Mystery Legends: Beauty and the Beast

Mystery Legends: Beauty and the Beast

Operating System: PC
Website: BigFish page
Rating: 3.5/5
Comments: This one's menu kinda irritated me. Although it was beautifully drawn and pretty, it took forever to load because you couldn't click to skip it. You just had to wait for it to load up and finish playing before you could do anything.

The journal, while rather simple, was still nice. I still liked it even though it was one thing per page. With all the leaves and flowers stuck inside it made it look pretty.

The plot wasn't like the actual Beauty & the Beast story, it followed on from that. The beast just happens to bump into the "evil" enchantress who says if she can't have him, no one will and scatters his soul into pieces. He then asks Belle for help, as one does. Girl knows how to get shit done.

It was a good game though. I enjoyed it. If you ever got stuck in the game, the journal told you everything you needed to know. So instead of being a silly narrative of what happened it was actually all full of hints and clues on how to complete puzzles. I liked that, helped me out a lot when I realised that.

Redemption Cemetery: Children's Plight

Redemption Cemetery: Children's Plight

Operating System: PC
Rating: 3/5
Comments: Epic cutscene in 3D with spoken dialogue. It also didn't look really cheap, unlike Dreamland... >> Very large curse, makes it very lear what you can grab and interact with. The HO scenes were still in the style so it was good. Also as a bonus after a while things shine if you don't know how to do the hidden objects.

There was a bit of a retarded movement thing in where instead of going back out of the scene it would go back a whole screen. Weird. It was also very fussy as to where you had to place things. It started off with very easy puzzles which makes things easy to move along.

The journal had potential to be good but it only has one picture and a page of writing. Very bland and rather disappointing but oh well. There was enough good stuff to make up for it. It wasn't like you really needed it or anything.

Shining Plume series

Shining Plume

Operating System: PC
Website: Amaranth page
Rating: 1.5/5
Comments: Ok, to be honest, I just wanted to play this because it has such beautiful graphics! The main characters: Jun the samurai and Akira the princess look so pretty I couldn't resist. It's not just them either! All the characters in the game were drawn so nicely that I had to keep playing just to see what the rest looked like.

The tileset is one that I haven't seen before and leads me to believe it must be custom-made. It's not like a lot of customs where you can tell it's not part of the original due to way too epic graphics, its just got a Japanese feel to the tiles.

The plot, while interesting, kinda got on my nerves with how much bullsh*t Jun would spout about "honour" and the "Bushido code". He may look like a total bishie but I would prefer him as a mute. The man really know how to rant, that's for sure!

The fight screens were fairly typical with a few new enemies to face off again. I didn't really like the
main screen simply because the options of "fight" or "flight" are just too similar to notice. It could be quite easy to hit the wrong one. I found the battle screens from both games a little hard to read as they were on strange coloured backgrounds but it never really mattered as the fights were pretty easy and never really said much anyway.

Shining Plume 2

Operating System: PC
Website: Amaranth page
Rating: 2/5
Comments: This one is actually a little improved from the last game, but only slightly. I find that the maps in this one tend to go on forever. It's not that they're large, there is just too many of them. I mean, a forest more than 5 maps? I find that a bit excessive. And it's not like the enemies were hard to defeat, it just gets annoying considering that they respawn when you go off the screen... meaning you have to pretty much defeat them all over again which just tends to be time consuming more than anything else.

The plot must have followed on from the last one, which I never got to finish because of an unexplained puzzle that had no clues as to how to solve it. There was a lot more swearing (albeit censored) in this one which bothered me, because most of the characters just didn't seem like they actually would swear. I found it more irritating than anything because as we all know, when you run out of good dialogue, you add cuss words.

I think that by the end of the last one I had my own theories on who the bad guy was so I was prepared for it. It wasn't a surprise like it should have been which just made me sad in the end. I mean, who actually likes when they figure out the plot twist before it happens?

Worst ending in the world. He marries Akira?! What. The. Hell! She's only 14 and he said he was 34. He got some crazy loli fetish or something? I thought he was going to marry Mimiko! Where the hell did THAT come from?! Ugh this game just doesn't make sense! There's supposedly 3 endings but who the hell would bother playing to get the others? Screw that.

