(Review)

I'm not one who usually has indie games on my radar. Most of the time they just kinda slip by, skipped over in favor for higher-end, polished, AAA titles. Recently, however, indie developers have been able to raise money for higher production values through Kickstarter, and some dedicated people with creative minds are at the helms of these fundraisers. Among games like FLT: Faster Than Light and A Hat In Time, one particular game that caught my attention through Kickstarter was one called Power Up.

At first glance, Power Up seems to be a classic bullet hell game, and, at its core, it is. You're the last remaining human fighting the alien resistance, and while humanity may be completely and utterly screwed, you're not going down without a fight. You board a spaceship called "Weapon-F" and take off into space to take down whatever stands in your way. In accordance to the bullet hell genre, Weapon-F is somewhat of a glass cannon; one hit and it goes down in smoke. You have extra lives, but as far as I know, there's no way to regain lives. The "cannon" part of that phrase is shown off in Weapon-F's wide array of weaponry, and here's where the game gets its title.

Weapon-F is equipped with five different types of weapons: a standard front-shooting laser, a spreadshot, a "Backshot" (which shoots behind the ship), a "Sideshot" (which shoots above and below the ship), and a rapid-fire plasma cannon; using the Left and Right Bumbers (or X), you can cycle through any of the five weapons at will. All these weapons have their own unique benifits, but they start off a little weak. However, you can power up your weapons (see the wordplay?) by picking up spheres with a P on them that are randomly-generated within a level. Each weapon has multiple power stages, and whichever weapon is active at the time is the one that gets the power boost. Each stage raises stuff like firing speed, range, strength, and so on. This adds an almost RPG-esque quality to the game, allowing you to upgrade Weapon-F to your playstyle; whether you prefer clearing multiple enemy fighters at once with the Spreadshot or evading and clearing the space around you with the Sideshot, you can adapt to your own needs. Other upgrades also increase the ship's movement speed and force field charge, and massive screen-clearing Blast Bombs can be aquired and used when you're in a pinch or to annihilate a boss.

Power Up is very visually impressive. Normally I'd say there's too much going on on-screen, but in this case, it works exceptionally well. It adds to the tension of the bullet hell gameplay and keeps you on your toes. Every environment is unique, vibrant, and colorful, and every enemy you see has some great art direction behind it. There's even visual polish that I don't normally come across in low-budget games, and it's quite impressive. Speaking of impressive, the soundtrack is a mix of atmospheric techno tracks, tacking on more tension and just making you want to tap your foot along to the beat.

There are five levels (or "chapters") in Power Up, each taking the story further and being set in different locations throughout the galaxy. This sounds short and easy on paper, but as lives aren't replenishable and the difficulty rises all the way through, it almost takes on the vibe of a classic NES or SNES game; it's hard, sure, but it's the kind of hard where you want to keep pressing on and eventually beat the game just so you can brag to your friends about how you made the game your bitch. It's a fantastic experience, and the weapon customization, four difficulty levels, and unlockable paint jobs for Weapon-F (made available through total playtime or game completion) make for a game that you'll want to continue playing, even if there are only five chapters. Power Up does all it can to keep you involved and wanting to keep playing, and it does it very well.

Alongside all these things, there's one last factor that impressed me the most about Power Up, and it's this: the creator, Psychotic Psoftware, is one person. The founder and sole employee of Psypsoft, Mike Hanson, set out to raise the money and get the programs to use his incredible talents to make something for everyone to enjoy, and that to me is enough to warrant anyone's attention. The fact that this game was made by a one-man team makes me enjoy it that much more, and I recommend that anyone else even remotely interested in this little gem try it out.

Power Up is currently available on the Xbox LIVE Arcade Marketplace for $1, and a PC version is slated for a late December 2013 release. It doesn't stop there, though - Mike has stated that Power Up will eventually reach iOS, Android, and OUYA platforms sometime in 2014.

(I'd like to write a quick thank you to Mike for providing me with a copy of this game. This is a momentous occassion as this is my first review copy of a game I have ever gotten. Thank you so much for giving me the opprotunity to play and review such a great shoot-em-up and I look forward to whatever projects you have in store for the future!)

(Review)

Mario VS Donkey Kong is a series that has evolved with every installment, and Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move is no exception. This iteration, sold exclusively through the Nintendo 3DS eShop, brings in a new style of gameplay and many variations of it. The core is still the same, however: guide the Minis, a line of toys based on Mario, Peach, Toad, Donkey Kong, and now Pauline, to the goal of the stage while preventing them from getting destroyed.

