Tomogachi Life: Nintendo's Fanfic Game

There is a major withdraw within the Simulation genre, as game series like Animal Crossing and The Sims have became more about how one slaves the player into their own personal debts. While they are often used to answer the question "How is it like on the other side?"  or "How dose being a god is like?" Sadly, they tend to be a quick cash grab so they could start their company like the creators of Goat Simulator, or to remind you that THE SIMS still exist under a company that is a shell of their former self.

Then there is Tomogachi life: a game that is not about the player, but about the Miis that live upon an island.  This game helps brings one thing that the Miis lacked after all these years - Their own personality and their own will. One can import any Mii from the Mii maker onto the island as they do their own thing.  The game is more of a small game experience instead of an over-whelming slave simulator.

 The selling points for Tomogachi life is that ANYONE can be in the game from celebrities to even your friends, neighbors, and even the creepy-looking people that you run into within street-pass, if granted. The thing is that the player can only INFLUENCE the characters but cannot control the character hands-on. The experience is more kin to keeping an eye on the Miis, feeding them food, giving clothes, and watching all the randomness occur. Thankfully, the game is NOT as demanding as most sim games, meaning you can leave the game alone for a long time and not be punish by the angry neighbors or town people.

But the problem with the game is that Tomogachi Life feels like an expensive application with little content as this game is a full priced tittle.  This may not seem to be an issue, however, it depends if people will buy it or not. This game is a "miles-will-vary" type of  Free-flowing simulation app, meaning there is only a few things to do and so little control. While the game can have it's own random shenanigans, the key word is random as in random numbers, as some events tend to repeat itself more than once.  The game can be boring at time, even if it is easy to pick up and put down. Bringing new Miis could help bring new life to the island, however, the results still remains the same.

However, the most frustrating part of the game is trying to help Miis married. Dear lord, the mini-game for that event is too luck based. I know luck can play a key part in a relationship, but NOT to this extreme! You have to tap his or her toughs are on the person's mind, but the mind is so jumpy, it's like trying to get you attention of a child who's diet is coffee and sweet treats! I know ones mind could be racing and spinning on some key moments of a person's life, but setting it up like a classic Mario Party mini-game is just unforgiving. The system is there just for the Miis can own their own home and can generate new Mii children. It can be offensive to some people, so I can understand the frustration.

If anyone had an issue with Animal Crossing but want a game that is easy to get into or get out of, this is a game for them.  However, it depends if a thirty five dollar application will hold anyone off. While it did hold me over personally for a time, the flaws of this game can be seen by almost anyone.  While some people can value of this game, it can wear-out very quickly. I recommend having a friend give you the trail version before picking up the game... Or just barrow it....Or just keep away... yes...

Battle Block Theater: Good use of recycled assets from Newgrounds

For those who where unlucky or lucky to watch my friend's Let's play of Castle Crashers as past-me with a bad PC Microphone, I do have to apologist as my past-me who is a troll-full idiot. I cannot harm him but yet he can harm me as he leave me mental scars as well as the physical scars on my body. The game suffered lags, disconnects, color contrast issues which makes players confused on who they are, and all around better on the xbox since most of the Steam port was Copy-&-Paste laziness. I just couldn't recommend the game on PC for anyone.

Now onward twords their new game Battle Block Theater. I am reviewing the steam version since it's the easiest version to get your hands one since the Xbox is dead and has a Steam-Workshop Community. The game has more replay-ability as you can make your own head decal or even make your own Level-sets  and share them within the steam network.  I originally got it to help with my friend's let's play, but since he prefers to have a younger cat to help him, I can't help but to feel like to bring out my old friendly machete out for a walk.

Where was I? Oh yes, the story. You where out with Mr. Hatty having a party when he and his friends on is ship which then became shipwrecked on an isle of cats. Hatty was then catnapped and was forced to wear an evil top-hat, which forced him to enslave the players as they are forced to entertain cats by running though platform-based levels. While playing, the player(s) get to over-hear the witty narrator, who's remained unnamed though-out the wacky adventure,  as he babbles as one progress though the game.

