Well hello there, I'm reviewer Nerdonblog.
I'm looking for feedback on the quality of my work as well as the usefulness of the site, any recommendations on other sites to host them are greatly appreciated. To comply with forum regulations and for those who don't want to visit another site to check out my work. Here's an unformatted section (That is to say one without pictures) of an old review:
Psychonauts - Review
Let me tell you what a good game isn't.
In fact, before I start this review, let me tell you about what so many games these days do wrong. It?s something that will unfortunately I can see never, ever changing. Sigh. Well, a bad in game is, in short, a game that wants to be another game. Yes that?s it these days, that?s all it takes to screw it up. Take for example anything with a context of "space" and "guns" that?s been released after the first Halo. They all want to be, on some level, like Halo. Hell scrap space and now take anything with guns in and lay them all side by side. Yeah wow, it?s a pretty sad state of affairs. Now I want you to do something for me. Stop reading this review, go find your local retailer and take a look at the chart. Come back and tell me what you see, I?ll wait right here. Honest.
Okay, are you back? Awesome, let?s continue. I can guarantee you'll have seen 3 things on that list. There?ll be; one "Generic Drive a Car" game, one "Play the local sport" game and maybe if you?re lucky you?ll get everyone?s favourite shooting game at that particular point. Like I said it?s a real sad state of affairs at the moment.
Now boys and girls, let me tell you all about what a good game is.
A good game; is Psychonauts.
Take a look at it it?s pretty cheap on steam at any given time and you can also find it for original xbox . Go on now, indulge yourself and try something old that'll seem brand spanking new in this world of decrepit game zombies. I can guarantee you will not find anything like it or even anything similar in the last 5 years.
You'd be forgiven for thinking it doesn't look all that much, hell it even seems a tad childish from its cartoon style but delving a little deeper you may be surprised to find the extraordinary mind that is Tim Schafer?s Double Fine Productions. If you don?t know who he is or they are, you?ll have probably seen their latest game by proxy "Brütal Legend" a game that stars Jack Black and Ozzy Osbourne. Right there is where you should have started to pay attention. Already, is that a game that you have even nearly played? No it?s not. Tim Schafer is also known, if you roll in the nerd circles, as one of the most unique minds that Lucas Arts ever did lose. He and Ron Gilbert being the masterminds behind the Monkey Island series, or you know as I like to call it, the birth of an entire genre.
I'll admit that when I first stumbled upon it, I disregarded it as your basic childish platforming game and I'll burn in the fires of nerd hell for that until my thumbs are raw and bloody. I'll be the first in line to admit that platform games are not what they used to be. Not since the days of Rayman in my opinion, Rayman, since now having been booted out of his own franchise by bunny rabbits. But it was sheer luck that I stumbled upon this golden nugget of platformer goodness.
(Editor?s Note: There was a link to ?Game Tap? here it was a site that cycled free streamed games that you could subscribe to get them all to play for free. If you want to play this, get it on steam, it?s realllly cheap.)
Well now I?m going to tell you why to play this amazing game. You play as Razputin, but his friends call him Raz. Raz is a psychic trapeze artist who's run away from the circus to join a summer camp for fellow psychic children and does so simply by crashing the damn party head first, jumping into a briefing with two super agents and a crazy solider man named Coach.
Now my dear reader, never have played the game, I bet you didn't bloody see that one coming did you? If you did see it coming you either need to see a doctor immediately or you should really get a job in the games industry.
It's selling point believe it or not is not just the continuation of the story alone, although that should be enough at least to intrigue you. Let?s take level design for example; examples include; Rampaging through a city, Godzilla style, that is populated entirely by tiny orange fish people that run in fear from your mighty "Goggalor" feet. Is that not a good enough example for you? Well how about a level that you battle the actual Napoleon inside the mind of a mental asylum?s steward who?s haunted by the spirit of Napoleon after losing a game to a mental patient. Oh and you battle him by jumping into an actual game of Risk? What, not good enough I hear you cry? You?ll play an entire level made of meat, you?ll fight an evil brain snatching dentist, meet a giant lung fish named Linda. Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained?
