There's An App For That!

This week's app is....  NinJump Deluxe

This is an app for people who have a little time on their hands and want to play a short and easy game. Its about playing a ninja where you climb up walls and when you tap on the screen you jump to the other side. Taking out enemies as you go to reach the highest possible point.

Minecraft: 360 Edition

 By: B-Rad G From Malibu

Have you ever seen yourself excited or anxious to get off of a long day of working hard, only to go home and dig up some dirt to build a house or suspension bridge? Me neither. But with Minecraft: 360 edition, you'll never be more stoked to do just that!

Minecraft 360 is part of the XBLA “Next” series. At 1600 MSP ($20 USD) it's defiantly one of the higher priced games on XBLA, but if your a fan of Minecraft or just burnt out on FPS's then a great way to spend a hard earned twenty bucks.

This game only released with the 1.6.6 version of the game but updates are promised soon. This version does have a few bugs in it but most are minor. For example, the sugar canes are solid when you should be able to walk through them. A few with the tall grass in the game like spiders being immovable when hit in tall grass or mobs taking no damage in tall grass. Minor problems with the bucket not actually placing water when you empty it (this happens with Lava, too). But the glitches are few and far between with fixes being worked on now.

They have simplified the crafting in this game over the computer version. Now instead of having to know where to place your raw materials in the crafting table, all you have to do is just pick what you want to make and it adds everything into the crafting table, in the correct location, for you. This is a much better and quicker system over the computer version. Allowing for more time for actually building an amazing world instead of researching how to build single building blocks.

They did limit the size of the maps from the PC version. Giving you only the area that's the size of the map that you carry around. But even on this condensed map size, the playing area is still pretty huge. Giving you more than enough room to build a great sized castle or even a decent sized city.

They did add a lot of very cool features when it comes to Minecraft 360. You can have up to 8 players online in one game. Hopefully this will go up to something like 16 or even 32 players as game updates come out for it in the future. But for now, 8 is a nice number of players, especially cause the maps are huge yet. They have also added 4-player split-screen. This is a very nice thing over PC because chances are that your friends or girlfriends aren't going to want to sit around the tiny computer screen to watch you move around blocks. But, in general, when your buddys come over, you all gather around the tube and play some games. This is a fun way to have everyone get involed in the game but you should never turn down free labor when building your empire! Please note that if you do not have an HDTV you will not be able to play split-screen. This is currently nothing in the works to fix this problem and probably never will be. If you bought this game for this feature in the first week or so of release, Microsoft is offering a full refund of the game if you only have a SDTV.

All-in-all, I really enjoyed this game. I had never played Minecraft before it come out on XBLA, and with everyone telling me it was a game where you dug out a block then put that block somewhere else, I was seriously considering getting new friends because they kept saying the were addicted to this game. After playing the demo for half an hour, I spent the 1600 MSP and was immediately addicted! I promise that you will enjoy this game if you are a gamer.

I'm giving Minecraft 360 a 9.5 out of 10.

Come check out my world or let us check out yours,

Add me on XBL: WelcomParadise

No More Heroes

By: Thegreenback

 

 

 

You play the game as Travis Touchdown going to be the number one ranked assassin. Trying to make some money since you are broke. You hear about a job where you can kill someone for some quick cash. Then you are some how put into a ranked fight with a group called the United Assassins Association. While working with a girl called Sylvia Christel. Where they have some of the best assassins around as you try to battle your way up to reach the top.

The game is a cell shade cartoon type game. As light and darkness play a lot with how things look. Also making it into a last generation graphics game that is blocky on some stuff and melds together with some colors. Some with not many things to look at as you travel either down a hall. Or even out in the main world to get what you need for your next mission. Riding around on your bike or just running looking to see what you can find in dumpsters to be either money or some of your cloths that you can change into. Giving you options to get different gear and look style if bored. 

 

The combat is far the best part of the game as you use your beam katana to slash and cut down anything in your path. While having to stop and charge up the battery you do a very suggestive motion to do so. As you move your wii remote up and down to do either a high attack or a low attack. Some enemies can block your attack so you have to be able to switch when you want to damage them. You can also charge up your attack for a none block hit but leaves you vulnerable and you loose a lot of charge to your katana. When you get them either in a near death of major damage you can do a killing blow. Where you have to swing your remote in the direction on the screen or it fails. Some time you swing your sword and hit an enemy’s weapon at the same time making you do a battle for control if you will then its right to a killing blow. After killing them you get money to upgrade your katana in the middle of ranked missions is optional but wanted.

