The Penguins of Madagascar Review

The Penguins of Madagascar Review

Review Written By: Adolph Vega

 

3D:

The stereoscopic 3D within this movie hits the middle ground with some interesting perspective shifts and the occasional particle effect catching the eye. Clearly the 3D aspect was not the main focus when making this movie, but it does not disrupt the movie or directly enhance it in any way. A few key scenes within the movie use the 3D more vividly than other scenes and some of the characters look nice and rounded in 3D with certain body parts popping out, but it’s far from being impressive. A good chuck of the movie the 3D is not accounted for or captivating. Overall this movie has mixed 3D element with several select scenes using it well and other scenes not using the 3D at all.

Final Verdict: Good 3D

Movie:

The Madagascar animated movies have been huge box office hits, and the penguin characters within those movies are easily the breakout stars of those films. The penguins even had a TV show showcasing their adventures, so making a full-length motion picture is the logical next step for the characters. That being said the movie does not justify its big screen existence and should have been released directly to DVD instead.This movie revolves around the four penguins from the Madagascar movies “ Skipper, Rico, Kowalski, and Private” and they must save the world from an evil Octopus that seeks revenge. The penguins are joined on screen with the elite task force called the North Wind. The North Wind is a group of animals that travel around the globe and help other animals in need. The movie has frantic pacing that never gives the viewer much time to breath between the various action scenes. This element is the biggest flaw within the movie, its entertaining and fun but has no substance. One of the penguins is giving some character development, and the main villain is well developed too but the vast majority of the characters is totally underdeveloped and is one-dimensional in scope. The North Wind characters seem to take over the movie and I never found any of them interesting or compelling. The movie does have an enjoyable sense of humor but many of the jokes are aimed at younger audiences and are mostly simplistic sight gags or slapstick. The movie has an ongoing joke with name-dropping celebrity names into the dialog, this aspect is funny at first but the puns become annoying as they repeat it too many times. I did enjoy the villain within the movie, even if his revenge plot was overly silly. The movie feels very rushed and many of the best moments were spoiled within the trailers. Even if the characters are undeveloped they are enjoyable and entertaining to watch on screen. The movie is cinematic candy that is entertaining and enjoyable but lacks character development and ultimately is a forgettable film.

Final Verdict: 6 / 10

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Madagascar © 2014 Dreamworks Animation LLC. ALL Rights Reserved 

Tetris Ultimate 3DS Game Review

Tetris Ultimate (3DS)

Review Written By: Adolph Vega

 

3D

 

The stereoscopic 3D effect was clearly an after thought when they developed this game. Certain menu icons will pop out of the screen every so slightly, this is neither impressive nor interesting. During regular gameplay tetromino’s and other blocks will be floating around in the background, they do appear to be farther back in 3D, this has no impact on gameplay and is only a novelty. When you play the game your 3DS system mii’s face will appear on the left of the main playfield and will pop out when your tetromino’s stack is near the top of the matrix playfield. When your mii’s face pops out it’s meant to be silly and look distressed and it's a fun little thing, but for some reason the graphics blur so it’s more a distraction than a cute bonus. Also when you align several tetromino’s lines and cause them to disappear white sparks will flicker and pop out of the screen to congratulate you. I understand making 3D look interesting without being distracting maybe difficult on a Tetris game, but I feel this game really didn’t put much effort and is only a cheap gimmick and not worth while to play in 3D.

Final Verdict: Terrible 3D

 

Game

Tetris is like a cheeseburger, its widely available and well liked by a vast majority of people. Just like a cheeseburger so many versions of Tetris exist and you have to make your game special to compete with all the others. Tetris celebrates its 30th anniversary with this game. Just in case you have never played Tetris I’ll explain it for you. Tetris is a puzzle game with falling blocks (Tetrimino’s) and you attempt to rotate and align the blocks to create make lines and score points. You cannot win Tetris, it will become faster and the randomly picked blocks will make it difficult to create lines. The point of Tetris is to get a high score and try your best to survive as long as you can. This game has all the modes you would expect in a Tetris game, including a Marathon mode, Endless mode, Ultra mode, Sprint mode, local multiplayer and online multiplayer modes, and Challenge modes. The marathon mode is 15 levels of Tetris that must be completed in order. To beat a level of Tetris you must clear 10 lines to advance to the next level, and the game becomes faster at each level, and after you complete the 15th level you are given a score and win. The Endless mode lets you play Tetris until you eventually fail. The sprint mode is where you attempt to clear 40 lines as fast as possible. The Ultra mode gives you three minutes to get the best score possible. The game also has a challenge mode that has several very difficult modes of Tetris.  One challenge mode is called Rotation lock and within this mode you cannot rotate the Tetromino’s in any way. Another challenge mode is the Invisible mode that makes the tetromino’s turn invisible after they are set down. Another challenge mode is Escalation and each level requires more line clears than the previous level to advance. The final challenge mode is called Master and the Tetrimino’s fall to the bottom of the matrix as soon as they appear. Sadly I found the challenge modes to be more painfully difficult than fun, and overall I felt the game had the bare minimum amount of modes and lacked personality. The game also has a multiplayer mode that allows you to play against the computer or local human players with or without items. The items range from making things easier for yourself to making it more difficult for your opponent and are gained by clearing specific Tetrimino’s with question marks printed on them. Luckily you can play local multiplayer with up to four people with only one copy of the game. One interesting aspect of this game is the fact replays are automatically saved and the game has a level progression system. Certain modes need to be unlocked by earning badges. Doing specific tasks or accomplishing preset achievements gains badges. I like having challenges within the game, it gives you something to work toward and a majority of them are fun objectives to reach for, but I don’t think it was a good decision to lock game modes behind meeting badge quotas. The game also has an online mode, which I think is probably the strongest feature. The game will automatically show your 3DS friends that own the game and show you their top scores. This aspect gives the game an asynchronous multiplayer mode that drives a rivalry between friends as you compete to beat each other’s top scores. This mode automatically populates the replays your friends generate and gives you notifications when they have a new high score or beat your high score. I really wish more 3DS games used this simple style of turn-based multiplayer. The game has several competitive online modes that let you play against other people from across the globe in various scenarios. You can even play against top players replays of people you never meet before. A few times I couldn’t find anyone to play against online. This is probably due to the game being recently released and few active members, which is not any fault of the developer. The multiplayer online matches I did play were perfectly smooth, fast paced and fun and never had input lag. The online modes within Tetris Ultimate are something I must applaud and are the highlight of the package. Tetris Ultimate is lacking in the presentation aspect, the main graphics and menus are generic and have no character. The music in this game is disappointing and sounds like generic 1990’s techno. This game has two distinct songs and the first song is slow paced ghostly sounding theme that's forgettable and doesn’t fit the gameplay. The remix of the Tetris theme (Korobeiniki) within the game sounds like an amateur electronic piano version of the famous catchy melody and not memorable. The sound effects however are actually well implemented and enjoyable. Specifically I like the satisfying click noise that you hear when you set a Tetrimino’s into place. The controls within this game are perfect and are easy to understand and feel tight and responsive. Overall I feel this game is lacking in presentation but nails the fundamental elements that make a fun portable puzzle game.

