For many, the world is a fun and magical place full of excitement and happy fairies who fart pixie dust. For the rest of us, it's a harsh and unforgiving place. Frankly, I have had enough of it, and am at a loss as to what to do. Let's start with a little bit of background information.
Two or three weeks ago, my parents kicked me out of the house for not getting a job within one week (as unreasonable as that sounds), so I was permitted to stay with my girlfriend and her parents. I try to do chores, they don't let me. I don't ask for things, but to my 'dismay', they buy me things anyway. I try to be polite, and it just doesn't work. My "mother-in-law" is the wicked witch of the south. For some reason, she hates me, and I just don't quite understand it. I have tried to reason with her on multiple accounts in a calm collected manner, and she denies. For the sake of not retyping everything, I am simply going to forward you all here and move on with my story.
If you read the yahoo answers link, you know that my days are probably numbered here, and that I have been searching for a job as hard as I can. Frankly, nowhere is hiring, and if they are, they have many many applicants other than, and more qualified than, me. Don't forget the fact that I have no job experience! And it's not just that, being a pile of shit, it's that even if I did manage to find a job, minimum wage in my state (USA) is not nearly enough to cover rent for a single room in a house, much less an apartment, as well as food, utilities, and transportation! And that's full-time! Chances are, due to school and lack of hours, I will only be working around 20 hours a week!
Frankly, I can feel the world closing in on me, my options are all equally bad, and things are going nowhere. Don't get confused - this is not a suicide letter, I just feel like ranting, as well as giving a reason as to why I can't write here all the time. And I did try to use the methods in my previous post, but none of them provide me with nearly enough to sustain me.
My dad's dead. My mom disowned me. My girlfriend is being pushed into breaking up with me. I will have no place to stay in a little bit. Although not a suicide letter, I feel that if things don't change I may end up dead soon, or if not dead, dead-spirited. My girlfriend is all I have left, and she is the sweetest, most amazing thing to ever happen to me...I just don't know what my next move can be...It's an impossible game to win, my life...
Friday, August 21, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Underrated Nintendo DS Games
We all know of sites like Gamespot and IGN when searching for game quite a bit. The downside is, though, that you miss out on so many other games that you would have otherwise never known about, and often the top games pages are filled with unreleased games with high expectations. Here, I will show you some of the best underrated DS games, personally tested.
One of the more recent games that I have tried is called Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll. This is an old game, but a fairly unheard of one. If you
have ever played any of the other Super Monkey Ball games, you know what you're going to get with this, it doesn't expand much on the gameplay (for those that don't know, you roll a monkey in a ball through maze-like maps collecting bananas). But, for what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in quality. Everything in the game is in 3D, and the backgrounds are simply amazing. The controls offer both touch control, and D-Pad control, which is nice, and the game has fun, albeit somewhat non-responsive, mini-games, and even gives you some during the credits, which unfortunately appear after each level. In the main game, the only downside is that it is at times difficult, which is to be expected in buying a game, and is a nice change from some of the other DS games (*cough* Super Princess Peach *cough*).
Next comes a game with a familiar, yet none-the-less creepy character and name: Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland. If you don't know who Tingle is, either type it into the image section of your favorite search engine, or play some Legend of Zelda games, he's the guy in the green costum
e selling things at outrageous prices. This is Tingle's first game, and sadly, it was never released in North America, forcing us to import it from Europe or pirate it (I do not condone the latter). This game provides us with some background knowledge about our favorite little creep, and why he charges at such outrageous prices! The game does, in fact, have a combat system, but it is very rudimentary, walking up to an enemy and letting the game fight for you. Basically, you do a bunch of silly quests, or spend your entire time fighting, in order to gain rupees in order to gain access to rupeeland, being forced to pay tolls to do certain things, such as enter a new city. Another creative system it has is a pot in which you can practice alchemy to sell things with, and a computer with a somehow skinny girl (sadly in the same costume) sitting on the other end all day. Overall, the game is definitely worth a play, but it's not the type of game where you pound through it in a big gaming session.
