Starfox 64

Merry welcomes and hellos to all! As for my last blog post, I bring you one of the most memorable games of my childhood. It is Starfox 64, a forward scrolling shooter game released for the Nintendo 64 in 1997. The story is as follows. The peaceful Lylat System is under attack by the evil ruler Andross again, and the only hope is team Starfox. Team Starfox, now led by Fox McCloud, receives a distress signal from General Pepper asking them to come and help defend Corneria from the forces of Andross. When they arrive, the entire city is destroyed. After they clear out the enemies, the team decides to bring the battle straight to Andross himself, and begin their journey through the ruined Lylat System to meet him on planet Venom.

Game play is extraordinarily simple and extremely innovative. It's as simple as "Press A to Shoot!" (A quote from Peppy Hare, one of your comrades). There are a few easy to master fancy movements like loops and U-turns (in full range mode), but the ship in game moves one to one with your control stick. The levels and enemies can get pretty repetitive, as is the nature of all shooter games, but each level has different strategies of how you want or need to complete them. You can complete each level the easy way or the hard way, yielding a "Mission Complete" or a "Mission Accomplished" respectively. Completing levels in different ways chooses the next level that you do, like a fork in the road system. The image above shows the more you do the red line way, the harder the levels become, the yellow intermediately, and the blue being the easiest levels.

Starfox 64 is a classic. IGN praises it to the heavens in their article by Doug Perry saying, "An exceptional shooter that's only improved since its original 16-bit inception, Starfox 64 is deep with gameplay, strategy, and calculated level progression mechanics." Gamespot couldn't agree more in their review as well. Glenn Rubenstein tells us, "Star Fox 64 is the kind of game you will spend many sleepless nights with - even after you finish. The replay value will bring you back again and again." Along with providing many silly internet memes for us all, Starfox 64 is a simple, but phenomenal game that will be remembered forever by Nintendo fans alike. Now if you excuse me, I have to go and fire up the N64 to beat the giant floating monkey head once again.

Goof Troop

Good morrow, readers and gamers alike. I have another game to bring to attention today. This is a game based off the old television series known as Goof Troop. It was made way back when for the Super Nintendo. Popular Disney characters Goofy and his son Max are enjoying a relaxing day of fishing, when suddenly their friend Pete and his son P.J. are kidnapped by pirates. It is then that Goofy and Max set off on their adventure to rescue them.

Game play is more than simple when the main mechanic is picking things up, throwing, catching, and using various items with a simple button press. You can play as either Goofy or Max, or both using the 2 player mode. Goofy is stronger but slower, and Max is weaker but faster.

The story is very small, and hardly in depth. It's right in the beginning, and very straightforward. It's simple, though, and doesn't leave much to be desired, as the story itself isn't very big to begin with. Game play is very fun, though, especially with two players. It's not the easiest of game's either. In Video Game Reviews's review, the author writes, "Don't let the name fool you! This truly isn't a kiddies game and will be a challenge to advanced players. The puzzles in this game are the first to far surpass Lufia 2 in challenge and are puzzling difficult!" He has bad

grammar, yes, but he makes a point. the game is not easy. In

Associated Content's review, he states, "Each stage ends with a 

boss battle, and these fights involve having Goofy and Max throw items such as barrels, bones, and 

bombs at the bosses in order to defeat them. Some of these fights are quite difficult, especially the one 

that pits you against Keelhaul Pete himself." I, personally, have not completed this game, even with the help of

my friend. But nonetheless, the puzzles really made us think, and we had a blast playing it, even if we did keep

hitting each other with pots and coconuts.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance

Welcome readers of all ages and sizes. Your friendly neighborhood video game blogger has a treat for you today. It's called Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. Dark Alliance was a game that came out earlier in the decade for the Playstation 2, and was later ported onto the original Xbox and Nintendo Gamecube. Dark Alliance is a hack and slash game with so much more. When you start the game, you choose from one of three classes, but no matter who you choose, the story remains the same. It starts out as you, a lone traveler, in the kingdom of Baldur's Gate. It is late into the night, and you are making your way into town, when suddenly you are mugged and beaten to near death. Everything is stolen from you, and it was only the city watch that saved you from the thieves finishing the job. They direct you to the Elfsong Tavern, where you learn of the Thieves' Guild, who are acting much more oddly than usual. Eventually, after a series of tasks, you infiltrate the Thieves' Guild, only to find that there is so much more behind the whole operation. It turns out to be an evil empress by the name of Eldrith is hell-bent on taking revenge on the Kingdom of Baldur's Gate for abandoning her at the battle for Onyx Tower. It is then up to you to make your way to Onyx Tower, and defeat Eldrith before it is too late.

