So, anyway, videogames

Post by **Segaholic2** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 5:54 pm

WELL, everyone here has been pretty good about it so far!

AERITH DIES.

Post by **Delphine** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 5:59 pm

NO SHE DOESN'T LIAR SHE'S JUST SLEEPING

Adam Adamant · Post by **Adam Adamant** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:10 pm

Delphine wrote:ingrained in your brian.

Not in my Brian, you leave him out of this.

Post by **Delphine** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:44 pm

I'm sorry, what?

Adam Adamant · Post by **Adam Adamant** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:59 pm

*eyeroll*

Post by **Delphine** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:59 pm

OH NO I EDITED MY POST HOW TRITE

Adam Adamant · Post by **Adam Adamant** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 7:15 pm

OH NOES!!!1

Nova · Post by **Nova** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 7:58 pm

Talking about sequels: Mario kart needed a lot of sequels to became cool. Until the N64 version it was just another videogame. What do you think of double Dash? I think I like the N64 version more, in double Dash they took out some of the fun stuff!. No more jumping like a maniac, no more falling from cliffsÃ¢â‚¬Â¦and it has some of the ugliest and worst characters in Ã¢â‚¬Å“Mario universeÃ¢â‚¬ï¿¾.

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 8:11 pm

Anyways. I finished Astro Boy. I completed every sidequest save for two.

And I'm pretty satisified. After the second Atlas boss fight, things kind of petered down for a while. There were two particularly boring bosses.

And a dungeon. Which feels SO out of place in a game full of flying exploration. It wasn't even a particularly GOOD dungeon. It was the exact same three halls repeated 5 times! If there wasn't a different set of collectables for each hallway, I would've sworn I was trapped in one of those videogame purgatory "Endless Repition" hallways.

That was followed by another fucking dungeon, and I was almost ready to give up on the game. It started to definately go down the tubes, it felt like the developers had checked out near the end of the game.

Till I reached the final boss(es). It took me two hours to beat.

My God. If you didn't know it was a Sonic Team game from anything else, you'd know it from the conclusion.

It starts out with a relatively easy encounter where you can just blast away. But then things get serious, and the boss suddenly becomes invicible to just about all of your attacks 99% of the time. It was hell.

And then after that - YOW. Between the very last boss, and the two Atlas battles - it was worth 20 bucks.

Imagine the Doomsday Zone from Sonic3K. In 3D. Done really well. Unlike FinalHazard.

It was a BITCH. But it was a fun, satisfying bitch. The Doomsday Zone, in 3D - only you not only have to worry about missles - but also mines. And gigantic laser beams. With a "special attack" meter that's your only defense constantly failing you.

Words can't decribe it. It fucking ROCKED.

If I learned anything from this game, it's that a game doesn't have to be all awesome - or all horrible. Various bits of quality can spike up and down like a roller coaster! Sheesh.

I really wish they'd redo the engine, insert an original character, and make a "sequel" in spirit.

The cheif things that dissapointed me were the length - there's about 8 seperate "chapters" to the game - and those are only split between 5 or 6 areas. At least it kept my attention span throughout the whole game, something that's becoming harder and harder for me to find.

The Havoc engine was dissapointing because it was selective. With an engine that promises you can blow the fuck out of things - you want to be able to do it to everything. ALL buildings, ALL trees, ALL objects. However, interaction with the world around you was fairly limited. At least you could piss off NPCs slightly by blasting them in the ass with a gigantic laser cannon. And a couple of the buildings - usually only the ones situated near boss battles - crumbled. But all in all, the Havoc engine was dissapointing.

As I've said before - besides the three great boss battles, the feeling of free-flight is damn near amazingly accomplished. The controls feel clunky at first, but soon you're soaring around in 3-Dimensions.

The voice acting was decent, since all of the actors were taken directly from the most recent run of the TV series. The only one that truly annoyed me was Atlas. You know - he's the evil AstroBoy and you're chief rival throughout half of the game. He's armed like a one-robot army. He's 5-feet tall and rides a motorcycle with a skull on it.

He sounds like Beast Boy from Teen Titans.

Yeah . . . that's some bad casting. The rest of the voices were either well-chosen AND well-acted - or their roles were so small, you didn't notice them very much (Zoran, AstroBoy's sister - sounds like a 60-year old woman).

The art was good. Not too detailed, not too cartoony. Pleasantly inbetween.

There were numerous cut-scenes from the recent 2003 anime series. Which is good, because as anyone who's seen it will notice - it's an animated SERIES that constantly has the art quality of a feature-length animated movie.

