Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed Review

Background:

I have always been a big Sonic the Hedgehog fan, and when I found out there was a Sonic Racing game, I wanted it. I waited for a while for the price to drop, and finally picked it up on Amazon from their "Late Summer Deals" sales for six dollars. I've been playing the game for about 15 or so hours, so I think I have a decently good feel for the game, and I thought I'd share my thoughts about it.

Gameplay:

First off, you'll notice that this game doesn't include JUST characters from the Sonic series. Heavy from Team Fortress, Ralph from Wreck it Ralph, characters from Sega's old game Jet Set Radio, and Aiai from Super Monkey Ball all appear as characters that can be played. There are a total of 28 racers, so you'll hopefully never feel that you are racing the same nine racers over and over again. The controls feel very comfortable, but the game doesn't have an option to view the controls. Each character has their own kart that has their own stats. I prefer this in comparison to being able to pick various vehicles because then the characters have no real value; they're just for show. The karts stats are divided into a couple of categories; Speed, Acceleration, Handling, Drift, and All Star. All Star is basically a unique ability that each character has. It adds a little bit of flavor to the game, but they are pretty unpredictable in the sense that you can get them at any point in a race.

Different Mods allow for different increases in stats, and decreases as well!

Plot:

The game has a pretty basic career mode, but it gives the player the ability to see the various types of races the game has to offer such as the basic race, the traffic attack, versus, boost race, and battles. The first mode is world tour mode, and in here, you complete the various types of races in order to obtain stars; a form of progression for the game. The stars main purpose is to unlock characters, and progress through the world tour. To unlock them, you race selecting one off three difficulties. Each difficulty will be increasingly harder, but more stars will be offered if a harder difficulty is selected. The variety of races make the game last longer, and they make you really think about what type of vehicle you should use for each type of competition. You would want to use a kart with really good handling for drift races, but good handling won't serve you too much in the sprint races, where you need all out speed and boost. The overall World Tour would take a while to complete, but it does keep you busy for a while.

Features:

Minus the World Tour, there is the grand prix mode, where four levels are mixed together, and your main goal is to get first place. There are various cups within the Grand Prix, and more can be unlocked as you unlock more levels and stages within the World Tour. Like most racing games, there is a Time Trials mode where you race a Staff Ghost. A Staff Ghost is essentially the CPU, and your goal is to beat him or her using only one boost, and whatever shortcuts you can fine. I find these time trials to be entertaining, but they can get frustrating at times. The final mode within Career would be the single player race in which you can race on levels you have already unlocked, against characters you have already unlocked. It's fun for one on one racing

Like most kart games, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed has boxes that racers can drive through to obtain various items that they can use to protect themselves and attack the enemy. There are about ten different items that you can choose from. The Blowfish can be used to set as a mine behind you, and it can also be launched in front of you. Ice shards can be used to freeze and halt the enemy momentarily, and the glove can be used to physically catch an enemy's attack and shoot it back at them. Firework is a type of angled projectile that can be launched at enemies, but they can also be launched at walls to ricochet and hit enemies. There is also a boost power up, but that is pretty self explanatory. Another type of pickup is the Chrome/Drone, which is an RC car that homes in on an enemy. The Swarm is a pretty cool power up in my opinion. It send a swarm of gigantic bees to the front of the pack and they clutter up the roads, causing the racers to crash into them. They can be avoided, but they are harder to avoid then one might think. Probably the most important pickup is the All-Star. This pickup lets the racer activate their special ability. This ability makes them invincible, but what they can physically do in All Star mode varies between each character. For example, Football Manager can launch large soccer ball projectiles at the enemy, while Shogun can launch a large streak of missiles in front of him. The game has very interesting pickups, and they make the game ten times more competitive and fun!