The biggest issue with the game is that it runs ENTIRELY in flash, an out-dated service that even Adobe has abandoned for the past few years. The reason for this is cost efficiency since Newground's creators have been working with this for years. The problem is Flash is uncompressed, meaning even with good specs, it can have performance issues and sometimes lags. Also, if anyone with a low connection tends to lag behind. I only had that issue once since I recently moved, but once the modem was changed, no problems.

As I mentioned in the tittle, the game straight out reuse assets from their older flash cartoons and games, which isn't too bad in some way, but it makes the game feel cheap in the audio areas of the game, as the music gets repetitive to make you chew your own friend's ears off just to save them from the pain. If you played Castle Crashers, you also get free cameo gears from the game. This is good, but it's also a cheap way to advertise Castle Crashers, as they give you Hatty  if you own both games. Even if I warn players not to get it, they tend to be lead like fatty wales to the slaughter.

However, this is a better game than Castle Crashers. The servers are better optimized, meaning if everyone's connections is fine, then the game should run well if Flash doesn't have it's random moments. Co-op is Co-optional, as you can even finish the game Solo and jump in or out at any time within a game.  While some community levels are better with a buddy, most can be completed by single player. Weapons can be utilized to help or hurt your co-op players, help "tame" the feral cats, and even reach areas that cannot be normally obtained.

IS it worth completing 100%? Only for achievements, maybe. Weapons have to be bought with yarn collected from levels, but after you get the last weapons, there's not real need to collect the last bits of yarn. They are needed to get A++, but they do collect up after awhile. The Gems, on the other hands, are used to buy new character designs and there are a lot of them. While they are nice to collect, they come randomly, so once you fine the one liked prisoner character, it feels like a completionist nightmare. Now you know how the Sonic fan base feels.

Still, Battle block Theater is a good game. Is it worth murdering your ex-friends? Maybe not, but it's something to talk about within the nut-house since it's one of those water cooler games. Different experiences, different ways to solve a problem, and many other hints on how to kill your friends, intentional or not. Now excuse me, my ride is here...

Mario Kart 8

Nintendo has managed to pull up to secant place thanks to the advantage created by Mario Kart 8, making over one million within it's first release week to the point in the United Kingdom to make a BEAST of a sale. Yea, yea, The joke wrights itself as they sold around 666%. Looks like the church is working over-time, trying to purify the UK. Good luck with that. Anyways, how dose Mario  Kart 8 hold up to the rest of the series? Let's find out!

The major feature of the game is the new driving mechanics. You can drive up walls with the new anti-gravity sections in the race tracks. This can be used to reach short-cuts and boost panels in certain places. This is an interesting mechanic which is felt very underutilized. They did balance the gameplay for multi-player, but some of the changes takes time to adjust to. The biggest thing is that you cannot hold your item out to grab another item. It's fair within online gameplay, but it feels cheap within single player, as it's hard to actually defend yourself in situations.

However, the strongest part of Mario Kart 8 is it's online as it has been refined for the best multiplayer experience for the Wii U. They also added a service called Mario Kart TV, which saves footage of your races and saves them so they can be uploaded upon youtube. However, it lacks an editing feature, causing limited creativity to their owner. While Riding Dirty Luigi gives everyone the death stare it a strong new internet meme, it would be nice if it was in better quality. Plus lets face it, it's there mostly so Nintendo can put their ads to earn revenue. That's just dirty, Nintendo...

However, the worst change within the game has to be the drastic change within battle mode -- while you can take the battle to all the raceways and online, they REMOVED ALL of the classic battle maps that we know and loved. While some can get use to the change within this mode, most are disappointing to the point that they had to go back into Mario Kart 7 for the better tracks and battle mode. Compared to Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8 is disappointing because of the selection of access within the game. That and some parts of the game is incomplete. That means one thing: incoming download content..or is it Disk-Locked content? A reason I boycott Capcom products from my reviews.

