I'm a big fan of sauce on things. Whether it's dipped or slathered on, I'm there. Fast food restaurants don't usually facilitate this characteristic of mine, opting to be greedy bastards by using less sauce, thereby saving them like .0004 cents. Sauce can be a make-or-break factor in deciding what would be the most awesome thing to eat. I guess Wendy's finally realized that, inching past their competitors in the sauce category, because the Flavor-Dipped Chicken Sandwich probably could not have more sauce on it.
I experienced the Flavor-Dipped Chicken Sandwich by means of the Buffalo variety, which is one of my favorite flavors. When I unwrapped the sandwich, it was as if someone had shot one of those poor buffalo, who had proceeded to drip his delicious, spicy orange juice all over the wrapper. I lifted the top of the bun and found more of the same. Usually, a sandwich with a name similar to this one would be unveiled, I'd buy it and realize I've been swindled, staring down a small dollop of flavor in a circle on top. Wendy's stays true to their word, though; if you buy this sandwich, do so expecting generous amounts of sauce.
The chicken that the item is made from was surprisingly real. It was juicy and flavorful, and best of all it actually FELT like chicken, not some anonymous material of a slippery, mushy texture. The sandwich is easily big and thick enough to satiate one's hunger, but don't be surprised if you want another after eating the first because it was so good. Be aware that the greatness comes in BBQ flavor, too.
7/7
We Rate Stuff
10.16.2008
My Japanese Coach (DS)
Japan, being the second largest superpower nation on Earth, is becoming ever more influential and beginning to really spread its culture around the world the way America has. It's noticeable in many aspects of life: anime shows are starting to crop up on various American networks, many video game and console developers are based in Japan, and demand for Japanese translators is very high in the business world. Now, using only your Nintendo DS, you can become a part of the quickly growing minority of foreign Japanese speakers.
My Japanese Coach is a resource that many people, myself included, have been awaiting for quite some time. It may seem ridiculous, trying to stash a whole language onto a Nintendo DS cart, but they've done it for other languages, and though it's presented in a more simple, fundamental, albeit efficient fashion, using just this game it's totally possible to gain a solid, basic grasp of the language. It's a long game, so I haven't fully explored the potential, but I can say that it starts you out with the fundamentals, and you work your way up from there.
There are a few different techniques that My Japanese Coach uses to, well, coach you. When introducing you to new words and/or phrases, you have three options: write, listen, and speak. They're pretty self-explanatory, but for the purpose of unnecessary length and detail I'll explain them. When in write mode, each syllable of the word or phrase is displayed in Kana or Kanji, and you trace the symbol as if you were writing it. Listen mode plays an audio clip of the word or phrase you click on. Speak mode allows you to record yourself speaking, which you can listen to for correction purposes, or compare to the pre-recorded audio clip.
My Japanese Coach also teaches based on minigames, like word searches, multiple choice, and whack-a-mole-esque games, with more added the further you go. Upon completing the games, you gain "mastery points" for each word, until you have mastered the words and can move on to the next level. This is a great way to reinforce the words, rather than just seeing it and learning the definition once or twice.
The interface is simple and enjoyable, including a woman instructor, who emotes her way through the game for you. The game also includes a reference guide, in which you can find commonly spoken and helpful words and phrases. Don't expect to play this game for a few hours, then be prepared to airdrop into Japan, conversing fluently with everybody in sight. Like learning any language, it will take time and practice, and I'm gonna go ahead and say that you'll need a resource a bit more in-depth if you really want to learn Japanese, not a simplified version. My Japanese Coach, however, presents the perfect jumping off point, just enough to get you hooked and to make you want to learn more.
6/7
My Japanese Coach is a resource that many people, myself included, have been awaiting for quite some time. It may seem ridiculous, trying to stash a whole language onto a Nintendo DS cart, but they've done it for other languages, and though it's presented in a more simple, fundamental, albeit efficient fashion, using just this game it's totally possible to gain a solid, basic grasp of the language. It's a long game, so I haven't fully explored the potential, but I can say that it starts you out with the fundamentals, and you work your way up from there.
There are a few different techniques that My Japanese Coach uses to, well, coach you. When introducing you to new words and/or phrases, you have three options: write, listen, and speak. They're pretty self-explanatory, but for the purpose of unnecessary length and detail I'll explain them. When in write mode, each syllable of the word or phrase is displayed in Kana or Kanji, and you trace the symbol as if you were writing it. Listen mode plays an audio clip of the word or phrase you click on. Speak mode allows you to record yourself speaking, which you can listen to for correction purposes, or compare to the pre-recorded audio clip.
My Japanese Coach also teaches based on minigames, like word searches, multiple choice, and whack-a-mole-esque games, with more added the further you go. Upon completing the games, you gain "mastery points" for each word, until you have mastered the words and can move on to the next level. This is a great way to reinforce the words, rather than just seeing it and learning the definition once or twice.
The interface is simple and enjoyable, including a woman instructor, who emotes her way through the game for you. The game also includes a reference guide, in which you can find commonly spoken and helpful words and phrases. Don't expect to play this game for a few hours, then be prepared to airdrop into Japan, conversing fluently with everybody in sight. Like learning any language, it will take time and practice, and I'm gonna go ahead and say that you'll need a resource a bit more in-depth if you really want to learn Japanese, not a simplified version. My Japanese Coach, however, presents the perfect jumping off point, just enough to get you hooked and to make you want to learn more.
