Lets start anew!

Hello, back from the den i call my room (the sounds of red dead in the forground) to tell you about a great podcast that will be coming out soon. they were previously called Animated Gamer, but due to some things it broke up. My good freinds who work in the game buisness have let me in the loop on whats to come on their podcast. As soon as they come out with some a link will be put up. The podcast comes from three guys who love games and love to argue over them. I will update you with any further information.

Stay frosty gamers!

-Melonman

Most Anticipated Movies of 2010

5. Avatar The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender Trailer 

     Avatar seems like it has a lot going for it as far as special effects and the newly announced 3-D, but M.Night.Shamalayn hasn't been on a good streak with his films. M.Night has made some truly memorable ones such as "The Sixth Sense" and "Signs", but with those critical and financial success's their has also been a few failures, such as "The Happening" and "The Village". Hopefully Avatar cast will help make up for the story if its a stinker, but then again hopefully M.Night.Shamalayn will redeem himself.

  4.The A-Team and Predators

A Team Trailer

     Now we all know "The A Team" isnt going to be the type of movie that you see for the story, but rather is the definition of a summer movie, mindless fun. The cast seems solid and just from the trailers seems like it'll be enjoyable, but the real reason why "The A Team" is anticipated is because of the outrageous action scenes that the directer seems to be going for, hopefully a falling tank, taking out helicopters wont be too outrageous.  

  Predators trailer
Predators seems like it could reinvent the series and may actually be better than the past predator entry's, the film is taking place on the predator planet and the action seems intense and not nearly as corny as them "AVP" movies. I am more excited to see how the cast will do in this film, rather than how the action will be.

3. The Expendables

The Expendables Trailer 

     "The Expendables" looks awesome not only for its mindless action, but also because of the cast which consist of some of the most badass individuals in film. Sylvester Stallone knows how to stage a action sequences, but as far as story has fell short, but all in all his last films were well made, if not too much over the top. I'm excited for "The Expendables" because of the action and to see some of the most badass action heroes fight side by side.

2.The Karate Kid

Karate Kid Trailer

     The Karate kid is definitely more anticipated than any of these films, because of the changes that have been made to the story and layout, mostly the Karate Kid not being Italian, but Jaden Smith instead. Jackie Chan seems to be going for a much more mature performance and the visual style seems to fit perfectly. Jaden Smith has always given a enjoyable funny performance, and it will be interesting to see how he does taking the helm, along with seeing how Jackie Chan does without Chris Tucker.

1.Inception

Inception Trailer 

Leonardo Dicaprio seems to be on a good streak as far as films, this year alone he gave a fantastic performance in "Shutter Island". Inception seems like its going to have a great story, chararacters, and action scenes, mostly due to the talented directer Christopher Nolan. Chris has yet to make a bad movie, and Leo has yet to star in a terrible one, so the match seem to have alot going for them, hopefully the movie makes sense.

Call of Duty Black Ops trailer impressions.

Call of duty trailer
Call of Duty has come along way in the past decade, giving some truly memorable setpieces and battles, along with some very entertaining multiplayer. Lately Call of Duty has been talked about, due to the disbanding of Infinity Ward and the fact that Treyarch is taking the helm on this COD. The trailer looks impresive as far as visuals and the guns, along with combat look impressive, but throughout the whole trailer I couldn't help but feel that these weapons seem a bit ahead of the time period and that the game seems like been there done that. All the set piece and intense moments seen in the trailer didn't impress a hardcore fan like me mostly cause, what else could Treyarch do to the game that hsnt been done before. Modern Warfares multiplayer is destroyed and honestly no big change was added to that multiplayer over Call of Duty 4. The trailer looked interesting but thisc all of duty needs to reinvent the genre before I spend more money on the same game.

Red Dead Redemptions Review on the way.

