Mega Mall Story

As the name implies, Mega Mall Story you will be running a mall! wow who would have thought.. The game begins the same as all Kairosoft games. You start off with the lowest of the low mall, and must grow into a full 5 star mall in a certain amount of years, also might I add losing isn't really a possibly. So with this in mind players will make money and grow their mall at a steady pace, almost automatic and you have to do nothing. The challenge is to grow as fast as possible to achieve the 5 star rating faster than all of your friends. With the game ending at year 15 like all Kairosoft games, you really need to push the boundaries to create the best out come for your mall to succeed in this game.

Gameplay:

Mega Mall Story has two major currencies players must juggle: Hearts and Money. Hearts are earned when customers decide to stop by your shop, and are used to unlock new shops and to upgrade the inventory or products from your current shops. Players spend their cash on building more store, adding several new floors, advertising on blimps, and investing in the community of course. Like any sim game it should be a lot of cut throat decisions. Players should always have a bit of money left to make sure if things go wrong they have something to fall back on, for example, do you want to build elevators or create a new shop, the choice is up to you. The eye popper about Mega Mall Story for me comes from how many different types of shops there are and the graphs that show based on the stores created what which you lean towards making. With nearly 100 stores, all the additional upgrades to your mall this game is very amusing to see the mall you designed flourish with customers. Each month is considered another in-game round. The store that were sold out re-open, the weather changes accordingly that effects what type of crowd you'll receive (rainy not many customers). Not to mention my least favorite part, rival malls open and try to take your customers, to combat this you must invest in the community and win back the customers that way. Mega Mall is a very addicting game with a lot of fun shops to choose from, while the touch controls are a bit sensitive, and even unresponsive it's something that you will learn to get over and then the game is very fun. While the game is very good at explaining how to play the game the down fall in my opinion would be they really never explain how a customer that comes to your store every day is not a "regular" but others that don't are. It's never fully explained and leaves me wondering but it's not so big that it ruins the imagine of the game.

Closing comments:

Mega Mall Story represents Kairosofts greatest potential. It's near perfect, the simulation depth and options you can choose along with the addictiveness that it brings is amazing. Anyone out there that has ever played a Kairosoft game and didn't like it I'd advise you to give them one more try and download this game for the current sale of .99 and try it for yourself you won't regret it.

Mario Kart 7

New Nintendo System can only mean one thing.... more Mario games. So far this has been a good things seeing as all of the world loves Mario. The Mario Kart series has always been commanding the whole kart-racing genre and will in my opinion will continue to rule for years to come. Mario Kart 7 on the new 3DS marks in my book as a big accomplishment for Nintendo. With new incredible features along side the other recently added features that makes the game outstanding. Along side all the same characters, MK7 still has that same formula the previous games had that we've come to know and love. For those new to the Mario Kart world, there are several different things that you should know. First you will need to pick your own player which has their each individual play style. After all that is said and done you will select different cups to race on ranging from 50cc all the way up to 150cc, the most difficult in the game.

Gameplay-


Added on to the 3DS this
Add-on compliments the game
very well.



Most of the gameplay closely resembles that of the other Mario Kart games. Grand Prix puts you into 4 different races, and a total of 8 cups times 4 races means there's a total of 24 different races. 4 of the new cups are all of brand new course while 4 cups are filled with retro courses that are fan favorites. With Mario Kart 7 some of the most new innovations include gliders and underwater submarines. With the glider you can dive bomb to gain extra speed or even stall a bit to get the floating power-up either way the glider was a great invention to add a little more strategy to the game. In other news remember those coins that didn't mean anything in previous Mario Kart games? well now as a matter of fact they do. You can grab a maximum of 10 coins per race, increasing your max speed and giving you a slight boost. Collecting coins unlocks new kart frames, wheels, and gliders. Different wheels give you faster acceleration, off-road, or even more top speed. MK7 was genius in this sense that they let the player further customize their kart. After you completed the single player and haven't had enough you will be able to unlock Mirror Mode, which lets you race on all the same course but reverse which really is a big change when you are so used to the current track layout. With the 3DS the new circle pad really adds a bit of precision into steering. It's very nice that you are able to use the 3D feature as well, it really helps you visualize the corners better and makes the whole experience better. While MK7 didn't have much to change on the gameplay side, the power-ups were one of the first things I noticed. The "Lucky 7" was the newest power-up which allowed you to have a banana, green shell, red shell, etc. at once. The hardest part about this power-up is it's really up to chance which one will shoot out. Sometimes you might want a banana to get that opponent off your tail and will get a red shell. bummer.. Because of this it makes the "Lucky 7" not so powerful that it gets everyone out of your way and more balanced with the rest of the game. If you are to get bored with the single player you will be able to compete around the world with countless people and even your friends. You can choose to decide if you like the Grand-Prix mode better or even a full out balloon battle.