You really can't get more original than this game folks. There is none like it anywhere and I wish to god there?d be a sequel. What you'll find nestled here in this game is some of the most uniquely written humour in a game that I?ve ever come across and this is comparing it to games they?ve previously been a part of (Monkey Island) what you get is something that will genuinely make you chuckle and that is rare in a video game, so rare in fact it should be revered. Every character in this game is given love and attention to detail, every single one has a carefully written out dialog for every part of the game. You could so easily miss them but they're there if you look for them as little optional extras. It all comes together to bring a huge over-arching story as the little touches trigger little events that you can pass the time between delving into people?s brains. My favourite character has to be the Russian Psychic who happened to be one of the first people I talked to, who uttered unto me the words "Have you seen giant, hairless bear?" which, to this very day, still makes me grin. Can't hide forever.. Bear.
(Editor?s note: This helped me develop my Russian accent for my voice acting work and still makes me laugh.)
I've got you hooked now, surely, you craven little devil you but there?s a little more to see, let's talk gameplay.
Well you?re a freaking Psychic. I shouldn?t have to explain more than that, is there really anything cooler than that? You have the basic array of all the powers you'd expect from a psychic including Raz's patented default attack that I like to call the "Psychic *****-Slap". There?s always a reason to use your new found power but you?ll often than not, have to go out your way to get them, there?s no just handing you the power at the right time and a note saying ?Use this.? You can set squirrels on fire, shoot psychic bears (the none hairless type)and become invisible to boot. My favourite has to be the ball of death, which you unlock about half way through the game. You need to get used to using it pretty quickly as well as you'll be using to get around pretty much straight away and it can be a little unwieldy at first. There are upgrades for the higher tier of grades too, for example the ball can be upgraded to the ?Spiky ball o? Death? which just makes travelling at speed that much more fun as you plough through enemies at high speeds chipping away at their health without a care in the world.
Overall, if you consider yourself a gamer. Or you just want to try something new. This game is fun, funny and sharp.
This is the very definition of what a good game is.
Learn from it.
Nerdonblog
2009
Feedback is what I'm looking for here, don't be afraid to rip me a new one. But if you like what you see, checking out my other work on the link and posting feedback on that too would be very helpful.
Thanks.
I've recently begun to re-format, edit and update a long backlog of my reviews and host them on a new site which can be found here http://nerdonbloggames.blogspot.fr/
Mod Edit: Links to external sites go at the bottom of the review.
I'm looking for feedback on the quality of my work as well as the usefulness of the site, any recommendations on other sites to host them are greatly appreciated. To comply with forum regulations and for those who don't want to visit another site to check out my work. Here's an unformatted section (That is to say one without pictures) of an old review:
Psychonauts - Review
Let me tell you what a good game isn't.
In fact, before I start this review, let me tell you about what so many games these days do wrong. It?s something that will unfortunately I can see never, ever changing. Sigh. Well, a bad in game is, in short, a game that wants to be another game. Yes that?s it these days, that?s all it takes to screw it up. Take for example anything with a context of "space" and "guns" that?s been released after the first Halo. They all want to be, on some level, like Halo. Hell scrap space and now take anything with guns in and lay them all side by side. Yeah wow, it?s a pretty sad state of affairs. Now I want you to do something for me. Stop reading this review, go find your local retailer and take a look at the chart. Come back and tell me what you see, I?ll wait right here. Honest.
Okay, are you back? Awesome, let?s continue. I can guarantee you'll have seen 3 things on that list. There?ll be; one "Generic Drive a Car" game, one "Play the local sport" game and maybe if you?re lucky you?ll get everyone?s favourite shooting game at that particular point. Like I said it?s a real sad state of affairs at the moment.
Now boys and girls, let me tell you all about what a good game is.
A good game; is Psychonauts.
Take a look at it it?s pretty cheap on steam at any given time and you can also find it for original xbox . Go on now, indulge yourself and try something old that'll seem brand spanking new in this world of decrepit game zombies. I can guarantee you will not find anything like it or even anything similar in the last 5 years.
You'd be forgiven for thinking it doesn't look all that much, hell it even seems a tad childish from its cartoon style but delving a little deeper you may be surprised to find the extraordinary mind that is Tim Schafer?s Double Fine Productions. If you don?t know who he is or they are, you?ll have probably seen their latest game by proxy "Brütal Legend" a game that stars Jack Black and Ozzy Osbourne. Right there is where you should have started to pay attention. Already, is that a game that you have even nearly played? No it?s not. Tim Schafer is also known, if you roll in the nerd circles, as one of the most unique minds that Lucas Arts ever did lose. He and Ron Gilbert being the masterminds behind the Monkey Island series, or you know as I like to call it, the birth of an entire genre.
