Quick Play... Super Mario Kart (SNES)

That's right I'm at it again with another quick play.

Super Mario Kart is the reason that i play any kart racer game (Even you Diddy Kong Racing). This game was the source of hours of 2p fun in my younger years of life.

Super Mario Kart offers a Grand Prix mode which by itself can be hours of fun with or without friends. Within this mode you are racing against opponents of various types from the Mario series.In my honest opinion i see no noticeable differences in the characters, however I am aware of a few people that will not race with Donkey Kong on the fact that he and Bowser are the biggest/possibly slowest characters in the game.

The grand prix mode is fun and challenging and offers a nice reward for getting first in every cup in the 100CC races. After a few new tracks are played through in a new Special Cup there is everyone's favorite track, and that is the infamous Rainbow Road. a map that was so amazing when it was first found by my brother and I to the point that we probably only raced on that road from that point forward. It is so much fun and the controls are not clunky or broken at all. There is even the jump button that causes you to drift your kart and it is not impossible to control.

The thing that was the most fun was the 2p battle mode. in this mode you are put against a friend in a battle to burst 3 balloons that are attached to your kart. These balloons disappear after being hit by a turtle shell or slipping on a banana peel.This mode is so much fun if you and your friend both continue to to launch your green turtle shells randomly on the map. this was the thing that made it so much more fun for me as a kid as it allowed a challenge that was not programmed in.This mode can be hours upon hours of fun or at least used to be. I haven't been able to replay this section as i only have one usable controller at this point.

Super Mario Kart is the perfect way to lose a little bit of time, and is still one of my top 3 racing titles. I enjoy this game mostly on the memories that it brings back, but being able to play it at an older age i realize that Nintendo was able to make a perfect game as far back and most likely further than i can remember.

Portal (Xbox 360)

I was looking for a an interesting game that would challenge me mentally and this one just happened to offer cake as a prize for finishing a few test.

                                Story

When it comes to story there is isn't much that is disclosed in the game itself. You are dropped into the game and find that you are in a fairly small enclosed glass chamber with a bed, toilet , clock and radio. Soon there is a computerized voice which goes by the name of GLaDOS that starts to speak to you and actually offers you a way out of your what feels to be cage at the cost of you performing a few test.The way out is a little strange because through it you can see yourself and at this point you find out that you are a woman who's name and origin is a complete mystery. It is after a few test that you find out that this seemingly nice voice with promises of cake has a different plan for your future.

 Game Play

Portal is a First Person Action Platformer title, and i know it sounds strange but it works. By this i mean that you are always looking threw the perspective of the character using a gun that makes the portals that you were able to get out of your cage with to perform the before mentioned test for GLaDOS. Like i said it is a very interesting concept because this allows you to either quickly move across the map,and is the only way without dying in most cases. Another interesting thing is that our main character who goes by the name of Chell wears special boots that make it so you do not get damaged by falls.Through out the game you have to traverse the labs which feel as though you are the only living thing in the entire facility,yet it seems even with the Sentry Turrets, Rockets, energy balls and inescapable sludge. The thing that was the most threatening to me is GLaDOS.

Controls
The Controls are simple if your aware of how to play any first person shooter for example Call of Duty. Oh you are? Well then you too can play this game. It is that simple to just pick up and the controller and play. The only buttons that you have to learn are the crouch, pick up and jump buttons. its not much but this game puts your brain to the test sometimes even with the simplified controls.There really aren't any complaints on the controls to this game.

Graphics
Graphically this game looks good providing the player with the feeling that you are being watched. Obviously by GLaDOS, but you feel like you may legitimately be in a lab test.

The Bad
The Biggest problem with the game is the length. This game is just too short. Honestly there were sections that i just breezed through with no problem and offered no real challenge at all. Then there were the last 4 or so missions were the most challenging in my opinion and then the game was over. The only other problem that might just be a personal thing is that sometimes when traveling through a portal there are moments in which the camera angle changes and flips and spins. Its just that i feel like this was making me just a little motion sick.

Conclusion
This is one of the few games that offer this much replay value. I mean even after its over there is an advanced mode that takes a few of the maps and changes things like adding the deadly sludge in a room that did not have any at one point.Fewest Steps and Least Portals are pretty self-explanatory so yeah. This game is a definite must play for anyone.

Like Always i do appreciate any and everyone that takes the time out of their day to read and hopefully enjoy the things that i do. Be sure that if you aren't already doing so follow me on Twitter @Occasional_Game. Any and all constructive criticism is appreciated like I've said before I am not an English Major so i know that there may be errors grammatically in this. Until next time Occasional Gamer out.