There are a total of 28 racers in this game, giving you various options to pick with their unique stats and abilities. What really sets this game apart from other kart racing games are the mods you can unlock, and the fact that you're character can travel on land, air, and water. Each character can be leveled up, and with each level they unlock a mod. The mod can be a balance mode, acceleration mod, speed mod etc., and it changes the stats of your character. It usually changes two stats at the least, possibly three, and it really adds a new level of depth to the game. The races themselves span across various levels from various video games. There are levels and characters from Jet Set Radio, NiGHTS, Total War: Shogun, and more. Even characters from Team Fortress make an appearance in this medley of All Star Racers. The races change each lap, giving you new obstacles to worry about such as a ramp being destroyed, forcing you to race part of the level within the water. The air and water action within the game is surprisingly pretty solid. I really enjoyed flying in the air and then seamlessly gliding back into kart form. Each kart transforms depending on what terrain they are on. For example, the Shogun will have a Oriental themed kart, and a dragon boat for water travel, and a bi-plane like vehicle for air travel.

It should also be noted that this game supports Co-Op. You can plug in another Xbox 360 controller into your PC if you are not already using one, and race with your friends locally on your laptop! You can connect your laptop to a TV or monitor via HDMI and then race like that as well for a better experience. This feature alone makes the game worth it because you can game with friends and family without everyone having to own the game or wait turns to play single player. It was a fantastic addition to the game and it makes playing the game all the more enjoyable. The overall mechanics and features of the game are fantastic and fit perfectly into the kart racing genre. I'd give this game a solid 9/10.

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Bastion

Background:
Bastion was my first casualty of the Steam Summer Sale. I picked it up for $3.75 I believe, purely for the same reason I picked up Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams a couple months back, it looked visually stunning and seemed like a great RPG. After various laptop issues and driver problems, I finally got around to playing this gem, and after finishing the game, I can honestly say it is one of the best isometric RPG Games I have played so far.

Features:

One of the coolest features about this game is that you have a narrator. He doesn't just narrate the storyline and the overall plot. He narrates what you do like evading enemies, smashing Windbags, and falling to your doom. The voice actor, Logan Cunningham does a fantastic job with the narration and very addicting voice that makes you want to listen to him more. He is also quite humorous and modern, making him a bright and lively narrator. I recall I was smashing a lot of boxes with the Cael Hammer (which is totally badass by the way) and he said "The Kid is raging". 

Another stunning feature to the game is that the level grows as you progress through it. What I mean by that is that as you walk, pieces of the level start to appear and form pathways for you to walk on. It reminded me of the LEGO® games like Indiana Jones and Star Wars when I first saw it. I find this idea pretty cool and it's unique as well. The developers over at Supergiant Games were able to make even the most basic concept of presenting a level and make it look stunning and intuitive. 

The game opens up with you, a voiceless character simply named "The Kid", waking up and attempting to get to the Bastion, what I presume to be a safe haven. You make it there and meet an old man who identifies himself as the narrator. He explains that some catastrophic event known as 'The Calamity' has occurred that has wiped everything out and it's your job to fix it. That is basically the premise of the game without giving too much away. The game itself is visually stunning. Everything was hand painted and it has a very Borderlands look to it because of that. Nothing looks out of place and it amazes me that the whole Bastion universe was built in two years. 

Bastion's menu is also customized to two groups of people. The first is the normal campaign mode; you have two lives, simply dubbed "Story Mode". The second mode is "No Sweat Mode" which is a much more relaxed mode. You are given an infinite amount of lives and the purpose of this is so that you can enjoy the campaign aspect of the game without worrying about surviving. This was a pleasant feature, but I feel that surviving through the levels themselves is part of the RPG itself, and casting it aside and giving the player infinite lives kind of takes away from that. Upon beating the game, you are given two more modes, New Game Plus, and Score Attack mode. New Game Plus unlocks all the buildings you earned from the previous run through of the game, and it gives you all the weapons and XP earned from the previous run through as well. I loved this feature because upon beating the game, I instantly had the urge to play it again. Score Attack mode unlocks everything and makes you go through the whole campaign while giving you a score as you progress.

