Hey guys, I have been getting on every once and a while to see what everyone is up to but I have been too busy to post anything. Hopefully with I will get some slack of school stuff and get to post more soon but we shall see. This is my first review I am posting in the new format I decided to make my reviews in so tell me how you like it. I break it down into storyline, gameplay, graphics, sound, and then the overall breakdown. Each section is rated 1 to 10 using .5 intervals, this was one of the main things I wanted to try out tell me if you think it works.

Well I should have another blog up soon with more information about what I am up to but for now I have to go to class cya guys.

- Super Mario Galaxy -

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo

Release: November 2007

Storyline:

As with each generations Mario game you are the red wearing plumber and you are almost always trying to rescue your Princess Peach. Being taken captive by the evil Bowser King of the Koopas, Mario rushes to save her from her peril but this time there is a unique twist. Bowser escaped out into space forcing Mario to follow in which he meets Rosalina. Rosalina controls a space center but the stars and grand stars that allow it to travel space were stolen. While you help Rosalina collect these stars each time you get one step closer to your goal of reaching the princess.

Although first thought I considered space exploration a bit out there, after playing it I was pleasantly surprised. The story provides an old-school Mario plot that you would expect to be less complex and with little character development. If we do not know the story of how this red obsessed head stomping plumber is desperately trying to save Princess Peach from the evil king Bowser I don't think we should be allowed near a Wii anyhow. I may be biased but I think that is how the old-school Mario games should be if it got too complicated it just wouldn't be the same anymore. 10/10

Gameplay:

Obviously the fact that you are in space has a massive effect on the gameplay of Super Mario Galaxy. It allowed them to add numerous cool new features such as gravitational changes (their favorite), moving between planets, flying, and much more. These changes add not only a lot of fun but a completely new aspect to the Mario platformers, this complexity is entertaining while in actuality still being very simple. I think Super Mario Galaxy was a huge jump forward and make platforming more appealing.

Another obvious gameplay factor in Galaxy is the Wii motion controls. Using these for lots of things such as spinning, shooting/collecting star bits, and much more adds a lot of activity to the otherwise mindless button mashing that some games fall to. At first I was very indefinite on if I would like these controls being somewhat unaccustomed to the Wii, but after playing through this I had decided that the Wii motion controls were not just a gimmick but a great feature anyone can enjoy. 10/10

Graphics:

Mario landing n the Wii also gives a new graphical power to the series it had yet to experience. Although cartoony the Mario games have a very nostalgic look to them that most people enjoy even if they criticize other games for it. These improvements in graphics advances the look but keeps it very similar, this allows the game to look great and very modern without looking realistic and losing the nostalgic theme that you see in it. 9/10

Sound:

The music of the Mario games has always been exceedingly nostalgic and fun. Super Mario Galaxy does not disappoint, they provided the themes all Mario fans are dying to hear as well as a variety of new music to fit the feel and themes of the game. I believe the Mario series is one of those games that requires music to create the feel of the game, it gives this happy and energetic attitude that attracts so much more than just the common gamer to it. 10/10

Overall:

There are three large differences that place Super Mario Galaxy ahead as a platformer. One is that the new elements such as changing gravity and planetary travel allow a whole new level of gameplay. He second is tat the new Wii motion controls are surprisingly entertaining and fantastically well done making it one of the faces of the Wii. Lastly is the graphics and sound which amplify the Mario series raising it to new heights that without this energetic and nostalgic feel would fall short of what it has shown that it can achieve.

I think the addition of "space exploration" in Super Mario Galaxy was pure genius. It make the gameplay have all the old additions while expanding on it greatly making it a new game in its own not just another chunk in the history of Mario. I was incredibly impressed with Super Mario Galaxy and suggest everyone on the Wii to get it, the game is a staple of the console. 9.5/10

Also read and/or recommend this awesome review!
Mace's Super Mario Galaxy Review

YES IT IS!!! Ok so many people may not agree and I am sure it won't win most "Game of the Year" awards but hands down in my opinion there is no debate. Metal Gear Solid IV is so good I cannot even begin to rant without my head wanting to explode into a million pieces.

I got 2 new games and finished one, I finished Eternal Sonata which by the way was alot of fun and I picked up Little Big Planet and Valkyria Chronicles. I have played Little Big Planet a bunch 2 player with my girlfriend and it is a blast, hopefully I will start playing Valkyria Chronicles tonight I have been pumped for this game for months.

Finally and the most important news of all.... OBAMA WON! In your face McCain fools! Mwahahahaha! Yes! finally I don't have to be ashamed of my president (knock on wood) I have high hopes for Obama and I sincerley think he can accomplish them. Unfortunatly with voting it is always the lesser of two evils I would much rather had voted for Nader but he wouldn't have won so I would rather just make a differance.

