Elseworlds Month Part 1: The Journey Begins with Multiple V's

It's April, which means it's time for the obligatory April Fools' Day video. But this time, Patricia takes cues from her Manic Expression colleagues The Cartoon Hero and RowdyC and ends up being trapped in the parallel dimension Elseworlds Month where she would portray as another content creator. However, something went wrong and Patricia's two alter egos from Should We Say Goodbye to Halcyon Days? get involved and have to get her back before the month is up.

In the first week, Patricia as Little Miss Gamer, reviews the 2010 indie game VVVVVV and discusses about the premise, gameplay, soundtrack, and strange little secret hidden in the game.

Elseworlds Month concept by Eli "The Cartoon Hero" Stone.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqh6...
http://theherooftomorrow.blogspot.com/
https://www.patreon.com/theherooftomo...
http://www.dailymotion.com/theherooft...
https://twitter.com/CartoonHeroGuy

Special thanks to Lindsey "Little Miss Gamer" Briggs for being a major inspiration. Check out her links down below.

http://wondersparkpuppets.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/NYCPuppets
http://www.pbc-productions.com/littlemissgamer/blog/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Miss-Gamer/237120999712906
https://twitter.com/littlemissgamer

Old School Lane's Mario Tribute: Super Mario Land

It was the tail end of the 80's and Nintendo was at the top of the world with the 3 Super Mario games being one of the most popular ever made. Around 1989, Nintendo released their first handheld console: the Game Boy. The Game Boy revolutionized the gaming industry by having great quality games that kids could play anywhere: on a car, on a school bus, during recess, at a friend's house, and more. It was decided that the one of the first launch titles for the Game Boy would be a Mario game. However, the first portable Mario game would NOT have Shigeru Miyamoto on the helm, but Satoru Okada, Gunpei Yokoi, and the R&D1 team, the same team that created Metroid and Kid Icarus. Also, Koji Kondo, the composer of the Mario games would NOT compose the soundtrack for the game, but Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka, the composer behind Metroid, Kid Icarus, Tetris, and Dr. Mario. With that said, Super Mario Land debuted on April 21, 1989 in Japan and August of the same year in North America bundled with the Game Boy.

The game takes place in a new location named Sarasaland where Mario has to rescue Princess Daisy from danger. The game has 4 levels with 3 stages ranging from the typical outside levels, the caves, underwater, and the sky. The sky levels and underwater levels had a bit of a twist with Mario riding a submarine and airplane taking down the enemies. The powerups remained the same with the mushroom, fire flower, and star, but the fire flower bounced around and the star's music was changed to the Can-Can song. There was a 1-Up in the game, but it was the shape of a heart to differentiate from the mushroom. Since the original Game Boy didn't have color back then, they had to change the shape of the 1-Up, which makes sense. The designs of the worlds are a bit different than previous Mario games with pyramids, decorative hieroglyphs on the walls of the underground caves, Easter Island heads, and more.



The game became one the best selling games on the Game Boy and one of the best selling Mario games of all time selling 18 million copies. It even beat the sales of Super Mario Bros. 3. However, the game received positive reviews saying about how the game was able to capture the simplicity charm of the console Mario games on a handheld to how it was great that a game that fun could be convenient to take on the go. However, other critics had mixed reactions saying that the game was too short, easy, and the screen was tired and cramped after playing a few minutes in. Yes, there are some flaws in the game with the very loose controls, floaty jumping mechanics, strange looking levels, and the fact that it took me only 35 minutes to beat it. But there are some positives in this game: some of the levels are memorable, the submarine and airplane levels are very unique and something you don't see in Mario games, and the soundtrack is amazing. With this being one of the first games ever made for the Game Boy, the developers didn't know how far they could push the Game Boy when creating it. Other games later on would utilize the Game Boy's limited space to create other more complex games, one of which we'll discuss another time.



Overall, the game has some problems, but it's still a good game that I would recommend checking out. That's all for now. Tune in next time as we'll be jumping into 16 bit with Super Mario World.



That's all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

Old School Lane's Mario Tribute: Super Mario Bros. 3

The next installment of the Mario franchise took about 2 years with 10 people working on it with Shigeru Miyamoto as the director. Eventually around 1988, Super Mario Bros. 3 debuted in Japan.



