Apps Plus

Recommendations of the Week: March 7th

2012-03-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to another edition of Recommendations of the Week. As most of you already know, Apps Plus just turned one last week, so let's see if this week's recommendations are any wiser.

Games: Deus Ex Human Revolution:

Okay it's not often, in fact it never happens, when I recommend something that I don't own, or haven't played/whateverd a lot before hand. But I'm making a rare exception for this. I was playing Deus Ex with Hatok the other day, and even though we only had time to play it for half an hour, I immediately knew that this game is well worth buying. So I'm recommending that everyone goes out and picks up a copy of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but don't show you're friends. Otherwise you might not be seeing them much on account of how much time they'll be devoting to this game.

Activities: Skiing

You may or may not know this, but I am an avid skier. I usually ski constantly during the ski season each year, although I've been really busy this year and haven't been up to the mountain as much. So I've skied in every possible type of weather condition, and I know that around this time of year is when the skiing, in my opinion, gets really good. This is the time of year right when we're getting into spring and the snow is a little softer, and the mountain's base is nice and high, and the weather tends to be sunny and warmer as compared to say December/January skiing. So I recommend that everyone try to get up the mountain soon and soak in some sun, and eat some fresh pow.

BONUS: Angry Birds Space Part 2

2012-03-06T16:22:00.000-08:00

Okay first of all let me start by saying if you haven't read my post about Angry Birds Space from a few weeks ago quickly head over to check it out first by clicking here. So now that you've read that and you know how Rovio announced that a new Angry Bird game called Angry Birds Space that will be coming out Marcch 22, you're ready to here the follow up. As I said in the previous post, I will be making posts every time that any more information becomes available about this game. And just the other day more info. was released.

So Rovio has made some more videos and claims now that there will be an "official announcement" on March 8th about this game. And supposedly there have been things said/shown that link this game with the Samsung Galaxy Note phone which makes people think that this game could possibly be an exclusive to the Note, or that it will at least come out on the Note first. Nobody really knows at this point what exactly is going on with the game.

Rovio has gone kind of overboard with hyping up this game. I mean yes it is a new Angry Birds app and it will probably an instance hit, selling millions of copies and making Rovio even richer then it is already. But if you head over to Rovio's YouTube channel and check out the "teaser" videos you'll realize that they are kind of beating it to death. But that's my opinion, and I'd love to hear yours.

For now just keep checking back here and on March 8th I'll probably do a post about whatever the "official announcement" is about this game.

Anniversary BONUS: Recommendations

2012-03-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to another day in our week long celebration here at Apps Plus. If you're not aware it's our first year anniversary here, and all of us here are celebrating a great year. Today I recommend some things on the blog that you might want to check out.

Brick Wars:

If you haven't checked it out, Brick Wars is App Plus' very own webcomic based off of Star Wars. Our very own writer Cake Loving Artist has been making one a week, with some minor interruptions, for the last year. If you want to check out all the of the Brick Wars comics made, you can head on over to the Brick Wars page on the blog right here. Of course Brick Wars recently left the blog for it`s own blog, and if you want to check out that blog you can find it right here.

BONUS Posts:

If you haven`t seen any of the BONUS posts then you can check out our recently updated page right here which acts as an archive of every BONUS post we`ve made. What are BONUS posts you might ask. Well they are any and everything. And we have big plans for BONUS posts starting soon, so keep checking back.

App Reviews:

Click here to get a list of all the App Reviews that I`ve ever made. Also on the page is a list of the App Bites that we`ve done as well as the Special reviews and Apps + App - `s.

Anniversary BONUS: Ernesto Looks Back

2012-02-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to the First year Anniversary of Apps Plus week. Today I take a look back at some of my favorite posts of the year.

Most Viewed Ernesto Guillermo Post: E3 Coverage: Microsoft Conference

First Ernesto Guillermo Post: First Post

First App Review: Minigore

Favorite Ernesto Guillermo Post: Angry Birds Rio

Anniversary BONUS: The History of Apps Plus

2012-02-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

Happy anniversary everyone! If you've been checking out the blog over the last few days then you'll know full well that this is the official Apps Plus First Year Anniversary week. For those of you who have just joined us here at Apps Plus, you might be curious to know how the whole thing got started. Well here is a brief history of the blog.