Look at all of these options! GAH!

Gameplay:

The gameplay itself is fluid and I had no issues with terrible button placement or any lag for that matter. It is gamepad compatible so just plug in your Xbox 360 controller and you're set. The enemies each look different, memorable even, and the game increases the difficulty slowly so you aren't overwhelmed by tough enemies too soon. The Safe Haven known as "The Bastion" surprisingly has a lot to offer. For starters, you can build six buildings that can be upgraded over time (a very common RPG feature), and it also has flashbacks, referred to as "Who Knows Where", where you learn about the story of another character via narration. You fight off waves of enemies to hear the next part of the story, and once you defeat all 20 waves of enemies, you are provided with the background story to a new character. I felt the was this feature was presented was really cool and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

This game took me by surprise when it comes to its weaponry. You are at first given the Cael Hammer and then the Fang Repeater, an eight shot machine gun. As you progress through the campaign, you are provided with new weapons like a carbine, a bow and arrow, a mortar strike, and my personal favorite, dual pistols. They each work in different manners and useful to various degrees. For example, in a forest area, you're better off with the flamethrower or Cael hammer than a machete. You are allowed to carry two weapons at a time, but you can easily switch between the two by pressing "X" or "B".

Plot:

Now for the most important part of this review.... the storyline, a part I purposely left for last because it adds suspense! I will admit at first the storyline is a little bit confusing, but the developers and story writers over at SuperGiant make sure to tie up all of their plotlines, making sure no story is untold and there are no unfinished parts of the plot. The plot itself isn't the greatest plot in the world I will say that. It was a good storyline, and I personally really liked it a lot because it felt a little post apocalyptic without all the zombies and horror (Not a big fan horror fan). I do feel that they could have done more with the storyline, but I guess it was better to cut it off before they added more things to it that could have potentially ruined the story. I overall really like this game and I'd give it a 7/10. The features and the look of the game were amazing, but the storyline could have been a bit better and longer. 

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Sonic Adventure Battle 2

Background:
It feels like it has been thousands of years since I purchased Sonic Adventure Battle 2. I remember going to my cousin's house back in 2004 and they were playing it on their Nintendo GameCube. The graphics blew me away and the storyline was intense. I went home that night and ordered the game online, a game that I devoted hundreds of hours to for the next nine years.

Upon browsing Amazon's deals during their summer sales for online games, I found the very same Sonic game I bought nine years ago on sale for $1.25! To sweeten the deal, the DRM was Steam! I quickly bought the game and the the DLC that came with it (which was the multiplayer content that was included in the original game) for .49¢.

One of my main reasons for buying it was that I didn’t want to apply wear and tear to the disc, which had a few scratches on it. Since this game was ported to the PC I will discuss any changes as well as the overall performance of the game.

Plot:

My laptop has been in the shop for a while due to various issues that you can read about in my HP post below, so I am currently using an HP ENVY m6 that has an Intel ® HD Graphics 4000 video card. The game looks stellar as I remember it. The Campaign mode to me was pretty unique. You could either play the Hero story line, or the Dark Storyline. Both storylines tell the same story, but each storyline has their own unique events that contribute to the overall plot. I personally recommend you play the Dark Storyline first because it contains the beginning plot line. The Hero storyline kind of just drops you into the midst of things, with no real understanding of what’s going on. Within the hero storyline, you play as Sonic the Hedgehog, Knuckles the Echidna, and Miles Tails Prower. To reflect this, the Dark story line lets you play as Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, or Dr. Eggman.

