Another Christmas come and gone
It's no secret that I love Christmas. It's the one time of the year when I forget about all my troubles while drowning in eggnog and honey glazed ham. I would like to say Merry belated Christmas to you all and I hope you enjoyed it. As for my gifts, you ask? Well, I got 3 gift cards, 2 shirts, Hero on DVD, and a DVD player for my 13 inch TV. I live in a fairly lower middle class family, so I don't expect much. I'm thankful for getting anything, as I was unable to give this year.
Forgive me a small happy moment, It's the one time that I feel this way. I'll be bitching again after New Years.
~Baren
Blogspot is kinda pissing me off!! (hint hint)
This will be short and to the point. I just spent 45 minutes finishing off Stupid Things: Part 3, in which I added # 7-9 and the closing. After finishing, I published it (Like I do), and discovered that all my hard work tonight was for naught. It had deleted everything from #7 down. Nothing I wrote tonight got saved. GODDAMNIT! So, now I get to waste tomorrow night
re-writing the rest of it. I don't have time now to do it tonight.
Later all.
~Baren
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. A synopsis
Some things are meant to have sequels. Video Games are the biggest sequel creators since anime. A good 70% of games have at least one sequel, and 35% of those are actually good.* Good sequels include: Megaman 2-6, MegaMan X 2-4, the Ratchet and Clank series, and Metroid. All Metroid games have had their ups and downs, (mostly ups) but the most recent entry into this woundrous world of Mother Brain frying, Space pirate fragging, Metroid freezing fun felt mostly like a roller coaster of WHOO! to WTF?! This is where the hate begins:
"The last Metroid was fragged to Hell, the Gamecube was at peace"
Thus Samus enters in on a new hunt. Some dipshit space marines decided it would be fun to explore a world that was harsh enough to make the Chozo cry. The planet had been split into 2 worlds: Light and Dark Aether. Light Aether is a happy place of unicorns and 8 foot anthro moths, while the poison of Dark Aether loomed just a portal away. Samus took the job of finding and beating the shit out of the stupid marines, only to find they were all dead already. Dammit. After reading all of their diaries, Samus gets confronted by aforementioned moth, known as U-Mos of the Luminoth. From this point she is tasked to take apart Dark Aether piece by controller breaking piece to save the light side from total destruction or some shit. Make checks payable to Samas Aran C/O Federation Army.
Ratings
Graphics: 10/10.
Beautiful worlds on either side of the portal, and enough endless pits to make an acrophobe hide in a corner for weeks. Some areas just compell you to look over the edge in awe. The landscapes are awesome, and the enemies are very detailed. For extra fun, set the calendar of your GC to Dec. 25th to see Samus get into the holiday spirit. (you have to see her in 3rd person view, ie: a save point)
Sound: 8/10.
Old tunes make a comeback, such as the Maridia theme from Super Metroid. New themes range from rediculously Techno to "Where the hell's the musi....oh, there it is. I didn't notice it." Most of the music follows the Metroid style: in the background, were it will be ignored. 90% of the time, you forget it even has music. But what you do hear often is a good thing, as it is very catchy. Oh, and explosions are not only pretty, they are very loud. That's always a good thing.
Difficulty: 10/10-5/10
This is the hypocritical part. Why does it get 2 scores? because the first time you play through, you WILL be cussing and breaking things. But, after you finish a boss, you'll look back on it and say, 'Damn, that was easy! I'm stupid for not doing *insert tactic* before!' Case in point: I spent 2-1/2 hours on the final boss trying to figure out what to do. When I finally found out, I kicked my own ass for stupidity. It was the last thing you would think of, and it cuts the battle down from a 10 minute to a 2 minute fight. To make a long story short: the meat of the game isn't dificult, but the bosses will have you pulling your hair out in large clumps. The most evil bosses are: Spider Ball Guardian, Boost Ball Guardian, Quadraxis, and Alpha Blogg. These bosses are
still difficult, even after you learn the strategy. Just have patience and a load of energy. That's all I have to say.
Overall: 7/10
The game is fun, and very much like it's predecessor in gameplay. The downsides that got to me were: limited beam ammo, a Screw Attack that's only good for crossing large gaps and not much else, and the insane 'first time through' difficulty. Item collecting in Metroid has always required backtracking, but this one takes the whole cake on that aspect. no less than 30% of the items can only be acquired
after you reach the final stage. Which, now that I think about it isn't so bad, considering to get to the final boss you have to go through both worlds twice. Once to restore the light points, and again to find all of the Dark Temple keys. (there are 9) So overall it's fun, but it's not for those that lack patience. And cigarettes. Lots of cigarettes.
This wasn't the full rant I was going to make it. I kinda chilled out while writing it. Had I written this while playing the game, it would have came out alot more hostile. And I STILL can't get over the idea of limited beam ammo. That's just sick, Retro. I didn't see a # next to my Plasma beam, now did I? Even the Annihilator Beam can't touch the destuctive power of the Plasma! Feh. I'm done.
~Baren
"Be careful what you think, you are crazy."
"Ayla is but strong. She can use a punch or a kick. With her use magic."
"Right now you castle. Come back later."
*Percentages based on nothing in particular, just random numbers in the back of my head.