6/7
10.14.2008
Reckoner Lockdown (Kanye vs. Radiohead) - DJ Earworm
If there are two artists more separated by genre and style that need to be stirred together more than Kanye West and Radiohead, then the world is a much better place than I thought. DJ Earworm, who makes me wonder if he got his name from Animorphs, has gone ahead and done just that. Recently both Kanye West and Radiohead have released "stems" of songs, meant to be used in home grown remixes. Each stem has a certain instrument or part of the song on it, allowing you to cut and paste, chop and screw, and alter the song in just about any way you want. Radiohead even had a contest for "Reckoner" remixes, but the top few were rather disappointing and uninspired.
Earworm evidently took a page from The Dude and said "fuck it", effectively creating a musical Frankenstein. Thankfully, this creation is a bit easier on the senses, a bit less monstrous than the OG Frankenstein.
Earworm's vision for this mashup plays out well through all 5 minutes of the track. It starts out with some strings, leading into Kanye's first verse, under which Reckoner's two guitar parts fade in. Love Lockdown's rhythm gets a makeover, increasing the pace and smoothing it out a bit, while Reckoner's various parts are lowered in key to match Love Lockdown. Replacing the chord progression behind Love Lockdown with Reckoner's shifts Kanye's vocal melody to a sadder tone, but more importantly it makes it sound fresh again. Another cool thing about this song is that it more openly displays some of the lesser-known, harder-to-hear parts from Reckoner, like the organ and acoustic guitar.
One problem with Reckoner Lockdown is that somehow, even though it's only 30 seconds longer than Love Lockdown, it manages to make it way more repetitive. It's okay though, 'cause there is a lot to grab onto other than the vocals. While Earworm has definitely created a fantastic song in Reckoner Lockdown, and I can see it becoming huge, especially in clubs if it can find its way, I can't say that he's done anything excessively original with the tracks. Each part is exactly where you expect it to be, and after the first listen, there's not much that will take you by surprise. While predictable and even a bit repetitive, I've listened to this song at least 25 times today, so obviously it's not hampering the song too much.
5/7
Earworm evidently took a page from The Dude and said "fuck it", effectively creating a musical Frankenstein. Thankfully, this creation is a bit easier on the senses, a bit less monstrous than the OG Frankenstein.
Earworm's vision for this mashup plays out well through all 5 minutes of the track. It starts out with some strings, leading into Kanye's first verse, under which Reckoner's two guitar parts fade in. Love Lockdown's rhythm gets a makeover, increasing the pace and smoothing it out a bit, while Reckoner's various parts are lowered in key to match Love Lockdown. Replacing the chord progression behind Love Lockdown with Reckoner's shifts Kanye's vocal melody to a sadder tone, but more importantly it makes it sound fresh again. Another cool thing about this song is that it more openly displays some of the lesser-known, harder-to-hear parts from Reckoner, like the organ and acoustic guitar.
One problem with Reckoner Lockdown is that somehow, even though it's only 30 seconds longer than Love Lockdown, it manages to make it way more repetitive. It's okay though, 'cause there is a lot to grab onto other than the vocals. While Earworm has definitely created a fantastic song in Reckoner Lockdown, and I can see it becoming huge, especially in clubs if it can find its way, I can't say that he's done anything excessively original with the tracks. Each part is exactly where you expect it to be, and after the first listen, there's not much that will take you by surprise. While predictable and even a bit repetitive, I've listened to this song at least 25 times today, so obviously it's not hampering the song too much.
5/7
10.10.2008
The Sarah Silverman Program (S2B, E02)
Good old Comedy Central has graced us with two consecutive nights of The Sarah Silverman Program, this episode being titled 'The Mongolian Beef'. But she means beef like problem. Get it?? Anyway, this episode's plot is a classic example of a Sarah Silverman idea: Sarah sues the country of Mongolia.
Sarah comes to terms with some memories she's blocked after meeting for lunch with her sister, where a Chinese man spoke to Laura, apparently believing her to be Chinese. When Sarah begins to wonder why this occurred, Laura tells her that she has "vaguely asian features" because their ancestors were raped by Mongolians. Meanwhile, Brian walks in on Steve making a short film, sitting in a box with a helmet on like some sort of race car driver. Steve reluctantly admits that he has all these ideas for short films, so he just started making them. He shows one to Brian, who thinks they're amazing and wants Steve to put them on Youtube after showing him a crappy short film by someone else. Elsewhere, Sarah takes her sister to see a surprise for her. When she opens her eyes, there is an enormous billboard on the side of the road with Laura's face on it, proclaiming she is a product of Mongolian rape. The country of Mongolia sues Sarah for defamation amongst other charges, and Sarah countersues.
I can't say enough about the cast of this show. Not everyone on it is an unbelievable actor (actually, a lot of them are a bit unbelievable), but they all have such an ingrained styles and attitudes, and they all mesh together really well. Each person's humor mixes together to form some sort of monstrous SUPER humor. Then again, if you aren't already fans of most of the actors, you might not feel that way. Then again AGAIN, if you aren't already fans of most of the actors, go out of your way to become one. Also, Jay Johnston is too good at playing a straight-laced loser cop.
