Spyro 2:Gateway to Glimmer review

This was the first PS1 game I've ever beaten. Just wanted to let out I'm nostalgic for this game.

Story
Spyro and Sparx want to go on a vacation as the local weather is like Ireland right now, so they go off to Dragon Shores. However, in the world of Avalar, a group of people are trying to catch a dragon so it can get rid of the new bully in town and they get Spyro.Now Spyro has to go through the worlds of Avalar, help the people in need and kick Ripto's butt.
Very straightforward main story with likable characters and Ripto is one of the better jerk villains I know. But my favorite part is the little stories in the levels that help with expanding the worlds like and make them more alive. I'll talk them later in the presentation but in short, good start, likable characters and some good humor with some black comedy.

Gameplay
The control is the same from the last time with a few new moves you can buy later like swimming, climbing and head-bashing. The swimming is one of the best I've played, though  recommend charging to get around underwater. As for the levels, each of them revolves around getting to the exit, with a gimmick like talking to the people along the way, and a couple of challenges like flying around to light some gemlights  or learning how to spit with taking out lizards.
The challenges range from easy and straightforward to "This is hard!". One example of a hard challenge is the escort the Alchemist one in Fracture Hills, where you have to protect him from Earthshapers but the worst part is that if you didn't learn head-bash, you'll have to do it all again, so wait.
The Flights have become Speedways and are much simpler to play through as I felt like I had more to time to get everything, plus there's a bonus challenge hidden in each. And the bosses are way better than last time, each of them hard in their own way. And each fight shows each of the bosses there personalities like Gulp eating anything he gets.

Presentation
Voice acting's enjoyable, Music is catchy and memorable, love the animations and I like the sound effects. Now lets talk about what I want to talk about.
One of the best things about the game is that each level has it theme to it, with its own people, enemies, fodder, even having a flag. I personally love this as it makes each world different and while some levels have similar settings, the theme might be a complete opposite like having two cavemen levels, one is fire themed and one is ice themed.

Verdict
Even if you didn't like the first game, I still recommend this for any one with PS1-3...Hopefully 4.
9/10

Spyro the Dragon review

I was in a Spyro mood so I going to do a Spyro marathon. Starting with the first.

Story
The dragons insult local bad guy Gnasty Gnorc so he turns all the dragons into crystal, steal all the treasure and kidnaps all the eggs. However, he missed one young dragon and now he's going to kick his butt.
It's an excuse plot so there no point in talking about it.

Gameplay
The game is a 3D platformer where you collect stuff in every level. Almost every level plays the same with only a few levels having a gimmick, especially  the Dreamweaver world, which is my favorite. They're are power-ups but they're mostly to get to places you can't reach(super charge) or to defeat big, metal enemies(super flame).
While the core game wasn't perfected yet, it had enough good gameplay to hold it together, but I should two parts I have a problem with. The flying levels are too troublesome to do as one mistake can ruin a run, like an obstacle that should be the last group is the second or missing a train because you kept missing a copter. However, lets be fair. This was the first game and they improved in the sequels. The bosses however are complete jokes. I don't know if I should call them that as they are all pathetic. the only good ones were Doctor Shemp even tough he felt like a first boss and Metalhead. But once again they fixed that and I'll explain in the next game.
Also this is a nitpick but why do I have to complete one level in the first world to fight the boss but all the other worlds let go at em as soon as I get there.

Presentation
I can tell the makers were experimenting to see what they can do. Like burning some tulips or what they can do with metal, tough I would admit the metal chests look bland. I also like the sound effects, mainly the ones when you kill an enemy and the one where the druids are screaming in horror that you're next to them.
I also like that each world has it's own theme going on in everything, from the buildings to the level portals, to the dragons. and while the first few gnorcs have a pretty bland designs, they get interesting once thy start wearing outfits like the punk rockers.
However the music is pretty generic. There songs I like, Dreamweavers, but most of them are either forgettable or sound the same after a while.

