Terraria: Review

I was brought to Terraria because I had heard it was like Minecraft, and, being an avid Minecrafter I decided to give it a try.What I unearthed was a completely new, and in some aspects better experience. Sure, it gave a nod to Minecraft in the fact that you can place and destroy blocks. But, that is where their similarities end. This is a completely different indie game (hence the word "indie") and the fact that it has so much diversity can make it appeal to many people, perhaps even people who aren't interested in Minecraft.
If I had to make a comparison here, I would say that Terraria is a cross between Castlevania and 16-bit Zelda, with, sure, a little bit of Minecraft action thrown in there. The game has no real storyline; you gather resources, make a house and go mining in the seemingly endless underground. There is a myriad of bosses out there, and plenty of remarkable biomes. An interesting aspect of this game that I have found is the guide that is gives you at the start of the game; you spawn in your world right next to an NPC that gives you advice and can show you any crafting recipe. This makes basic crafting far less hard than it could have been, and once you gather different resources you will start to realize how sprawling the crafting system is.

However, although the crafting system is fantastic, another even more interesting aspect of the game is its multiplayer. You can play your world in single player, but whenever you log onto a server, your gear stays with you. This is a great way for people to go pvp on the fly without having to build up all their resources on that server.

All told, I have spent around 15 hours on this game, and I have gotten about halfway through (a third if you are a perfectionist) and Terraria keeps me coming back for more. It has a fantastic wiki, and plenty of stuff for the fans too. Add that to the extremely agreeable price of $10, and you have an extremely solid game.

My rating?

9/10

Goldeneye 007: Review

Goldeneye 007 is a great first-person shooter. Its several difficulty modes and its online play will keep you busy for a long time. It is also a lot less graphic and bloody than CoD or Halo. Its intuitive gameplay, massive multiplayer aspect and much more make it a great FPS choice for almost all ages.

Goldeneye is very explanatory, making it a great game for first time FPS players. It has easy controls, as well as different control options. So those of you who are used to FPS games on the PS3 or Xbox can easily adapt due to the inclusion of the Classic and Gamecube controllers as control options. But if you like using the Wiimote to shoot, you have plenty of options there. You can use the Wiimote and Nunchuk, and the Wii Zapper as well. I also think that the Top Shot Elite may be usable for this game, although I have not tried it. Also, if you are used to a certain control scheme, you can make fully customizable controls of your own. But even though the controls are fantastic, they are not the only great thing about this game. You get 4 difficulty levels on the single-player mode, making for great replay value. The graphics are superb, making everything look as realistic as possible. And the selection and diversity of the weapons is excellent. There are so many weapons, it can get hard to tell the difference. The game holds everything from machine guns, to automatic shotguns, to western-style 6-shot pistols, to the infamous PT-9 Interdicus, the only shotgun that allows you to have a reflex sight on it. Many of the guns have alternate shooting options, such as semi-auto and burst. And for the noobtoobers in all of us, this game boasts a selection of grenade launchers and rocket launchers.

One of the most prominent parts of the game, however, is the multiplayer. Goldeneye's multiplayer system offers many game options, such as FFA, King Of The Hill, Team battles, and more. This multiplayer system offers games with up to 8 players. It also offers 56 levels, and a way to play games with your friends. The multiplayer system is by far one of the the best features of the game. That being said, Goldeneye's multiplayer is also the part with the most flaws. The battles are extremely unbalanced. The matchmaker pays absolutely no heed to level; you can have level 40's playing against level 5's. There is absolutely no credit or money system; rather, guns, mods and gadgets are awarded every level or so. This makes for even more imbalance, because the higher levels can just go around owning the lower levels with their auto shotguns. And if you are fighting against a premade group, just forget about winning. Also, the levels take forever to get. You can spend months just getting to level 56. You can't get a silencer until level 20, they basically give out the grenade launchers, and the auto shotguns are way too overpowered. All these are ways the game designers could have done better. I'm not saying that the multiplayer is bad in any way; like I said before, it's one of the biggest parts of the game. But it could certainly have improved.

All in all, however, the designers did a great job designing this game. It has several difficulties of play in single-player mode, it has lots of control options, and it has a huge selection of weapons. But, despite its flaws, the multiplayer system is still superb. I definitely suggest this game to both FPS noobs and experienced players.

My rating?

8.5/10

Donkey Kong Country Returns: Review

Donkey Kong Country Returns is a devilishly hard side-scrolling platformer. Although it is one of the more difficult games out there, the difficulty actually adds to the fun. The joy you get from finishing that next impossible level just adds to the charm.

Although it starts out fairly easy, Donkey Kong Country Returns gets to the point where you are dropping around 30 lives in one level. It has the classic mine cart levels, as well as some standard accurate-jumping levels just like the ones in the original Super Mario Bros. But a great addition to this fantastic game is the rocket barrel levels. And no, I don't mean the levels consisting of all those barrels with arrows on them, and although there are plenty of those levels in Donkey Kong Country Returns, I mean that there is a rocket barrel you can actually ride. While steering the rocket barrel, you avoid enemies and walls, because if you hit anything once, you die. These levels can be the hardest, but also the most fun. And if you get stuck on a level of any sort, you have the option in most cases to take an alternate route through the world.

A fantastic addition to the game is the silhouette levels. As the name implies, you play as merely a silhouette of Donkey Kong traversing through a completely silhouetted level. It makes for a great time exploring, since the hidden objects of the level are much trickier to find than in a normal level. But the levels aren't the only good part of the game. The musical score is really marvelous. It is the kind of music that sticks in your head. In one of the levels, your movements are actually synchronized with the music. You roll under a hammer before it pounds out the next note, you bound along humongous drums towards the end of the level, etc. You also have more than one control option; you can go with either the Wiimote and Nunchuk or the Wiimote held sideways. This game is funny and entertaining; I suggest giving it a try.

My rating?

8/10

The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess Review

The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess was an extraordinary action-adventure game. It was a long time in coming, too... it seemed like forever from the time they announced it to the time it was released. But it was well worth the wait! Exceptional graphics, astounding gameplay... it really set the bar for many Wii games to come.

Any fan of The Legend Of Zelda knows the basic formula for any Zelda game: dungeons, hidden objects, the more recently added Pieces Of Heart, etc. All of these can be found in Twilight Princess. But Twilight Princess goes beyond these expectations. There are 10 dungeons in all, each of them taking at the very least an hour, often more. And these are exceptional dungeons. Each of these dungeons contains multiple bosses, at least one weapon to obtain, countless Pieces Of Heart, huge amounts of monsters to defeat, secret spots galore, and much more, making for a great time traversing through. But, of all 10 dungeons, the single dungeon that absolutely exceeds all the others is the one optional dungeon. Even though you do not have to defeat this dungeon to beat the game, I extremely suggest playing it to completion. This dungeon is called the Cave Of Ordeals. This dungeon is a massive 50-room underground cavern full to the brim with monsters of all sorts. It is truly a huge dungeon, sometimes taking hours to fully complete. Add things like this to the lure fishing, whitewater kayaking expeditions, tons of golden bugs to hunt down, and more, and you have yourself an epic game. This game is truly colossal. There is no other description. I have heard that copies of this game are being sold at stores for 20 bucks... I suggest you take advantage of this opportunity while it lasts. Trust me, you will not regret it!

My rating?

9.5/10