abHYPE88

This game so far is my absolute favorite game within the past 2 years (it's been nearly 2 years since I've been really back into gaming). Xenoblade: Chronicles truly embodies what a JRPG should be and simply what games used to be and should still be. Yes it is on the Wii and may not be in HD, but the amount of love and detail put into the game is stunning and at times made me think I was playing an HD game. The music is one of my favorites and this is a genre that always excels in having beautiful and memorable music and Xenoblade has what I believe to be the best soundtrack I've heard so far. The battle system is addictive and just makes you want to seek out every enemy you can find and slaughter them and since it is a cool down based system and your characters autoheal, you never have to worry about returning to a save point or back tracking to the town before to recover. The story (while some reviewers have said was cliche) I found to be very original, especially the setting, and filled with twists that I really didn't expect. In the end, I spent nearly 100 hours on the first play through and I didn't even finish a good deal of quests and side stories so I know if I went ahead and did all that, I could've added another 30 hours to the game. If you have a Wii, get this game, if you don't, find a friend with a Wii, borrow it and play this game.

The Kinect features a pretty large library of fitness games and while some are actually not bad, Zumba Fitness Rush was the only one that I actually wanted to try. Knowing that the first one suffered from a lot of issues, mainly with interface, I was glad to hear that the 2nd one fixed many of those problems. Sure navigation isn't as smooth as say, Dance Central, but it works without any frustration and that's whats important. Being a hiphop dancer, I wanted something that'd give me a work out but also was fun to do and although most would say Dance Central, the routines of that game were pretty boring for me so I wanted something that strayed away from hiphop dancing. Zumba Fitness Rush is really fun to get into the routines yet you can feel your body getting the workout it desires. Classes are also well balanced, usually throwing in a slower routine in the middle of 4 high intensity routines to give you a break. I do recommend you start with short classes first because short = 30 min, medium = 1hr, long = don't know yet, haha but yeah, don't take on the longer classes until you feel ready to take one 11 - 16 full routines in one go. The soundtrack is catchy and easy to get into, nothing feels like you're forcing yourself to listen to it, unless you really hate Latino music, in that case, why bother with Zumba? Overall this game has pleasing visuals, great soundtrack, fun routines, and great program to track your progress. I would the one minus is that the game doesn't warn you every time the moves change, but it's pretty forgiving if you're a move late.

I can't believe what people are saying about this game. It's an amazing end to an epic trilogy. Sure not everyone got a specifically tailored experience they were expecting but I mean come on! I still don't think we're at the stage in gaming and technology where developers are able to COMPLETELY make sure everyone gets something different, plus it's a trilogy. I can understand if it's one game, but making 3 games that would take into accounts hundreds of actions to create a unique story for millions of gamers, I think, is still out of our reach. Sure the ending wasn't as spectacular as I would've liked but it closed the game and brought an ending to the amazing story known as Mass Effect. There were still some plotholes but forgivable considering how much I enjoyed the game and the beauty and inspiring moments presented. Apparently hundreds of gamers need to get their heads out of their asses and realize that even though gaming is far more advanced than it was not even a decade ago, developers still have a lot of limitations. Mass Effect 3 is a game well worth buying and playing through. When I get my hands on the first Mass Effect, I will play through all 3 games again (this time as a badass female Shepard) because the trilogy is just that awesome to play through.

I know Dance Central is much more appealing to the mass audience due to its much bigger and more familiar library of songs on top of being much easier to jump into BUT those looking for a work out and a more legit dancing game would find DanceMasters to be a better fit. Sure on the easier difficulties you can cheat on the moves and don't technically have to dance, but even going to standard (and obviously Extreme, Stealth and Master) requires you to do the dance. The visuals are great and I like out the markers add some flare to the game you're playing. Now let's get to the meat, the dancing. I'm a dancer and comparing both DanceMasters and Dance Central's choreo, I highly prefer DanceMasters, one reason being the the hardest routine I learned on Dance Central was not that challenging for me, while I've yet to master the most difficult routine on DanceMasters. The routines are much more realistic (these are dances you'd most likely see in music videos and such) and for the most part the music is great and very catchy. There are some odd balls (like this one very slow R&B) but the variety of music and styles make this a much better dancing game than most people give it credit for. I await the sequel.