The new main gameplay style featured in Minis on the Move revolves around placing randomly-generated tiles onto the stage, each tile guiding the Mini in a certain direction. The player must utilize the tiles given to him or her in a resourceful manner to guide the Mini to the goal while also making sure not to let the toy drop off the edge of the stage, into a spike pit, or run into an inescapeable dead-end, all while solving the puzzle within a predetermined time limit. In the main game mode, Mario's Main Event, you must also manage your tile reserve; if you have five unplaced tiles and a sixth one drops into your inventory, you must start the whole puzzle over. Trash can tiles and bombs help with keeping your inventory in check; they allow you to throw away stored tiles or destroy ones that are already placed. Strategetic tile placement can also increase your time limit, send you to a bonus game, or create trash can tiles. This game mode can get stressful after a while, however, so there are two other modes that have the same premise but a different control scheme. The first is the Puzzle Palace, my personal favorite. In this one, players are given a set amount of various tiles with no time limit and the player must use up every tile in their inventory to guide the Mini to the goal. Because this mode has a set solving method, it makes it a little less annoying due to the lack of a luck mechanic, but still very fun. The third mode is Many Mini Mayhem, in which you're given multiple Minis to manage, hence the name. This time, however, players are not given any reserved tiles; instead, they must utilize the rotating curved tiles or, in other levels, move and shift around the blue tiles on the stage to guide the many Minis into the goal in a set time limit. Bonus points are awarded if Minis are chained into the goal. A fourth game mode is present, as well - Giant Jungle - which functions exactly like Mario's Main Event, only with an absolutely massive map. Every game mode, with the exception of Giant Jungle, comes packed with 50-70 levels each, and completing them all unlocks even more levels, these ones being Expert Levels. Every level also has three colored coins scattered throughout; getting the Mini(s) to pick them all up on the way to the goal is part of the challenge of the game, and players are awarded with a Star if all three are collected. Stars unlock minigames to play and Minis to view in the gallery. Minis on the Move also comes packaged with a level editor, and custom levels can be shared between friends and on the internet. The only downside to the level editor is that you can only create levels in the Mario's Main Event style of gameplay; I'd much prefer to create levels based on Puzzle Palace. It's still a versatile builder, however, that I hope people will make creative use of.

Unlike previous entries in the series, Minis on the Move does not have a story of any kind, which would explain the replacement of "VS" with "and", which was a slight disappointment considering the original point of the series: to return Mario and Donkey Kong to their rival status. I really wasn't expecting a story to begin with, though, since this is just a puzzle game. The soundtrack to Minis on the Move hasn't derived much from the style of the DSiWare title Minis March Again!, but it still sounds great nonetheless, and it comes with a few little cameo songs, such as Princess Peach's Castle in Puzzle Palace and the Super Mario Bros. 2 overworld theme in Many Mini Mayhem.

The absolutely massive amount of content present in Minis on the Move could make it a full-price retail tile, but it can be purchased for a meager $10. This extensive and addictive puzzler is a steal at such a low price, so it is highly recommended even if you've never played the Mario VS Donkey Kong series. Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move is available now on the Nintendo 3DS eShop.

(Review)

Before I get started, I'd like to point out that I still haven't played the first Paper Mario or Thousand-Year Door. However, I see this as more of a blessing than a curse, because I was able to play Super Paper Mario and enjoy it for what it was without having to compare it to the previous games, which is what a lot of people seemed to be doing and they ended up hating Super because of it. I still haven't gotten the chance to play Paper Mario 1 or 2, so I went into Sticker Star with the same mindset as I did with Super Paper Mario, and I found that Paper Mario: Sticker Star was not nearly as bad as people were making it out to be.

Now, Paper Mario: Sticker Star is by no means a perfect game. It has plenty of design choices throughout that make little to no sense and are actually quite irritating. For example, there are quite a number of "puzzles" in Sticker Star that have no clues given as to how to solve them, making it less of a puzzle and more of just the developers hiding required exits behind things no player would ever think to look. The majority of the puzzles in World 2 all revolve around stuff like this; in fact, all of World 2 is just a huge conglomerate mess of crappy puzzles and boring scenery, its only saving grace being the Sombrero Guy enemies. I nearly up and quit the game World 2 was structured so badly...but I'm actually quite glad I didn't.