The next game involves our favorite little pink blob, Kirby, in his first true Kirby-style DS game, Kirby: Squeak Squad. Typically, this game is never rated too low, but it still deserves a mention because of how few people play it. If you've played any of the other Kirby games, especially the ones on t
he GBA, you know what you're getting from this. You walk around a magical land, sucking things to make the bad guys go away. Ok, that is over simplified for comedy, but it is true, the game doesn't really add anything special to the Kirby franchise, and the entire story is pretty much explained in the first 10 minutes, so there's no real incentive in finishing. The only downside that I could see is that to get to the last couple worlds in the game, it is mandatory to go through each and every level, in each and every world, and collect each and every treasure chest (1-3 per level). On the other hand, it is a fun experience for veterans and newcomers alike, and takes quite a while to complete so you do get your money's worth!
Have you ever wanted to be bald, wear masks, and blow bubbles with magical fairies inside? Well now is your chance with a game called Soul Bubbles! Depending on how you see it, it's unfortunate that our new hero is bald, as in the Japanese version he had a full head of purple hair...somehow he relates better bald, I guess. Now, this game comes up a lot in underrated lists, mainly because no one ever takes this game seriously, being a Toys 'R Us exclusive game. For those that just re
ad it, yes, you can only buy it from Toys 'R Us. But don't fret, just buy it on eBay, or buy it online, or take the neighbor's kid with you and say it's for him. In this game, you have three masks, while you wear one, you can cut and uncut bubbles, another lets you draw bubbles, and the last lets you deflate, or shrink, a bubble. The point of the game is to get the spirits in the bubble to the end of the game, and free them, but to really beat the game, you have to go through the maze-like levels to find fruit for an old man. Normally, this would be no problem, except that the levels are full of spikes and enemies and environment that can keep you puzzled, and you sometimes can't do much about. I praise the game on it's unique gameplay, and puzzles, as well as it's style of using touch as a main control, and the D-Pad as supporting as a nice change of pace.
For the '80s kids in all of us, hanging out at the arcade throwing away quarters, we have a fun game called Geometry Wars: Galaxies. If you've never played Geometry Wars, it's basically an arcade shoot-'e
m-up game where all you really do is shoot for the highest score, there's not much more to it than that. The DS adaptation of the game does add some new things though, thankfully. First off, the controls are slightly different. Naturally, you move with the D-Pad, but to shoot you touch a spot on the touch screen and you fire in that direction on the top screen. Next, you have little 'probes' that you can have circle around your ship and aid you. There are many of these, and they all do different things, so it will take some experimentation to find the one that suits you best, especially since they don't do too much until you get them experience to level them up, by beating (not just playing) the levels. Besides that, it's just your typical arcade game, but it is extremely addictive, and a great addition to any collection.
Although short, hopefully this article helped you in deciding what games to choose as well as realizing that some of the best games aren't always rated the highest. Also, when reviewing games, I advise you not to directly insult the game, regardless of how bad it is. So many people work very hard on it, most notably (although most certainly not only) programmers work for up to a few years on games, and it's just not fair to say it's just "Bad." or "I hate it."
One of the more recent games that I have tried is called Super Monkey Ball Touch & Roll. This is an old game, but a fairly unheard of one. If you
have ever played any of the other Super Monkey Ball games, you know what you're going to get with this, it doesn't expand much on the gameplay (for those that don't know, you roll a monkey in a ball through maze-like maps collecting bananas). But, for what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in quality. Everything in the game is in 3D, and the backgrounds are simply amazing. The controls offer both touch control, and D-Pad control, which is nice, and the game has fun, albeit somewhat non-responsive, mini-games, and even gives you some during the credits, which unfortunately appear after each level. In the main game, the only downside is that it is at times difficult, which is to be expected in buying a game, and is a nice change from some of the other DS games (*cough* Super Princess Peach *cough*).Next comes a game with a familiar, yet none-the-less creepy character and name: Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland. If you don't know who Tingle is, either type it into the image section of your favorite search engine, or play some Legend of Zelda games, he's the guy in the green costum
