Sonic Adventure 2 Review

The past week or two some friends and I have been getting pretty into Sonic the Hedgehog. Not like, marathoning every game or anything, but we’ve been talking about some memories with the games, listening to the music again, etc. One thing that would come up a lot was Sonic Adventure vs. Sonic Adventure 2. The comparisons were…really strange, but we eventually came to the conclusion they both had some advantages and disadvantages over the other. I was in support of SA2 completely. While I had loved SA as a kid, SA2 I had loved even more.

You see, I never had any Sega consoles as a kid, so my first experience with Sonic was Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, which I looooved as a kid. I got SADX shortly afterward, and loved it as well. So in 2010 when Sonic Adventure was rereleased and got abysmal reviews, I was shocked. What had happened?! I remember that game being awesome! Was it just because it was an older game? But even then, when games like Banjo Kazooie and HD Collections of other 3D platformers from that era were released, they were praised to the moon and back and sales were terrific. How was SA any different than those other 3D platformers from the time? And when SA2 was rereleased late last year, people gave it bad reviews too. But how?!

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time Review

I’ll say it right now, I think Sly 4 is an awesome game. It gave me a feeling I honestly hadn’t had in quite some time. Most reviews have said pretty much the same thing; it’s a good game, but it doesn’t change much from it’s predecessors and feels dated at some points. Well that’s fair I guess, but here’s something interesting: I’m not a Sly Cooper fan. Let me explain: I played the first few hours of the 1st game  and it felt
really dated and weird. I wasn’t having much fun, and a friend told me to skip to the 2nd game, which I did and actually really enjoyed. Never played the 3rd one. So having played only one game in the series, what do I think of Sly 4?

Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed Review

Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing from 2010 is actually one of my favorite kart racers. The tracks were memorable, there was a fun, diverse line-up of racers and an awesome catchy soundtrack paired with super

fast-paced racing. So when they announced there was gonna be a sequel, I was pretty excited. But having put some time into it, there’s a lot of weird little things that I’m not sure about.

Games that Aren't Games

There are plenty of genres I like when it comes to games. Just looking at some of my favorites there are plenty of platformers, fighters, RPGs, and games of other genres that come to mind. Then there are a few other games I think of that…I can’t really classify. When I look them up I see a lot of genres listed for them, actually. Like nobody can really agree. One thing I see for all of them that I can think of is “adventure.”
What “adventure” means to me is that it doesn’t really fit into anything else. There’s not enough jumping to call it a platformer, not enough shooting to call it a shooter, not enough puzzle-solving to call it a puzzle game, not enough combat to call it a beat ‘em up, just a whole bunch of elements of other genres put together in a game where you progress from one area to the next exploring. That’s what an “adventure game” is to me. And I really don’t like that term, because the only games I can think of that really fit that genre are Zelda and games similar to it.

DmC (Devil May Cry) Review

Devil May Cry is a really popular Capcom franchise that first came into play in 2001 on PS2, and was considered a huge innovation in the industry. There hadn’t really been many games like this before, and it’s generally said to have had a huge part in starting the “hack ‘n slash” genre. Without this game, we may not have seen God of War, Bayonetta, or the newer Ninja Gaiden games. There was a sequel that got some pretty poor reviews, and a 3rd game that was considered a masterpiece. Then there was 4 on the 360/PS3, which was considered pretty good, but didn’t quite meet the bar set by 3. While some say the DMC series has never had a solid story as a strength, others disagree, and had been waiting several years to see their favorite characters come back and continue where they left off, killing demons and making cheesy one-liners. And when TGS 2010 came around, they got their wish! …almost!

Crash Bandicoot: Warped Review

Crash Bandicoot is a series that had the misfortune of being handed to a developer that just didn’t care. While it had a strong start on the PS1 and the character became one of Sony’s biggest mascots at the time, Naughty Dog lost the rights to the character around 2000 and he faded into obscurity not long after. He got a fun PS1 party game in the form of Crash Bash, some decent platformers in the form of Wrath of Cortex and Twinsanity, and…well, after that, it wasn’t long before he gave out and the character was more-or-less retired. The only other games he got were some mediocre kart racers and the mutant series, which received mixed reviews and wasn’t enough to pull the character out of the hole he had fallen in. Just the last year or so, a lot of interest has come back to the character. People are making lots of fan-games, he’s easily the

most requested DLC character for Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, yet Activision seems completely ignorant of the fact that they own a beloved IP and haven’t done anything with it since 2008. So the character is pretty much dead at this point. It’s a shame, but we can still enjoy his classics! I decided recently to replay my favorite of the series, Crash Bandicoot: Warped.