The game features Mario grabbing scepters from Bowser's children known as the Koopalings which was used to transform seven kings into animals. Then eventually, Bowser kidnapped Princess Toadstool and held her hostage at his fortress. It's up to Mario to travel to the eight worlds to save the day by defeating Bowser and the Koopalings, turning the kings back to normal, and saving the Princess.



Super Mario Bros. 3 had taken everything that was great about the first two games and expanded it to something never seen before on the NES. There were 8 new worlds to explore each with a theme such as the desert level, the pipe level, the giant level, and leading up to Bowser's fortress. It also featured numerous ways of playing through the levels such as secret paths that would lead to the flutes that made you skip the worlds, scrolling levels, horizontal levels, vertical levels, and bounce pads that lead you to a level filled with coins to collect. There were a lot more powerups introduced in the game such as the raccoon suit gaining Mario the ability to fly, the frog suit letting Mario swim more easier, the Hammer Bros. suit that makes Mario throws hammers, the tanooki suit that makes Mario fly similar to the raccoon suit as well as transforms him into a stone statue, and the return of the fire flower, mushroom, and star.



On the overworlds, there were mushroom houses where Toad would have 3 boxes and choosing one would grant you a different powerup. There were music notes where Toad would have a minigame where you had to match three pieces to make one powerup to gain 1-Ups while there were moving. Then there were Hammer Bros that had to be defeated where you would be rewarded with a powerup such as music to place the other Hammer Bros. to sleep while traveling the overworld, a P-Wing that'll grant Mario to fly for much longer, and a cloud that'll let you skip a level. Also there's a match game in which flipping two cards that matched will grant you either a powerup, a 1-Up, or coins.

Shigeru Miyamoto had given creative freedom to his developers when making Super Mario Bros. 3. One developer created the Boo enemy based on his wife who would be shy in real life, but when least suspected, she would have a nasty temper. Miyamoto created the Chain Chomp enemy based on a dog held back on a chain that scared him as a child. The Koopalings were based on seven of the developers, but were named after the employees of Nintendo of America after musicians. Even the levels were designed in a way that made it look like it was a staged play from the cardboard bushes casting shadows, the platforms with screws showing, the levels ending with a black background, and opening of the game was a curtain lifting up. Miyamoto mentioned in an interview that he sees Mario and the other characters as a troupe of actors that can be put in numerous situations. In one game, they would be playing sports or driving carts. In another game, they would be in a platforming game.



Of course we cannot discuss about Super Mario Bros. 3 without bringing up the movie The Wizard that debuted in 1989. Despite the movie with a plot involving a gamer kid named Jimmy who wants to go to California alongside with his brother and friend, everyone remembers the scene where Super Mario Bros. 3 was revealed in the video game tournament that Jimmy competed in. It was the first time that Americans were introduced to the game since it had not been released yet until a year later.

When it finally came out to the U.S. in 1990, it received critical acclaim from critics and gamers saying it was not only the best Mario game released at that point, but it was the best NES game ever made. Even still to this day, people regard Super Mario Bros. 3 as the best in the series and as one of the greatest games ever made. In my opinion, it certainly is an amazing game. It was the first Mario game I've ever played and I have had fond memories of it trying my hardest to pass through the levels. It was also a very influential game that would be a benchmark for the entire series. The inclusion of the overworld layout, the multiple powerups, the new enemies introduced, the minigames, the different themed levels, the music, and more makes this game very well regarded as a major step up from Super Mario Bros. 2. While it's certainly not my favorite Mario game, it's up there on the top 5. It's still a very fun game to play if you haven't checked it out yet.

That's all for now. Tune in next time as we take a break from the console games and towards Nintendo's first handheld, the Game Boy, to review Super Mario Land.



Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

Old School Lane's Mario Tribute: Super Mario Bros. 2 (Doki Doki Panic)

Despite Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan) getting some decent reviews from both critics and fans, it was decided not to release the game in America due to detracting casual gamers from being frustrated with its difficulty. With that said, the Nintendo Mario developers were working on a prototype game consisting of a two player co-op vertical strolling game that eventually formed into Yume Kojo Doki Doki Panic which debuted in Japan on July 10, 1987 in partnered with Fuji TV. The game was remade into Super Mario Bros. 2 that debuted in America on September 9, 1988, which was almost 3 years after Super Mario Bros. came out.

For the sake of focus on the main tribute, I'll be focusing on the American port of the game. If I am going to be discussing about Doki Doki Panic, it will only be for comparison's sake. 

The game with Mario, Princess Peach, Luigi, and Toad working together to defeat the evil frog Wart and his minions such as Birdo and Mouser. There are seven different worlds in the game that showcases different enemies such as Pokeys, Shy Guys, Bob-Ombs, and the Phanto masks. There are bottles that reveal secret rooms that has the mushroom power up, decorative vases that work as warp pipes to advance to the later levels, and a mixture of vertical and horizontal levels. Each of the characters play differently from one another: Mario is the average character that runs, jumps, and picks up objects normally. Luigi runs a bit faster and jumps a bit higher while scuttling his legs, but is a little hard to control. Princess Peach runs and picks up items slower, but has the longest range in jumping. Toad runs and picks up items the fastest, but has the shortest jumping range.



When the game came out in America, it receives mixed to positive reviews from fans and critics saying about how different it was from the original Super Mario Bros. Over the years, it has been considered to be the black sheep of the franchise and people dismiss it from being an actual Mario game. While it's true that it was Doki Doki Panic with just the Mario characters slapped into it, Super Mario Bros 2. is very important to the franchise. Most of the enemies from this game would continue on to be showcased throughout the rest of the series such as Birdo, the Shy Guys, and Bob-Ombs, there would be an animated series based on Super Mario Bros. 2, it featured more playable characters with different playing styles that wouldn't be featured in the other games until New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Super Mario 3D World over 20 years later, it would be the first Mario game that didn't take place in the Mushroom Kingdom and would be the starting point of Mario games taking place in different locations, and some of the music is some of the best in the series such as 1st world song and the ending credits. If we had gotten the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2, I don't know how regarded it would have been due to being a rehash of the original as well as being very difficult. Critics would've discarded it as not taking any risks. So, in a way, the American Super Mario Bros 2. was a blessing in disguise that wouldn't be appreciated until much later. Overall, in my opinion, I understand why people regard it as the weakest of the original NES trilogy and not as memorable as the first game, but it must be looked at and appreciated for what it is. While I wouldn't seek Super Mario Bros. 2 as much as I would compared to the first game or even Super Mario Bros. 3, it's still a fun game that you should give a chance to play.

That's all for now. Tune in next time as we'll be looking at the last game in the NES Mario trilogy: Super Mario Bros. 3. 



Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

Old School Lane's Mario Tribute: Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japan)

After the release of Super Mario Bros., video games became massively popular again thanks to the genius of creator Shigeru Miyamoto alongside with Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda. As time went on, gamers became more and more skilled with the levels and gameplay of Super Mario Bros., almost at the point in which it was no longer a challenge anymore. Takashi Tezuka, the assistant director of Super Mario Bros. joined alongside Miyamoto to do a followup to the game, but make it much more difficult. It was titled Super Mario Bros. 2, which released in Japan on June 3, 1986, a few months after the original game's release.



It's more or less like an addition to the first game, but with  new redesigned levels, more levels consisting of eight worlds and five bonus worlds, new hazards, and new challenges. There are three notable things added into Super Mario Bros. 2 that made the game notoriously hard. The first was the new "power up" known as the poison mushroom which, when touched, shrinks Mario at full size or kills Mario when at his small size. The second are the warp pipes. In the original Super Mario Bros., when you discover the warp pipes at the secret zones, it'll send you to the later levels. However in Super Mario Bros. 2, when you discover a secret warp pipe, it'll take you back in the earlier levels you have previously beaten. The third and final thing added to the game was the random gusts of wind. The wind makes you go further or pushes you back making your jumps far or short.