I'll admit that when I first stumbled upon it, I disregarded it as your basic childish platforming game and I'll burn in the fires of nerd hell for that until my thumbs are raw and bloody. I'll be the first in line to admit that platform games are not what they used to be. Not since the days of Rayman in my opinion, Rayman, since now having been booted out of his own franchise by bunny rabbits. But it was sheer luck that I stumbled upon this golden nugget of platformer goodness.
(Editor?s Note: There was a link to ?Game Tap? here it was a site that cycled free streamed games that you could subscribe to get them all to play for free. If you want to play this, get it on steam, it?s realllly cheap.)
Well now I?m going to tell you why to play this amazing game. You play as Razputin, but his friends call him Raz. Raz is a psychic trapeze artist who's run away from the circus to join a summer camp for fellow psychic children and does so simply by crashing the damn party head first, jumping into a briefing with two super agents and a crazy solider man named Coach.
Now my dear reader, never have played the game, I bet you didn't bloody see that one coming did you? If you did see it coming you either need to see a doctor immediately or you should really get a job in the games industry.
It's selling point believe it or not is not just the continuation of the story alone, although that should be enough at least to intrigue you. Let?s take level design for example; examples include; Rampaging through a city, Godzilla style, that is populated entirely by tiny orange fish people that run in fear from your mighty "Goggalor" feet. Is that not a good enough example for you? Well how about a level that you battle the actual Napoleon inside the mind of a mental asylum?s steward who?s haunted by the spirit of Napoleon after losing a game to a mental patient. Oh and you battle him by jumping into an actual game of Risk? What, not good enough I hear you cry? You?ll play an entire level made of meat, you?ll fight an evil brain snatching dentist, meet a giant lung fish named Linda. Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained?
You really can't get more original than this game folks. There is none like it anywhere and I wish to god there?d be a sequel. What you'll find nestled here in this game is some of the most uniquely written humour in a game that I?ve ever come across and this is comparing it to games they?ve previously been a part of (Monkey Island) what you get is something that will genuinely make you chuckle and that is rare in a video game, so rare in fact it should be revered. Every character in this game is given love and attention to detail, every single one has a carefully written out dialog for every part of the game. You could so easily miss them but they're there if you look for them as little optional extras. It all comes together to bring a huge over-arching story as the little touches trigger little events that you can pass the time between delving into people?s brains. My favourite character has to be the Russian Psychic who happened to be one of the first people I talked to, who uttered unto me the words "Have you seen giant, hairless bear?" which, to this very day, still makes me grin. Can't hide forever.. Bear.
(Editor?s note: This helped me develop my Russian accent for my voice acting work and still makes me laugh.)
I've got you hooked now, surely, you craven little devil you but there?s a little more to see, let's talk gameplay.
Well you?re a freaking Psychic. I shouldn?t have to explain more than that, is there really anything cooler than that? You have the basic array of all the powers you'd expect from a psychic including Raz's patented default attack that I like to call the "Psychic *****-Slap". There?s always a reason to use your new found power but you?ll often than not, have to go out your way to get them, there?s no just handing you the power at the right time and a note saying ?Use this.? You can set squirrels on fire, shoot psychic bears (the none hairless type)and become invisible to boot. My favourite has to be the ball of death, which you unlock about half way through the game. You need to get used to using it pretty quickly as well as you'll be using to get around pretty much straight away and it can be a little unwieldy at first. There are upgrades for the higher tier of grades too, for example the ball can be upgraded to the ?Spiky ball o? Death? which just makes travelling at speed that much more fun as you plough through enemies at high speeds chipping away at their health without a care in the world.
Overall, if you consider yourself a gamer. Or you just want to try something new. This game is fun, funny and sharp.
This is the very definition of what a good game is.
Learn from it.
Nerdonblog
2009
Feedback is what I'm looking for here, don't be afraid to rip me a new one. But if you like what you see, checking out my other work on the link and posting feedback on that too would be very helpful.
Thanks.
I've recently begun to re-format, edit and update a long backlog of my reviews and host them on a new site which can be found here http://nerdonbloggames.blogspot.fr/
Mod Edit: Links to external sites go at the bottom of the review.