I've got to get into the habit of doing this more regularly. Let's start with some reviews I've wanted to do for a while.



Rating: 5 out of 5 stars (Gushing)

Note: This review talks about the game as a game, and not about how it's a collection of two previously released games. If you already own the previous two games, then there's not much a reason to get this. There's less than a handful of new/redesigned levels. But if you've never experienced the magic of Lego Star Wars before (like I hadn't), then keep reading...

One of the nice things about Lego Star Wars is that it defies a strict genre definition. At its most basic level, LSW is a beat-em-up. You run around the levels, slicing/shooting waves of robots and Stormtroopers. Enemies typically don't offer much variety, except for the occasional shielded droideka or boss. But in addition to that, there's also a sense of exploration. What could be an endless drudgery of enemies is broken up by interacting with the environment. So much of it is destructible, yielding studs (the game's currency) or perhaps providing pieces to be built into something else. There are also numerous hidden areas that contain special collectibles or stud fountains (ha!). And then there's also the occasional simple puzzle, typically something that needs to be built or switches to be stepped on.

Even more interest is added by the huge variety of characters, and I don't just mean that every bit character in the movies is playable (best win: AT-AT driver). There are several categories among the characters, each with its own abilities. The Jedi have lightsabers, so they have a limited range but can deflect blaster fire. They can also interact with certain Force-sensitive objects (including some of the enemies; it's fun to destroy droids by pushing one into a whole group of them). The Sith are just like the Jedi, except that there are certain Force-sensitive objects that only they can move...and, typically, they're cooler. Grapplers are any character that uses a gun, but they can also use grapple points to ascend to higher levels. Astromechs can only stun enemies, but they can open certain doors, hover across gaps, and typically aren't fired at. Protocol droids can't attack or even jump, but they will be necessary to open certain doors. Bounty hunters can throw thermal detonators and open their own certain doors. Little kids (including Jawas and Ewoks) can go through crawlspaces. Even among these broad categories, there are some variations, like different lightsaber attack patterns, grapplers who can dodge incoming fire, high-jumpers (needed for certain collectibles), ghosts (invulnerable and ignored by enemies) and the droideka, which is basically a tank.

In addition to characters, there are also several vehicle levels and scores of vehicles to choose from. There isn't as much variety among vehicles; the Millennium Falcon can fire in any direction, and there may be small differences in maneuverability. Still, the vehicle levels are still fun, typically putting you on a track where you can hold down the fire button and wipe out waves of ships. It's not spectacular, but still enjoyable and breaks up the gameplay.

The variety of character abilities adds so much depth to the game world. In story mode, you are given the appropriate cast of characters and must utilize their specific powers to progress. In several cases, you must recruit or find a certain character in order to proceed, though just as likely you will have no way to pass the obstacle. You'll have to come back in free play mode, where you are given a group of characters (one you choose yourself, the rest are automatically selected to provide all the necessary abilities) that you can switch to at any time. This is the mode where you go back through and grab every collectible that is stashed away in the level.

Collectibles? There are scores of collectibles. The main goal are gold bricks, which are granted for beating a level, getting enough studs in a level (studs are dropped if you die, so it's not always as easy as it sounds), and finding all the minikits, of which there are ten in each level (often hidden in secret areas or revealed by building/Forcing certain objects). Collecting all minikits in a level unlocks a vehicle to be used in the minikit challenges (described below). Each level also has a red brick, which gives you the ability to buy cheats in the shop. Cheats range from the aesthetic (make Chewie always carry C-3PO on his back) to the incredibly useful (minikit/red brick locators) to the game breaking (doubling attack power, invulnerability, and stud multipliers). And there are also challenges, which give you five minutes to blaze through the level and find ten blue minikits. Plus, there are separate character/minikit challenges, which require you to collect a million studs within five minutes. Toss in a couple bonus levels, bounty hunter missions (find the character!), and super story mode (playing through an entire movie in one sitting), and there's tons of stuff to be done in this game (it gives you a completion percentage right at the bar to help you track your progress).

And as an added bonus, the entire game has co-op multiplayer. A friend can join you and control a second character as you play through any part of the game. My wife and I loved playing the game together, helping each other out with figuring puzzles and how to get to secret areas. A welcome feature gives either player the ability to drop out or jump in at any point, helpful is someone fails to follow the other to a special area.

As far as difficulty level goes, it's a nice balance. There are no lives, and you reappear if you ever die or fall off a cliff. However, dying causes you to lose studs, making it harder to reach the goal for the level. There can also be some tricky puzzles, testing your knowledge of character abilities or powers of observation. The real test comes in free play, when you're trying to find everything they've stashed away in random places. I think this difficulty scale would appeal to both casual gamers and the more serious. At least, that's how I see it.