Red Dead Redemption is a long game full of enough content to last for weeks, I and most of the other staff members are hard at work trying to rid the world of Red Dead of bandits, or srike terror into its townsfolk. So far the multiplayer has endless replay value and the single player has enough content to last for weeks. Although its been about a week since Red Dead's release I am hardly half way through this masterpiece of a game, if I dont finish by the middle of this week I am sure someone else here at TZU should have a review or impression up by then. If I do end up writing the review I can say its in the range of 9 or 10.

3D Dot Game Heroes

3D Dot Game Heroes came out on the 11th as a PS3 exclusive, and having finished it, I thought it was worth discussing my opinion on it.

-What It Takes-

3DDGH is a Legend of Zelda clone. I want to get that out of the way. It's obvious just by looking at it. It plays like a Zelda game. The weapons/items you get are from Zelda games. The map is reminiscent of a Zelda game. The dungeons have puzzles that are like those of a Zelda game. Though it's not the default, if you change the camera options, you can view the game from the same view as a 2D Zelda game. Even the overworld music sounds a lot like the LoZ theme (and the load music sounds like music from a Pokemon Center, oddly enough).

-What It Gives-

Yet it's much different than a Zelda game. The borrowed items don't play exactly the same: arrows arc instead of flying straight, bombs aren't set off when you hit them with something, and the swords... well, the swords are a lot different.

The sword, like in a Zelda game, is more powerful when you have full health. However, instead of simply shooting out a small beam, it grows in both size and strength (though your sword is also longer than the average Zelda sword when you have less than perfect health as well). There are about 20 swords in the game, and all of them have different options for upgrading. It completely changes how you play the game, because you will need that extra power, especially if your sword has the ability to bypass obstacles and is big enough to hit the entire room in a single swipe. And speaking of swiping, that's another difference: one of the other qualities a sword can have (by default or only when at full health) is the ability to turn while your sword is out. It actually helps with strategic attacking, because you can hit around corners if you're careful.

The one thing I regret the most in playing this game is that I don't have time to enjoy the many, many sidequests within the game. There are literally tons. Some are more complicated than others (such as having to be done before a certain point in the story), but others are simply "talk to his person and then come back". They do add quite a bit to the length of the game, and people who want an extra challenge might want to go for the Trophies... Which will require you to do just about everything in the game, including playing it on all 3 difficulties, one of which has you playing through the entire game with one hit equaling death. I'm certainly going to come back to this game at some point to try out the New Game + feature, but I don't think I'll ever be trying that mode... This game is hard enough as is!

3D Dot Game Heroes also provides something that's sure to please just about everyone: an easy to use character editor. If you can make something out of legos, you can use this character editor. Although I only peeked into it myself before starting the game with the default character, I ended up playing the final portions of the game as various characters, since it was just that fun to play around as some as my favorite characters from other series (see if you can name the ones you see in the pictures). The characters don't provide any truly significant statistical benefit based on appearance, but they do change your life and magic balance based on what class they are: Hero (more health and strength), Royal (balanced), or Scholar (magic). You can also change your character whenever you reload, although you stay the same class as the character you picked at the beginning of the game.

-What It Should Have Taken-

Unfortunately, the game also does away with some aspects from Zelda that it really could have used. Puzzles in Zelda games often provide arrows/bombs in pots within the room if they're needed for a puzzle, and that doesn't happen here- I had to grind enemies for a good five to ten minutes to find arrows for a puzzle. Additionally, the bosses and dungeons do not fit the standard Zelda pattern- that is, they don't depend on the item found in the dungeon. Boss fights depend on using your sword, and sometimes the item you found can't even hurt them (and, especially since having full health makes it much easier to fight, the fact that there are not pots to hold apples (the game's version of Zelda's pots) is also an annoying loss). The dungeons do, to a point, rely on the item that contain, but much less so than a Zelda game would. The wire rod (which is basically the hook shot), for example, is actually used much more in later dungeons than the one it's found in. These aspects don't ruin the game, but they're annoying. It's odd to say that the game should be even more of a clone, but it would certainly help in this case.