The game was never released in the U.S. due to worrying the American gamers being intimidated on how difficult it was. It wasn't until years later until it was released as Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels on Super Mario All-Stars for the Super Nintendo and eventually the original Japanese copy was out on the Wii's Virtual Console. Critics gave it mixed to positive reviews calling it an "expansion copy" of the original adding nothing new as well as being extremely frustrating. Many people consider this game to be the black sheep of the NES Mario games. However, some critics praise it for being clever and fun testing your gaming skills after beating the original Super Mario Bros. 

As for me, I don't care about it. I agree with the critics that Super Mario Bros. 2 isn't as groundbreaking or innovative as the original. Also, it's the only NES Mario game that I still haven't beaten yet. The earlier levels were easy enough that I was able to learn to complete them with trial and error. However, it's too frustrating for me to consider it fun similar to how I feel about Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. I can recommend it to hardcore gamers who love a challenge, but for casual gamers, it's hard to convince them to check it out. In fact, if you really want to see how difficult it is, check out my Manic Expression colleague Decker Shado play Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels. 

That's all for now. Tune in next time as we take a look at the sequel to Super Mario Bros. that was released in America known as Super Mario Bros. 2. 



Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

Old School Lane's Mario Tribute: Super Mario Bros

In the next month, the Super Mario series will be celebrating its 30th anniversary. For many people my generation, it was one of the first games we've ever played. It was the our entry into the vast world of video games. It was family friendly with a simple premise, a classic style of gameplay, and colorful characters with quirky personalities. In honor of this occasion, I'll be looking back on the Super Mario franchise and see how big of a legacy they left in video games as well as how well they hold up today. Afterwards, there will be a Casual Chats podcast on the Mario franchise.



Now there are hundreds and hundreds of Mario games from the main games and the spin-off titles like the Mario RPG series, the Mario Kart series, the Mario Party series, the sports games involving the Mario characters, and the Super Smash Bros series. For this tribute, we'll be focusing on the main platforming games from Super Mario Bros to Super Mario 3D World. With introductions out of the way, let's-a-go to Super Mario Bros.



Super Mario Bros. debuted in Japan on September 13, 1985 on the Nintendo Famicon and later on in the U.S.A. and Europe. In the land of the Mushroom Kingdom, King Koopa (known as Bowser in the U.S.A.) kidnaps Princess Peach (kidnaps Princess Toadstool in the U.S.A. until the debut on Super Mario 64) and turns the majority of the Toads into blocks. It's up to a plumber named Mario to rescue her by going into 8 worlds to defeat the false Bowsers and free the Toads from the castle. The game was a side strolling platformer that had Mario run towards the end of the level while defeating Bowser's minions that consists of Goombas, Koopa Troopas, Lakitus, Hammer Bros, and Piranha Plants. Mario can stomp on most of his enemies with one hit to defeat them. But he also has the ability to gain powerups to make defeating them easier. One is the now iconic mushroom that makes him grow bigger. The other is the fire flower that can make him shoot fireballs from his hand. The final one is the star that can make Mario invincible for a short period of time. There's also the 1-Up mushroom that gives an additional life for Mario to continue the game and prolong the game being over after losing.

For today's standards, the plot is practically nonexistent. But back then, gameplay was the most important thing about video games. Stories were either left for the manuals, on the intro and ending of a game, or wasn't there at all. But here at Super Mario Bros., the story doesn't matter. If a game didn't play very well or wasn't fun to play, then it there was no point of playing it all. But what makes this game still relevant were the secrets. The most well known of them were jumping on the Koopa shell on the block to gain unlimited 1-Ups, running on top of the platforms on the underground levels to gain access to the hidden room with the 3 pipes to the later levels, and the minus world involving with doing a specific jump towards the 1st underground level and entering in the first pipe. Interesting to note that if you go a glitch involving with playing Super Mario Bros. and Tennis for the Famicon, then you can access over 250 minus worlds. To learn more about this, check out GameTrailers' video on the subject.

