Yeah sorry about not updating the poll for like, a week. Looks like this will be a quick one. Or a very long one. We’ll see. Anyway, in regards to the results of the last poll, it looks like 72% of you are still sane. That’s good to know. This week, I’m wondering what you guys are expecting as far as the new Zelda game on the Wii goes.
One of the most intense and violent games made for the Wii, Nintendo DS, PS3, PSP, PC, and Xbox 360 was released on November 14th, 2007. Its release, however, seemed quiet and unnoticed. Even though the game seemed unpopular, it had gained a large fan base, and for a good reason too. This game is one of the best I’ve played, and it’s because of the awesome graphics, gameplay and story.
The storyline is that Emma, the main character, is sent to France to become a veterinarian via taxi from her small ranch in the countryside. Then, the taxi breaks down, forcing Emma to go back to her ranch and get to France via horse, however, she encounters violent and epic battles on the way with equestrian knights. After battling these knights, you pick up a certain item after each battle, whether it be a sword, shield, money, or arrows. With money, you can buy upgrades for your items. Some of the swords you can purchase are the Mucro of Nex or one of the most powerful swords, Vicis Quod Tractus. You can also buy shields, like the un millier d’âmes.
The gameplay is unmatched by any other game out there. One thing that must be mentioned is the realtime multiplayer physics. It makes the players to feel like they’re in the game, and of course allowing other players to play from all over the world. If you think that’s cool, there is so much more. This game is the first ever that uses ICMP (Inter-Console Multiplayer) technology. In a nutshell, it allows players to play from different consoles. So if one player wanted to play in multiplayer and had a Wii, while the other had the game for the PSP, usually, games wouldn’t allow that, but Horsez 2’s new ICMP technology can make it happen. In multiplayer mode, you have the choice to play as Emma or one of the equestrian knights and fight with weapons you have collected in single player, so it’s important to try to collect as many weapons as possible before going to multiplayer.
A screenshot of a cut scene before battling one of the bosses. As you can see, the knight is holding the Vicis Quod Tractus sword.
The graphics are the best that I have ever seen in a video game. With 1024 bit graphics, playing Horsez 2 feels like you are watching a movie. These graphics are 10x better than any other game ever made, graphics so good it puts Crysis to shame.Not only are the graphics good, but the physics makes playing this game worthwhile. Every tiny movement from objects falling to swords and arrows flying in battle, the detail is 100% perfect.
And just when you thought the excitement would end, it hasn’t. Horsez 2 has a 3D option. If you turn it on, you can play the game in 3D, and not the awful red-blue glasses, but polarized 3D.
Overall, to wrap up this short, yet powerful review, Horsez 2: Equestrian Knights is, in my opinion, the best game yet. It challenges the senses. When I played, it seriously felt like I was the one riding the horse and slaying knights. It blew my mind on how detailed games can be nowadays. For one of the first times, Ubisoft has shocked me with one of its games. I totally recommend buying it for its $175 price.
Hydro Thunder was the only racing game that I played where you’re racing boats. It came out on the N64, Dreamcast, Playstation, and was also in arcade machines. Usually when you play it in the arcade, the screen is faded, but it’s worth playing it because it has a steering wheel and a thrust thing. Only one place that I have been to had a widescreen LCD arcade version of Hydro Thunder. Anyway, you can play multiplayer in this game. In the arcade, it was usually two players because it depends on how many machines are hooked up to each other. On the N64, you can play up to four players, but playing with three or four players required an expansion pack, otherwise, you N64 would explode in awesomeness.
So playing it is real simple. You race 16 players to the end of the level, and there are about 14 levels, which include Lake Powell, The Far East, Greek Isles, Arctic Circle, Lost Island, and others. Only a few levels are short and are in the style of 3 laps. In the levels there are boosts. When you get them, you hold down a button and you go faster, but you only get a certain amount of boost before it runs out, but always keep a little boost, because you can jump but only if you have a small amount of boost (boost + brake). Jumping can get you into shortcuts in levels. Other times, shortcuts can be behind waterfalls or in areas only accessible with a ramp. The graphics were good and the music was awesome. Apparently, the Dreamcast version had slightly better and more detailed graphics than the arcade or N64 versions.
Super start.
One cool thing about this game is that you unlock levels. There are 4 “bonus” levels and boats that you can unlock by beating certain tracks. Some of the tracks include Nile Adventure and Hydro Speedway, and some of the boats include Tinytanic and the Armed Response, a police boat with mounted guns. One flaw with the N64 version is that in order for the game to remember your levels, you needed the Controller Pak, however, if you don’t have the Controller Pak, you can still play it arcade style. By that I mean you play it the way it is in the arcade: by beating levels in order to unlock levels in one sitting. In the arcade, if you unlock levels and you walk away from the machine, it forgets that you unlocked them. Also, this is a game you can beat in one sitting, unlike Toy Story 2. Also like Toy Story 2, Hydro Thunder is compatible with the Rumble Pak, so forget about the Controller Pak, plug in your Rumble Pak and get ready to play.
Looks like the SNES won the last poll, not too surprising. Also not too surprising that there were absolutely no other updates for the entire week. I’m eager to see how much you guys fight about this one!
Let’s Play Majora’s Mask – Episode 1 (Part 1)
Alright here’s part 1 of episode 1 of my Let’s Play Majora’s Mask. Sorry the commentary is a bit weird, but I didn’t want to leave it empty. It took 30 minutes to get to the first save point, so I had to break it up into parts for YouTube.