e selling things at outrageous prices. This is Tingle's first game, and sadly, it was never released in North America, forcing us to import it from Europe or pirate it (I do not condone the latter). This game provides us with some background knowledge about our favorite little creep, and why he charges at such outrageous prices! The game does, in fact, have a combat system, but it is very rudimentary, walking up to an enemy and letting the game fight for you. Basically, you do a bunch of silly quests, or spend your entire time fighting, in order to gain rupees in order to gain access to rupeeland, being forced to pay tolls to do certain things, such as enter a new city. Another creative system it has is a pot in which you can practice alchemy to sell things with, and a computer with a somehow skinny girl (sadly in the same costume) sitting on the other end all day. Overall, the game is definitely worth a play, but it's not the type of game where you pound through it in a big gaming session.The next game involves our favorite little pink blob, Kirby, in his first true Kirby-style DS game, Kirby: Squeak Squad. Typically, this game is never rated too low, but it still deserves a mention because of how few people play it. If you've played any of the other Kirby games, especially the ones on t
he GBA, you know what you're getting from this. You walk around a magical land, sucking things to make the bad guys go away. Ok, that is over simplified for comedy, but it is true, the game doesn't really add anything special to the Kirby franchise, and the entire story is pretty much explained in the first 10 minutes, so there's no real incentive in finishing. The only downside that I could see is that to get to the last couple worlds in the game, it is mandatory to go through each and every level, in each and every world, and collect each and every treasure chest (1-3 per level). On the other hand, it is a fun experience for veterans and newcomers alike, and takes quite a while to complete so you do get your money's worth!Have you ever wanted to be bald, wear masks, and blow bubbles with magical fairies inside? Well now is your chance with a game called Soul Bubbles! Depending on how you see it, it's unfortunate that our new hero is bald, as in the Japanese version he had a full head of purple hair...somehow he relates better bald, I guess. Now, this game comes up a lot in underrated lists, mainly because no one ever takes this game seriously, being a Toys 'R Us exclusive game. For those that just re
ad it, yes, you can only buy it from Toys 'R Us. But don't fret, just buy it on eBay, or buy it online, or take the neighbor's kid with you and say it's for him. In this game, you have three masks, while you wear one, you can cut and uncut bubbles, another lets you draw bubbles, and the last lets you deflate, or shrink, a bubble. The point of the game is to get the spirits in the bubble to the end of the game, and free them, but to really beat the game, you have to go through the maze-like levels to find fruit for an old man. Normally, this would be no problem, except that the levels are full of spikes and enemies and environment that can keep you puzzled, and you sometimes can't do much about. I praise the game on it's unique gameplay, and puzzles, as well as it's style of using touch as a main control, and the D-Pad as supporting as a nice change of pace.For the '80s kids in all of us, hanging out at the arcade throwing away quarters, we have a fun game called Geometry Wars: Galaxies. If you've never played Geometry Wars, it's basically an arcade shoot-'e
m-up game where all you really do is shoot for the highest score, there's not much more to it than that. The DS adaptation of the game does add some new things though, thankfully. First off, the controls are slightly different. Naturally, you move with the D-Pad, but to shoot you touch a spot on the touch screen and you fire in that direction on the top screen. Next, you have little 'probes' that you can have circle around your ship and aid you. There are many of these, and they all do different things, so it will take some experimentation to find the one that suits you best, especially since they don't do too much until you get them experience to level them up, by beating (not just playing) the levels. Besides that, it's just your typical arcade game, but it is extremely addictive, and a great addition to any collection.Although short, hopefully this article helped you in deciding what games to choose as well as realizing that some of the best games aren't always rated the highest. Also, when reviewing games, I advise you not to directly insult the game, regardless of how bad it is. So many people work very hard on it, most notably (although most certainly not only) programmers work for up to a few years on games, and it's just not fair to say it's just "Bad." or "I hate it."
How To Make Money In College
Making money in college can be a very difficult task, especially if you've never had any job experience. But, even if you have had job experience, all you can do is work a part-time job, which at your age is typically at minimum wage - not enough to support yourself. So, at such a young age, we are forced to dig deep and pull out some entrepreneurial spirit to keep bread on the table. For some of you, this is easy and you just need a push in the right direction, and for some of you, you need me to spoon-feed it to you; either way, I'm here for you with some time-tested methods to get you some extra money.
One of my favourite ways to get money is to sell my plasma, the watery part of blood. Although not great for people afraid of shots, or blood, it is great for kind-hearted soul, as you may save lives by making money. One of the best sites to find places to where you can "donate" is BloodBanker.com, as it has a simple zip code search. Naturally, this alone will not support you, but it is definitely a good bonus to your income, being about $200 USD per month.
