Dead Space 3 Review

Dead Space 3 Review:

How does a great and modern franchise fall?

Dead Space 3 is the latest entry up to this date on the Dead Space franchise. It has already been a while since it's release and I was avoiding it because of the critics it received and overall poor feedback from friends of mine who loved the franchise as much as I did, if not more. I don't mean to say Dead Space as a whole is doomed and may never see the light of day again, but I do believe they attempted to turn an otherwise excellent franchise in a horrible, thorn riddled direction. In this review I would also like to draw some parallel lines between this last installment and the 2 previous ones so you guys can see which aspects I believe were lost and which were gained during this series's evolution.

I decided to make this review even though Dead Space 3 was released back in February because I brought myself to play its campaign with a friend in the famous co-op mode this entry brought to the table. So without further explanations to give and no desire to drag this around any longer here's what Dead Space 3 is all about.

this is what I've been doing on holidays, am I not the most social human being there is, playing co-op dead space 3

Summary: The Dead Space franchise WAS (past tense) a horror and survival game oriented series, they take place in the eerie, terrifying setting that is well, as it's name would imply, outer space. You play as Isaac Clarke, a space engineer haunted by nightmares and horrible experiences that must save humanity from a zombie-like alien infection. In the first entry you find yourself in the creepiest place in all of the series, the Ishimura, a mining space shuttle and ship that just never ceased to run chills down your spine. Almost every nook and cranny had an unpleasant surprise for you and its confined hallways warrantied nervous breakdowns when you saw yourself crammed in them with a bunch of necromorphs (the alien zombie things). On the 2nd entry you saw yourself roaming around the city of Sprawl. a space colony that is a bit more open and comfy to Isaac, but still filled with unnerving new enemies and a couple of places that beat the Ishimura's butt in terms of sheer creepiness. Finally you see yourself in a city in a moon that located well, umm... somewhere (shit's too wacky and not explained well so I don't quite remember) and you are tossed around by this group of half terrorists half rebels that want to gather an alien artifact that you've already dealt with a couple of times, so that makes you the right guy for the job.

So, let's talk positives first, in this particular entry, you can play the whole story with a friend! And if you do so, you even get some extra hours of gameplay! So that is pretty cool, the only downside to this feature that I couldn't quite understand is that you need 2 copies of the game to do so. What I mean to say is: It's not local, in order to play the co-op version of the campaign you need 2 consoles or computers each one with a working copy of the game. This baffled me. Why wouldn't you just make a split-screen mode!?

I know this game was terrible but the split-screen was a welcome feature, cmon EA stop trying to empty our pockets

Another kind of cool feature is the revamped crafting system which lets you basically pack 2 weapons into one and give secondary effects to its sight or its bullets. There is one problem with it though, when you reach about 60% completion if you've been paying attention, gathering blueprints and pieces, you can make some overpowered weapons that will practically make 9 out of 10 encounters a walk in the park. (I beat the game on hard mode, I know it isn't hardcore but it was still very very easy)

Now for negatives and boy o' boy are there a bunch of them this time around. First of all, the game changed genre's and just to be clear, I saw this coming since Dead Space 2's release only DS2 didn't make it so obvious. Dead Space 3 is a 3rd person shooter action game. All of its survival elements are gone and the horror is barely even there, a few jump scares that aren't even that well employed are the only things that make you nervous, at most. The story this time around is so convoluted and unbelievably disengaging that it is a miracle I could even understand half of what was going on. (I've got a short attention span don't judge me) Finally the setting this time around varies a bit more than in previous games which is nice but none of these places make you feel frightened, which to be honest is the whole point of a setting in a self-proclaimed survival horror game.