The reason for the sale is because of how good the market is within the United Kingdom as the selection of free games for the Wii U. The US market is suffering because of it's economy issues because how bad corporate companies like to milk money out of good people to the point they would run for government jobs. We know what you're doing, COMCAST. That's just dirty.

Would I recommend Mario Kart 8 as it is? Sadly, not now. I would wait until they give us a better offer of free games like they did with the UK, or better yet, a complete pack with all the DLC characters. It's nice to see Nintendo getting it's wind in its sails, but when they have to get us with dishonesty as the so called "good guys" of the industry , stick with Mario Kart 7. And for god sake, switch to decaff...

Blade Kitten, Where no Nikomimi has gone before!

Now it may seem odd that I review a Inde-game that has already been out on the Xbox live and PlayStation Network that was just released on the crazy, game network service, Steam. But, I have my reasons.

One of the reason is that games need female protagonist, as while there are some that fit the bill for a good female protagonist, most are over-sexulized like the recent Samus Aran as some Emo, blond girl, or the Jail-bait Lara Croft. While Ms. Ballard dose have some craziness behind her, she doesn't over-stay her welcome unlike the annoying girls in games like JRPGS. I think EVERYONE know who I'm talking about.

Another reason is because kenekomimis are often displayed as barbaric races, nomads, and even monsters without civilizations, but even Nomads have rules and obligations unlike in the "civilization" game. While there are often seen as thefts and trouble makers, that doesn't mean they cannot be civil. I personally think they could make great therapist, as they are literal humanoids with the understandings of whats around them. In short, they can be civil.

But now to the game itself...

The game starts as Kit, as in not the fox on youtube, Ballard lands on the Lizard people after a bounty but then gets ambushed by a blond woman named Justice who bombs her ship and steals her Breaker Key. "Well, and I though Aki was a pain" I said as she pours hot coffee on my crotch! Anyways, the human armies then attack as she fights though the waves of the reds to find and claim her bounty, finding that things aren't as they seem as a dark truth from her past reemerge.

Sadly, lets start with the flaws in the game. While many complain the controls, I got used to them on my secant play-though and figured out what to do. However, I had to learn them the hard way by playing since, even I was playing on the 360 controller, the game still displayed the button huds instead of the common button prompts seen in even other inde games.While playing though with the upgrades, the game can be easy, but without them, the game can be frustrating without them. Also, I had cheap deaths because the red-raciest decided to play cat-pinata since getting stunt lock between a horde of enemies as the Cam decided to zoom too close in.

However. on replaying the game. that's when I memorized the path and locations of enemies within the game and also found hidden goodies.That when it hits me: that's the Earthworm Jim kind of Action-platformer that I liked as a kid. The type of liner Metroid-vinia these days that even the developers lost within time. The game  not hard as BloodRyane: Betrayal, as nuts as they went with the platforming and bird sections of the game. However, a hard game doesn't always equal a good experience, as games like Dark Souls isn't as hard once one knows what they're doing.

Sadly, The game series suffers the same issues that Penny Arcade's On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness and the Skull-Girls, where the company would either abandon the game or hold the wrights away from their owners.  This is still a good game, but the flaws caused from the past developers not giving a damn and only focusing on milking the franchise is what holds it back from it's greatness. This is why they had to cancel their episodic gaming idea to a bigger game as a sequel into 3D.

But besides it's flaws, experiences can be what it all relies on. In the end, I had a fun time with the game. What  make the game good is that the developers put a lot of love within the game. From the cell-shaded characters, the witty humor, well designed world, and the story plot, the game can be a pleasant experience.  It would be better than a game made about me, a kenikommimi off to save his kin within a city based off Saints Row 2 and Spider-man 2...

