PlayStation 2

NEW REVIEWS THIS WEEK:

_________________________________________________

Hey everybody! tedizslayer here ready to give a review on Dynasty Warriors 2!

Dynasty Warriors 2 is an amazing game. It focuses around battles between samurai and dynasties in ancient China. There are at least 15 characters to play as  (good luck trying to remember their names though) and each has slightly different stats in health, power, defense, etc. In each level, you will be accompanied by your allies and bodyguards, and work on taking over the entire map. There is a slight ongoing story (more like a preview of what is to come in the level) and then you set out to conquer. By glancing at the map, you will notice that you and your allies are badly outnumbered by the enemy. Don’t worry however, for when you secure the many gates located at the borders of the map, enemy reinforcements that were formerly coming out of the gates stop, allowing reinforcements of your own to enter. As you conquer the enemy’s many bases, new areas will become accessible on the map, all leading up to the moment that you must face the leader behind the current uprising of troops. After defeating him the level ends. One of the game’s strong points is the length of the levels. Just beating the first level will take at least fifteen to twenty minutes, and that’s going on the speed run (it is possible to whiz through levels like this by letting your allies do all of the dirty work and open up new areas for you). But by taking your time and taking out enemy base by enemy base, one simple level can last up to 30-40 minutes, and that’s just one level of the many others to come! Another interesting aspect of the game is how troops are constantly changing sides. For example, in the first level, my troops (which were blue because of the samurai I chose) teamed up with the red and purple troops to take on the yellow troops. However, in the second level, purple troops become power-hungry, and my troops (again, they are blue) must team up with the weakened yellow troops to take on the purple and their new allies, the green.  But you can always expect one thing: your enemies will vastly outnumber you and your allies. The game’s controls are pretty simple, and can almost become a little repetitive at times. They compose of jumping, running, slicing the sword, and charging up for and executing a super attack, in which your character performs one unique move that will devastate nearby enemies. This technique is very useful when surrounded by enemies or versing a boss. The only command that is missing is blocking, and the attacks can get pretty repetitive. There are also certain points when you will ride on horseback, this gives you the ability to kick enemies while you’re running. (It’s always entertaining to watch enemies go flying through the air all around you as you run through mobs of them)! You can also attack while on your horse, but you aren’t completely safe from attacks, if you get hit once you’ll fly off the horse but can get back on once you clear the enemies in the way. The game’s graphics aren’t the best on the market, but are still very excellent indeed. The action is nonstop, and the PS2 was the perfect platform to choose for such a fine game. Overall, I give Dynasty Warriors 2 a worthy 7.5/10. Despite some repetition and lack of what-would-be-great multiplayer, it is a truly fantastic game.

-tedizslayer

______________________________

Hi Everyone, ruby331 here reviewing God of War II!

What a game! Generally, sequels are poorly made but not this one. After killing Ares, Kratos became the actual God of War in the first game. So naturally in the first game you start off playing with the powers of a god. Athena (Goddess of Wisdom) turns on you because your Spartans are destroying everything in their path and upsetting the other gods of Olympus. Kratos dives down from his palace high up on Mount Olympus to aid his Spartan warriors. While he is down there Athena saps away a good chunk of his godly powers. Athena then, to make things worse, turns a giant golden statue to life to attempt to defeat Kratos in combat. In the first level you basically get used to the controls and practice defeating enemies. Throughout the level you face the giant golden statue four times until you realize you need more power to finally lay the statue to rest. Zeus then sends down the Sword of Olympus to aid you. Kratos is a little suspicious because him and Zeus are mortal enemies, but takes his help anyway. When Kratos finally reaches the sword, Zeus tells Kratos that he must drain his godly power into the sword to wield it. Kratos does as he is told, and through a series of obstacles defeats the Golden Giant. Unfortunately Kratos is inside the Giant when it explodes, so he gets shot back a few hundred feet. Because he drained all of his power into the sword, he had become mortal so he barely survived the blast. Kratos lands on a platform and knows the only way he will survive is if he gets his power back from the sword. He goes to grab it but then Zeus drops from the sky and slays him with the sword. Kratos then meets with the Titans in Tartarus (the underworld) and finds out that they too hate Zeus. They revive Kratos so that he can kill Zeus and regain his title as a God, that’s when your quest begins. The game is almost flawless. The graphics are amazingly done, the gameplay is limitless, and the story line is like no other. Whether Kratos is breaking spines or freezing enemies solid with the head of Medusa, you’ll never stop having fun. This game scores a 10/10 on the ruby331 scale. For any hardcore PS2 gamer God of War II is a must have!!

