The Little Man That Could

Game Mechanics - 1.5/2

Story-line - 1.5/2

Graphics - 1.5/2

Soundtrack - 1.5/2

Replay Value - 2/2

 Total Score - 8/10

We are here again for another video game review with your friendly neighborhood gamer Zalgo_Cometh. It's been a while since we reviewed a PSVITA game I think so this game came along just in the nick of time during the usual summer drought of new releases. I'm gonna try to make this short and sweet for the most part today cause got a hectic work schedule dealing with while the second video game-play video is uploading to YouTube. So lets look at Dokuro...

Dokuro is a video game developed by Game Arts and published by GungHo Online Entertainment for the PlayStation Vita. The player is Dokuro, a skeletal worker for the Dark Lord. One day, the Dark Lord captures a princess and forces her to marry him. Dokuro sees the princess crying which breaks his heart and he thus decides to help her escape the Dark Lord's castle. Dokuro can flip switches to open up paths, carry the princess after drinking a potion, as well as others. The game's levels grow steadily more complex as the game progresses. The game uses a graphical style that imitates artwork in a children's storybook. The game's director, Noriaki Kazama, previously worked on gory video games such as Ninja Gaiden Sigma under Team Ninja. Kazama said that after he had a baby, he browsed through children's books at the bookstore and was inspired by the art style.

What’s Good:

Replay value: This is here in spades as most puzzles have a variety of ways they can be solved as I came to realize while playing this game. Also you can replay levels for faster overall times or to collect coins as you progress through each level or to find the optimal solution to each level's puzzle.

Game Mechanics: Simple and very intuitive controls make for a fun and easily enjoyable game-play experience. Also worthwhile mentioning is that the touchscreen and overall integration of a PSVITA control system feels nature and smooth overall while playing this game.

Graphics: Overall design scheme and art style seems very fitting to the nature of the game and the PSVITA brings forth a certain crispness and level of subtle detail that can be appreciated in this handheld title.

What’s Bad:

Only fault I could come up with which isn't much of a fault as it seems intentional as a part of the challenging game design is that you can't do much to control the actions of the Princess. She just aimlessly walks forward and only turns away for fear of enemies that approach her.

What Should Have Been Added:

At times I found myself wanting the princess to stay in a certain position away from danger so maybe a stop/follow command would have been a nice addition. Another idea that came to mind was maybe getting a special power from each boss defeat that would help you along the way in your fights against other bosses and regular enemies.

Final Thoughts:

Even though it is a well documented fact that I suck at and despise puzzle based games I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing Dokuro. At times the going got rough and I faltered, but it was never a case where I was just totally and utterly left feeling defeated like there was no solution in sight. The puzzles strike a fair balance between challenging and straight forward; the onus just lies with the player an dhow fast they can figure it all out to move on to the next one.

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Are you ready for the King of Ironfist Tournament?

Game Mechanics - 1.5/2

Story-line - 1/2

Graphics - 1/2

Soundtrack - 1/2

Replay Value - 2/2

 Total Score - 6.5/10

Hows it hanging one and all? Hope you all have been having as much fun gaming this week as I have been having playing through Tomb Raider. Hell I almost forgot I was supposed to be reviewing a game for today. Thankfully I didn't have to do much searching as PSN released some free games for Playstation Plus members on Tuesday  Those were The Cave on PS3 and Tekken 6 for the PSVITA; since we had already reviewed The Cave a couple weeks ago I opted to take a look at Tekken 6. Now granted I am not much of a Tekken fan as I primarily play Capcom made fighting games I pretty much went into this not knowing what to do as far as fighting moves went. Nevertheless at the cost of my sanity I decided to try out Tekken 6 on my PSVITA and boy oh boy did I suck at it...

Tekken 6 (鉄拳6?) is a fighting game developed and published by Namco Bandai. It is the seventh main installment in the Tekken franchise. It was released in Japanese arcades on November 26, 2007 as the first game running on the PlayStation 3-based System 357 arcade board. The game received an update, subtitled Bloodline Rebellion, a year later. A home version based on the update was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 27, 2009 and for PlayStation Portable on November 24, 2009. This game can be digitally download via PlayStation Store to play on PlayStation Portable and PlayStation Vita. Tekken 6 features bigger stages with more interactivity than its predecessors, such as walls or floors that can be broken to reveal new fighting areas. The character customization feature has been enhanced, and certain items have implications in some aspects of game-play  A new "rage" system has been added, giving characters more damage per hit when their vitality is below a certain point. Once activated, a reddish energy aura appears around the character, and their health bar starts to flicker in red. The rage aura can be customized with different colors and effects to appear like fire, electricity, ice, among others. Another game-play feature added is the "bound" system. Every character has several moves that, when used on an opponent that is currently midair in a juggle combo, will cause the opponent to be smashed hard into the ground, bouncing them off the floor in a stunned state and leaving them vulnerable to another combo or additional attack. As of the Bloodline Rebellion update, successfully parrying a low attack will also put a character into a bound state.