Zoey 101..Yeah i went there (GBA)

I wanted to review a bad game. O its Review a Bad Game Day? Perfect Timing.

Yep and its terrible.

Story
Well from what i can take from this game is that the story is that it's a new semester at Pacific Coast Academy and you are Zoey your room mate Lola is there but you other roommate is not. so you accept the Quinn as your roommate as Coco the Dorm Adviser asked you to. Now its time to get the school year started.

Gameplay
What you can expect from this is a collection of Mini-Games. you get to pick from games at the faculties request, girls request and of course the boys request. You get to pick from games such as basketball, disc golf and prank week. The issue i have with this is that everyone suggest the same 3 games just a little bit harder than the previous person that suggested it.

Basketball is a game of basketball with Logan. there is really no indicator of how hard you are going to shoot the ball and the aiming icon changes on the power indicator each time so its almost impossible to make a shot. Well that is for me you may be able to do it and if you are... you have too much time on your hands.You can move left and right also with the NPC as a jumping lunatic trying to block your shot and he will be successful at this if he is even considered close to you.

Prank week is another terrible invention of a mini-game. In this game you will need to make it from point A to Point B, but the catch is that you have to avoid the pranks that the boys are trying to pull on you. This means running down a hallway dodging water balloons, garbage bins,  plants and flying toilet paper.
This could be a game that was not annoying at all but has one major problem.Whenever one of these things startles you it immobilizes you for a few seconds. This would not be bad if you were trying to make the best time and not being timed to do this.

Disc Golf is so easy it didn't have a chance to really annoy me. So i guest that's a good thing.

Graphics
I know it is a GBA but the graphics appear to be an americanization of the anime art style. This wouldn't be so bad had the sprites even appeared to look somewhat like there real life counter parts. I mean without reading the story at the beginning you wouldn't know who anyone is. Honestly i watched the show when it was out (don't judge me) and i didn't/couldn't recognize these people without the text based conversation before each game.

Sound
Just Turn it off. There is a constant headache educing crackling in the background of every track in this game I wasn't sure if its the unit i played it on or the game so i emulated it and low and behold it was the same crackling.

Conclusion
I am not an authority on gaming i do know what games i like and the mechanics that allow them to work successfully, and some of the things in this one make not as enjoyable as other games. So in conclusion it is not a fun game. I do not Find Joy in this collection of mini-games, and i would say avoid it .which should be reasonably easy at this point in time.

Thanks for reading my review i do appreciate any comments negative, positive or even constructively criticizing my work.Without it i wouldn't be able to grow as a writer.

Twitter:Occasional_Game
Email:occasionalgamerinfo@gmail.com

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (XBLA)

There really isn't a way to introduce a game that was as much fun as this so... Here it is Scott Pilgrim versus The Word: The Game

I'm sure that there are hardcore fans of the Graphic Novels or the Movie and i won't lie I've only seen the movie.I'm definitely not one of those fans so this will be a completely honest review.

Story

Scott, Kim, Stephen and Ramona

This Game Loosely follows the Graphic Novels as well as the movie to my Knowledge so here goes my version of what is going on...Scott Pilgrim a Toronto Native is dating high schooler Knives Chau but then meets an American Girl Named Ramona Flowers and becomes infatuated with her due to the fact that he has been seeing her in his dreams.Sometime soon after he finds out that in order to date her he has to defeat her Seven Evil Exes.

Gameplay

Scott Pilgrim is a side-scrolling beat 'em up styled game. In this game you can play with either Scott Pilgrim, Ramona Flowers, Kim Pines or Stephen Stills. The game does offer 4 Player Co-op as well as unlockable

Nega Scott as a character and 2 more unlockable characters through Downloadable Content.The game plays Similar to any other beat 'em up with the exception of leveling. Each character can be leveled up to 16 with individual stats that can be maxed out to 100 including strength, speed, will power and defense.

Graphics

Personally i love the graphical appeal of the game but i grew up in the end of the NES era and the begining of the SNES so this just took me back to my roots in a futuristic way. In my opinion the game is 16-bit and i know that could be an argument that i don't want to get in, but it seriously reminds me of Final Fight for the SNES but the Color Scheme is much brighter. This just makes the game that much better in my opinion.

Sound

Anamanaguchi blessed this game with the best soundtrack that I've heard in a sidescroller since MegaMan X. There really Isn't much more to say on this situation just play the game or find the sound track on youtube trust me it's amazing.