Alpha Kimori series

Alpha Kimori: Episode One

Operating System: PC
Website: Official Website
Rating: 3/5
Comments: This RPG game drew me in by the beautiful portrait artwork. The tilesets were very well made albeit a little too vibrant at times. The sprites were bigger than your average RPG so I get the feeling that they were custom made for this and the battle system was nicely animated.

The intro was strange though, I wasn't expecting mechas. Took me a little by surprise with that one. The dialogue was pretty straight to the point, and the parts that related to a quest was always highlighted in green so that helped me out a lot as I didn't feel like I was trawling through heaps of text for no reason.

The level up was terrible. When you leveled up, your HP was decreased by however
much you gained. For example, upon the progression to level 1 to level 2 you got 45 HP increased to 147 HP... meaning I had 45/147... I'll admit It didn't really become much of a problem once you leveled up a few times but you still did notice it enough.

This game actually progressed really well for me, the battles, while they did get harder, they were winnable. That makes me happy, knowing that when I'm starting to groan and say "Geez, when will this guy die?!" that the next attack conveniently kills them. While I didn't like that there was no escape from a battle once you were in one, they were never all that difficult to begin with and usually when something major was about to happen it would auto heal you. Rather Nifty.

Alpha Kimori: Episode Two

Operating System: PC
Rating: 2/5
Comments: I seriously don't know why I thought the first episode of this was so excellent. I feel so ashamed after reading that post now. I can't express how much I do not like the progression of this game. At all. The artwork is still extremely good, which is the main reason why it still has a decent score.

For some reason, absolutely everything that I fight almost kills me, despite my characters being on reasonable levels.

The plot, which by now I have forgotten of the previous game, is starting to bore me. But then again I never did like mecha things.

Professor Layton series

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Operating System: Nintendo DS
Website: Official Website
Rating: 2/5
Comments: Geez. I'm not really sure why I played this game. It's ALL PUZZLES! The artwork is kinda cute but since there are mostly ugly characters I was kinda put off by it. I did like how it had movie-like cutscenes, that was always fun to watch. The main characters, Luke and Layton, are an odd pair and it never really explains why young Luke is allowed to go travelling around with some random dude.

The plot was interesting but I did find myself forgetting as there were so many puzzles to trawl through it served as a bit of a distraction for me. I know that they went to investigate some strange town but kinda forget the rest except for the ending. It was also nice that they spoke sometimes, usually after a cutscene or new chapter, takes some pressure off the reading load there.

Trying to find hint coins was annoying as all hell. In some places I knew there was one left and couldn't be bothered tapping around the screen to find it. The puzzles went from mild to extremely hard way to quick and I chewed through so many hint coins it was ridiculous.

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Operating System: Nintendo DS
Rating: 3/5Comments: Ok, after swearing I would never play another of these games ever again... I did. I was curious as to why everyone was in love with Layton so I decided to continue playing the games at my own peril.

The plot of this one was much more complex, but interesting none the less. I was happy to see some normal looking characters and I actually quite liked Anton, even after he had aged. The poor bastard had such a sad story after all, how could you hate him for that? The cutscenes were a nice break from hardcore puzzle solving and the action scene at the end was rather exciting.

Same as last time I just could not stand trying to find the hint coins. It was such a chore tapping all over the joint but I still did it anyway.I probably missed a few but I got heaps of them and there doesn't really seem to be any point of collecting them all anyway. The puzzles started easy and gradually progressed to being hard, which I found a lot easier to deal with, unlike the previous game.

Avalon Legends Solitaire

Avalon Legends Solitaire

Operating System: PC
Rating: 1.5/5
Comments: I was pretty disappointed with the artwork in the cutscenes. It's very basic drawings with little to no shading and it's rather different from the rest of the game. I mean, even the title screen looked better!

The plot is trying to collect all the magic cards that the strongest druid created. They have the power to destroy or rejuvenate depending on how they are arranged. I'm not really sure why I thought this would be a good idea. It's just playing solitaire all the time. Sure they try to mix it up by putting in ice cards that can only be unlocked once you get all the frozen ones out of the way, or rock cards that require you to unlock the hammer card to free them up but I just got bored.