Another supplement to your income, although not being a full income program, is writing. Aside from making your own blog, such as this one, there are fairly popular sites that sometimes pay you up-front payments, as well as a very small amount of money per view. The most popular ones are Squidoo and Associated Content. If you want to start a blog, you have two options: use a site such as Blogger.com or use a seperate webhost that supports blog software such as Wordpress. The benefit to using blogger is that you have the ability to make money from it with minimal work. But, being open source and having a ton of addons, Wordpress has numerous advantages, with the downside of having to find a seperate host to add ads to. Squidoo and Associated Content are, arguably, better ways to make money, but what is the best way, in my opinion, is to do both at once, and give up up-front payments.
Although this next option may be seen as an actual job, it tends to be under the table, and usually pretty easy - babysitting. If you do choose this option, I reccommend trying to find children above age three, as they're usually potty trained, and makes your job essentially to play, cook, and put them to bed - easy, right? Now, if all you can find is babies, don't fret, they're typically pretty easy to take care of short-term, and changing a diaper is alot easier than you'd think - I have essentially been a father to my half-sister, and have had no problems. If I can do it, anyone can. The hourly wage is typically good, and if you do a good job, you're pretty much guaranteed to get another job with them - and you get a good job reference as well!
If you, unlike me, are musically inclined, start a band! And I don't take the excuse 'But I play the violin! No one wants to hear THAT!' - Olli Vanska is easily my favorite musician, I would pay an arm and a leg to see him on stage again! Although classical instruments are no longer popular, they can be very well integrated into more modern music genres. Naturally, I don't know too much how band economics work, but I am sure that most clubs are always on a search for good entertainment, and if you can provide it you'll both make a name for yourself, as well as getting a few bucks.
Like myself, if you like to mix things up a bit as a student, try teaching / tutoring on for size! Some people are willing to pay good money for just a few hours of help, and if it's something you know well, it can be one of the easiest and most enlightening experiences you can ever have. As far as finding students, it can be pretty easy if you know where to look - even from your own home! My personal favorite site for finding students is Wyzant, as you need to be 18 and pass tests to be approved to tutor in a subject. But, if you're not too web-savvy (you should take a class from me on Wyzant!), you can always just post flyers in grocery stores and on electrical poles, and such.
One of the more obvious things to do, though, is sell your possessions. This, of course, is something you can only do once in a while, but it does help if you're in a jam. Some of the more popular things to sell are old computer parts, game consoles, and more popularly old textbooks. Although these sites are very popular and successful, I feel an obligation to tell you about eBay and Amazon.
Although I can't say I totally agree with this final method, paid surveys seem to be prevalent throughout the web. Typically, these sites claim to pay as well as a fulltime job, or even better, but in reality, each survey pays from a few cents, to two dollars, and some you have to give credit card information to, and sometimes pay for a product. Every time you do this, remember, you must give correct information (or it won't add to your account), which then floods your email with spam. The best site of this subject seems to be Cash Crate.
One of my favourite ways to get money is to sell my plasma, the watery part of blood. Although not great for people afraid of shots, or blood, it is great for kind-hearted soul, as you may save lives by making money. One of the best sites to find places to where you can "donate" is BloodBanker.com, as it has a simple zip code search. Naturally, this alone will not support you, but it is definitely a good bonus to your income, being about $200 USD per month.
Another supplement to your income, although not being a full income program, is writing. Aside from making your own blog, such as this one, there are fairly popular sites that sometimes pay you up-front payments, as well as a very small amount of money per view. The most popular ones are Squidoo and Associated Content. If you want to start a blog, you have two options: use a site such as Blogger.com or use a seperate webhost that supports blog software such as Wordpress. The benefit to using blogger is that you have the ability to make money from it with minimal work. But, being open source and having a ton of addons, Wordpress has numerous advantages, with the downside of having to find a seperate host to add ads to. Squidoo and Associated Content are, arguably, better ways to make money, but what is the best way, in my opinion, is to do both at once, and give up up-front payments.
Although this next option may be seen as an actual job, it tends to be under the table, and usually pretty easy - babysitting. If you do choose this option, I reccommend trying to find children above age three, as they're usually potty trained, and makes your job essentially to play, cook, and put them to bed - easy, right? Now, if all you can find is babies, don't fret, they're typically pretty easy to take care of short-term, and changing a diaper is alot easier than you'd think - I have essentially been a father to my half-sister, and have had no problems. If I can do it, anyone can. The hourly wage is typically good, and if you do a good job, you're pretty much guaranteed to get another job with them - and you get a good job reference as well!