Back in January of 2011, Hatok, Cake Loving Artist, and I had the idea to start a blog. I had the idea to do a blog about apps because at the time I was obsessed with apps and played them constantly. So I started writing some draft reviews and decided that I actually could do this. So on February 26th, 2011 I started the blog goodappreviews.com. I had originally named the blog that because the whole premise of the blog was that I would be reviewing good apps, because I had the idea that no one wanted to waste their time reading about apps that suck, they want to read about apps that they might actually want to buy.

So once a week I would release a review of an app that I thought was really good. And I would also release one more post a week that would be whatever I liked. Those posts were later dubbed 'BONUS' posts.

Then Cake Loving Artist got involved and started making Brick Wars posts once per week. Then Hatok also joined the team and covered the videogame department. A few of our other friends wanted to make posts too, and this is when we realized that the blog wasn't just good app reviews anymore, and thus the name Apps Plus came about.

So that is a quick little history of how Apps Plus got started. Hopefully that was informative. Keep checking back all week for more Anniversary posts.

Introducing: Sleigh Belle

2012-02-27T01:00:00.000-08:00

Debuting just in time for the anniversary, a brand new staff member, who shall go by the moniker 'Sleigh Belle' She will be providing us with both a whole new comic series, as well as the occasional review. Without further ado, here is the first of the comics!

Brick Wars Posts

2012-02-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

In case you missed them, here are all the Brick Wars comics that were posted this past week!

Episode 23:

Episode 24:

Episode 25:

Episode 26:

Episode 27:

Episode 28:

Remember to check out http://brickwars1023.wordpress.com/ for updates on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday!

Happy Anniversary, Apps Plus!

2012-02-26T00:00:00.001-08:00

It's crazy to think it's already been a year. This turned out better than we could have imagined, and it's only going to get better from here; we've got big plans!

Keep an eye out for some anniversary bonuses over the next while, the first of which debuts tomorrow!

Final Fantasy XIII-2

2012-02-26T00:00:00.000-08:00

Where is Final Fantasy going? It's obvious that there are some varying creative minds on Square Enix's team, each with different idea of where the series should go. Nowadays, it seems fairly clear that a game that has Final Fantasy stuck to it is one of these things: A game that has a lot of money backing it, and thus needs a large return on the investment, a game that may completely pass under the radar unless it has a name backing it up, or a remake of Final Fantasys oen through six... and ten. So, to me, Final Fantasy XIII didn't feel like an actual Final Fantasy game, it shared very little with any other series, beyond item and location names, and Chocobos. But its sequel, the subject of this review was obviously a Final Fantasy game from the start, and it feels like it.
Honestly, that's probably the best reason to buy it, it's a brand new Final Fantasy game that actually feels a fair bit like a Final Fantasy game, with sidequests, optional story bits, familiar faces. Even the tone has shifted dramatically from its predecessor, for better or for worse.
Here's the thing, Final Fantasy XIII-2 improved most things, and changed the rest, and it's the changes, and your opinion of XIII that will make or break it for you. See, the combat is better (Though the loss of the additional four party members that adorned XIII are missed at times) utilizing some new mechanics, and introducing them to you at a rate that would be blindingly fast the XIII's standards. See, in this game, you get perhaps an hour of tutorial (Even then, really only a few minutes are actually used to explain things, and that's only if you choose to actually view the tutorials) while originally, nearly the entire game was a tutorial, focusing mostly on story, and the last ten percent of the game actually let you use explore, both in terms of gameplay, and by actually giving you a large area to explore (Which had been absent until that point) And during that last ten percent of the game, the story became much more ambiguous, less focused. I feel that the entirety of Final Fantasy XIII-2 has been created with the mindset of that final tenth of the game.
Personally, I love it. But this is coming from a person who can stomach the mythos of Kingdom Hearts fairly easily, it's very easy to see many reason why a person would dislike the lack of focus in the story. But don't let that throw you just yet; at some point during the story, your questions will probably be answered (A new mechanic in the game lets you choose from four random responses at certain points in the game. Each potential response is treated respectfully, with a lengthy dialog byte for each, this does a great deal to explain various plot points, but unfortunately, you can only choose one at a time, you would have to replay the entire chapter to explore new options. That said, the game does give you plenty of reason to replay chapters, if you're into that sort of thing.) if not during the main story, perhaps from a hidden cutscene in a secret location, or in the many, many, MANY bits of flavour text found throughout the game, the best of which are the games main collectible; fragments. Fragments are gotten for completing sidequests, beating monsters, and from certain event scenes, each one grants you some experience points, an entry that goes over a portion of story, and completing a collection of specific types of fragments also lead to unlocking new abilities, such as increased rare monster encounters, extra EXP, a floating jump, an ability that lets you play this when you ride a Chocobo... yeah.
If your question still hasn't been answered, then it'll probably be answered through DLC. Yeah. Three bucks for an alt costume? Seriously?
But here's another thing, much in the vein of Final Fantasy X-2, most of this games content is optional, you might want to at least wait for a price drop if you're not prepared to seek out sidequests, or visit the games ten unlockable locations.
And that's basically it. Sorry this turned out a bit lengthy, not sure if I should write more or less...