Explosions, yes, you'll be seeing a lot of them here, no more dark creepy hallways, just, well.. BOOM for you ;D

What bothers me the most about this entry is not a valid reason to give it a low score. It's just personal preference, but for a healthy mind's sake and more happy readers let me elaborate:

-On the first Dead Space, Isaac Clarke was a mute and even a faceless man for the vast majority of the game and that let me empathize with him, he wasn't speaking over radio transmissions every 2 seconds he was just grunting when he stomped item boxes and grunting even louder when apprehended by a necromorph. since DS2 he's been given a voice and not just for cutscenes, entire sequences are riddled with dialogues of him chatting over the radio with his allies and enemies and the constant speeches don't make you feel alone and helpless. You feel completely safe and the horror aspect of the game is broken to me, this only intensifies in Dead Space 3. Not only are you joined by a friend if you play co-op you also spend about 80% of the game in a conversation with someone which is just dumb, it completely kills the mood this series was known for back when Dead Space made its debut in back in 2008.

conversations, conversations everywhere

-The plot of the whole franchise has never been it's major strength, it isn't bad by any means but it's nothing to write home about if we're really honest. Some minor sub-plots though are very interesting and bring the story to life, they motivate you and make you care for Isaac. Since DS2 Isaac has become an inconsistent character, he seems like a complex character with deep issues but throughout the games you evidence he's just troubled for a couple of minutes at the worst point of his adventure and then he always gets back on the horse, finds a new girl and kills some more necromorphs so to me he basically lost all that made him relate-able. He just looks like a COD character in my eyes, and I mean that as a bad thing.

-During my play-throughs for both DS and DS2 I didn't encounter a single bug, glitch or error whatsoever. But Dead Space 3 was a whole different deal, it was one after the other it basically turned the whole experience into an endurance test for my patience as a player who despises glitches in a game. Here's a quick list of all the errors me and my friend encountered:

I was browsing the webz like a cute internet cat for glitch to show you guys 

and the first I found was one that actually made the game scarier so it doesn't quite help my cause

a) Aim fixation, my friend who used the keyboard to play it, found himself locked in an "aimed down the sight" state through about 2 chapters of the game after which he decided it was ruining his experience and decided to look for a fix online. After a few minutes he found one, it consisted of mashing the TAB key over and over again and this, ladies and gentlemen, fixed the issue lightning fast. But it was still pretty annoying, resetting the game, re-hosting it, changing hosts, rebooting his PC, none of this fixed it so that is one annoying problem to encounter if you ask me.

b) Out of sync cut scenes, this happened to us twice: One happened in a cut scene in which Isaac and his friend are captured by some human enemies and this was apparently followed by a shootout, only it wasn't followed. It happened at the same time, the NPCs were just standing there when we arrived at the scene and the cut scene suddenly triggered, some of the dialogue was past us and the other enemies were shooting at us while it happened. So there we were, listening to a menacing speech from the bad guy while we were being shot at. Want to know how I figured this was a mistake? well an NPC was grabbing me by the neck with his stump of an arm he just lost during the cut scene. Yes, the enemies shot their own friend's arm off and he was using a phantom limb to hold me down, the NPC that brought my friend into submission lacked a head by the end of the cut scene and we took a lot of shots too, they didn't kill us but our full health bar was nearly depleted when the cut scene ended and the real shootout began. The other time was just goofy and it won't be mentioned.

c) Invincibility, this sounds cool right? Well it happened, it didn't last long, not because it was a one time deal but because my friend was terrible at climbing sections. At one point in the game he started using the Bench (or crafting table) to make himself some weapons and he was caught by a necromorph. He forced himself out of danger and afterwards he was immune to damage, ALL DAMAGE. He could be mangled by a necromorph in a combat cut scene and he would receive no damage whatsoever, the only way he would die was if he let the creature devour him, but even then he would re-spawn with invincibility. He managed to turn it off accidentally when a chunk of ice the size of a truck fell on him during a climbing sequence but if he was any better at climbing he would have carried me like dead weight for the rest of the journey.*

And these 3 things my friends are basically legacy breaking flaws in my book. When you lose complete sight of what your amazing game was in the beginning, you let it's spark extinguish and it's magic disappear. Many friends of mine and I believed Dead Space to be Resident Evil's true successor but they both went down the same path, making over the top, explosion filled set pieces and overall action games that forget their true essence.