- Metal Gear Solid IV: Guns of the Patriots -

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Kojima Productions

Release: June 2008

Metal Gear Solid 4 is the last in the line of the Metal Gear Solid series and therefore it must close the story. Due to this you may want to play through the first three before looking into the fourth or you will miss a great amount of detail and will spoil a lot for yourself. So before you go any further decide if you want to know details or the story in the fourth game before playing through the first three you have been warned haha.

Solid Snake now aging rapidly is contacted by his old colonel Campbell. Now retired Campbell has a special mission only Snake could complete and at the mention of "Liquid" Snake he was very interested. Wars now are pretty much controlled and performed by PMBs which are hired mercenary companies. All of which who are hooked into a computer system that monitors their vitals, increases combat efficiency, and can suppress any emotion. Snakes mission is to head to the Middle East in a war zone and track down the location of Liquid who has been sighted in the area.

Liquid who is in control of nearly all the PMBs is orchestrating large scale proxy wars with a hidden motive. These proxy wars keep the world in constant need of soldiers and constantly in a state of chaos. Liquid aka "Liquid Ocelot" is controlling revolver ocelots body through the transplanted arm that was graphed onto his body. While trying to find a way to track down Liquid, Snake prepares his "last mission" while in search for a way to stop the rapid aging. Many look down of the storyline of the MGS series, personally I cannot fathom this and see it in the exact opposite way. One of the best continuous storylines in gaming in my honest opinion especially for games outside the genre of RPGs, it is the only game in the espionage action and FPS genres that actually has a storyline worth paying attention to.

Now there are many who will disagree or argue with my opinion on it's storyline so I will keep it quick. The storyline of the MGS series is of amazing detail giving an in-depth view of almost everything in relation to the games. Being in a genre that in my perspective has no storylines worth noticing exceeds my expectations by far while still keeping the best gameplay of the genre in my opinion as well.

Now for people who aren't die hard MGS fans the most important part is gameplay and since gameplay doesn't give spoilers well here we go. Taking Metal Gear Solid 3's gameplay and expanding on it 10 fold they created what I like to call gaming perfection. The new stealth system that uses "Octo-Camo" works similar to the camouflage of MGS3 but more similar to a chameleon. You can also move a lot more fluently while in a camouflaged state showing off Snakes espionage skill. With the many different ways to attack or disarm your opponents it makes the game much more unique and entertaining to play through.

Unlike most of the other stealth/espionage titles MGS allows you to play fairly aggressive at times and gives you some breathtaking one on one boss fights. This allows you to develop your own play way from aggressive to stealthy although of course to complete the game you will have to use both. Besides other storyline bosses the main bosses without giving away anything is the Beauty and the Beast core. These are women who are twisted by deep seeded emotions to take on a more primal animal form and then fitted with the technology and the skill to make them the perfect killing machines. The boss fights vary in types from stealth fights, sniper duels, chasing battles, or aggressive battles giving you some amazing battles and a great variety of them.

Graphically I found MGS4 to be just as astonishing as its fantastic story and gameplay. With great quality each character and environment looks realistic to a level I have never seen before and I never knew was possible. Pushing the PS3 graphics to a level no game has yet it has no equal on the consoles in my opinion. An important feature they spent a lot of time on developing was the online play, although I didn't play a lot of it was impressively done and surprisingly entertaining. I hope that in the future I can try it more and I would suggest you at least to try it out.

The music of MGS4 was well done with a large variety of music developed to set the mood for the plot. Although good as it was I think MGS3's was a little better but I have exceedingly high expectations for this game even when it comes to music. The sound quality was great setting up complex environments full of characters, explosions, and gunfire creating a virtual battleground with unparalleled realism.

Possibly my favorite game in a long time MGS4 did not disappoint; it has great gameplay, an amazing storyline, amazing graphics, and a lot of replay value. The look and feel of the game is truly showed by the genius of Hideo Kojima and realized in his ambitions. I would rate Metal Gear Solid IV a perfect 10 out of 10 and suggest everyone who enjoys games to play it. The combination of great graphics, gameplay, and storyline proves that MGS4 is a masterpiece and excelling in all categories it is truly a jack of all trades.

So yesterday I bought Eternal Sonata, I wanted to wait I really did but crave a bright flashy new PS3 RPG and it will provide so oh well. Although I cannot play it until Saturaday night maybe Sunday morning! Yesteday and today I have been pretty much non-stop studying for my Art History - Modern to Renaissance Survey mid-term I have to memorize 30 paintings name, artist, and date they were made. If that wasn't torture enough there are also 40 multiple choice questions to go along with it I think I am getting it all down good but we well see...