I also want to comment on the Wii motion controls, as I feel like this game does it right. The motion controls are by no means necessary, and instead function as shortcuts. Waggling the remote to swing your lightsaber is too cumbersome, but it's nice to flick the remote up to ascend a grapple point. And if you're ever in a situation where you can't afford to have a motion misinterpreted, then just use the normal button press. Other games could learn from this.

The game isn't perfect, but the downsides can be overlooked. First, there is no camera control whatsoever. The vast majority of the time, this isn't a problem, as the camera is fairly intelligent. However, there are spots where the camera zooms out too far or is at the wrong angle (there was literally a point where the camera prevented us from seeing where to go next). Second, the large number of collectibles means that every level needs to be played multiple times. You have to first beat it, then go back to collect all the minikits and red bricks (sometimes twice, if you don't have the minikit/red brick locators yet), then go back to do the challenges, then go back yet again for the super story. It can get very tiring after a while.

But most importantly, this game is lots of fun. The Lego atmosphere gives such a feeling of whimsy to it. It's a blast to go through each level, switching between cutting down waves of enemies, destroying the environment to collect studs, and building/Forcing objects, sometimes with humorous consequences (my favorite is the disco ball and speakers that blasts the Imperial March, causing any enemies to dance along to it). There are so many small touches that put the icing on the solid gameplay. I'm skeptical about any other Lego games (Indiana Jones, Batman, etc.). I feel like Star Wars provides the perfect variety of abilities and setting for a game like this. So if you like beat-me-up games combined with a bit of exploration, or if you like Star Wars, then this is the game for you.

Yeah, it's a few days late, but I was spending the last month trying to make my video game goal for the year and spending the last couple days finally playing the games that I wanted to. However, with all the other lists out there, I was tempted to look back on the past year and comment on some notable events. And to make it feel more like an awards show, I've given each of them a category!

Biggest Surprise: Star Trek
Now, I am by no means a Trekkie. Oh, I have nothing against the series. I've seen a handful of episodes (both original and TNG, maybe some Voyager), and I appreciate what they do. But I'm not a huge fan. So I was blown away by the J.J. Abrams movie this summer (one of the few decent summer movies; I haven't seen District 9 yet). It was a great story and a great story choice; as an alternate universe tale, it meant that newbies to the series could appreciate it just as much as longtime fans. Now, sure, it was J.J. Abrams, so we should have expected excellence, but I was still suitably impressed.

Biggest Disappointment: Cancellation of "Forever War"
I am a huge fan of Archie's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures series, and I was collecting all the comics when they were coming out. At the end of issue #70, they advertised "The Forever War," a five-issue miniseries that would start in the next issue. However, I couldn't find the next issue in stores, so it took me a year or so until I could pick up the next issues. Unfortunately, I discovered that they had axed the Forever War story, replaced it with some two-issue pre-TMNT story, and then cancelled the series. It was a major bummer, and my head was filled with the possibilities that this five-issue story could have been.

To my ecstatic joy, last year I heard that they would finally be publishing the "Forever War" series in honor of the TMNT 25th anniversary. They'd even be bringing back the original writer and artist (Chris Allen, who is the best TMNT artist in my opinion) to work on it. I was bouncing off the walls with happiness. However, problems soon plagued the project. It was originally announced to be published in May, then they pushed it back to August, then it was reduced from five to three issues, and then it needed to be rewritten. Finally, shortly after the sale of TMNT to Nickelodeon (more on that in a minute), it was announced that the project was canceled...again. *sigh* Guess I'll have to wait another ten years...or more...

Worst 25th Anniversary: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Seriously? Oh, it wasn't all bad. There was a big cross-country tour. There was an animated movie, a pretty good fighting game, re-releases of the original action figures (very cool), a new coloring of the original comic, and re-releases of the movies. However, most of these projects weren't as good as they could have been. The animated movie basically trashed the 80's cartoon instead of honoring it, the fighting game didn't recognize the full spread of the TMNT universe (and had three Rabbids in it), and the movie re-releases had no additional features other than the theatrical trailer. And finally, in the last couple months, Peter Laird sold the TMNT to Nickelodeon. Now, I've read his reasons and hold no ill will against him at all, but it felt like a hell of a dump to many fans. Honestly, we'll just have to wait to see whether the sale was for better or worse, but this really wasn't a banner year for TMNT.

Quickest Fizzle: Scribblenauts
After E3, this game was all over the place. Everyone was raving about it, calling it the best DS game ever, so on and so forth. The incredibly deep item-creation system had everyone hooked. However, once the game came out, everyone realized that the puzzles weren't challenging enough and that the controls were annoying. It still receives a few props, but it was barely mentioned in IGN's DS Best of 2009. Myself, I bought the game, played through all the puzzles, starting playing through again with three solutions and then got bored. It's still a good game and I'll come back to it, but it really dropped off the face of the earth quickly.

