism type of way.

The story is actually not bad, but it's populated with characters you really don't care about, most of the time, you really wouldn't care of some of them just kicked off, which really defeats the purpose of having the story follow them. But I did like the twists and turns, I just wish it was less linear.

The graphics, are pretty. No argument from me, they held their own against even recent PS2 games, though, it's a same you couldn't move the camera, so most of the time, a lot of the scenery was hidden. Also, the dubbing was terrible, you'd hear someone talk, and then seconds later, their mouth is still moving. It was really distracting often, and made scenes just look plain bad. The pre-rendered cutscenes though, are unmatched, with amazing graphics, and spot on dubbing. It's odd the rest of the game didn't have the same dubbing.

The music is also great, with me looking for a soundtrack after playing it, and humming tunes later, but in comparison to some of the other Final Fantasy soundtracks, it's perhaps not as good, but it does contain some great songs.

Also, it's worth mentioning that this game was a really strange difficulty curve, with bosses often being pretty easy, but having the normal monsters take down your entire party often. It gets really weird when you run low on money, and can't buy anything to heal yourselves, but can't fight to get money...

Overall, this game I never finished without cheating. I got to the end, and just gave up before fighting the boss, it was just too boring, and I really didn't care what happened to the characters. I did use an Action Replay (Cheating device for Playstation 2) to finish the game, and was surprised by a rather good ending, though, it still didn't make up for the rest of the game being so dull.



God Of War - PS2 - Published by Sony - Developed by Sony - 2005

(Note: I never beat this game, and only put a few hours into it, at different times and places, and don't really know the story, which would probably make it a bit better. Doesn't save it from gameplay though)

Ah, God of War, the ultra popular PS2 game, which many of my friends played and loved, and I read tons of praise online for. Reviews often gave this game 9-10/10, so it seemed like a sure bet to be good.

Based on greek legends, and folklore, the game follows Kratos, the God of War, I think.. who must... I don't know. (I only played bits and pieces of this game, and wasn't able to follow the story because of such.)

The gameplay of this game feel much too much like Devil May Cry, which I already talked about, and that, in my opinion, isn't a good thing. it is pretty much a button masher, with button pressing mini games thrown in, Sure, you could disagree with me because you learned all the combos, and moves, but I'm sure most people just go through the game button mashing until everything is dead, or a mini game starts.

The game seems to be following Grand Theft Auto's footsteps of "If it is controversial, it will sell" including blood, gore, and sex, probably swearing too, I don't remember off hand. But unlike some games, it doesn't seem to use them in anything other then "look at this, it's bloody" sort of way, rather then using it in a way where it would feel like it meant something.

Of course this is a short view on this, but I only put a few hours into the game total, because I don't own it, and I see no reason to buy it for myself, it's just not my style of game or something, because I just don't get it...


alright, I am stopping, because my arm hurts, perhaps it's the large amount of wood chopping I did, or the breaking of sticks, or maybe it's just all the typing I'm doing, anyways, that's it for now!

The Last Guy demo impressions

The Last Guy is another one of those wacky original PSN games, which I seem to love most of.

So, where does this one stand? Is it another gem, or another PixelJunk Racers? *cough*

Well, I didn't have the highest expectations for this game, though, I knew I would have a bit of fun with it, however, it turns out, I had a lot more fun with it then I thought it was.

The game goes as such: It uses google maps-ish pictures for a top down game, in which there is a zombie apocalypse, and you 'The Last Guy' must lead civilians to a designated "Safe Zone". You collect people from houses, and other buildings, and avoid the Zombies, while keeping an eye on the crowd following you, while using a few abilities to find extra humans.

All in all the concept is smile worthy, and very fun. Everything works, and it is surprisingly addictive, I found myself laughing smiling, and having a lot of fun playing it, and look forward to the full release, whenever that may be.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed demo impressions

Here's a secret: I never expected SW: TFU to be amazing. I expected it to be a fun, yet nothing-to-write-home-about action game, with interesting physics.

So, I finally got to try the demo in this week's Playstation Store© update and took the demo for a spin. I will admit I didn't play the game all that much myself, and let my friend who was over play for most of the time, but in the little time I played, and what I saw, I think I can say my opinions on it.