In my opinion, Super Mario Bros. is one of the most important games ever released and one that I highly recommend that you play. It was this game that brought gaming back after the crash of 1983 in which there was an abundance of mediocre video games released by Atari and their competitors. Without this portly plumber, video games wouldn't be the same. Heck, they may have not existed. But just because it's important to gaming doesn't mean much if the game doesn't hold up. So does Super Mario Bros. hold up? Fairly well. Even after 30 years later, Super Mario Bros. is still fun to play. Its simplicity makes it easy for anyone to get into, both young kids and casual gamers. But there are challenges for the more experience gamers such the neatly placed enemies, the pits, or being defeated by Bowser. Even the hardcore gamers who can beat Super Mario Bros. in their sleep, they have found ways to make the game fresh in their minds from speed running it to playing the game blindfolded. It's a timeless video game that's still relevant to gamers today and for good reason. Check it out, but most likely you've played it in someway, shape, or form.



That's all for now. Tune in next time as we take a look at the Japanese Super Mario Bros. 2. 



Hope to see you at Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

Patricia's Jewels: Oddworld: Abe's Odyssee (April Fools Swap with James Bevan)

The following post was from yesterday in honor of the Manic Expression April Fools' Day Swap. Each person who participated had to switch to another person's style of reviewing. I got James Bevan, who reviews a video game series called Jim's Gems. I hope you enjoy me not talking about Nickelodeon stuff.

Inspired by Derek Alexander (Happy Video Game Nerd) and James Bevan (Manic Expression)

Welcome to Patricia's Jewels, a video game series where I cover my favorite games. Whether it's triple "A", indie hits, cult classics, and underrated, obscure games that I feel deserve more recognition. Hopefully, my review will let you check out the game for yourself. Today's game we're going to cover is an underrated cinematic platformer back in 1997. Back in 1994, a new indie video game company by the name of Oddworld Inhabitants was founded by Lorne Lanning and Sherry McKenna. They wanted to step right outside the box of typical platformers that were hugely popular at the time such as Super Mario 64, Spyro the Dragon, and Crash Bandicoot by introducing a rich, complex universe taking place in the planet called Oddworld. They wanted to make the kind of games that they wanted to make, not the kind of games that were gaining popularity. So begins the Oddworld Quintology, a series of 5 games that would take place in Oddworld. The first game from this Quintology was Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee which debuted on the PlayStation on September 19, 1997.



The game stars our protagonist, Abe, a creature known as a Mudokin, who works as a slave in a meat-packing industry called RuptureFarms. While working overtime, he hears a conversation from his supervisor named Molluck the Glukkon saying that their stocks are going down and are at risk of going bankrupt. He comes up with the idea of using all the Mudokin slaves and use them as food called Mudokin Pops to bring up profits while saving money on getting other creatures for food. Abe, frightened at what he heard, is determined to save all the Mudokins before it's too late. 



The game plays similar to Prince of Persia and Out of this World, in which it's a simple 2D platformer with cinematic backgrounds, tough puzzles, and atmospheric music. The game features the amount of Mudokins that you have to rescue, the amount of Mudokins you already rescued, and the amount of Mudokins remaining. The character of Abe is a very simple minded, clumsy, and humble Mudokin. Remaining as a slave the majority of his life, he learned to take orders, but seeing his people in danger gets him the courage to rescue them and help them escape RuptureFarms. He meets up with different Mudokins that are normal, blind, confused, and suicidal. He uses an ability called GameSpeak to control the Mudokins and lead them to a portal that leads them out of RuptureFarms. Along the way, you learn different abilities such as telekinetic powers that you use to control the Glukkons, clever puzzles to get rid of them, and learn stealth to avoid them in tight spots. Abe travels to different ares in the game and learns new abilities and new things about his people. 



The story has a great mixture of humor and dark moments as you begin to learn about the Mudokins from Abe's visions from Big Face, a Mudokin Shaman, and the plans of Molluck the Glukkon containing greed and selfishness, and Abe's path to freeing his people. The scenary was really ahead of its time on the PlayStation. The scenary was both bright, dark, colorful, gritty, and atmospheric from the dark, depressing RuptureFarms to the lush, green forests of Paranormia, and the deserts of Scrabania. The music fits very well with the game by being ombious or catchy.