The introduction to Sticker Star is easily the best intro to a game I've seen in a while, which got me up for great expectations. The dialogue was well-written, the characters were already likable, the few puzzles I had seen so far were looking pretty good, the scenery had some great design, and the music was already sounding very charming and unique. A few paticular lines in the intro were incredibly funny and I was really excited to delve into the game. Right off the bat, however, I could tell this wasn't going to be like any RPG I'd ever played. The map for the game looked very similar to Super Mario World in that every area was its own level in a set of worlds, and you're given three worlds to initially explore. As such, I decided to play them in order, starting with World 1, and I found the battles to be quite interesting. Here's the rundown: Sticker Star gets its namesake in that stickers are spread everywhere (and I mean everywhere) throughout the levels, and you use these stickers as attacks in battles. The stickers are consumable, so once you use one, it's gone. This makes for a very interesting battle system that, while some players found tiresome, I actually found to be refreshing and unique. I do have an issue, however, with the fact that this means that there's a lack of an EXP or a leveling system. This caused regular battles to actually be an annoyance and it made fighting enemies and using your stickers entirely pointless, some of which you probably bought by defeating said enemies. It makes for a constant loop of actions that have no effect whatsoever on the overall experience. This mechanic also causes the boss battles to be immensly tough and infuriating at times. The final battle, which was supposed to have a huge impact, blew up in my face because I ran out of effective stickers, making me restart the battle. Twice. Sure, every boss has a special Thing Sticker it's weak to (which is a real-life item you find in the paper world that you transform into a sticker for another use), but it's usually impossible to find out which one to use until the boss fight has already started. Despite all of that, battles are actually quite fun (if only becuase they test your reflexes with action commands) and the sticker system is a unique twist, and picking up every sticker and placing them in the Sticker Museum rewards you with a sound test feature, which is a great prize.

World 1 was somewhat plain, as to be expected of a first world, but come the mid-point of World 2...I was ready to give up. There was one section where you had to allow Mario to fall into a pit of quicksand (which is relatively unmarked) to get a plot-specific item. What should normally be an "Oh, I found a cool secret path!" moment turned into a "This was required?!" moment of confusion and rage. The boss battle wasn't too pleasing, either; it was quite disappointing in almost every aspect. The only good things about World 2 that kept me going were the aforementioned Sombrero Guys and the awesome moment when Kamek turns your stickers into flip-flops which you then use to slap him senseless. Although I can assume a die-hard Paper Mario fan would've stopped playing at this point, I'd urge them not to, because despite this massive dip in enjoyment, it gets much better very quickly.

World 3 and beyond each had their own unique premise and each level was interesting and fun to play. The environments became more varied and the music got even better as the game progressed and the characters and events shown from then on were laugh-out-loud funny. I won't spoil them, but if you stick around (get it?) past World 2, you'll see that Sticker Star ends up boosting so far up in the charm factor that you'll continue playing just to see what the game will throw at you next. Certain levels definitely provide interesting and unexpected twists and jokes that keep the game fresh and new. It almost feels like World 3 is a massive "We're sorry about World 2" postcard from the developers.

The cast of characters are all returning faces from mainseries Mario, meaning past Paper Mario regulars don't make an appearance. I wasn't affected by this at all; however, Paper Mario fans might be a little disappointed. Only one new character appears in Sticker Star: Kersti. This Royal Sticker follows Mario around to give him guidance (albiet in her own funny little smartass way) about where to go and what to do next. The dialogue coming from the Toads, side characters like Wiggler, and Kersti are enough to keep the game entertaining without having a large cast of characters, so I ask fans of previous Paper Mario games to not be too upset about their favorite characters not making a return or not seeing many new ones.

Paper Mario: Sticker Star is a game that's somewhat hard to form a well-structured opinion on. I'm torn between the game's great visuals, use of 3D, art style, lovable soundtrack & witty dialogue, and the aggravating puzzles, tough boss battles, & lack of replayability. I don't hate Sticker Star, but I feel like it's hard to fall in love with it, too, like I did in Super Paper Mario. It's not a bad game by any means, mind you; it's obviously got a lot of heart and talent put into it and you can tell the developers tried their best, but there just happen to be those few design choices that weigh the game down as a whole. If you want to try Paper Mario: Sticker Star for yourself, it's sold both as a retail game and digitally through the Nintendo 3DS eShop.