The graphics are better then I thought they would be from the trailer, though still pale in comparison to Metal Gear Solid 4, or Uncharted. The textures were pretty good, but the models looked almost last generation in some ways. Also the overall graphics really don't scream next generation, and I'm not talking about them having to have lots of bloom lighting or something.

The music is standard fare for a star wars license, pretty much tunes from the movies cut to work in each scene. Nothing to see here. The voice acting was also better then I expected, though not by a large amount, and what I expected was 'bad'. Darth Vader sounds okay, and that's always a plus.

In general though, the game does little to set itself aside other 3rd person action games, or even just other star wars games. It is very by the books, listen to the person on the radio, kill a bunch of people in a room, continue on, fill up the special power bar, and use it to kill enemies easier.

This game *does* have some pretty nice physics, along with the amazing euphoria engine, but it doesn't save it from feeling pretty bland, and unoriginal. But I will say it again, the physics, and technology behind this game is great, it's a shame that it doesn't do more the ten minute "wow" because you could have a really interesting game if it was more varied.

Though it is only touched on very little in the demo, I think the story will be interesting in the full game, with it looking to have a sad ending, which is rarely seen in games. Though it will probably be very cheesy.

Overall, perhaps a 7/10, not wonderful, but not horrible either.

List of games everyone liked but me. Part 1

You ever had it where everyone plays a game and loves it, and you hear about how great it is, and when you finally play it, it's really not that great, and you don't see why anyone would like it? Well, then, you know how I feel, here's my list of such games.




Devil May Cry - Playstation 2 - Published by Capcom - Developed by Capcom - 2001

Ah Devil May Cry, reinvention of the sidescrolling brawler games of the SNES era. Best action game ever according to a lot of people. I continually heard how good this game was, and finally decided to buy it.

It has pretty good graphics, and the gameplay is fun some of the time, but the difficulty was terrible, either much too hard, or far too easy. I mean, you didn't even have to hold down lock on on easy, and on hard, the game kicked my ass so hard, I could barely remember what it had looked like.

The gameplay became very repetitive, and boring, making the game feel like a chore after not too long to play at all. Sure it's fun for the first 10 minutes, but after that, I didn't feel like playing it at all, and I have played so many games, that a game really has to not appeal to me for me to not finish it. (I did however play it for 5 hours+)

The story was almost as hard to follow and understand as BLACK, with characters not really introduced, and you doing things for seemly no reason. At least in BLACK it was fun to play, to make up for the god-awful story.

I just couldn't find anyway to like this game, though it still sits on my shelf for the day I will finally finish it, which may be never...



Gran Turismo Series - Playstation 1, Playstation 2, Playstation 3 - Published by Sony - Developed by Polyphony - 1997-present

Ah, Gran Tursimo, hailed as the best racing game ever, and highly realistic. So much praise is given to this game, and it has sold tens of millions of copies.

Going into this series, I never was one for realistic racers, but this was really worse then I thought. The core gameplay to me was just not that great, it was slow, boring, and who ever had the better car won.

Sure there are a lot of cars, but if you even want to think about driving a good car, get ready for hours of meaningless grinding, and pointless license tests. And even when you get to finally drive these crazy cars, they still feel like they are driving at like 40 Miles Per Hour.

I had fun playing split screen, if only to laugh at how funny it is that the cars don't get damaged.

The graphics. Of course, the one thing about the games that no one can argue, these games are pretty beyond anything. They will make you rethink what is possible in a game, let me kid you not.

However, I have never had much fun with these games more then an hour or two. Maybe.



Grand Theft Auto Series Post GTA 2 - Many Platforms - Published by Take 2 - Developed by Rockstar - 2001-Present

Ah Grand Theft Auto, one of the most popular, and controversial game series ever.

You. One Entire City. Do Anything.

This premise of the game was like Driver 1 and 2, but with a lot of mechanics added, such as more focus on the on foot gameplay, and much more darker storylines.

I constantly hear about every GTA game that comes out, how they are the best games of the console generation, and are must-plays.

So, after a friend brought it over, I finally got to play GTA, and was surprised at how bad it was. Right off the bat, the graphics looked like Dreamcast quality. The controls were annoying, with the right analog not being camera, and the driving physics were quite awful, some of the worst I have seen in games.

