Tuesday, August 28, 2007
a quick break
Alright, I'm not posting news today, I'm just informing you that I'm gonna take a quick break for a little while. I'm thinking of redesigning this blog a little bit, plus i'm thinking of putting more reviews of video games I own. Not much of an update, I know, but Ijust wanted to give you a heads up for those of you who arereading this.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Gaming article: The rise and fall of Sonic
We all know who Sonic the Hedgehog is don't we? The rival to Mario, mascot of Nintendo? The speedy blue hedgehog? Well, let us go back through the years, on how Sonic, a video game hero became a video game zero. (Note: I'm not insulting the Sonic franchise, I'm just going to talk about how Sonics games have been put down by many fans.)
Before Sonic, Sega had a mascot named Alex Kidd. I've never played Alex Kidd in my entire life so I wouldn't know how it plays. Apparently, This mascot wasn't doing so hot, so Sega had to come up with a new character. After months and months of coming up with concepts Sega had finally come up with two furry characters. One was an armadillo and one was a hedgehog. It took awhile, but they finally made their decision. The hedgehog. From then on, that hedgehog was known as Sonic. As for the armadillo, he was named Mighty, and was used in two games before becoming a scrapped character, never to be used again. However, rumor has it, that Mighty may return someday, but I can not confirm this, due to lack of info.
Sonics first game was known as Sonic the hedgehog (obviously). The plot was nothing special, just sonic foiling his enemy, Dr. Eggman (Robotnik in the U.S.) The game was a hit! Sequels were planned for this game.
Out came Sonic 2, where the Luigi of the Sonic series was introduced, Tails. Tails was originally going to be Female, but after a debate, It was decided that he would be a boy.
The Beta of this Game Is very mysterious, as there are not one, not two, not three, but four scrapped levels! One was going to be a dessert theme, called Dust hill, another one which was a treetops themed level, (I can't remember the name.) The mystic cave, which was to introduce the Master Emerald (I'll explain more later..) and the most mysterious one of all, Genocide City. Although you can hack into the game and play through three of these levels, Genocide City is nothing but a mass of pixels, and as soon as you enter, you fall to your death. no platforms, no background, no nothing! Important items known as the Chaos Emeralds, although they were introduced in the first Sonic game, they actually gave you a little something extra if you collected them all in this game. you'd become Super Sonic, A beefed up, Golden sonic that cannot get hurt.
Then sonic 3 was introduced, along with Sonics first rival, Knuckles the Echidna. Also the plot was more In-depth than the previous two games where Eggman needed Chaos emeralds, so that he would be able to launch his fallen space base from the second game, the death egg (LOL star wars) and sonic goes off to stop him. the semi sequel to that game, sonic and knuckles, had a slot on top of the game, so that you could play as knuckles in sonic 2 and 3! Knuckles in this game is revealed to be a good guy.
As the ages passed, Sonic was Finally ready to take a step into the third dimension! Sonics first 3-D title, Sonic Adventure, was on the Dreamcast. Years later, Sonic adventure 2 was announced Where (I Think...) it was the first game where you could play as the antagonist in
Story mode. Plus, one of The Sonic franchises most popular character was introduced. His name was Shadow the hedgehog. This game, unlike the past sonic games had a dark theme, where Shadow the Hedgehog Is haunted by painful memories of his past.
WARNING IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED SONIC ADVENTURE 2 YET THEN DON'T READ THIS SPOILER!!! (Of course, you probably already knew this already, but I can't be too careful, you know?)
Shadow was considered a breakout character, (a secondary character who ends up becoming very popular, for example, Homer Simpson, of the Simpson's and Jack Sparrow, of Pirates of the Caribbean) But in the end, Shadow is seen sacrificing his life to save earth, then falling to his doom. Many fans were outraged and depressed after the ending to this game. Then Shadow makes a return in Sonic Heroes, which confused many fans.
