Short games reviews

Bravo!

One thing to stress, reviews are the opinions of the individual writer. And my opinion is not the definitive opinion, so please, keep em coming!

The second review! This time one of my all-time favourites games in its version for my all-time favourite handheld. And thanks Ewan, I was a bit afraid you would think I was criticizing your work.

:icon1: SonicN

This was the first game I bought for my n-gage, a month after purchasing the taco - I could not get a game with it because of my slave-like salary (working class of the world, unite! 😉 ). I was quite disappointed with it, frankly speaking. The last 2D sonic I had played was Sonic3 for the Mega Drive / Genesis, and things had changed a great deal...

This is a direct port of a game not intended for a vertical screen and this means big problems are bound to appear:
-> If you use the full screen mode, you basically will not be able to see things sufficiently in advance, and the problem aggravates during the boss battles.
->If you use the reduced screen, well, the game looks ugly and too small.
And the thing is, this would have been very easily solved just stretching a little bit the original graphics. Run the Sonic ROM with Picodrive, use the Portrait Stretched mode and see what I mean: the stretch is hardly noticeable after the first minute and you've got the whole picture.

Graphics The game is colourful, the characters are well drawn, and the animations are good. I prefer the oldschool original Sonic the hedgehog style but well, it's a question of taste. But the screen problem...well, I said it all before.
Screenshots added to illustrate the screen problem

Sound Not too bad. Catchy melodies, the effects do what they're supposed to do... nothing special, though. But the sound quality is quite bad, and I wonder why, because I've heard crystal clear music in other games.

Gameplay The level design was way better in the genesis games, and I personally had much more fun. But I'm not saying it's not good entertainment: it is, as every Sonic game except for that horrible Sonic Spinball. As for durability, various characters mean various styles of playing and although it's the same levels for each character, this gives enough variety to last. And then you've got the very difficult special stages which you've got to pass in order to get the emeralds and unlock a special stage, or so I was told - I'm stuck with three emeralds.

In summary, it's a nice game, but has some big flaws... Approximately a 70% is what it deserves. I found it way too expensive when I acquired it, but now its price has been reduced, and could be a very good present for yourself now christmas is getting nearer. It is in no way a must-have game, but well, there are not many more platform games for our always underappreciated but nevertheless great game deck.

How bout Requiem of Hell? I got it, but havent had the time to actually play it. BTW, Asphalt GT is awesome!!

There'll be a full Requierm of Hell review on AAN in the next two weeks.

You can add image files as attachements.

I bought requiem of hell last saturday, and I have not played it enough to give a really funded opinion, but it feels like it has been released in mid development or something. Seriously, it is terrible. And I swear it was the game I was most eager to try of all this 'new wave of games', and I put an effort in, like, enter the game, but it's really bad.

Been a bit busy with university work... No one is going to write anything?

:icon1: The Sims: Bustin' Out!

The Sims is the n-gage game I've enjoyed most, so far. Really inmersive and addictive, one really feels at ease playing it, until it ends (too soon, in my opinion!). It has the best of the PC version, being able to create your own house and add the most varied furniture, and adds an interesting factor being much more objective-oriented, and therefore more apt for a console. Ive been told it is quite similar to the GBA version, but I havent tried it, so I dont know. The plot is a bit silly, but well, enough for keeping you playing and completing the variety of small tasks that are the center of the action.

The tasks are in the line of ''find that and give it to him'' or "reach this level in this ability" (cooking, strength, creativity and similar). They are organized in chapters, and in each chapter you get a new house. The thing is you've got to complete these missions while you keep yourself well-slept, with good social relationships, eating enough, and so on. In the meantime, you'll have to earn money by working, which translates for you the player as playing some nice mini-games.

All this is quite entertaining and keeps you occupied, while those tunes keep sticking to your head and your character talks to all sort of NPCs, with that Maxis kind of humor I personally like a lot.

Graphics
Colourist and funny, although there's little more I can say. They are not the game's strong point, but they suffice, and are quite detailed. The isometric view is quite well chosen in my opinion. The big question that arises, though, is: Couldn't my n-gage do a lot more? I'm sure poligonal characters and renderized backgrounds (like in FF VII, I mean) would have fitted very well, and my QD can handle it. Yours too.

Sound
I love the melodies, which dont make themselves repetitives, give ambience and well, are almost perfect for accompanying the game. The sound effects, well, they sound when and how they are supposed to. Which has proven to be quite difficult, in fact.

Gameplay
It is quite comfortable to control your character, as the control is really intuitive. Some of the mini-games are real fun, and they all are easy to understand and play well. Couldn't ask much more!

All in all, this game is great. Intuitive control, effective technical features, really good gameplay, addictive as hell sometimes. This game deserves an 85% IMHO.