This                                is scarier than                                   This

So there is a problem here

Visuals: The game looked very good, there was an occasional frame rate drop but I blame our slow internet connections for it. Most of the particles and scenery were astonishingly well designed and just a pleasure to watch. So no downside here, just nothing transcendent. 8/10

Gameplay: If you can ignore the multiple and frequent bugs. The gameplay and controls are tight, everything is responsive and just fun to play. Though not only the survival and horror parts of the game's genre are gone, the difficulty was kicked down a couple notches. It is no longer vital to aim at the limbs in order to win an encounter with the dreaded necropmorphs, with the many overpowered weapons at your disposal and overall weaker enemies than in the previous games you can just aim at the torso and maul your foes which feels great but offers no challenge for the player. 5/10

Story: I personally didn't like DS2's story at all. The whole shock of hearing Isaac speak that much for the first time just killed it for me, but I still think it's better paced and well driven than the one Dead Space 3 offers. This time around you're just tasked to do one thing after the other and you lose sight of your true objective every 2 minutes. I'd bet this wasn't a bad plot on paper, but it was executed poorly from my perspective. 6/10

Music: Just as good as the pieces you can find in the previous games, which are OK, nothing to write home about but they do help you feel the intensity of the action set pieces and the mystery of an abandoned space station. 7/10

Final Verdict:

Dead Space 3 dismembered it's franchise's genre like Isaac used to dismember necromorphs, by removing the games Horror and Survival aspects and making it one of the easiest 3rd person shooter games I've played to date. It basically dishonored the Dead Space family name. There is still fun to be had, you do not need to have played the previous ones to enjoy or understand this one, Hell! I played the previous ones and didn't comprehend a single thing of what was going on for more than 2 minutes at a time. So if you're a fan of big action set-pieces, sci fi shooters with spooky looking enemies and games that allow you to play the whole story in co-op mode, get this game when its on sale or something, you'll have your fun. To those of you who are Dead Space fans: If you are afraid that playing this game might ruin your experience with the series as a whole, well that depends on your tolerance level, it only hammered in the last nail on the coffin for me. But I do go by a couple of wise words my older brother once spoke to me: "Don't knock it, till you try it".

6.5/10

Bubbye!

*For those of you would like to know about the conditions in which the glitches and bugs were triggered, we played the Origin version of Dead Space 3 on PC.

**For the native english speakers, I apologize for the grammar errors. I'm still getting the hang of this language, it is in my best interest to write as adequately as possible but please do not let those mistakes take away from the article's meaning and objective.

Remember to follow me on Twitter at "@pegasus_boots" and my new Instagram account "pegasusbootsgb" hope you enjoyed the read!

Gone Home "peek/review"

Let's Take a Peek at: "Gone Home"

Gone Home is a first person "adventure" game with some of the best voice acting and overall setting there is on the market now. It was released on Steam on August 15th, 2013. It is highly acclaimed and it received "Best PC game" and "Best Independent game" in this year's VGX.

Despite the huge praise it's received and what the critics or media may say. I'm here to shed some light on the matter and explain to you as to why this game is good, some might even say outstanding, but it is far from being the best PC game this year or the best indie game for that matter.

I want to clarify that even though the title of this article is "Let's Take a Peek at:" it's more of a review. I usually do not make full reviews of short Steam games because most of them are targeted to a very specific audience and just because I did not enjoy the experience I had with a portion of it the game deserves either a good or bad score. Hence why I only recommend it for some and advice against a regrettable purchase for others, with that being said, let's talk positive firsts.

like how cool this 3D modeled snes cartridge looks

It's difficult to write about a game like this without risking to spoil something, it's not that the game's strong suit is it's story. The game's lungs, heart, brain and skeleton are it's plot and it's delivery so there's not much else to talk about. The story is excellent, but it isn't why I'm gonna sing the game's praises. The Fullbright Company managed to create and put the player into one of the most immersive and plausible settings you will ever encounter in a video game. 

To give you a small summary of what the game is about: You are a girl just coming back home from a long trip to Europe, you live with your mom, dad and sister in the U.S. When you get home, due to a sudden change in schedules you arrive to an empty house. Your sister leaves a note for you since she knows you're coming home, and the note welcomes you back but warns and asks of you not to look for clues or belongings related to her or where she currently is. From this point onward everything else is just exploration.