PS: How did you like the Lord of the Rings Joke for Chaos Wars? Eh? Eh? Haha

An odd little SRPG that brings many games ino one including the amazing series of Shadow Hearts, the anime and game Gungrave, Spectral Souls, Growlanser, and many more alot of which I haven't gotten the chance to play. Chaos Wars is unique at least among american games, I have heard this type of game is a little more common in Japan.

- Chaos Wars -

Publisher: O3 Entertainment

Developer: Idea Factory

Release: May 2008

You are a young boy in Japan named Hyoma out with his friends Hayatemaru and ******* (Gamespot Censors her name for some reason?) Last night you had a dream of a mythical cave nobody can ever find, to the surprise of your friends when you go to where the cave was in your dream it was actually there. Due to unnatural circumstances you find yourself taken to a different place unknown to you, when you come to your senses you find a girl named Rin under attack by monsters. Rin describes to you that you are in Endia a place where remnants from many places gather, people brought here like Hyoma are called "Knights".

Rin unlike most people can control these gates of transportation but most things require a key for access. Wile helping Rin escape from a mysterious order known as "The Luin" you set out to find your friends and find your way back home. Now Chaos Wars might seem normal after reading this bit it has one massive difference from most games. The plot is filled with various characters from a large variety of games such as Shadow Hearts, Gungrave, Growlanser, Spectral Souls, and many more titles. This allows the game to make a very nostalgic and creative cast that hopefully you recognize most of the characters from and enjoy. Now many would call this "unoriginal" but combining the unique story they each have and the story Chaos Wars itself has makes a very interesting and fun plot.

Being a SRPG Chaos Wars employs a unique from of strategic combat. Each character has a few traits that make them unique and then they have a "Realize", this pulls out their potential or weapons from the world they were originally from giving them special traits and skills as well as very improved stats. You can only stay in your realize from 2-5 turns dependents on the quality of it, using it requires you to fill your realize gauge which fills from attacking and defending. Also using your special skills and doing team attacks requires your realize gauge to be filled as well making it an important function in combat.

You do not move on a grid like many RPGs, although the grid-less SRPG is getting more and more popular nowadays. You get skills through "skill evolution" when used your skills both gain levels and can change into different skills and spells. You can also buy them from the store similar to how you would buy weapons, items, and armor. Each attack has a different weapon type that can use it such as fists, swords, spears, guns, staves, double swords, dolls, guitars, gunblades, double guns, and more also each skill has a different range and radius that it can strike. The realize and skill system allows for a good customization between characters and also a distinctive uniqueness.

Although the fun strategic gameplay with the nostalgic characters is what drew me to the game graphically I find it very appealing as well. Although the characters are cartoony and anime-ish I thought it fit the games less serious attitude perfectly and I enjoyed it a lot. The various skills, characters, and environments all looked great with a variety of effects and designs. This allows you to drift away from paying attention to detains and allows you to focus on the gameplay and plot.

The unfortunate downfall of Chaos Wars is a sad sad thing to bring up the voice acting. Now I have played a lot of games with terrible English voice acting but due to them rushing the game past second to come over seas Chaos Wars takes the terrible voice acting trophy. With a homosexual Uru (Yuri from Shadow Hearts, my favorite character! Noooo! Haha) among other embaressing and retarded voices you will cring everytime you hear a character talk. Seriously there are some characters that sound like they took the "special ed" ****from your old high school and paid them to do voices. Now personally I can understand the problems and the way I fixed it was by immediately turning on the Japanese voices but the reputation of a game must take a hit when you ignore such a problem.

Now the terrible voice acting may take a toll of the game but I find it to be nothing more that a nuisance that is embarrassing to the game developers to have overlooked the quality. I would much rather have gotten the game translated into English than with terrible or no voice acting than not gotten it over seas at all. The gameplay and plot both were very unique and exciting making playing through the game with all the nostalgic characters a blast. The graphics are music are well done and fit the game well giving a good environment for the plot and characters. Due to the fun strategic gameplay and unique character cast I would rate Chaos Wars a 8.8 out of 10 . Although having to use Japanese voices was annoying (Being an avid anime fan I am very used to listening to Japanese voices and sometimes even prefer those voices) it didn't really damper the gameplay or the plot at all. I would suggest anyone who is a fan of SRPGs or RPGs to try this out and if you have played any of the tons of titles that Chaos Wars encompasses it makes it tons more fun to play as those characters and/or fight those villains.