End Spoiler
Sonics downfall started with Sonic Heroes. Though it wasn't horrible, It was a considered major disappointment, with all the glitches, and cheesy diologue. but then came the infamous game, known as Shadow the hedgehog. this game was considered Horrible to many fans, due to Camera, Strange villains, bad use of Swearing, and Irritating missions. This game unfortunately ended up killing the Sonic franchise. Sonic was now seen as a horrible game character, who needed to shape up
In 2006, Sonic had a new game called Sonic the hedgehog (Sonic '06 to fans) This game had mixed reactions, mostly bad ones. some said this game was better than shadow the hedgehog, some said it was worse! Another hedgehog was introduced, his name was Silver. Also, Sonic pulled a super Mario and had to save a princess in this game. Interestingly enough, There were hints that sonic and the princess were attracted to each other! This disgusted many fans of the Sonic series.
Ironicaly, although people were speculating that '06 would be better than the Wii Sonic game that was announced, it ended up being reversed! Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii had some mildly positive reviews ranging from a 5 to a 7 out of ten. I personally didn't think the game was all that great, because the plot was horribly overused, it did not feel like a traditional sonic game, irritating missions, weird controls, and having to gain required upgrades in order to obtain a certain item. But the game wasn't a total loss, for some of the music was catchy, had some interesting characters, (Including the villain, Erazor, which I like for being interesting, yet hate for being unoriginal) and party mode, which is a pretty interesting take for the Sonic series.
Although Sonic has hit rough spots, will he be able to regain his popularity? Only time will tell...
Before Sonic, Sega had a mascot named Alex Kidd. I've never played Alex Kidd in my entire life so I wouldn't know how it plays. Apparently, This mascot wasn't doing so hot, so Sega had to come up with a new character. After months and months of coming up with concepts Sega had finally come up with two furry characters. One was an armadillo and one was a hedgehog. It took awhile, but they finally made their decision. The hedgehog. From then on, that hedgehog was known as Sonic. As for the armadillo, he was named Mighty, and was used in two games before becoming a scrapped character, never to be used again. However, rumor has it, that Mighty may return someday, but I can not confirm this, due to lack of info.
Sonics first game was known as Sonic the hedgehog (obviously). The plot was nothing special, just sonic foiling his enemy, Dr. Eggman (Robotnik in the U.S.) The game was a hit! Sequels were planned for this game.
Out came Sonic 2, where the Luigi of the Sonic series was introduced, Tails. Tails was originally going to be Female, but after a debate, It was decided that he would be a boy.
The Beta of this Game Is very mysterious, as there are not one, not two, not three, but four scrapped levels! One was going to be a dessert theme, called Dust hill, another one which was a treetops themed level, (I can't remember the name.) The mystic cave, which was to introduce the Master Emerald (I'll explain more later..) and the most mysterious one of all, Genocide City. Although you can hack into the game and play through three of these levels, Genocide City is nothing but a mass of pixels, and as soon as you enter, you fall to your death. no platforms, no background, no nothing! Important items known as the Chaos Emeralds, although they were introduced in the first Sonic game, they actually gave you a little something extra if you collected them all in this game. you'd become Super Sonic, A beefed up, Golden sonic that cannot get hurt.
Then sonic 3 was introduced, along with Sonics first rival, Knuckles the Echidna. Also the plot was more In-depth than the previous two games where Eggman needed Chaos emeralds, so that he would be able to launch his fallen space base from the second game, the death egg (LOL star wars) and sonic goes off to stop him. the semi sequel to that game, sonic and knuckles, had a slot on top of the game, so that you could play as knuckles in sonic 2 and 3! Knuckles in this game is revealed to be a good guy.
As the ages passed, Sonic was Finally ready to take a step into the third dimension! Sonics first 3-D title, Sonic Adventure, was on the Dreamcast. Years later, Sonic adventure 2 was announced Where (I Think...) it was the first game where you could play as the antagonist in
Story mode. Plus, one of The Sonic franchises most popular character was introduced. His name was Shadow the hedgehog. This game, unlike the past sonic games had a dark theme, where Shadow the Hedgehog Is haunted by painful memories of his past.