And... While we're talking about dungeons and their related items... The Flame Temple doesn't rely on the item inside it all, and many people have complained about missing it- and even though they don't need it in the dungeon, it's important to overworld travel. I found it while lost in the dungeon, but if I had actually paid more attention to the Flame Temple map, I probably wouldn't have found it. And while we're talking about the Flame Temple's reception... People have pointed out (and although I somehow survived through most of the dungeon and didn't experience myself, judging by what I saw, this is true) that the design of the dungeon almost intentionally forces unneeded backtracking to hit switches to allow you to proceed- there's two colors of blocks, and you need to switch them to move on... but the switches are set out in such a way that you need to loop back several times in multiple parts of the dungeon to get anywhere. And then the Flame Temple results in an utterly impossible boss. It's not even that hard; it just has a huge amount of HP (and you can't see how much is remaining). I got so mad at it that, after having wasted about an hour on it, I went all the way back to the nearest village, bought the two potions I could hold (and had used during the dungeon itself), and walked back to the dungeon, where I beat the boss... after failing once more. Thankfully, when I had to face a more powerful version in the final area, I knew to bring potions and beat him on my first try. The Flame Temple is, by far, the most annoying area in the entire game.

-How It Adds Up-

Despite its flaws, 3D Dot Game Heroes is an excellent game. Sure, it could be more updated and forgiving, but it doesn't want to be. If you're a fan of Legend of Zelda, or indeed, any older RPG series in general (such as Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, etc.), you'll love all the references, but if you're not, you may miss what really makes the game great. It's certainly worth the $40 it cost, and while it's probably not worth buying a PS3 for (like I would say for LittleBigPlanet and Valkyria Chronicles, which now have a PSP port and sequel, respectively), it's something every PS3 owner should look into.

GOOGLE PAC-MAN

It seems that the programmers at Google have outdone themselves this time, creating a free Pacman game on their homepage logo in honor of the 30 year anniversary of the classic arcade game, that holds a special place in every gamers heart.

Now, I consider myself quite the expert on the classic game, and always love to see how it is ported to different consoles, phones, or websites, and seeing as this Google game tries to be less than a gimmick, I might as well give my 2 cents.

I always say that nothing can beat the joystick on the original machine, and that still holds true, but come on, Google isn't THAT good. As for the map, it is VERY different. Instead of being a wide, long field of play, it had been reduced to the size of the Google logo, making it very frustrating for people who are so used to the old map. This map also has many dead ends, and some walls are made to look like they are aligned, but when you try to go past them, your just end up running into them. This brings up another issue, which is the AI. Any fan of the original will know the secret of success, which is the fact that Pacman goes slower than the ghosts when on a long stretch (or when he's not turning). But the new map is very small, and has many long stretches that make it nearly impossible to get those ghosts off of your tail. Another complaint is the inconsistency of the AI. You will find that the ghosts have no idea how to use a warp tunnel, yet they will often change direction within seconds before you pass them, requiring lightning fat reflexes, which take you out of the experiance.

Overall, this game is fun, and the miltiplayer option loosens th difficulty, but while it may provide a few seconds of entertainment, it isn't nearly as addicting or nostalgic as the original. I just can't wait for them to do space invaders.

Red Dead Redemptions Out?

:( Lost Planet 2's Critical Reception:

     One of the most anticipated games of the year is now one of the first games to meet a poor critical reception. Lost Planet 2 seemed like it was going to be a masterpiece, combining four player co-op and impressive boss battles, along with a laundry list of customization options for your character. The mulitplayer was a bit of a dissapointment, but the campaign was going to surely be where most of my time was going to be spent, but instead reviews have said that the story is lackluster, gameplay and AI get repetitive, and that many of the levels are poorly designed. Reviews even went as far to say that the game is impossible to play single-player. I expected Lost Planet 2 to get solid feedback, but instead its getting a very poor reception and bad write ups. I had high hopes for Lost Planet 2, but it would seem this is a game that I will have to wait until its in the bargain bin.