Oh, and about the ending, I think I'll have ti save that for later, it's a topic in and of itself!

Despite what you may have been lead to believe, Lighting is not the focus of this game

The gameplay is better, it still runs on autopilot, however. You actually do need to use the paradigm shift mechanic early in the game this time though, so there's that I guess...

Another! Brick wars update.

2012-02-21T16:59:00.004-08:00

Okay, now this is embarrassing...

The new Brick Wars site (http://brickwars1023.wordpress.com/ if you don't know) now has another comic up.

That's more than I put out in...three weeks I suppose...

So the Phantom Modeller has asked me to let all of you know this so that you don't miss out on the updated comics.

He's obviously doing a way better job than me in the updates department... :/

Update to Brick Wars site

2012-02-20T21:02:00.002-08:00

My colleague, the Phantom Modeller, has asked me to post here that he has updated his Brick Wars site again.

So go on over to http://brickwars1023.wordpress.com/ to see the new comic of today.

It was definitely a good decision to hand over control--I see the amount of comics has increased already!

IMPORTANT BRICK WARS UPDATE

2012-02-19T22:49:00.000-08:00

Sooo...it's been a long time, hasn't it? Almost 2 months, eh?

Well, I have both good news and bad news regarding Brick Wars.

The bad news, is...well, I'm unable to update comics with any sort of regularity any more.

BUT

The good news is that I have found someone who can!

Though he doesn't want to do it on this site, for he's got his own all set up on Wordpress... :/

Anyway, I will still be able to contribute ideas to the comic, so you won't lose any of the lovely humour that is the mainstay of this comic...I think... :)

Well, I suppose that's about it.

Um, here's the link to the Phantom Modeller's (as he prefers to call himself, though who am I to complain) site, where he has updates the latest Brick Wars, #23.

http://brickwars1023.wordpress.com

I'll still be able to contribute around this blog occasionally, so do not worry!

See ya.

App Points: Tonberry Chefs

2012-02-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Today I want to talk about one of my personal most perplexing moments in my life. Not just in videogames, but in any work of fiction I've encountered (Besides fanfiction) This moment is located in the early middle progression of the Gamecube Game Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles. First of all, for those who don't know, Crystal Chronicles is an action based Final Fantasy spin off, the idea is that you visit three dungeons each year, in order to collect dew from a sacred tree, which can be used to power the crystal that protects your village. Each droplet of dew is found at the end of a dungeon. One of these dungeons, Moschet Manor, has the most baffling setup I'v seen, but without further ado, have a look at the prologue:

Every Dungeon starts off with a blurb to set the tone of the dungeon... this one is based around dinner? I wonder what's for dinner?

Sounds reasonable.

Okay, so then what happens?

Now you kill them. The objective of this dungeon is to find and kill every Tonberry Chef in the Manor. Why? No clue. So after a romp around some unnecessary weight based switches all of the lizard mascots have all been dispatched.

Enraged that his dinner hasn't been prepared, Jack Moschet, the owner of the mansion, bursts from his door, and searches for the blame.

So how does he find out you did it anyways? Does he just guess? Nope!

The ghosts of the Tonberrys manifest to finger the blame on you.