The missions themselves are divided into three categories. Sonic and Shadow have the typical platformer styled missions where your initial goal is to get from Point A to Point B. Knuckles and Rouge emerald hunts in which they have to find three pieces of the Master Emerald that are scattered across a stage. Tails and Dr. Eggman have a similar mission layout in comparison to Sonic and Shadow, but they battle in mechanized

robot walkers. The missions as a whole are very fun and the game increase in difficulty in such a clean manner that it feels natural. The storyline leaves virtually no loose end untied and makes sure to inform the gamer of all that happened, something I appreciated after playing many games that neglected to finish up certain parts of the stories. The artwork itself is amazing and still remains as stunning when played on PC. There were a few lag issues here and there, but nothing major that completely turned me off to the game.Upon finishing a mission, the game gives the player a Sonic Emblem. There are a total of 180 emblems in all. This was particularly fun for me since I am a completionist and do my best to 100% finish a game if I can.

Features:
The added bonus to this is that you can obtain more Chao eggs for your Chao garden. This adds replay value for the game, but only if you’re interested in the Chaos and the Chao Garden. The Chao Garden is a great feature of the game where you raise Chao eggs and let them grow and compete in tournaments. This feature alone is why a lot of people bought the game once it was ported to the PC. You can buy new Chao eggs so that you have different colors and if you raise them correctly, they can replicate actual characters in the same such as Sonic, Tails, Shadow etc. It is an insanely cool feature that makes the game last so much longer.

The multiplayer feature of the game is pretty cool to, but I don’t find myself playing it as much. Players can have action races battles where you can play as Sonic, Shadow, Amy, or Metal Sonic and race the other two the finish line. They are action packed races and I will admit if I had friends that played this game more often, this would be all that I play. The levels are thrilling and they reflect the levels that are within the storyline. Treasure hunt missions are exactly what the campaign missions are like except you have two people hunting for three gems. The one who finds two of the three gems wins! You can play as Knuckles, Rouge, Tikal the Echidna, and Chaos 0. The two player games also offers shooting games where the player plays as either Tails, Eggman, ChaoWalker or Dark ChaoWalker. The players are places on platforms in a 2-D manner and they have to defeat each other. The remaining mini games are the Kart Race, where players can race each other (Can also be done in single player mode), Chao Karate and Chao Race where you can pit your Chaos against the CPU and the other player to see who wins.

It still blows my mind to this day that a game this well produced and made released in 2003. The game physically looks years ahead of its time and although the camera control is a little shaky in places, it is overall fantastic. The missions and story line remain the same and the Chao Garden looks amazing in HD. This game has a lot of replay value if you are interested in Chaos. The missions are fun and enticing and they detailed. This game in particular brought me back to my childhood and it was fun playing it again. The game has had some issues with it crashing upon clicking “Save Settings”, but I don’t have this issue. Fair warning though, SEGA doesn’t not offer refunds on these games so if you do buy the game, see if there is a way to figure out if your drivers are compatible with the game.  I fully recommend this game to any Sonic fan or anyone who is a fan of a cool 3-D platformer that happens to include everyone’s favorite blue hedgehog. 

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Spectraball

I picked this game up from a Groupees bundle. It was the first game I ever saw on Steam and it looked so cool! You play as this little ball and you have to get through the level and all of the obstacles it offers. There are ten levels in total I believe and each is focused on a certain scenery. For example, the first level is in a tropical area, whereas the second level is situated in a desert with pyramids. These sceneries are very well done and it was probably the first thing that got my attention about this game. What I really liked about this game is that every object and obstacle used fit the overall level. In the level “Sky Ruins” there are turbines, windmills and large ramps that provide lots of air time. It all felt in place and nothing stood out like a sore thumb in a negative manner. The levels themselves are quite difficult at certain parts. I recall getting stuck on the mission “Sky Ruins” for quite a while due to how spaced how certain platforms were.