The Negative

There really isn't much negative to say about the game but I do want to touch on a few things.There are Frame rate issues. they happen briefly and sporadically but they happen and it can be annoying.The terribly long end of level wait times. By that i mean once you beat a boss and collect the coins there is about a 10-15 second wait for the level to conclude. No lie the first time this happened i was sure that there was more to the level. I mean its not that bad but why is that wait there anyways.

Conclusion

This game is amazing and quite fun and can be played and beat in a reasonable amount of time. I would have to say that with a $10 price tag it is definately worth a download. 

Quick Play Street Fighter 2 Turbo (Snes)

Its finally that time again...Quick Play. This time we have an all time favorite that should get a full review but its my page so BLAH.

Now for Starters Im a terrible gamer in the fighter genre but i do have fond memories of playing this game and the fact that I suck will not affect the way that i speak on this game.

This Picture is not from the exact title that i am speaking on
but its the only double Hadouken that i could find.

Street Fighter is one of those games that settles arguments between brothers and caused rivalries with other family members. For most they loved and others just wanted to get better. This game introduced a plethora of characters and signature moves which are all staples in the Street Fighter Franchise. I mean come on who doesn't love to hear Ken or Ryu Scream Hadouken or Shoryuken and saying it along with them.

Character Selection Screen which showcases
 every fighter and their country of origination

Street Fighter 2 Turbo follows one of twelve fighters through a tournament style fighting competition. most may remember the original Street fighter 2 where there were only 8 playable characters but in this version the four "boss" players-M.Bison,Balrog, Vega and Sagat are now playable characters.  To my knowledge there is no real story behind this game and if there is can some one please let me know by either Twitter or email.



Most people remember the Street Fighter franchise as i do before the 3D renditions and that was the fun in our childhood. Even if you could only do the down back forward punch Hadouken or if you learned every combination in the game you love this game. Regardless of which Fighting game series you play now if you grew up in the 90's you have played this game. This game is easily on my list of must own games and still-in my mind at least-still holds its own.

Mega Man X (snes)...A Childhood Favorite

The colors,brilliant story, the fact that he could shoot things with a buster cannon. I thought these things were so cool as a child and now I just have an undying love for Mega Man X.Also, just so you know this is going to be a total nostalgia review because this is one of my top 10 games of all times.


Overview

The First Fight with Vile.

Mega Man X follows a robot by the name of X on a mission to stop the evil Sigma and the Mavericks. not very far into the game, and i mean literally in the opening level you Fight an unbeatable boss and have to be rescued because you are too weak to take him on at this point. However to your rescue comes Zero the leader of a squadron of Maverick Hunters which are out to...well hunt Mavericks.Zero is the quintessential bad ass of this game. He tells you that you are not strong enough but will someday get there. and at this point you are on your way to kicking maverick tale all over the place.

This is one of 5 capsules located
throughout the game.

Character Growth?
This game is pure awesomeness. from the start it is not hard to pickup and play,and the password system could easily make this one of my Quick Play games but the awesomeness factor moved it to here. I mean the first fight with vile make you feel completely powerless and the game does an excellent point of making this known , and having you feel this from the moment that this fight starts. The progression of X -if the recommended path through the game is taken-is quite impressive. For example like everyone that has played the game before should know you should definitely start with the Chill Penguin stage and you will find a very interesting thing. A capsule and this is one that you will find because it gives you a very important ability needed to finish the game the Dash Boots and Dr. Light explains to you that there are more of these capsules with more armor upgrades and you realize you that its not just a typical Mega Man game. you realize there is plan for growth and that amazes me so much considering that there are games now that have no growth plan in them and from the single play aspect and this game was released back in 1994.

Sound
This games soundtrack is one of my favorite soundtracks. The music keeps you wanting to push forward and stands so strong on its own there are not very many words to describe it but it is simply amazing.

Graphics

X's Final look if all armor is obtained

So even in my 6 year old mind and also because before this i was coming from Techmo Bowl, Mario Bros. and Duck Hunt. This was amazing there was a background and a fully detailed background at that not just a somewhat detailed foreground on a solid blue or black background. Also I'm probably putting this in the wrong place but MEH its my review. Certain stages are connected in a way. like if you beat the Chill Penguin Stage and then go to the Flame Mammoth stage you will notice that the lava that was making the stage difficult is now frozen and if you go to Spark mandrills stage after defeating Storm Eagle you will notice that the floor is broken preventing those pesky little electrical currents from hurting you.

Final Thoughts
Like I said initially this is one of my favorite games and continues to be to this day. and is a game that can easily be completed in an hour and a half. So for the Occasional Gamer this is the perfect game.

