One Minute Reviews: Splatoon

Splatoon is a Nintendo's new first party IP which dives into an unexplored field for the company. In my eyes third person shooters are a dying art form as the market is seemingly over saturated with realistic first person shooters. The game is refreshing in its bright colours and really vigrant visuals. The story is also great with a very enjoyable "Nintendo" plot and benefits to the online multiplayer which is the meat of the game.

The shooting mechanics also work really well and the ink/squid idea translates beautifully to the game. 

If you have any interest in Splatoon go pick it up its fantastic! 

Splatoon 8/10! 

Tomodachi Life Mii.

Want to add my Mii to Tomodachi life? 

Scan this QR Code and my Mii will join your island.

Tomodachi Life 3DS Review

Tomodachi Life has, since its overseas announcement, been hailed as the successor to Animal Crossing. Quite a bold statement yet especially considering from the Nintendo Direct it was difficult to actually define what you actually do in Tomodachi Life. In reality its nothing like Animal Crossing at all. 

The game is still very difficult to describe, you rarely do anything in the game; events happen by chance and luck in some cases, unlike Animal Crossing which is solely based on player interaction. Tomodachi Life plays best in short bursts, checking your Mii's, buying out the shops while Animal Crossing can be played for longer finding plenty of things to do. 

The game actually takes very little from Animal Crossing except the shopping aspect which is similar. It surprisingly takes more after Wario-Ware than any other game. The islanders ask you to help them with tasks and play minigames with them. The minigames are a mixed bunch, most are quizzes and they tend to get repeated a lot with not much variation in answers; some also require you to have memorised EVERY ISLANDER TO THE BONE, which with lots of residents can become incredibly frustrating when you lose due to not knowing something.

The most important part of Tomodachi Life is who you choose to populate your island with. When I started I added around thirty of my real life friends' mii characters. However then I started scanning QR codes of various Nintendo, manga and celebrity characters, it fills up my building ok but to me it is much more satisfying to watch my friends try and hit off with each other than watching Rosalina play with my friend's cat. Thats the beauty of Tomodachi Life though, while I prefer watching my friends Ive seen people use Game Of Thrones theme islands or Adventure Time islands theres something that everyone can experience and enjoy. For instance: My homosexual flatmate attempted on multiple occasions to steal my girlfriend from me however he then asked for the ultimate punishment........ to be turned into a child again!!!

Miis have been drastically improved, upon importing or creating a Mii you'll be able to given them a personality and a voice. Both can be customised in-depth and bring life to your Mii characters. Its certainly better than the high pitch squeals that Mii's have said until this point and I hope it's incorporated in another game *cough* SSB4 *cough*.

The game is so quirky, there are so many random events that can happen and each one always brings a smile to my face when a new one happens. The clothing as well is suitably hilarious and integrates street-pass perfectly. For a completionist playing this game to collect all treasures, clothes, events and everything else will take a long time just be wary that Tomodachi Life is not a content heavy experience, in long bursts the game becomes quite stale but is perfect when checked throughout the day in short bursts. 

 Score: 

Looks: The game looks pretty decent. The clothing is by far the best aspect as they are suit the Mii characters perfectly. Real world photo's are also used to humorous effects. However there is only so much you can do with a Mii, the designs are simple and lack deep customisation found in games like the Sims.  7/10

Sound: While the bgm has been stuck in my head, there are not many songs in this game and some sound really ropey and unpolished (Mii with a problem sounds gross). However the concert hall is hilarious and a really fun tool for songwriters or immature people, similarly the Mii's voices are actually very impressive, it finally gives the lifeless Mii's personality I wish it gave more options though especially in the accents. 7/10

Gameplay: There isn't actually much to talk about in this department since most are either micro-games or quizzes. But thats the point of Tomodachi Life, its not a game, its and experience and a really fun one at that. 7/10

Overall: This game is fun but it is not for a binge gamer, it's fine in small bursts but if you really want to sit down and play a game then this is probably not for you. If want a truly unique experience that'll make you laugh then go for it. Tomodachi Life is a very marmite game, it's enjoyable yet it suffers from a lack of depth and long term goals.

Why I bought it?

My parents sent me a nearly expired voucher so I purchased this. Im glad I did as it has made me smile but theres not much to it, the game play is shallow and repeats itself often which disappoints me, I still had fun with it though and do recommend it. 

Monsters University Review

Monster University Review

Pixar over the last few years have certainly had a contrast in the quality of their summer blockbuster sequels. 2010's Toy Story 3 was a truely fantastic experience while 2011's Car's 2 was average at best. Monsters University marks the fourth time a Pixar franchise has been reused and fortunatly follows suit of the Toy Story sequels than Cars. 

