Sly 2 Review

Here it is kids! Sly 2 review as I said! I’m an organized person!

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System Played On: PS2

Age Rating: E

My Age Rating: E

It’s a pretty easy rating. It’s only a little violent and you’re following a raccoon, hippo, and turtle around the entire time. Not much can happen.

Graphics: 6/10

Definitely a lot better than Sly 1 (*shivers at thought*)

That was bad.

Plotline: 7/10

It’s just a simple continuation of the next game, but I do think this had a bit more charm. It was the same style of getting one piece from one villain at a time, but it seemed more difficult. There was more story, I wasn’t as lost as last time, and it actually made sense in the end.

YAY NO PLOT HOLES!

Playability: 6.5/10

Glitching is a very normal thing for PS2 games. Sly 2 is no exception.

Overall: 7.3/10

Replay Value:4/10

If you’re a perfectionist and like finishing with 100%, it probably would appeal to you. If you’re like me, you don’t care.

Synopsis:

You continue the story of killing off the “man” (if you can call a metal owl a man)  that made Sly an orphan, but when police show up when Sly is about to kill off the metal owl’s armour, another group of people out to get the Cooper Family swoops in and keeps the Owl alive another day. Sly spends the game with help from his friends to make sure those pieces are melted and the owl is killed for good.

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Overall Review:

Though I really only gave this game a 70%, it’s a solid “in between” game.

Basically, in between two heavy hitting games, this is a nice break.

It’s cutesy, fun, and not very difficult strategy wise. It’s a nice break from something that will take you close to 20 hours to finish, since Sly 2 only took me 7.

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(GameFAQs) Walkthrough Link:

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Review

Soon I will be posting Kingdom Hearts 2, the one game that really kick started my love for video games, and even gaming together occasionally- but since I feel like I’m on DS kick (with LoZ and Professor Layton coming soon), I thought 358/2 was still a great game in the Kingdom Hearts series to talk about.

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Seriously, people need to talk more about this game.

System Played On: DS

Age Rating: E10+ for Fantasy violence

My Age Rating:E12+

Personally, I don’t think anyone over 12 would get too much out of 358/2. It’s not like a normal kingdom hearts game where you’re just meeting tons of disney characters and goofing around with Sora and the Gang.

This game is about Nobodies, Heartless, and darkness.

My inner scene kid is probably the reason I enjoy this game so much.

Graphics: 6.5/10

The saddest part about the Kingdom Hearts’ games-- the graphics are normally awful. It doesn’t help that Square Enix has only released Kingdom Hearts games for PSP, PS2, and DS up until the (long awaited and questionable) release of Kingdom Hearts 3 for PS3/Xbox One in some time that Square Enix and Sony just can’t seem to give to us. (insert angry face here).

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Plotline: 8/10

The plotline alone goes above what the graphics demote this game for. The overarching plotline of Sora trying to basically save every universe. In the Disney World. How can you not love that?!

The plotline for this game (which is technically a “released out of order” series) follows Sora’s “other half”, Roxas. He doesn’t really exist in Sora’s dimension, but you follow Sora’s dark counterpart the entire time.

Playability: 7/10

Nothing really to say on controls, it’s another DS game where the awkward left handed Kat has struggles. Though, for a right handed person, it’s a pretty solid use of both the stylus and the control pad at all times, which is a nice change up from a basic PS2 to DS conversion that a lot of games try to get away with.

Overall: 7.8/10

Replay Value:5/10

I’m really sorry, but unless you’re in it because you’re too emotionally attached to the characters to let go and make actual friends, Kingdom Hearts doesn’t have much replay value. You can always go back to worlds, but you need to do almost everything in every world to beat the game.

Synopsis:

You follow Sora’s alternate self, Roxas, who has no recollection of his “previous life” , and see what the Organization of Nobody’s are up too and who they really are. While on a mission, a 14th member joins the Organization, and Roxas finds himself more and more confused on his feelings for this girl and what she will bring to the Organization.

Overall Review:

The reason why I find this game so amazing is the impact it has when you have had such a “tight bond” with a character as well developed as Sora. I’ve been playing these games for basically a decade now (not to sound old), and the fictitious bond with the characters are somehow dropped when you realise that Roxas is the new Sora, and now you need to accept that Sora is not a thing anymore.

The game starts as a bitter goodbye, when the player realises that Sora is not coming back this game, and that Roxas is your new buddy.

Then, once you start creating a bond with Roxas, your life is shattered by broken memories of who once was Sora, and the dark emotional crisis Roxas has becomes yours.

I don’t even know how to explain how Square Enix does it, but every single game I or a friend has played by them has yet to disappoint. The graphics may lack, but the story will keep you crying. (you think I’m kidding, I cry every time).

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(GameFAQs) Walkthrough Link: http://www.ign.com/wikis/kingdom-hearts-3582-days

Sly Cooper Review

Hello Interwebs.

Today I have for you… The original Sly Cooper! Finishing up the 3rd and 4th now, so stay tuned for those!

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System Played On: PS2

Age Rating: E

My Age Rating: E

It’s really a simple bash people's faces in kind of game, nothing to it. Easy controls, simplistic plot.

Graphics: 5/10

Even though I know that the game came out in 2002, the graphics were lacking for three dimensional technology at that time, not to mention the awkward glitches with the software (come on, this isn’t Goat Simulator).