Verdict
While I admit this game hasn't aged the best, it serves as an example that a not great start can make a good sequel.
6/10

May's Mysteries: Secret of Dragonville (DS)Review

I've only played five minutes of a Professor Layton game before. I say this because this is a rip-off of that series. Not saying it to bash the game, I'm just saying what it is? So lets review this on it's own merits.

Story
May and her brother, Tery get involved in a balloon accident and crash outside the town of Dragonville. Tery goes missing looking for help and May goes looking for him, and immediately realizes something is wrong with the town.
The story isn't the most memorable, but it's not bad either. As a mystery, it gives you a few clue at the start and might show a peek of it's hand before giving you some more clues or foreshadowing. I won't talk about the ending but my mind was going in a different direction, still makes sense, though I do wish they tell us what happened after instead of showing it.
As for the characters, May's a pretty goods straight-man for the characters, naturally curious about whats going on and is willing to help people. The other character don't have much personalty except for Doyle who I think is suppose to be comic relief but he didn't make me laugh nor did I like him. Although there is this one part of the story I have a problem with: you have to find an animal to get into the graveyard so May find a dragonfly and said she's gonna take care of it from now on. And when she's done with the graveyard, it's never seen again. How cruel can you be, May.

Gameplay
This is mostly a puzzle game with every character you meet having one to solve. These range from pretty easy to very clever to HOW WAS I SUPPOSE TO KNOW THAT!! The puzzle above  gave me so much trouble and the hints didn't help so I had to find the answer online. Of course, if there's a puzzle giving you too much trouble, you can just do a few bonus puzzles to get hint points, which not only give at least two hints per puzzle(some aren't that helpful), and for fifteen hint points, you can skip the puzzle.
Beside the logic puzzles that involve putting the piece in the right place or writing the answer which are good few of the puzzles, there are also hidden object challenges where you have to find all the objects on a list which I like and a good few of the bonus puzzles are hidden pictures which I don't like.
Also, there are ryhtem games which are the games boss fights. These games require to listen to the music and repeat it depending on the stylus like a simple tap for a short not to holding it with a long one. you can do a practice to see how what to do but what to do but when you play for real, you really need to pay attention to the notes as missing one can put a dent in your score. You ignore a few notes as long as you gt the points to win.

PresentationThe music is a joy to listen to. Not the kind I listen to on its own but it's fine for trying to solve the puzzles. The only one I didn't like was the theme for the Underworld because it was too quiet for me. The rhythm game  music however is all good as you pay attention to repeat the song.
The art style is one off the things that will get a lot of praise from me as I always been a fan of this kind of art design, in fact I think the character design are more memorable than characters themselves. Though I am annoyed that the game and the cover spoil what Midnight Guards look like. We hear about them a lot but we never see them, except for one part and they actually look intimidating.
And finally, the few cinematic we see. The voice acting is okay, nothing bad that will make you you're ears bleed. The animation looks awkward however, I can't tell if they're using 3D or 2D but it just looks wired.

Verdict
Despite being a rip-off, this is a pretty decent game. The one I got was for the DS but I think you can get t on Steam now.
7/10

Ratchet and Clank: Q-Force Review

This may be the last Ratchet and Clank I'll review, not because I haven't played the other games. It's just I don't want to repeat myself and basic gameplay is the same throughout the series. My advice, try the first game and if you like that, get the rest of the series if you want. However, this game is probably the only one I suggest you skip because it's not that good.

Story
It's a quiet day for our trio of heros and Captain Qwark is dying for some action when a masked super-villain calls them and says he's disabled the defense system on THREE planets and has lured invaders to attack. Now it's up to the Q-Force to save the day again.
The one good thing I can say about this story is that the villain felt betrayed for Qwarks actions in the original trilogy and no longer believes there's no such thing as heroes. Other than that, there's nothing here. No character arcs, no emotional scenes or drama, heck, Ratchet and Clank aren't that important to the plot. Though I wouldn't mind it if it was a Qwark story.