However, the game has its share of flaws. The controls are a bit dated by today's standards with the Triangle button to jump and the X button to pull off the GameSpeak, and the Square button to trigger Abe's abilities. Also, you have to save 1 Mudokin at a time and once you lose a Mudokin, they can't come back. They're dead and stay dead and you need a certain amount of them to get the good ending. Sometimes it isn't easy since it's a huge pain to control the Mudokins to lead them to the portal, especially the blind ones. But the biggest flaw in the entire game is that there are rarely any checkpoints in the game. There are a few, but once you die, you start in a level where you lose your progress unless you create a new save state on your PlayStation memory card every time you want to save. That can be a huge problem at times. However, those problems would be fixed in the later games.



Oddworld: Abe's Odyssee was received very well by gamers and critics alike, but complained of the "ugly" characters, confusing gameplay, and lack of save states. However, it was hugely praise for its innovation for cinematic platformers with its graphics, story, and gameplay. The later games to come out would improve the gameplay, continue the story, and introduce us to new characters and abilities. However, cinematic platformers lost interest to many gamers with the increasing popularity of 3D platformers and first-person shooters and the Oddworld Quintology had been hugely forgotten. In fact, the 5th game was never released due to the poor sales of games from the last two gamesMunch's Oddysee and Stranger's Wrath. However, more people are getting introduced to it due to the games being released on OnLive, the PlayStation Network, and XBOX Live Arcade. Coming this fall will be a HD reboot of Abe's Odyssee called Abe's Odysee New & Tasty will be released in the PlayStation 3, XBOX 360, and PlayStation Vita in honor of the game's 15th anniversary of its release. 

Overall, while there are a few flaws, Abe's Oddysee is a fantastic game that has a great story, beautiful graphics, atmospheric settings, and tough puzzles to solve. There's a lot of variety in this game and for people who love platformers, you deserve to check it out! 

Video Game Review: Double Dare (NES)

Welcome to another video game review courtesy of Old School Lane. We're going to conclude our discussion of Double Dare with the video game adaptation on the NES.



Ever since the NES came out, the video game industry that had died out in 1983 had risen again from the ashes and captured a new generation of kids. The NES is known for releasing now classic games such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Castlevania, Contra, Final Fantasy, and so much more. So someone at GameTek thought that if you put these two things together, you'll get an instant hit. I mean, after all, this sounded like a great idea. As Kevin mentioned in his Double Dare review, everyone who saw the show always wanted to do the physical challenges or the obstacle course. If you try to do at home, then...



Yeah, you would have an angry mother. So does this video game adaptation of Double Dare make us feel like we're playing the game show at home or does it fall flat? Let's jump right into Double Dare on the NES.



The first thing I noticed was this start up screen. Marc Summers looks like Elvis and the kid contestants are wearing hats. I don't remember hats in the show, do you? Also, why is the kid grabbing a flag? There's no obstacle course going on. Also the set doesn't look right. Sure it has the iconic checkered look, but everything else is unrecognizable. Admittedly, the theme song sounds pretty good 8 bit, so no complaints.

Then we get to the first game. Just like the show, it always start with a challenge. Mine started with throwing a banana at a gorilla's hand. The first team to do it is the winner. The first thing I noticed right away were the controls. There's a bar on the left side of the screen indicating on how hard you throw and at what direction you throw it at. 9 times out of 10, I miss. The mini challenge continued on until I get lucky enough to have the gorilla catch it or if the other team did it first. Usually, it was the latter. The challenges ranging from throwing eggs into a clown's mouth, throwing kangaroos on large clown pants, mini golf, or bowling were pretty much the same. The controls are awful.

The rest of the game consists on Marc asking questions. The questions range from really easy:



to really hard (for kids, anyway):




to questions that would have been common to ask in the 80's:



For today's standards, those pop culture questions are extremely dated. Unless you know about that movie, singer, or show, you will never answer it without cheating. But I tend to stick to answering questions because as I said, playing physical challenges are really difficult because of the controls. But you're going to get bored rather quickly answering these questions. This is no You Don't Know Jack in which asking questions can be fun.

This is really straight forward. Truly, the most boring part of the game and the show.



If you do happen to win the game, then you get to do everyone's favorite part of the show: the obstacle course. But unfortunately, just like the physical challenges, the controls are awful. At first when the clock started, I tried to move, but I couldn't. It wasn't until I realized that you have to hit right and left on the controller just to move. Really? Right and left? Also, the obstacle course looks really bland and boring.



