[Game Review] Rain

It all starts with a rainy night, a boy who stayed home looks out his window to see a little girl, but she's not any old girl, she's see through almost ghostly, she's running through the streets follwed by an 'unknown' equally ghost like but far more menacing creature. The boy follows them through a giant set of doors. On the other side the boy loses his form like the girl and is left alone is this dark world. Alone in the RAIN.

I feel i should start this review by stating that I've literally no idea how to class this game genre wise. Some would say its a survival horror for reasons ill get to in a minute but i don't think so, closest i could manage is that its a puzzle-adventure game. That might seem quite broad but Rain doesn't really fit neatly into genres just like some other indie titles in recent years, Unfinished Swan or journey comes to mind for instance. Rain might not have the sheer beauty or artistry that these games have but it does have that something that can make game good.

You see you play as the boy who can only be seen in the rain, with shelter and indoor areas rendering him basically invisible for all but his foot steps. The boy wishes to find the girl, but she is constantly pursued by the unknown a ghostly figure that wishes to eliminate not just the girl but the boy as well. The unknown isn't the only creature to inhabit this world there are dog like creatures that will chase you on site, giant elephant creatures that are docile but will shelter you for easy stealth, and little things that are hard to describe but they will attack anything and kill it, both you and the other creatures, but the consistent evil to this game is the unknown and his unflinching hunt for you and the girl, that's where you could say its a horror survival in a loose kind of way, he does follow you, music shifts to a darker tone, the tension gradually builds while he keeps his pace as he chases you and let me tell you it does get tense. The unknown is not a character to be trifled with.

[Game Review] Pokemon X and Y

Hello folks and folkettes, Eoin (aka Spudd) here to give you the review to a game I’ve been yuckin’ on about in almost every episode of the Podcast since it started. Pokemon X and Y, the long awaited Generation 6 of the loved handheld franchise. So lets get started and dive into the world of this Pokemon Review! I just have one question left. Are you a boy or a girl? Ahhh, Professor Oak you senile old coot~

We begin the game immediately being attacked by a Fletchling that appears to belong to your mother. You and your mother have moved to the Kalos region for a fresh start, and once again the father is missing even though many of the things in your room were bought by him it seems. Leaving your front door you meet two friends that will accompany you throughout your journey; Shauna who is a spunky and energetic young girl who is a bit of a ditz, and Calem/Serena depending on what gender you chose at the beginning of the game for your trainer. They bring you on to the next town where you meet Tierno and Trevor who bestow upon you your starter Pokemon and the Pokedex. Chespin the Grass type, Fennekin the Fire type and Froakie the Water type.

From there on you start your journey across Kalos and take on the challenges of the gyms as well as figure out the secrets of Mega Evolution which you gain access to after defeating the third Gym Leader in Shalour City. Throughout your journey you are also involved in a struggle against a new criminal organization known as Team Flare. While Team Flare’s plans involve gathering huge amounts of money and aiming to create a beautiful world, their methods and intentions for doing so are what makes them such a dangerous force to deal, moreso than they are on the surface.

Enough of the story, let’s talk about the game itself. In terms of battles of all sorts, it’s still the same old formula for Pokemon. Single battles, double battles, triple battles and rotation battles, however now in glorious 3D! Every Pokemon has their own little personality in battle, and it shows during attacks. When they do special attacks, physical attacks and status attacks, each one prompts a new animation that can either be cool or awesome, to okay and standard. Two new battle styles introduced into the game are Sky Battles and Inverse Battles. Sky Battles involve Pokemon in your party that fly or have the abiltity Levitate to participate in them. However, there are some exceptions to this such as the new bird Pokemon Hawlucha and the classic Gengar, who cannot Sky Battle due to standing on the ground. Inverse Battles are an interesting twist but nothing amazing, reversing the element typings so rather than Fire being strong against Grass, it’s the other way around. Horde Battles are also new but are not very common, and involve the lead Pokemon in your party being ambushed by 5 opposing Pokemon that are much lower level than other Pokemon in the area.