Closing Comments: While Single player pulls it's weight in MK7, it's a bit dull. After you win all the cups and play them all with the mirror-mode, it's very repetitive. Sure when you play it only it will be different every time but when people stay out of first on purpose to not get hit by the blue shell it's a bit annoying knowing they will just pass you on the last lap. Other than that MK7 in my opinion was a huge bench mark for Nintendo and they are currently on the right track. this game surpassed my expectations because I thought it was just a quick way Nintendo could save the dooming 3DS and make a quick buck.

Street Fighter

It's every 10 thousand years a fight game takes center stage from any game platform, let alone a Nintendo spotlight. So why exactly is Street fighter getting so much attention? Well if any of you readers out there have ever played the arcade Street Fighter that's what you can expect from this game on the 3DS. Super Street Fighter in my opinion is along side Ridge Racer as the best games at launch. This Street Fighter game is in all honesty the only game that I would recommend to anyone that has a 3DS. Just keep in mind they had to cut out some nice features in our to make it in a portable form. In the Big Picture the developers did one one thing right for sure, they added all 35 fighters from the console versions. Various different customization is also included which has different costumes and colors. On a down note in my opinion* Players are given all the characters at once, which I'm not a fan of because it gives no incentive to play longer. But other than that It's the same old core concept, Pick your fighter and face off against you opponents. You'll instantly feel the rush you did playing the game for the first time or just 20 minutes ago. Either way the game was very well made and has very nice polish, no bugs to be reported.

Gameplay: Street Fighter has a total of 6 attack buttons- three punches three kicks and this doesn't vary from character to character so it's very well balanced. there are four buttons a,b,x,y as well as the shoulder L and R buttons. But where are the special moves? Luckily Capcom crafted an interesting solution. splitting the touch screen into fourths, which both have customizable controls either Lite or Pro. The Lite scheme allows you to execute full combos and special attacks are easier to dish out thus making the whole game a cake walk and fairly easy. While the Pro mode is what most players will choose to get the traditional Street Fighter experience back. It's sad to say but I enjoy the Lite controls because it makes you feel as though you're actually good at the game which I currently am not. while the Lite controls are not very experience oriented, when you are able to use the Pro controls and be good at it you will be able to deal much more damage and deal deadly combos a lot faster than you would using the other control layout. After beating single player on several different characters I decided that I was to now try challenge mode which is a big bonus to the game. You are able to complete different challenges and in return receive some figurines of the character which is always cool to brag with your friends about if you get a rare figure. When that begins to simmer down there is always online mode which is personally my favorite. You can again like Mario Kart battle people from around the world but be careful if you have a lag filled game it can become very frustrating seeing as there can be punches that come flying in from god knows where and you are already down to half health. Lastly the 3D effect is a very nice feature, Capcom really wanted to set the standards on this game and they did it well. the presentation and the graphics are very nice the intros of all the character in 3D mode is astonishing. The best part of all this is that the 3D for the most part didn't impact the frame rate of the game at all.

Closing Comments:

Porting a console game onto a portable comes at a big price typically. Capcom attempted and succeeded at keeping this to a bare minimum, While there still is a lot of room for improvement with the game itesle. the touchscreen in particular for lefties isn't very friendly seeing as how I must stand in place and then use my stylist to select a special move. all in all it's a great game, maybe the best launch title for the 3DS and one of the better purchases for the new year.

