New Super Mario Bros Wii

This game has got to be one of the greatest Mario games ever made. Here's a brief history of Mario so far; after he appeared as Jumpman in Donkey Kong, Nintendo has continually developed their Mario games to become better and more entertaining. Mario has became a video game legend, and the games that he is in are some of the greatest classics of all time.

With the arrival of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, this game is certainly no exception. The game's graphics definitely improved, and the gameplay has also improved due to the addition of two new power-ups, like the Propeller Mushroom (which also you to hover in the air), the Penguin Suit (which also you to have better traction on ice and you can slide on ice and land), and the Ice Flower (which allows you to freeze enemies and pick them up). Not only are these added features great, but you can now play with up to 4 players on the same screen. This makes for some intense or co-operative fun, and really adds to the game.

Now, to get to the plot. This storyline has not really changed at all, in that Peach gets rescued, you must save her, and go travelling amongst different worlds. Instead of battling bowser, you must battle the various bowser jrs. The storyline is the same old same old, but the gameplay is where its at. The different monsters make the game more interesting, because it gives you a great challenge.

The multiplayer is probably my favourite part of the game. When you play on multiplayer mode, you can play with up to 4 players, but you can also pick them up and throw them off the edge to get a head start. It sounds dumb, but it is actually great fun.

Overall, this game is probably the best Mario game to date, and has set the bar high for any following Mario games. For anyone who has a Wii, you should get this game, because trust me, you will not get bored of it.

Campaign: 8/10
Multiplayer: 9.5/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Controls: 9/10
Graphics: 8.5/10
Overall: 9/10

Fire Emblem 3rd Tellius installment?

Yo its Ayman (also known as Maiku) here. for those of you who are waiting for my super awsome amazing reviews, you're gonna have to wait a little bit more because right now, I'm going to talk about fire emblem: the 3rd Tellius installment. For those few people out there who read this blog and play fire emblem, you should comment and share you're ideas on the 3rd instalment. if you don't know what im talking about then look up fire emblem 9 and 10. Anyway lets start talking about the 3rd installment (thats what i'm going to call it for now). In Fire Emblem radiant dawn (FE 10, the sencond installment of the tellius series) there are very many things to leave you wonder, for example: Ike leaves tellius and explores new lands, Stefan makes a nation for his people, the bird tribes come together, etc. What I want for the 3rd installment is for you to be able to create your own unit (race, class, gender, etc) and nin the end of FE 10 Laura adoptss many orphans so it would only make sence to have the unit you create be one of Laura's adopted children. After that your unit should be kidnapped and taken to "new lands" where he/she is taken to be a slave (sounds redundant doesn't it :p) and thats where he/she meets ike and then i big adventure starts. so yeah thats pretty much my twisted dreams of this games please share your idea'sin the comment section i'm am intrested in whatever you have to say (but no flames!)

About these Anonymous people

Obivously we have some anonymous people on our blog giving kenji some advice and all i have to say to that is thanks for your contribution to this blog and please use a name in stead of anonymous because i have a hard time spelling that word and you don't even have to use your real name here at walrus game reviews, we're not stalkers... well greg might be (JOKING) but yeah thank you again

Who is Albert?

After Greg posted his 'Who am I?' section, I thought that I should probably follow suit and do my own Who Am I section. So, here goes;

Albert is a Polish guy (or so he thinks). He likes video games, has an amazing iPod touch 4g, and is the supreme director of creativity on this blog.

Upcoming reviews from Albert:

New Super Mario Bros. Wii (wii)
Super Paper Mario (wii)
...and many more!

League of Evil [Iphone] Review

Version 1.11
Platform: Iphone
Reviewer:Kenji
Price: $0.99 (as of 03/26/11)

Pixel art? techno like beats? It's a platformer!? I'm in!
League of evil by Ravenous Games is a platformer for the iphone. It's pretty similar to the PC and XBLA game super meat boy. as in you'll be dying a lot. Gameplay is simple, get from point A to point B, dodging obstacles and killing enemies. You'll be playing a character some what reminiscent of Bionic Commando. he levels are pretty easy at first but soon ramp up in difficulty after about a dozen levels or so. When I'm talking Difficult I'm talking about "throw your ipod at the wall in frustration" difficult (don't do that by the way). Levels can be completed in seconds, of course if you can beat it that is. To add to the challenge you can choose to collect a suitcase in each level.