I guess I'd give the game a 7/10. It's not a must-have, but it's worth a look if you're a fan of Sonic and NiGHTs - because the game mostly feels like a mix between the two franchises with some shooting stuffed in.

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 8:13 pm

No way, the original Mario Kart was the only one that was relevant. The N64 one sucks and Double Dash is just decent.

So anyway, the lack of a radar in MGS3 is finally starting to piss me off. On the last few screens, I've died 3 or 4 times on each because I never know what the hell is going on anywhere around me. I think I'll restart and try an easier difficulty setting, because this is just pissing me off.

Also, at the beginning of the game, you are asked to choose whether you preferred Metal Gear 1, 2, or didn't play either. What's the relevance of this?

Trog13 · Post by **Trog13** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 8:36 pm

MGS3 is supposed to be getting that downloadable camo and crap. Maybe when you do that, it sends in your answer to which one you preferred.
And also, the original Mario Kart kicked so much ass.

I've only played Jak and Daxter for a couple of hours. So far it's been nothing but collecting crap over and over again. Does it ever change? The game is fun, but I can't play it for long stretches of time. I keep switching over to Ratchet and Clank.

Nova · Post by **Nova** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 9:27 pm

Green Gibbon! wrote:No way, the original Mario Kart was the only one that was relevant. The N64 one sucks and Double Dash is just decent.

So anyway, the lack of a radar in MGS3 is finally starting to piss me off. On the last few screens, I've died 3 or 4 times on each because I never know what the hell is going on anywhere around me. I think I'll restart and try an easier difficulty setting, because this is just pissing me off.

Also, at the beginning of the game, you are asked to choose whether you preferred Metal Gear 1, 2, or didn't play either. What's the relevance of this?

Saying that the N64 Mario Kart game sucks is crazy. Is in the Nintendo best games ever list, is fan favorite and haft the world (That play videogames) loves it. You may dont like it, but if you say it sucks...you must be one of those crazy dudes that...ahh forget it.

The thing is, half of the gamers think that the N64 Mario kart rulez...

Kishi · Post by **Kishi** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 9:28 pm

You know, you can use the Active Sonar or the Motion Detector to simulate the Soliton Radar; the only difference is that they don't differentiate between humans and animals and that they don't show which way guards are facing. You can use the Anti-Personnel Sensor to tell when you're close to someone else, and if you're properly camouflaged, a guard will never notice you when you're far away enough for it not to activate. And, of course, First Person View and the right analog stick are instrumental in knowing about your surroundings. The Binoculars and Thermal Goggles will also make FPV all the more useful.

The thing about the questions is that, in the latter half of the game, Snake has to disguise himself as this Soviet major named Raikov, who, as a MGS2 injoke, looks just like Raiden. However, choosing "I liked MGS2!" at the beginning of a new game causes Snake to wear the Raikov mask from the outset--in the opening cut scenes and everything, right up to about halfway through the first area, when his CO calls him and tells him he can take it off now. The idea was to scare people into thinking that they had been deceived yet again and were going to be playing as Raiden in some crazy '60s simulation/time-travel scenario; until Snake takes off the mask, the life bar is even labeled "JACK" instead of "SNAKE."

Zeta wrote:Imagine the Doomsday Zone from Sonic3K. In 3D. Done really well. Unlike FinalHazard.

I'm sold.

Nova · Post by **Nova** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 9:36 pm

Kishi wrote:You know, you can use the Active Sonar or the Motion Detector to simulate the Soliton Radar; the only difference is that they don't differentiate between humans and animals and that they don't show which way guards are facing. You can use the Anti-Personnel Sensor to tell when you're close to someone else, and if you're properly camouflaged, a guard will never notice you when you're far away enough for it not to activate. And, of course, First Person View and the right analog stick are instrumental in knowing about your surroundings. The Binoculars and Thermal Goggles will also make FPV all the more useful.

The thing about the questions is that, in the latter half of the game, Snake has to disguise himself as this Soviet major named Raikov, who, as a MGS2 injoke, looks just like Raiden. However, choosing "I liked MGS2!" at the beginning of a new game causes Snake to wear the Raikov mask from the outset--in the opening cut scenes and everything, right up to about halfway through the first area, when his CO calls him and tells him he can take it off now. The idea was to scare people into thinking that they had been deceived yet again and were going to be playing as Raiden in some crazy '60s simulation/time-travel scenario; until Snake takes off the mask, the life bar is even labeled "JACK" instead of "SNAKE."

