Review: Donkey Kong 64

Donkey Kong's first and only major adventure on the N64 was none other then the memorable title, Donkey Kong 64. It was Donkey Kong's first real 3D adventure game and it sure was worth it back in the day. Packed with a memory pack upgrade for the console making it obvious that the game was going to be one hell of an adventure.

The home island of Donkey Kong, which was oddly enough in the shape of Kong's head, was soon approached by the the floating fortress of none other then Donkey Kong's arch nemesis King K. Rool. Plans to destroy the island were about to get underway until the fortress of the evil reptile crashed into a rock near the shore of the island. However his plan was already underway as he had stolen Donkey Kong's collection of golden bananas and hidden them throughout a total of eight worlds. However if it wasn't enough to have Donkey Kong running about trying to reclaim all 201 of his stolen bananas the King had also kidnapped four of Donkey's close friends and locked them up. Of course it's up to you to rescue them and once they are free they will actually become playable allowing you to use each of their distinct abilities in order to collect more golden bananas.

Each of the eight worlds in the game contained 25 golden bananas each however each of the five playable Kong's could only collect five of these bananas themselves meaning that it would be necessary to switch between them quite often. This would be done by jumping into the many tag barrels scattered throughout the levels.

Upgrades were major in Donkey Kong 64 as each of the five playable characters all had their own abilities as well as each of them got a unique firearm weapon as well as a musical instrument. With these abilities you would be able to continue to collect golden bananas and with so many abilities at your disposal you can guarantee that you won't be doing the same thing over and over again.

Of course golden bananas won't exactly be the only thing you'll be collecting throughout the game as you will also be required to collect multicolored bananas which will eventually allow you to reach the boss fight for that world. Multicolored coins act as the currency in the game and will be what is used to purchase more advanced abilities and upgrades. Each world will also have five multicolored blueprints in them which will allow you to claim a golden banana from Snide the original maker of the blueprints.

The boss fights in the game are all quite unique except for a few repeat boss appearances throughout the game however other then that they are actually really enjoyable and never exactly get too difficult. After each boss battle you will receive a large key which will allow you to unlock one of the eight locks on the cage of the large reptile, K. Lumsy, who has been locked away for disobeying a direct order from King K. Rool to destroy Donkey Kong island.

The multi player is a bit of a disappointment as for the most part it is only comprised of a few of the many mini games seen throughout the game itself. The replay value of many of these mini games isn't exactly enough for you to want to play them along with friends making the multi player a bit of an ignored and sometimes completely unnoticed feature in the game.

Overall Donkey Kong 64 is one of the greats on the N64 system and it is a memorable and a game worth a play for those who have yet to experience the adventure at hand. The multi player may be a little less then appealing but the rest of the game play makes up for this quite well.

Review: Wii Sports

So you're thinking of buying yourself a Nintendo Wii? Well let me tell you about this insanely fun and addicting game packaged with the console. Some might not think of this being an actual game but just a collection of sports related mini games to help you get used to the control scheme on the Wii but I myself consider this packing to be it's own game. For those who already own the Wii and this title there is really nothing that needs to be said so this review is mainly directed at those who are planning to buy the console in the future.

Wii Sports is a collection of five different sports related games that utilize the control of the Wii perfectly. Those five sports include tennis, golf, baseball, bowling, and boxing. All of these games include multi player, all of them for up to four players except for boxing which is for up to two players only. Of course you can play single player games against computer opponents while you slowly rank up your own unique Mii until you can actually reach pro level allowing you to play against even more challenging computer opponents.

Boxing is possibly the most interactive of the five as you will be in complete control of your character as you will be able to move side to side as well as backwards in order to dodge blows from the opponent. Of course you will also have complete control of your own hits as you can throw both high and low blows, including blows so low you would have to question where exactly the ref is during the fight.

From what I can tell tennis seems to be the most popular of the games included in the package. This may be because it's possibly the second most interactive of the games and even though you won't be required to move much more then your arms but when playing you will often feel the urge to move along with your character on screen. For tennis you will be able to either team up with your friends and play in teams of two against each other. The truth is though that things can get a little crowded with a group of friends trying to play this so unless you have a large space to play as well as a large television set to play on. From my own personal experience with playing with only myself and one other I've noticed that things quickly get much more difficult to play with the limited space between both players.

As for baseball, golf, and bowling there is very little to be said about them. They are exactly what they sound like they are, nothing extremely exciting about the two mentioned above. Of course golf and bowling are a bit of an acquired taste just as they are when it really comes to the actual sport. However baseball being one of the more popular sports would be expected to be a bit more exciting then it is however as most of the actions are able to be performed by a simple flick of the wrist. Of course you can play like you were actually batting or pitching a ball although it isn't exactly required and is actually easier to play sticking to the simple flicking of the remote.