The game does a fine job making you feel like this place and these characters could totally exist, you are in the 90's and everything in this house fits in. There's no weird items that feel out of place, no home appliances, art or just furniture and decoration in general that seem unfitting. You get this sense of reward and curiosity by learning of the characters that are there for you to relate to even though you're completely alone. And by connecting the dots and taking a peek into your sister's interests and environment you ultimately hear and interact with a great story in a simple way.

for instance: you know you're in the 90's when a girl has a completely impractical locker in her room

 instead of using her Iphone as her teenage drama deposit

Now, the cons. This game is not the best game for PC or the best indie game, I cannot stress this enough. You might be mad at me if you have played it before, you might be disagreeing with what I'm saying but all I want is to state my opinion and offer some undeniable facts that make this game an overrated product, not bad, but extremely overrated. 

This is a game that costs 20 bucks at full price on Steam, and a game that I managed to beat in an hour and forty minutes. This isn't because I was speed running it, had played it before or because I didn't explore. I read every text I came across with and explored every room on the in-game map. Which is terrible too because there's almost no extra content, you MUST visit every room to beat the game and finish the story and once you beat it, there's no alternate story or collectibles, achievements, nothing. This is meant to be a story driven game, an art piece, a mix of literature, cinematography and voice acting but there is absolutely no video game related elements employed other than the fact that it "is" a game. Games like Portal, Journey or even mini games like The Company of Myself, have shown us in the past that a game doesn't have to be lengthy or overproduced to deliver an incredible experience but they are still games which involve the least bit of skill, intelligence or just general reflex and coordination but this game has absolutely zero of this. There are no cut-scenes, quick-time events or choices to make so unless you like hearing a really good story over and over again, this game's exact replay value is 1, you might want to hear it once again because maybe you missed something the first time or because you fell in love with the plot but that's it. It isn't even fun or exciting, all that keeps you going is the story and the setting, the whole "adventure" is a scavenge hunt in a place that isn't even that big and where things can be found easily, you'll go through the motions and reach the ending and there's your reward.

I probably sound like someone who is just whining too much, but I bought this game out of recommendation and praise and I feel so dissappointed. The game isn't bad, anyone out there into video games or not, looking to hear an interesting story, go ahead, this is for you. But you'll be paying 20$ for an interactive movie with no cutscenes or character appearances whatsoever, so you've been warned. Gone Home is ultimately a great story driven game that lasts less than 2 hours and brings absolutely no gameplay challenge/reward, no real innovation and no replay value whatsoever.

call me George Constanza if you like but I dont feel comfy paying 20 dollars for a movie I know I wont watch more than twice

*P.S: I only payed about 7 bucks for it during the autumn steam sale, and I would value this game at 5 dollars tops.

Here`s some contact info you might like to know in case you wanna add me up and play or just have a chat with me, I must not seem like it now and I don`t think I`ll seem like it any time soon, but I`m not a company, I`m a kid who enjoys playing video games and is very excited to share them with you guys.

Steam: Bombermanganzon

Diablo III: kiwicupcake (yeah, dont ask about that one)

League of Legends: Skyward Svvord

Guild Wars 2: Vitesong

If you are looking to see If I`m available in any other game or platform such as Miiverse by example, email me at: fastpegasusboots@gmail.com

Pokemon X and Pokemon Y Review

Pokemon X and Pokemon Y review: 
A faulty step in the rightest of directions.

Disclaimer: this review is written under the assumption the reader has some basic knowledge of both the Pokemon universe and the monster raising RPG Pokemon games. However, it is in my best interest to review it in a way that compels to the taste of both newcomers and veterans to the franchise.

Pokemon X and Pokemon Y are the latest twin entries to the Pokemon monster raising game series. This specific couple was a long awaited one for a few reasons: it is the first entry of the franchise to be released globally on the same date, it makes a huge change in its almost iconic aesthetics of 2D pixelated sprites, it introduces 2 complex or relevant new mechanics called Pokemon-Amie and mega evolutions and it also brilliantly takes full advantage of the 3DS's capabilities.

Summary: the Pokemon monster raising series are the main product of The Pokemon Company in conjunction with game developers Gamefreak and Nintendo. They consist of monster collection and training, engaging in turn-based battles against other Pokemon trainers and gym leaders. This is all done in order to raise the best Pokemon team and conquer the Pokemon league of a determined geographic region. There are other types of Pokemon games like the Pokemon rangers and Pokemon mystery dungeon franchises but this article is about the main series. (e.g: Blue, Red, Sapphire, Ruby, Pearl, Diamond, etc)

After you catch one, you register it on your Samsung Galaxy S4 as shown.