If there is anything else that you would like to tell me you can leave a positive or a negative comment and i will simply use it as constructive criticism to hopefully make myself better at this.

you can Follow me on twitter:@Ocassional_Game
email suggestions for games or advise in general to: occassionalgamerinfo@gmail.com

Mobile Madness... Hardest Game Ever 2 (Android/iPhone)

The premiere for Mobile Madness is going to be a great collection of mini games that has occupied my mind in any and all down time that i have had over the past 4 days. This wonderfully frustrating game (you'll understand this if you play it) is titled Hardest Game Ever 2.

The games are all controlled
with the buttons that are present under
the colored area on the screen

The Good
This game is literally the best worst thing that has happened to my down time. on the plus side it is full of interesting mini games such as Tickling feet and keeping a kids head from falling over into his soup. I enjoy these sections and they are very fun once you are accustomed to the play style for the game but it changes on every game, and this brings us to the negatives.

The Bad

I personally would rate the difficulty in this game as unbelievably high in some sections of the game especially those where there is both a time limit to adhere to as well as a specific number of times to hit the corresponding action button at the bottom of your screen.this game has mad me angry at everything the insane difficulty mixed with the inability to perform the the task within the time limit and get a passing grade on it brings the experience down just a little.

This game involves pressing the appropriate feet buttons to walk the young man up to the toilet but you must press the buttons the appropriate amount of times to stop on the step of a toilet you cannot see on screen so this causes an estimated sense of urgency

Final Thoughts

Now don't get me wrong the negatives make the challenge i just feel like at points it completely stops you for hours or in my case days. It does this much too early in the game play i say about eight or so challenges in there may be a few hours that were spent on 1-3 of the challenges, and i love a challenge but i do not like being at a complete stand still or unbelievably angry with a game.

In conclusion i would Give Hardest Game Ever 2 a 4/5 on the Occasional Gamer Scale,and this is a definite must play.

Quick Play- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64

Here is a section that i want to try out and I'm going to call it Quick Play. What Quick Play will consist of will be games of the Fighting and Racing Genre. Quick Plays will not get a rating but will be a game that i generally do like.Quick Play games can be picked up and played with a few friends or alone. Something that can be played without the story and could be put down after a few rounds.Something like...

That's right I'm using a small session that i was able to get into with the original Super Smash Bros. Now here is what i thought.

Super Smash Bros. puts a very interesting twist on the fighting genre, because up to this point in gaming history most if not all of the fighting games consisted of warriors of some type that have mastered a certain fighting style and are thrown into a tournament of some type and they had to win it, or they were Fighters on a journey to find and defeat another fighter that they did not get along with for some reason.  

Smash Bros redefined the genre and did not give you a true story and instead just threw you into this world that made it appear that you were a toy and just simply being played with by a person with a rather impressive imagination. Aside from this you were also not a massive muscular man fighting with another. You were Nintendo characters! Characters that you don't expect to ever be in anything even remotely similar to this, but it works it is very hard to explain but it works. If i had the time and a few more people to play with i could easily lose 2-3 hours playing this game. Also yes the move sets maybe a little better in later installments but if you are able to remember the release of this game and the first time that you played it. Believe me it is completely worth the replay on nostalgia feel alone.

I would have to say that i love this game and i enjoyed the time that i was able to play it again,and it is certainly a game that could be quite a good time with other competitive people. It is definitely a game that can be picked up and played easily by anyone. For example after about a 2 minute conversation with my eight year old nephew he was able to complete the first 4 fights and figure out most of fox's break the target level in the 1P Mode. This game is fun and introducing it to a new generation was the highlight of the experience. Super Smash brothers is a definite must play if it is in your collection. I might have a biased opinion on this game so my rating is not going to be included on this one.

The breakdown

Welcome to the Occasional Gamer. Here I will give realistic reviews on games for the working person and parent. 

You may be asking yourself, what does he mean occasional? Well what I mean is I don't have much time to play games as much as I would like, so the reviews may not come on a regular schedule. I do however love anyone who's willing to hear my opinions and will continue to post.

Now heres a little on what you,ll see on this site.

I will be doing a segment or section...(still don't know if I'm going to do a variation of this on YouTube.)...called Quick Play. What a quick play will be is a game that has no real purpose or story. A quick play would be something mostly in the fighting or racing genre but you may find a few others there from time to time.These may be trips down memory lane for me so they will consist of the feelings the game brings as well as a few game play mechanics.These reviews like the games themselves will be somewhat filler for my bigger reviews.

Also expect a section called Tech Time. Here I will attempt to let you know if things like computers, tablets and cell phones are worth your time and money

With that said and done I hope you enjoy your time here, and I become that nerdy friend that you look to for technological help.

Thank you for your time.

AE
The Occasional Gamer