Posted by Oculin in Featured Articles, Originals, Reviews | 0 comments

DPrime Retroview: Sonic the Hedgehog

With Sonic the Hedgehog 4 on the horizon, now is a better time then ever to look back at the classics which it is building off of. The general idea of early Sonic games is that their all speed trips all the way to the end. Despite laying the blue prints of the series, the original Sonic the Hedgehog actually has a much larger focus on platforming rather then speed. If you are coming back to the original title to escape the stop start action of recent entries like Sonic and the Black Knight or the werehog sections of Sonic Unleashed, you will be severely disappointed.

Posted by Oculin in Featured Articles, Nintendo, Originals, Reviews, Wii | 1 comment

DPrime Review: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

When Mario moved into the third dimension with Super Mario 64 it seemed like there was no looking back for console Mario titles, and for almost fifteen years that remained true. Now Mario has finally returned to the second dimension on home consoles with New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but it comes with a bit of a twist adding simultaneous multiplayer which is a first for the series. New Super Mario Bros Wii is also the debut of Nintendo’s Super Guide to help more casual players pull through the game. The additions of these features may give you the impression that New Super Mario Bros Wii is a side scrolling Mario title aimed at casuals, but fortunately that is far from the case.

Posted by Keenan "SuperMario290" in Featured Articles, Originals, PC, Reviews | 0 comments

Half-Life 2 Mod: Post Script Episode Microview

Well I don’t know what happened, but for some reason it took me fucking forever to play through the first part of Post Script, the 5-part episodic mod based on Half-Life 2. So here is a microview (that’s a short review don’tcha know), and I’m going to do one for each episode that’s released.

Okay, so in Post Script you’re left in a post-apocalyptic world, where you explore the world, go through the remains of the town, and explore everything. The game is very puzzle-based, whether they’re easy or not. Everything even from like getting into a building is kind of built into a puzzle no matter how much brain power it takes or not.

Along the way in the game, you are being talked to by Celeste, and you are constantly being referred to as “cherub”. We don’t know much more about this at this point, but the tone in which Celeste talks, how negative but also the tone of her voice when she (I’m assuming)  is talking to you is very unique and clever. Celeste’s narrative also is very real and down to earth, like a real person is talking to you.

Overall the game takes about 15 minutes to complete, it took me 2 months to actually play through and get this post up about (sorry Lewis), but the mod is great and honestly, I’m stoked for the other episodes for Post Script. I really think that this could be the start to something great. Keep it up.

You can download the game at the official Post Script website. Go check it out, download it, and enjoy it.

Posted by Oculin in Featured Articles, Originals, PS2, Retro, Reviews | 0 comments

DPrime Retroview: Space Channel 5

Before rhythm and music games required large plastic accessories many games, like Parappa the Rapper, Vib-Ribbon, and Frequency, just used the normal controllers. Space Channel 5 is much like these titles as it also uses the standard controller. Released on the Dreamcast in 2000, Space Channel 5 was one of the titles SEGA released to try to broaden the audience of the Dreamcast. Their attempt brought to life a simple rhythmic dancing game with a futuristic style that is as unique as it is wacky. While the title is one of the many unique titles SEGA created for the Dreamcast, the question is should you be looking to add this title to your collection or not.

Posted by Oculin in Featured Articles, Originals, Reviews | 2 comments

Dprime Review: Phantasy Star Zero

     Phantasy Star Online was one of the very first console massively multiplayer online role playing games. While the Dreamcast’s life span was short lived, Phantasy Star Online’s life was far from short as it moved to almost every other home console last generation. While Phantasy Star Universe is the first real sequel to Phantasy Star Online, many changes were made that pushed many fans to go back to the original Phantasy Star Online. Now that the fan base is split between Phantasy Star Universe and Phantasy Star Online, SEGA has created a title that goes back towards the original Phantasy Star Online with Phantasy Star Zero for the Nintendo DS. While it sounds all fine on paper, the question is if SEGA can really duplicate the success of the original Phantasy Star Online with this new entry and bring the full experience onto the DS.

Posted by Oculin in Featured Articles, Nintendo, Originals, PC, Reviews, Wii | 0 comments

DPrime Review: Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter 4 The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood

The season finale for Tales of Monkey Island is already available on PC, but those who play it via WiiWare just received the fourth entry in the episodic series, The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood. While the last chapter was a excellent game, some of the puzzles in it were a bit unforgiving. On the bright side, the third chapter on WiiWare was excellent from a technical stand point and featured little to no slow down which the series had been struggling with on the Wii. Can the fourth chapter keep the same smooth gameplay as the third despite being in a more open environment? Or will the massive slow downs from the first chapter make a return?

Posted by jimbaba in Featured Articles, Reviews, Xbox 360 | 0 comments

DPrime Review: Borderlands: Zombie Island

Borderlands new DLC is Doctor Ned’s Zombie Islands. Once you get into a game of borderlands there isn’t anything special you really have to do to start the DLC, you, just walk up to a fast travel machine and pick Jakob’s Cove. You arrive here on your search for the Vault but you are in for a little surprise. Once you arrive you are greeted with a nice comedic story from your old friend Marcus (the bus driver). He says Dr. Ned (that is no way Dr. Zed just in a different disguise) was trying to save people from death but he made flesh eating zombies and your there to stop them.

Posted by jimbaba in Reviews | 0 comments

DPrime Review: Borderlands

Borderlands is a first person shooter/Action RPG with thousands of different guns. But the game isn’t just about guns its also about the open playing field, the four player co-op, and the incredibly addicting missions and game play. There are around two dozen areas that you and three other friends can explore it this game, each with its own missions and bosses. There are also three arenas spread out across the planet where you and your friends can have organized fights. You can gain up to fifty levels and use 45 skill points to gain powers or gun damage or capacity.

Posted by Oculin in Featured Articles, Gaming in General, Nintendo, Originals, Reviews, Wii | 1 comment

DPrime Review: Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3 Lair of the Leviathan

This review focuses on the WiiWare version of the title. Screenshots are from the PC release of Tales of Monkey Island: Chapter Three Lair of the Leviathan. Chapter two’s review can be found here.

     After much delay, Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan finally is available  on WiiWare. By this point in the series it is probably fairly easy to tell whether or not you will like the rest of the series, but Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3 does throw in a few changes that might move some players who are on the fence about buying the third chapter. Will these new changes reignite your pirate spirit? Or will you simply feel it’s an old treasure not worth searching for?

Posted by jimbaba in Reviews | 0 comments

DPrime Review: Star Ocean The Last Hope

Star Ocean: The Last Hope is a console RPG that brings many new aspects to the series. The Last Hope is the fifth installment in the series and takes place just a few centuries before the original Star Ocean. A few years earlier World War III broke out and weapons of mass destruction ruined most of the planet and made the air almost impossible to breath. So the countries united together to form the SRF (Space Reconnaissance Force) with the intentions of traveling to new worlds and finding one habitable to the human race.