Along with the brand new region of Kalos comes 69 brand new Pokemon, the least of any Pokemon thus far but they make up for it with quality. I honestly can’t say there’s a Generation 6 Pokemon I dislike completely. There’s some ‘Mehs’ and ‘Its okay’, but not utter dislike like I do towards some from previous generations. To be fair, a lack of Pokemon is fine considering the jump to full 3D Pokemon game so honestly it doesn’t matter too much for me. To account for their only being 69 brand new Pokemon, you have a massive 450 Pokemon Pokedex before updating to the National Dex, a catchable Mewtwo in Post-game and depending on your starter you can encounter one of the three Kanto birds; Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres.

Pokemon-Amie is a feature I have found myself putting hours into as it’s just exceptionally fun to build bonds with your Pokemon by petting, feeding and playing games with them. It also offers up plenty of reasons to do it, as it gives Pokemon some gains in-battle. An increase in experience earned, the chance to survive fatal hits and chances to make itself remove status ailments like Paralysis.

Super Training is a form of EV training that can be done without needing to battle or requiring particular items in advance to boost them. It involves shooting soccer balls into small nets and earning stat boosting punching bags. Often it takes about 30 minutes per stat to boost, taking around an hour per Pokemon to max EV training. It’s not all that fun, but it’s easy and is a nice enough time sink.

Now, in terms of the bad parts of the game as far as I’m concerned. The Experience Share is the first offender. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the new Experience share, but I hate how early you receive it. Beat the first gym leader, the game essentially becomes super easy mode. When I went against the Elite Four in my first playthrough, I had a near full team of level 75+ Pokemon, when the Pokemon League was more levels 62-68 or so. Personally when I restart my file, which will be soon (after transferring my best Pokemon to a friend of mine) I’ll likely be leaving the Exp share turned off until after either the third or fourth Gym has been beaten.

The other bad part is the post game, and the lack of it. You gain access to one new area that holds the Friend Safari, Generation 6’s Safari Zone but based on your 3DS friend list, and the Battle Maison. You gain access to catching Legendary Pokemon like Mewtwo and a Kanto bird, along with the Z Legendary located deep within the Terminus Cave. Last but not least is the hunt for the Mega Evolution stones, which can only be done between 8pm and 9pm every day, and thats... essentially it. There isn’t much left to the Post-game, but I am willing to forgive it simply for everything else that has been delivered through the game.

I for one found this to be my favourite Generation of Pokemon by far, more so than Generation 3 which had been my favourite until last weekend. But now, time for the Good, the Bad and the Verdict.

The Good:

--3D Pokemon! Amazing to finally have it in a handheld game rather than only having it be available on console games.

--Pokemon Amie and Super Training are worthwhile and welcome additions to the Pokemon franchise.

--Team Flare continue the trend of interesting criminal organisations in Pokemon that take things one step further for how devastating they could be towards the world itself.

--If you don’t speed through the game and enjoy everything to do with it, you can easily get 35+ hours played before even reaching the Pokemon League.

The Bad:

--Experience Share is obtained far too early in the game.

--Lack of Post-game content means it’s easy to get bored.

The Verdict:

--The small bad parts aside that I personally had issues with, they bare detract from how good the game felt. Defeating the Elite Four and the Champion with a team I grew to love thanks to Pokemon Amie, and the moment where I actually got upset when the Champion’s Tyrantrum took down my Mega Aerodactyl. Playing this game has been a joy, and personally this is my favourite Pokemon game now (at least until Pokemon Z comes out ;P). In my opinion, this game, despite the very minor flaws I have with it, wholeheartedly deserves a 10 out of 10.

Thank you for reading my long rambling about my love of this new Pokemon game, and I’ll see you guys next time!

Eoin "Spudd" O' Mahony

[Game Review] Alice: Madness Returns

Right, to start this off, hello. This is Eoin from the Podcast, the guy who yammers on about fighting games and attempts to make jokes. I'll be your resident reviewer for this game that went on sale on PSN very recently. So, let's get things started and delve into another's psyche, while at the same time looking into the good and bad of the game known as American McGee's Alice: Madness Returns. 