Everyone keeps pointing to the story, and as much as I try to like it, it just is not that great I think, just chiché gangster movie stories, with people talking really negativly to each other.

And as the games went on, the problems were not solved, it took 3 games to get the camera right, and in the fourth game the driving physics are even WORSE.

I have had fun screwing around, but I seriously do not understand how this game get so much praise, it's just beyond me...


So, there you have it, 3 games that everyone but me loved.

Leipzig Game Conference Post

Another video gaming show has come, and the major announcements have been made.

So, what do I think?

Nintendo - They still haven't given me a reason to even buy a Wii if it was only like $50, there's really nothing that interests me on the system other then the Strong Bad game, which also came out for PC (Which I also don't have). I also am bit a fan of motion control being the main choice for games. I like how it's been used really minorly in some PS3 games (Resistance, PAIN, LocoRoco).

Microsoft - I didn't see much here, so I can't really comment.

Sony - I was mostly looking at the news from Camp Sony, and I saw some things that interested me, and some things that didn't so much. I wish there had been some other announcements too.

In detail, here are my thoughts on announcements:

New Konami PSN Game -GTi Club: This doesn't look that great to me. It could end up good, but I doubt it.

Wireless Keypad Attachment for PS3: Eh, I prefer a Headset, so again, doesn't really matter to me.

Heavy Rain Confirmed for 2009/Gameplay Footage Shown: This game was never something I was going to buy, but I will say it looks damn pretty.

Playstation Eye game announced, Eyepet: Surprisingly enough, this looks pretty entertaining, I'd love to try it sometime.

160GB PS3 Model Announced: This would excite me a lot more if they kept at least software backwards compatibility, however, this just falls under a sad move for Sony, though I love the HDD size.

New Killzone Screens and Multiplater Trailer: I simply loved the multiplayer trailer, I can't wait to try this game.

New Warhawk Expansion: This looks pretty sweet, though I wish the 'Forest' was more foresty. The Jetpacks sounds awesome though.

New PSN Game, Savage Moon Announced: If it's anything like PixelJunk Monsters, which it sounds like it is, I will try it. :)

New Leipzig Valkira Chronicles trailer: As always, this game looks extremely beautiful, I really can't wait to try it.

LocoRoco 2 first trailer: Yet again, LocoRoco Manages to be cute, and just wonderful, I can't wait to play it. :)

PSP 3000 Details: The new PSP has a redesigned screen to prevent glare, the Home button is turned into a PS button, and it can output to any TV. It sounds good to me, but I still, really wish we could see another analog nub....

PSP 3000 Bundle Details: I like it starting with a 4GB Memory stick. A HDD would be nice though..

Everyday Shooter Coming to PSP: Simply amazing news, I am really really happy to hear this.


So, where is the Team ICO Game? What about Uncharted 2/Jak 4? What about more big exclusive games at all? Oh, well..

And that's that, So, until TGS, let's keep our fingers crossed.

A list of games that I surprisingly enjoyed. Part 1

You ever seen a game that you thought looked terrible, and ended up playing it somehow, and surprisingly enjoyed it? Well, then, this list is for you. Starting with....


Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Playstation 1 - Published by EA Games - Developed by Argonaut Games - 2001

Ah, Harry Potter, a book about a kid who attends a magical school all year long, going to classes all day, the book also focuses on the relationships between characters. What could possibly go wrong translating the book to a game? Well a lot could have gone wrong, and in many people's eyes, probably did...

Many, if not all the high points of the books were lost in the translation to a game, the characters have less life and personality then most video game characters, the story was simplified so much, it no longer made sense.

So, why would I include this game on this list? Well, I found it to be an extremely fun game, worth playing over again occasionally. And why is that?

It's as if the developers knew that they could not correctly translate the book to a game, so instead made a fun game, and threw the Harry Potter license on. The game is an action adventure game, which plays something like Zelda64, though, much simpler.

It very loosely follows the story of the books, to the point where things just don't make any rational sense, however, the gameplay level design, and mini games never ceased to be fun for me, I could care less about the horrible story, and nonsensical situations, because I could just laugh it off, and continue to have fun playing.

The soundtrack and voice acting are surprisingly good, with me trying to find a soundtrack online somewhere, the voice acting is all done by British people it seems, which was the right choice, even if you care not for them, at least the *sound* right.