 

As you go to your ranked fight you get waves of enemies going through the areas looking for the main boss. They get annoying in some area's but you make money and get better practice and hone your skills to take down what’s coming. As you kill them the blood runs everywhere and you say things that can be funny about their deaths. With each death you get a chance to go into dark side mode. Where you have five different types of special attacks for a very short time. Entering it makes you almost unstoppable showing no mercy to anyone. While looking for some spare cash lying around or card to go on your wall. Even wrestling techniques to help in your next battles to take down anyone to stand in front of you.

 

The boss battles are very memorable each having their own unique fighting style. You have to learn quickly how to take them down and when to attack. As they give you a run for your money trying to kill you. Each battle you do gets harder and some more twisted than the last, showing super natural powers to just plain skill. Making you want to do the next ranked battle right away to just see your next opponent. 

 

The overall is that is a violent game with a lot of adult humor. With epic boss battles that make you want to keep going to take on the next one. While killing minions can be fun but gets a bit repetitive. Making you do a lot of side missions to make money that seem taxing after a while. As the cell shade is cool it just feel bland after a while going around the city. And the story isn’t much there just get to rank one and be the best.

So I give the game a 6.9 out of 10

 

~Thegreenback~

Trials Evolution

By: B-Rad G From Malibu

 

You close your eyes and suddenly your falling... The breeze in your face, the wind in your hair, the sheer feeling of total amazement. Then, you open your eyes and realize that your patio door is open and your sitting on your couch playing Trails Evolution. Yeah, it's that good!

This is an XBLA title that is a sequel to a great game, Trials HD. Like it's predecessor, this is a puzzle typed driving game. It has tens of dozens of levels ramping up from beginner to extreme. This game will set you back 1200 Microsoft points. ($15) But you won't find a better or more challenging game that you'll want to spend your points on.

Trails Evo has 1-up'd the graphics. Setting the whole game outside, instead of in a huge warehouse. Giving great scene's ranging from desolate oil fields to a live bomb range complete with an exploding bunker killing your hero after beating it. They have taken this game to a whole new level as far as just the enjoyment that you'll get out of it.

There are very few minor tweaks to the physic's engine, so anyone that has played to first game is going to pick up and go with this game very easily. But even if your new to Trials then it is a very simple control setup. You have gas and brake, and you lean forward or backward to control whether or not you land on your head or wheels.

This game also features a multi-player option that I thought was going to be butched. But I was very happy with it on the release. It's as fun as I hoped it would be. You race side-by-side, 4-deep, on all the tracks that you've raced on and beat in single player. It's a very entertaining way to get a few friends online and really show them how to beat them with a double backflip to endo finish.

Evo also features a slew of mini-games. They have brought back the classics like riding on a death ball. But have also spiced it up a bit by adding brand new mini-games like best ramp or furthest kamikaze launch. Definitely a very addicting time waster. Overall, I was very satisfied with this game, with the addition of online and a broader outlook on single player. I loved it.

I'm giving this game a 8.5 out of 10.

 Game with me! XBL: WelcomParadise

There's An App For That!

This weeks app is... Break.com

This is a great app for anyone with a sense of humor! It features thousands of videos, funny pictures and gallery's that are filled with some of the craziest and funnest stuff on the web. And all of this is at your figure tips... on the go!

Dragon Age: Origins

By: Thegreenback

Dragon Age is a epic save the world from destruction game. As a range of monsters called the "Blight" lead by the Arch-demon goes to kill everyone in their way.

You start by making your character giving you a list of different races to choose from. From being a normal human, elf and dwarf. Each race has a different abilities boost to their stats. Humans are a all around character as much of the world is also human you see how people react to you. Elves are a more magical intoned and a lot of people look down on them thinking they are inferior race. While the dwarves though small are sharp with their tongue and are know for making some of the best weapons around.

Then you can choose your class of a warrior, mage and rouge. Warriors are strong and using stamina can be put with a shield to be made into a damage taking tank, or a great sword to deal major damage. You can also get them into archery abilities so they have a lot of hit points and can deal damage from a distance. As they can switch weapons even in the middle of the fight for changing how the battle is turning out to be. A mage class is about magic with lots of abilities either to do a huge amount of damage to the enemies with your mana abilities. Giving you a wide range of helpful character to destruction making it how you want to choose your way of fighting. The rouge is a sneak class as you can flank an enemy to get extra damage and hide from them as well. They also are the only ones to be able to unlock chest and disarm traps. Deciding to use two handed fighting style to do quick attacks or even archery for the switch to hit far enemies. It may not seem like a lot to choose from but each class has 3 specialization classes to choose from when they reach a certain level. Each one you decide to be gives you a bonus stats boost and skills to that class have varied abilities unique only to that specialization. To change how you want the battle to play out or have a better party to help you out.