-ruby331

____________________________

This is tedizslayer, here to review Katamari Damacy!

Katamri has to be one of the weirdest games I’ve ever played, but also one of the most addicting. You are the Prince, the son of the King of the Cosmos, and at his command, you are sent to earth to roll up whatever you can using your Katamari, a ball which picks up any objects that are smaller than it is and grows along with them. For each level, the King gives you a size he wants you to reach and a time to do it by, and you’re off! The levels begin with your katamari at various sizes: in some levels, you roll around on top of the dresser in someone’s room, and other times you roll up people, cars, and buildings throughout a town. Filled with dancing pandas, giant sumo wrestlers, and escaped zoo animals, the game has it all. The only thing that Katamari Damacy lacks is a solid multiplayer mode, but its great sequel, We Love Katamari, took care of that. Anyways, I would give Katamari Damacy an overall 8.5 out of 10. It is certainly a game which I will never forget, or for that matter, never stop playing.

-tedizslayer

__________________________

Hello everyone, ruby331 here reviewing Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty.

Let me start off by saying that Hideo Kojima and his staff are geniuses! This game has an emotionally gripping storyline, great graphics, and flawless combat. You play the game starting off as Snake but then take a creative twist and play the rest of the game as  a character named Raiden. Although hated by other fans of the Metal Gear series, Raiden is one of my favorite video game characters. He can flip, he wields a katana, and gets naked in one level…wink. Anyways, he’s pretty awesome. Along the way you meet many fun and exciting characters. For instance, you meet Otacon’s (Snake’s long time partner and friend) long lost sister E.E. Throughout each level, you get new guns and have to meet new challenges. In one level you might have to sneak around without using your gun, and in another you might have to kill as many enemies as you can. I don’t really do this game justice just by writing about it, you have to play it for yourself for the real experience. Overall, this game gets a 9/10 on the ruby331 scale. I would also suggest playing the original Metal Gear Solid to get a good backround on the story.

-ruby331

__________________________

What’s up everyone? ruby331 here with a review on Monster Rancher 3!

This game really has its ups and downs. First of all, the concept is pretty simple. You play the game as a monster breeder and you raise a monster and enter him in battles and train him and what not (reminiscent of Pokemon or what?). As you enter him in tournaments he grows up and you can collect items and sometimes even other monsters. However, Monster Rancher 3 is one of the hardest games that I have ever played. The controls in combat are awful, the opponents often automatically out level you, leveling your abilities is all based on luck, and it is sometimes very hard to miss a tournament date if you don’t keep track of your calendar. Those things aside, the game was enjoyable but I would not recommend it to beginners. Fortunately, the graphics are lively and well done for the time that the game was made in and the dialogue is sometimes funny. Overall, Monster Rancher 3 scores a 6.5/10 on the ruby331 scale. I personally have never played any of the other monster Rancher games but you guys should try them out, i’m sure they’re good!

-ruby331

__________________________

Hi! I’m tedizslayer, and here’s my review for The Simpsons Road Rage.