Oddest Trend: Releasing handheld systems that can't play games
First, it was the DSi (technically, it was released in Japan in 2008, but cut me some slack). The third iteration of the DS had a lot of added bells and whistles, cameras and music players and downloadable software and more. However, to make room for all this new stuff, they took out the GBA slot. I don't know about you, but I bought a DS in order to play GBA games without needing a second system. Not to mention that the DSi nerfs games like Pokemon (which uses Pal Park and puts different Pokemon in the wild if a certain game is in the slot) and Guitar Hero (which put a peripheral in the GBA slot). Thank you, but no.

Second, this past October we get the PSP Go, a smaller PSP that doesn't play UMD discs at all. Nope, you have to download your games onto it. And you'll have to repurchase any games that you already own on disc. Yeah, that's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. But seriously, why are there all these handhelds that added downloadable games at the cost of limited capabilities?

Best Classic Game I Played for the First Time: Metal Gear Solid
I'd heard scores of praise for this series, but I'd never actually played them...until this year. And boy, was it worth it. MGS is the most cinematic game I've ever seen. The voice acting is the best I've ever heard in a video game, and the storyline was engaging and full of twists and turns (perhaps a few too many...). Oh, and it's also a video game, one that's unique from what I normally play. I prefer to go Rambo-style into the room, blazing away against my enemies, but this game strongly discourages that. Instead, it's better to sneak around, avoiding confrontation. It took some getting used to, but I learned to appreciate it. And the boss battles were fantastic, drawn out and testing your skills. Now please, Leonardo, stop telling me about our brothers!

Best eBay Acquisition: Super Mario Bros. 2 (JP) for the GBA
Last Christmas, Oidche got me/us a Gamecube with GBA Player (plus a bunch of essential Gamecube games). So I comment, "Cool, now I can play the Zelda Oracles without emulation." She says, "Huh." I continue, "Also, if we got a GBA and the appropriate cable, we could play the multiplayer Four Swords on the Link to the Past game, thus experiencing the whole Zelda series." She says, "Huh." "And we'd also need another copy of Link to the Past," I add.

My wife is the czar of eBay. I give her that, and she finds an auction that contains, not only a GBA, but also copies of both Zelda Oracles, Link to the Past, Pokemon Silver (Lugia > Ho-Oh), Super Mario Advance, FF Tactics Advance, and an unknown Japanese GBA game (which runs fine on an American system). I'm pretty good with katakana, so I read the name on the Japanese game...and my mouth dropped. It was the GBA port of the original Japanese sequel to Super Mario Bros., the hardest game in the series. We fought some heavy competition at the last minute, but we still won the auction. Now I can play SMB2 on my portable system instead of on the TV through Virtual Console. Thank you, Oidche!

It's been many a year since I've gotten up on a Saturday morning to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the Saturday morning cartoons, but yesterday I got a chance to relive the experience, in more ways than one, with the showing of the feature-length animated special Turtles Forever. To celebrate twenty-five years of TMNT, this special combines the 80's animated Turtles with the 2k3 series by 4Kids (one of the only good things 4Kids has ever done). Overall, it was an enjoyable experience.

The story was good. Due to mucking about with Krang's interdimensional transporter, the 80's heroes and villains are sent to the 2k3 universe. 80's Shredder decides that it's a great idea to team up with 2k3 Shredder, so he teleports him out of his icy prison and revives him. However, 2k3 Shredder takes over the whole operation and modifies the Technodrome into a city-leveling floating fortress. Upon discovering that there is an infinite multitude of Ninja Turtle-inhabited alternate universes, 2k3 Shredder gets pissed off and decides to wipe them all out by destroying the original universe (i.e. the Mirage comic). There's a big battle in the black-and-white comic world, and the 2k3 Shredder is defeated. There's also a nifty subplot with the influence of mutagen in the 2k3 universe, but it peters out towards the end.

The animation was quite excellent. The 80's characters looked spot on, and it was great to see those old designs animated so well (for a change). It was also interesting to compare them to the 2k3 designs; 2k3 seems a lot more streamlined and less detailed, despite coming from a series with a better budget and better animation standards. However, I didn't like the redesigns of Karai (hair looks stupid) and Shredder (too bulky).

Also, there were some good references for fans. I caught the Archie series (yay!!!) and Turtles anime in the multiverse montage. Tokka and Rahzar got five-second cameos. Mirage Leo quoted from the original comic. And apparently Eastman and Laird really did appear in a cameo at the end (not that you could tell, because they weren't shown on-screen; it was pretty lame). It wasn't much, but it was still appreciated.