Instead of the entire episode being funny in general, 'The Mongolian Beef's humor came more in the form of individual moments and lines. For example, at the beginning of the episode, when Sarah walks into her building's hallway with her dog, Doug, her landlord points out how cute Doug is, to which Sarah responds "Sometimes, most of the time Doug is dead inside." She proceeds to smile and walk away. Or the part in Steve's short video, hilarious entitled "Steve Racer", where he uses the "ideas" bong from the last episode as a gun against an evil version of Steve. Or the part where the Mongolians describe their country to the court cameras, which I won't detail 'cause it's perfect.
One thing I've noticed about this show that makes me enjoy it a lot more is that the plot is always inconsistent. One minute she's seriously suing a whole country, the next minute she's partying with them. It harkens back to Mr. Show in that way, because you absolutely never know what's going to happen next, and the plot-line meanders like an old lady with Alzheimer's. I definitely enjoyed this episode more than the previous because it was funnier in general, and Mongolian beef sounds amazing right now.
5/7
Sarah comes to terms with some memories she's blocked after meeting for lunch with her sister, where a Chinese man spoke to Laura, apparently believing her to be Chinese. When Sarah begins to wonder why this occurred, Laura tells her that she has "vaguely asian features" because their ancestors were raped by Mongolians. Meanwhile, Brian walks in on Steve making a short film, sitting in a box with a helmet on like some sort of race car driver. Steve reluctantly admits that he has all these ideas for short films, so he just started making them. He shows one to Brian, who thinks they're amazing and wants Steve to put them on Youtube after showing him a crappy short film by someone else. Elsewhere, Sarah takes her sister to see a surprise for her. When she opens her eyes, there is an enormous billboard on the side of the road with Laura's face on it, proclaiming she is a product of Mongolian rape. The country of Mongolia sues Sarah for defamation amongst other charges, and Sarah countersues.
I can't say enough about the cast of this show. Not everyone on it is an unbelievable actor (actually, a lot of them are a bit unbelievable), but they all have such an ingrained styles and attitudes, and they all mesh together really well. Each person's humor mixes together to form some sort of monstrous SUPER humor. Then again, if you aren't already fans of most of the actors, you might not feel that way. Then again AGAIN, if you aren't already fans of most of the actors, go out of your way to become one. Also, Jay Johnston is too good at playing a straight-laced loser cop.
Instead of the entire episode being funny in general, 'The Mongolian Beef's humor came more in the form of individual moments and lines. For example, at the beginning of the episode, when Sarah walks into her building's hallway with her dog, Doug, her landlord points out how cute Doug is, to which Sarah responds "Sometimes, most of the time Doug is dead inside." She proceeds to smile and walk away. Or the part in Steve's short video, hilarious entitled "Steve Racer", where he uses the "ideas" bong from the last episode as a gun against an evil version of Steve. Or the part where the Mongolians describe their country to the court cameras, which I won't detail 'cause it's perfect.
One thing I've noticed about this show that makes me enjoy it a lot more is that the plot is always inconsistent. One minute she's seriously suing a whole country, the next minute she's partying with them. It harkens back to Mr. Show in that way, because you absolutely never know what's going to happen next, and the plot-line meanders like an old lady with Alzheimer's. I definitely enjoyed this episode more than the previous because it was funnier in general, and Mongolian beef sounds amazing right now.
5/7
10.09.2008
Sarah Silverman Program (S2B, E01)
Sarah Silverman has been trying to find her place for what seems like a longer time than any other comedian to make it big. But Sarah's always been kinda big, just under-the-radar big. Recently, though, she's sought to claim her (rightful) place as the lovably potty-mouthed, stoney Jewish girl who loves to make racist jokes almost as much as we love to pretend we hate them. Ahh, underlying hatred, will you ever get old? Or just more hatey?
After a long absence, the aptly titled The Sarah Silverman Program has returned to say 'poop' a lot and make funny faces at you. Kind of like my ex-girlfriend. Just an FYI, this is not the third season. Since season 2 got chopped up from the writer's strike, Silverman and co. are calling this season 2B. The first episode is called 'High, It's Sarah'.
Obviously, this episode is about the marijuana. Brian and Sarah realize that they haven't hung out in a while, and as Brian was just plannin' on getting a little high, Sarah joins. All sorts of crazy, weedy shenanigans ensue, culminating in conspiracy theories, kidnapping, and a SWAT team. So basically just a normal day of smoking weed, right? WRONG, 'cause it's not in their mind.
It's actually pretty mind-boggling how much marijuana is infiltrating mainstream culture nowadays. It's one thing to see Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill, two self-proclaimed super stoners, haze up the silver screen, but full bong usage on Comedy Central is just nuts. It makes perfect sense though; I'd be willing to bet at least half of the comedians on Comedy Central partake. Sarah Silverman and Brian Posehn have both been longtime fans, as well.