There are a few other extra modes to add to single player game play including a training mode that will let you do a little practicing before facing off against either your friends or the computer. The other of these extra modes is what is called a fitness test which will tell you how well you play in a series of training levels by giving you an age which if low means that you've down well and if excessively high meaning that you didn't do so good and that you might need a little more practice.

overall I wouldn't exactly say that Wii Sports would be enough reason for you to buy the console just for that but it is a lot of fun to play, especially with friends but of course the space restrictions are a bit of a pain but it still turns out being a lot of fun.

Rant: Online Games

Playing games online has become extremely popular over the next few years and more times then not these games are impressive but there are a few major problems I have with many of these games. One of these problems which will be the first that I'll talk about it the lack of creativity when it comes to titles for games that are playable online. What I'm talking about is the fact that at least half of the games out there that are mainly directed at online play include the word 'online' in the title. Sure this may be trying to make it a little more obvious as to what the game contains but I'm sure they could come up with something a bit more creative then that.

Final Fantasy XI would be a perfect example except for the fact that online is only a subtitle in the name so I have no choice but to give Square credit for that but that doesn't mean that I have no problem with the fact that they made Final Fantasy Online into one of the main numerals in the series. Then again I'll rant about that some other time.

A lot of game developers are taking the concept of online gaming a little too far now for example a few weeks ago I started looking into the different titles that use the word online in them and you know what I found? A game titled Hello Kitty Online that's scheduled for release some time in the future. Now do you see the problem with that? Who's really going to want to play an online game related to Hello Kitty? Maybe some little kids but that brings me to the next problem with online gaming, the cost.

Many games like Final Fantasy XI as I mentioned earlier as well as possibly the most popular online game, World of Warcraft cost not only for you to get the basic software for the game also but a fee in order for you to play the game itself. Most games these days which use similar mechanics to these now have monthly fees which if you ask me is a bit of a waste as well as a huge rip off. You payed the money for the game itself so you should be able to play the game as much as you like without any boundaries right? Wrong, companies want to get as much out of you as they possibly can. Xbox Live is similar to this as well except for one thing, most of the games that are playable online through Xbox Live also have single player games for those who don't have Xbox Live.

Even after making you cough up the money for the game itself as well as the monthly fees to play companies soon come out with expansion pack after expansion pack adding onto the game but of course they don't just give these expansions away, you have to cough up even more of your hard earned cash for them. I guess some of these games may be worth the cost but I still believe it to be a huge waste of money to pay so much for just one game when you can obviously get multiple games for the price of just one of these online games.

Mysteries: Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie - Stop n' Swop, Part 1

Ever since the release of Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie back in the good old N64 days the hunt for the mysterious device within the game known as Stop n' Swop. Stop n' Stop was a play mechanic that was meant to connect the two games together through a process known as hot swapping. Hot swapping required the player to remove one cartridge from the console and inserting the other within a few seconds without turning the power to the console off. Now Rare had announced their plans to do this before the release of the original Banjo-Kazooie game and that's where the problem began as Nintendo had a bit of a problem with this concept as it seemed that the process of hot swapping wasn't exactly good for the N64 console and even created the possibility of ruining the players console. With that Nintendo decided to put an end to Rare's plan which was probably the right choice but by that time Rare had already finished the development on Banjo-Kazooie with all the mechanics required for hot swapping included. So what did Rare do? They tried to hide the evidence but ended up doing a plain horrible job of it creating possibly one of the biggest game investigations in the history of gaming.

Now I'm not going to get all technical with this as I'm no hacker and half the stuff I've read on this subject related to hacking has only left me more confused. The bottom line is that Rare did a horrible job of hiding the items required for the fabled Stop n' Swop which was comprised of six multi colored eggs and an ice key. These items were left in the game itself and only required the proper codes to be inserted in the sandcastle cheat room within the game in order to allow them to be acquired which would then add them to your statistics screen under the label of Stop n' Swop. These codes were however not given within the game but were at some point found when the game was being hacked however they are quite easily acquired now and are believed to have been the codes used for the testing of the eggs when the game was in production to to the simplicity of the codes. The method in which these items would have originally been unlocked is still unknown as the true method was either completely removed or hidden to the point where it no long operated without the codes.

Rare left one other major clue to Stop n' Swop within the game in the form of the video sequence after finishing the game 100% which had Mumbo show Banjo and Kazooie a photo displaying the locations of two of the eggs as well as the ice key. Of course the items weren't accessible but why exactly was that video not removed? I can't believe that they just forgot to remove a clue as big as that but instead I believe at that time they were still planning to go through with Stop n' Swop and the true method of unlocking said items was to be hidden within Banjo-Tooie. It was either that or Rare just said screw it we'll put the game out the way it is and just drop the whole idea in the next game. Either of those are completely possible but the first just seems a lot more likely.