However, there were some down points. It was a shame that they couldn't reunite the original 80's cast to provide the voices. It's obvious that 4Kids pulled from their pool of voice actors, and some were emulated better than others. 80's Raph was spot on; for a minute, I thought it was the original voice actor. 80's Krang (wait, I guess there is no 2k3 Krang) was very good, too, and even had some of the...idiosyncratic vocalizations down. 80's Shredder wasn't gruff enough, 80's Leo sounded like English Yugi, and 80's Mike and Don didn't have enough surfer quality and nasal tone, respectively.

More grievous, though, was how the special ripped on the 80's cartoon. The 80's Turtles were portrayed as though they were five years old...and retarded. All they did was crave pizza and crack jokes. C'mon! I know the 80's series was more lighthearted, but they could still get serious when need be. The worst scene was when the 80's Turtles, in broad daylight, walked into a pizza parlor to get some pizza. Even in their own series, they knew to wear disguises when they went out. Building off this, the 80's characters were never consequential to the story. Donatello was the only 80's Turtle who actually did anything, making a transdimensional stick and exploding shuriken, and the 80's Shredder and Krang were promptly made the 2k3 Shredder's bitches underlings. Everything seemed to show that the 2k3 series was much better than the older one. It was almost insulting!

And on the other side, though the original Mirage series was more mature (the first issue had the Turtles killing Shredder to avenge Yoshi), their portrayal in the special was very one-dimensional. They were gruff and anti-social, which, though I haven't read much of the original comic, seems far from the truth. That, and it was hard to tell one from the other, since there were no personality differences between them. It felt like a wasted opportunity to explore another side of the Turtles' personalities.

Still, overall, it was very enjoyable, due mostly to the interesting story. I'm not saying I'd buy it on DVD, but I'd watch it again. If only the 80's characters had actually been competent, it would have been perfect.

For a while, I've been hoping that Nintendo would host demos of Wii games that people could download from the Wii Shop Channel. It allows non-gamers to get a taste of more serious games to see if they want to play them. It also allows more serious gamers to test out games and see if they're to to their liking (I would have liked a demo of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and Sonic Unleashed, to see if the motion controls were good enough). Plus, both PlayStation and Xbox offer demos of their games.

Well, now my hopes have been partially answered. From now through "the holidays," the Wii Shop Channel will be offering free demos of five WiiWare games. Not quite the Wii games I was hoping for, but it's a start. And they chose some good titles to show off. There's Bit.Trip Beat, Pokemon Rumble, My Life as a Darklord, NyxQuest, and World of Goo.

Bit.Trip Beat was as retro, cool, and complicated as I expected it to be. It was also the one I sucked most at. Wasn't interested in it at first, but it's not bad. Pokemon Rumble feels like a beat-em-up with the variety of Pokemon added to it. IGN found it terribly repetitive, but I might be able to handle it...as long as the price tag comes down a bit. I was intrigued by NyxQuest, but now I'm not so sure. The action in the demo seemed too simple, though it might get better as more powers are added. I will say that it looks pretty cool and has a fantastic soundtrack. Unlike other games, there's very little repetition and the soundtrack actually evolves as time progresses. World of Goo was really fascinating, though. A simple premise, but one that develops into something quite complicated as it goes on. And the soundtrack is absolutely incredible.

Anyway, I really hope a lot of people download these demos and encourage Nintendo to offer further demos in the future, hopefully eventually including Wii titles.

Which you can see above for yourself. The big reveal is that Zelda's spirit is separated from her body, and so she joins you on your journey and takes control of the big hulking armor guys. This is the first time this game has actually excited me! The armor-controlling was what I found most interesting about this game anyway, so it's cool to see that it has a story tie-in. Plus, it's always good to see Link bring someone interesting along with him. Let's hope more good details surface in the coming weeks.

I've been intrigued about this game ever since I heard about it, which was way before it broke onto the scene at E3. My brother mentioned it to me, and I found the idea compelling. The ability to summon any object to help solve puzzles? It was quite ambitious and full of fun possibilities. Time went on, more details came out, and it still looked very interesting. It looked interesting enough that I bought it less than a week after it was released. Does it live up to the expectations? For the most part. If you've read any reviews out there, the two points that are most often made are that the idea is incredibly fun and the game is hard to control. The short version of this review is that this is entirely correct. If you're interested in the long version, keep reading.

First, yes, the idea is excellent. The dictionary of terms to choose from is very diverse, ranging from a score of urban legends and mythical monsters to utterly useless varieties of food and clothing. There are several words that end up summoning the same object, but I can forgive them with 22,000 words to choose from. There are only a few words that I'm disappointed aren't included (armageddon and rubber chicken). And what's even more interesting are the interactions between all the objects. It's great to sit on the sandbox title screen, summon objects, and watch them interact. You learn wonderful things, like priests are immortal, dragons are the strongest creature (though its health can be worn down by anything eventually), and doppelgangers steal whatever you have. The system of characteristics applied to objects is obviously very deep and well thought out.