It kept mentioning that I was getting achievements but there was no medal room so that was kinda pointless. I know there was a shop but everything in there was ridiculously expensive!

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift

Operating System: Nintendo DS
Website:  Official Website
Rating: 3.5/5
Comments: Ok, first up, longest name in history! Kinda like Delaware St. John. Geez people, I hope they don't make another from that series! Despite the name, I do like this game. Turn-based strategy is always my thing. The story is very familiar: a boy at school finds a strange book that is empty, when he flips through it the books magic sucks him into another world. Sounds familiar yet? Yeah, that's right, FF Tactics Advanced used that story too! Mind you, they have very different outcomes in the end.

There's a lot to get through with this game. For starters, there's 300 extra quests to complete (including the main plot ones). Seriously, 300! Not to mention the auctions you have for the clan areas. And then there's the best part, trying to figure out what the hell class you want your character to be. There's so many different ones it gets a bit ridiculous (although the Seeq only have 4...).

The art follows the same 'Square Enix' style and is very cute. It's a nice upgrade from the gameboy advance version. The portraits are lovely and the dialogue for the main part is pretty good. I enjoyed seeing some of the old characters (aww, grown up Mewt) reoccur at the start but have yet to finish this EPIC game.

EvoCraft

EvoCraft / Landgrabbers

Operating System: PC
Rating: 2/5
Comments: I wasn't impressed with this game when I first played it. It wasn't what I thought it would be at all. You pretty much just have to conquer all the towns on the map to win. After 2 rounds I realised just how strangely addictive this game was. I was trying to come up with all these sneaky plans to demolish the enemy before they could get a firm hold over the rest of the map but to no avail! I just ended up sending out so many guys all the time, no strategy. It worked though, mind you it didn't help me beat the high scores most the time.

The achievement system was kinda cool. It was a statue, and every time you got a new one, you added somethign to the statue like a pair of sunglasses or wings. Unfortunately the game seems to have been made for a wider screen so I couldn't really see what was needed for the achievements, just had to wing it. The graphic are pretty cute too, which always helped making the game more playable and enjoyable overall.

Phantasmat

Phantasmat

Operating System: PC/Mac
Website: Official Website
Rating: 3/5
Comments: It has nice graphics for the cutscenes which is always a bonus. You couldn't skip or quicken dialogue which was a tad annoying but not a big problem. The most annoying part was how it would replay the scene of her driving her car every time you access the main menu. The cursor was cool in that it changed for what you could do (inspect, look, etc.). Very helpful for when you're not sure what to do.

The HO scenes were in the same style as the rest of the game, which is good because I see so many that don't follow the style and make the game look ugly. The items seemed rather large but it didn't make it too easy to find things (damn burnt matches!). Always a bonus, there's an in-built strategy guide in case you get too stuck.

Persona 4

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

Operating System: Playstation 2
Website: Official Website
Rating: 3.5/5
Comments: Another turn-based strategy game that I love so much. Turn based ones are always easy to master.

Anyway, in this game you are some guy. He doesn't come with a default name but I have heard many refer to him by his name in the manga. So you have just moved to this country town from the city and shit. goes. down! Some anchorwoman is murdered rather gruesomely, her body found hanging from a TV antenna. Then a few days later, some schoolgirl is killed the same way. Then you discover that you can enter the TV and there's another world!

There's a lot to do in this game. The side quests are difficult to find because people will randomly show up depending on the day/weather situation. Even your friends can be hard to find at times (damn you Yosuke!). I'm trying to level up my friendship levels with everyone, as well as trying to go to my extra clubs, trying to get stronger by battling (where the hell is Kanji?! I HATE THIS BATH HOUSE!!) I'm finding it difficult to keep some sort of balance.

The good thing with this game is people don't get shitty at you if you miss hanging out with them (which I like, sorry Chie!). The bad thing is... you can create SOO many different personas via merging. And I seriously don't know which one is best. I have a variety at the moment in case I need different elements but other than that, it's just luck if something is weak to my persona. I was also wondering why you can give friends different persona but maybe that will come up later in the game? The protagonist is pretty mysterious, after all. Didn't have to fight with his inner self and all...