WARNING IF YOU HAVEN'T PLAYED SONIC ADVENTURE 2 YET THEN DON'T READ THIS SPOILER!!! (Of course, you probably already knew this already, but I can't be too careful, you know?)
Shadow was considered a breakout character, (a secondary character who ends up becoming very popular, for example, Homer Simpson, of the Simpson's and Jack Sparrow, of Pirates of the Caribbean) But in the end, Shadow is seen sacrificing his life to save earth, then falling to his doom. Many fans were outraged and depressed after the ending to this game. Then Shadow makes a return in Sonic Heroes, which confused many fans.
End Spoiler
Sonics downfall started with Sonic Heroes. Though it wasn't horrible, It was a considered major disappointment, with all the glitches, and cheesy diologue. but then came the infamous game, known as Shadow the hedgehog. this game was considered Horrible to many fans, due to Camera, Strange villains, bad use of Swearing, and Irritating missions. This game unfortunately ended up killing the Sonic franchise. Sonic was now seen as a horrible game character, who needed to shape up
In 2006, Sonic had a new game called Sonic the hedgehog (Sonic '06 to fans) This game had mixed reactions, mostly bad ones. some said this game was better than shadow the hedgehog, some said it was worse! Another hedgehog was introduced, his name was Silver. Also, Sonic pulled a super Mario and had to save a princess in this game. Interestingly enough, There were hints that sonic and the princess were attracted to each other! This disgusted many fans of the Sonic series.
Ironicaly, although people were speculating that '06 would be better than the Wii Sonic game that was announced, it ended up being reversed! Sonic and the Secret Rings for the Wii had some mildly positive reviews ranging from a 5 to a 7 out of ten. I personally didn't think the game was all that great, because the plot was horribly overused, it did not feel like a traditional sonic game, irritating missions, weird controls, and having to gain required upgrades in order to obtain a certain item. But the game wasn't a total loss, for some of the music was catchy, had some interesting characters, (Including the villain, Erazor, which I like for being interesting, yet hate for being unoriginal) and party mode, which is a pretty interesting take for the Sonic series.
Although Sonic has hit rough spots, will he be able to regain his popularity? Only time will tell...
Friday, August 17, 2007
Rayman Revolution
Rayman Revolution is a PS2 remake of Rayman 2: The Great Escape. This is a review About it. that's all I'll say right now.
Rayman Revolution, is basically Rayman 2 after taking steroids. Of course that isn't a bad thing. the hall of doors, the map area of Rayman 2, has been replaced by a central hub area. think Sonic Adventure's adventure fields and any Rpg feild area.
The music's also been upgraded, where now it sounds more like a Danny Elfman-ish type score. The plot... it's pretty much the same as the original of course. A nice dark theme, but a slightly over used plot. some of the Characters Play a bigger role in this Special edition game, such as one of Rayman's friends, Clark, the Giant.
If you played the original Rayman 2 you see that Rayman talks about his powers being Disabled, and not being able to use it. but then you only get three upgrades through out the game.... not in this version! You can exchange yellow lums (Important item in the game.) for super powers, such as shots bouncing off enemies, and hitting other enemies, and shock waves.
In conclusion, Rayman Revolution is a very nice remake of Rayman 2 I give it 4/5
Positives+
-Exploring the world map is real fun!
- nice exclusive upgrades!
-extra bosses added (Rayman 2 lacked fun bosses)
-if you don't like the voices, you can switch them to the Raymanian language from the original Rayman 2
-Fun mini games
-minor characters get bigger roles
- Nice lengthy game
Negitives -
-Overused plot
-Sometimes hard to find certain Areas
-Some of the voices are a little strange
That's all for today...
Rayman Revolution, is basically Rayman 2 after taking steroids. Of course that isn't a bad thing. the hall of doors, the map area of Rayman 2, has been replaced by a central hub area. think Sonic Adventure's adventure fields and any Rpg feild area.