And with that... thing... that just happened... a boss battle occurs. After slashing Jack and his wife up a bit, Jack flies into a rage and runs away from his mansion, his wife in pursuit, presumably trying to cheer him up. And now the hero can collect his reward... for some reason.

"All I wanted was a sandwich!"

Seriously, what's the story behind this level? There's no explanation given for the players actions, and there is no reason why they shouldn't be able to simply waltz into the mansion and take the dew, there is no reasoning that implies that you should seek and destroy the Tonberrys, besides the fact that they are monsters, the same goes for the bosses of the area, who seem to be more in the right than the player (You broke into their mansion and murdered their chefs, in order to raw them out, so you could attempt to to do THEM in, all in order to steal from them)

Quite simply, this is a strange moment in gaming history, and it will most likely remain an unanswered mystery fro all time

BONUS: More Angry Birds!

2012-02-17T21:38:00.000-08:00

Guess what people of the Internet, the time has come for yet another Angry Birds game, but this time Rovio is taking the birds out to space. Coming March 22 is the new Angry Birds game called Angry Birds Space. The game is said, by Rovio, to be a "completely new game with innovative new features but with some of the familiar Angry Birds elements that fans already know and love- plus some surprises". Now there is a really short teaser trailer out, but it doesn't show any game play or even hint at what the game would be like. You can check it out on YouTube here if you'd like.

So we really don't know what to expect with this new game. I'm guessing that they are going to throw in something completely new like some powerups. They might even abandon the 2-D sidescroller type style and do some fancy 3-D stuff. How will they do that? Who knows, it's all speculation at the moment.

Rovio is going to be releasing more teaser trailers leading up to March 22, so we'll just have to wait for those to see what this game is going to be like. So until then just keep checking back here at Apps Plus and I'll be reporting all about this game as more information becomes available.

BONUS: Happy Valentines Day

2012-02-14T21:41:00.000-08:00

All of us here at Apps Plus would like to wish you guys all a Happy Valentines Day and we hope that you all got enough chocolate to make you sick and had a feast for dinner.

As a little side note, if you read the Recommendations of the Week post that I made today you would know that I mentioned that there were no new Angry Bird Valentine themed levels out, something that they did last year. Well sure enough Rovio has done something. No it's not Valentines levels, but a whole new game, or at least a whole new platform with some little differences. It's called, Angry Birds Facebook. Yes it's been known for a while now that Angry Birds was coming to Facebook, but now the game is finally out, and there are some cool new things. First of all there are Facebook exclusive levels, so it's not entirely like the ones you've already played. As well there are also new power ups, which I'm really excited to check out.

So once again have a great Valentines Day, and if for whatever reason you find yourself bored over the next little while, then I suggest checking out the Angry Birds Facebook game.

Recommendations of the Week: Feb 14th

2012-02-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hey there, ready for another edition of Recommendations of the Week? Good I thought so. "Wait a sec", you might say, "it's only Tuesday". Yes you're right, very astute of you, and normally Recommendations of the Week come out on Wednesday, but today's recommendations are Valentines Day themed. Fancy eh. Let's begin.

Food: Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate

What better to eat on a day about love then chocolate. Personally when I was a kid Valentines Day was always one of my favorite holidays because I have a massive sweet-tooth when it comes to chocolate. And on Valentines Day I used to get chocolate after chocolate after chocolate, and not just the crappy dollar store types either, but the good stuff, like from Purdy's. So I recommend that everyone eats at least three pounds worth of chocolate today, and for all you people watching your weight, relax a little, eat some chocolate.

Activities: Feast

I think I've said this for every holiday themed Recommendations of the Week but it's a great idea to have a big feast for dinner. I'm a huge food guy and one of my biggest passions is cooking, so that could possibly explain all the food themed recommendations. But anyways just make sure that you have a big feast for dinner on Valentines Day, it doesn't really matter what you have, I've found that there isn't really a typical Valentines Day meal. Personally I think it's a good time to try some international food, or at least some "Americanized" international food, like some Chinese food, or Greek food. Mmm got to love that Greek food.

Gaming: Angry Birds?