Were there originally only two eggs instead of the six that were found throughout the game? Or was it that those two eggs and the ice key were the only items that were originally able to be unlocked within the first game while the other four eggs would require you to link up to Banjo-Tooie to unlock? Much of this is still unknown but there are many other clues as well as theories that may connect to Stop n' Swop which I will discuss in the second part of this as there is far too much to this to try and explain all at once so take in what you've learned now and wait as the next part will be coming soon.

Review: Sonic the Hedgehog

When I say speed I'm sure that there's one series that comes to mind, the Sonic the Hedgehog series. However the newer Sonic games can't exactly hold up to just how much speed was present back in the good old days when Sonic the Hedgehog first appeared on the Sega Genesis. Of course when the now familiar blue hedgehog appeared nobody really knew what to expect but one thing that we soon realized that he was going to blow our minds away.

Sonic the Hedgehog was a one of a kind game combining speed with plat forming madness. Sonic took many familiar elements from other side scrolling games of the time and improved on them. Of course you'd be jumping from platform to platform avoiding all sorts of obstacles from various enemies to spikes jetting out of the ground below. Of course when it came to enemies you didn't exactly have to simply dodge them as you could also take them out by jumping right atop them. Of course by taking out the enemies will allow you to accumulate more points which will be added to your score and although the score really has no effect on the game play it is always fun to see just how high you could get it.

Speaking of points there are of course many other ways of racking up points throughout the game. Of course one of the easies ways of racking up points is making it through each level in record breaking time which will cause your score to shoot up. Of course it would help if when you finish you manage to rack up a large amount of rings, which are the currency as well as the health system inside the game. There are many rings scattered through the level and as long as you manage to keep one of them in your possession then you'll be able to take damage without losing one of your hard earned lives. Of course once you take damage you better be ready to race to collect all your rings as they will quickly scatter.

The game itself contains seven separate worlds, with most of them containing three separate acts in which at the end each have a boss fight with everyones favorite mad scientist, Dr. Robotnic who has turned all the animals throughout these worlds into robots leading to a slight, basic storyline in which Sonic sets out the free the animals from the Doctor's rule.

Sonic the Hedgehog may have been one of the earliest games to incorporate multiple endings as well. Throughout the game you will be able to collect a series of gems known as the Chaos Emeralds by passing through giant ring like gateways at the end of each level. Of course to unlock these gateways you will need to have fifty rings in your possession at the end of that level. Once inside of this portal you will be transported to a large rotating maze where you will have to carefully navigate Sonic through until you manage to locate and obtain one of the eight Chaos Emeralds. Of course within these levels you will have to keep your eye out for the goal panels which if you touch them will transport you out of the bonus level and onto the next level in the game.

Overall there really isn't much that needs to be said about this game as there are actually very few people out there who haven't played it and if you're one of the few who haven't played the original or one of the many collections with the game included then what kind of rock have you been hiding under? Anyway Sonic the Hedgehog was the first of the Sonic series and one of the best which none of the newer games could even come close to comparing too, but of course will get to that some other time.

News: Devil May Cry 4

That's right the next addition to the insanely addictive button mashing masterpiece is here and it is also the first of the series to hit current generation consoles. Dante is back but this time not as the main playable character but instead as the main villain of the game. Instead of Dante you'll now be playing as a Dante lookalike named Nero.

Of course the action in this installment is no different from others as it still has insane button mashing fun as Nero's Devil Bringer arm makes it possible for even more combos then ever before. For fans of the series as well as owners of the Playstation3 and Xbox360 would deffinatly enjoy this title which was just released in store all across the country today.

Rant: Pricey Games, Gold Mine or Rip-off?

This is something that I've been thinking about since a few weeks ago when I coughed up fifty dollars for a copy of Final Fantasy VII to add to my collection. It made me wonder if I had simply wasted my money, sure Final Fantasy VII is an amazing game and possibly one of the best Final Fantasy games out there but was it worth that much when it wasn't even sold for that much when it was originally released.

This also made me realize just how much games could go up in value after only a few years which had me thinking if more recent games will also sky rocket in worth in the future. Chances are, no but of course there will always be those gems that are demanded to the point where in five or six years they just may do something very similar.

The Final Fantasy series is a fine example of this as the other day I was taking a look at Final Fantasy III Complete at a local used game store and guess what? It's forty dollars for an SNES game. Sure that may seem a little extreme for those who don't have it but think about if you did have it and were looking to sell it, I bet that would make you really happy to get a nice load of cash for a game that you had probably payed about half of that for when it was originally sold in stores back in the day of the SNES.