Although the game has keyboard controls, they seemed kind of shaky to me, so I played using an Xbox 360 Controller instead. Those controls felt much better to me and they were much more fluid. You move with the Left D-Pad and change your angle and view with the Right D-Pad. Pressing the A button makes you jump and B activates your ability. The ability you have by default is the Power Brake which, when pressed, causes you to immediately stop moving wherever you are. This is useful if you overshot a jump and you’re right above the platform because you’ll just drop to the ground like a dead weight.  Other abilities include teleport beacon which lets you set a teleport beacon anywhere that you can teleport to once before it disappears, or double jump which is pretty much self explanatory. Upon beating a level in Spectraball, you unlock the skin for that level. It’s just a cute little way to add some replay value to the game and make the game just a little bit more appealing to some people.

The game also offers a few mini games for the user to play. The first one is simply called Arena. You are situated on a circle platform and are attacked from four corners of the level by other spectraballs. They try to knock you off the platform and you have to fend them off and survive as long as you can. The platform tilts and turns so you can easily slide off, or slide your opponents off, it is quite fun. The next one is called Laser jump. You are in a large room that is reminiscent of Portal 2 and a laser glides across the floor. Your goal is to dodge the laser for as long as you can, and it gets quite tense as the laser speeds up and is quickly whirring across the floor. The last mini game provided is Crate Chaos, which I found the most enjoyable and frustrating. You are dropped from a height and you have a single crate below you which you have to land on. The crate turns out to be a TNT bomb, and you are launched back up into the sky while a new crate respawns somewhere else. You essentially have to crate jump from crate to crate as long as you can and survive. These mini games provided a little bit of enjoyment for me, but there weren’t as addicting as I thought they would be.

Surprisingly enough, the game has a lot of replay value. I re downloaded this game to the review since I beat this game upon receiving it and I found playing it again fun and relaxing… almost. A great feature this game has in the in game custom map downloader. Fans can make custom maps and publish them for others to play, thus extending the life of the game and how long you play. Although a lot of AAA games such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Garry’s Mod and Portal 2 have custom maps and gametypes, it was really cool to see a lesser known game such as Spectraball have it. The game uses an in game map building mode that is a mix of Halo 3’s Forge and the map building feature that appears in the Super Smash Bros. Brawl. The pieces resemble Brawl, but it is in 3-D and works better. Even in the stage building mode, you still appear as the little Spectraball with an object above you that you can place down at anytime. Within a couple of minutes, I was able to build my own map and test it out. Spectraball offers a lot of cool features and is well worth the five dollars it is available for on Steam.

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Casualties of Steam Sale

With the Steam Summer Sale a week behind us, I figured it was about time to let everyone know what I was able to pick up during the sale. Sadly enough, my HP laptop broke the next day (Hard Drive Issues as well as USB, heating, and keyboard issues) so once I get it back, I'll be sure to do reviews of the games I picked up. For now though, a list will have to do

• Bastion
• Ys I and II Chronicles
• Ys The Oath in Felghana 
• Ys Origin
• Universe Sandbox
• Just Cause 2
• Portal + Portal 2
• Fallout 3
• Deus Ex Human Revolution 
• Deus Ex Human Revolution: The Missing Link
• The Last Remnant 
• Cthulhu Saves the World & Breath of Death VII Double Pack
• Super Meat Boy
• The Binding of Issac
• Saints Row: The Third - Season Pass DLC
• Borderlands 2
• Borderlands 2 Season Pass
• Chantelise 
• Recettear: An Item Shops's Tale
• Time Gentlemen, Please!
• Half-Life Complete
• Sanctum 
• Demigod 
• Bioshock 1 + 2

Although it was my first Summer Sale for Steam, I have played the mainstream games like Portal and Deus Ex before. I'm really into JRPG games so I tried to pick up as many of those as I could when they were on sale. I'll be sure to keep you all posted when I get my laptop back.

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Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams

The Purchase

I initially saw this game as Steam's daily deal of the day for $3.75. It looked like a good game and I have a soft spot for platformers, so I pulled the trigger and purchased it. I never played any of the other Giana Sisters games that released for the SNES or DS so I had an open mind when it came to this game. What drew me to this game initially were the beautiful 3D graphics. Twisted Dreams is literally unlike any game I have played, and I have played my fair share of games. When I started playing Twisted Dreams, I only wanted to play for half an hour because I wanted to play Rocksmith after. Instead, I was hooked on the game and ending up playing for an hour or two.