A lot of games based off of TV shows or movies don’t turn out well, but that isn’t true for The Simpsons Road Rage. It is very similar to Crazy Taxi; you must drive through town and pick up as many people as you can and bring them to their desired destinations. (In fact, Sega sued Fox many years ago because they believed that Road Rage had directly copied Crazy Taxi.) You gain money for each person and bonuses for getting them there quickly. However, if you take too long they will simply jump out of your car and you will get nothing. There are six stages in total which you can unlock and use through the story mode (in which you are timed and continuously save up money after each level). These stages are all very big and feature every aspect of Springfield: in the Residential Area (the first stage) you can drive through the school, stop by the Krusty Burger, and even deliver customers to the Kwiki Mart! Other stages include the Nuclear Power Plant, the Springfield Dam, Downtown, and several more! These all have a lot of interesting areas, and some secrets that you will only discover by exploring them thoroughly. You can also unlock over 15 different characters through story mode. These include all of the Simpsons (even Maggie and Grandpa!), Willie the groundskeeper, Chief Wiggum, Otto the bus driver, Krusty, Barney, and many more! These characters all have unique cars, trucks, school buses, plows, tractors, and so on, and the things they say are hilarious. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Simpsons game without the rest of the characters from the show as the people you give rides to. I never get tired of the little kid Ralph hopping into my car and shouting “A leprechaun told me to burn things!” or having Barney tell me that he thinks he did something bad, can’t remember what it is, and wants to go to Church to confess. And having Flanders jump in the car and tell you to hurry back to his house because he thinks it’s being robbed never gets old either. The characters say a lot of hilarious things that bring as much humor to the game is there is in the show. In addition to the story mode in which you are timed each round, there is a “Sunday Drive” mode in which you can explore the stages at your own pace without any time limit. There’s also a two-player competitive mode in which each player tries to get the most money in a certain amount of time. In this mode, both players race around the stage, and can steal the other’s passenger by bumping into them. This leads to a lot of fun competition and is an entertaining side mode. There’s also a short challenge mode consisting of ten unique challenges. These consist of a variety of objectives ranging from plowing down as many mascots standing on the sidewalk as you can (now that’s entertainment!), to avoiding Mr. Burns catching you as you drive around town. Although it’s pretty short, challenge mode has some interesting tasks and is a nice add-on. There really aren’t too many problems with Road Rage. Unfortunately, you can’t leave your car; if you could, there could be a lot more to do and the game would never get old. But even though it’s a lot of fun and has a lot to offer, Road Rage does eventually get kind of repetitive once you’ve unlocked and beaten everything. I give it a solid 7.5. Thanks for reading!

-tedizslayer

__________________________

Hello, this is ruby331 reviewing Ultimate Ninja 4: Naruto Shippuden.

What a game! this game includes over 40 playable characters (each one with there own unique style of play) nearly 20 different stages full of gimmicks and surprises, and a creative Master Mode where you take control of Naruto Uzamaki and lead him through popular spots like the Hidden leaf Village and The Village hidden in sand. During your travels, you have to collect orbs called pieces of memory. These pieces of memory unlock characters in Hero mode. In Hero Mode, you unlock plot events with pieces of memory. With each event that you unlock there you have a chance of fighting a battle to unlock a new character. The pieces of memory are generally hidden, but you can find them as a pink dot on the mini map. The multiplayer is excellent and exciting because you never know what your opponent will do next. I  rate this game an 8.5/10 on the ruby331 scale. If your a fan of the Naruto series, this game is a must have!!

-ruby331

__________________________

Why hello there! ruby331 here with a review on Soul Calibur 3.

While Soul Calibur 3 added some great aspects to the Soul Calibur series, it also took some out which I loved very much. For instance, they added in the character creation mode which is fantastic, but they mutilated some of the characters movesets and combos. Another element that was subtracted form the game was the excellent story mode that Soul Calibur 2 had. In Soul Calibur 3, all you do is fight random battles and each and every character follows the exact same story line. Also, the weapons were not nearly creative or fun as they were in Soul Calibur 2. The worst change made in Soul Calibur 3 was that the computers were nearly impossible to beat even if you were playing on easy mode. This makes the game really frusterating and unfun. The new “Chronicles of the Sword Mode” sounds very cool but when actually playing it you can tell that no time was put into it. It’s incredibly sloppy and should not have been implemented into the game in the first place. The only things that I liked about this game were the new character creation and the new/restored characters. Soul Calibur 3 scores a 5.7/10 on the ruby331 scale.

_________________________________________________