GameplayWhile this is still a third-person platform shooter, it's also a tower defense game. You have to get money to but defenses for your base and you have to hack point no the map to get weapons. And every so often, an invasion will occur that you'll have to deal with before you can continue the mission. And I don't like.
Not only that I don't like weapons and money aren't kept for every level, but the constant need to go back to you base to deal with some goons can get annoying real fast. Especially if you were almost at a node and you had to go back and deal with the goons on the other side of the map and then the enemies guarding that node respawn. Also, I would've like a RYNO or any ultimate weapon to deal with the big enemies easier.
While I don't mind length, this game is way too short, with only five levels and 3 maps(I'm not counting the last level as that felt like a real level). And all the levels are the same: get key nodes, restore defense system,  defend base. Rinse and repeat. Also, there's no real penalty for death. You only lose if the base is destroyed.

PresentationThe R&C games have fared quite well graphicly on the PS3, although this game has a noticeable frame-rate drop. The enviroments are nice as always and the voice work is great as always. Still doesn't help it. I don't care for the music either.

Verdict
This game is pointless filler. If you skip it, you won't be missing out.
4/10

Ratchet Gladiator Review

 

“Would you lose your lunch if you had to sit through another reality dating show? Is your “Blargs Gone Wild” scratched from overuse? Then it’s time to turn that dial, to something a little more...Dangerous. Time for some real action. IT’S TIME TO BLOW S&!% UP!” Gleeman Vox

Story

Ratchet, Clank and Al get kidnapped by minions of Gleeman Vox and now have to compete in his reality show to survive.

That’s pretty much it. It’s propably the simplest of the R&C plots. No twist, no grand reveals, just another adventure for our favourite mechanic and his celebrity robot friend. Vox is also one of the smallest scale villains in terms of serious threat. Yes, he was still a madman that needed to be stopped, but he focused on his sales and media than say; destroying the galaxy for selfish needs.

Before I started this review, I lookd on TV tropes and it said that this is a “Darker” game and while the game is more focus on the shooting this time, the story isn’t that dark. Ratchet and Clank always had that black, slapstick comedy like that commercial where we see all those scientists get injured or kill.

Gameplay

Before you begin playing, I recommended picking a control scheme you are comfortable with as you don’t have Clank playing with you this time and the default controls might feel awkward at first. Also I never played the multiplayer with any one so don’t expect any comments on that. Although I will that the levels are clearly design for multiplayer as well.

The levels are divided in into missions. Each can be either: kill all the enemies, get to the exit or capture some points. There also some bonus missions that you can do to get points and go further in the game like race against the clock, do a mission with a handicap, get a certain amount of points and many others.

You can get about ten guns like dual pistols, a mine-launcher, a frail or one of the better nuke weapons, but you can also get omega mods like acid, brainwashing, mini-bombs and the traditional morph. This time is the last three and pigs, and every time you level up a gun, you get an alpha mod which can increase your ammo count or area of effect.  With this, you can customise your guns any way you want like a grenade launcher that turns enemies into farm animals. Of course some mods don’t work with every weapon.

And finally; the vehicles.  There are four in this game: The hoverbike has a machine gun and goes fast. The landstalker is a tank on spider legs. The Puma is a jeep but can’t jump. And the hovership is difficult to steer. At least the levels you use them in play to their advantages.

Presentation

Not much has changed since the last game. Just a different design for the menus and HUD as usual. Ratchet got some battle armour this time and while I don’t it, I don’t like the helmet. The levels all have a different look to them like one is a robot grave yard and after that is a swamp. We even go to Orxon from the first game again and it’s a lot less green which might be a good thing.

Enemies also have distinct look to them and while some of them have some changes, it still the same enemy. It’s if a swarmer has a three spikes or a tail, etc it’s still a swarmer.

Verdict

If you loved those arena levels in R&C’s 2 and 3, then you’re going to enjoy this. Plus vehicles.

8/10