This time around, your journey takes place in the Kalos region. You are just moving in to the town you're going to start your travels from and you have no troubles making friends that will accompany you throughout the majority of your adventure. You must explore this beautiful France-inspired land, learn of its culture, its people, its touristic landmarks but most importantly its Pokemon and its legends.

Oui Oui! Le France Reference! (I know nothing about french I`m so sorry)

If you've ever gotten your hands on a Pokemon game you already know you usually pick out one of three starting Pokemon to help you make the foundation of a soon to be EliteFour-beating team. This time around the possible choices you can make are raising either Chespin (grass type), Froakie (water type) or Fennekin (fire type). But soon after you`ll be able to pick another starter! Beloved Squirtle, Bulbasaur and Charmander are back from generation one and you get to choose one of them to raise it and have it help you become a Pokemon master.

Top row: New Generation Pokemon Bottom Row: 1st Generation Pokemon

(See? not all my image captions are going to be brimming with brilliant jokes)

The main change to the franchise in this entry as mentioned before are its visuals. The game got a full makeover with 3D models, 1st or 3rd person landscape influenced views and just an amazing upgrade to its graphical aspect overall.

To avoid giving out an excessive amount of data. (not because I`m lazy but because I do not wish accidentally spoil the game for anyone, obviously) Here`s a couple of things you should know right from the get-go:

-There are new Pokemon included, but not as many as what usually come along on a new generation.

-There are new Legendary Pokemon, but just a few, like mentioned before, not as many as you would normally expect to be included with a new generation. But it's important to know some old ones are there for you to catch and some even get a mega evolution this time around!

-These games are the most accessible and user friendly Pokemon games to date. Almost everything from story progression to competitive breeding is a lot easier and less time consuming.

-Even though mega evolutions are of course more powerful forms of already very powerful Pokemon, they are well balanced as far as I know. All the competitive aspects of the series is still there and working.*

-There is a new type of Pokemon: Fairy-type, it is super effective against Dragon-Type Pokemon for example. Some old Pokemon were either turned into fairy types or received it as an extra type, but some of the more interesting ones are from this generation.

-The Pokemon-Amie feature is a friendly tamagotchi-y or nintendogs-like feature that enables you to pet, feed, mimic through the 3DS`s camera or play mini games with your Pokemon. It is not necessary for story progression whatsoever but it does reward the player in certain ways for using it. Making it an excellent addition since it doesn't force you to make use of it if you dislike it. (Any Pokemon is compatible with the Pokemon-Amie)

Every Pokemon is compatible! Like this intimidating fellow who might just bite your hand off any time now.

And now, sadly, it`s time to talk about the immense flaw this game has going against it. Don't get me wrong, please, this doesn't make the game terribly bad or boring, but it does take away from the experience as it eliminates one of the things that made past Pokemon so fun to play for both newbies and pros, it's difficulty.

The game is incredibly easy, and its not because I have played the other ones in the series, its irrefutable badly measured. It amazes me how this could go by unnoticed on a game with such a long development period, an amazingly talented developer and a formula over a decade old that never had this problem before. After about 25% of the story, you start to widen a level gap between your Pokemon and those you encounter in the wild, the ones Pokemon trainer have and even the gym leaders`s parties. So at this point in the game, the difference in your weakest Pokemon and the gym leader`s strongest is clear. Yours is about 1 or 2 levels higher, YOUR WEAKEST. By the end of the game your weakest Pokemon will most likely be about 7-9 levels above the leaders`s toughest. For anyone new to the series: THIS IS CRAZY, IT HAS NEVER BEEN LIKE THIS, YOU USUALLY GRIND TO GET ON PAR WITH THOSE GUYS NOT OVERLEVEL THEM ACCIDENTALLY.

Don't tell me this creature doesn't look overpowered and devastatingly strong to you.

