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Zelda Majoras Mask Review
When I first Heard that the sequel to
Zelda was going to be revolved around
a 3 day time span, my initial thought was that
You had to rush through the game or the game
would restart all over again
therefore taking all of the fun out of just relaxingly strolling along the fields on epona.
First Reactions
Well, my initial thought weere totally wrong, as when you put the golden cartridge (not real gold but painted on) into your console there isn't an element of rushing. The game starts as Link riding epona, after just defeating Gannon and saving hyrule. Link comes across two fairies who start to dance around him, and eventually knock him off his horse. Then steps in the skull kid, whoi is wearing a mysterious mask (majoras) and robs link of his horse-epona-and the ocarina of time!
Curse Of The Deku Shrub
Link Goes in search of the mysterious yet mischevious skull kid until he reaches what appears to be, a small cave. Link then spots the skull Kid And is about to strike him when he quickly turns link into a lowly deku shrub! You now have to battle through the whole of Zelda: Majoras Mask as a Skull Kid!? I hear you cry! No. This is what some might call, the pre-game Fight, Kind of like a training type start to the game.
In all honesty the first part to Zelda is, well kind of dull. You have to do various little mini-games in order to reach the clock tower in clock-town, and have a small battle with the skull kid.
Once you defeat him you get the ocarina of time, play the song o' time and warp back to the first day were you can start the game FOR REAL as Link!
The Adventure Starts here!
After returning to normal Link your adventure really starts to come to life. As Link you Can access loads of different areas in the game whereas you couldn't as the Deku Shrub.
The objective of the game IS to actually stop the Moon from crashing down and disasterously destroying The Planet!
Guardian Masks
Link has to collect four guatdian Masks from ancient warriors around the planet. Each Time you defeat these warriors in there selected form you get the remains, in which helps lin gain power when eventually going on to battle The skull Kid and regain Majoras Mask.
The Mask element is absolutely Magical, I haven't seen such imagination put into a game since FF8 (In my view the Greatest RPG ever!), this system allows Link to transform into one of three different species. The first of which you get at the beginning of the game(the Deku Mask), you go onto get the Goron and Zora Masks which allow you to act exactly in that species way! With the Zora Mask You can Swim amazingly fast and walk on the surface of the oceans, yet with the Goron Mask you can turn into a huge Rock and roll extremely fast on land and kill enemies with ease in special form.
Summary
Overall Zelda:MM is an Imaginitive, Fantastic Looking mix of love and adventure and is suitable for all ages. I know usual I would be too old for this kind of thing but Zelda: MM is not Babiesh and is very, very challenging. It is Magic and a must have for your collection, Expect to up in the mid-hours of the Morning Playing this baby, and around 60-70 hours of gameplaying!
Buy this and you'll never leave the house, again!
10/10
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Shenmue:chapter 2
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Pros: The Greatest RPG on the N64!
Great Graphics!
Amazing depth in gameplay!
The Mask system is fantastic!
Exciting, Long and easy to get use to!
Cons: Too much raoming for some
er, a midget plays the lead role
er.......we're being picky now.
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Final Fantasy 9 Preview
Square's immensely popular Final Fantasy series has been around so long the earlier parts of the series seem almost "retro." With Final Fantasy IX, Square seem to be looking back and returning to the roots of the series: epic storyline, cartoonish characters, entertaining mini-games -- and, of course, chocobos.
The storyline is classic Final Fantasy. An evil queen, Brahne, is using powerful magic weapons to terrorize the kingdoms around her. A rag-tag group of adventurers, hired by a rival king, have been sent to stop her. Along the way, the heroes find that a sorceror named Kuja is the one supplying Brahne with the magical weapons. Only this unlikely group of heroes can put an end to their terror. Sound familiar?
Some of the amazing CG sequences
The characters in Final Fantasy IX have returned to the more exaggerated, less realistic mold. Players have 8 playable characters at their disposal, ranging from kids to adults:
Zidane Tribal: an exerienced thief who steals from the rich (don't they always?). He's also quite a ladykiller.
Vivi Orunitia: a young black mage going through a major identity crisis. He's depressed and constantly getting caught up in events he can't control.
Our heroes out and about in the world
Steiner (Edward Steiner): An older knight in the service of the royal family of the Alexandria Kingdom. This skilled swordsman guards the Princess Garnet Til Alexandros.
Garnet Til Alexandros XVII: also known as "Dagger," this royal teenager learns to throw off her naivitee when she meets a young thief.
Freya Crescent: a member of the mouse clan who was raised and trained by a Dragon Knight, Freya is a courageous female knight who is unwilling to compromise her beliefs. She has roamed the world since being banished from her home of Burmecia.
There will be plenty of opportunities to interact with other characters
Eiko Carol: another youngster who was raised by summoners and magic-users with the ability to summon monsters. Eiko is a precocious little girl who knows White Magic and has developed a very special friendship with the moogles.
Amarant Coral: a contract assassin for hire, Amarant spends most of his time training his body as a weapon during combat. He trusts no one and never does anything useless or frivolous.
Quina Quen: part of the Qu clan, Quina is an androgynous being whose only concerns are eating and leaving desce3ndants on the planet.
As for the game itself, Final Fantasy IX blends exploration, combat and amazing CG movies together to form an adventurous experience for players. Look for it this winter.
The fierce Odin, the clucking Chocbos -- what more could you want?
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Juvenile Interactive Players! |
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Pokemon Stadium 2
Pokemon stadium G/S should be heading overseas in the summer with an expected 2 million pre-orders!