The game play is based off the popular Role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons, meaning you level up and gain new skills and abilities as you go on. Of the three characters you choose from, you can either be a fighter, who is adept at melee and close-combat, an archer, who focuses on taking down enemies from afar with powerful ranged combat, and a sorceress, whose arsenal of strong spells are a force to be reckoned with. Each character has their own unique fighting style, and are all strong in their own ways. The game takes on overhead point of view, making vision easy and strategy easy to think up. You progress through the game by hacking away at the enemies and traversing through the dungeons to beat the final boss, unravel the story, and make it one step further to the Onyx Tower.

The simple story leaves something to be desired, but it isn't bad. The plot goes in an episode basis, making things easier to digest. The game play is where it shines the most, though, not only because it is fun and simple, but you can also play it with your friends in co-op mode, hacking and slashing away at monsters with your buddy by your side. With that, the game becomes much more fun, since you have an ally to help you through the game, as it does get more difficult as you progress. CNET's review of Dark Alliance states "Beyond the visuals, you'll find that the gameplay of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance is pretty simple but purely fun and addictive." As with that, IGN agrees with the review by David Smith, "At first glance, it's easy to say 'Oh, that's Diablo,' but it's worth noting that the console port of the first Diablo played very poorly, while Dark Alliance controls as smoothly as you please with the interface provided by the Dual Shock 2. The inventory subscreens are very straightforward, there are hot buttons for things like the important potion-quaffing commands (healing and mana rejuvenation), and magic spell selection is handled with a nice Metal Gear-style inventory overlay in one corner." Not only is the game easy, but it's incredibly fun. I've played this game, and it is good. I've played this game with a friend, and it was one of the best times I've had playing a multiplayer game in my life.

Dead Space

Hello and welcome to another blog post. Today's topic is the game Dead Space for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. It is a survival-horror game that is, though scary at times, a blast to play and a great game to play with your friends, since you're probably going to be too scared to play it by yourself anyway. The story sets itself far into the future, where our protagonist Isaac Clarke is on his way with co-workers Zack Hammond and Kendra Daniels in order to repair communications with the mining ship, the USG Ishimura. Isaac's girlfriend, Nicole Brennan, is a medical officer on the ship, as well. It doesn't take long for them to realize that something is deathly wrong. After the crew was somehow sucked in by dysfunctional gravity panels, they are attacked by the former crew of the Ishimura, who have been transformed into hideous creatures known as Necromorphs. It is then that the remaining survivors of the repair crew, Isaac, Zack, and Kendra, set out to find out what happened and fix the problem... if they can.

Dead Space takes a turn from other survival-horror games and actually has you playing in third person view, with you looking over Isaac's shoulder's in order to shoot and other such nonsense. Instead of traditional weapons such as guns and knives, you sport an arsenal of mining tools, which is silly, but effective. The main gimmick of this game is instead of just shooting wildly, you aim for the limbs. You end up wasting a lot more ammo shooting it in the face, than if you were to just cut off the arms. It's a very nice game play mechanic, because it makes you think and gives you an actually strategy than just praying and spraying.

The story in Dead Space is effective and a driving force for the game. You are stranded on a mining ship, all communications are severed, your significant other is somewhere on board, and all hell has broken loose. In Gamespot's review of Dead Space, Lark Anderson writes, "With its disturbingly twisted visuals, its deeply engrossing story, and innovative strategic dismemberment combat system, Dead Space is a best-in-its-class game that surpasses other entries in its venerable genre in nearly every way and will be the standard by which they are judged for years to come." Branching off of that, IGN's review by Jeff Haynes states "Dead Space is a great example of the genre and is an awesome way to launch a franchise that could continue for many years to come." Dead Space hits top marks for gamers everywhere, and fortunately for us all, a sequel is due within the year. Until next time, happy hunting.