So to kind of wrap things up, the games are not bad, at all. It's just something that in my opinion takes away so much from the experience, to kind of go through the motions because things come out so easily and Pokemon battles are almost never a challenge. I'm striving to make an honest critic out of myself and I have to say this game is worth it's tag price. But! if it wasn't for such a huge upgrade aesthetically and all the cool features and tools added to the game. In addition to these entries getting the closest to perfection we've ever been to the ultimate Pokemon formula, this game would be a bad one. No one wants to play a game that offers no challenge whatsoever, and even though one eventually rises in Pokemon X and Pokemon Y it is on rare occasions. Without further a due, here is the scoring for the latest animals in this already beastly franchise:

Visuals: the game looks amazing! this is the best looking Pokemon game up to date and one of the best looking games for the 3DS and that's no exaggeration. There is one tiny little detail, the 3D feature drops the frame rate at times and it's not enabled for all the zones and events in the game. But the game received such a beautiful upgrade and change to its graphical design without altering its functionality that it is truly something to praise Gamefreak for. 9.5/10

Gameplay: everything control-wise is as tight and flawless as ever. Like I said before, most mechanics have been made easier and less time consuming which is great, but since the challenge is almost completely removed from the game and just because it was truly staple of the series it does negatively affect the experience. 6.5/10

Story: this is neither the worst or the best story in a Pokemon game, we've definitely seen better and we've most definitely seen worse. It is an okay plot with an O.K ending but the game does deserve its praise when it comes to the setting and the huge amount of cultural reference and homage it pays to the country it is inspired by. 7.5/10

Music: the music is very nice, it is as you'd expect from a Pokemon game and even if you've never heard any of it before, you'll be humming some of the tunes in no time. Some pieces were beautiful, trendy and just really fun to hear but most were great, nothing more than that. 8/10

Final Verdict:

Pokemon X and Pokemon Y are great games, it is a shame something like its iconic decent-to-hard difficulty was lost somewhere in the process of development. Despite this evident mishap, Pokemon X and Pokemon Y have so many cool new features like mega evolutions, Pokemon-Amie, wonder trade and game chat that make them a truly wonderful experience, a flawed one, but also worth playing.

7.9/10


*I am not a competitive player, I do not know if the competitive aspects of the game have been heavily affected or not "hands-on" but I did my research so that veteran competitive players could actually get an idea from this review, from everything I read and investigated: this game did not damage the competitive play.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf Review

Animal crossing: New Leaf review: 

Hard work & commitment = serene relaxation.

Animal crossing: New Leaf is the latest entry to the animal crossing series, whether you're here to read about it because you've been a long time fan of the series or because thanks to the Villager's announcement as a playable character for the all new super smash bros. game caught your attention, look no further, here you'll find out everything you need to know about it.

Summary: the Animal Crossing series are simple, delicate, but very rewarding life simulators. In this specific entry, you begin your journey into a new fulfilling life aboard a bus, in which a friendly cat named Rover starts helping you sketch out the details about yourself, the name of the town you're off to making your life in and even helps you pick out the landscape it`ll have. Once you arrive you are ambushed by friendly folks that reveal to you, you're bound to be the town's new mayor and that there are lots of things to do.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is a real time life sim, filled with a staggering amount of things to do and discover but an even gargantuanly larger amount of things to collect. it's an amazing experience, but it is far more relaxing than it is exciting or challenging, it acts as a sort of analogy for real life itself. There are tons of fun to be had catching bugs, fishing, digging up fossils, buying works of art, planting and re-arranging trees and foliage, decorating and expanding your house, among many other things, but there is also an intricate time consuming way to keep it all in check.

Just LOOK at the decoration in that room, isn`t it beautiful? Don't get distracted by the mario-mustache rabbit, look at the room decor! Gosh!

To lay it out simple and clean, you first need to thoroughly understand what playing a real-time life simulator really means. Animal Crossing has never been a series where the hardships of life are portrayed and you need to worry sick about what's going on when you're not around. But it is your duty as a mayor and the only working townsfolk to chat and interact with the people around your town or they'll move out. You need to water the plants, chop down the undesired trees, collect a huge amount of items to donate to the town's museum (to help with your town`s cultural education), among several other activities. these are just the main chores and responsibilities of a mayor. And they need to be done daily. You are encouraged to strive for making your town beautiful, well developed, its citizen happy and its businesses prosper.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf sees many welcome additions to the series, it is quite impressive how much the game developers managed to pack into the 3DS cartridge, specially considering this is a game that simulates the passing of years thoroughly. The cloth designing and sharing feature is tons of fun and easy to use, whether it appeals to you or not I can almost guarantee you'll be eager to give it a spin and you won't resist picking up some of the other user created content. There are tons of cool things the fabulous Animal Crossing community shares. Along with more customization options for your character than we've ever seen before and some other cool things to unlock which I wont spoil for discovery-reward's sake, this game is well worth its price and its release as a new, full fledged sequel to this long lived franchise.