Where's the color? Where's the iconic obstacles that we know and love? As of now, I have yet to beat the obstacle course. I had played this game 5 times trying to win the obstacle course level until finally I gave up. Here's a video of someone who had way more time than me beating the obstacle course.

Overall, I do not recommend playing this game. It's boring and frustrating at the same time. Stick to watching Double Dare on the Internet or doing your own Double Dare game show at the park or home or somewhere. Anything is better than playing this awful game.

That's all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Take care.

-Patricia

Video Game Review: Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode II

Hey everyone, welcome to a brand new and long overdue video game review courtesy of Old School Lane. Today we're going to be discussing about the latest installment from everyone's favorite blue hedgehog: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2. 

In recent years, the Sonic The Hedgehog series had a fantastic comeback with critically acclaimed games like Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations. However, with Sonic The Hedgehog 4, the newest sequel to the original Sonic The Hedgehog games have had a bit of a love/hate sort of relationship with Episode I. For me, I wasn't really crazy about Episode I when I played it back in 2010. The controls were a bit floaty, some of the platforming jumps were a bit difficult than they needed to be, the music was a bit forgettable, and the levels were nostalgic, but a bit underwhelming. I said to myself after completing it "Hey, this is the first episode of Sonic 4, I'm sure that they'll iron out the major flaws and improve the game at Episode II. Well, Episode II has finally been released with the addition of Miles "Tails" Prower. Will this game speed our way to our nostalgic hearts or has our favorite hedgehog slowed down with time? Let's dash into Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 2.

Graphics

The graphics look so much like the old school Sega Genesis Sonic The Hedgehog 2 for a new generation. The colors are vivid and bright, the levels look detailed and crisp, and throughout each level, your eyes are greeted with the variety of different levels. From the castle level in Stage 1 to the classic oil level by the desert, you're in for a real treat going back to your childhood with these iconic stages. Unfortunately, that's the only positive thing you're going to hear from the entire article. Brace yourselves! 

Gameplay

The gameplay is good old fashioned running, jumping, spinning, and defeating Dr. Eggman after each Stage 3 level.  Not to mention, the classic bonus stages to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds are a blast to play through. They truly make me feel like a kid again going through them. There are some moments in which you team up with Tails to fly up platforms, break down walls, and do a dual spin dash. The majority of the time of controlling Tails is an awkward mess, especially when it comes to the underwater level in which you have to break the ice barriers. You're trying to break the ice before Sonic and Tails drown, but it controls so awkwardly, that you end up drowning before you beat the level. You need to use Tails way too many times than needed and it feels forced and trite. While the controls feel more smoother and less floaty than Episode I, the addition of Tails just ruined the whole experience. Even when playing alone and without Tails, it doesn't feel satisfying. It's a shame too because Tails isn't a bad sidekick in the video game world and it would have been great to have two people play together similar to Rayman Origins, the best co-op experience to date. It feels like a lost opportunity.

Story

The game takes place after Episode I. Dr. Eggman had finally completed repairing Metal Sonic after Sonic defeated him in the Sega CD classic Sonic CD. Also, Dr. Eggman has finished building a new Death Egg called the Death Egg mk. II and is planning his evil ways once again. Sonic teams up with Tails and together they go through level and level defeating Dr. Eggman and Metal Sonic. The story is pretty typical for a Sonic game, so no complaints here.

Extra Features

You can play local or online multiplayer teaming up with someone to play through the levels. As I said previously, it's not a fun experience. Also, if you have Episode I and II saved in your console, you can unlock Episode Metal in which you get to find out what happened to Metal Sonic between the events of Episode I and II. After you beat the game, you unlock more levels to play. Other than that, there's really no replay value, which is a huge disappointment since Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations had tons of collectables, Easter Eggs, and overall fun gameplay.