(Review)

I'll tell you what, when I first heard that Luigi's Mansion was getting a sequel, I was pretty excited. I never owned the original, to be honest; I could never find an affordable copy after I actually got interested in the GameCube classic. However, I had played it a few times at a friend's house and I had seen a Let's Play of it (particulary the Versus LP by AttackingTucans and JoshJepson), so I felt like I could at least somewhat put myself in the same mindset as someone who had already played it. The trailers for the game, the fact that it was going to be on the 3DS, and the massive room for improvement upon the original game's mechanics got me all hyped up; so much so that I planned on getting it launch day. While that didn't exactly happen due to money issues, I was able to get it within the next week though the 3DS eShop. I'll say this straight up: if you own a 3DS, this game is an absolute must-have.

Let's start with the story, shall we? Professor E. Gadd, the scientist who created the Poltergust machine Luigi used in the previous game, has apparently been researching the friendly ghosts of Evershade Valley ever since he helped Luigi rid the mansion in the first game of King Boo. Speaking of the devil, the ghost king himself appears and breaks what's known as the "Dark Moon", hence the game's subtitle. This item is what's keeping the ghosts friendly, and now that it's shattered and spread across the mansions of Evershade Valley, the ghosts have gone haywire and E. Gadd has no other choice but to call in his old pal Luigi to save the day...whether Luigi wants to or not. The green guy reluctantly "agrees" to help E. Gadd recover the pieces of the Dark Moon by infiltrating the five mansions one-by-one, and so begins our adventure.

Unlike the first Luigi's Mansion, which focused on one huge mansion that was explored in large chunks, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is split up into individual missions, tasking the player in exploring portions of each mansion bit by bit. Every mission has a seperate ranking, as well, giving you one, two, or three stars based on health lost, time spent, ghosts sucked up, and money collected. Whether this setup is better than the original or not is up to personal opinion, but I found that it gives a new layer to the progression of the game. It makes it so exploring the mansions (which grow in size and complexity as the game goes on) doesn't fell incredibly overwhelming, and provides well-placed checkpoints for going back to nab all the collectables, which there are plenty of. The game rewards you for exploring every area of every mansion, giving completionists a run for their money. Every mansion has a set of twelve gems lying around, usually guarded by a puzzle or some form of time trial. Every seperate mission also includes a Boo, the most of which are surprisngly well-hidden; you'll definitely need to train your eye to find every last one of them (amassing to 32 of them). However, collecting every Boo, gem, and grabbing all the money you see isn't really all that worth it; if you're going for 100% completion it is, but if you're just doing it for the rewards, you could end up just a tad disappointed. The rewards aren't exactly worth the time spent for getting them, which is my only major gripe with the game. While finding every jewel and coin in the first Luigi's Mansion was encouarged and gave a different overall ending depending on how much you collected, finding more cash in Dark Moon only gives you five upgrades, and past that, having more money has no impact on the game whatsoever. Finding every Boo in a mansion gives you an extra time trial bonus level (one per mansion), which are pretty fun for me, but might not be for other players. I haven't yet found out what the reward for getting every gem is, if only because searching for them all is so hit-and-miss that I've given up trying. All that being said, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon doesn't have much replayability, but is still fun in the first playthrough.

If you want to extend your playtime in Dark Moon in ways other than replaying the same level over and over hoping and praying for the three-star rating, you might want to give the multiplayer a shot, which is surprisingly really fun. It's called ScareScraper, named due to the fact that it has to do with you and your teammates progressing up floors that increase in difficulty in a large tower in an attempt to reach the roof. There are three game modes: Hunter, in which you attempt to capture every ghost on a floor before advancing all while under a time limit, Rush, in which you scramble for the exit of a floor within another time limit, and Polterpup, in which you and your teammates hunt down the elusive ghost dog seen in the single player mode to move up a floor. The amount of floors can be chosen between 5 and 25 and the three difficulty modes are Normal, Hard, and Expert. The way the match can be tailored is perfect, because it allows you to adjust the difficulty for how many players they are and how skilled they all are. You can play alone if you want, but the only mode that really allows that is Hunter on Normal difficulty; the other two modes and difficulties are tailored more towards a full team, so you'll need friends to get the full experience. If you don't have friends who want to play, don't worry, because you can also hop into an online match. The multiplayer is diverse enough so that each player can have their own preferred settings and play style, so I'd recommend trying each one to find out what you like best. The multiplayer mode is simple, but will definitely keep you going back to Dark Moon if you really get into it, which gives the game at least some form of replayability. If you must know, I personally like Hunter on Hard with a team of 3 or 4.

