Animal Crossing Lets Go To The City / City Folk

 

Animal Crossing has at last come to Wii. This long awaited game has been on every Animal Crossing lovers christmas list, and to be honest it is a good game but it is just like wild world only with a city but there are a few new features to the Wii version.

1. Improved graphics thanks to the Wii's higher capability.
2. A city. This place has all your much loved shops like Shampoodle and Crazy Redds.
3. They have brought back the different levels like in Animal Crossing for Game Cube.
4. Nooks shop, instead of having to have someone vist your shop to get the higher upgrade all you have to do is spend spend spend.
5. The wii's interactive wii remote allows you to shake the wii remote to use tools and to get out of those ever anoying pit falls.
6. You can chose out of four different houses which is a nice little bonus.

There is also a lot in the game that is like the previous games. We have Nooks shop the local money hungry racoon, the museum, able sisters, and villagers. (well it wouldn't be Animal Crossing without them) We also have the rolling world like in wide world when the screen rolls as if your village is the world. We have all the fruit to sell to money grabbing Nook.
Animal Crossing also brings with us wii speak..... it's a microphone.
The Wii version also has an updated wi-fi mode where you can use wii speak to talk to the person your playing with. ( I don't know why you can't just ring them up but wii speak is free.)
But overall this is a good game a few new features a few old ones add them all togeth it makes a great game but for me it is too like Animal Crossing wide world. i give this game overall an....


 A for the great gameplay that never gets boring. (unless you never come off it)



pictures from: http://www.animalcrossingwii.nl/blog/uploaded_images/boxart-744010.jpg

Second Opinion

I got Animal Crossing City Folk for Christmas knowing that it was the same game as Wild World and the Game Cube version because I needed a reason to go on my Wii again and to me I thought it was okay. Only okay that is because really unless you are an Animal Crossing fanboy or need a reason to play the Wii then there isn't much real point buying it if you already have it on DS or Game Cube. The things it does add such as the city, extra shops, more items, new villagers and events are pretty cool but really when push comes to shove it is a port of the DS version with cleaner graphics and a few extras. If you really want to get the most out this game see it as AC WW 1.5. Its the same game with added extras.

Second Opinion Rating: C

Teh Gaming News Issue 3

Hey Readers!

Sorry about a lack of an update during the Christmas months. I hope you won't bite my head to much it was Christmas! X D Anyway I also owe you guys an apology. I wanted to get this article up on Wednesday but I have been ill a lot the past two weeks. Anyway enough of my excuses and lets get on with the news!

1Up has changed hands

1Up and all its associated sites (gamevideos.com,mycheats.com and gametab.com) are now owned by UGO Entertainment and the company has fired many good 1Up staff . It was a sad day on the 6th of January with most of the 1Up podcasts discontinued (including The 1Up Show), but even though there not working a 1Up now there still doing there thing! For instance the guys who brought you 1Up FM can be found at www.eat-sleep-game.com and then the three guys behind The 1Up Show can be found now www.area51.tv which can be watched on Youtube at the moment.

Resident Evil 5 Demo, now complete with token white zombies!

I downloaded the RE5 demo as soon as I got home from school and spent all night playing online co-op with my friends over and over on the same two levels. Now for those with just a PS3 and have to wait a little while longer for the demo I can safely say (on the 360) it is brilliant if you like RE4. To be honest, the best way to see RE5 is RE4.5 which to be honest is not a bad thing! Resident Evil 4 was great fun and I have completed it at least three times and spent who knows how many hours on 'The Mercenaries' mini game. Now RE5 is so good for a demo the mistakes I noticed were really small, but the biggest of the small problems were the fact that the game's gone 'politically correctness' mad! For instance the game got moaned at because apparently killing Africans is racist, but killing Americans in Raccoon City isn't. So to stop being 'racist' Capcom have put token white zombies everywhere in the demo. To me that took me out of the mood of being in a shanty town full of zombies. Other than that the demo was awesome. The graphics are beautiful and nothing beats hiding in house with a friend when you know outside there is a mad man with bag on his head carrying a chainsaw.

Final Fantasy XIII - New Trailer!

Square Enix put out a new trailer for FF XIII and includes something which for me is brilliant.... gameplay! Now, I love CGI as much as the other guy but gameplay talks to me more. So in this paragraph I will not be talking about the story because I trust Square Enix to do a good job with that. The gameplay interests me more. From the small part of the trailer which was gameplay I could tell it is a step up from FF XII. As in its RT and you queue up commands. It also looks slightly Kingdom Hearts like with all the jumping up in the air thing. If they can combine KH and FF together battle wise then this game could be amazing! Oh, and heres a link if your interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC1-_hnxwa4&annotation_id=annotation_942682&feature=iv

Thats all for now from me,

Signing out Josh aka The Triforce Fighter

Dead Space

Hey guys, Mark here, been a bit late this week but I've been busy, so here's my review on Dead Space for the 360 (and its also on the PS3).

Dead space takes place in the future, you play as engineer Isaac Clarke and you are sent to the Ishimura, a mining ship with your team to investigate a sudden stop of transmissions. You are separated from your team and discover monsters called Necromorphs are on the ship and they are mutated crew members. There are 12 long chapters and a variety of weapons, the weapons are mainly makeshift weapons like a mineral cutter, a blowtorch turned into a flamethrower.

The game focuses on dismemberment to kill the Necromorphs. You can have to strategically shoot off your foe's limbs you save ammo and kill them. Your ememies won't die straigt away though, for example shoot a Necromorph's leg off, it will crawl after you.