Peggle

PopCap, my favorite iPhone development team also known to create Plants V. Zombies, but have another smashing hit Peggle. Peggle was a massive hit on the PC, and the game seems like it made it's way to the Apples Apps store, yay. If you missed the Peggle revolution this is the rundown: it's like bricks on the original iPods. you control a cannon loaded up with a couple of balls. below a field of pegs and bricks. To complete the stage, you must hit every single orange brick you can see, normally though the orange bricks are in the middle of a bunch of blue insignificant bricks. Blue bricks are worth points but send your ball of to any direction, but sometimes you need to do that in order to set up your next shot. If you have a good eye for geometry and angles along side enjoy physics games you will enjoy this game seeing as trajectory of the ball plays a big part into this game.

Gameplay:

The game is fairly simple, as I stated before the object of the whole game is to smack all the orange bricks before you run out of silver balls. There's more than that though, a bucket slides across the bottom of the screen. If you are lucky enough to land the ball in the bucket you automatically get the ball back and it is reusable. There are also purple pegs worth more than blue pegs, but the real treasure here is the green pegs. These active special powers of the Peggle hero you are currently playing as, such as fireballs, being able to see the long trajectory of the ball, or even multi-ball. Peggle is awesome. When you hit the last orange peg, the game slows down and plays "ode to joy" which then creates buckets at the bottom 2 10k's 2 50k's and 1 100k slot. This moment is awesome because you know you've already completed the mission and can just wait back and watch to see which slot your ball falls into, the outcome has no effect on what happens just your score various (which does nothing except bragging rights). There are two different control schemes in place for Peggle. A wheel on the right side of the screen for precise shots. and a just swipe and get it close shot. Once you are ready to fire you look to the upper right part of the screen and you press the "fire" button. This launches your ball into the playing field bouncing from one side of the area to the other. There are 55 stages in the main story in Peggle, alone side 40 challenge stage that are extremely hard to complete. PopCap also includes a two-player duel mode that lets you face your friends, sadly you can't use 2 devices it has to be on a single phone, tablet. However, it's still a lot of fun to attack the pegs with another player at your side.

Closing Comments: Peggle is an awesome game, not only for the original PC, but for the iPhone and iPad alike. The iPhone game is truly a instant classic and I am for certain you will not get bored with this game, seeing as there are almost 100 stages in the entire game and in addition to multiplayer what's there not to fall in love with. If you have played Peggle before you will not be disappointed with this title on a portable in fact you'll fall in love with the game all over again.

Portal 2

Portal 2 the sequel to the ground breaking Portal 1, Portal had the element in surprise of the first-person physics-based puzzle gameplay. GLaDOS the robotic villain, was one of the most interesting and also one of the most pleasant bosses I have ever faced. Valve didn't unlike most development teams hit every key note they did with Portal 1 and added even more in portal 2.

From the first moments waking up in the same old Aperture Science facility. Portal 2 feels bigger, the story a bit thicker, and the character detail more surprising. While GLaDOS, the facility's operator, does what ever she pleases and pokes and prods you with jokes it's a great experience all in all to keep on progressing in the game just to hear what GLaDOS has to say. GLaDos has a very sarcastic sense of humor and when you're not starting at your screen blankly trying to figure out which laser goes where you can expect to be laughing.

You play as Chell, the same as Portal 1*, dragged back into Aperture after the end of Portal 1, how sad. You meet Wheatley almost like the oracle in Halo who helps you through the early stages. It's difficult to not see how well crafted all the lines are in Portal. All of Wheatley's lines are very witty and are all consistently clever. While there is several verbal battles between GLaDOS and Wheatley, I often ignored them seeing as I just walked into a new room that has a puzzle awaking to be solved. At the start of Portal 2, Aperture's labs are all but normal, everything is in a state of disrepair seeing as how Portal 1 ended. Once GLaDOS is rebooted again in the sequel, and whirs back into action, the facility follows. As you progress through the game a lot the test chambers become more complex, until you finally come face to face with the final boss.

Gameplay- you'll spend a lot of time trying to finish puzzles as quick as you can and hopefully will not become tangled in trying to solve it. Valve brings back the epic same portal gun while greatly expanding upon it's capabilities. While in Portal a lot of the chambers you will get annoyed and will become frustrated while others are a simple I got it solution. What Portal is great about is even the hardest levels don't make you feel stupid, it's more of a challenging event because the levels have become bigger in portal 2. As good as the single-player is in Portal, the co-op is the real highlight of Portal 2, while instead of just using the single player recycled levels Valve decided to let the players create their own levels and share them on PSN or Xbox Live. This was a genius idea, and to make it better and more communication oriented 1 robot gets one side of the portal and friend the other side. While it is fun to play with your friends it's not all about completing just the chamber, you can look at who took the least amount of steps to complete it and so forth to keep the fun up.