Its me, im back from the Den.

Hello my people i havent seen because im addicted to WoW again! I have been playing on the DS for quite a time now, and have chosen a game worthy of telling. It is known as Meteos! This fun puzzle game came out years ago, but no one has ever heard of it. Why? Because this is a rare game, that comes out every so often. This game along with Glory Days 2 are rare because only about 100,000 copys were made. I have been looking for this game for some time now, and im excited to share what i know.

Meteos is a Puzzle game, where you try to match blocks, to shoot them into space, and you can do this by putting 3 blocks of the same color together both Horizontally, or Verdically. As you play, blocks are falling from the sky, and the more tyou have on the shooting platform, the harder it is to lift off, so you have to combine them together! I wish i could be more discriptive, but it is hard to explain it. The game features planets, that are under attack by the evil Meteo, who is sucking the life out of the planets by crushing them, you have to save the universe from this after your planet discovers how to get rid of them. There are different modes, like War, Star Trip, Time Attack, and Deluge (Or free play). I see this game as the modern Tetris, with its puzzler like aditude. The game Also lets you pick a planet to play as, and each planet has different ways to play.

On one, the blocks shoot right up to space if they were horizontal, but vertical dident move, another was Fast paced but you could get a easyer pair. This game would have been big if more copys were made, but sadly, only a few were. I think this game gets 5 Happy Dan Stars out of 5!

Community Event:

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      The most anticipated movie of the year is coming to theaters this friday, join us here at TZU as we celebrate the arrival of another entry in the legendary heroes franchise.

Halo Reach Beta Impressions:

Halo Reach is here and playable on xbox live, if you have a copy of Halo ODST. The Beta will offer all the modes that will be found in the full game along with a small doze of some maps and armor abilites. This time around Reach has a much mroe rebust ranking system and much improved matchmaking. The weapons feel more balanced and the gameplay is alot more fast paced. Although the servers are suffereing due to the millions of people trying to play at once, the beta is still loads of fun when you get into a match. Each weapon has a distinct feel to them, along with more details to your character and weapons. After each match  you gain expereince points along with credits that can than be used to buy new armor, which helps make your spartan feel like yours. So far their arent any real issues with Reach the weapons are balanced and the ranking and customization options are plentyful, overall Reach is sure to be a hit this Fall.

Chaos Rings

     Chaos Rings is an iPhone RPG. That, by itself, is not particularly amazing. What is amazing, though, is that it's an iPhone RPG made by Square Enix. After playing an hour or two of it, I thought I'd share my thoughts on it so far.

-Graphics-

     Right off the bat, you can see that Chaos Rings has some very nice graphics. I'd go as far as saying that they're close to that of a DS game. It's clear that a lot of effor was put into them. Though, like a DS game, the graphics do have some issues with the edges of objects looking bad, which is probably due to graphical limitations.

-Battle System-

     The battle system is fairly normal for an RPG. You can choose to attack, use an ability or item, or defend. There's an option to escape as well, though I've only used it once so far and I'm not sure exactly how it rates your chance of success (I ran away without a problem). HP is restored at the end of the battle, though MP is not, and you are not told your enemy's HP except for a small HP bar that is shown when choosing your target. There are some interesting deviations to this, though.

     The first is the option that you're presented before you begin each turn: Solo or Pair. Your party is always made up of 2 people, and each turn you either have the choice of attacking individually, giving you two moves as usual, or attack as a pair, which gives you only one move that's boosted in strength. However, choosing Pair also allows enemies to hit both of you when they attack. It's actually an interesting system when you combine it with some other aspects of the combat, and I'll give an example later on.