Dokapon Journey

Dokapon Journey

Operating System: Nintendo DS
Website: Official Website
Rating: 2.5/5
Comments: This is a very typical adventure-fighter game. You get to pick out of several classes, each with its own gender difference, and what colour they should be. There are 3 different modes but I only choose story mode for now as I'm yet to complete it. It's a long and tedious game, but I still enjoy finding new monsters and being totally awesome in my complete monopoly of the Dokapon world.

For me this gets really frustrating because I don't like losing. So every time I do something wrong or end up dying, I reload. T__T

I've gotta say though, this is not really like the GBA version at all. It has so many new things (like picking classes, gender, colour, the movement, stat, etc.) and the art style is so different too. It also has nothing to do with the other game's story but I don't think that really matters much.

Chapter 1: The Introduction

La Tale

Operating System: PC/Mac
Website: Official Website
Rating: 2/5
Comments: I was totally tricked by this game! TRICKED I TELL YOU! You see, the artwork for this game is stunning. The NPCs are drawn with such finesse that I thought it might be similar to Dofus.

I was very wrong. It's a platform game. Seriously? Yes. I find it odd that such a popular MMORPG is staged like this. It makes things difficult to find, especially NPCs in town! There are too many people on some screens and you can't really tell what's going on at all. Check out the screenshot, you'll understand then. Not happy with this one, though I'll give it a few more tries before getting rid of it.

Jojo's Fashion Show Series

JoJo's Fashion Show 2: Las Cruces

Operating System: PC/Mac
Website: iWin page
Rating: 3/5
Comments: This was a fun little game mostly because I can't design fashion. It's pretty much like any other time management game. You have 3-4 model that you have to dress up in the appropriate style. They make this very difficult by not having everything you need to make a perfect outfit each time. They've got pretty funky styles, like pirate gypsy and flamenco punk, which are cool to unlock for the "dress up doll" wardrobe. Sure it did get frustrating and seriously, the menswear was KILLER to get a good score, but I did enjoy this. Both the games are good actually!

Jojo's Fashion Show: World Tour

Operating System: PC
Website: iWin page
Rating: 4/5
Comments: After doing the last game, I stumbled upon pictures of this one and instantly got it. I was not disappointed. It lives up to the usual Jojo standard, having unique styles that are fun for me to steal a few ideas from... except the "street" gear (Amsterdam, London, Tokyo) all look too similar in male form. Pain in the ass indeed. The plot in great, like watching some trashy soap where you're like "OH NO! She did NOT just steal her man AND her designs! What a biatch!". The art style has changed though, which is a bit disappointing, but it still looks good... I just think the model look ugly now but that's not a big deal. I can't wait to see the rest of the styles though!

Maestro - Music of Death

Maestro: Music of Death

Operating System: PC/Mac
Website: iTunes page
Rating: 3.5/5
Comments: This game was extremely fun. It reminded me of the MCF Ravenhearst style with great artwork and fairly simple puzzles (always a bonus sometimes). Once I started playing I couldn't stop, I was totally addicted. The hidden object scenes don't make finding the items extremely difficult which makes the gameplay all the better. There's also a nice bonus chapter that you can unlock and play which always wins me over.

9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors (999)

9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors

Operating System: Nintendo DS
Website: Japanese Website, Official Website
Rating: 4/5
Comments: This game intruiged me when I saw the box art while getting Ghost Trick. I immediately couldn't wait for it to be released so i could play it in English. It held up to it's part in the bargain. It was worth the wait. I enjoyed this game immensely as it's rare to find point and click games on DS.

Mind you, it is in essence a visual novel, the decisions you make change what ending you have and trust me when I say that there is only ONE good ending out of 6. so, if you manage to solve all the difficult puzzles to escape the rooms, you might just end up being killed before poor Junpei and friends can escape the ship they're stranded on.

I also really liked that when you replay the game (and trust me, you'll need at least 3 replays unless you follow a walkthrough or are a genius and pick the correct choices first) you can quite easily skip ALL the text until you get to a choice or some dialogue that you haven't encountered before.