These are pretty challenging to get as they involve getting past spikes, turrets, soldiers and the occasional spinning ninja wielding a lightsaber... well 2 lightsabers. The level itself isn't too much of a challenge to traverse except for the enemies in the way. Did i mention you're going to die a alot?

Graphically the pixel art style is quite pleasing in this platformer and is easy on the eys, overall it's enjoyable and the interface was just right. Music was techno styled and was pretty nice to listen to. Controls could've been a little more responsive and there was noticeable lag right before you die in some levels. There are quite a number of levels to beat in the game; around around or so. Of course you'll be spending hours just trying to beat some levels so this is easily going to consume your time.

Overall the platformer was really enjoyable, difficult but enjoyable, a good look for any Meat Boy fan or anyone looking for a challenge.

Gameplay: 7.5
Graphics: 8.5
Controls: 7
Sound: 8

Overall:8

Who is Greg?

When I first started doing game reviews for this blog, I forgot to write a 'Who Am I?' blog. So, I'll be posting this for you, the viewers, to know a little bit more about me.

Who is Greg?
Greg is a German Guy. He's a video game enthusiast, military historian, compulsive manga reader, and reader in general and, like's drawing.

Upcoming Reviews from Greg:

Call of Duty: Black Ops (PS3)
'Uncharted' series (PS3)
Red Dead Redemption (PS3)
The Conduit (Wii)

Red Steel (Wii) Review

Today, I'm doing a review on one of the most underrated games on the Wii: Red Steel. The game was released on November 19, 2006: the launch date of the Nintendo Wii. This was also the first shooter on the Wii. I've seen a lot of reviews up for this game and almost all of them give the game negative reviews. GameRankings gave it 65.8% and Metacritic gave it 63%. But, I'm going to do a basic rundown of the game and explain why it's pretty good, or better then other people say it is.

The game has a campaign and and a multiplayer mode. The campaign begins in Los Angeles, California where Scott Monroe, the story's protagonist, is in a hotel with his fiance, Miyu Sato. Miyu is the the daughter of a yakuza kingpin named, Isao Sato. Before Scott can meet his soon to be father-in-law, a rival gang rushes into the hotel and attempts to kill Sato, but only injures him. They then kidnap Miyu and knock Scott out unconscious, in which Miyu thinks he's dead. After you wake up, you meet up with Sato's bodyguard, Ryuichi, where they try to save Sato and escape the building. The two eventually find Sato on the roof of the hotel, badly wounded. They eventually reach the parking lot where Ryuichi turns his back on Scott by kidnapping Sato, along with Miyu. Scott shoots at the fleeing car and manages to save Sato, but Ryuichi is able to escape with Miyu. During the the first few missions in the hotel, Sato teaches Scott the ways of using a katana, an ancient sword. There are many sequences throughout the game where you must use the katana, which is controlled by the Wii remote and the broken sword which is controlled by the nunchuk which blocks enemy attacks. After leaving the building with Sato, you meet up with Tony Tanaka, a guy who has many connections with yakuza gangs. The rest of the game is basically Sato dying and giving Scott his katana in which he then travels to Tokyo to rescue Miyu. Scott goes through a lot of enemies and gangs, where you use both guns and katanas to defeat enemies. In the end, you save Miyu.


Now, let's move onto multiplayer. Now, this game doesn't have online because the Wii wasn't that developed yet. But, you can player up to four player split screen. I love the multiplayer mode because it feels a lot like Goldeneye 007 for N64. There's about 3-4 maps which, the only one I can remember the name of is, Docks. There are about 10 guns to choose from such as Assault Rifle, Uzi, M4 shotgun, 3 different kinds of pistols and more. You can also choose what you want your character to look like. There are a bunch of different models to choose from, but the only bad thing about this is two people can't have the same model. 


So, that's been my review for this very underrated game and I just have to say, if you see this game anywhere, and you have a Wii and you like shooters, I would definitely recommend checking it out, plus it retails for anywhere between $5-$20.