Anyway, though marijuana is often a great source of comedy, as it is in this episode, 'High, It's Sarah' isn't one of the best. It's definitely one of the good, the stoney, and the funny, and fans of any of the comedians on the show will be satisfied, but first-timers and anyone over 30 probably won't dig it much. It delivers consistent chuckles, but it sends a muddled message about marijuana that only Silverman can understand, and that's probably exactly what she wanted.
4/7
After a long absence, the aptly titled The Sarah Silverman Program has returned to say 'poop' a lot and make funny faces at you. Kind of like my ex-girlfriend. Just an FYI, this is not the third season. Since season 2 got chopped up from the writer's strike, Silverman and co. are calling this season 2B. The first episode is called 'High, It's Sarah'.
Obviously, this episode is about the marijuana. Brian and Sarah realize that they haven't hung out in a while, and as Brian was just plannin' on getting a little high, Sarah joins. All sorts of crazy, weedy shenanigans ensue, culminating in conspiracy theories, kidnapping, and a SWAT team. So basically just a normal day of smoking weed, right? WRONG, 'cause it's not in their mind.
It's actually pretty mind-boggling how much marijuana is infiltrating mainstream culture nowadays. It's one thing to see Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill, two self-proclaimed super stoners, haze up the silver screen, but full bong usage on Comedy Central is just nuts. It makes perfect sense though; I'd be willing to bet at least half of the comedians on Comedy Central partake. Sarah Silverman and Brian Posehn have both been longtime fans, as well.
Anyway, though marijuana is often a great source of comedy, as it is in this episode, 'High, It's Sarah' isn't one of the best. It's definitely one of the good, the stoney, and the funny, and fans of any of the comedians on the show will be satisfied, but first-timers and anyone over 30 probably won't dig it much. It delivers consistent chuckles, but it sends a muddled message about marijuana that only Silverman can understand, and that's probably exactly what she wanted.
4/7
10.07.2008
Time Hollow
The Nintendo DS has an unfortunate reputation. The problem is, a lot of people think it's for kids. Or strictly casual gamers. Sure, maybe the main DS library includes a pretty hefty amount of kid- and casual-based games, but I'd say for every 4 or 5 of those, there's one game with a great story, challenging gameplay, an actual message even. Time Hollow, a recent Konami release, finds itself among that demographic.
Time Hollow is only the second DS game that I've played that I would consider having a really cool story, the first being Professor Layton and the Curious Village, which, if you haven't played yet, sell everything you can to get it. Anyway, Time Hollow obviously deals with time. The story is based around a fella named Ethan. He's a normal kid who lives a normal life with his parents and friends, until the day before his 17th birthday. His dad tells him that he's got a secret to tell him, but he can only do it on his birthday, so Ethan goes to sleep that night only to have a strange dream in which his parents walk into what is seemingly a hole in time. Ethan wakes up to find his Uncle, who he and his parents weren't on the best terms with, is his caretaker now, and somehow is parents went missing 12 years ago. Weird, right? I know!
Ethan finds a 'hollow pen' attached to his cat's collar, and somehow gleans that this is the object with which he can make a portal in time, just like in his dream. As soon as he does, he sees a few images in his head. These are flashbacks, and they're integral to the game. They provide the clues you need to figure out what the hell is going on, as the game can get quite confusing. You have to find out the details of each flashback, which will lead to you going back through time in order to change what happened in that flashback, but doing so only causes new, different flashbacks. A good ol' time travel paradox, indeed. The plot is actually really cool, there are some great twists and the time travel element and the associated problems all make for great story material.
Time Hollow is fundamentally a point-and-click adventure game. Tap the objects on the screen for a short explanation of what they are, tap a certain icon to move to another place, an icon to leave wherever you are, etc. All information is obtained through tapping on things. Doing so will provide you with the clues to advance the story. Now, I'm not sure how, because the DS has been out for quite a while, but Konami managed to slightly mess up the control scheme; sometimes the touch screen is very inaccurate, causing you to click things you didn't want to. Not only that, but they didn't pay too much attention to detail, as you can tap anywhere around your bed in your room, for example, and it will still tell you the information for your bed. Also, for some reason they decided it would be good for us to have to tap everything twice for it to work. All that can be frustrating, but it gradually fades as the game goes on. The hollow pen allows you to create a portal to the past (which, ironically enough, you created) that will enable you to reach into the past and affect and change people, places, and things, which will in turn create a new present. This aspect of the game is mind-bendingly cool.
This game actually has cutscenes! Like full, real animated cutscenes, sometimes even with voice acting, which was surprisingly convincing. It's a welcome addition to what is otherwise a relatively repetitive game, as far as gameplay goes. The characters in the game are well-drawn and consistent, and they all play a big role throughout various parts of the game. The background music is ambient and mysterious, adding a nice layer to the game. Time Hollow is unfortunately short, coming in at six chapters and an epilogue. Each chapter is actually pretty short in itself, but it works because the chapters play out more like extended scenes in a movie, rather than specific sections of a game. The bottom line is, if you want a DS game with a story, play Time Hollow. If you like anything to do with time travel, play Time Hollow. The gameplay is nothing exceedingly new, it's kinda short, and Konami could've done a better job with the touch screen, but Time Hollow is a very welcome break from the flow of usual DS games, and it's very hard to put down.