Darkstalkers Resurrection Review

I’m a pretty big fighting game fan. From my obnoxious Street Fighter phase in 2010 to my addiction to Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale the last few months, there’s no genre I find myself coming back to again and again like the fighter. One thing I noticed though is that I generally tend to gravitate toward the newer
ones. If a fighter feels dated I usually don’t really enjoy it, at least the way I do newer fighters like Street Fighter 4 or Marvel vs. Capcom 3. I can have fun with it, but there’s usually a lack of modes, a smaller roster, and the fact that everyone else has been playing 10 years longer than I have so there’s no point in getting better. With Darkstalkers Resurrection, this isn’t the case.

Starhawk Review

Starhawk is a game that got really overlooked I think. Despite being less than a year old it’s now available for $20 new, the studio shut down after the release of the game, and there aren’t many people left offline. And that…well, that kinda sucks. This is the spiritual successor to the game Warhawk, which was released early in the PS3′s existence and got critical praise for it’s awesome multiplayer combining dogfights and third-person shooting for a really cool experience. In 2012 this concept was revisited as Starhawk. There were a lot of changes made to the game, between actually adding a single-player mode and giving the game a space setting and sci-fi themes. Neat! But does it work?

Project X Zone Review

Namco, Sega, and Capcom are undeniably 3 of the biggest names in gaming. They own some of the most beloved IPs of all time; Pac-Man, Mega Man, and Sonic the Hedgehog are 3 of the most popular and recognizable video game characters there are. In Project X Zone however, only one of these characters appears. Yes,  several of these companies’ most recognizable characters are absent. This game was definitely made with the Japanese audience in mind; outside of the Capcom side, very few members of the cast are from genres besides RPGs. In a fighting game or something the character choice isn’t as important, but this game is a tactical RPG. Story and characters are a huge part of this genre and this is a category that Project X Zone simply fails to deliver in.

Why Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale Failed

This was one of the only games last year I was excited for. After 2011 pumped out game after game after game after game, 2012 was lackluster to say the least. The Wii U and the Vita came out, but there weren’t many games to get me pumped. There were some cool little games like Twisted Metal, Asura’s Wrath, etc., but I just wasn’t feeling it. The only exception was PSAS. Honestly, I think Nintendo is stupid for not exploiting Smash’s success. It’s one of the biggest sellers gaming has to offer, it’s one of the first things to come to your mind upon hearing “crossover”, competitive players like it, casual players like it, Smash is an amazing series. Then why do we only get one game per console? I understand that they put TREMENDOUS effort into these games and that they take forever to come out, and that they want each game to have time to be appreciated for what it is without being immediately overshadowed by a sequel, but Smash could be so much more than that. Pumping them out yearly like COD or something wouldn’t be the answer, but just imagine if Brawl had been treated to the DLC and balance patches that other modern fighting games have received, or if it had at least had decent netcode.

Unfortunately Nintendo and DLC almost never work out, or haven’t until recently at least, so Brawl didn’t reach the potential it could’ve. It still sold, there are SOME people who still play it, but it could’ve been much more. That’s why I wish more people would imitate the Smash formula! If Nintendo won’t embrace a lot of the features that make modern gaming what it is, someone else should. But every time there’s a Smash styled game, it’s something random given to a garbage developer with no idea what they’re doing. Cartoon Network! Ninja Turtles! Ninja Turtles and Rabbids!  This is why Playstation All-Staras had me SO excited. Unlike other games that have tried to compete with SSB, Playstation is actually relevant, but also has a strong history! It has a huge and diverse lineup of characters to choose from, and a team has been assembled consisting largely of competitive fighting game players like Clockw0rk! It’s looking to blend elements of more competitive fighters while also being accessible to more casual players. How could this game not succeed?!

Hey everyone! It's me, Jacob Collins

I made a Blogspot so I can post all my awesome game reviews! Maybe someone will even read some of them! Play it loud in stereo DUDE!