The only problem with the dictionary comes when the object you want doesn't turn out as you expect. For instance, I wanted to cross a gap and bring someone with me (so I couldn't just use a jetpack), so I tried using a bridge. Unfortunately, the "bridge" was too short! It took some trial and error before I found that a "drawbridge" was long enough to suffice. Little discoveries like this can either be frustrating or catalysts to brainstorming.

Such a deep dictionary system can only do so much, and for Scribblenauts to be a great game, it must also have interesting puzzles to solve. That's...where it falls a little short. Puzzles are hit and miss. Some of them are genuinely very interesting and challenging, giving you open-ended problems (e.g. spikes that will crush the starite if you move towards it) that tax your creativity to think of a way to solve it. However, lots of other puzzles fall into ruts, giving you a lot of the same obstacles over and over. I can't remember the number of times I had to cross a high obstacle, fight through a swarm of monsters (or summon something to fight for me), or come up with three things to satisfy a random person.

The ratings system for puzzle difficulty is a little wonky as well. There is no real learning curve, and you can find three-star puzzles in early worlds and one-star puzzles in later worlds. (This offends the anal in me, though I recognize that some people might not find this as important.) Also, it doesn't seem accurate, as I've been stumped by two-star puzzles and breezed through four-stars.

I think another big problem with the game is that, despite the deep dictionary system, it doesn't force creativity. You can use a lot of the same items over and over to solve most of the puzzles. There is a mode that forces you to come up with three different solutions for each puzzle, but that just results in you using the same set of items over and over. There is also a Merit System which gives you awards for doing certain things within levels, but I'm torn about it. First of all, half of them are just boring "write two [insert category here]". Second, the other half are for doing random things, some of which happen in the course of the puzzles and the rest of which don't. The problem is that puzzles are not the best place to experiment with random stuff, as you run the risk of messing with your objective and having to restart the puzzle. Perhaps if you could see the names of merits beforehand so that you at least knew what to aim for.

In that regard, I see Scribblenauts best as a community game. Though people fall into their routines, everybody's routine is different. Every time I read about someone else's adventures in Scribblenauts, I learn about some new item or strategy. It's how I found out about wings, teleporters, and shrink rays, among others. I think the game is most enjoyable when you can share your discoveries with others. (There is a Scribblenauts wiki that has already sprung up.)

Oh, and the controls. They suck. Since it's all touch-based, there's tons of opportunities to mis-tap something and accidentally wreck your plans or kill Maxwell. Also, every time Maxwell isn't on the screen and I want him to move to where I tap, he doesn't, but every time Maxwell isn't on the screen and I don't want him to move to where I tap, he does. It gets very aggravating and has caused tons of swear words from me. It also bugs me that a rope cannot be attached to something if part of it overlaps the background, causing lots of swinging ropes around before you can attach it.

The physics can also be disappointing. Stuff that I want to be heavy (like a "statue," for instance) is never heavier than a Starite. And sometimes things bounce around a lot more than expected or things with ropes tied to them jump around randomly.

My last concern is about replayability. Sure, you can go through each puzzle three times to come up with three different solutions, but even that only adds so much. There is a level editor, but it doesn't allow you to create levels anywhere near as complicated as the levels in the game. You can't make tripwires, gates with switches, or overly complicated AI adjustments (I can't make the dragon want to eat the Starite). Maybe I could come up with some interesting levels, but it feels very limited.

Verdict: 3 out of 4 stars. As I was playing this game, I kept coming across annoyances, but they weren't enough to counteract the enjoyment value in this game. There are enough interesting puzzles to give your brain a workout, and the concept itself is just so much fun to play with. If there were a sequel, the major adjustments I would like to see are overall better puzzles and a revamped control scheme, but this game is still enjoyable as is.

It came! It came! My copy of TMNT: Smash from eBay finally arrived, and I've immersed myself in it for the past couple days. So, here are some early impressions of the game.

Arcade Mode (standard single player; think of it like Classic in Smash Bros.) sucks. The story is a bastardization of the comic book that came with the game. The comic had a cute intro, a nod to an oooooold comic book character, and references to arenas in the game. The game cuts it down to just Splinter saying "Let's have a tournament!" and Shredder saying "Grr, I have the Fugitoid." It's also really short. The bonus games are a cool touch, though, and help break up the fighting.

The controls are...complicated. One big difference from Smash Bros. is that timing can be just as important as direction in getting certain moves. I'm...starting to get the hang of that. I'm also having a hard time getting the diagonal directional inputs, especially the upper ones. Early experiments just had me jumping. I think the key is to press the control stick just a little bit, but that's hard to do in the heat of battle. If they had the ability to turn off tap jump, like in Brawl, then I think the control scheme would be much more accessible. As it stands, though, you can simply button mash and still do pretty well.