After choosing what you want to be class, race and looks it decides what role of the first personal story from one out of six you will be playing. Some you can decide what you want to be. To be drafted into the Grey Wardens to stop the Blight and fight for the people.

Leveling up you’re your players you can pick passive abilities to help you see what’s coming to how you talk to people getting more of an option of how to play the game. As some will need you to keep adding points to get the higher, stronger abilities.

The fighting style can be one sided from having lots of mages to do big area attacks, but not being able to take hits. You can also have warriors dealing attacks but not being able to heal without potions. So trying to find the middle ground up to the player of how he wants the party to be having up to four members. Able to switch between them at any point picking the ability or spell you want at that time or wanting them to attack a certain opponent. You can also pick the tactics you want to your party to have when you are not in the middle of a fight. Giving them a personal fighting style when you are not using them or using one of the lists the game already has available. As it can be a bit of a challenge making sure you all live. The bosses in the game are a range from to a band of thieves that want what you have to epic dragon battles that test the limits of your party swatting you around like your flies bothering it.

The story is a semi open world letting you go to where you want to start a story to have people help you battle to stop the Blight. Giving you a lot of choices of dialog and decision making options gives it a lot of replay value. You have quests and side quests with multiple endings or how you hold your party. By what you choose or do affects how your party sees you and will like or dislike making some more willing to help with you’re fighting or others might just leave and never come back. Also picking how you want to be will affect how saving the world happens some could be good and could come back to haunt you.

Some of the game has small glitches from a few items disappearing or that you will die a little faster then normal cause the health bar didn’t work just right. But all and all not many glitches to be seen in the game. As for the look of graphics can go from very nice to a cluster to look at.

Playing the game is very fun making you want to have the best party you can make. Wanting you find epic gear to take down anything that stands in your way. Boss battle can be hard and make you want to figure out how to take them down. Wanting you to pick the best skills and abilities to fit you fighting style as you level up through the game. So it’s a good game with a lot of replay value to see how things turn out. With a 6 different starting stories to what you pick for you character.

So I give the game 8.4 out of 10

~Thegreenback~

There's An App For That!

This week's app is... Voxer!

Voxer is a great app that can be used not only through Apple's App Store but also available on almost every smart phone out right now. It is a app that uses a walkie-talkie function. Letting you connect to everyone using the app from your friends list on Facebook. Turning bland conversions using ":)" into hearing the other persons voice and actually :)!

Wii Fit

By: Thegreenback

   

The Wii fit is an odd kind of game. It tries to show you different positions of either yoga, fitness, balance or acrobatics to make your body move. You first start out choosing your age, height and weight to figure out how to make you get more active. Unlocking more activities and mini games with the more time you play.

You can also choose your trainer that will show you how to do the positions. Giving a demo if you need and will do the motions with you. As you stand on a flat white platform that keeps track of your weight movement to make sure you’re doing the right thing with-in the parameters. Allowing you to get to use your personal Wii characters and see them change with your body weight. Keeping your trainer doing the actions with you assuring you that you’re doing ok or need improvement. As the remote is mostly just used for picking the game that you want to do.

Yoga stretches you and shows how to balance with relaxation. Keeping up with your trainer while moving around. While the fitness gets to do more activities with either push-ups to jackknives keeping a much faster pace. The balance is more of short mini games that can get you moving or just an easier pace.

It’s a very easy jump on, jump off, game that almost any age can use. It does not leave to big of a selection to choose from. Most of the games to unlock take a long time so you have to put a bit of effort into it. It also has a hard time figuring out whether or not your standing on the mat sometimes. With the basic Wii graphics, it's not a stand out type of game.

It is a nice simple game with easy graphics. The Wii mat will lighten up your wallet which is a big throwback to this game. Leaving it to be a game of all ages. Kids and casual gamers will like this game more than the hardcore gamers will.

So I will give it a 4.6 out of 10

~Thegreenback~

Dante's Inferno

 

By: Thegreenback

 

Dante's Inferno is a remake of the old poem of his love taken to hell as he goes to save her from the Devil. Some of the good points about the game are that it handles a lot like god of war and even has some of the same feel for a lot of places. With the same fast paced acting to getting though some situations as well as light and heavy attacks, dodge, magic, grabs, jumps and then a weapon called “The Cross.”