Campaign: 7.5/10
Multiplayer: 9.5/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Controls: 7/10
Graphics: 7/10
Overall: 8/10

Dear albert

for trying to take over me and Aymans blog we have stripped you of yoour rites until we can trust you again :P thats what you geteven if it was  a joke xD

Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story

Before I start this review, note that this is my first one; it may not be great, but I hope it is.

To start as a little background; this is one of the Mario RPG games, and it is by far the best one I have ever played. You play as Mario and Luigi, together again trying to save Peach, and later on to save the world. Bowser gets tricked by Fawful (some kind of Bean creature) to eat a vacuum shroom, which allows him to suck up everything and anything. He starts with his regular antics, by coming into Peach's castle to kidnap her; however, he vacuums everyone instead, so you play about half the game as Mario and Luigi inside of Bowser. This gives you a different perspective of the game, becuase you control Bowser by stimulating his different bones, muscles, etc. Furthermore, you can play as Bowser, and it is quite enjoyable because he can pretty much kill anything.

Now to the stroyline; to be honest, this was a pretty cool storyline, just because it takes a long time to complete, and it is quite enthralling. It starts off with a mysterious disease called the "Blorbs," which makes all Toads big and fat. To try to battle this disease, all the major characters (Mario, Luigi, Peach, and some random Toads) go to Peach's castle to discuss this illness. However, Bowser gives an 'unexpected' visit and sucks up everyone with the vacuum shroom. This makes the game interesting, because while you play as bowser for some time, you encounter certain objects that cannot be avoided, but you need certain tings to pass by them. (For example, a giant boulder may be blocking your way, and the only way to get through this is with super strength. Then, Mario and Luigi must go to Bowser's muscles to 'stimulate them,' so that he can achieve a super punch which breaks the boulder. You go through about 3/4 of the game like this, then at the end of the game, you have some pretty intense boss battles.

You see, Fawful is after the Dark Star, which is a star that gives you unbelievably evil powers. When Fawful gets a hold if this star, he turns evil and you must kill him. Also, the Dark star goes into Bowser and steals his powers, making a mirror image of him called 'Dark Bowser.' This form of Bowser is the very last boss battle, and makes for a great battle.

After this battle, the day is saved, and everything is back to its normal self. Everyone lives happily ever after, and you are a hero.

Story: 9/10

Gameplay: 9.5/10

Music: 8/10

Character Design: 8.5/10

Overall: 9/10

Albert Joins the Ranks

For the three people reading this blog, you may have noticed that the name has changed to WalrusGameReviews.blogspot.com. This is because Kenji foolishly gave me administrative priviliges, and I have gone crazy with power.

On a different matter, I (Albert) have joined the crew of three (now four) to assist in the production of this blog as Supreme editor of Creativity. However, as soon as Kenji sees this, I'll be back to being a low-life authour. I'll review some games, but I will probably just talk about world issues.

Toodledo,
Albert

Fire Emblem: Raidiant Dawn (Wii)

I only found out about fire emblem a few years ago thanks to super smash bros melee and the games that i usually play are fighters, adventure, RPG's and let me say, if you like games where you have to take your time and be smart with your moves then fire emblem: radiant dawn (RD) is the game for you.

First off lets start off with the story. now, at first, you're not going to understand the story very well as it is a sequel of the game fire emblem: path of radiance, but later in the game they will discuss things that happened in the previous game. The story takes place in a continent called Tellius where the country Daein is being occupied by the other country Begnion. I don't want to give away the story too much so I'm just going to say that you play as Daein people trying to free their country from Begnion.