You can see Punk Giana's rocker outfit, as well as Cute Giana's adorable and gentle appearance 

Plot and Gameplay

(WARNING: SPOILER. GO TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO READ A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE  PLOT LINE.) It should also be mentioned that the game has no dialogue of any sort. It is all sound effects and visual animations. The game starts off with Giana's sister Maria pulled into a dream and Giana attempts to go after her. As you progress through the first level, you see Maria being eaten by a dragon. This essentially sets of the plot and you are given your goal, the save Maria. It is very reminiscent of the Mario Bros. series where you are Mario and you have to save Princess Peach. There is very little to the plot besides this, but no one ever said that a platformer game had to have a large plot line.

The gameplay and the mechanics the game offers are what really make it stand out. Due to the fact that Giana is in the "dream world", she is able to manipulate her physical form. She has two forms, "Punk' and "Cute". These two forms both have their own special abilities and ultimately affect the visuals and audio of the game. The two 'worlds' have stunning visuals that contrast very well with Giana's two forms, giving the game a much more vibrant and intriguing appearance. Each of Giana's forms also get their own version of the soundtrack. Cute Giana's soundtrack reflects her girly appearance and elegance with piano ballads and strings arrangements, whereas Punk Giana's soundtrack has a hard rock and metal feel to it. Both soundtracks are the same in composition, but the instruments used are different, causing the player to get a different vibe with each character.

Cute Giana using her twirling ability in the nightmare world

"Cute" Giana is the more feminine of the two forms. She resides the nightmare world, where everything is much more grim and frightening. The plants are dead or rotting and the water is a putrid green. Other levels have flowing lava and molten rock while the player uses cute Giana. The enemies are portrayed as upright lizard creatures with wings. They look quite ghoulish, but like all the enemies in the game, they move in a pre- determined path. As far as her special ability is concerned, she is able to twirl and glide in the air. Although it sounds like a slightly useless ability, it works very well for this platformer. With this ability, Giana is able to glide across long distances and during the time she glides, she falls down at a slower rate. When it comes to making large jumps or avoiding spikes in rapid succession, I prefer to use Cute Giana because she is easier to manage than her Punk form in these tough situations.

Punk Giana's fearsome dash ability in the vibrant dream world

Punk Giana exists in the normal dream world. This dream world strongly contradicts her punk rocker look. It is filled with bright flowers with vibrant colors and greenery. The flowers are in bright bloom, causing the level to appear pleasing to the player. The enemies Punk Giana enemies are brightly colored owls which are quite puffy. They add a very distinct visual aspect to the forest like levels and world that Punk Giana must go through. The size of these owls are a key factor to the game because it makes it easier for Giana to hit them using her ability which is a fiery dash. She is enveloped in flames and moves very fast in the direction of the player's choice. Again, this to me at first felt like a useless ability, although the visual depiction was very cool. I at first felt that I would never use Punk Giana and her ability because I preferred using the twirling ability of Cute Giana. As you progress through the game though, there are certain walls that are very close together that Punk Giana can bounce off of in succession to reach new heights, literally! Punk Giana is useful for me when I need to make large vertical advances such as jumping to a platform that is out of reach of a standard jump. Overall, both of the Giana Sisters are well balanced characters and are both useful in different scenarios.

Enough about the plot line and the characters, let us delve into something that can define a game for some, the controls. As opposed to most platformers for the PC, this game uses the arrow keys for control. They feel very natural and they work very well for this game. The A,S,D keys are also used to control the abilities and forms of Giana. A switches between the two characters, whereas S and D can be pressed to use Cute Giana and Punk Giana's abilities respectively. One thing that I was really impressed with was how fluidly the game is able to switch between Giana's two forms. There are no hiccups in the transition and the scenery and music change effortlessly without any lag or latency, something that deeply impressed me since I have seen games that have hiccups where there have to be character switches. The game is also compatible with an Xbox 360 Controller, but to me personally it did not feel as easy or natural as the keyboard, despite the fact I am an Xbox LIVE member, and have played games on the Xbox 360 for five years.