6/7
Time Hollow is only the second DS game that I've played that I would consider having a really cool story, the first being Professor Layton and the Curious Village, which, if you haven't played yet, sell everything you can to get it. Anyway, Time Hollow obviously deals with time. The story is based around a fella named Ethan. He's a normal kid who lives a normal life with his parents and friends, until the day before his 17th birthday. His dad tells him that he's got a secret to tell him, but he can only do it on his birthday, so Ethan goes to sleep that night only to have a strange dream in which his parents walk into what is seemingly a hole in time. Ethan wakes up to find his Uncle, who he and his parents weren't on the best terms with, is his caretaker now, and somehow is parents went missing 12 years ago. Weird, right? I know!
Ethan finds a 'hollow pen' attached to his cat's collar, and somehow gleans that this is the object with which he can make a portal in time, just like in his dream. As soon as he does, he sees a few images in his head. These are flashbacks, and they're integral to the game. They provide the clues you need to figure out what the hell is going on, as the game can get quite confusing. You have to find out the details of each flashback, which will lead to you going back through time in order to change what happened in that flashback, but doing so only causes new, different flashbacks. A good ol' time travel paradox, indeed. The plot is actually really cool, there are some great twists and the time travel element and the associated problems all make for great story material.
Time Hollow is fundamentally a point-and-click adventure game. Tap the objects on the screen for a short explanation of what they are, tap a certain icon to move to another place, an icon to leave wherever you are, etc. All information is obtained through tapping on things. Doing so will provide you with the clues to advance the story. Now, I'm not sure how, because the DS has been out for quite a while, but Konami managed to slightly mess up the control scheme; sometimes the touch screen is very inaccurate, causing you to click things you didn't want to. Not only that, but they didn't pay too much attention to detail, as you can tap anywhere around your bed in your room, for example, and it will still tell you the information for your bed. Also, for some reason they decided it would be good for us to have to tap everything twice for it to work. All that can be frustrating, but it gradually fades as the game goes on. The hollow pen allows you to create a portal to the past (which, ironically enough, you created) that will enable you to reach into the past and affect and change people, places, and things, which will in turn create a new present. This aspect of the game is mind-bendingly cool.
This game actually has cutscenes! Like full, real animated cutscenes, sometimes even with voice acting, which was surprisingly convincing. It's a welcome addition to what is otherwise a relatively repetitive game, as far as gameplay goes. The characters in the game are well-drawn and consistent, and they all play a big role throughout various parts of the game. The background music is ambient and mysterious, adding a nice layer to the game. Time Hollow is unfortunately short, coming in at six chapters and an epilogue. Each chapter is actually pretty short in itself, but it works because the chapters play out more like extended scenes in a movie, rather than specific sections of a game. The bottom line is, if you want a DS game with a story, play Time Hollow. If you like anything to do with time travel, play Time Hollow. The gameplay is nothing exceedingly new, it's kinda short, and Konami could've done a better job with the touch screen, but Time Hollow is a very welcome break from the flow of usual DS games, and it's very hard to put down.
6/7
10.02.2008
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
Alright, so everyone flipped out when Bioware announced that they were making not only a Sonic game, but a Sonic game for the DS. For good reason, too. Bioware has quite a back-catalog to live up to, with games like Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur's Gate, and Mass Effect breaking new ground in the RPG genre, there were high expectations for Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. I couldn't have been more excited, I've always been a huge fan of Sonic games. The recent Sonic DS games, Rush and Rush Adventure, were actually pretty decent games, especially compared to the absolute garbage coming from the Sonic team for the Xbox. So is The Dark Brotherhood the Sonic version of Mario RPG? Well, not quite.
Wait a second. Comparing anything to Mario RPG is retarded, because that game is unbelievable. If you try to relate Sonic Chronicles to Mario RPG, it is going to come up short. But so would most of the other DS RPG games, so that's not saying much. Sonic Chronicles delivers in a variety of areas, but it also is lacking in a few.
I'll start with the graphics. The hand-painted backgrounds for each map are fantastic. They have a soft, warm feel to them, and they look great. The cut-scenes also look wonderful, they're often done in comic style, with people and events being shown in small boxes, but there is also video once in a while. While there is not enough video and too much boxy event sequencing, any video content is appreciated. A cool feature Bioware has implemented in Sonic Chronicles is that if you close the DS during a cut-scene, it'll start the cut-scene over once you open it. Quite convenient. The character builds are faithful to the classic Sonic games. They look exactly like they used to, just a little more polished. When battling the characters look the worst, and even that's not saying much because they still look pretty good.
Battle animation is surprisingly smooth and fluid. Characters and enemies have a full range of motion that makes battle more enjoyable and can seriously help you out, but I'll get to that later. One area of the animation I had a small issue with was when you're just walking around, it can get a little choppy. To walk around, you guide Sonic with the stylus, and when moving at full speed it's the choppiest. After a few minutes you stop noticing it, though. You learn to concentrate on where you're going, rather than where you currently are. However, even that presents problems once in a while, as in certain areas it's too easy to walk up to an object, a very tall rock, for example, that is up in the sky, but since it's relatively 2D, you might get stuck on it just trying to walk behind it. Again, it's easy to kinda learn not to do this with just a few minutes of gameplay, but it can be frustrating.
