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.