The artistic direction of the game as a whole is definitely something to be a appreciated. Every puzzle doesn't exactly pop out as much as it does blend into the surroundings, which is a good thing in many ways. It makes the environments feel more natural, and some of the puzzles can actually give you a real challenge. Recent Zelda games haven't gotten me stuck as often as they used to, but Luigi's Mansion 2 had a couple moments where I got completely stumped on where to go (which isn't a bad thing at all; trust me on this). All five mansions are very unique in their designs, which prevents the areas from getting bland and repetitive. I find exploring each one is relatively fun; I just wish there was a bonus "open house" mission in which I could explore the entirety of the mansion without being restricted by story-based blockades. As with Nintendo standard, if the game's environments are unique, you can bet the music will be, too. The music is very atmospheric, as in it's not something I'd listen to outside of the game, but within the game, it works wonders. If you're simply walking around for a while, Luigi will hum along with the music, which is something fans of the previous game will recognize. Speaking of Mr. Green over here, Luigi's Mansion is a perfect example of why I prefer Luigi over Mario. While Mario is an emotionless everyman (with a few exceptions here and there), Luigi actually has a very defined personality in this game. It's the little things that make me feel bad for him having to go through what the ghosts keep throwing at him. For example, after rigorously searching the second mansion for a special key, the Polterpup swoops in and nabs it and tosses it out a window. Luigi sighs in annoyance, but quickly sucks it up and gets on with his quest. The technical advancements in the 3DS' specs allow for Luigi to have very defined facial expresions and movements, which gives more life to the character than anything I've seen in a long time. This is by far the best representation of Luigi you will ever see, even more so than the Luigi in the Paper Mario subseries. The writing befinits the characters of both Luigi and Professor E. Gadd, making the two some of the most lovable, funny, and charming Mario characters in existence.

Funnily enough, I've been rambling about everything except what makes this a game: the gameplay. It's virtually unchanged from the first Luigi's Mansion: you have a flashlight and a vacuum. Hit the ghosts with the light (used with A), and suck up the ghosts (hold down R to suck and pull back on the Circle Pad opposite the ghost's escape path). Sounds simple enough, right? Well, not exactly. Some ghosts can only be stunned with the flashlight after they deal out an attack or after you yank off their sunglasses, and sucking up a ghost requires you to pay attention to your surroundings so you don't get attacked by another ghost and lose more health and the ghost you were going for. Sucking up more than one ghost at a time for a bigger money bonus all while dodging environmental hazards and free-roaming ghosts requires some actual skill, which I give the game credit for. Players who are new to Luigi's Mansion as a whole might take a short while to get used to the controls, but veterans should be able to pick the game up and play right away, but while still being given a challenge. Dark Moon brings in a new set of ghosts completely seperate from the past game, and while the designs of said ghosts are more plain than the last, they have completely different behavoirs and attack patterns, providing a difficulty curve different from the last game. If you're worried about it being too easy, don't be. I actually found myself dying a couple times, most notably during boss fights. It's a good change of pace from the other Mario-based titles on 3DS which are a teetering a bit too close to short and easy. The addition of the Dark-Light Device also gives returning players something new to use, forcing the player to search even harder than before to find what they need.

Even if you've never played Luigi's Mansion before, I definitely think you should give the sequel a shot if you own a 3DS. The artistic direction, puzzles, multiplayer, graphics, atmosphere, and overall length makes this title well worth the $40 price tag. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon is available retail and on the 3DS eShop.

(Review)

About two months ago, I got my hands on a 3DS XL, which I've been wanting for over a year now, and among the first few games I got was Super Mario 3D Land. I always surprise myself when I think back and realize the only 3D Mario game I owned as of picking up this game was Super Mario Sunshine, but not only did Super Mario 3D Land encourage me to look into getting Super Mario 64 and the Galaxy seires, it also made my purchase of a 3DS very much worth the $200.

Super Mario 3D Land controls like any ordinary 3D Mario game would. You move with the Circle Pad and jump with A or B. Actions like running or using a powerup's ability are controlled with X and Y, so right off the bat, SM3DL feels very similar to Super Mario World. L and R allow Mario to crouch and, after jumping, perform a Ground Pound. Players can combine different button inputs to make Mario do different athletic tricks, such as crouching and pressing an action button to do a high-speed roll and then pressing a jump button to leap even further. The controls, as previously stated, are like any other 3D Mario game, but they translate surprisingly well to the 3DS. As with every other Mario game in existence, the goal is to reach the end of every level.

What made SM3DL so enjoyable to me was how unique it felt. Unlike the past four 3D Mario games, 3D Land's environments feel and look like a 2D Mario game, end-level flagpole and all. The blocky environments and sometimes tight corridors make the game feel like it should be in 2D, but the controls and the actual 3D technology of the 3DS make it feel...well, 3D. Pushing the slider all the way up makes it have this really interesting and unique feel that can't be described accurately; you'll have to play it for yourself to see what I mean. It's almost as if a 2D game had exploded into the third dimension.