You`ve got to admit it... that girl looks FABULOUS!

There are 2 ways of going around animal crossing, time traveling or just plain old jolly living, the first may sound very cheat-like but its actually very well acknowledged by the game's developers and how most hardcore fans of the series go about the game. Like I said, this game really delivers when it comes to simulation, seasons pass, day and night come by just as they would in real life, holidays get celebrated and for goodness sake even astronomical events are well depicted! So you are given the choice of going about the birth, development and blossoming of your town at the pace you choose via time traveling or at the slow, breezy, pace of life itself.

No matter which road you take, don't be afraid, everything is explained through some of the quirkiest, cutest, easy to read and understand dialogue you've ever seen. The game does an amazing job of making you feel both qualified for the task and excited to do so. Mix the daily easy to do but repetitive tasks, the exploration and collection of a wide variety of items that come with their own educational facts and cheerful puns, a high reward for you that expresses itself in the form of a sincere gratitude from the cute animals you live with and a continuous but slow paced barrage of new things to do to personalize your house, town and persona. And there you have it, Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

EVIDENCE: Overly cute hedgehog fashion designer having a quirky conversation with you.

Visuals: the game looks pretty but not outstandingly so, the art style allows for a very pretty but also simple looking characters and settings. Yes, they are very colorful and pleasant to look at and you'll be doing a lot of looking, so its just like it needs to be. It is also important to note the 3D feature is very eye friendly, it doesn't feel overloaded, it didn't make me feel sick at all like in other games and it doesn't drop the frame-rate. 8.5/10

Gameplay: the controls are easy to learn, everything is well explained and your inventory which is opened and closed a lot is easy to manage. Like I said: there are lots of things to do, some easier to get a hold of than others but nothing difficult. You'll find yourself auto-piloting through most of the tasks in a little while and eager to make use of the many customization options for your character, town and house. 7.75/10

Story: there is not much of a story to tell, and that`s fine. The focus of these type of games and this series in particular is not the departure or the destination. Its the journey itself, which sometimes may come out a bit simple and vague and sometimes relaxing and joyful, the only minor concern here is that if you don't time-travel, you will have many empty, repetitive, chore feeling days in between exciting or interesting holidays and events and that can be frustrating. 7/10

Music: this time around many many old good tunes make an appearance, some of them even sound better than what I recall. The new tunes are up to the standard and good to hear included into an already great soundtrack. You need to remember that in a game not filled with combo sound effects, announcers, and voice acting that doesn't sound like a really sped up squirrel voice, pleasant music is a must and Animal Crossing: New Leaf is full of it. 9.5/10

Final verdict:

Animal Crossing: New Leaf, is worth every penny, In its core, all the single player experience is very time consuming but very fun in its own way, this game is not for everybody, but that's just because of its genre, If I have something to confess its: these are not my type of games, yet I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. I spent at least 50 hours going at it daily over the course of 3 weeks and strongly recommend this amazing piece of work. It`s lots of fun to play either alone or with pals, with constant StreetPass feedback, online connectivity with friends and strangers alike, mini-games that are fun, competitive and rewarding. This Animal Crossing entry gets a:

8.6/10

Last, but not least, this an image courtesy of Kotaku.com that shows how some well known video game magazines and sites rated the game:

Here`s some contact info you might like to know in case you wanna add me up and play or just have a chat with me, I must not seem like it now and I don`t think I`ll seem like it any time soon, but I`m not a company, I`m a kid who enjoys playing video games and is very excited to share them with you guys.

Steam: Bombermanganzon

Diablo III: kiwicupcake (yeah, dont ask about that one)

League of Legends: Skyward Svvord

Guild Wars 2: Vitesong

If you are looking to see If I`m available in any other game or platform such as Miiverse by example, email me at: fastpegasusboots@gmail.com