Retro Rollback: Gameboy Gaga

Twas' only recently when I found y gameboy, and I am quite happy with it! For those who were born or lived in the nineties, then this thing,  a Gameboy Colour, certainly brought all the 'nerds to the yard'.
Along with the gameboy, I found my childhood implanted in Pokemon: Crystal, and have suceeded in re-animating 'the good ol' days'.

Therefore, this week's retro roundup will be called '6 Things Pokemon: Crystal introduced and why they made the game good'. Let's start with #6.

#6. Girl Protagonist

"Hooray," cried all the tomboys! Krystal is actually fairly cool as a girl...  

#5. Whitney

I honestly love this gym leader. She gives a challenge, irritates noobs and her little tantrums entertain me. That's three awesome things in one!
Her Milk tank is a beast, as it's moves are STOMP, MILK-DRINK, ROLLOUT & ATTRACT.
Basically, it will flirt with your pokemon so it becomes infatuated, then it will stomp all over. Afterwards it will roll-over your team, and even if it's health drops, it can regenerate by sucking from it's own udder  using a disturbing move. Ghastly...  

#4. Crobats

This pokemon actually makes having a Zubat worth it. It makes me almost want to go to Dark cave to find one....just kidding, I  
                                                      hate that cave. 
#3. Kanto + Jhoto

Upon completing the game (or obtaining surf) you can go to Kanto, a short swim from your home-town. I loved this option, as it re-introduces the cast of the first games and created a bigger world to play in.

#2. Animations

It is a known fact that Crystal was the first game to introduce special animations as the pokemon was released into battle. New generation players should be thankful that Gamefreak took this step, as the games of nowadays would not be like this...

AND FINALLY...

#1. Day/Night/Weekday VIP areas

Introduced for the first time, Crystal created a schedule of the week, allowing only certain pokemon, people and items to appear either at night/day or on a certain weekday. Example: Martha, an NPC, only appears on Mondays near Olivine City, and will give you a sharp beak for finding her! How nice.

Also, phanpys only appear in mornings.....really early. I haven't been able to get one yet...

So that's it! Thanks for reading, we will see you next week for our next 'Retro Roll-back'..

ZED

JONATHAN!

Hey guys, Galactic here!

CHARLOTTE!

And I'm here to do a review of a game I decided to replay recently.

JONATHAN!It's a game that I'm rather fond of, and I also really like the series...

CHARLOTTE!
Yeah... If you haven't guessed by now (you probably haven't), I'm talking about Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for the Nintendo DS.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin follows the same sort of playstyle as most of the other Castlevania Games (i.e. A Metroidvania), and follows the same sort of story as the other games: Dracula's Castle. Kill stuff and progress through to the final boss.
Except a little different. Unlike the other Castlevania games, the main villain is not Dracula, but rather a vampire artist called Brauner, who lost his family through WWII.
Nevertheless, he's a threat, and you've got to stop him. WITH VIOLENCE!

Alrighty, now onto the actual review.

So, first of all, gameplay:
Portrait of Ruin follows the general basics of the other RPG-styled Castlevania games (ie. equipment and item collection and whatnot), and in this sort of aspect, it isn't really very much of a change. Thankfully, however, the creators have fallen through, and added a refreshing touch: two playable characters: Jonathan, the whip-wielding vampire hunter, and his trusty sidekick magician prodigy friend, Charlotte. No, I don't mean that you can choose out of two characters to play as. I mean that you have two characters to play as at the same time. There are many aspects of the game that requires teamwork between the two characters, and only once you're able to master this teamwork are you able to proceed.

However. JONATHAN! There is one aspect. CHARLOTTE! About having two character switching. JONATHAN! Control which is verymildly irritating, and that's the voices. Oh, man. The voices.

Which leads us on to sound:
As stated before, the game uses voices in some situations, namely switching between characters, but some bosses also shout lines during battle (see: Astarte, Brauner, Death, etc.). While this isn't too irritating between bosses (in fact, sometimes it helps the battle go so much easier), it is a bit annoying between the characters, as there are situations where you'll need to switch. But by no means are the voices bad at all, they're just repetitive sometimes, and that can get annoying.