If you, unlike me, are musically inclined, start a band! And I don't take the excuse 'But I play the violin! No one wants to hear THAT!' - Olli Vanska is easily my favorite musician, I would pay an arm and a leg to see him on stage again! Although classical instruments are no longer popular, they can be very well integrated into more modern music genres. Naturally, I don't know too much how band economics work, but I am sure that most clubs are always on a search for good entertainment, and if you can provide it you'll both make a name for yourself, as well as getting a few bucks.
Like myself, if you like to mix things up a bit as a student, try teaching / tutoring on for size! Some people are willing to pay good money for just a few hours of help, and if it's something you know well, it can be one of the easiest and most enlightening experiences you can ever have. As far as finding students, it can be pretty easy if you know where to look - even from your own home! My personal favorite site for finding students is Wyzant, as you need to be 18 and pass tests to be approved to tutor in a subject. But, if you're not too web-savvy (you should take a class from me on Wyzant!), you can always just post flyers in grocery stores and on electrical poles, and such.
One of the more obvious things to do, though, is sell your possessions. This, of course, is something you can only do once in a while, but it does help if you're in a jam. Some of the more popular things to sell are old computer parts, game consoles, and more popularly old textbooks. Although these sites are very popular and successful, I feel an obligation to tell you about eBay and Amazon.
Although I can't say I totally agree with this final method, paid surveys seem to be prevalent throughout the web. Typically, these sites claim to pay as well as a fulltime job, or even better, but in reality, each survey pays from a few cents, to two dollars, and some you have to give credit card information to, and sometimes pay for a product. Every time you do this, remember, you must give correct information (or it won't add to your account), which then floods your email with spam. The best site of this subject seems to be Cash Crate.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Pokémon Series #1: Rodent Pokémon
There's no doubt about it, rodents are the coolest animals ever, and Pokémon is the biggest fake-animal TV show, game series, and trading card game out there. So, naturally, I wondered, what would happen if you combined the two! But, outside of the Pokémon icon, Pikachu, what rodent Pokémon are out there? And going along with that, is it even possible to make a worth-while team out of the coolest little guys? Today, let's explore that.
First of all, we have the "chus", Pichu/Pikachu/Raichu, Plusle, Minun, and Pachirisu. Naturally, they're all electric type, and Raichu is better than any of them, so we'll focus on him. If breeded correctly, it can learn one of my favorite attacks: Volt Tackle. An electric type Pokémon of any breed can make a great addition to any team, especially in D/P/P, as I personally used to ride on a Luxray to get me through half the gym leaders. So first off, let's add a Raichu to the team - make up your own skill build for your own purposes, be it PvP or PvE, I can't do all the work for you, now can I? ;)!Next, I think a ground type Pokémon can be useful. Although some people say that Diglett and
Dugtrio are rodents, I see them more as bumps, so let's skip them and go into Sandshrew and Sandslash. They are definitly rodents, and great ones too! Sandslash has a very high attack and defense stat, which comes in handy as the (sadly) only ground-type move it learns without a TM is physical damage, and almost all of it's other (typically normal-type) moves are physical and deal high damage.As a team, a ground type and an electric type can take you threw quite a bit of the game, but we are allowed six pokémon, there are a few more rodents, and there are some HMs we need to cover, surf and
waterfall being some of the most obvious. For this, the obvious choice is a water type, giving us only three real options: Buizel/Floatzel, Bidoof/Bibarel and Azurill/Marill/Azumarill. The Azurill line is all-around pretty weak (although based off of our good friend Pikachu...), and Bidoof is, well, annoying. So let's focus on Floatzel. This little weasel-like thing (yes, I know weasels are in a different family than rodents, but so are rabbits *cough* Azumarill *cough*, so I'm being lenient) has the highest speed of all water types (well, tied with Starmie, but with it's ability it can be the highest), and really high stats all around. Although it is arguably a waste to use HMs on a battling pokémon, the two are some of the strongest, notably Waterfall because Floatzel's attack is higher than it's special attack.Although I don't typically approve of using legendary pokémon in a team, I feel that we're lacking some vegetable friends, so I'm going to say Shaymin. Naturally, being a legendary,
Shaymin has very high stats as well as a good move set with it's signature move, Seed Flare. Whether or not to use it's flight form is up to opinion, but I personally say not for this team, because it looks more like a stag than the hedgehog it is in it's land form, as well as the fact that you can bring it's land form onto wifi with non-platinum users. On the other hand, it's flight form can learn Fly.Well, the team's almost finished, but it's seriously lacking in bad-guy pokémon that ma
ke fart noises - a must have in every team! Naturally, we're going to use Stunky/Skuntank. Some of you may say that Skuntank looks like a cat, but that is most likely due to the fact that a nickname for skunks is 'polecat', and if you don't think it looks like a skunk, you're blind. I'm not 100% sure if skunks are even in the rodent family, but again, I'm being lenient. As anyone who has played an MMORPG before can tell, it's name means it's put there to take damage - as it has a high HP stat, but don't be fooled - it has low defense and special defense stats. Aside from being a tank, it's the only non-fire type pokémon to learn Flamethrower naturally, so if that doesn't sell you, go find some other guide.