Overall, Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode 2 is a step back to returning Sonic to his former glory. I can go back and play the recent Sonic games like Colors and Generations anytime, hell, I can go back and play the original Sonic The Hedgehog 2 game. If anyone were to ask me what my favorite old school Sonic game of all time is, it would be Sonic The Hedgehog 2. A close tie for second would be either Sonic 3 or Sonic CD. To quote Tim Turi from Game Informer magazine, " Playing Sonic 4: Episode II co-op is like returning to your favorite family vacation destination as an adult and bringing along a friend. You point at the broken attractions and try to convince them how good things used to be, but no amount of nostalgia can change the fact that the powers that be have let your beloved memory deteriorate". Remakes and reboots based on our favorite games from our childhood is pretty much everywhere nowadays. Some of them have been absolutely great! (Mega Man 9!!!) Some have been total Suckville like this one. While it is fun to return to our childhoods for a brief, short moment, if done wrong, it can smack us across the face and remind us of a time that we sometimes can't go back to.

I would not recommend downloading this game. If Team Sonic is working on Episode III, I'm praying that they fix up the huge flaws from these installments. We'll just see when that game comes out. 

Well, that's all for today. Hope to see you around Old School Lane real soon. Thanks for reading. Take care.

-Patricia

Video Game Review: Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Hey everyone, welcome to another video game review done by yours truly at Old School Lane. After going through a busy schedule with school and homework, I finally finished Uncharted: Golden Abyss for the PS Vita. This is the first Uncharted game not done by Naughty Dog, but instead done by Bend Studio, the same studio who made the Syphon Filter series and the surprisingly good PSP game, Resistance: Retribution. The Unchartedseries has been known for memorable characters, beautiful graphics, epic story, fun platforming, interesting puzzles, and unexpected plot twists. Can Bend Studio follow Naughty Dog’s footsteps of everything that we love in this series? Is this game worth getting a PS Vita or does it fall short of being an adventurous journey?

Graphics

For a PS Vita game, the graphics look absolutely incredible. The jungles look lush and green, the water mechanics looks fluid, and the characters look quite realistic. Everything that you can expect from the visuals of the Uncharted series is there, which is quite an accomplishment for a handheld.

Gameplay

The gameplay mixes platforming, puzzle solving, and third person shooting, just like the other Uncharted games. It works quite well here with Golden Abyss. Also, you get to use a camera in the game to identify a few locales, which is a pretty neat feature. The only minor complaint is that shooting your enemies controls a tad bit different than the other games, but you kind of get use to it after a while. Plus, you don’t really shoot as much as the other series since it focuses more on platforming and puzzles, so not a lot of complaining here.

However because Golden Abyss is integrating with the features of the PS Vita, the game includes tapping on the screen for platforming certain obstacles and running your finger on the screen to slash at bamboo and other things. This feels very gimmicky at times, similar to using the Sixaxis in the first game, but it doesn’t happen very often, so it’s okay.

 

Story

The game takes place before Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, so that means that there’s no Elena Fisher,  or Chloe Frazier which is a huge disappointment. Even Sully isn't the game for too long. We have some new characters named Jason Dante and Marisa Chase, who are interesting and funny, but not quite as memorable as Elena or Sully. It takes place around Central America where Nathan, Jason, and Marisa are looking for the an ancient lost city where an encounter of a golden abyss has been told, according to legend. The plot sounds somewhat similar to Drake’s Fortune, so it’s fitting. But, the story for me falls a little short of being an instant classic compared to the other games, but it’s still pretty good.

 

Extra Features

One of the most disappointing things about Golden Abyss is that there is no online multiplayer. With the other series, everytime I’m done with the main game, I go straight to the multiplayer and shoot the crap out of noobs as a warm-up, then play the co-op game of Uncharted 3 with my friend. With Golden Abyss, I played the game and then moved on with something else. You can play previous levels and find hidden treasures, which are a lot easier to find than the previous games. Other than that, there’s not much to it.

Overall, Uncharted: Golden Abyss is a great game to buy for the PS Vita, but falls a bit short compared to the other games in the series. But considering the fact that this wasn’t done by Naughty Dog, this game does the series justice, which is great. It seems that we have come a long way of other developers taken games that isn’t theirs and making it good. If only High Impact Games could have done the same for Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier, oh well. If you have a PS Vita, this is definetely worth a buy. Check it out.

-Patricia