The spin-off to the massive hit Pokemon Stadium is ready to return in this new stratedgy/fighting game that is set to rock the world!
Lead Programmer Yuji Hasuka said "We are expecting big sell outs accross the Europe and with 250 Pokemon programmed into the game, we feel it's going to be a classic". |
Yeah right, and since when in life has a fully grown man saw a kitten at the side of a road and left it there on it's own? Sorry for that sly dig but I thought that Ryo was quite stupid in that aspect of the game... maybe it's just me being picky though. :)
Anyway, Shen-Mue only just came out this week in England, the date it was released being '29/11/2000' (That being 11/29/2000 to you Americans!). To be honest with you, the hype here wasn't that big. Sure all the magazines went bezerk for it, but apart from that, no advertising or 'nuffin'. Kinda strange but anyway...
Shen-Mue is the first title to ever be labeled as using the 'FREE' technology... this means you can do whatever you want in the game. interact with anything and anyone. It surprised me too... it also surprised me afterwards.
Graphics: 10
Shocking. Real life is one step away in terms of graphics. EVERYTHING is extremely detailed. EVERYTHING. Go into the resteraunt, and you'll see the door that lads to the kitchen, you'll see the owners busy making something, you'll see bottles of ketchup on the tables ready for use, you'll see... the list goes on. This game reeks of reality. If you were to take a photo of Ryo walking down the streets of Dobuita, and showed it to someone, they'd believe it was real for sure. tell them it ain't and they'd be shocked.
The work on each and every individual character is breath-taking. You won't believe there's anyone in the game who looks like someone else because no-one does. They all have their own likenesses, and voices. This is ONE detailed game... BUT...
Gameplay: 7
I thought this was supposed to be 'FREE'? Sure you can switch lights off, sure you can take pictures off the wall, sure you can buy coke machines, but what's happened to picking up grass from the floor? why can't i draw on things with a pen? Why can't i do everything that Sega made Shen-Mue sound like you were able to do? in my view, this is sheer and totally false advertisment. You CAN'T do whatever you wan't. there's very little you really can do in my opinion. And anything that you can do is more often than not just a little, ''Hmm that was a neat touch'' Nothing more, nothing less. I was expecting to do everything I wanted, but alas, Sega fooled me.
To counter-attack that i have to admit though that although initially un-nerving, the control system is brilliant. You use the stick to move ryo's head, D-pad to move him, and the rest of the buttons i'm sure you can figure out.
Also, the fighting system, is quite good, but wouldn't it have been nice to have been able to have grabbed things from nearby to twonk your opponent with? Nice I think, but oh well. Oh and the QTE system is quite fun but irritating in the fact that when Sega said 'depending on your reactions, the QTE's will change how your game plays out'. My back-side it does. Put it this way, there's some instances where you'll lose a QTE fight and then you'll have to start it again. And the first time that happens it will confuse you unbelievably. I didn't understand why i had to re-start a fight. Why didn't Sega just have you running after the culprits? then that could enable you to have a second chance. Again, oh well. A missed opportunity by Sega once again.
Another thing that will bug you supremely. How can you supposedly live a life out in this game if conversation is a no-go in the world of Shen-Mue? You can only talk to anyone about the latest plot progression that you're involved in. So asking 10 people will all result in the same type of talk being spoken. Dissapointing. You can very rarely mention the weather, or ask how someone is, because all Ryo seems bothered about is one thing, and that's his little problem with lan-Di. Personally, if Sega had met up with a certain little 'LucasArts' company, they then maybe could have a proper conversation option. One that allowed you to speak about what you wanted. In other words, monkey Island + Shen-Mue would have been kinda nice... which leads me onto...
Sound: 8
excellent sound effects that surround you. doesn't that kitten sound immaculate? Doesn't that rain sound realistic enough? Don't you love the sound of that huge fog-horn at the harbour every night? Of course ya do! But don't you just HATE the way how everyone talks? Some have awful voices, and unfortunately you end up having to have the text on-screen cos you haven't got a clue what that name was that Fuku-San mentioned. EVERYONE uses San at the end of people's names so it gets confusing after a while. EXTREMELY confusing. stick that text on if you haven't got a clue.
Lifespan: 5
I haven't completed the game yet but considering I got it on Thursday, and by Friday night i'd completed the first disc, things aren't looking promising. The first disc was enjoyable, but nothing stood out. It hasn't been the ground breaking experience all the mags have made it out to be either. Just think of Tomb Raider in a purely urban setting without as much fighting and you'll see where i'm coming from. And stick a bit of Resi Evil in there too because there's a few similarities with that too.
Overall:
A very good game made easy by incredibly short puzzles. It's also a big farce in terms of the 'FREE' technology being used. It's not as 'FREE' as Sega made it out to be. Things that make you wanna buy this game? Hype, the sheer graphics, and an incredibly detailed gaming world. Things that make ya wanna stick two fingers up to Shen-Mue? Incredibly short life-span, interactivity a lot less than initially thought, and quite a repetitive game after a while too.
Buy or rent?
Probably buy. Well, I did didn't I? But don't expect a huge sprawling adventure set out over a metropolis bustling with activity. You won't get that. Wait for 'Republic' on the PC. That's gonna be a real 'FREE' game.
Shen-Mue was released to be bought by baying customers. They've no doubt bought by the thousands, and on getting home have been slightly but not totally dissapointed. Still, I suppose Sega can only improve this in Shen-Mue chapter 2 right?
I give this Game 8/10
J.M |
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