As for powerups, SM3DL brings back the Fire Flower and Tanooki Suit as well as introduce the new Boomerang Suit, which, honestly, isn't too useful besides being used to pick up a few of the Star Coins scattered across every level (and you'll want to pick up all three in each level the first time around, trust me). The Tanooki Suit has got to be the most useful and game-breaking powerups of all time; it allows the player to glide and float over every obstacle, making athletic levels and tough platforming sections a breeze. Consider playing as regular Mario at all times if you want more of a challenge.

Speaking of challenges, Super Mario 3D Land isn't exactly "hard" by any means; however, as you get further into the game, certain levels will stand out as ridiculously hard, so don't worry if you're thinking the game will be too short. In fact, those first eight worlds? You're only looking at a fraction of the game. Any completionist will find this game to be loads of fun in attempting to reach 100%, and even those who don't like to complete games will most likely go for this achievement, as well. Having to backtrack and re-complete certain levels is actually a good thing in the sense that there are so many levels packed into SM3DL that you most likely won't remember half of them when going back to play them again, making for an addictive experience. Hell, I'm already making my way through a second 100% playthrough and I've only had this game for a month or so.

Now for something I find interesting: the story. For some odd reason, I feel like, for once, there's some character development in a Mario game. After finishing each world, Mario will come across a picture in a letter that shows what Peach is going through at that moment, and in one picture, it actually shows that Peach does try and fight back and escape while in Bowser's Castle. ...oh, did I forget to mention the story's about her getting kiddnapped? Yeah, I kinda figured that went without saying at this point. The way Mario and the Toad interact with eachother also seems to feel a bit deeper than it usually does in a Mario game. I'm not quite sure why, but something about the progression in SM3DL feels more fleshed out then previous games. You could say every character feels more...three-dimensional. (Crappy pun count: 1.)

The sound mixing is done incredibly well, too. The actual music tracks are very calming and well-made, and we hear the reappearance of the Super Mario Bros. 3 Athletic theme, as well. When going underwater or inside, the music for the level will become slightly muffled, making the game feel, again, more three-dimensional. The retro level and the Boo House themes are among my personal favorites in SM3DL. The graphics, amazingly, are on par with stuff you'd find on the Wii. The character models look great, the environments are very smooth and detailed, and the entire game looks jaw-droppingly (Is that a term? It's a term now.) gorgeous with the 3D function turned on.

If you have a 3DS and you haven't yet picked up Super Mario 3D Land, you're missing out on what could quite possibly be one of the absolute best games on the system. It's a great game that will keep you occupied for a longer period of time than you'd originally expect.

(Review)

Utilizing a few little jailbreaking tools on my iPhone, I was able to finally play through my first 2D Metroid game, and how appropriate for it to be a remake of the very game that kicked off the entire franchise. I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into; I was just trying out something new and I had heard good things about the Metroid series. And I'll be damned if I said I wasn't pleasantly surprised.

First, a little rundown: You play as intergalactic bounty hunter named Samus Aran. You've arrived at Planet Zebes because...I dunno, they needed a plot. You start off ill-equipped for the mission, wielding nothing but your weak Power Suit and a short-range arm cannon. You quickly discover, however, that you can search for and equip new powerups, such as making your arm cannon long-range, an upgrade that allows you to curl up into a ball and fit into small spaces (dubbed the Morph Ball), a higher jump, and various other pieces of equipment. All of these upgrades, as well as tanks that increase your Energy and Missile capacity, are scattered in the nooks and crannies of Zebes, which is split into various sectors: Brinstar, Norfair, Kraid's lair, Ridley's lair, Tourian, and, being a remake, Zero Mission includes four new locations: the Chozo Ruins, Crateria, Chozodia, and Space Pirate Mothership. As usual to Metroid games, Zero Mission promotes backtracking and exploration, so when you can't get to a powerup yet that you can clearly see, you need to come back later when you get a different, more easily-accessible powerup.

There are some specific spots in Zebes that sort of become a pain in the ass to navigate, either because you can't find the powerup needed or simply because it requires tedious backtracking. If you've never played a game like this, you'll definitely find yourself running circles around Zebes, completely and hopelessly lost on where to go, either because you accidentally sequence-skipped, you've been given more than one directive, or because you can't find the next upgrade for the life of you. Due to this, I had to use a detailed map at various points of the game. In that respect, it's a bit like the original Zelda, which actually makes sense considering they were both originally on the same system.