Wait, why AREN'T I developing the game? Oh yea, the dark age of gaming is upon us. Never-mind...

Batman: Arkam Origins **spoilers**

I was planning to skip this review, but I was called out by Youtuber Chuggaconroy, as he wanted to know if he should get this game as he trusted my advice. As people pointed out to get Sonic Colors over Sonic Lost World and Okami Wii to HD because of the controls, I have to say get Arkham City over Arkam Origins since Origins is a complete mess.

I should enplane this reasoning after all. While the gameplay dose look promising, like Sonic Lost World, its only fun to watch and is a painful experience. And while the official clips my seem promising, the gameplay felt on rails as the tester lead the way. When played on hands, some of the mechanics are the same, but the gameplay is so buggy, game breaking glitches pledge the game like rats in a time where black cats where though to be a bad thing like Beta testers.  Whats worse is they refused to fix most of these issues because they couldn't of poor excuses.

Arkham Origins takes place after year one, where Batman is starting to build his repetition as a vigilante. Black Mask, the criminal overlord who runs in Gotham, breaks outs and sends mercenaries to capture and kill Batman. The disappointing part of the story was how the Joker was implemented as the bait and switch plot-line within the game because it felt like the story writers wanted to make up with the lame mercenaries. While they did hype the battle with Death-Stroke, it's the most annoying fight in the game and comes way too fast within the story line. While the fight with Slade seems awesome, playing the part of the game is harshly annoying.

Speaking of gameplay, the multiplayer mode was added on because why not. Warner Brothers noticed how shooters like modern warfare and call of duty and though to cash-in to that kind of demographic. While to some the multiplayer  is fun to some, it feels out-of-place. While there is a third team where you can play as Batman and Robin, they seem to only pick-off rookies while professional players pick them off easy. While the Wii U version is cheaper because it's multiplayer has been removed, the Wii U isn't know for add-ons, as developers refuse to give add-ons for the system.

As a big Batman fan, This game comes at a disappointment. Even though Heart of Ice's retelling as Cold, Cold Heart, as good as the story is, is better as a movie than a game. If anyone is tempted to buy the game because of the add-on, it's only about an hour and a half long, including the collectibles. Besides Sonic Lost World and, the most disappointing game of 2013,  Dead Rising 3, Origins is only fun to watch.

To summarize: Wait until Arkam Knight, or if you cannot wait, check  The Assault on Arkham and Son of Batman since these movies will cure your Batman rash. Could not recommend this game this game on normal conditions because looks cannot make a game alone. Looks like Nintendo was right all along.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze! (bbrrrrr...)

Before I start with the review two things:

One; Sorry if i was away for so long as my computer needed to be tweaked as I accidentally downloaded a bad file and I had to get my computer fix. Saddly, it DID NOT fix my driver issue that I been having so far. I will post a comparison picture from my laptop and my PC. I am working on getting back on my LPs, but I have to use my laptop for my counsel games. It will be annoying since I like to manage everything in one place, but it can't be helped.

Two; Easter! but honestly...Before I can move on to the review, I have to state one thing: I found Donkey Kong Country Returns disappointing. One of the reasons is because of it's god-awful 2d controls. Since the game forces you to use the wii remote like a painful version of the NES controller, you would probably use the third-party controller or get the 3D edition on the 3DS. However, I found the monsters dull and the final boss disappointing. I can't help to feel bored twords the monsters in the game. If SOMEONE want to try the game, at least try the 3DS version.

Tropical Freeze starts as  DK, Cranky, Diddy and Dixie Kong are waiting as it's Donkey Kong's Birthday and DK is ready to blow out the cake. However! A cold freezing breeze blew by, as a single snowflake flew into DK's hut. The Kongs, curious of whats happening, look outside only to see they are being invaded by the Snowmads. While they are simplistic as best, they are a nice throwback to DKC2 as it is the best in the original series on the SNES. Going back on the subject, the Snowmad King gets his horn and literally (as in wind, you dirty minded people) blew the Kongs away and freeze DK island. Its up to DK and company to get back on DK island and defeat the Snowmads.

