Pokemon Platinum (Review)

Okay, 2 and half weeks after it's launch and I've finally completed Pokemon Platinum, the special edition of 2007's Diamond and Pearl. The game really isn't that different from D & P, which is the only negative thing I can really say about the game. Nintendo often gets a lot of criticism with their franchises for not changing the formula enough between games. While Mario and Zelda add just enough new concepts to warrant another game, Pokemon is probably the most guilty of the "never change" complaint. If you want to include all the different versions of a single pokemon game, then you could say that Nintendo has released the same game 15 times in about 10 years.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy Platinum, it's just as enjoyable now as was when started. The game adds a new area: The Distortion World, a Battle Frontier, and rearranges the order of some of the gym leaders. They also changed a lot of the opponents pokemon line-ups and their move sets. This actually makes the game a tad harder than before. Most of the pokemon fought in the game now use moves that seem to cover their weaknesses (The weak to electric type Gyarados regularly uses the move earthquake, which electric types are weak against).

Pokemon Platinum is easily the best DS Pokemon game. It doesn't have enough new material to warrant a purchase for people who played through Diamond and Pearl, but newcomers and hardcore fans will eat it up.

Sonic and the Black Knight (review)

Sonic and the Black Knight is the 2nd game in the pitifully named "Sonic Storybook Series" following from 2007's Sonic and the Secret Rings. I remember enjoying Secret Rings on my first playthrough, it was the first 3D Sonic title to focus solely on Sonic and his trademark speed. As time went on, the game's flaws became more apparent, but I still noted the game to be a step in the right direction. Sonic and the Black Knight decides that instead of simply improving on Secret Rings' flaws, it will give us a sword-swinging mechanic that proves to be fairly entertaining, while keeping some problems of the previous game.

The sword play is manageable, despite being executed in a second rate manner. The swordplay is simplistic and there are not a lot of advanced swordplay techniques added in. You'll mostly be doing the exact same move over and over again to defeat the numerous enemies that lie in front of you, most notably the buzz saw move. Whichever way you swing the remote results in the exact same attack patterns with 2 results: you'll either send Sonic spinning forward killing everything(awesome) or you'll just pull him to a dead stop and get jumped by an enemy (Lame).

The missions you play through are short and unlike Secret Rings, seem to have some remote plot purpose. The thing that really bugs me is the ranking system. Like every other Sonic game since Adventure, Black Knight rates you on performance. The problem is that the game doesn't tell you what you need to do to get 5 star rating resulting in 2 to 3 star ratings even when you defeat every enemy and finish the stage in record time. The only exceptions to this are boss stages where 5 stars are rewarded for not taking damage. This mis-communication transfers over into other areas of the game: mostly the QTEs in the boss battles.

The game is split into 2 parts: Sonic vs the Black Knight and a follow-up part that I won't spoil here. The second half of the game is more interesting than the first and the game itself seems to think so as well since it feels like more a lot more work went into it. The overall game won't take more than 4 to 5 hours which is kind of a blessing because the premise, while fun, runs thin by the end.

The game presents itself well. The graphics are top Wii fare, the opening in particular is a thing of beauty. The animatic like cutscenes are a tad more lively than Secret Rings and are wonderful to watch. Sega also seems to finally understand how their characters should act. Sonic's style and quirks captured almost perfectly. It's wonderful seeing Sonic act this. His remarks and jokes are well done as there are some humorous arguments between Sonic and Caliburn, and the cast really shine throughout the dialogue.

I'm glad I rented Sonic and the Black Knight, the game is too short for a $50 dollar purchase. That said this game is much better than Sonic and Secret Rings. The controls are slightly improved and I enjoyed the small bits of fan service (like the use of Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 theme songs). Sonic games always seems to suffer from rushed developments and that hasn't changed here. If Sega had really put some extra effort into this game, it really could have been some special, but as it stands, Sonic and the Black Knight is just another average outing for the hedgehog.

The Real World: Brooklyn (Review)

I started watching the Real World during their 11th year: the Chicago season. After that came Real World: Las Vegas, the infamous season where the show stopped being about 7 people learning from each other while dealing with personal issues and forever became a show about 7 spoiled brats getting a 3 month vacation to get drunk every night and bitch about nothing. I was about 14 or 15 when Las Vegas aired and even then I knew it was terrible and stopped regularly watching after the following year: the Paris season. Somehow the show has managed to survive for another 10 seasons bringing us to The Real World: Brooklyn, the 21st season. I must say it's the best season in over a decade.