After completing Zero Mission (which has one final mission past the original Metroid's story, which I won't spoil), you'll unlock an emulated version of the first Metroid game. Considering Zero Mission runs perfectly on my emulator, I can't blame the program for Metroid's insane amount of lag. It's almost to the point of being unplayable. But, it's just a bonus, so completing it isn't required (thank God). If you want to play the original game, I'd recommend the Virtual Console or Metroid Prime's emulation.

The visuals and sounds of Metroid: Zero Mission are incredibly memorable; each location has its distinct colorful features, making them a blast to explore and discover every little nook and cranny (until you get so mad you wanna rip your hair out). The soundtrack, despite it being an early-ish GBA game, sounds great. Granted, every track, save for the ones in new locations, are all remixes of NES themes, so of course they'd sound better in comparison, but it's still a great composition.

If you have any way to play this old classic remake of an old classic, I'd highly recommend it. It's a great way to get into the Metroid series, and a game that I could see myself replaying for completion.

(REVIEW)

Sometime last year, Hardlight Studios, a UK-based division of SEGA, created Sonic Jump, a mobile game in which you try to jump as high as you can in locations from Sonic the Hedgehog while playing as characters from said franchise. I was incredibly pleased with this little gem; I've gathered up plenty of Rings, found some tricks to getting more Rings, unlocked every character, and even S-ranked a few Acts. That said, I've been looking foward to Hardlight's new addition to the Sonic spinoffs, and, surprisingly, it came a lot sooner than I expected. Enter Sonic Dash.

While Sonic Jump was based around the craze of jumping games, Sonic Dash is based on the endless runner type of game, akin to Temple Run. You'll start off with Sonic the Hedgehog in Seaside Hill and you're challenged with jumping and Spin Dashing into and under obstacles and enemies in an attempt to go as far as you can while picking up Rings and powerups along the way. Sonic is also given a Boost meter, filled up by collecting Rings. When the meter fills, the player can tap the button and Sonic will go into a Super Boost, going a set distance while automatically dodging and destroying every obstacle in his way. The powerups are simple: a Headstart and a Magnet. Headstarts will give you a boost at the start of the round and a Magnet will attract Rings from all three lanes. Unlike Temple Run where your movement is based on the gyroscope, you control your character in Sonic Dash by only finger swipes, moving between the three lanes with horizontal swipes (causing Sonic to perform one of his newer techniques, the Quick Step) and jumping and Spin Dashing with upward and downward swipes. Some sections will require the Homing Attack; just jumping and tapping the targeted enemy will activate it. Every round is randomly generated, creating some simple rounds and some incredibly intense ones. The Rings you collect during these rounds can be used to increase your Boost meter fill speed, your Boost meter size, the amount of time a Magnet lasts, and to increase the distance a Head Start takes you. While regular Rings are used to purchase Headstarts, Red Star Rings (originally from Sonic Colors) are needed to buy Super Headstarts and Revive Tokens, both pretty self-explanitory. iTunes credit can be used to purchase both Rings and Red Star Rings. Said Red Star Rings are earned by completing Missions, returning from Sonic Jump. This time, however, you need to finish three Missions of different difficultlies before getting a new set of three Missions, ranking up and increasing your points multiplier.

So far, there is only Seaside Hill as a location, but if this is anything like Sonic Jump, new Zones will be added later. Sonic Dash supplies quite a few little nods to the franchise as a whole; the music used for Seaside Hill is a techno-esque remix of Seaside Hill: Act 2 from Sonic Generations, which mashes together the themes of Seaide Hill and Ocean Palace from Sonic Heroes. ...it's like a chain of references. Sonic's Extreme Gear from Sonic Riders, the Blue Star Mk II, can be seen in the store window, as well. While Sonic is the only character available from the start, players can use collected Red Star Rings to purchase Tails, Knuckles, and Amy Rose as playable characters.

As for the game intself, it feels a little stiff due to everything being controlled with swipes, but that aside, the game keeps at a steady framerate on my iPhone 4S and looks incredible. The beat of the background music causes me to tap my foot every time I play a round and the Ocean Palace sections remind me of playing Sonic Heroes when I was a little kid. I can tell this game is going to quickly get incredibly addictive, just as Sonic Jump did, and being on a mobile device makes it even better. It's currently only $1.99 on the iOS App Store, and an Android port is likely.