A good thing about it is the skill tree, depending on if you punish or absolve your enemies. Say if you stick to one side of the tree, you will get much better at doing that kind of attack. Like using The Cross to kill enemies from afar also when you kill them you get more mana so that you can do a lot more of your magical abilities. Then if you use the more of the “punish” side of your abilities you do a lot more damage with your death scythe. After killing them you get health orbs to make it so you can keep your carnage going. Some of the magic abilities are nice with some spells that kill just about everything in one shot. But others are not so good that don't really seem to help and just get annoying.

The game is very action paced, not really letting up. Going through the different levels of hell you feel how they change from creepy to sad then just odd. Getting to see the different areas are nice and you feel that it’s a version of hell. Seeing the people stuck in the wall screaming for you to help them as you climb over their bodies to find your love. As you fight varied monsters and demons some of them stay in a certain place, and you get different kinds of enemies on different levels going through the game. But near the end you feel a slight repeat of the enemies that you fight. There is also some puzzles that take a moment to figure out, others are just simple and can be figured out at a glance. As you play, looking around for souls that have become lost in the layers of hell, and you can determine if they should stay in hell or go to heaven for their miss deeds. Also choosing their fate, either punish or absolve, makes it go to your skill points. Doing the punish side you end it quickly then move on but absolve you do a little mini game to get the max points you can.

Some of the boss battles in the game are memorable. Like when you start off and in the first 5 minutes you battle the Grim Reaper. That put up a good battle showing you who is boss. One of the hardest bosses, it definitely takes a few tries. But it's great practice for the rest of the game once you get the hang of it. Other bosses were varied from hard to kind of easy. Most of the bosses didn't leave a lasting impact, as there were too many quick time effects and seemed over used.

What did suck is that the game is very short even the first play through I got done in about 6 hours. Then you’re asked if you want to do it again with the skills you have learned, making it wanting you to do a replay. But if you do it cuts out the Reaper fight and the first bit of the game putting you right in the Limbo stage. So as far as replay value goes it’s not really worth it in my opinion. Anther feature they put in is after you beat it you can go to the arena, to test what you know and fight though the 50 waves of enemies with a time limit. So you start out with about 3 minutes and if you kill them quickly you get more time added. So if you keep your cool and know how to take enemies down you will not have to much trouble to keep the waves going.

So the overall review I would give is that its fun for a bit but gets repetitive. Most of the bosses are not that hard, or make you want to battle a few of them again. As the story goes its very light just go save your girl from the devil that’s about it. The combat is swift fast paced but not that varied.

So a rating score out of 5.0 out of 10

~Thegreenback~

There's An App For That!

This weeks app is... Draw Something!

This is a social game that is between either your facebook friends or just random people from within the game. It is, simply put, Pictionary for the modern family!
It's is great fun. Super addicting. And just all around a good game for your iPod collection!

Fable 3

By Thegreenback

Fable 3 is the third game of the series, starting with the first on the original Xbox. Taking after the second fable where your father became the king of Albion and you’re his offspring. The story is much deeper then the previous Fables. Where it seems you keep doing stuff to help your way though the game story. The story is very compelling making you want to do the next mission just to see what will come up next. As the people you meet and get to know become more involved than ever before, making you want to know about the people of Albion and help them and have them work with you. As you may have to help them through the areas, taking their hand instead of making them follow you. It makes so you don’t have to wait for them to come to you or the character run off into the middle of a fight. But you get slowed down and have to let them go or get hit by enemies. It's a little annoying.

 There are a number of glitches in the game. Some of them being the trail to find stuff will disappear for a bit and you don’t know the way to get to the spot. Also the people get very quiet and sound distant unless you crank up the sound system or having trouble to get the hand of someone your trying to help lead. But they are few to be seen in the over all scale of the game. As most of it is smooth and looks good with either combat or the cut scenes. But others you can see the game load it as it plays leaving a "Whoa, what?" 