     The second deviation is the use of Genes. Basically, to get abilities, you can equip up to 3 Gene Plates. Each plate gives you the abilities of the enemy it represents as long as it's equipped. The abilities are unlocked one by one through chance as you defeat those enemies, though I'm not sure if you only get the plate once you've unlocked all the abilities. Because I'm only an hour or two in, I don't have many plates and most of the ones I have overlap abilities, but I can definitely see how choosing plates will become important later on, especially since you have access to both character's abilities while using the Pair option. All abilities use up MP, as you'd usually expect.
     There's also a fairly simple element system. By simple, I mean there's only three elements: Blaze, which beats Gale, which beats Aqua, which in turn beats Blaze. Your characters, as well as most of the enemies I've seen so far, are neutral to begin with. However, there are abilities that are basically "Assign _", which allows you to give any enemy/character an element. Apparently, using an ability with an element sets you to that element as well, though I'm not certain if that lasts for the rest of the battle like the Assign skills do.
In addition, there's a system in place to keep track of who has the advantage in the battle, as shown in a small ring in the top left corner. I haven't actually seen it filled yet, though, so I'm not sure exactly what would happen.
     To give an idea of how this ties together, I'll just give a summary of how my battle with the first dungeon's boss went. On my first turn, I chose Single, and made on character use Analyze, and the other to use a basic attack. Analyze is an ability that gives me information on a single enemy- in this case, I learn that the boss is already assigned to Blaze and has a little over 3000 HP remaining (and no one has attacked at this point). I then select Solo the next turn, using Assign Aqua on both of my characters. Then I go on the offensive, using Pair along with Cocytus, an Aqua magic spell. Because the boss is weak to Aqua, he gets hit for a good 1000+ damage each time I use it. For the last turn, I have to switch due to the characters' HP dipping too low, because the boss has been attacking the entire time. One character heals, the other attacks (and because he's still tied to the Aqua element, does more damage), and the boss falls.
The only other odd thing I've noticed in relation to the battle system was that after a certain point, I noticed I could turn off random encounters. I'm not sure if it was because I hit a certain level or got to a certain area, though. I was only level 6 at the time, and the Dungeon is apparently for levels 1-10, but the boss was only level 7, so it could be anything.

-Music-

     The music is actually pretty good for an iPhone game. It's not amazing when compared to the soundtracks of many other RPGs, but it gets the job done, and there's even been a latin chant or two in the tracks I've heard so far.
     Surprisingly enough, if you go into a game with a music track already playing, it will allow you to listen to that instead, and it will continue through the rest of the playlist/album as normal. I didn't expect that, because although this is a common feature for an iPhone game, I didn't expect it in a game like this.
Additionally, there is an option to change the game into Japanese, but as I haven't actually heard any voice acting so far, it seems to only change the text back into Japanese.

-Story-

     The story, as far as I've seen, has been rather simple. 10 people are transported somewhere to do battle for eternal life, and then are split into pairs. The only other pair that's told me who they actually are has said that they know each other, and the pair I'm playing as, Escher and Musica, have met before as well. And by met, I mean Escher killed all the adults, save for her, at the orphanage she lived at. I was surprised to find out that the character I was playing was a villain, though it's certainly made me more interested in finding out more about him.
     You are expected to play through the story as four of the pairs (with the reason for one of the pairs being unplayable shown within the first few minutes of gameplay), but only two are available at the start. I assume that the other two will be unlocked as I beat these two, either with one more being made available after I beat each pair, or both being made available after I beat the initial two.

-Final Thoughts-

     Is Chaos Rings worth the $13 it costs? Considering that it's a very good iPhone game that could easily be ported and sold as a decent $30 (or more, considering the usual "Square Enix tax") DS game, I'd say yes, it's probably worth it. Though, again, I'm only an hour or two in, so my opinion could very well change as I play more. Right now, I'm definitely pleased with it.

Follow up to next COD

What I gathered from the trailer was three things.

1. Military experimentation.

2. Vietnam ( it was only a matter of time)

3. And vehicles, finally some vehicles.

This has all been confirmed by one of my favorite segments GT Pop-Block.