Game modes and Extras

Giana Sisters offers a variety of extra game modes for the player to enjoy once they finish the campaign. They are offered Score Attack, Time Trials, Hardcore and Uber Hardcore modes. Score Attack and Time Trials are modes we are all familiar with, and their names practically give away their purpose. In Hardcore mode, there are no checkpoints, so if you die, you go right back to the beginning of the level. Uber Hardcore takes it a whole step further. If you die, your are taken back to the first level… of the whole game. For example, if you were at the end of stage 3-7 and you died by a spike, you would go right back to 1-1. Although very heartbreaking, these games modes are meant for veteran players and those who enjoy a challenge.

Uber Hardcore Mode? Sign me up!

Final Thoughts

This game feels like a modernized version of Super Mario Bros. Many people I have talked to have said that they draw various comparisons between the two such as the plot line and the abilities, but I personally do not see it all. Yes, a girl is abducted in the game and it is your goal to save her, but that is only one similarity. What was the most refreshing to me about the game were the soundtrack and the visuals. The fact that they could change were amazing and the soundtrack was stunning and fit the game perfectly. I did have a few gripes with the abilities of the characters such as Punk Giana's Dash because it seemed to have directional issues. But all the issues were little and I learned to adapt with the game. Overall it was very fun and it brought be back to the great days where people didn't need to purchase $20 of DLC to have the full game experience. Whatever came with the game was what the customer got.

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Super Hexagon

I cannot remember where I saw this game first. It may have been in a Youtube video somewhere, but I was interested by it and bought in on the Google Play store. I played it for a while, but I didn't think much of it. I found it difficult at the time and I put it on the shelf for a while. I recently picked it up on Steam after a friend gave me a key on a forum for the game. Upon playing it on the PC, I realized how good the game really is. On Android, I traditionally have the sound muted, so I didn't hear the retro/ spacy music Super Hexagon had to offer. Plus I didn't really like the controls on the Android. I felt that touch feature was inconsistent in the game.

These walls and neon colors add
to the difficulty of the game

Upon playing it on the PC, it felt like a completely different game. It is a very straight forward game where you are a triangle that is stuck in a hexagon with walls coming at you at each of the six sides of the hexagon. The game speeds up and gets faster as the player progresses through the patterns and colors. What makes the game so difficult is that the colors throw off the player. They are bright and neon like, which can cause the player to observe the colors more than the walls progressing at the player.

Another factor is the fact that game spins which makes the game harder to follow. An enticing factor for the game is the simplicity of it. There is no aiming a sniper scope in between two barrels to kill someone or slaying a bronze dragon with a bow. It's simplicity makes the user want to play more, to progress more and beat their old records. It is a super fun game and I recommend it to anyone who wants to kill a couple of minutes or a complete hour. It has a huge replay value and is very addictive. Although there are only six levels, they retain good replay value because the patterns of the walls always change and the colors add a cool dimension to it as well.It is overall a fantastic game and it is well worth the purchase. 