The announcer is annoying as hell. Everything just has this fake level of enthusiasm layered onto it. I try to block him out as much as possible.

The added mechanics are quite nice. Stun can help alleviate the lag after a move (e.g. after a down-air) or just shake up the gameplay rhythm. The aura is actually very helpful for finding yourself in the middle of an intense fight (especially on stages that zoom out a lot). Wall attacks and swinging attacks are lots of fun and add new strategies to stages. Grabs feel a lot more responsive (e.g. my wife never grabbed in Smash Bros., but she loves doing it in this game). And all the new mechanics have nice visual and audial cues. There's a sound effect when someone is stunned, a white glow when someone's invincible, a yellow glow when they can teleport out of a combo, and a red glow when they're about to die. The system feels very well put together.

The characters are loads of fun. I enjoy playing as all of them. Raphael probably will be my main. He fits my style of jumping in and wailing on people, and a lot of his moves maneuver him around the stage (I'm thinking of his up-air and Side-B). Leonardo may be my second, as he has some fantastic moves. He's got a fun throw (over the shell!) and projectiles. Mikey's got speed and fun moves. Donatello is my wife's character, so I don't play with him much, but damn if he doesn't have range. Splinter is a surprisingly strong character with a lot of interesting moves that carry him around the stage. I feel like he rewards the person who, like him, spend a lot of time training and learning his possibilities. April feels a little weak, but she has speed and Kirby's Final Cutter! I like playing as Casey the least, but I admit that he has good range and is the only character who moves realistically through the air.

Paragraph break for sanity. Shredder handles much better than I thought he would. His moves are powerful, but he moves around pretty quickly. I thought he would be clunky like Bowser, but I was pleasantly surprised (he might become one of my favorites). And he has a damaging taunt! I'm not as impressed with Karai (especially after Turtle Dojo raved about her so much), but she has speed, a nice sliding-forward move (B-), and a killer "throw". The Foot Ninja is loads of fun, quick and brutal (feels like some great spotlight on an overlooked character). I don't like Nightwatcher as much as I thought I would, but the chain whip mechanic is still good for attacking all around yourself and a few good distance attacks. Utrominator is a freaking tank! I don't understand why the people at Turtle Dojo dump on him so much. He's got some great range, especially with his Down-A and getting-up attack. Sure, some of his moves are slow and can be interrupted, but since they have great range, it's best to pull them off from afar. And his throws are BRUTAL! Ninja Rabbid...has some great moves. I have to admit, he's a lot of fun. I don't mind him at all, though it'll get old once two more are added into the mix.

The stages are fantastic. They're so diverse, ranging from standard rooms (Dojo), to multilayered rooms (Turtle Base), to combinations of indoors and outdoors (Western/Castle), to changing experiences (Cruise Ship/Train), and they all look very rich and detailed. The only huge annoyance is the insta-death-gators. They feel cheap and can take away all the hard work of trying to get a KO (or just stay alive). I also like how you start in a random position at the beginning of each match, not a standard one like in Brawl.

I haven't tried Wi-Fi too much yet (I'm trying to get better first), but I did play a couple matches, and they were very smooth. With two players, there was just a managable amount of lag. It got a little worse when a third player joined in, but I'm still willing to give it more chances.

One more annoyance is that the winner-determining system sometimes glitches. In last-man-standing matches, sometimes the winner is the one who is KO'ed the least number of times (and since stage hazards don't count as KO's, the first person out can win because they're only KO'ed once). And sometimes, it inexplicably chooses the wrong person. But I'm not too worried about how many wins I have.

Oh, and the controls when selecting players for a match can be convoluted.

Damn, that's long. The short story is, I'm really enjoying this game, though I still have a way to go before I'm really good at it. Single-player gets tiring after a while, but hopefully I'll be able to spend hours playing people online, because the true fun of any game like this is the multiplayer.

So, I've lately discovered that I have a great fascination with fighting games. This is a little odd, as the only fighting game I own is Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series, but I spent a chunk of time when younger playing Mortal Kombat with my friends. Something about a complicated combat system just appeals to me. However, when looking through fighting games out there, there are certain aspects that I'm looking for, and they direct me in ways that go against some of popular opinion.

Here is what I'm looking for in a fighting game:
- Interesting characters: I don't normally judge a game based on aesthetics, but if every fighter looks bland and the same as the next (there's one in particular I'm thinking about here), it fails to pull me into the experience.
- Interesting attacks: Just something other than simple punches and kicks. This ties into the characters, because if every character's basic attacks are the same, then it doesn't make much difference which character you're playing as or against.
- No fancy inputs: I don't want to have to memorize a bunch of button sequences that are completely different from character to character. This also ties into the attack scheme, because if complicated sequences are the only way to compete in a game, then it's much harder for me to get into it.