P.S.: Best part about the entire game? Somehow, Hardlight managed to cram this little soon-to-be gem into a download under 50 MB, meaning I can download this thing without a Wi-Fi connection. Why can't everyone do this?!

(REVIEW)

Click here for an audio review.

There's been a lot of memorable moments in the 25 years that the Legend of Zelda series has spanned, ranging from the happy to the sad to the disturbing. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is made to encompass all those years and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series in a similar fashion to how Sonic Generations did for Sonic's 20th. It references old locales, brings in weapons from various games, and, being placed at the very beginning of the Zelda timeline, Skyward Sword sets the rest of the games you grew up with in motion. Speaking of motion, the gameplay heavily relies on the use of the Wii MotionPlus accessory to get precise movements for the majority of the items and attacks.

That's probably my biggest problem with this game.

Twilight Princess smoothly conjoined button controls with Wii Remote motions, so you could hack and slash while walking and then stop and accurately aim and fire an arrow with the pointer. Skyward Sword sort of does the same thing, and I wouldn't mind so much if it weren't for the fact that they're forcing the MotionPlus usage down your throat. Directional sword slashes are great, yes. It's an interesting mechanic that, for the most part, works. Sometimes it gets a little annoying because it doesn't read the directions properly, but that can be remedied with a quick recalibration. My issue is that literally everything else uses the MotionPlus. It uses the MotionPlus so much, in fact, that I wouldn't be surprised if you had to move the Wii Remote in short increments to walk. Even though I finished the game, I still can't figure out how to control my movements in midair properly when leaping off of something because of how off the motion controls could get. The items that only require the pointer work just fine, but it took a span of about two dungeons for me to finally figure out how to control the Beetle item. In the end, the story and the fun creative puzzles keep you distracted from the occasionally annoying controls, so the game stays fun. There are just those little moments where the controls screw with you so badly you start smashing the wall in. The fact that they tried to innovate the controls for a 25th anniversary game makes no sense to me; I would've gone with a more classic control scheme instead of trying out something that might not work out well when making such a special game.

The graphical style is...interesting. There are moments where the characters make the most ugly faces imaginable, so I'm not a fan of the character models. The locations, on the other hand, are GORGEOUS. I'm always surprised just how well Nintendo can pull off graphics for Zelda on the Wii. I'm especially pleased by the water; it always looks so crisp and clear. It's a strange mix, seeing Twilight Princess-style models with Wind Waker-esque textures, but it surprisngly works out really well.

The story of the game ties up most of the loose ends of the overall timeline and references quite a few of the games in the Zelda series. The game actually shows the creation of the Master Sword and the first formation of the Triforce. (Guess what Skyloft actually is in correlation to what was mentioned in past games? Think about it for a good, long minute.) Being Nintendo, the dialog is as cheesy as ever, but this time around, it actually fits. This is mainly because all the cheesy dialog is given to Groose, and he'll give you a few chuckles here and there with his pompous attitude and witty lines. The relationship between Link and Zelda actually has depth this time around, and I applaud Nintendo for that. It's hard to explain, but for once you can clearly see just how much Link cares for Zelda in her times of need.

Now, it's time for where this game shines: the boss fights. After completing a tough, challenging dungeon (some of which are actually a lot of fun), you're forced into some of the most creative and fun boss battles in Zelda history. The buildup, atmosphere, and the actual fight against Tentalus left me in shock on how awesome it was. The Koloktos fight was probably the most fun, considering you have to pick up the robot's gigantic swords and hack and slash the crap out the thing. The Ghirahim fights, while annoyingly challenging at times, are still fun, especially the final one. Even though it's hard as hell, you start to appreciate how the controls were utilized in this case. As for the final boss, I won't spoil anything, but visually, it kicks a lot of ass. It has the coolest finisher animation since Wind Waker.

All in all, Skyward Sword is a good game. Some people had moments where they were moved to tears with the story, but because of the gameplay annoying me, I took so many breaks in the game that it took me a year to finish it, so the story didn't have as much of an impact as it should have. Overall, the game felt a bit lackluster to me, but plently of other people who played the game in a shorter timespan than I did enjoyed it immensely. If you haven't played this game yet, I really recommend you give it a go, especially if you're a long-time Zelda fan.

Oh, and the symphony CD the game comes with is freaking amazing.

(REVIEW)

Sonic Jump practically jumped out at us, so to speak. It was announced, priced, and released all within the course of one week. Due to this, not much hype could be gathered.

But does it deserve a lot of hype, or does it fall short of small expectations?