Review: Shadow the Hedgehog (Playstation 2, Gamecube, Xbox)

Alright It's Saturday morning (Around 4:20 to be exact), I'm tired as all hell and I'm watching airplane! (great film, anyone who hasn't seen it should) Anyway time for a review of a great game.
SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG

Once again not much about the game itself, the only other thing I'll say is that the game adopts a "choose your path" adventure with multiple endings.

About the game

Shadow the Hegehog was a third-person shooter released for the three sixth-gen consoles in November of 2005 and follows the story of Sonic's nemisis Shadow (hence the title) on his journey to discover his true identity and his past.

Graphics

This game's graphics are second to none, really demonstrates the capibilities of 128-bit graphics,
every aspect of the graphics fit together and run ever so smoothly, but there is one problem with the graphics however, in some graphically intense areas the game tends to slow down ever so slightly (this is however, a very rare occurence).

My verdict-9/10

Sound

Not too much to say about the sound, sound effects and voice acting are both great, the music is the real let-down, the sound effects can sometime overshadow the music, so I guess it's not really the music's fault but...still...The music is also a bit limited throughout most of the game.

My verdict-8/10

Control

Not really much to report with the control, standard to say the least, the only things I can really complain about is the confusion between X and Y in the heat of the game (that may just be me though) and the lack of reliability in the homing attack which can literally send you off the edge if you're not too careful.

My verdict-8/10

Difficulty

The game's difficulty progresses at a fair rate on thr first run, as you complete different paths however, the difficulty does repeat itself as you choose different paths and obviously becomes a bit too boring after a while.

My verdict-9/10

Length

One path will take up about 1-2 hours depending on your skill and the whole game should take a few weeks to complete which means you get a lot out of this game for your money.

My verdict-10/10

Replay value

Due to the fact that rewards are given for each ending reached and that multiple paths can be achieved, the replay value is outstanding.

My verdict-10/10

My final verdict-54/60-A-Like golden axe this is one of the best games for these formats and has won a place in my top 10 games.

Well thats all I have for now.
Speak to y'all sat.
See you all soon.
TheWardy signing off.

Here it is folks

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present:
FLASH GAME OF THE WEEK
OK let me explain what this segment is all about.
I will be playing kongregate (apologies for the bias) and deciding which one I like the most...almost too simple.
No fgotw this week though, sorry.
Be back sat.
Bubyee.
TheWardy signing off.

Dev blog: Week 4

OK peoples I have good news and bad news:
The good news is that I have scrapped that god awful Game Maker software and found something more appropriate to what I am making: The Scrolling Game Development Kit. So far I've learned a bit about the graphics, tile set, definitions and commands aspect of this and should be ready for screenshots in a month or two...which is the bad news.
So screenshots at the end of March and a beta at the end of April.
See y'all next week.
TheWardy signing off

P.S WOW that was short.

P.P.S I am proud to announce that a new feature will be debuting on the blog on Wednesday, not telling what it is though ;)

P.P.P.S I am still looking for people to help me out with this game, so if you think you could help out in any way (graphics, sound, testing, debugging etc.) Just leave me a comment/message/whatever means of communication you want and I'll get back to you :)

Review: Golden Axe (Arcade, Various formats)

OK before I start with this review I'd like to apologise for the lateness of this review, my internet went down last night and thus I was unable to upload. Sorry.

OK lets do this thing!

About the game

Golden Axe was a side-scrolling hack n slash game released in arcades in May 1989 (Despite the fact the Japanese Mega-Drive version was released in October 1988) and involves 3 warriors who have lost relatives to Death Adder (Some sort of dead snake?). Anyway I won't go into too much depth about the game and focus more on the components.

The game did fairly well in the arcades and was subsequently released onto the Mega-Drive/Genesis, CD and many other consoles and the major home computers (ZX spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC etc.)

Graphics

For a game of it's time the graphics are standard, not too impressive but good, not really much to say there, one complaint I do have is that there is a bit of lag when moving on to the level end boss.