The game-play works as you expected to those who played the last game, or games. However, I do miss the different bonus levels from the classic series, as the bonus levels are just copy-and-paste, but are required to complete 100% to...collect art...At least the music unlocks are great, as THE DAVID WISE returns to compose for the music in the game. We miss you, Wise.

Anyways, Diddy can hover and turn snowmads to lifes, Scrooge --I mean-- Cranky can jump on spiky platforms and snowmads as he can turn them into coins, Dixie can be used as a double-jump, and the most broken part of the game, turn snowmads into plus hearts. It also doesn't help that, thanks to the bonus games and the bananas, lifes are very pointless in the game. While the game dose have tricky parts, Lifes are given like candies  for a game that is hard as a Mega-Man game. I say that because if one knows what to do, the game isn't hard at all. It's why most games are removing lifes, like the recent Rayman games. Lifes in gaming are pointless padding unless if the game is very challenging.

However, the game is still better than the last game as the game controls and design isn't as awful, as you can use ANY of the game controls and use two controls based on DKCR and the classic DKC series. However, I would recommend playing on the Pro controller, at it is MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE  by a long mile from the gamepad or the damn wii remote from hell. However, find a personal play-style that fits well, or else sore palms will be within the future.  Also, the gamepad is disabled for TV play, so looks like Nintendo is learning SOMEWHAT about their mistakes. Not all, sadly...

Dispite how short the game is, Tropical freeze at last finally scratch my platforming itch. Finally, yet another good Wii U game. While Nintendo are ruling the portable market, at least they are trying to rule the counsel market...but then again, PC is the dominating monster, so best fro them to rethink their strategy.  Should have invented vision goggles like everyone else. Then again, there's a reason that failed in the 90's...

About the Beast!

That's right, ladies and lady-like figures. It's one of those filler episodes since my move is actually delayed until post of this is up, so I have to use my time wisely as my connection will be down for some time until I move upon to my new apartment that has it's own office. Hopefully, things won't end like in the sapran---

... Sorry I was Advised not to finished that line since that is a dead joke.

Anyways, I was one of those "90's Kids" who lived in the peace erra, while the fights where mostly at home, at least we still had the towers and a flag to please the allegiance twords. Of course, that couldn't last because corporate is fueled by blood, sweat, and tears or the laborers whenever they're American or not.  This is why I don't like going decorative shopping and just use hand-me-downs.

But let's digress back to the life story.

Because of the wars on earth, my family has decided to leave to move up to the space colony Ark. After the space creatures that have been wiped after so many Sonic's ass games, Sega sold the space colony so they could work out a diet plan for Robotnik. From what I heard, he has finally lost around twenty ponds. Anyways, bonded wasn't a fun thing since everyone's a dick fighting for the same ass of action.

During my time on The Ark, I did meet as much friend as I made enemies.  One of them was my first love who was in The Hunter's Guild. And by the Trinity, she was like an angel in the time of need.
Sad that she's no longer with me, but at least that part of my life was probably one of the sexiest as well. I guess this is where I get my liking twords those kind of women.

Anyways, That's when I went on a space-trip to study in graphical technical studies. Then the unexpected happen: I became a Dark Soul. As eery as it is, It was also hard to adjust to as well. While thankfully, I still have part of my human side as I love food.  However, I do need Soul stones to stay alive. Those stones sadly wear down like batteries when they are being over-used. It's just how things are for a time being.

For those who are still lost within their mind about me, let me summarize in this one paragraph. A Mimi-man who is living in a space colony who has been there, done that within the universe that is ugly as an alcoholic mother within a lonesome bar in a mickle bay film. In case one's still lost, think Yatzee if he was born in America. If all else fails, I don't know what I could do to enplane besides your average beast guy trying to live within the human world.