Let's talk gameplay. The whole fire emblem series has a completely unique way of playing. Like you see above, you control multiple people (we will call them units) but you control them one at a time. In order to fight, you have to select one unit and move them to desired target and then a command list will show up. If you click on attack, another window will show up giving you numbers (we will call that the random number generator [RNG]) the RNG, based on your units and your targets stats (eg. strenght, speed, etc). Hp is pretty self explanitory. Mt stands for might and it is how much damage you will do. Hit is the chances you have of winning in percentage. Crt is the chances you have of doing a critical attack (a critical attack is an attack that does three times normal damage). These things will show for both your unit and your enemy. If a character is fast enough, then beside the Mt will be a x2 meaning your unit will attck twice. If a unit dies, you can never use that unit again, but there are some units where if they die, it will result in a game over so be careful (you will be able to check who they are by pressing the +/pause button). The victory in each level differs for example, rout enemy (kill all enemies), Defeat boss, Defend of x turns (don't let enemy seize position) (number of turns will vary) and seize (seize bosses position)

Almost done. Next up is Character design. if you like games where the characters like to joke around and be idiots but know when it's time to be covered then RD's got your back. The majority of the characters love to joke around but those same characters will act as if their best friend just died when the time calls for it.It is possible to unlock other characters, usually by talking to them when they are on the map with certain units. keep in mind that if the unit you want to recruit's name is the name of a country, you will NOT be able to recruit them. There are certain characters that i would call, undeveloped, because we do not know much of their past and there are quite a few in RD but there are still some characters where you have to beat the game more than once to know their real background

as a conclusion, Fire emblem: Radiant Dawn is a very fun strategy game (it beats chess by a mile) the only problems i have with it are that the game if played for long periods of time can either get you; Extremely bored, or extremely hooked. also the undeveloped characters always get to me, but other than that, its is easily one of my favourite games. (p.s, just know that there is a lot of talking in this game.)

Story: 9/10

Gameplay: 8.5/10

Music: 8/10

Character Design: 8/10

Overall: 8.5/10

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (PS3) Review

First off, I would like to thank Kenji and Ayman for letting me contribute to their blog with doing game reviews. Originally, I was gonna do game reviews on my original blog, but now I'm exclusively going to be doing game reviews on this blog. So now, without any further ado, let's get into this review. Also, by the way, with my reviews, I mostly do reviews for the PS3 and Wii.


Last week, I rented a well known shooter which has gotten a lot of praise since it's release on March 2nd, 2010. And that game is, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for the PlayStation 3. The game was developed by EA (Electronic Arts) and it is also available on the Xbox 360 and the PC. BFBC2 has both a great, but short campaign and a long and diverse multiplayer mode. First, let's talk about the campaign. The campaign begins in 1944 in Japan during Operation Aurora. Four US commandos invade a base looking for a Japanese scientist who is working on a nuclear weapon called, 'The Black Weapon'. Long story short, they find the scientist and they all die due to the weapon and everyone now believes the story is a myth. In the present day, four US soldiers are fighting in Russia for the same reasons as the commandos: to find a nuclear weapon and find an agent to inform them more about the weapon. The soldiers travel all over the world: to Russia, Bolivia, Ecuador and even back to the United States! To skip all of the details, they secure the weapon before a Russian colonel named, Arkady Kirelenko can drop the weapon onto the United States. Also, they are able to kill Kirelenko while free falling out of the sky which is probably the best moment in the campaign. Finally, they end up in Texas and General Braidwood, their superior officer, comes and informs them that a Russian invasion is taking place and that they need them. 


Now, let's move onto the multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode is really fun but not as fun as a game like Call of Duty. The multiplayer mode has a few game types to play under such as Squad Deathmatch which is basically Team Deathmatch and Conquest which like Capture the Flag. Those are my two favourite game types. Also, there are four class modes to be. There's Assault, Engineer, Medic and, Recon. Assault gives you assault rifles as you play as an infantry soldier, Engineer gives you SMGs and anti-armor weapons like RPGS etc. Medic gives you a variety of weapons and also gives you medical bags or health to revive yourself and other players. Finally, my favourite class, is Recon. Recon is basically the sniper class where you obviously get mostly snipers and your weapons. There are only a few maps in the game: White Pass, Panama Canal, Isla Inocentes and, Arica Harbor. White Pass is set in a snowy village, Panama Canal and Isla Inocentes are set in the jungle and in rivers and Arica Harbor is set more in the desert in what looks like a run down army base. In my opinion, White Pass and Arica Harbor are the best maps in the game. There's also an expansion pack out for the game called: Battlefield: Bad Company 2: Vietnam, set in the Vietnam War era which features 5 new maps, 6 new vehicles and, 15 new weapons. 