The graphics are also incredible, being some of the best on the PS1, beating ranks with Chrono Cross, and Metal Gear Solid. Not only such, but you can look everywhere, and the view is not fixed like both MGS, and CC. The texture quality is outstanding for a PS1 game, with better textures then some Dreamcast games.

Final Verdict: I have beaten the game a few times, and still laugh at it, and enjoy the gameplay, and platforming elements.

Bonus Note: The sequel on the PS1 is just as good, and definitely worth a look.

X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 - Playstation 1 - Published by Activision - Developed by Paradox Development - 2001

(This section applies to either the first or the second, because of how similar they are. The second is pretty much the first, with more content)

The X-Men, along with many other marvel comic book heros, have found their way into lots of video games. Probably the most famous video game to include them, was Marvel Vs Capcom, the famous arcade fighter which included street fighter characters. However, there were so many games that included Marvel Characters that were truly terrible.

So, a straight up fighting game, with no story, cashing into the hype from the Recent X-Men movie, this surely sounds like a recipe for mediocrity.

But no! X-Men Mutant Academy, and it's sequel, X-Men Mutant Academy 2, were some of the best fighting games I have ever played.


The Mutant Academy series took a change in the fighter game genre, with ultra fast gameplay, and such skill based fighting that a button masher had little chance to do more then annoy someone who was skilled at the game.

The game was extremely well balanced, and provided enough variety to keep a player happy. (The second game was much better for this)

The graphics were decent, and the music was fine, though nothing to really write home about. Everyone looks how they should, and the music is this techno that fits the mood rather well, though neither aspect is something to write home about. The voice acting is pretty good, with people sounding exactly how I imagined they would. It even shook off the bad image left by the movies.

Final Verdict: Overall though, a fighting game's main point is gameplay, and I repeat, this game had it in spades, I still go back and play it, the only problem I can see, is that it has a bit of a steep learning curve.

Bonus Note: The only thing the first game had that the second didn't, was movie costumes.

Other Bonus Note: They made a semi Sequel for sixth generation consoles, which wasn't quite as good in my opinion, but it's still worth looking at, it was called 'X-Men: Next Dimention'




Lego Island 2: The Brickster's Revenge - Playstation 1/PC - Published by Lego Software - Developed by Silicon Dreams - 2001

Lego Island 2, a Lego game, a game based on a toy for kids, a game based on a toy for kids that is loosely based on many movies and kid's fads, movies and kid's fads that sucked.

So, this ought to be pretty terrible.

Yet, beyond odds, sometimes terrible ideas work out pretty well. This is a story based adventure game based on the recently released Lego sets, such as an Indiana Jones rip off, the lego space sets, the Lego Mid-evil sets, and more.

Now I will make a note about the two versions of the game I have played (I haven't, and don't want to play the GBA version). The PC version of this game is superior in most aspects, having a few more levels, and bigger areas, along with much, much better graphics. However, the PC version had legendary long loading times, with some taking as long as a few minutes to load an area, no joke. The PS1 version, stays pretty similar to the PC versions, though a few less levels, and a few smaller areas. However, the loading time in this version is far superior.

The game combines platforming, vehicles and a lot of mini games. The platforming can be pretty basic, but is certainly fun enough, the vehicles add another way to get around, and are used in a lot of the mini games, and are also reasonably fun to use.

The mini games in this most of which are a lot of fun, and have a huge variety, so, everyone will have fun with them. There is everything from dropping from space and landing, to fishing (Though, the PC exclusive fishing levels sucks quite a bit, in my opinion). In general, probably due to the large amount of min games, and the variety, the game doesn't seem to get boring fast.

The graphics on the PC version are decent, while on the PS1 are kind of below average, but are not super hard on the eyes. The music in the game is pretty good, setting the mood for each area, though nothing makes you want to find a soundtrack exactly. The voice acting is decent, though the main character sounds too much like a girl sometimes.

Final Verdict: I played through this game, and got gold on almost all the mini games, and certainly found it to be a lot more fun then I thought it would be, though not everyone would love it, I'm sure.

Bonus Note: There were 2 other games in the series, though, I don't think they were as good, the first game, 'Lego Island', and the sequel to this one, 'Island Xtreme Stunts'.


So, there you have it, until I get back to this, try to at least look these up, you might find something you like!