Monsters Inc was a truely brilliant film, brilliant characters, plenty of humor for both kids and adults and a great moral of misjudging apperences generated by the masses. I was the perfect age for Monster Inc. Heck I still think I have my action figures somewhere up the loft. 

Monsters University is the first prequel Pixar has done and as such are plenty of references to the previous instalment, which certainly kicked off my nostalgia sense. Monsters Inc was more based around Sully's struggle to accept difference, this film is almost certainly Mike's film. 

The story is centralised around Mikes hope to become a top scarer by attending the scaring course at Monster University. The plot overall is good although I felt with this film that the target was more towards the younger generation this can certainly be seen by some of the new characters bought in. On the whole the new main characters are solid inclusion, I like the Jocks and the different teams resembling stereotypes however I think the film could have done without Squishey. Adipo from Doctor Who anyone? Also the different teams are barely in the movie. Aside from the commentators I can't even recall the names of any of the supporting cast; whereas in other Pixar films such as ToyStory, Bug's Life and to a lesser extent Cars the supporting cast are fantastic and vibrant. 

In terms of enjoyment, I throughly enjoyed watching Monsters University! By expanding the back story without ruining the legacy Pixar have created in the original! There are constant references to the original film through the characters in the university resembling the monsters on the scare floor in the first! The jokes however sometimes fall slightly towards child friendly gags than dry humor Pixar is known for. Be ready for the car gag however that one is a stunner. 

Billy Crystal and John Goodman return to their roles flawlessly, it almost seems that Goodman is more comfortable in Sully's shoes as a freshman than as a role model in the first film! Helen Mirrin is the true star of the show as Dean Hardscramble the slightly terrifying former top scarer her character design is absolutly flawless! Steve Buscimi however feels a bit wasted as Randel, I really enjoyed the opening sections with Randel as Mikes room mate and I would have been interested to have seen a more Randel based story line as he becomes a side character very quickly and his ending feels a little bit of a rushed job. 

From what I've been saying Monsters University sounds a fantastic movie and thats true to an extent the movie is clearly based towards young children whereas the beauty of the other classic Pixar films is how relatable they are to both Adults and Children.

Monsters University is a great prequel it adds to the story in Monsters Inc without ruining its legacy. I wish it was more adult in its humor though. It could have done much much more with the university setting but its still a great film for the whole family.

Breakdown:

Pros: 

Beautifully Animated

Great Voice Work

Fun new main Characters

Lots of nods to the previous film

Cons:

Throwaway characters a plenty

Childish comedy

Angry Birds GO!! Review

After the highly enjoyable Angry Birds Star Wars 2 I was interested to see what Rovio had install for us next time to my suprise I discovered a kart racer. I was dubious at first whether a kart racer however after playing several races and learning how to play I can happily say its one of the best mobile games on IOS and Android. 

One of my major concerns was how the birds would actually drive the cars, I mean serious now of the birds have feet and it would have been way to easy to make them drive go karts, Mario Kart style. Rovio have created a downhill racer where the only force is gravity and you simply steer the car. Genius. It adds so much charm to the game and shows that simplicity was at the key focus of the games development. 

The game plays with either a tilt or touch function, having played with the tilt function on my phone it works great and controls very smoothly but after several races on my Ipad, I found the touch controls to be much more responsive. Whether thats just because of the big screen or that I dont have to tilt the phone to far over and back Im not sure however both work very well and follow into the games simplicity.

Upon first playing and realising that there was IAP's I was terrified that the game would be another Plants Vs Zombies 2, safe to say that it is not. You can buy in game karts that have far better stats than the ones given to you but with enough patience you can make your in game car just as good as the ones you can buy. After Angry Birds Star Wars was very heavy on buying powerups, Rovio has made them more integrated into the UI rather than simply blasting them in the players face. 

Whether it was just me, I found this game incredibly difficult. The five types of level for each track each force you do something different. The race levels and great and generate great competitive buzz later on and the fruit levels encourage you to explore the tracks to find the most fruit to crush. These two I most enjoyed. Theres then time trails which are really annoying because the controls are very precise, versus which has you face a random character from the game which inclusion is odd considering that the races give the player much more money as a prize and the bosses which are fustratingly difficult unless your car is overleveled. This leads me on to one of my biggest gripes, you will be doing lots of grinding to make your car win these races. You cannot get first without overleveling. The time trails are nearly impossible without a overleveled car and it spoils the difference between the modes since I always return to the race or fruit smash to earn coins. Also why isnt there local multiplayer? I would have loved to have played this with a friend each earning coins for racing, missed oppurtunity!!