I'm not saying that these games arn't worth the cost but it seems to be more of a rip off to have to pay so much for a game that could have been gotten for about half that price when it was brand new. Of course that's a problem with everything as whenever something in high demand starts to become harder to get they slowly begin to pick up in price.

One sad thing is for new gamers who pick up on a series in later parts and even if they wish to go back and play some of the older in the series but they soon discover that in order for them to do this will cost them a lot of money, usually more money then the newest in the series cost.

I only used the Final Fantasy games as an example here and of course there a lot of other series in similar situations. Take Super Mario RPG for example which costs in the upper twenties which is quite a bit for a SNES game. I guess this is to be expected from such an extensive game such as Super Mario RPG.

Whether it's a blessing or a rip off for us gamers what is certain is that the prices on games are completely unpredictable but from what we've seen it's to be expected for popular and extensive games to be the most likely to become the more valuable of games so if you are a collector who's looking to make a profit in the future make sure to keep your eyes open for these sorts of games as they may actually be worth far more one day.

Review: Super Mario World

Back in the good old days with the SNES first came out we knew that the next Mario was going to have to be amazing after seeing just how good Super Mario Bros. 3 was and boy were we right. In August 1991 the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was finally released overseas in the United States and Super Mario World was packaged in with the system and boy were we in for one hell of a massive first 16-bit adventure for Mario and Luigi.

Beautiful colors, massive worlds, and of course the first appearance of Mario's dinosaur companion, Yoshi. This may have been Mario's biggest side scrolling adventure yet with over 70 levels, from green plains, to massive underground tunnels. The thing that made all these worlds completely unique from any other games before it were just how colorful these worlds were, and how detailed they were for a game of it's time. Of course there were many other types of levels from underground labyrinths, haunted houses, and of course the occasional castle where you'll have to face off against one of Bowser's offspring, the Koopa Kids, in each.

Mario has become know for his various forms throughout his past adventures and this time the forms throughout the game aren't quite as impressive as what you've grown to expect after Super Mario Bros. 3. Throughout the game the only real forms are the returning fire flower and a new form, cape Mario. Cape Mario is very much similar to Racoon Mario from Super Mario Bros. 3 except for giving Mario the ability to fly and float for a short period of time, making it possible to reach higher platforms and cross otherwise unpassable obstatcles. Of course the fire flower remains the same as in previous games, allowing Mario to shot fireballs from his hands, allowing him to take out enemies without putting himself in quite as much danger.

One of the most well known new additions to this game of course was Yoshi who took away the need for quite as many forms for Mario as he could now ride on Yoshi's back allowing Yoshi to devour enemies in their path which will also allow you to at times give Yoshi more advanced abilities like the ability to to shoot fire, stomp the ground, and fly. There is even a way for you to take on all of the above abilities at once after eating a multicolored koopa shell.

Many of the enemies appearing through the game should be very familiar, from your basic Koopa Troopers to all so familiar Goomba's which were the first enemies we were introduced to back when Super Mario Bros. first made an appearance on the NES. Of course there are also a bunch of new enemies, some of which are unique to this game and are to never again be seen in a Super Mario game.

The storyline of the game doesn't stray very far from the basics, Bowser's kidnapped the Princess once again and it's up to Mario and Luigi to set off on another quest to rescue her once again. Just like in the third installment of the Super Mario Bros. series Bowser has sent his offspring to stop Mario however they soon fall and Mario ultimately faces off against none other then Bowser himself.

The over world in Super Mario World is very similar to that in Super Mario Bros. 3 except for the fact that it's eliminated much of the board game like elements from the previous game. One unique thing in the game is the fact that several levels throughout the game have multiple exits making it possible to reach special levels that could allow you to skip over most of the game and even reach the last boss without playing through the entire game. Another interesting feature is the fact that if you are to clear all the exits in the game it will change the over world a bit as it will also upgrade certain enemies and obstacles to make the game a bit more challenging and to also allow for even more replay value if you are looking for even more of a challenge.

Of course multi player returns allowing one player to play as Mario and a second to play as Luigi. The two players will take turns playing through levels making it a bit more enjoyable and interactive for you and your friends which could make the already long game even more fun as you'll want to play through again with your friends playing along side of you.

Overall Super Mario World is possibly one of the best of the 2D, side scrolling, Super Mario games to date. With the extensive game play and replay value with the addition of a new save function makes the game last longer then any Mario game before it. The colorful atmosphere makes for a perfect Mario game and of course Yoshi's introduction may be one of the most memorable moments in the Mario universe. It is deffinatly a must for fans of the series as well as collectors.