There are so many characters. The crazy thing is, I found myself actively using all but about two of them. That's right, every character is powerful and useful in some way. Depending on where you are and what enemies you're going up against, you have to plan your party strategically. This is because every character has different POW moves that affect different enemies in various ways. I'll talk more about POW moves when I get to the battling section. I'm not going to post a list of characters just incase anybody doesn't wanna know. Plus, it's not like it's hard to find. Just know that the character selection is abundant, satisfying, and reminiscent of multiple old Sonic games. Not only that, but Bioware did an amazing job with each character's personality. Throughout the entire game, each character's mannerisms, vocabulary, and attitude are completely consistent, which made the game more enjoyable on an overall level. There are three "classes" of playable characters: power, support and shifter. Power classes obviously just have attacks that hit hard. Support classes have moves that help your party, like Tails can use a move that heals people, or puts a shield around someone. Shifter classes are basically a mix of the previous two.
While on the subject of characters, I have to mention that Bioware has gone through lots of old Sonic games and created a coherent narrative for the game that includes backstories for all characters, places you can visit, items, and ancient relics and events. Any longtime fan of Sonic will most likely find the backstories extremely interesting, as they do a great job of connecting loose ends in the half-assed storylines of older games in the franchise. The overarching story in Sonic Chronicles is a little basic, but it plays out superbly and it really is an adventure. I don't wanna give away much, but it involves inter-dimensional travel, chaos emeralds, and a whole mess of alien races to fight/hang out with. I found the story to be enjoyable and I think it worked out really well. There were some twists, nothing particularly spectacular, but some cool and intense parts.
I guess now is as good a time as any to talk about the battle system. After reading a bunch of reviews for this game, I think the battle system is the most widely disliked aspect of the game. I have a hard time understanding this, because aside from a few issues, I think the battle system works nearly perfectly for this game, and I never really experienced it getting old or repetitive like many have pointed out. All members of your four-person party choose their moves at the beginning of each round. Each player has a specific amount of times they can attack per round based on their speed. Sonic, for example, attacks three times per round, whereas Big the Cat can only attack once per round. You can choose to do a normal attack, a POW attack, defend yourself, use an item, or flee. A POW attack is just a special attack that uses PP, but it's also where the Elite Beat Agents-style gameplay makes its debut. There are a few different types of touch-based strategies you have to do to complete a POW move: tap a target as the outer circle closes in on it (the classic Elite Beat Agent style), tap a circle eight times before the outer circle closes in on it, and slide a icon across a dotted line in time with the icon. It may sound confusing, but once you try it out it gets easy quickly. There's a huge variety of POW attacks per character, and it's fun to try them all out. Some do tons of damage too, and the support class POW moves can be infinitely helpful, such as Tails' 'scan' move, which basically just makes your attacks hit for a lot more. Enemies can also perform POW attacks, in which case you still have to do the Elite Beat Agent techniques, but in my opinion this is a very good thing. It allows you to actively utilize your defense; if you correctly tap everything, their attack will miss. Basically, if you get hit, you know it's your fault. Much better than just leaving it up to chance. I've yet to verify the fact that you can alter the outcome of your attacks or blocks by hitting the L or R buttons on the DS, but if you can't time attacks and blocks in this game then I must be crazy, cause I could swear it helped me out a lot through the entire game. If I'm right, you can cause your enemy to miss an attack by pressing said buttons the instant before they actually hit you, and you can make your attack count for more by hitting it the instant before your character's attack lands. There definitely are some frustrating scenarios that play out in battle, however. To take out enemies quickly, it's a good idea to use all your characters to attack one enemy at once. However, the risk in doing this is, because you all choose your moves at once at the beginning of each round, the enemy you're all attacking could pull an 'evade', in which case you will miss every attack, or the enemy will counter your attack, doing significant damage to you, and possibly even regaining some HP from the counter. So you can imagine how lame it is when you have an enemy practically dead, he pulls an evade, counters all four of your characters' attacks, and recovers 3/4 of his HP. Another equally frustrating and similar situation is when you're fighting a specific alien race, you could have them down to one HP and then they hit you once, even if it's only for like 20 HP, and somehow they recover all of their HP. It WILL make you want to whip your DS into oncoming traffic. However, it never lasts too long, as eventually the enemy will keep using POW attacks that you can block, giving you an opening to kill them. But I have to stress that this isn't a fault of the battle system; it's a strength that certain enemies have. A cool feature that the battle system has is the ability to undo your chosen actions if you haven't picked it for all four party characters yet; there are two back arrows on the bottom left of the screen, the first of which will erase all actions you've chosen thus far, the second of which will erase the action you chose for the most recent character. This comes in handy pretty often. One last note about battling: often times I found myself not wanting to waste my HP and health-recovering items, so I would avoid battling. This isn't a good idea, as the more you progress the harder the enemies will be. If you don't run from most battles, you'll find yourself powerful enough to advance rather easily.