The game's free due to it having a limit on the time you can play. Each bird has five races before they need to cool down. The cool down I think is 2hours per bird (they do stack though) However eventually there are twelve characters so slowly you'll be playing for longer which is a fantastic decision on Rovio's part since the more you play the more you'll want to improve you kart. The characters are also full or charm. From the Blue's consitent taunting to Terrance's blank expressions Rovio did a great bit of fan service to the Angry Bird shorts series by making all these characters playable.

The game is great, its one of the best Angry Bird titles and one of the best mobile games out there. I still think as an Angry Bird's game Space is my favourite but the more I play this the more I prefer this one. Sure the diffculty is rather sharp and the tracks arn't that diverse but the game reeks of charm and is really fun to play. For a free game its completely worth the download and as a new direction for the franchise I'm excited to see it develop. 

Angry Bird's GO!! scores 8/10

+ Great graphics

+ Fun game play

+ Lots of characters 

+ A great change for the series

- Harsh difficulty spike and grinding

- Lack of Modes & multiplayer

 

Day of the Doctor Review!

Doctor's 50th aniversary. Wow!!!! After watching it just now I thought it was a fantastic story that lived up to all the expectations. The references to past doctors, the final understanding of what the time war was, fantastic!

I loved the idea of the Doctor's all uniting in the Time War was amazing. I loved seeing Peter Capaldi's eyes and Tom Baker's cameo was fantastic, very touching. Similarly John Hurt's War Doctor was a great character and I cant wait to see where the media takes it! 

However the main problems I found was the plot holes. For a 1hr 10min show they crammed a lot in but forgot to end some key plot points. Unit was left hanging with 5seconds left till a Nuke went off... great! Also they left the Elizabeth story ark half way through.

This episode was excellent! It was a fabulous 50th treat and truely was a pulse pounding episode! 

9/10

Plants Vs Zombies 2 Review:

The original Plants Vs Zombies really pushed the bar as far as tower defence games go, it had a fantastic premise with a really unique design and gameplay mechanics to go with it. Needless to say Plants Vs Zombies 2 has a lot of hype in being as good as the previous game in the series, has it succeeded? Kind of.

Story: Plants Vs Zombies 2 starts you off in the present day with your straight forward garden warfare, after a few waves to brush up your basic PVZ gameplay, Crazy Dave shows up and eats a taco, then wants to relive eating the same taco, therefore he uses his time machine called Penny to re eat it, unfortunatly sending the three of you back to 5000BC. I know not to expect a masterful plot here but the plot was quite charming and sets up the various time periods nicely.

Presentation: *Disclaimer: As a experienced gamer, it is set in stone never to judge a game on graphics, and rarely will I ever comment on a games graphics unless they are so charming therefore deserved of praise or are so hidious they break the game* Plants vs Zombies 2's visuals are outstanding Pop Cap really went to town on creating a large roster of plants and time warped zombies and all are animated much more indepth than before. After recently replaying the original the improvements are humungous and really add the game, there's something really special about watching a Peashooter actually pull up a pea through its throat then firing it or watching the new chilli bean make a Zombie pass wind is very flattering and really shows the attension to detail in this game!

         A nice reward for completing a stage! 

Gameplay:

The core mechanics of the game remain the same as the first game which each plant having its own strengths and weaknesses. Popcap have done a solid job of ensuring the plants are balanced with not one being overpowered. To keep things fresh Popcap have added two new power ups to help the plight against the undead. The first is the plant food which super charges any plant applied too. Plant food is earned by defeating a shiny green zombie. The effects of the various plants are visually fantastic and can really help turn the tide of battle, from turning a Peashooter into a powerful barrage of peas to watching a chilli seed multiply itself to the other lanes. Unfortunatly the money power ups are not as original as the plant food and feel almost tacked on. For 800-1200 coins various special moves are usable, for 800 coins the pinch power can pop off the zombies heads, for 1000 coins the swipe power turns the game into Fruit Ninja for a few seconds, and for 1200 coins the lightning power disolves zombies. While they can be very helpful in a really tough battle they feel almost too powerful and unbalenced and the pinch power is (at time of writing) almost broken! 

The Verdict: 

Plants Vs Zombies 2 is a fantastic iphone game that deserves to be on anyones IOS device, the high in app purchase prices is what stop this from being a true gem, but the gameplay and presentation are absolutly wonderful and no doubt are worth your time.

8/10