Campaign: 8/10
Multiplayer: 8.5/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Controls: 8/10
Graphics: 8.5/10
Overall: 8.5/10

GameBook 1: Assasin In Orlandes [Iphone] Review

Platform: Iphone and Ipod touch
App Version: 3.1.0
Reviewed by: Kenji

I must admit I'm not much of a fan of game books or choose your own adventure books for that matter but GA:1 Assassin In Orlandes is a bit different. The Story in the game, well I don't want to give too much away since the game revolves around the story. Basically your Girlfriend or rather Ex-Girlfriend has been kidnapped and you must rescue her. The Story I found was some what cliche at first but it's filled with a few plot surprises later on. The game itself revolves around reading a few pages of the story and then picking between a few choices such as picking which path to take or how to deal with let's say an enemy. These choices in-turn affect how the story plays out and the fact that I was in control was pretty fun. Combat-which you will take part in often- involves rolling dice around and getting a higher number then your enemy. There are a couple ways to give yourself an advantage in battle. The first one is that during your dice roll if you think your going to have a bad outcome you can shake your Iphone  to do a last ditch shake in hopes of improving your outcome. The second way to give you an edge is using fitness, at the beginning of the game your fitness is determined by rolling a die and adding that to 6. Fitness is used in such things such as determining your outcome in a fitness challenge. In the case of a battle it gives you an extra point to your dice outcome and at times that one point matters a lot. I found the battles game some entertainment and the dice movement was quite fluid but overall I found this part a bit repetitive and bland.

    At times you may be faced with a tough decision that could mean the difference between life and death, that's where the bookmark system comes in, depending on the difficulty you'll be given 10 or 3 bookmarks. What these bookmarks do is that should you die you'll return to your latest placed bookmark, and I must say they are quite welcoming as I did die quite a number of times before I found the ultimate ending. The graphics of the game are quite nice. The pages look pretty good and you get the choice between 2 page styles. A fresh sort of off-the-press scroll and the one I prefer the old scroll type paper, also the pictures are very well done, very detailed and clear, the fact that the pictures use only grey,black and white added more to the experience. The music was nice and contributed to the overall atmosphere. The controls were really responsive and I have no complaints.

                                                  

    Overall being my first gamebook on the Iphone, I enjoyed it. If your looking for a great story where you can control the ending using a bit of luck and perhaps some skill then this is something you should most definitely look at.

Gameplay: 7/10
Music: 8/10
Graphics: 9/10
Controls: 10/10


Overall: 8.5/10

New author!

so me and Ayman would like to welcome a new author to our group (of 2 xD) Greg! so now it's 3 we did this to open up to more platforms...not really just because we felt like Greg would make a great partner to our blog oh and reviews are coming out tomorrow (friday 18)
and happy saint Patricks day!

Who is Ayman and Kenji? [and what are they reviewing?]

Who is Ayman?
Ayman Is a Nigerian Guy. He does Martial Arts, He loves Manga and Video games and Basically anything to do with Japan.

Upcoming Reviews from Ayman:
monster hunter tri [wii]
super smash brother brawl [wii]
donkey kong country returns [wii]
kirby's epic yarn [wii]
fire emblem: radiant dawn [wii]

Who is Kenji?
Kenji is a Filipino Guy. He makes Video, writes lyrics and poetry. He also Loves Video games and Manga along with sushi.

Upcoming Reviews from Kenji:
GameBook Adventures 1: An Assassin in Orlandes [Iphone and Ipod touch]
Game Book Adventures 2: The Siege of the Necromancer [Iphone and Ipod Touch]
Helsing's Fire [Iphone and Ipod Touch]
League of evil [Iphone and Ipod Touch]
Persona 3 Portable [PSP]

Welcome!

Welcome To Ayman's and Kenji's review blog, this blog is all about video game reviews, we're not pros, we're just gamers who want to get their opinions out there we dont do reviews like it's our job, no it's more like the opinion of just your average person who plays videogames. Expect more posts and reviews in the future.