Since this is a primarily gaming blog it only makes sense to have a gaming recommendation, so here it is. Angry Birds. But wait, we have a problem. There are no new Angry Birds Valentine Day levels! This is the first holiday in, well, a year that Rovio didn't make a special themed level pack for and put on the app Angry Birds Seasons! What is the world coming to! In fact I haven't seen even close to the amount of Valentines Day themed updates come out for games this year as compared to last year. In fact out of the current Top 25 Paid and Top 25 Free apps in the App Store, only one of them is Valentines Day related/themed. Anyways this is just something that I wanted to comment on.

And that's all for this week's Recommendations of the Week, have a great Valentines Day!

App Bites #24: Words With Friends

2012-02-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to this week's App Bites, today we talk about the official Android app for the very popular Facebook game Words With Friends.

Words With Friends:

Everyone knows about Words With Friends. It's one of the most popular Facebook games ever, and you can get apps for it on pretty well every operating system. I have an Android phone, thus subsequently I use the Android OS version of the app. Since the app is pretty much the exact same across all platforms, minus a few minor aesthetic things, I'll just give a general review of the app. Personally I love Scrabble (for those of you who don't know what Words With Friends is, it's a scrabble game that you play with your friends, hence the title) and so when I found out that there was an app for it that I could use to play with my friends, i was pretty happy. There are of course other Scrabble apps including the actual official Scrabble brand Scrabble app, but Words With Friends is by far my favorite. The whole layout and everything just works really well. So if you want to play Words With Friends but aren't near a computer then download the app here (and here for iOS).

Recommendations of the Week: Feb 8th

2012-02-08T00:00:00.001-08:00

Welcome back to another edition of Recommendations of the Week, today we look at some random stuff. Let's begin.

Tablets: Playbook

Everyone knows how Black Berry and R.I.M. are basically on the cusp of succumbing to death, and many people also are aware of how absolutely poor the Black Berry tablet also called the Playbook has sold, so it's no surprise that R.I.M. is reporting to drastic measures. Approximately a month ago R.I.M. decided to completely slash the cost of the Playbooks just to clear inventory, they basically are selling them at a loss. And for some reason it took me till this week to realize that this is a golden opportunity to get my hands on a tablet. If you have read my previous recommendations you'd know how much I love the Kobo Vox (an e-Reader tablet made by Kobo). Of course one of the things about the Vox that most appealed to me was the price tag- a mere $199. Sure as far as tablets go it isn't the greatest, but it is Android and it is cheap. But the Playbook, which never was really a terrible tablet, it is actually fairly decent, it just had a price tag similar to other must better tablets. Now that the prices on the Playbook have been slashed to $199 you basically can pick up an absolutely amazing tablet considering the price. It has the price points of a Vox with the other bonuses of a more expensive tablet. So I am now seriously considering purchasing one, and I recommend that you do too.

Nicki Minaj: Stupid Hoe:

No I'm not calling Nicki Minaj a stupid hoe, Nicki Minaj is actually one of my favorite artists ever, and I liked her since her first mixtape, of course now she's become main stream and basically created a new genre of music-- pop-rap. I loved all of Minaj's original songs, but lately there has been a trend of terrible received releases. Her first single for her new record was called 'Roman in Moscow' and was received very negatively. I actually kind of enjoyed the first half of it, but then by the end I found myself agreeing with popular consensus. Then most recently she came out with a music video for her song 'Stupid Hoe' and man oh man is this song being hated on. The problem that I've found though is that single Minaj has become mainstream, way more people have been watching her. By that I mean that everyone watches Nicki Minaj, not just fans. You can look up thousands of down right terrible songs on YouTube and look at the like/dislike bar and see that only maybe one percent of the bar is filled with dislikes. How can this be? The song is terrible. Well it's because only fans of that band look up the song, whereas with Nicki Minaj now everyone looks her up. So this is my theory behind why here new song is so hated, I personally kind of like it. And sure there are more then 350 000 dislikes at the moment, but there are also 170 000 likes, and those come from the fans- like me. So before you jump on the band wagon and hate on her new song, take a moment to consider things.

And I realize that things got a little off topic for these week's recommendations of the week, but I've just been itching to express my opinions on the matter.