My verdict-8/10

Sound

Again not much to report in terms of sound, very good soundtrack (on the Mega-Drive version anyway), cool sound effects, I especially love the way the sound cuts off when playing the death sounds (even if most people hate it).

My verdict-9/10

Control

OK here's where it really gets annoying, A is magic, B is attack and C is jump which is very confusing because naturally through force of habit you assume the opposite, luckily you can tweak the controls through the options menu before you start so it's not all bad but...damn.

My verdict-7/10

Difficulty

The game's difficulty is fairly progressive as far as I've seen (I have yet to complete it) and even provides a great beginner difficulty (which I have completed) however the beginner difficulty is considerable shorter than the normal game (takes about 15-20 minutes to finish)

My verdict-9/10

Length

I'm gonna take a wild guess based on how far I've gotten and say 75 minutes (give or take), once again beginner mode not too impressive

My verdict-9/10

Replay value

Unless you're making progress (which I am not at the moment) there is not much immediate replay value, however playing it once or twice a day, it is very playable.

My verdict-8/10

My final verdict-50/60-A-One of the best games for the Mega-Drive library and within my top 10 all time games

Well that's that.

Be back tomorrow with more exciting development news.

Until then, take care.

TheWardy signing off.

Dev blog: Week 3

OK once again coursework got the best of me.

But never fear! I am now working on a plot for the game in question.

Also contemplating moving it to the shiny happy fun engine (the one used to make Eversion) seeing as so far I'm having no luck with the controls mess, but at the same time I don't wanna feel like I'm cheating my way through...plus it seems a bit harder.

But anyway the first lot of screen-shots are due out in 1 week, there you will see...not a lot actually.

Another small note I may have to push the beta back a bit 'cause I doubt it'll be ready in time.

Additional note if anyone wants to assist with the making of the game just leave a comment or message me (:

That's all for now.

More next week!

TheWardy signing off.

I need to start writing these earlier

Hey folk of the world wide webb :3,
...Nothing to say.
Another shite post.
Therefore I leave you with a lil promotion.
Are you a gamer? (bit of a stupid question)
Are you in the Liverpool area?
Do you often visit the city centre?
Do you like rewards?
Then get your fat lonely virgin arse down to level up!
Located in Quiggins (35 Renshaw Street, Liverpool) basement.
Anything else you need to know go to www.leveluponline.co.uk or www.facebook.com/levelupgamestore
NOTICE: I am not being asked, nor am I being paid to advertise level up.
Thats all really.
These will improve over time trust me ;)
Bye for now!
TheWardy signing off.

Dev blog: Week 2

Well...this is awkward.

I appear to have made no changes since last week "WHY!" You scream at me looking like you're about to hit me.

OK I have reason:

COURSEWORK!

Had quite a lot of it with the stress to match (Actually lost it last night which was fun *sarcasm*)

But I do have something to provide you pretty folk.

THE LAYOUT!

OK so far there is gonna be 4 worlds each with 3 levels and one boss.

OK so I don't have much but I will have a lot more to present next week....right after I learn how to make the lil blue bastard jump.

If anyone wants to help me that'd be great (Game maker 8 lite running under simple mode)

Well I guess that's it.

Be back Saturday.

Until then.

TheWardy signing off.

It's comming close folks

Thats right the Nintendo 3DS is only one month, 20 days away from release *excitement*
Now lists are appearing over what games we want to see on the 3DS, I have now created my own list.
This excludes all that are going to be there:
Echochrome (I know its a sony title and all but...)
Angry Birds (Once again i know..)
Super mario 64
Pikmin
Some sort of arcade compilation
Perhaps some form of iOS style Guitar Hero (or similar) game?
and Drawn to Life
So whadda you guiz wanna see?
Leave a comment saying which game(s) you wanna see and if you wanna, why?
That's all I think.
Sorry for this being so short and late (again)
Until next time!
TheWardy signing off.