This game has beautiful graphics, I know that might sound strange for a horror game but the real beauty is in the Zero Gravity areas or in space, you can jump around, fight and solve puzzles in the Zero G areas. This is really fun because you can just bounce off the walls and it's really enjoyable. The Vacuums are cool aswell, your in an area of Space, you have a air timer on Isaac's back that says how much oxygen you have left.

The game has a brilliant story, however you have to really get into the game before it starts to unveil but it's really good, much better than I originally thought and nothing like I've ever seen. The game looks and plays very similar to a lot of other horror games- Resident evil 4, bioshock, Far cry and it really works =D

It really fits the role of horror game aswell and will keep you jumping throught it's action packed storyline aswell.

Overall I think this is really good and has brilliant gameplay, story and ideas. It's inresting and has thought of everything. Theres even a Zero G basketball court in chapter 10 :D. I really haven't seen anything else like it. At some times it seems you have too much ammo and too many health kits then theres like a boss or you get attacked by loads of Necromorphs and suddenly you have very low ammo and not many health kits =S.

My Rating: A*

Screenshots from 360hq.com

gamepro.com

shacknews.com

Fable 2 DLC Review

When I first heard about Fable 2 downloadable content I can defiantly say I was happy. After completing the game twice and finishing all the quests I was upset how quick it took me to complete the game but thanks to this DLC it has given me a reason to boot the game up again, but unfortunately this is also short. It took me about 2 hours (if that) to blast through the three new quests and further 40 minutes to collect all the books that tell the story of Knothole (these books are like the sliver keys of the island but don't really unlock anything other than lore and a achievement). I have yet to achieve the last achievement which includes unlocking everything in the mystery gift shop. Which leads me neatly onto one of my favorite things about the DLC. 

The shops on the island. You see Knothole Island is very much isolated from the rest of Albion so there is a lot of Knothole only goodies waiting for you. For instance there's a big shop selling rare augments and something which can take augments out of your weapons, a cosmetics shop which sells unique dyes and potions which make you fat,thin,scar-less and make your skin as soft as a babies backside. Not only that there's the mystery gift shop. By far the best shop in the game. Basically you bring mundane items which can be swapped for clothes and weapons but as the name implies you don't know what you will get. I suppose this could be counted as a side quest (and one which is likely be more rewarding then the main three). 

Closing Comments 

The best way to look at this DLC is a load of new items with some missions and a island to explore round thrown in. If you've been looking for an excuse to venture back into the world of Albion and have money spare then go ahead and buy it, otherwise get the free patch so you can visit your friends who are in the world of Knothole so you can at least experience some of the weather changing magic.

pictures from ign.com

Gruntilda = The hardest boss on any platformer game

For Christmas I got a copy of Banjo Kazooie Nuts and Bolts and I have just recently finished it (Well I have beaten Grunty... Just haven't got round to getting all those Jiggies) and the final boss is hard as nails. You have to make vehicle that can literally DO everything, but enough about that. This review is about Banjo Kazooie for the N64 which thanks to Rare has found it's self on XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade).

I missed Banjo Kazooie on there first outing back on the Nintendo 64 because when I had a choice I picked the Playstation over the N64 (How naive I was when I was six), but when I booted up this for the first time it reminded me of so many other platformer's of its era. It was very much like a best of all platformers thrown together. For instance controls of Super Mario 64, alot of collectables and a hub world which are very similar to Spyro, character design which is very similar to Croc and add the charm and charisma that Rare injects into all its games and you have a winner. To me thats what BK is in a nutshell, an all round platformer that everyone will enjoy.

Now for the few out there who are wondering 'Okay then.... Who IS Banjo Kazooie and what's the point of the game?'

Question 1: Banjo is the honey bear and Kazooie is a bird. There are NOT the same person as many people I seem to talk to think.

Question 2: The plot as with all platformers isn't deep or serious but unlike most, Rare does try its best to add humor whenever possible. Basically Gruntilda (Or Grunty for short) has kidnapped Banjo's sister Tootie, and has placed her in a big machine which will take her beauty and give it to herself. It is up to Banjo and Kazooie (and with a little help from Mumbo Jumbo and Bottles the mole)  to rescue Tootie and defeat Grunty. All simple stuff. To do this you must collect Jiggies (jigsaw pieces) to use to unlock levels and musical notes to unlock doors. In other words, its the biggest collect em up game in existance (only beaten by Spyro:Year of the Dragon which makes you collect so many little gems its unbelievable!) 

Now you may be sitting there and thinking ' This sounds like a game aimed for my 8 year old sister' then you not far wrong but I doubt she could complete the game fully without tearing out all her hair and throwing the controller at the TV. Banjo Kazooie, much like most Rare games look cute and cuddly but the deeper you go the harder it gets. 

This leads back nicely to the beginning of this post..... Gruntilda. Today I have spent I don't know how long trying to defeat her. Just when you think its all over she some how survives and as I always seem to have my guard down at these times she just pwns me into the next millennium.... Very much like the Nuts and Bolts version, but with that you could blame it all on your vehicle and go back to the drawing board, but with THIS you know its all your fault and that you suck and now you have to start the boss fight all over again. 

Forget Bowser, Grunty is the hardest end of game boss on a platformer!

Rating: A

Closing Comments 

All I can say is that if you were younger than ten in the 1990's this game will be like walking down memory lane EVEN if you haven't played it on the N64. If your any older than that and enjoyed Super Mario 64 or any other good platformer (bar Mirriors Edge.... Thats a different kind of platformer) then you should pick this game up and realize what you're missing! 

picture from www.pressthebuttons.typepad.com