The combat has gotten a lot smoother. You can hit an enemy with a sword then shoot the guy right behind him with a gun, with just a simple push of a button. As your dog will attack your fallen enemies or smash their head with your hammer, or stab them in the chest for the final blow. While the magic system become cool but very limited. You can take one spell and weave it with another to make it a unique, but you only get up to 12 spells max, way less then all of the other spell then you could do in the predecessors. Making the spells you do become your own style of fighting but repeatable. The other, is that you can only have one spell on at that time, you cant switch unless you go to the menu and change it. Giving a drag to wanting to make different spells happen. Leveling up your character is different, too. No longer using, say a gun, then getting better at your ranged skills and leveling that area. Now all things from enemy kills to getting to know your people all goes into one lump sum called Guild Seals. So you can no longer get great at one class anymore, just making an all will user or ranged or melee based. Making all kind of characters just about all around the same type. Though if you find a weapon you can do a certain requirements that it tells you to get special powers on your weapon of choice. Turning your weapon into a killing machine as all your weapons and spells level up with you leaving you not needing to keep upgrading to better ones.

Now the bosses in the game are a little different. You know when you’re fighting one and even get an entrance to when it’s going to start. But after you defeated the boss they will show up later in the game. Just as a harder enemies but not making the value of the boss unique anymore. Losing of how you may have defeated it earlier in the game and now just losses its value. 

The interactions of your character and of other people you meet either in missions or on your way just roaming around. You can select the person you want to have an interaction with, then chose either to be good or evil and even now just funny or neutral. Giving the people of Albion a different outlook on your Hero. But you only do one on one, never doing the big crowds to see how many you can get to give you attention. Also there is no longer trying to get people to know who you are, everyone seems to know. They also changed up how you have a family or adoption or have your own like the old way in fable 2.

The enemies get smarter and some harder. Being the funny with how bandits attack you or how Hobbs want to kill you. Changing some of the old ones into new fighting styles, but also removing others from the other games making you wander if you will see them or not. As you figure out how to handle the combat styles and what fits you.

Then they also added a new feature that changes some of the game. You can play online with other people either joining their game or them to yours. Also you can just jump on a local game as a henchman. It can give you a different way to take on enemies, an example: a melee fighter hitting an enemy as the other hits them from a distance with magic. Leaving an over-the-top view so that you can see both characters, but you cant travel to far away so you can get stuck if you playing side to side players. You can also do the same interactions and even marry them and have a kid. The game even pushes you to play online so if you want to get all of the achievements, you have to. So for the people that play no online features you can play just as normal, but you can’t ever get 100% game completion.

So, the over all is that it’s a good game that is fun to play. With a good story that keeps you going and nice combat system though tends to feel lacking. As you feel some of the game wanting to stretch out in many different directions. Not quite choosing a role of what the game wants to be, making it a little confusing of how you want to be in the game. Being either good or bad or even in the middle for choices, for you to do a replay value to see what would happen if done another way.

So I give the game a 7.8 out of 10.

~Thegreenback~

There's An App For That!

 

This weeks app is.... Angry Birds!

It is the most widely bought video game EVER! Sold more games than COD, or Halo, or even Mario Bros. And now with tons of shirts, stuffed animals, board games and even shower curtains, It's time we honor these little pig killers.

Trials HD

By B-Rad G.

 

 

Remember when you were a kid and you had all your Hot Wheel cars? You would take your books and make little ramps out of them. Take empty soda cans and see how many you could jump over. Always leaving one at the end that you knew you couldn't make just to see the demolition and mayhem. Trails HD brings that child hood fun to your Xbox 360.

Trials HD is an XBLA title that is not only driving but a puzzle-styled game. And puzzling it is! It comes with close to 50 levels ranging from beginner to extreme. There is also DLC that is out for it now, adding to the massive amount of levels already in the game. Also, it has an array of terribly fun and addicting mini games. They range from height and long jump to staying inside or on top of a rolling metal sphere of death. Greatly entertaining for a few hours or drunken nights with friends.

For 800 points, this is a very well put together and just outright, a good, fun game. With hours of play-time (and DLC) this is a very good time waster or drunken challenge game.

This game does have it's downfalls though. With every level taking place in a huge warehouse, there is very little scenery. The create-a-track mode is very limited and difficult to make anything worth actually playing on. Trails is only a single player which does not make it a good choice for having friends over or a sibling. The only way to compare yourself to friends is a dot at the top of your screen showing how far ahead or behind them you are. There is a leaderboard for all tracks and mini games that shows times and scores. So you can also use that to rank yourself within your friends list.

Overall, I enjoyed this game. I still play it anytime I'm thinking I'm more awesome than last time and can finally make that seemingly impossible jump. It is defiantly worth the 800 points you'll invest into it.

I'm giving it a 7.5 out of 10

Atleast try the demo!

~B-Rad G From Malibu~