For the last Pokémon, you have some choice. For general gameplay, I typically bring a Starly, or some other pokémon that can learn fly, but if you're using it solely for battle, or you're using the flight form of Shaymin, your choices are limited to the pokémon I listed but didn't use, repeats, or normal types. Personally, I think Rattata is really cute until it turns into Raticate, who is, of course, more suited for battle. Your other choices are typically found as the second pokémon - right after your starter, and are always used by the evil team in the game. Zigzagoon/Linoone and Sentret/Furret are good choices, although Sentret and Furret are not technically rodents.
Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment! Stay tuned for Pokémon Series #2!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Fossil Fighters Review
The newest rip-off of a rip-off of Nintendo's Pokémon by Nintendo has finally arrived: Fossil Fighters! This game is a blatant rip-off of Disney's Spectrobes (and, naturally, Spectrobes 2: Beyond the Portal), the concept of both games being to dig up and revive fossils, just to make them fight.
First off, the story is nearly non-existant, and it doesn't happen very fast when you do see it. Occasionally you do something that will throw the main story forward, but it's not all that common after the prologue.
The aformentioned combat is not as fun as it sounds - it's actually quite as bad as it can get, but it's spiced up with different spots on the board. It's played like a board game, you have four spots where you can move your vivosaurs (basically just dinosaurs...), one main spot, two support spots, and a retreating spot. At the beginning of a turn your player is given a certain amount of points, and each attack costs a certain number of points. The main vivosaur can attack any enemy in the enemy's line-up, but while in the support spots you can only attack the other player's main vivosaur. Other than that it's just tapping choices on the touch screen, there's not much else to it - even the rock-paper-scissors scheme found in pokémon is non-existant.
Although combat is a major theme in most games, and it certainly is in this one, the main point is to revive fossils. This consists of going out to parks, using a radar to find rocks or fossils, digging, and going back to the city to clean them off. Let's start off with the radar part - it's not very great. Every so often you will find a rock in the ground, which doesn't do much but provide some annoyance. The digging consists of pressing the 'a' button every once in a while, at a certain spot. Next, you go to the fossil center and try to clean it off. Needless to say, that wasn't very fun either. You have two useful tools - a hammer and a drill. You also have an x-ray tool, but it doesn't really do anything useful. The hammer does too much damage, and the drill does almost none. It's a very insensitive process, especially for something made by Nintendo.
The graphics can be hit and miss. In the battle sequences, it's reminiscent of Playstation X games, in fact - it all is. The battle sequences are quite beautiful, actually, although it's not very seamless. The walking around parts of the game are pretty much the opposite - it all flows very well, but everything looks stupid. Nintendo seems to have forgotten that we have joints in our elbows and knees, and that our necks can move.
I haven't noticed it too much, but the sound is pretty good. The fact that it's not very noticeable is probably a good thing, actually, but it also doesn't stand out in the way it did in games such as The World Ends With You.
All in all, I would not buy this game. It's pretty clunky, the controls are somewhat non-responsive, and it's just not very fun. If you want a fun fossil-digging game, go with Spectrobes - it does everything this game does and more, but better.
First off, the story is nearly non-existant, and it doesn't happen very fast when you do see it. Occasionally you do something that will throw the main story forward, but it's not all that common after the prologue.
