Sunday 18 May 2014

Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures review

I really like Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures. Like, I really like it. Not the game, but the cartoon show. It's bright, colorful, lighthearted, funny, and immensely creative. And considering that the show is based on a game series, it's pretty obvious that a game was going to be made eventually.

Story - 4/10: The story plays out like an extended episode of the show. No big problems, no big reveals that you'd expect a game version of a show to have, and, most surprisingly, not even the voice cast of the show, making some of the best characters, like Clyde and Emperor Betrayus, sound off and out of character.




Monday 31 March 2014

Crash Team Racing review

I'm back! This time we're doing another themed month, this time with 5 Crash Bandicoot games! We'll start with the last game made by Naughty Dog, Crash's original developers. Yes, it is a racing game, but it's considered on of the best racing games out there, and it probably is.

Story-6/10: Yes, a kart racing game with a story. Granted it isn't exactly the most amazing story, but having a story at all is a step up from most racing games. It's also suitably weird for a game about bandicoots racing as well.

One day in the Australian archipelago that Crash and his enemies live on, all of them get together for a racing competition, but are interrupted by a message from an alien who goes by the name Nitros Oxide. He tells the racers that he will turn the planet Earth into a parking lot if they don't play his game, Survival of the Fastest.

Thursday 27 February 2014

Shrek Swamp Kart Speedway review

It's hard to believe now, but Shrek was a big deal at one point. It had very good CGI animation, it mocked the cliches of fairy tale stories, and it managed to tell a good story with a genuine moral at the end. It also made a lot of money. This, of course, resulted in over 20 Shrek based video games being made, most of them ranging from decent to truly awful. Of course, Shrek also managed to get multiple kart racing games, and one of them is an amazingly bad game. It's the one over there by the way.

Story-N/A: There is no story. A bunch of characters from the first Shrek movie  drive around in cars. I think there might be something about a dragon's treasure, but that's never actually brought up in the game itself, just promotional material. I can't even believe this game had promotional material.

Monday 24 February 2014

Digimon Racing review

In a way, I've always sort of liked Digimon better than Pokemon. While there is no denying that Pokemon has had some great games, Digimon has had some great games too, but Digimon has always had a step up on Pokemon in the TV department. Most of the income of the series has come from the cartoon and it's tie ins. Honestly, it's not a big surprise that a racing game was made. it's honestly just kind of weird.

Story-N/A: Again, no story to speak of. A bunch of Digimon characters decided to race and there are 3 assholes who want to ruin it for them. It's as simple as that.


Tuesday 11 February 2014

Pac-Man World Rally review

I think everyone knows who Pac-Man is. Run around maze, eat pellets, dodge ghosts, everyone knows it and everyone loves it. But did you know there were three games released on the PS1 and PS2 that turned that into a 3D platformer? It's true! They were all very good games and a lot of people played them (Except for the third one, nobody played that.) and they were successful enough to get a kart racing game based on them. This is what Pac-Man World Rally is.

Story-N/A: Like most racing games, there isn't a story. Unlike the last two, I can't talk about interesting development, or the character selection. I could talk about the new TV show that's airing, but that's a whole other article right there.




Tuesday 4 February 2014

Konami Krazy Racers review

Konami is a company that prides itself on being weird and Japanese. Ever since they began they've been one of the most Japanese companies out there, and even when their games cover European mythology and American wars, they still wind up being weird and Japanese. Konami Krazy Racrs is the result of 20 years of weirdness being wrapped up into a nice kart racing package.

Story-1/10: I have to give this one point at least, since there is at leas an excuse for why Konami KCharacters are racing around in go-karts.  Basically, the mysterious Konami Man sends an e-mail to 12 different Konami characters, challenging them to a Grand Prix to win trophies and fame, I never said it was a good excuse. Now, I think it's time we talk about our racers, and oh boy, what a strange group they are.

 First is Mystical Ninja Goemon, who is the most Japanese character. He has an extending pipe he uses for attacks, and he also drives a giant robot sometimes. Following me so far? Second up is Pastel, a character from the series TwinBee. She never actually appears in the games, but drives the second player spaceship.

Friday 31 January 2014

Banjo Pilot review

Whoa wait what? I have a blog? And I do reviews on it? Well hot damn better get to doing that then! To celebrate this return I've decided to spend the entire month of February reviewing GameBoy Advance racing games, starting off with probably the most storied of the bunch.

Story-N/A: Much like Sonic and Allstars Racing Transformed (And most racing games in general), Banjo Pilot doesn't have a story. What it does have is a STORIED backstory (heh heh) relating to business deals and trade offs.

It all started back in the 90s, when the Super NES had launched. Nintendo was competing with Sega to show off the graphical abilities of their consoles. In order to do this, Nintendo took a big risk by buying out a little known company called Rareware. Rareware developed a game called Donkey Kong Country, which used new 3D rendering technology to make an amazing looking game. Rareware went on to become one of Nintendo's most popular 2nd party developers.