And now, here are some examples of fighting games that I never want to play and games that I'm looking forward to adding to my collection.

Games I won't play

Street Fighter


I know that Street Fighter II is responsible for launching the fighting genre in the 90's and that the fighting game community lauds it as the best game ever, but I hate Street Fighter. A lot of it ties into the points I made earlier. The characters all look the same to me, just a bunch of bulky men and a couple bulky girls.The combat system is entirely punches and kicks, requiring you to memorize input sequences in order to compete in this game at all. I played a little Street Fighter II at an arcade last weekend, and I got my butt handed to me by the computer. I didn't even damage him in the first round. That doesn't encourage me to get into this game, so though I acknowledge its influence and respect the opinions of others, I will not play this game.

Mortal Kombat


I'm a little on the fence with this one, since I played it when I was younger, but it doesn't have much going for it. The characters are more interesting in this game, but the combat system is the same boring punches and kicks, requiring knowledge of special moves to do well. If I happened across a copy of I or II, I might keep it, but really I'm not too excited for this series anymore.

Games I want to play

Super Smash Bros.


My favorite fighting game series of all time, and it will probably remain so. This game has everything going for it. The characters are very interesting and filled with nostalgia. Everybody's attacks are unique, but they all use the same control scheme. You can pick up and play any character, but you still need to spend time to really become good with that character. Add to that the percentage-based knockout system, the diverse items to shake up gameplay, the huge variety of stages (so many other games have basic flat stages that look pretty but never impact gameplay), and the increase of single-player modes added with each new game, and it's an addictive experience. I've played tons of multiplayer hours of this with friends.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up


I haven't played this game yet, but I bet I'm going to love it. I'm a huge TMNT fan, so I love the characters (issues with roster size notwithstanding). Like Smash Bros., every character has unique attacks but all use the same control scheme. Add to that a decent online mode, items, and unique and detailed stages. I sure that I will play the hell out of this game when I get it.

Soulcalibur


I didn't think that I would like this game at first, but after playing it, I really enjoyed it. I think the biggest draw for me is the 8-Way Run system. It takes traditional 2-D fighting and adds a 3-D subtlety that allows you to avoid attacks. Tying into this is the different fighting system, which is based on horizontal attacks (that hit even people who are sidestepping) and vertical attacks (which, if they hit, hit several times). There are still attack combos to be learned, but they aren't necessary to gameplay. And the great variety in the characters comes from their unique weapons.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger


I've haven't actually played this one yet, so I'm not entirely sure, but it looks very interesting. The character roster is ridiculously varied, and the attack system is unique to each character, though there are a couple input combos that can be learned. The main thing is that it just looks so amazing. I'll want to test it out first, but it looks very interesting.

No, this isn't another Olympics minigame competition. Now that I've been playing through the classic Sonic games recently, I've gained considerable perspective on the classic rivalry. Mario will always have a dearer place in my heart, but now I can appreciate the things that Sonic did well. Here is my breakdown of the two franchises (and note, I'm only talking about the 2-D games; I think everyone would agree that Mario transitioned to 3-D much more gracefully).

Level design: The biggest difference with Sonic's levels is that they're more sprawling and branching. Though it makes for a shorter game (assuming the same development time), it means that you can take a slightly different route through the game each time you play it. Mario games, though they have a small amount of exploration for bonuses, typically require you to take a specific path through a level. This provides more focus to the levels, that you must figure out how to get past every obstacle. Sonic games, otherwise, will sometimes allow you to backtrack and take an easier path.
Winner: Depends on your preference

Level environment: Let's face it, Sonic games just look better, especially when you get to Sonic 3. Stages are detailed, and backgrounds are complex.
Winner: Sonic

Combat system: Mario's combat system is very simple. Just jump on enemies to defeat them. Where the variety comes is in the behavior of enemies. Some enemies can't be jumped on, some turn into sliding projectiles, some regenerate, some bounce you off, and more. Sonic's combat system is more complex, requiring you to be curled up in order to defeat enemies. This is slightly less intuitive (and was tough to get used to when first playing years ago), but does allow for some cool moves. However, enemies are much less varied, mostly differing in which areas are vulnerable.
Winner: Mario, by a hair

Boss battles: The first two Mario games had the same boss battle repeated at the end of every level. Super Mario 3 had the same two bosses repeated with just different attack patterns (plus the final boss, which was different). Even Super Mario World, though it had different bosses, repeated them several times. Yoshi's Island was the first Mario game to feature unique boss fights. Sonic, on the otherhand, always had a variety of boss fights. Every boss had a different attack pattern, and part of the challenge was figuring out their pattern and their weakness. It's clear that Sonic had the more complicated bosses, and Mario was a little late to the party in doing the same.
Winner: Sonic