So we start off the game with a very stylized introductory cinematic done in a very hand-drawn sort of feel, where Alice is floating on a river having tea with the White Rabbit. He dies from internal hemorrhaging and loss of eyeball, and Alice is dragged into a sea of black tar with hands clawing her face off. All while she and a Dr. Angus Bumby speak over everything that's happening. It's revealed that Alice has been staying at an orphanage with Dr. Bumby as her therapist after she was discharged into his care from Rutledge Asylum in the previous Alice game. She's not very well liked by the other children, who regard her as Bumby's 'pet' for how often she has her meetings with him. 

While out in the streets intending to go to a chemists for medicine, she comes across a white cat and chases it, and hallucinations attack her in a back alley where she is found by an old woman named Pris Witless, who had also worked at Rutledge. Atop the roof of Witless's home with her pigeon coops, Witless transforms into a (more) hideous creature as part of another hallucination, and Alice's madness grips her tight and pulls her into Wonderland. There she is reunited with the Cheshire Cat and her trusted weapon, the Vorpal Blade. During the journey through the forests, she discovers that much of Wonderland is being warped and corrupted, and worst of all destroyed by the Infernal Train that follows Alice wherever she goes. I won't go too much into the story, I'll leave that to be discovered by folks interested enough to play the game and trust me, the story is great. 

From the get go the story is very well stylized, and every major character has a very distinct look to them. Interestingly, Alice is the only character that can really be considered attractive as many other characters have very particular points to make them ugly or disgusting in some way, even if they are or aren't rotten to the core with their personality or motives. 

The game is set in a Victorian-era England and the game does get that feeling across both in the outfits of the characters in the real world as well as their mannerisms and their speech. Wonderland however has less to do with Victorian-era, and is just as crazy to see as you would expect. From the machine-filled madness of the Hatter's domain, to the dark and spooky depths of the ocean where the Walrus and the Carpenter reside, and even the mists of the Mysterious East, every piece of Wonderland is well structured and very well designed to stand out from one another. However, parts where the Infernal Train comes to town are where things get samey, but thankfully these parts are brief. The Cheshire Cat guides Alice throughout Wonderland and helps her in his usual cryptic way. 

Combat is handled in two ways; melee and range. With melee attacks Alice has access to the Vorpal Blade, a very quick and nimble dagger that quickly defeats enemies, and the Hobby Horse, a slow but powerful mace capable of breaking objects and defenses. For range, Alice has the Pepper Grinder, which is originally intended to pepper the pig noses that you find scattered throughout Wonderland, and the Teapot Cannon, which deals massive area damage and destroys objects as well. Alice also has the rabbit bomb that can be used to weigh down switches and distract enemies, as well as the Umbrella which can be used to reflect or negate ranged attacks from enemies. Battles happen very often, and the four main weapons can each be upgraded three times by using the teeth you find throughout Wonderland. 

In terms of time, the game took me about eight hours to complete, at the most maybe ten, but definitely at the least eight. Unfortunately, the game’s linearity works against it. The game is very linear with most of the side options to get extra teeth, memories, bottles or rose paint are never too far off the path. While the game took at least eight to complete, it felt twice that long due to repetitive and boring puzzles.

The Good:

--The story is excellent and excellently told, delving into Alice’s insanity as she struggles against the destruction of Wonderland and the memories of her family’s death that she believes was her fault. The ending is certainly quite... bittersweet, but it’s best you find out for yourselves how I mean.

--Many of the characters are very memorable or very well designed. Alice, Bumby, the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter to name a few. 

--The atmosphere. The game is intended to show the harshness of Alice’s insanity and the new Wonderland, and many of the levels really show that. The final level is certainly one of the creepiest things I’ve ever experienced in a game ever.

The Bad:

--Boring combat. Hack, slash, hack, slash, shoot, dodge, hack, slash, shoot, etc. Nothing really interesting about the combat at all.

--The game’s linearity and the length of the game. While eight hours is decent for any game in this generation, the game should feel eight hours and not twice that.

The Verdict:

In my personal opinion, the game is a very well made and well told game, with some of my own personal cripes about it that lessen the score. I would have given the game an 8, but due to the problems of the linearity I cannot give the game more than a 7 out of 10.

Welp, I hope you found this somewhat interesting as a review and I’ll likely get around to making more in future depending on what games I do end up playing in future, but they may take some time. In the meantime, enjoy the podcasts and I’ll see you folks next time.

Eoin “Spudd” O’ Mahony