I'm sure this will disappoint many, many people, but there is no voice acting. Good riddance, too, I say. A game does not need voice acting to be interesting or entertaining. In fact, I often find it more of a hindrance, because either you can't skip through what they're saying, or if you do, it sounds stupid and gets on my nerves. I like being able to read the text at my own leisure. But that's just me. The music in the game is simply not up to par. And it pains me to say that. I know Bioware isn't exactly known for amazing soundtracks, but Sonic kind of is, and they really should've put more effort into producing memorable tunes, because none of them are. This is the area where I find the game most disappointing. A good soundtrack would've enhanced this game ten-fold. Sound effects are, for the most part, equally disappointing. Lots of classic sonic sounds make an appearance, but they aren't worth more than a second or two of pleasant surprisedness.
Items and power-ups don't play as big a role in this game as in most RPGs. Well, items do, but power-ups don't. There is a decent amount of additional equipment to bolster your party throughout the game, but none make a huge difference in stats. In fact, I don't think the game would've suffered at all had the equipment not even been included. So it's more of a neutral thing than a bad thing.
Overall, I have to say Sonic Chronicles is almost as good as I had been hoping. The gameplay is 90% awesome, battling works pretty well, and I loved the story. The game is aesthetically pleasing, and the menus are very clean, simple, and efficient. The dialogue is a high point of the game, and it's quite often humorous, even poking fun at the Sonic archive a few times, which was really cool. It's also not too wordy, and it has just the right amount of dialogue. Chao are back, and they basically do what the animals in Castle Crashers do; they increase your stats, give you elemental powers, restore some PP or HP at the beginning of a round, and just generally help you in various ways. Rings count as currency, and there is a fair amount of them to help you buy whatever you may need. The story is handled maturely, and never really felt cheesy or contrived. The final battle was surprisingly easy, and maybe a little bit anti-climactic, but taking the rest of the game into account, I don't think it's a big deal. Also, Bioware wins for the coolest way to list credits. You don't have to sit through them! A true stroke of genius. I'll be eagerly awaiting the sequel (they're already working on it!).
5/7
Wait a second. Comparing anything to Mario RPG is retarded, because that game is unbelievable. If you try to relate Sonic Chronicles to Mario RPG, it is going to come up short. But so would most of the other DS RPG games, so that's not saying much. Sonic Chronicles delivers in a variety of areas, but it also is lacking in a few.
I'll start with the graphics. The hand-painted backgrounds for each map are fantastic. They have a soft, warm feel to them, and they look great. The cut-scenes also look wonderful, they're often done in comic style, with people and events being shown in small boxes, but there is also video once in a while. While there is not enough video and too much boxy event sequencing, any video content is appreciated. A cool feature Bioware has implemented in Sonic Chronicles is that if you close the DS during a cut-scene, it'll start the cut-scene over once you open it. Quite convenient. The character builds are faithful to the classic Sonic games. They look exactly like they used to, just a little more polished. When battling the characters look the worst, and even that's not saying much because they still look pretty good.
Battle animation is surprisingly smooth and fluid. Characters and enemies have a full range of motion that makes battle more enjoyable and can seriously help you out, but I'll get to that later. One area of the animation I had a small issue with was when you're just walking around, it can get a little choppy. To walk around, you guide Sonic with the stylus, and when moving at full speed it's the choppiest. After a few minutes you stop noticing it, though. You learn to concentrate on where you're going, rather than where you currently are. However, even that presents problems once in a while, as in certain areas it's too easy to walk up to an object, a very tall rock, for example, that is up in the sky, but since it's relatively 2D, you might get stuck on it just trying to walk behind it. Again, it's easy to kinda learn not to do this with just a few minutes of gameplay, but it can be frustrating.
There are so many characters. The crazy thing is, I found myself actively using all but about two of them. That's right, every character is powerful and useful in some way. Depending on where you are and what enemies you're going up against, you have to plan your party strategically. This is because every character has different POW moves that affect different enemies in various ways. I'll talk more about POW moves when I get to the battling section. I'm not going to post a list of characters just incase anybody doesn't wanna know. Plus, it's not like it's hard to find. Just know that the character selection is abundant, satisfying, and reminiscent of multiple old Sonic games. Not only that, but Bioware did an amazing job with each character's personality. Throughout the entire game, each character's mannerisms, vocabulary, and attitude are completely consistent, which made the game more enjoyable on an overall level. There are three "classes" of playable characters: power, support and shifter. Power classes obviously just have attacks that hit hard. Support classes have moves that help your party, like Tails can use a move that heals people, or puts a shield around someone. Shifter classes are basically a mix of the previous two.
While on the subject of characters, I have to mention that Bioware has gone through lots of old Sonic games and created a coherent narrative for the game that includes backstories for all characters, places you can visit, items, and ancient relics and events. Any longtime fan of Sonic will most likely find the backstories extremely interesting, as they do a great job of connecting loose ends in the half-assed storylines of older games in the franchise. The overarching story in Sonic Chronicles is a little basic, but it plays out superbly and it really is an adventure. I don't wanna give away much, but it involves inter-dimensional travel, chaos emeralds, and a whole mess of alien races to fight/hang out with. I found the story to be enjoyable and I think it worked out really well. There were some twists, nothing particularly spectacular, but some cool and intense parts.
