The Official Review Thread

[Razola]

A part of the OA forum, I tried bringing this here a while ago, but it slipped through the cracks. By request, I'm trying it again.

Just state your game, give a blurb about it (no required length, just make sure you sum up everything), and rate it 1-10 (optional, I'd actually prefer you not to). Also mention the system you played it on (and the ones it's out for).

Go at it.

[PNT510]

I got 4 reviews.

Up first Madden 2005 For XBox, PS2, Gamecube. I own the XBox version.

This years Madden is a disapointment to me, after buying 2004 and loving all the upgrades it made over 2003 I was kinda upset at how little changed. It's nice to see that you can sometimes get positive yardage on toss plays, but more often than not the running game is to weak and the passing game is to strong. The inclusion of XBox Live is nice, but I still like playing with a couple of my friends on one TV. As a whole I would rate the game 6.5/10

Next up WWE Day of Reckoning for the gamecube.

Day of Reckoning is the 3rd WWE game on gamecube and by far the best. The basic gameplay remains the same with a few minor tweaks. The biggest of which is the new momentum shift. One time during the match when you are in danger press A+B and you will pull of a special move that can hopefully turn the tide of battle. Make sure to use it wisely seeing how you can only use it once a match.
The biggest addition this year is the new School of Hard Knocks story mode. Away with the crappy revenge mode. This year you'll start from the bottom using your create a wrestler(which I will talk about later). You start off working house shows for WWE developmental. If you can impress WWE officals you will move up to sunday night and and eventually Raw or Smackdown. The ultimate goal is the capture the WWE title. It's pretty fun time through, but gets kinda boring after that. The create a wrestler is amazing, you can edit everything, while you can't make things quite as complex as the Smackdown games on PS2, it's a much simpler process.
Like all WWE games this game really shines when played multiplayer. It's just more fun the layeth the smacketh downeth on your friends. All the old game modes are back for exibtion(Single, Tag, Triple Threat, Fatal Four Way, Hell in a Cell, Cage, Ladder, TLC, Table, Iron Man, royal rumble and the newly added Bra and Panties matches).
The game does have a few short comings. First being the lack of the Elmination Chamber match. The second being the roster. I heard the gamecube had limited disc space, but come on. Only 4 Divas. It's also missing Bubba ray and Dvon dudley, the biggest tag team stars, the WWE Champion JBL, WWE Crusierweight Champion Spike Dudley, The WWE tag team champions Paul London and Billy Kidman and the World tag team champions La Restiance. Not to mention roster space is wasted on legends and jobbers like Mark Jindrak and The Bashums.
If you can get past the small roster the game is still good. In conclusion I give the game 8/10 for WWE fans and 6.5/10 for none WWE fans.

I'll post my Pikmin 2 and Tales of Sympohnia reviews tommorow its getting late.

[Gengachu]

Question about Day of Reckoning: I heard the gameplay is more or less the same as WWF No Mercy; How similar is it? Also, are you sure the wrestlers that are missing aren't unlockable? You said yourself that they're champions in real life, and anyone with a brain would include those guys in it. And that disk space stuff is a bunch of crap. No Mercy had virtually every active wrestler in WWF in 2000. The only people missing were the Mean Street Posse(they suck and AKI made it easy to create them, anyway) and Big Show(he was trying to lose weight and wasn't on T.V.) and that was on a cartridge. Sounds like it was probably more of a time thing if they aren't on there, though some of those guys would be one of the first wrestlers I made.

[Zup]

Pikmin 2 for Nintendo Gamecube


I bought this game about the day after it was released and I was hoping that the hype I had put on it was not unfounded. I had played the original and had sold it because of one thing: the time limit. Well, those of you who agree with me will be quite happy with it's sequel. No timelimit. 2 new species of pikmin. 2 player battle mode. 2 player co-op mode. Challenge mode. And an unlockable character.

The game goes from very easy, to tough, to hard rather quickly. The first goal of the game, to get 10,000 pokos, is easy enough, taking you on average about 30 days. After the initial money spree, you go back to unlock a new place as well as get every other treasure available. The new caves are the core of the game, each lasting much longer than you'd expect. The bosses are inventive and can be killed in a multitude of ways. The controls are spotless, the graphics incredible and the sounds, if sometimes annoying, endearing. The two new species, white and purple, both add degrees of challenge to game. For one object much later in the game, you will need 100 purples, which you must cultivate from flowers, as they don't have their own onion. Many of the new additions just enhance the experience that was Pikmin. Some make it incredibly better. People who are more action oriented will ove this game, and those who love strategy will love co-op, who's main objective is to get to the end without losing anybody. Best of all, there is no time limit. This game is incredibly batter because of it. You can do nothing for as long as you want, or you can do it as fast as you can. Your choice.

[PNT510]

Question about Day of Reckoning: I heard the gameplay is more or less the same as WWF No Mercy; How similar is it? Also, are you sure the wrestlers that are missing aren't unlockable? You said yourself that they're champions in real life, and anyone with a brain would include those guys in it. And that disk space stuff is a bunch of crap. No Mercy had virtually every active wrestler in WWF in 2000. The only people missing were the Mean Street Posse(they suck and AKI made it easy to create them, anyway) and Big Show(he was trying to lose weight and wasn't on T.V.) and that was on a cartridge. Sounds like it was probably more of a time thing if they aren't on there, though some of those guys would be one of the first wrestlers I made.
It's very similar to No Mercy, It has both strong and weak grapples, You can have a bunch of special moves, it's more simulation than arcadey. I don't think the system has quite the polish or feel that No Mercy had, but it is easily the closest game to it. As for the other Wrestlers you can't unlock them. The only unlockable wrestlers are the legends, and I dont think they were left off due to time constrants because this is the 3rd WWE gamecube game and it can't be that hard to import characters from last years game into this new one(The Dudleyz, Hurricane, Tajiari)

[ryandude713]

Street Fighter: Anniversary Collection

I've grown up playing fighting games since the SNES, and Street Fighter II was the first game I fell in love with. Let's get right down to it. This is possibly the best collection of fighting games ever. You have Hyper Street Fighter II, which is a collection of 5 games, and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. That's 6 games in one! Considering the price tag is only $30, thats $5 a game! Now thats a deal any person should take! The gameplay is solid. All combos flow smoothyl, and the PS2 controller feels better than the old SNES when it comes to Hyper Street Fighter II. You will need to be careful, because if you haven't developed thumb calices, your thumbs may bleed. The A.I. in Hyper Street Fighter II is insanely hard, so you may want to do A LOT of practicing before going into that. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is also just as great as the arcade version, except for that boss Gill, who is the cheapest bastard in gaming history. This is a must have for fighting game fanatics like myself, and even better yet, it's coming out for the X-Box, and will be X-Box Live enabled. REJOICE EVERYONE! FOR YOUR FIGHTING GAME GOD HAS ARRIVED, AND YOU SHALL ALL BE BLESSED WITH MANY KO'S AND SICK COMBOS!

It's currently out for PS2, and will be out for X-Box.

A must buy game for anyone who wants a solid fighting game, or just likes to watch Chun-Li kick. *drools*