App Points: DLC Deconstruction

2012-02-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

So... sorta missed the first day of App Points...
Here's a general explanation; App Points are topics we want to discuss that don't really fit into another category.
For this first post, I'll be talking about DLC.
I'll be drawing from a few different sources, but it shouldn't be hard to follow.

I'm sure most people know what DLC is by this point. Short for Downloadable Content? Adds tiny bits of content to games? Can easily cost more than the game itself? Is often content already in the game, but was cut to make a bit of cash? Sound familiar?

DLC costs far more than it should. This is especially strange considering the recent surge of the popularity of cheap apps. Consider each piece of DLC to be the developers idea of how that content is worth relative to their game, here are some examples.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
The first piece of DLC allows two new enemies to be fought and recruited for use in battle. This package costs $2.99 (North America) which sounds inoffensive enough, right? But consider if you will that the game already features well over one hundred of these already. Based on that, shouldn't the game cost well over three hundred dollars? Never mind that the game has all manner of DLC planned, such as costumes. This further puts a price tag every bit of content the game has to offer.

But perhaps a more specific example is needed?

inFAMOUS 2
The game places each DLC ability at $0.99, considering the game features nearly forty abilities, as well as several unlisted abilities, that alone places the game at its current value, $39.99, but there are also DLC costumes, which further bump up the price. Most offensively however, are the additional missions that can be purchased, missions that activate for a free, user generated system, even at just $0.99, that's just silly.

But there are worse offenders

Call of Duty Black Ops
$15 is simply too much for a scant four maps. It's that simple. Buying the three map packs puts you back nearly the cost of the game at full price. Quite simply, you're better off buying the next year's CoD, which will inevitably have more content for your dollar than the DLC will.

Bonus Day: February 3rd Delayed

2012-02-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

This bonus post has been delayed due to technical problems, but should be up soon.
Sorry.

App Bites #23: Shortyz Crosswords

2012-02-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Hey it's Ernesto Guillermo and I'm back! I'll be trying as hard as I can to pump out posts, however like Hatok said the other day, I literally have no free time any more so it's becoming harder and harder to make posts. But I still really enjoy it, so we'll see what happens. For now here is this week's App Bite, let's begin.

Shortyz Crosswords

So first of all yes I spelt the app's name right, I know it's a little weird and I personally don't like it, but the rest of the app makes up for it. Basically Shortyz is the accumulation of all the top crossword puzzles from places like 'USA Today', 'Los Angeles Times', 'Washington Post', and pretty well anywhere else that you would find crosswords. And what makes this app cool is that every time when you start up the app all the new crosswords from all the sources that you've selected are downloaded for that day. Basically it's like doing crosswords in real time. So there is an endless amount of crossword puzzles of all varieties of difficulty. And best of all it's free! If you're looking for a crossword app then look no farther, this is definitely the best one I've ever seen. Click here to check it out (only in Android Market)

Recommendations of the Week: February 1st + Site Update

2012-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, before we begin the regular recommendation shenanigans, there are a bunch of changes to announce as of this month:

* means it's new or changed, or updated
New Schedule:
Monday- Brick Wars
Tuesday- App Points*
Wednesday- Recommendations of the Week*
Thursday- Review
Friday- Bonus Day*
Saturday- App Points*
Sunday- Review*

You can look forward to this new content over the next few weeks, as well as some surprises, hopefully.
Additionally, News of the Week is no longer weekly, we'll simply report on events of interest as they come.
Finally, Ernesto Guillermo's new schedule leaves him with roughly twelve seconds of free time, which he needs for sleep, so he won't be updating very frequently for a while.

This is subject to change as needed, but this new schedule should be a bit more stable.

Now, on to the recommendations!

RPG Elements

Because EVERY game needs RPG elements, right? Of course, one series that seems to be in need of RPG elements is the Final Fantasy franchise as of late...

Natural Pizza

I think it tastes better than the 'real' thing!
Also, when it's real, it's delicious AND healthy. As long as you get some meat on it, you're covering ALL of the food groups. Add some vegetables and you're golden.

Music Pick of the Week: You're Not Alone (Final Fantasy IX)
New segment! Well, a retooling of an old one. So yeah, we'll recommend music here from now on. This piece is one of the standout tracks from Final Fantasy IX, played late in the game. The melody conveys emotion perfectly. Is it just me, or does it sound like there should be lyrics fitting alongside this song?