I guess now is as good a time as any to talk about the battle system. After reading a bunch of reviews for this game, I think the battle system is the most widely disliked aspect of the game. I have a hard time understanding this, because aside from a few issues, I think the battle system works nearly perfectly for this game, and I never really experienced it getting old or repetitive like many have pointed out. All members of your four-person party choose their moves at the beginning of each round. Each player has a specific amount of times they can attack per round based on their speed. Sonic, for example, attacks three times per round, whereas Big the Cat can only attack once per round. You can choose to do a normal attack, a POW attack, defend yourself, use an item, or flee. A POW attack is just a special attack that uses PP, but it's also where the Elite Beat Agents-style gameplay makes its debut. There are a few different types of touch-based strategies you have to do to complete a POW move: tap a target as the outer circle closes in on it (the classic Elite Beat Agent style), tap a circle eight times before the outer circle closes in on it, and slide a icon across a dotted line in time with the icon. It may sound confusing, but once you try it out it gets easy quickly. There's a huge variety of POW attacks per character, and it's fun to try them all out. Some do tons of damage too, and the support class POW moves can be infinitely helpful, such as Tails' 'scan' move, which basically just makes your attacks hit for a lot more. Enemies can also perform POW attacks, in which case you still have to do the Elite Beat Agent techniques, but in my opinion this is a very good thing. It allows you to actively utilize your defense; if you correctly tap everything, their attack will miss. Basically, if you get hit, you know it's your fault. Much better than just leaving it up to chance. I've yet to verify the fact that you can alter the outcome of your attacks or blocks by hitting the L or R buttons on the DS, but if you can't time attacks and blocks in this game then I must be crazy, cause I could swear it helped me out a lot through the entire game. If I'm right, you can cause your enemy to miss an attack by pressing said buttons the instant before they actually hit you, and you can make your attack count for more by hitting it the instant before your character's attack lands. There definitely are some frustrating scenarios that play out in battle, however. To take out enemies quickly, it's a good idea to use all your characters to attack one enemy at once. However, the risk in doing this is, because you all choose your moves at once at the beginning of each round, the enemy you're all attacking could pull an 'evade', in which case you will miss every attack, or the enemy will counter your attack, doing significant damage to you, and possibly even regaining some HP from the counter. So you can imagine how lame it is when you have an enemy practically dead, he pulls an evade, counters all four of your characters' attacks, and recovers 3/4 of his HP. Another equally frustrating and similar situation is when you're fighting a specific alien race, you could have them down to one HP and then they hit you once, even if it's only for like 20 HP, and somehow they recover all of their HP. It WILL make you want to whip your DS into oncoming traffic. However, it never lasts too long, as eventually the enemy will keep using POW attacks that you can block, giving you an opening to kill them. But I have to stress that this isn't a fault of the battle system; it's a strength that certain enemies have. A cool feature that the battle system has is the ability to undo your chosen actions if you haven't picked it for all four party characters yet; there are two back arrows on the bottom left of the screen, the first of which will erase all actions you've chosen thus far, the second of which will erase the action you chose for the most recent character. This comes in handy pretty often. One last note about battling: often times I found myself not wanting to waste my HP and health-recovering items, so I would avoid battling. This isn't a good idea, as the more you progress the harder the enemies will be. If you don't run from most battles, you'll find yourself powerful enough to advance rather easily.
I'm sure this will disappoint many, many people, but there is no voice acting. Good riddance, too, I say. A game does not need voice acting to be interesting or entertaining. In fact, I often find it more of a hindrance, because either you can't skip through what they're saying, or if you do, it sounds stupid and gets on my nerves. I like being able to read the text at my own leisure. But that's just me. The music in the game is simply not up to par. And it pains me to say that. I know Bioware isn't exactly known for amazing soundtracks, but Sonic kind of is, and they really should've put more effort into producing memorable tunes, because none of them are. This is the area where I find the game most disappointing. A good soundtrack would've enhanced this game ten-fold. Sound effects are, for the most part, equally disappointing. Lots of classic sonic sounds make an appearance, but they aren't worth more than a second or two of pleasant surprisedness.
Items and power-ups don't play as big a role in this game as in most RPGs. Well, items do, but power-ups don't. There is a decent amount of additional equipment to bolster your party throughout the game, but none make a huge difference in stats. In fact, I don't think the game would've suffered at all had the equipment not even been included. So it's more of a neutral thing than a bad thing.
Overall, I have to say Sonic Chronicles is almost as good as I had been hoping. The gameplay is 90% awesome, battling works pretty well, and I loved the story. The game is aesthetically pleasing, and the menus are very clean, simple, and efficient. The dialogue is a high point of the game, and it's quite often humorous, even poking fun at the Sonic archive a few times, which was really cool. It's also not too wordy, and it has just the right amount of dialogue. Chao are back, and they basically do what the animals in Castle Crashers do; they increase your stats, give you elemental powers, restore some PP or HP at the beginning of a round, and just generally help you in various ways. Rings count as currency, and there is a fair amount of them to help you buy whatever you may need. The story is handled maturely, and never really felt cheesy or contrived. The final battle was surprisingly easy, and maybe a little bit anti-climactic, but taking the rest of the game into account, I don't think it's a big deal. Also, Bioware wins for the coolest way to list credits. You don't have to sit through them! A true stroke of genius. I'll be eagerly awaiting the sequel (they're already working on it!).
5/7
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