What’s Good:

Replay Value: There is a fair amount of replay value with this game from the customization aspect present to the wide range of characters available to master with a wide variety of combat styles.

What’s Bad:

Story-line: Honestly there isn't much of one as far as I saw while playing the game as the story mode is just a few random matches and then you supposedly fight the ending boss. Most the characters have really random and strange scenarios in which they end up entering the King of Iron Fist Tournament.

What Should Have Been Added:

Since I have little to no experience with 3-D fighters I wont be as pompous as to suggest something that very well would not have much impact on the game as a whole.

Final Thoughts:

Sorry for the seemingly lack luster review but this is more or less just a run through to let you know the game is up for free so there isn't much reason to not give it a shot. I'm a tried and true 2-D fighting game lover so this experience has just further reinforced my love for 2-D  fighting games. I just couldn't get my head around the game mechanics of a 3-D fighting game I guess but let it not be said I didn't give it the good old college try.

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My Metal Gear Is Rising

Game Mechanics - 1.5/2

Storyline - 2/2

Graphics - 1.5/2

Soundtrack - 1.5/2

Replay Value - 1.5/2

 Total Score - 8/10

Hey there gamer guys and gamer girls; welcome to our first video game review of 2013. For those new to the page this will be nothing new but for returning veterans of my blog you should have noticed already. We have changed the grading scheme to make things a bit easier as most gamers have expressed a liking for an easy to understand scale of one to ten. We have also changed the rating pictures to better convey the final verdict on a game; they range from Approved (definitely get your hands on a copy of this game or watch someone play it if you can't), Give It A Shot (the game has it merits and is a reasonable source of entertainment but you should probably rent or borrow this game is you aren't a fan of it), and Denied (this game offers a wide range of faults and is more like a punishment than a reward for partaking of it in all its glory). We will still keep our regular format of breaking down the game with the good, bad, and improvements section. To top it all off we will try to provide video game-play with commentary for all our reviews as much as possible for those that may not have ready access to some of the games. So now that the explaining is over lets talk about Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance...

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is an upcoming action video game being developed by Platinum Games and produced by Kojima Productions, for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. It will be a spin-off of the Metal Gear series, with a self-contained plot. Set four years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, the story will focus on the cyborg ninja, Raiden, in a fight against a self-proclaimed private military company involved in terrorist activities, Desperado Enterprises. It is awaiting a worldwide release on February 2013. Although a Japanese release for the Xbox 360 platform was planned, that version was cancelled for unknown reasons. This is only the demo release of the game we are reviewing but I must say if I hadn't already put aside money to pre-order Tomb Raider in March I would so totally be buying this game. If you own a PS3 or XBOX 360 you should definitely get this game; and here's why...

What’s Good:

Everything is good as far as key components go. Soundtrack is good, graphics are on point, wide move-set and combo options for taking out your enemies, challenging but not insanely hard difficulty to deter even the most casual of gamers and an engaging story-line with beautiful cut scenes that keeps you involved and highly entertained.

What’s Bad:

Button configuration layout needs a bit of fine tuning to feel more intuitive, and the tutorial needs to be more in-depth as well, covering the full range of options available to the player.

What Should Have Been Added:

First and foremost I think a dedicated button for blocking would be a great thing to have, couple that with a RPG type leveling system for parts where you can customize your armor to suit your play-style best and you have a game that would be perfect if not near perfection.

Final Thoughts:

Let me just say this game is on point; for all the cynics that were bashing this game or skeptical about it because it doesn't stay true to the stealthy nature of the Metal Gear Solid franchise I say a pox on thee. You know not the wonders that you are missing out on and i'm sure it was made very clear that this was a spin-off game. Set entirely in its own plot timeline separate and apart from the original MGS series. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has fluid third-person action featuring slow-motion swordplay in place of the stealth style featured in the Metal Gear Solid series. Not to mention some really graphic in your face cinematic kills that will showcase the beauty of the graphics engine for this game. With that being said feel free to download the demo on PS3 or XBOX 360 and try it out yourself before the game is released on February 19th. If you can't we got you covered with our play-through of the demo with live commentary.

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