The aformentioned combat is not as fun as it sounds - it's actually quite as bad as it can get, but it's spiced up with different spots on the board. It's played like a board game, you have four spots where you can move your vivosaurs (basically just dinosaurs...), one main spot, two support spots, and a retreating spot. At the beginning of a turn your player is given a certain amount of points, and each attack costs a certain number of points. The main vivosaur can attack any enemy in the enemy's line-up, but while in the support spots you can only attack the other player's main vivosaur. Other than that it's just tapping choices on the touch screen, there's not much else to it - even the rock-paper-scissors scheme found in pokémon is non-existant.
Although combat is a major theme in most games, and it certainly is in this one, the main point is to revive fossils. This consists of going out to parks, using a radar to find rocks or fossils, digging, and going back to the city to clean them off. Let's start off with the radar part - it's not very great. Every so often you will find a rock in the ground, which doesn't do much but provide some annoyance. The digging consists of pressing the 'a' button every once in a while, at a certain spot. Next, you go to the fossil center and try to clean it off. Needless to say, that wasn't very fun either. You have two useful tools - a hammer and a drill. You also have an x-ray tool, but it doesn't really do anything useful. The hammer does too much damage, and the drill does almost none. It's a very insensitive process, especially for something made by Nintendo.
The graphics can be hit and miss. In the battle sequences, it's reminiscent of Playstation X games, in fact - it all is. The battle sequences are quite beautiful, actually, although it's not very seamless. The walking around parts of the game are pretty much the opposite - it all flows very well, but everything looks stupid. Nintendo seems to have forgotten that we have joints in our elbows and knees, and that our necks can move.
I haven't noticed it too much, but the sound is pretty good. The fact that it's not very noticeable is probably a good thing, actually, but it also doesn't stand out in the way it did in games such as The World Ends With You.
All in all, I would not buy this game. It's pretty clunky, the controls are somewhat non-responsive, and it's just not very fun. If you want a fun fossil-digging game, go with Spectrobes - it does everything this game does and more, but better.
Services
As you probably know by clicking here, I am currently offering a series of services in exchange for (possible) monetary compensation! On occasion, I will do things for free (notably for the MicroLua community - on things relating to MicroLua!), but most of the time, my translation rates are as follows:
Me and my girlfriend are also providing art commissions. For examples of her artwork, please see this page. (Requests Sexual In Nature Are Acceptable) We will contact you as soon as possible, with an estimated release date, as well as to work out some details. (Keep in mind, if we have multiple commissions, it may be a while). Our rates are as follows:
For any and all service contact needs email me here (monkatx@gmail.com), noting what you need in the subject. If you cannot afford the rates we will discuss something, I am not one to turn my back on the public.
Payments preferred through Paypal, otherwise cash/check to Justin Hamilton at an address that will be given through email conversation after verifying that you are not a spam-o-matic!
- English -> French: $0.01 USD / word
- Spanish -> English: $0.02 USD / word
- French -> English: $0.03 USD / word
- Spanish -> French: $0.01 USD / word
- German -> English $0.02 USD / word
- German -> French $0.05 USD / word
Me and my girlfriend are also providing art commissions. For examples of her artwork, please see this page. (Requests Sexual In Nature Are Acceptable) We will contact you as soon as possible, with an estimated release date, as well as to work out some details. (Keep in mind, if we have multiple commissions, it may be a while). Our rates are as follows:
- Rough Sketches: $2 USD (Per Page)
- Detailed Drawings: $5 USD (Per Page)
- Colored Detailed Drawings: $10 USD (Per Page)
- Detailed Colored Painting: $15 USD (Per Canvas)
For any and all service contact needs email me here (monkatx@gmail.com), noting what you need in the subject. If you cannot afford the rates we will discuss something, I am not one to turn my back on the public.
Payments preferred through Paypal, otherwise cash/check to Justin Hamilton at an address that will be given through email conversation after verifying that you are not a spam-o-matic!
Contact
PLEASE REFER TO THE SERVICES PAGE FOR TUTORING, ARTWORK, AND/OR TRANSLATION
Feel free to contact me at any time, through any of these methods (providing it is not spam or long distance on the phone...)
E-Mail: monkatx@gmail.com
Phone: (1)703-881-8530
AIM: spiralmonkat
MSN: spiral.monkat@hotmail.com
Feel free to contact me at any time, through any of these methods (providing it is not spam or long distance on the phone...)
E-Mail: monkatx@gmail.com
Phone: (1)703-881-8530
AIM: spiralmonkat
MSN: spiral.monkat@hotmail.com