Zeta wrote:Imagine the Doomsday Zone from Sonic3K. In 3D. Done really well. Unlike FinalHazard.
I'm sold.

Using weird ideas can make a game suck, like the 30 minutes time limit in Ã¢â‚¬Å“Alex kidd High- Tech WorldÃ¢â‚¬ï¿¾. Remove that and the game is cool. HavenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t found a way to hack the rom and remove the time limit yetÃ¢â‚¬Â¦

Neo Yi · Post by **Neo Yi** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 10:55 pm

Saying that the N64 Mario Kart game sucks is crazy. Is in the Nintendo best games ever list, is fan favorite and haft the world (That play videogames) loves it. You may dont like it, but if you say it sucks...you must be one of those crazy dudes that...ahh forget it.

I honestly did not enjoy the N64 Mario Kart. It was boring and dull, not all that exciting. Frankly, I prefer Crash Team Racing which is, so far, the best mascot kart racer I've played thus far. It's sequel, Crash Nitro Kart is only slightly better then Mario Kart 64...in short, the sequel sucks.
~Neo

Nova · Post by **Nova** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:32 pm

Neo Yi wrote:
Saying that the N64 Mario Kart game sucks is crazy. Is in the Nintendo best games ever list, is fan favorite and haft the world (That play videogames) loves it. You may dont like it, but if you say it sucks...you must be one of those crazy dudes that...ahh forget it.
I honestly did not enjoy the N64 Mario Kart. It was boring and dull, not all that exciting. Frankly, I prefer Crash Team Racing which is, so far, the best mascot kart racer I've played thus far. It's sequel, Crash Nitro Kart is only slightly better then Mario Kart 64...in short, the sequel sucks.
~Neo

I played Crash team racing and got bored after a while, it was too easy. Like they said Ã¢â‚¬Å“You can make everyone hate you but you can only make 50% of the people like youÃ¢â‚¬ï¿¾. The N64 Mario kart has become a classic, maybe not everyone likes it but it has many fans.

Maybe you arenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t the kind of guy who enjoys going everywhere in the time trial mode or just jumping over the cliffs or jumping and doing stupid things in the game. Or you didnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t try to land of that damn island. .ThatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s what Mario kart 64 was about.

Zeta · Post by **Zeta** » Sat Dec 04, 2004 11:41 pm

Super Mario Kart was da bomb, werd.

Super Mario 64 was MOSTLY an improvement on Super Mario Kart. But there was some questionable decisions.

DoubleDash was a dud. I love the characters and selectable cars. But there's too few courses for a GameCube game. And most of the tracks that were there were BLAND (Baby Park, Luigi Circuit).

I problably would've forgiven DD if they had included the N64 tracks like they were originally supposed to, though. Hell, don't even update the graphics. Just give us more courses or something.

Trog13 · Post by **Trog13** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 4:10 am

I like Double Dash, but that's only because we have 3 gamecubes, 3 copies of it, and 3 broadband adapters. Not being able to pick your character in Lan is kind of retarded though. Grand Prix was cool for a while, until it started pissing me off. No point in going back to it after you unlock everyone. I've liked all the mario kart games so far, but I couldn't stand playing Crash Team Racing.

Ngangbius · Post by **Ngangbius** » Sun Dec 05, 2004 2:25 pm

As much as I like to talk about the Mario Kart series, I rather discuss about the video games that I purchased on Friday. They are Taiko Drum Master and Technic Beat.

First we have Taiko Drum Master--a game that is the home version of the arcade game and one that I have been addicted to all weekend. Let's talk about the drum and sticks first. The drum is lightweight and fairly easy to put together which probably why Namco never bothered printing any assembly instructions for the drum. The bottom has small grips to prevent the instrument from sliding but at times it is not really that effective which I would explain the details later on. It's very sturdy as it should be and is divided into 4 pressure points--2 on the surface and 2 on the sides of the drum. The start and select buttons are also included since you are going to use this as a controller of course. The sticks are plastic and the the original name of the game Taiko no Tatsujin is printed in English.

Once you start the game, you are presented with a cute, colorful opening movie introducing the main cast of characters while the delightful intro music plays. The intro music has Japanese vocals and we are given English subtitles which is something that rarely happens in a Namco game. Hit the taiko drum to access the menu which has:

Taiko Mode--play songs on your drum
Mini Games--play mini games using your drum, Tutorial--self-explainatory
Ranking--check out your highest scroes
Theater--check out movies
Game Setting--sound options, memory options, etc.

To object of the game is to hit the drum on the correct beat at the right point as they move across the screen without moving below the goal marker.