Plotline: 7/10

Simplicity does this game good, and who doesn’t love a sassy raccoon? (That’s why everyone loves Guardians of the Galaxy, right?)

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Playability: 7/10

The controls were pretty simple and straightforward. Sometimes it was hard to catch on to sneaking around, and the gadgets were at first confusing, but overall it was easy to pick up.

Replayability: 5/10

I'm sorry to say, but there's not much to do after you finish the main plot. It was a similar problem with most games pre- PS3 that Playstation made, there wasn't much to do besides collect all of the little trinkets that unlocked useless things that you didn't need anymore to complete the game.

No matter the how good a plot is, that can only keep you for so long.

Overall: 7/10

Synopsis:

Sly Cooper comes from a long line of thieves. After his parents were killed, he was sent to orphanage and found his two friends, Murray (the Hippo) and Bentley (the Turtle).

Years go by, and the group decides to try to get back Sly’s family book of thieving trick, the Thievius Raccoonus. The Fiendish Five, those who killed off Sly’s parents, have stolen this book, and it is your job as Sly to defeat all 5 and get back your ancestors’ book.

Overall Review:

Sad story time, I started Sly 2 before hand, but stopped and took the time to scour out a copy of the original. Though the graphics are lacking for the time, and the glitching is almost as bad as Goat Simulator, the simplistic approach to the plot line and humour made this a really enjoyable game.

Unfortunately, it was extremely short.

This game only took 4 hours to complete, though I didn’t get 100%, the plot line was minimal. Battles were basic, missions were straightforward, but what really kept you reeled in was the odd humour and unique point of view.

The “Robin Hood” viewpoint, one I’ve always thoroughly enjoyed, keeps the player going, and the icing on the cake is definitely the enemy of Sly’s, Carmelita. Her voice actor, though extremely spotty (switching from about 5 accents total--I counted), brought an added layer of depth to Sly as a developing character. The constant Love hate relationship is really fun to follow, and *spoiler*, it gets complicated in Sly 2, which is really fun to see.

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You feel an attachment to Sly, almost as if you have a bit of him inside all of us, and let’s admit it, who hasn’t dreamt of being a super sneaky ninja parkouring around town.

The main goal of an artist or writer is for your audience to feel empathy or similarity, and this game hit home. Fun, cute game to play in between those rage quit games that take 20 some odd hours to finish, though don’t get your hopes up for too complicated of a plot.

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(GameFAQs) Walkthrough Link:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/561378-sly-cooper-and-the-thievius-raccoonus/faqs/20877

ICO review

Shadow of Colossus is one of my all time favourite games, and ICO being the self proclaimed sequel, I had to try it out for myself.

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System Played On: PS3

Age Rating: T (for Blood and Violence)

My Age Rating: 12

There’s so many puzzles you have to have a lot of patience. Violence and blood aren’t really a big deal, for more than half the game you're hitting shadows with a stick.

Graphics: 6/10

There was nothing really great about them. It made me a little sad, since they did such a magnificent job remaking Shadow of Colossus for PS3, the graphics in ICO were just flat. Personally, I’m almost scared to play this on PS2 if this is what it looked like remastered.

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Plotline: 7/10

Was there really a plot line? It was almost similar to Legend of Zelda, where you just assume you’re out to get Princess Zelda, but were never told what to do. Hey, have a ghost child, and drag her around. Make sure she doesn’t die.

You never really knew what the point was until the end, and even then it was unclear.

Playability: 5/10

Uncoordinated hero number two, thanks a lot Team ICO. It feels almost as if Sony and the creators tried to make the character extremely hard to control just to add another level of frustration to the endless puzzle.

Also, there was never a walkthrough on how to jump, move items, pull levers, or any clue as to what the controls were. You kind of just mashed every button until you figured it out.

Replay Value: 6/10
Maybe if you're in to speed running like me, but there's really only one way to fight every boss. Not really worth playing multiple times besides to see if they have anymore information about the plot SOMEWHERE in the video game.

Overall: 6.5/10

Synopsis:

Ico is a young boy that was born with horns, which is considered cursed and unholy in the land. He is taken to a castle and held there to be sacrificed. Naturally, Ico escapes and meets a girl named Yorda.

Yorda seems to have the enemies, which take the form of shadow beasts, chasing after her and is in need of a guardian to protect her. Ico decides he’s perfect for the job, and so the rest of the game focuses on him protecting Yorda as they explore the castle and try to escape from the evil queen who seems to have previous relations with Yorda.

Overall Review:

After playing the game, all I could really think is meh. It was pretty disappointing to play in comparison to Shadow of Colossus.

Not only was the player given another uncoordinated hero, they weren’t even given guidance as to how to play the game. I didn’t think they’d lay out a perfect walkthrough for the player, but I assumed they’d at least inform me as to why Ico is trying to save Yorda and how exactly to climb the freaking wall.

Along with that, it’s known this was made earlier than Colossus, but the graphics were so different between the two, even in this HD remake, that it seemed like ICO was neglected from the beginning.

They had the opportunity to make beautiful scenery and a detailed creepy old queen, but instead the player was left with shoddy graphics that didn’t do justice to the game. Even HD couldn’t save it.

Since players  were given almost no instructions on what they were to do, it was almost impossible to figure out what you needed to do and even harder to convince yourself to keep playing.

(GameFAQs) Walkthrough Link:

http://www.ign.com/wikis/the-ico-shadow-of-the-colossus-collection/Ico_Walkthrough