Closing Comments: Portal 2 is an extremely fun game that starts from the very beginning, while the story takes a while to get into, I can safely say it's a ton better than any Call of Duty single player which is just shooting and progression. Portal 2 was everything I expected from Portal 1, a crazy play at your own pace first person puzzle. The best part about portal 2, once you're done with the single player you don't have to stop there and can continue your adventures with your friends in this never ending puzzle.

Borderlands

Borderlands, a cartoonish animated game that was hand drawn you don't see very many of those anymore. well for those that aren't aware of what Borderlands is, it's a game that similiarly mimics a loot style game like Bilzzards Diablo. The game starts and you're on a bus ride going to who knows where and you're pretty much a mercenary that will do whatever stands in their way between them and their reward. Getting off the bus you can select one of four different characters all with unique abilities. after selecting your character that's where the fun begins. you recieve a handful of quests and countless "baddies" will do whatever it takes to prevent you from stealing their goods and killing their leader. The main reason why you're on the planet in the first place is because there was a tale of a mysterious vault that contained important artifacts and technology that no one had ever seen before. While just starting out there will be an imagine of a woman several times providing you with further detail on certain situations including what may lie ahead for you in your journey. You'll begin with corrded pistols and shuttering machine guns but the more time you've put into the game and the further you get you won't be as bogged down by harsh enemies because you've have found new weapons and shields that fit your play style. Borderlands is by far different from any other game on the market right now. the design is a very relaxing one that isn't over complex and that's what really makes the game fun for me. Borderlands is full of different color and the development team did a great job making this game look anything but dull. all the fights are very fluid, frantic, and exciting all at the same time. From time to time you'll come across "Badass" guys which are just version of the normal guys just harder and bosses that each have a little funny caption before you fight them.

While it may feel like you're often going through the same place, You instead are traveling through swamps, docks, clustered close quarters urban areas that add a sense of variety to the game. You'll also be treated to awesome cliff views and distant images that are still well drawn and thought out by the develops that thought of everything. while Borderlands is a vast open world game in which you can pretty much whatever you'd like in, luckly they have added convenient transportation systems (like a dune-buggie) and quick travel systems which allows you to travel anywhere in the entire game which the push of a button.

Gameplay.This is main event and the best part of Borderlands. There are Snipers, Shotguns, Machine Guns, you name it and not only that they have said there are over 11 million different types of guns including design and stat features. As you level up and progress in borderlands you're frequently change your shield and weapons so you're always in your prime for when those baddies come rushing at you. Another really cool feature to Borderlands is that each class has three different talent trees each specializing in their own thing. This is cool and all but there is a down side, Each class gets one and only one primary action skill, which you'll be using a lot when you're quickly reloading. The Hunter which was chosen class throws out a falcon and dive bombs the enemy, which is cool and all but I would rather have like a insta headshot skill. As you level in Borderlands you also aquire points to allocate where ever you'd like in your desired skill tree, which in return can increase your damage, or make you survive better. In borderlands like I stated there are a ton of guns to choose from and really that's what gearbox was aiming for, better customization so you could find the right gun that fit you. But this is like every first person shooter, it's just mindless firing and fast-paced gameplay. One thing I would have liked to see Gearbox do was add in some armor collection, seeing as all you can do is choose a character name and change the color of your clothing. While I'll admit that would make the menu very cluttered and it doesn't bother me that much it just feels like something is missing.

The shooting mechanics of borderlands is that to be admired. Like Call of Duty and many first person shooters today you can aim down the sight or scope on any weapon, but why this is amazing on Borderlands is because every gun is different and the different colors of your gun and the firing rate really plays a cool factor while playing. In Borderlands you will face many different enemies aside from humans, you will fight bugs, spiky dogs, robots, even zombies. Gearbox was very smart adding different monster type and behaviors to the game as well. Some enemies prefer to attack in groups while others just go with a full out bonzi charge. All the fights in Borderlands are very fluid, frantic, and exciting all at the same time. From time to time you'll come across "Badass" guys which are just version of the normal guys just harder and bosses that each have a little funny caption before you fight them.