You can also use the PS2 controller to play this game but why the heck would you want to do that on a periphial-based music game?

When it the beat is red--smack on one pressure point on the drum's surface. When the beat is blue, smack on one of the sides of the drum. When a big red beat appears, hit both pressure points on the surface at the same time and when a big blue beat appears, you hit the sides of the drum at the same time. When a drum roll appears--well, do a drum roll. It is that simple, but a challenge to master since certain songs have fast, multiple beats per second. Though that also depends on which level(ranges from easy to hard*) you chose play the song at.

Oh, yes the songs. Since it is pretty expensive to get the song rights, every licensed song here is a cover. The vocals can range from accaptable(ABC) to somewhat cringe-worthy(Material Girl). Also since this is a "E"-rated game questionable lyrics to certain songs has been changed(i.e. Tubthumping's "pissing the night away" has bee changed to "kissing the night away" but the rest is left intact). Despite this, it has a nice selection of songs ranging to Pop, Rock, Classical, TV/Animation, and Namco's selection(you can't go wrong with Katamari on the Rocks) and it has an overall better selection than the U.S. version of Donkey Konga. The game starts with 27 songs to choose from, but you can unlock more songs and a few other surprises.

The mini-games are cute little diversions from the main game. There are three of them--Watermelon Eating contest--eat the fruit as fast as you can while avoid getting hit, Fireworks Lighting--light the fireworks and kick the bombs in 60 seconds, and a Balancing Act-type of game where you balance a stack of characters to help them reach to the goal. As expected, you control all 3 mini-games using the drum. These games are nice, but unfortunatly I would have like to see more than 3.

Overall, this game was worth my $56(I got it on a discount, heh). Normally, this game cost $70 at retail, however Amazon is selling it at $60.00 which is worth it. I would have to say my favorite songs to play so far are the Hungarian Dance and surprisingly, the DBZ theme "Rock the Dragon". Both songs have a point during the middle the song where the beats suddenly changes speed which is pretty fun and would be very excellent multi-player for a small party of friends(just for the laugh factor of seeing people screw-up because of the varying tempos). I did get a perfect score on one song which happened when I really get into the game and I went into a state of "music gaming zen" when I just...felt in tune with the song and just go with the flow. It was just some...awesome feeling. Sure it was a two-star song, but it was my first perfect and I felt great.

I'll...talk about Technic Beat later.

Neo Yi · Post by **Neo Yi** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 1:09 pm

I played Crash team racing and got bored after a while, it was too easy. Like they said Ã¢â‚¬Å“You can make everyone hate you but you can only make 50% of the people like youÃ¢â‚¬ï¿¾. The N64 Mario kart has become a classic, maybe not everyone likes it but it has many fans.

I'm aware of that. I don't care if you like it, I don't. Go ahead and like it,who's stopping ya?

Maybe you arenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t the kind of guy who enjoys going everywhere in the time trial mode or just jumping over the cliffs or jumping and doing stupid things in the game. Or you didnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t try to land of that damn island. .ThatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s what Mario kart 64 was about.

If that was the case, I'd have given up on Crash Team Racing sooner as I spent hours on the Time Trial Mode or jump over numerous areas to find shortcuts or just for plain fun. Trust me, I like to waste my time doing random crap that's basically pointless, so your asumption is wrong on that part.
~Neo

Dache · Post by **Dache** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:01 pm

I skipped the US version of Taiko because the songlist looks fucking dreadful. ABC? Material Girl? Tubthumping? Jesus Christ, that song's been in nearly every music game since the dawn of time and it's just as bad now as it was then.

As a game though, Taiko is excellent.

Adam Adamant wrote:I'm still waiting to play the first. Goddamn Pal releases, always bloody take bloody ages, grrr.

You'll be waiting a long time. Like the rest of your life.

Adam Adamant · Post by **Adam Adamant** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:22 pm

I bloody should have bloody well bloody known better than to bloody expect a bloody Pal release!

Post by **Green Gibbon!** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:58 pm

How does Taiko compare to Donkey Konga? I've been thinking about picking up one or the other (in either case, I'd import the Japanese version).

Dache · Post by **Dache** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 4:50 pm

Taiko is better all-round. Although I got DK for Ã‚Â£10, so I won't complain.

Neo Yi · Post by **Neo Yi** » Mon Dec 06, 2004 5:03 pm

I've been thinking of gett Taiko Beat, but considering I can play it with the PS2 controller, should I get the drums that come with it? I mean, I'm saying this because I'm poor most of the time (I swear I'll get a job sometime soon).
~Neo