This season was much more like the original 10 seasons, when it wasn't about drinking and partying, it was about the individual people and their stories. It didn't seem like there were as many drunken nights, it was a much more intellectual show than it has been in the past. People said their views sober, which was a refreshing change. The focus on the relationships and individuals' stories were really compelling. Seeing Ryan get called back into service, having Katelynn talk about her struggles as a recently transgendered woman, having Sarah receive a phone call from her abusive dad, those were all spectacular moments. The only thing that I really couldn't stand was the episode that was nothing more than promo for Mtv's Pedro movie.

My favorite 2 cast members were Ryan and Chet (The 2 guys on the far right in the above pic). Ryan seemed like alot of the people I hang out with: goofy, funny and he'll always defend you. I felt so bad for him when he got called back into service. You could tell he's really hurt and upset that he may be going back to Iraq, but without hesitation, Ryan stood up to the plate. and I love him for it. Chet was the closest to my personality (although a lot more metrosexual) and his goals in life were fairly close to my own. I personally don't think Chet is gay--but I do think that he loves Ryan. Not in just a friend way either. He seems to care a lot about him.

My least favorite was Katelynn, who bitched and moaned her way through the series. She started off as this strong willed person who had an engaging story to tell, but instead she acted like a 12 year teenager. Her gambling with the money Scott gave her to pay her bills really annoyed me. She just became a slag as each episode progressed and I'd like to know in her mind how she justifies some of her actions. Scott went from my least favorite person to becoming a really respectable man; giving Katelynn $1500 pretty much proved that. I mean at first he seemed like a your regular model, macho and brain dead, but he quickly showed that he had the most caring and selfless personality out of the whole cast.

Sarah and Devyn weren't that interesting for me to comment on, while J.D was exactly as I pegged him: a nice guy, but a real asshole sometimes. I did really feel for him in the last episode where the girls make him take the blame for a joke even when he started to cry. I was so glad the guys stood up for him. Finally there was Baya, the wannabe dancer that the show didn't give give a crap about. I guess the increase in cast members from 7 to 8 was too much for the producers to handle.

Overall I was truly surprised by the Real World Brooklyn. It managed to be the complete opposite of every horrible thing the show has stood for in the past 10 years. Sure, there were still a lot of those trivial pranks and fights but it wasn't even that mean-spirited and was actually really entertaining. A cast like Brooklyn that can have conflict but still have enough brains to respect each other can still be good television. I wish the producers would keep this kind of quality up, but the next season is set to take place in Cancun, so I don't have my hopes up. But at least The Real World: Brooklyn was a return to the classic.

Scooby Doo: Night Of 100 Frights (Review)

This game was released back in 2002 as part of Warner Bros' huge promotion for the live action Scooby Doo film that was coming at the time. Like most licenced games, Night of 100 Frights is a fairly mediocre game. The one thing I think is really noteworthy about the game is the presentation. The game flawlessly recreates the look and feel of the original Scooby Doo cartoon, right down to the somewhat annoying laugh track, and the chase songs played during boss battles. The storyline of the game could actually pass as an extended episode of the show. The Mastermind (voiced by Tim Curry) is easily one of my favorite Scooby villains, which isn't saying much since most Scooby villains aren't that memorable.

The gameplay features the usual moving platforms, bottomless pits, thin ledges and predictable boss battles that are well worn conventions in the platform genre. But if you are a platformer fan you can put up with these things. Night Of 100 Frights is not a frustrating game. Considering you have absolutely no control over the camera, it deals remarkably well with the tight corridors and winding roads that you must traverse, and the controls are excellent. The content may be average but it is suitably polished and although it has it's challenging sections it never gets frustrating.


Finishing the game will only take about 5-7 hours if you're only want to get pass the final boss, but trying to find all the extra Scooby snacks and the pretty cool monster tokens (an item that makes a fully polygonal figure of one of the show's classic enemies appear in the museum, along with a capsule detailing the episode it appeared in) will add a few more hours. The game's less than 20 bucks now so if you're a Scooby Doo fan, it's well worth the purchase.