The music however, is an entirely different story. I've played a lot of Castlevania games in my life, and I must say that this game has the best soundtrack of them all (though you're free to argue). The game has a wonderful soundtrack that seems to fit nicely with the levels and to help set the mood.

Next part, graphics:
Honestly, the graphics aren't the most beautiful thing, but they're most certainly not bad. They're... well, what you'd expect from a Castlevania game.
Nothing too special here.

And lastly, plot:
The plot seemed good at the start. It had a lot of room to be different, and to reflect on how war can ravage families and change people for the worse, etc, etc. But, sadly, it didn't. It just went to the same sort of "Oh, trouble's brewing. Better go and kill Dracula again." plot. Of course, it had its interesting bits, but nothing really spectacular.

Alright, so an overall score

Gameplay 4/5
Sound 5/5
Graphics 4/5
Plot 2/5
Which leads to an overall score of  3.75

Last notes: While this game mightn't be everyone's cup of tea, I suggest at least giving it a little play. It's pretty fun, and it really helps to relieve boredom when you need to.

Thanks for reading!

Galactic, out!

Introducing Galactic~

Hey, guys! And girls! And others!

Galactic here, and from today on, I'll be a regular writer on this here blog!

About me... well, I'm a massive Pokemon fan, and I love to play RPG- styled games. I suck at FPS games, and as much as I love them, I suck at a lot of Platformers, too. Oh? You wanted to know about me other than games? Well, I'm a girl, if that says anything (no, I am not some kind of girl who pretends to know what she's on about, but actually is not a gamer at all), and I manga and anime, too (though they have nothing much to do in this blog).

I guess you'll be expecting reviews on old games (and new ones, too), and updates and stuff on a certain MMORPG that you'll find out soon enough. Expect a lot of Pokemon news and stuff, too, since I'm a massive Pokemon MasterFan.

For now, though, I bid you adieu.
Oh, and before I go.
Here's a little picture for you.


Yeah. Beat Red on Pokemon Silver with just a level 100 Shiny Rattata. That's how serious I am about Pokemon.

Cosmic Energy for the Win!
~Galactic

Minecraft 1.3

Need we say more!?

Two days ago the developers tweeeted to the world this message: "Roughly 5.5 hours till deployment! Get Ready!" We were so excited, and looked forward to an incredible update from Mojang! Hours later, we opened the windows of Minecraft, to see that the power of updating had been bestowed upon us! Hooray!

We were deeply impressed. There were some incredible add-ins. For those of you who cheated and download the file that automatically updated before the designated day, you would know about the trading system, the new ore(emeralds) and several more civilisations. We will list them ALL right here:

The game now runs an internal server in single-player mode

The single-player server can be shared on LAN, with LAN server detection

Made it possible to use client-side commands by enabling cheats (this is defaulted as disabled for old worlds)

Added an optional “bonus chest” to get started quicker

It’s now possible to trade with villagers. Added emeralds as a currency

You gain enchantment orbs from other tasks than just destroying monsters. Max enchantment level has been decreased to 30

Servers can automatically suggest and distribute texture packs

Added new world map elements (does not need a new map, but they’ll only appear in new areas)

Added cocoa beans

Added an Ender chest

Added tripwire

Wooden logs can be placed sideways

More detailed change log here: http://www.reddit.com/r/edstonehelper/comments/p6lol/planned_for_the_next_update/

Wowza! Alot of things! Here is what the team at the Fabled Project had to say:

ZED: I loved the idea of jungle temples, especially with tripwire traps and...stuff. Certainly eager to play now!

GandalfTheBlue: That trading system looks fantastic! Also the sand temples and jungle temples I am looking forward to! I'm happy.

Zawmbie: Umm what about the glitches of LAN worlds. Not too happy about that but..meh. Still looks good!

Leave your comments below to tell us what you think! Will you be updating now, or waiting until servers and MCPVP get upgraded too? What's your concerns?

ZED

And now, photo's!!!



This is a Desert temple. No duh! XD



Emeralds, the brand new 'official' currency of MC

My own screenshot: A jungle temple in a forest? Hmmm...