Final Verdict: 7/10

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Tetris ® & © 1985–2014 Tetris Holding. Tetris logos, Tetris theme song, and Tetriminos are trademarks of Tetris Holding. The Tetris trade dress is owned by Tetris Holding. Licensed to The Tetris Company. Game Design by Alexey Pajitnov. Original Logo Design by Roger Dean. All Rights Reserved. © 2014 Additional game content by Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. Developed and published under license by The Tetris Company.

Shantae and the Pirates Curse 3DS Game Review

Shantae and the Pirates Curse

Review Written By: Adolph Vega

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3D

This game was made to be played in 3D; the stereoscopic 3D graphical layering is gorgeous. When you walk around environments you can clearly see what scenery is meant to be in the foreground, midground, and background. The visually impressive 3D is not only limited to pretty scenery; many times the characters will talk to one another and the art is presented with a nice 3D effect to give the characters a more rounded 3D look. The 3D element does not slow down or have any negative effect on the gameplay either, so it plays just as fast and smooth with the 3D on or off. Sometimes the enemies will appear to recess into the background and some of the attacks will play with the 3D element too. Some areas within the various levels are more clearly visible in 3D, and the entire presentation is more visually striking when viewed in 3D. Shantae and the Pirates Curse does a fabulous job of presenting itself in 3D and is a real graphical showcase to what the 3DS hardware can do under skilled hands.

Final Verdict: Great 3D

Game

Shantae and the Pirates Curse is traditional side scrolling action game that feels fast, fun and fresh. You play as Shantae a female half genie protagonist who must defend her hometown from an evil ghostly pirate. To accomplish this goal you must travel to several different locations, defeat boss characters, explore labyrinths, and collect dark magic. Your main weapon is Shantae’s long hair, which you can use to whip attack enemies. You can buy upgrades to your hair at the shop that will make it faster to use and cause more damage. During the adventure you will talk to several characters and gain new powers and abilities to help you explore the various locations. The game always stays fresh by constantly mixing up gameplay elements and making the areas very distinct and different and never gets dull or repetitive. Shantae and the Pirates Curse remains fun to play from beginning to end. I truly enjoyed exploring the different areas and finding new enemies in each area to defeat. The level design is top notch with some of the best-imagined and most interesting game worlds I have seen in years. Each area has a final boss character to fight that is both challenging and fun to battle. The levels feel very stream lined, which keeps the exploration fast, paced and limits backtracking to a minimum. The game has a gorgeous musical composition that is easily some of the best music to be found on a 3DS game. The game controls are simply perfect with character movement that is incredibly tight and precise. The games inventory and map are handled via the touch screen and are very simple and easy to use. This game has a well-written and interesting storyline that has many twists and turns that I found immensely enjoyable and funny. The game lasts a solid 8-11 hours depending on how much time it takes you to solve the various puzzles and how much time you decide to spend on finding all the secrets. Regarding the secrets some of them are very tricky to find, but the game will reward you for finding all the magic with a better ending. The game resembles other popular video game games like the Castlevania, Metroid or Zelda franchises with similar game mechanics, so if you enjoy those games you will enjoy this unique game. Shantae and the Pirates Curse has a spectacular art direction with graphics that are an amazing sight to see with wonderful attention to detail and incredibly fluid animations that plays very fast and smooth. One small annoyance I had with this game is the fact the enemies can regenerate quickly and become annoying at times. The only real negative I have with this game is the simple fact that many times I become lost with little direction to where to go or what to do next. I understand this game is supposed to be challenging, but several times I grew frustrated because I had no clue on how to progress within the game. Adding a fortuneteller character to the town to help guide players would have mitigated this issue without decreasing the challenge or dramatically changing the gameplay. Shantae and the Pirates curse is a amazing game, with beautiful graphics, gorgeous music, flawless controls, wonderful gameplay, charming characters, funny story that is overall well worthy of your time and shouldn’t be missed.  

Final Verdict: 9/10 

*© 2014 WayForward Technologies. Shantae and the Shantae logo ™ Matt Bozon.

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