The music's also been upgraded, where now it sounds more like a Danny Elfman-ish type score. The plot... it's pretty much the same as the original of course. A nice dark theme, but a slightly over used plot. some of the Characters Play a bigger role in this Special edition game, such as one of Rayman's friends, Clark, the Giant.
If you played the original Rayman 2 you see that Rayman talks about his powers being Disabled, and not being able to use it. but then you only get three upgrades through out the game.... not in this version! You can exchange yellow lums (Important item in the game.) for super powers, such as shots bouncing off enemies, and hitting other enemies, and shock waves.
In conclusion, Rayman Revolution is a very nice remake of Rayman 2 I give it 4/5
Positives+
-Exploring the world map is real fun!
- nice exclusive upgrades!
-extra bosses added (Rayman 2 lacked fun bosses)
-if you don't like the voices, you can switch them to the Raymanian language from the original Rayman 2
-Fun mini games
-minor characters get bigger roles
- Nice lengthy game
Negitives -
-Overused plot
-Sometimes hard to find certain Areas
-Some of the voices are a little strange
That's all for today...
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Game heroes before you knew them!
I don't really have any news today, so I decided to write an article on something interesting But first I would like to apologize about that remark about microsoft last post. I was just alittle frusterated about E3's stupid decision about being private. I didn't see much on TV, except for a price drop, and a newer version of the X-box 360.
Anyway, You may think that you know certain Game heros, but did you know that like Movie and tv characters, they go through various stages and designs before having a final design?
Mario, as you all know was once called Jumpman, But did you know, Jumpman was intended to be popeye and everyone else to be popeye characters? However, Nintendo could not get the rights, so they had to start from scratch. But if you look at early official art you can see Mario looks simular to popeye!
On the subject of Mario, Charles Martinet, the voice of the famous plumber, was thinking of a gruff brooklyn accent for Mario. In other words, he sounded like Bob Hoskins from the Mario movie. (Off topic fun fact: did you know Bob Hoskins hated acting in the Mario movie?) However he decided it would be strange to have a gruff voice in a kids game thus creating the world famous italian accent we all know and love today!
Sonic the sega mascot, went through even more stages than the Italian plumber!
A few of which i can remember was a mario rip off, an armidillo, and a rabbit like creature. The rabbit eventually became ristar, and the armidillo became a popular scrapped character, named Mighty.
The last one I can remember, is Rayman. The intended story was to be about a 10 year old child who creates a world on his computer, called Hereitscool (Here It's Cool?) he ends up getting sucked in, and becomes Rayman. The plot was (thankfully)scrapped and just became a world where A hero named Rayman lived.
That is all for now. I will post more details about game heroes before you knew them
when I find more info.
Anyway, You may think that you know certain Game heros, but did you know that like Movie and tv characters, they go through various stages and designs before having a final design?
Mario, as you all know was once called Jumpman, But did you know, Jumpman was intended to be popeye and everyone else to be popeye characters? However, Nintendo could not get the rights, so they had to start from scratch. But if you look at early official art you can see Mario looks simular to popeye!
On the subject of Mario, Charles Martinet, the voice of the famous plumber, was thinking of a gruff brooklyn accent for Mario. In other words, he sounded like Bob Hoskins from the Mario movie. (Off topic fun fact: did you know Bob Hoskins hated acting in the Mario movie?) However he decided it would be strange to have a gruff voice in a kids game thus creating the world famous italian accent we all know and love today!
Sonic the sega mascot, went through even more stages than the Italian plumber!
A few of which i can remember was a mario rip off, an armidillo, and a rabbit like creature. The rabbit eventually became ristar, and the armidillo became a popular scrapped character, named Mighty.
The last one I can remember, is Rayman. The intended story was to be about a 10 year old child who creates a world on his computer, called Hereitscool (Here It's Cool?) he ends up getting sucked in, and becomes Rayman. The plot was (thankfully)scrapped and just became a world where A hero named Rayman lived.
That is all for now. I will post more details about game heroes before you knew them
when I find more info.
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