Closing Comments:

While playing Borderlands is fun alone, like any game this game is ten times better when playing with friends. Playing with friends adds benefit, the more characters you add the harder the enemies come which adds a big of strategy, but in return you receieve rare loot more often. all in all borderlands is a one of a kind game that its unique style will not go under the radar. Borderlands will be a smash for a while to come as well as the upcoming Borderlands two

Batman Arkham Asylum

Batman... where to begin, Adam West? Cartoons? Movies?.... Video Games? I'll be honest I am not a fan of DC comic character video games. but playing Batman Arkham Asylum I'd say my boycott of their video games is lifted. There was just something about the idea of batman revisiting all the villains of his past not only that but all in one game? I picked the game up from best buy for $19.99 and in this review I will tell you why this game is one of DC's best creations.

The game begins with Batman in his rad Batmoblie.. clever name.. racing to Arkham which is Gotham's prison for the criminals. Batman's special cargo this time is none other than the joker. from the dialog it seems that the joker broke out a few weeks ago, but Batman was there to save the day and subdue him... again.. as you get into the prison you hear many of jokers goons chanting his name and there was a supposed fire at their prison so they all went to where the joker is now heading... Holy Ironic, Batman! as you could have guessed the joker breaks free and you have to save the day, once again.

Gameplay

With the Joker in charge of a whole prison it's quite scary, he controls everything, the intercom, the T.V.'s I mean everything. In the game there will be several times that you have to swing over gas filled rooms, save medical staff, blow up walls, pull off grates.. you have no idea how much you do that., and find plenty of different ways around locked doors, as quick as Batman can to stop joker for the ten thousandth time. Looking through the Asylum it's a bit eerie, every criminal batman has ever faced is in there in a small little facility with guards littering the halls and green smiles painted on walls. When playing the game you meet cool villains like The Riddler, Ivy, Zsasz, etc. but after a while I thought is this game suppose to happen all in one night? really? that must be the longest night in Batman's life. Other than that the Gameplay is awesome, it's dark, creepy, and the controls are simple. the concept of the game is to be sneaky and attack your enemies with a flying kick but you can fist fight as well whatever suits your needs. I prefer to just stalk my prey but it the game makes it quite hard when you open a door and they are all just sitting there ready to kill you. While Batman is a very fun game when you're trying not to get caught the mechanics for fist fights are just plain. It's a common smash X type that sometimes you add B but it's an easy to learn hard to master combo system. While it's a bit boring the healthy set of animations of drop kicks, elbows, and even flipping someone over your shoulder is satisfying to see every once and a while. When in combat the higher the combo you get the more powerful attacks you can use like a spinning kick. another incentive to get combo's is after you finish your last move you will receive a bonus depending how high you got on your combo. But another thing to consider is you also get a bonus for taking out enemies silently. I prefer this method because it really makes you feel like Batman and actually badass. unlike Robin. While I enjoy the silent knockouts a lot the henchmen almost feel too stupid, they don't notice that one of their buddies is on the ground I get that but when I plop down from 20 feet up you I feel as though it's a bit hard not to be seen. Anyway the game is great because there are various ways to approach enemies and how to take them out, which adds a little replay value into the game for you to test out other methods on your favorite moments in the game. After completing the campaign the developers decided to add challenge rooms into the game just to make you play a bit longer, I actually enjoyed these more than the original game but that's just my opinion. On another note finding data collectors is also fun because you can unlock character bios that tell you a little bit more about each villain, this was obviously nice for me because I don't play any batman games or watch the shows all that much.

                                                                                 Closing Comments-

While it's a DC comic game and I'm not a huge fan of them this game really opened my eyes a bit. The game feels like a movie within itself and it shows that they really put a lot of time into this game. while the game is a bit ironic and you have to constantly save everyone, it's a fun game and that shouldn't ruin the big picture of the game the developers had in mind. Batman is maybe my favorite superhero now that I've played this game but I still can't understand what he's trying to say. maybe I'll buy him a Darth Vader Mask instead.