VG Review Thread

I thought maybe we could post our thoughts on all those games we've played recently and want to share our opinion on... That's what this is here for (I'm surprised I haven't seen a similar thread before). Maybe you'd like a differing opinion to that of the almighty gamesite you regularly visit...? Let your peers speak their minds!

Post your reviews, they can be as short or long-winded as you please, just stick with what's important. Rate the games if you wish to, as well! The standard categories are, of course, Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, Lasting Appeal, and any other relevant category you can think of (online support? presentation? packaging?). As for rating scales, let's just use the standard 10 point rating, but if you feel a 5 star base is good enough, then go with it!

Now let's remember these are personal views on a particular game. If you don't agree with someone, don't flame that person, especially in this very thread. Instead, write your own review and justify yourself.

If this picks up, I suppose we could put up a review index in this very post... :P

Guess I'll go first...
As of late I have once again become super-addicted to Burnout 3 for the Xbox. This game is balls-off-the-wall fun and even better when you have two or three freinds beside you. Xbox Live is fun, but I haven't used that as of late. It isn't as intuitiveas say, Microsoft's first party titles would be on Live.

To go on...
Graphics: Absolutely beautiful. I have read IGN and Gamespot and such, and they are saying the cars could be a little more detailed. What, are you kidding me?!? When you see a super-powered Sports car ram head-on into a slew of oncoming traffic, you don't need exquisite detail. The amount of bending and deformation that goes into each wreck is astounding. The environments are equally impressive, from seaports to busy city centers. And collision detection is unbelievable.

Sound: Good or bad, you decide. I love the music that accompanies the action, and this fits the majority of it perfectly. Heavy bass by groups such as Finger Eleven, My Chemical Romance, The F-ups (lead song), are very well done. And if you don't like it, you can always import your favorite music from the hard disk. BTW... the engine and crash sounds really draw you in as well.

Gameplay: The heart of this game. I bought this game the day it came out here (Sept. 28 I think...) and I'm not even a third through it yet! Over 150 Crash Junctions, 40 tracks over three continents, and plenty of multiplayer and overall replay value means I'll be playing this for a good long time, or until Burnout: Revenge hits stores in September =).

Lasting Appeal: Read above... You will be playing this game for a long time, and multiplayer and online time will greatly increase the playtime you get out of this game.

Overall: easily 10/5 beautiful graphics, excellent sound, riveting gameplay, and not a person in sight to squash! Keep that with GTA.

Enjoy!

Devil May Cry 3

gfxc: 12/9
TEH gamplaj = awesome
sound is greit IMO
lasting apeal: atleast 10 ys lol
overall 10/10 ^5 Capcom omg we luv you IMO (i am oh)

...

Nice idea you have there Castlevania. I'll try to post a decent review later when I have the time. But you know, why don't you make an example of yourself and post one yourself. Sucker. :P

Nice review linkinkampf. :wacko:

I'ma going to review a game called Megaman which is about a housekeeping robot with bad wicked powers!!!

http://www.portablereview.com/screens/mmz2/1.png
This may or may not be the cover

Story 8/10: Two people builds some robots, or reploids as call people say, most of them goes berserk because of the corrupted coffee industry and Megaman is forced to take action. Along with his trusty sister Roll, who does vitually nothing and the guy with the beard it's him against Dr. Wily! 20000 Clear points!!!

Graphics: 6/10: Not much compared to crash and the boys - Street challenge. Nor can the graphics of this game match Allstarsoftball. But I guess they're decent and it's really awesome when Megaman fights Fireman, it's cool.

http://megason.vgfreak.com/images/screens/megaman1.png
I like birds.

Sound 8/10: I was listening to Greenday. The album was Insomniac from '94 and Brat is a kickass track.

Gameplay 10/10: Jumping, Swimming, Shooting and Killing. Top Notch, Johnson.

Overall 9/10: Linear and stupid, yet so brilliant.

What a way to ruin my thread, Elmy... :wacko:

Yes, maybe I'll post a review of my own soonish... BTW, it doesn't have to be a completely new game. Like, maybe it came out a year or two ago, but you just picked it up and thought it was so great, you had to make your own review...?

Go with it. ;)

heh, funny thing...I wrote "call" instead of "cool" :p RAWR!