Powerups: Mario has a rich variety of powerups, enabling you to do everything from fire projectiles, glide through the air, swim more easily, throw hammers, and turn into a statue, each accompanied with a whisical transformation in the character. Sonic only had shields until Sonic 3, which added shields with different properties. The abilities they granted were certainly useful, but they were few and far between and didn't offer quite the same difference and whimsy that Mario's did.
Winner: Mario

Water levels: They're a pain in the ass in both games, but for different reasons. In Mario, it's because of the different physics involved and the inability to beat enemies without fire power. In Sonic, you have to breathe every thirty seconds or you drown. Whatever game you're playing, water levels are always dreaded.
Winner: Neither

Mulitplayer: It wasn't until over twenty years after the first Mario game that cooperative multiplayer was introduced in Super Mario Galaxy, and that was in a very limited form. Sonic 2 introduced a sidekick that a friend could take control of (because he was dumb as rocks on his own) so that you could play through the game together. It added a great new depth to the experience.
Winner: Sonic

So, in conclusion, I can see why the two franchises fought so fiercely in their time. Both had their strong points, and some of them can vary based on personal preferences. As I said, I prefer Mario games, for as much reason as nostalgia as everything else. However, I appreciate the Sonic games for what they did well, and I'm glad to have played them.

Let me preface this: I love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I remember eating TMNT cereal while watching the cartoon on Saturday mornings. I own every Turtles comic that Archie published (not the main series, but I love it). I also love the Smash Bros. series. So, when I heard that they were making a Smash Bros-style game featuring the Turtles, I was immediately excited. My fiercest hope at that time back in January was that it would be a good game worthy of purchasing and playing into the ground. Now it's been released and...I still don't own it. It burns me inside, but I don't have the money right now. However, I have immersed myself in videos, reviews, and forum posts about the game, so I feel like I have a decent basis to talk about the game a little.

First, all the positives. It sounds like a good game worthy of purchasing. Aside from the reviewers who can't get over the similarities between this game and Brawl, lots of other people have been enjoying it as a fun game. Some are whining a lot about how powerful throws are, but there are just as many people who say that, with practice, people will get better at breaking out of grabs. It seems like people (check out www.turtledojo.com) are treating it as a serious fighting game. The controls are an interesting mixture of traditional and Smash Bros. They're a little more complicated, with diagonal inputs, but all inputs are the same across characters, so you can pick up and play as any character. The added mechanics, like wall-climbing and additional attack properties, add more depth and differentiate the gameplay. The powerups seem interesting but (hopefully) not overpowered. The stages look dynamic and detailed, though I'm not too keen on the crocodiles (we'll see if that changes with gameplay). And the online sounds like it runs a lot smoother.

But there is a negative: the roster. It's a huge disappointment, all around. First, THREE Rabbids? This is a Turtles game! I wouldn't have minded having one Rabbid as a fun cameo, since, as a small and light character, it'd fulfill a role that nothing else in the TMNT universe can, but three of them feels lazy and self-serving (and the Splinter Cell Rabbid is a reference to another Ubisoft game). Second, there are so many deserving characters that were left out of the roster. We didn't get Bebop and Rocksteady, Leatherhead, Baxter Stockman, Triceraton, Slash, Hun, Ninjara (my own secret hope, a nod to Archie fans), or any other characters that were more deserving over multiple Rabbids. Third, it feels like this game only honors the last couple years of Turtles history. Was this supposed to be a 25th anniversary game? The only reference to the original comics is Fugitoid and the Utrominator (though those were also included in the 2000 cartoon), the only reference to the 80's cartoon is the Technodrome, and there are no references to the Archie comics or any other comic variations. This no longer feels like a love letter to TMNT fans. Finally, it stings so much more since the official website strongly implied that there would be a twenty character roster, and instead we only get thirteen TMNT characters, all of which had been revealed a month before the game was released. Anyone hoping for particular characters (including me) felt incredibly let down.

Am I still going to buy the game? Of course. I've been obsessing over it for the past month, watching every video I can, reading forum posts describing techniques that I can't fully understand yet, and already planning out my button configuration and which fighters I'll main. And, in the videos, it looks really cool. The roster is a big disappointment, but I can look past it if I view it as the first game in a series (after all, the original Smash Bros. only had twelve characters). I can't wait to get this game; I'm sure I'll play it into the ground for about six months after I get it (that's about what I did with Brawl).

P.S. I will have an in-house rule, that any Rabbid not controlled by a human that appears in a match must be immediately slaughtered. And, if there is a sequel, there better not be a single Rabbid.