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Rocksmith Game Review

So for the past two weeks I have been immersed in a game called Rocksmith. It's one of Ubisoft's more ingenious creations where one plugs in a real electric guitar, or bass guitar, and play to songs. I was pretty skeptical about the whole thing. I at first thought that even if the game was a flop, I'd have a decent cable I could use with Guitar Rig 5 and other programs I have for my laptop. After a few latency adjustments, I got the game down to minimum latency and fixed the audio delay. What I find cool about this game at the get go was that you can play guitar and bass. The bass can either be standard four string bass guitar, or the guitar can emulate a bass and one can play the top four strings. In a world where fast electric guitar players get all of the attention, it was nice to see the bass guitar and bass player get some well-deserved attention. I tried out a few songs and I learned to adapt to the way the notes go down. It's concept is similar to that of Rockband and Guitar Hero's scrolling note screen. The main, and obvious difference, is that instead of the five button bar at the end of the screen, there is a fretboard that is numbered like a guitar fret board. The notes come down the frets and are colored with a corresponding string color. Although it is strongly similar to the familiar 'fret board' of guitar hero and Rockband, it helps the player adjust well and play Rocksmith with just a little familiarity of the user interface.  The variety of songs in Rocksmith is something that took me by surprise. I have owned Rockband 1, 2 and Guitar Hero 3 and none of them had such a distinct variety in music. I've listened to a lot of music from a lot of eras in music. They had Muse, Lenny Kravitz, Nirvana, Eric Clapton, Lyndard Skynard, Velvet Revolver, Black Keys, and David Bowie, to name a few. They're all very well known songs and the dynamic difficulty helps out a lot. 

As far as playing a song goes, the game is pretty generous. They start you out on a lower difficulty setting, where a song will have single notes and maintain the base rhythm of the song. As they player gets a phrase correct multiple times consecutively, the difficult slowly increases. The game adds more notes and if the song has it, chords. This Dynamic Difficulty setup is fantastic for guitar players of all types. It gives beginner guitar players time to learn their fretboard in between notes, and as they progress through the difficulties, learn how to play the songs.  If the user is having trouble with the song, they game also offers an in game Riff Repeater. Here the user can choose any song they own in Rocksmith and practice sections of their choosing in different modes. The Accelerator mode sets a speed for the section, and then makes sure the user can play it at that speed, then the speed increased until they reach 100%. The difficulty of the song and the speed can be adjusted as well through pausing the game. The Leveler plays the song at a 100% speed, but not difficulty. It leaves off at the highest difficulty the user can play, and then adds more notes until that too is at a 100%

The 'story' mode is not really a story mode. It's essentially setlists the game comes up with. There seems to be no real correlation between the songs that are chosen except that they are possibly on the same dynamic difficulty setting. Some of the artists are the same in a set list though. For example, the two Black Keys songs that Rocksmith offers could be in the same setlist. You can also 'level up' in Rocksmith by gaining respect. Respect is earned by playing songs in a setlist and getting a high score. Each venue will offer a setlist and a song limit. They traditionally give anywhere between 3-6 songs in a setlist, but they limit it off at 8 songs a setlist, so you can add more songs or remove them if you wish. This add/remove feature is one of my favorites in Rocksmith because it helps me avoid songs I don't necessarily want to play like Lynard Skynard's Free Bird, a song that 9 minutes long.  When you level up, you obtain more venues and more events. When you finish playing a setlist, you're given a guitar, which as far as I can tell, is just for show. Similar to Rockband and Guitar Hero, you can equip your character with a guitar that you have earned. Since Rocksmith is sponsored by Gibson Guitars and Epiphone guitars, the player wins their guitars in-game at the end of an event.

One of THE most coolest features Rocksmith has to offer is their AMP feature. This gives the user the option to use amplifiers and pedals they earn throughout the campaign and playing songs. When a player gets over 70,000 points on a song, they obtain the pedals and amplifiers used for the song they completed, which can be used in the AMP room. You can create custom presets and play around with the numerous amps and pedals offered to make a custom tone and play whatever you want to play. It's something to fool around with and it's something different that hasn't been really offered in the gaming industry. Another feature the game offers are their mini games which kill a little time. Although the games are a bit childish, they help with a few techniques such as harmonics, alternate picking, chords, and bending to name a few. They even have a cute little game called "Scale Runner" that makes the user play the note on the screen and run down the scale of their choice (with the key of their choice) in patterns. The features and songs the game offer is a fresh new experience and I'm glad Ubisoft released a game that requires one to play a real guitar. 

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