Sonic Boom: The Rise of Lyric first thoughts

Hey look at that, I'm back! And with an exciting new blog post!

I picked up Sonic Boom: The Rise of Lyric yesterday for the Wii U. I was told by someone that their friend said the demo of the game was great, so I was looking forward to a decent Sonic game.

I was let down.

Sonic Boom is pretty much set in an alternate universe from the Sonic characters everyone is used to, and that I grew up with. They have really screwed up Knuckles in this game. They beefed him up and dumbed him down. He's all brawn and near 0 brain. He says really bad lines that I have to pause my game and walk away from it for a while, such as "We won't be seeing him again. Unless he comes back."

Thankfully, the other characters are decent. Amy has no romantic interest, as far as I've seen, in Sonic in this game. She's also got a lot more power with her hammer, and is one of the highest jumpers in the game. Sonic is just Sonic. Tails is now a pretty decent character to play with.

However, as a far experienced gamer, I feel this game was designed for younger children. It has little to no challenge aspect to it. I'm basically just doing what the game shows/tells me exactly to do. There's no problem solving, and I'm not feeling challenged by it. Unless you count the wonky controls and annoying camera as challenging.

As of right now, I give this game a 4/10. Maybe it'll get better further in the game, but I doubt it.

Since this game seems so bad, I'm afraid to check out the tv show companion.

Bastion: an indie game

Indie games tend to get passed up because they're that: indie games. They're not done by big name publishers, so they tend to get ignored. Thankfully, Steam has a wide selection of indie games, and I grab a few when they go on sale and look interesting.

One of the best indie games I bought on sale for $7 was Bastion. If you have not played this game, you should play it, it only costs $15 on Steam, and is also available to download on Xbox. It is definitely not a waste of money.

This game is a type of action-adventure game. You run around and smash/shoot stuff most of the time. The controls take a bit to get used to, and I still have the problem of walking off the edge of the "world" and lose some health. The game does offer plenty of areas to just let off some steam and smash everything. Smashing is highly encouraged in this game, and you get currency for everything that gets smashed.

The game has an awesome storyline. You start off as the main character and wake up to the world collapsing, called The Calamity. You must reach the end of the first area before it all collapses. This brings you to the Bastion, where you discover you're not the only survivor of the collapse. Your purpose in the game is to collect fragments from other areas and bring them back to the Bastion, and this will stop the Calamity from continuing to destroy the world. You will find various weapons along your journey, but you can only have one melee and one ranged weapon equipped at a time, and you can only change your equipped weapons at an armory.

In addition to the amazing story, there's an epic soundtrack and voice acting. I find the best part of the game to be the narration. The narration isn't always the same every time you play. The narrator follows what you are actually doing, so if you're using a weapon and smashing everything in a small area, he will say "and the Kid let off a bunch of steam".

All in all, I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes action-adventure type games, but wants something new and different.

World of Warcraft: a rant

So I've been on and off with World of Warcraft since the before Burning Crusade. I reactivated my account back in February when I was dealing with a lot of stress and needed an outlet. At the time, Blizzard had a special that if I agree to a year of World of Warcraft, I would get a special in-game mount and a digital copy of Diablo III. I decided that since I somewhat liked World of Warcraft, I could live with paying for a year subscription.

This was a huge mistake. For one, my main character is not in a guild. I have turned of guild invites, yet get bombarded with whispers of "join my guild" which results in me telling them to fuck off as I don't want to join a guild, and already have my guild invites turned off. I'm surprised I haven't been reported and kicked off of the game for the words I use in my ranting attacks.

Secondly, the new expansion changed just about everything in the game. Mists of Pandaria has fucked up just about everything I liked in the game. As a hunter, I was used to having both melee and ranged weapons. Now I have to choose one or the other. I'm used to a few tweaks in the talent trees with every patch, but now it's completely different. And what the heck is up with this new pet battles stuff? It seems pretty pointless to me.

As a veteran to this MMO, Mists of Pandaria completely changed the game. I only play maybe one day a month till things just piss me off. After my required year subscription is up, I'm done with this game unless they change it back to the way it was. It's just not worth my time anymore, and I will not even waste money on the expansion.

Well that was a surprisingly tame rant. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch the Dark Knight Rises again.

Going slightly oldschool: Ocarina of Time 3D

I've been a fan of the Legend of Zelda series pretty much all my life. Link to the Past was the first game I ever played as a kid, so I've got deep roots in this series.

Lately I've been on an Ocarina of Time kick. This game is why I picked up the 3DS shortly before they decided to drop the price. Was definitely worth it. I remember when the game released for the 64, and my brother got both the game and the system for Christmas. I played the game a bit, but being about 8, I was terrified of the Forest Temple and never completed it. Quite some time later, in high school some time, I finally finished the game.

With the updated 3D version, the game has improved. The graphics are smoother, and a few of the character models have changed slightly. Being able to take the game on-the-go is definitely a good point. Though the game still has a few questionable points and even a few glitches. With the updated 3D version, with amazing 3D by the way, the game now has a Sheikah stone-type thing that gives you "hints" if you're stuck. Seems somewhat pointless, as Navi will shout at you every few minutes to remind you what you should be doing.

I somehow managed to hit a small glitch in the game: I left Castle Town as an adult and called my horse. I heard Epona's galloping, but didn't see her. I turned around and SHE'S ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BROKEN BRIDGE. Completely random glitch for a fixed-up game.

This game does contain a new version of Master Quest. It unlocks after you beat the game one time. Master Quest is INSANELY HARD and nowhere near the level of Master Quest released on the Gamecube. Even I can't get through Dodongo's Cavern on it. In addition to advancing the needed skill level, the game is also mirrored, which can cause confusion to those that are veterans to this game.

If you've never played a Zelda game but enjoy action-adventure type games, I highly recommend picking this game up. If you're a veteran to the game and already own it here's an amusing tip for you: if you're very familiar with the story and want to add a little amusement to a new game, I recommend renaming Link as "Fuck" and then actually read the text. Conversations get a bit amusing.