Radiant Historia Part 4- The End

2012-01-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Finally, it's about time. I will now elaborate on the more broad details of my game of the year.

Radiant Historia is an RPG for the ages. It really shows how to do things right, using its gimmick well, without relying on it (It's easy to forget that there are in fact two whole stories going on, interlacing) the cutscenes are skippable, but worth a read, the game never wastes your time with large empty areas, and you'll rarely need to grind. Even if you need to grind, the battle system is so much fun you won't mind, besides, it's more about strategy than brute force. The music is fantastic.

What do I dislike about the game? I couldn't tell you, I'd recommend looking up somebody else's review for some criticism, as far as I'm concerned, Radiant Historia accomplishes everything it sets out to do, and does it really well. That's why it's my game of the year. However, the game isn't for every one. The battle system was fun for me, but I can easily see it not being so with others, particularly more tactical or action focused players. The graphics are 2D, which I know a lot of people dislike, and the fact that it's an RPG is sure to turn off a bunch of players right off the bat. To be sure, nobody who dislikes RPG elements will have their mind changed by this game, but people looking for an RPG without the now painful RPG tropes found in most RPGs post Final Fantasy VII will find a lot to like.

All in all, one of the best games I've played, if anything I've said in these four parts have interested you at all, I can't recommend this enough.

Recommendations of the Week: Jan 11th

2012-01-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to another edition of Recommendations of the week. Let's begin.

Books: Numbered Account

Numbered Account is a mystery/thriller type of book, but more then that it's just down right awesome. It's written by one of my favorite authors who also so happens to have been dubbed the best espionage writer ever, non other then Christopher Reich. Although Numbered Account isn't so much in the espionage/spy genre it still has that kind of "feel" to it, which I quite enjoy. Basically the story follows this man who's dad was mysteriously murdered one day and now he has travelled to Switzerland to get a job at the bank that his dad worked at. The son's sole goal in life is to figure out what happened to his dad, but then he gets all caught up in a figurative war and a very literal war. All in all it's a really interesting book full of mystery and surprise and is in no way predictable. And the plot is extremely well written. So I completely recommend this book to anyone who likes mystery/thriller styled reads.

Food: Is it Gum?

Have you heard of Juicy Fruit's newest flavours of what they are calling dessert gum? There is orange cremesicle which is nothing new, multiple other gum companies have come out with that flavour. Then it gets a little weirder. There is strawberry shortcake and apple pie flavoured gum! I'm a huge gum chewer so as soon as I found out about these flavours I had to check them out. It's just one of those kind of things that no one really can take seriously or really like, but they want to buy it anyways just because it's so different. So I've only tried the apple pie flavoured one so far, but I have to say it's actually pretty tasty, and even though it tastes exactly like you are eating apple pie, it doesn't feel weird that it comes in gum form. Now I've been going around giving everyone I can find a piece of the apple pie gum so that they can try it and so that I can see how they feel about it. And the general consensus is that the gum is "okay" but not something they would ever seek out. But I recommend trying it because it's just one of those things that you have to do in life.

Nintendo Ambassador Program Part 2: The 'Quirky' Games

2012-01-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

The games shown in his category are ones I couldn't be bothered to make a proper category for.
You can find out about the NES Ambassador games here and here.

Mario VS Donkey Kong
Remember the classic Donkey Kong? This game tries to recapture the classic. There's just one thing. By no stretch of the imagination would I consider the classic Donkey Kong a 'puzzle' game. That's not a bad thing, I'd take this game any day. The game features a bunch of levels based around the collection of various doodads, using a variety of now standard Mario moves. And some less standard ones, like a handstand jump. The games 'combat' is borrowed from the US version of Super Mario Bros 2, which is picking up and throwing objects and enemies, if you didn't know. The whole package is overall quite satisfying, and will probably surprise anybody who doesn't have what to expect from it.

Wario Ware INC.
This series defies explanation. It's such a strange concept, presented in such a strange way. From the fact that this minigame collection features games that last no more than a few seconds. The characters are wacky, the minigames are frantic, but are not unclear too often. That's about all I can say. I can't think of many people who would dislike the game, nor who would actively seek it out.