I did beat megaman the other day....on the ps2. How do I unlock The power fighters 2 game?

I think this thread does not deserve to die... So here's my review:
DARWINIA

Another game by Introversion software, the people who made the extremely innovative Uplink. Darwinia tends to differ from most other games, and can be thought of as a mixture of oldskool classics Cannon Fodder and Populous, with the visuality of Tron 2.0.

Graphics (4/5): The game has an astonishing "retro gone modern" feel to it, fractal trees included. The pixelize effect on units make them look even more identical to their original selves, I found the Invaders especially hilarious. They are your air support! The only problem was that the game tends to slow down in more massive action situations, not so much with the latest patch, but it's still noticeable. Oh, the bootloaders appearing at the start of the game are simply hilarious!

Sound (3/5): Or rather lack of sound. There is music in some places of the game, and the tunes match those scenes very well. This is quite rare however. The sound effects are cute, rather than anything else. The constant explosions you will be hearing from your assault squads' grenades will quickly irritate people around you, so be sure to play this on with headphones!

Gameplay (5/5): This game easily has the most addictive gameplay nowadays. The main idea is that you have to help the poor little defenseless AI, the Darwinians, reclaim their world from the virus. And how do you go about doing that? Simple. Just explore the widening range of possibilities the game offers, and you'll have seen everything by the end of it. At first, it plays like a simple action game, and then the RTS elements start increasing, to make things interesting. The game requires pretty good reflexes and fast thinking, and thanks to the gesture system, a steady hand. It's only a shame that most other games don't offer as much variety as Darwinia nowadays, so if you're interested in something more than hacking your way through the storyline, repeating the same stuff over and over, this is the game for you!

Lasting Appeal (4/5): The game has a built-in mod making system, though you have to beat the game first to gain access to it. The single player mode does not offer that much of a challenge once you master the tricks to conquering the levels, and it's quite short, so be sure to watch out for new levels and campaigns!

Overall (5/5): This game is something that will definitely keep you occupied. The gameplay is almost perfect, and unlike anything else. I was really waiting for a game like this for a long time. Keep up the good work, Introversion.

Umm... I'm gonna post a Vagrant Story review if I get to finishing the bonus dungeon... Unfortunately I'm quite busy to do that right now, but it will certainly happen in about a month or so. (Summer break, to be exact)

Just to make sure this thread doesn't die out lol. Here is my review on Jade Empire.

Jade Empire one of the most hyped rpg's for the Xbox from the team that brought us KOTOR they now bring us an adventure set in ancient China.
You begin your game by selecting a character in which you can customise but only in stats,name and martial styles used. Frankly this is disappointing as it would be great to fully customis your character to give an authentic feel to your own adventure but instead it feels a bit generic and fruitless for this said character selection. Plus the fact that they all follow the same storyline it would have been more impressive if each character had a different story or went about the main adventure in a different style starting in a different town etc.

The story itself is good but not great there are many twists and turns but you can guess much of what will happen later by the many references made in loading screens and talking to other characters. The story starts with your character fighting a member of the school you attend. This battle assumes the role of a tutorial. Then you talk to Master Li and then your adventure really begins.

The problem with the story is there isn't any freeroaming available you have a set path that you must follow. The side quests prove to be quite unique and entertaining and some seem to last longer than some main quest objecives.

It is way too easy to level up your guy as you seem to get experience from just about anything. From reading scroll stands and books to finishing off quests. This makes the game really easy and and advanced RPG player will manage to do this in way under 9 hours like myself with acheiving most of the side quests etc.

All in all Jade Empire is a somewhat good experience if not too short and easy. The story is what really makes this worth buying as the many twists and turns add excitement and tension.

Overall I give it a 7.9/10

I just put up a fairly deatiled review of Dracula X on my website, but I'll post a mini review here:

Dracula X for the PC Engine Super CD has to be one of the greatest Castlevania games ever made. Everything from the detailed graphics to the excellent music REEKS of perfection. The levels are huge and there are 12 of them (7 normal and 5 hidden). If you like 2D action, you MUST download this game from the YSI thread right away.

To see the full review (with screenies, even) go to http://8bitnation.astahost.com