I honestly don't know what other reviewers are saying when they claim that this game is "too easy". Because if they think that then either they're a master at Kirby games or simply didn't play it all the way through. This game is by no means "too easy", sure it starts off easy but like all platformers, the difficulty increases, like if Kirby's Epic Yarn (which I loved) was a 3/10 in terms of difficulty, Kirby's Return to Dreamland is at least a 7 or 8/10, especially when trying to collect all the energy spheres and getting platinum medals in all the challenges (which I've yet to accomplish >

Ever since I played Kirby's Return to Dreamland on the Wii, handheld traditional Kirby games just didn't seem up to par with me so I decided to try out Kirby's more unique experiences and since Mass Attack was the latest entry and as far as I know, received raving reviews, I gave it a shot and I'm super happy I did. I typically don't care for touch screen exclusive games, but Kirby's Mass Attack does it in a very fun way that's similar to Pikmin and Little King's Story. The visuals are cute and colorful and the sound/music is great. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm having loads of fun playing it.

I would've gave this game a 10 had it been a more lengthy adventure for but $5.99 and considering the quality of the game, I wish I could've given it a 9.5 because it is clearly one of the best 3DS eShop titles so far (right behind Pushmo). This is the ONLY game where I play with the 3D permanently on because for one, it never hurts my eyes and two, WarForward really used the 3D in this game amazingly. The music is by far one of my favorites I've heard in almost any game and is a reason why I go back to play certain levels just so I can listen to the music again. It helps that the gameplay is fun, unique, and nicely paced. The par time drives you to return to best your previous time, especially when you learn the pattern of each stage after a few tries. I just really wished this game had at least 30 stages, that probably would've been perfect for a game of this price with nearly all the stages timing you to finish under 2 (several under 1) minutes, but all in all, it's an amazing title and I look forward to more eShop titles from WayForward (already loved their A Boy and His Blob remake).

One of the most interesting puzzle games I've played in quite a while. From the charming visuals, to the adorable music, the head scratching puzzles, and very long adventure, for $6.99, this game is one of the best downloadable titles out there.

As a major fan of the Sonic series, I must say that I'm actually pretty disappointed with Sonic Generations. In terms of gameplay and polish, it is indeed one of the best modern Sonic games, but I can't get over how little content the game has, especially compared to how long Sonic Colors was (well over 80 stages, while Generations only has 18). Class Sonic controls great, pretty much exactly like how he did in the original Sonic games and I found these levels more challenging yet less frustrating than the 3D counterpart. Although Modern Sonic does offer more thrills, and for me, it was more fun, albeit still some control issues and I hated how Sega removed his double jump from Colors and put back his dash forward, where in nearly all cases I found to be completely useless compared to a double jump. Graphically, Sonic Generations looks amazing, sure it doesn't run on 1080p but if Sega knows how to do one thing better than most other developers, it's how to make a beautiful game. Sonic Colors on the Wii didn't even need to be in HD to look great and now we have Generations and I was pretty much blown away by the visuals. All in all, I was mainly let down by the amount of content. Sure there are a ton of challenge stages, but unless it's something that you MUST do in order to progress (only 3 just to unlock the boss), you won't really find any reason to do the rest. Considering Sonic's long history and the amount of games Sega could've pulled from, it's disappointing to see that this is all they came up with. What happened to Sonic CD? Sonic 3, even Sonic Advanced could've found its way into the console version, and they could've done at least 2 stages from each Sonic game instead of 1. I would've loved to see Starlight Zone, Wing Fortress, Hydrocity (or Marble Gardens), and Lost World redone, along with bosses for each zone instead with the epic boss battles. At least Sega's on the right track in combining what was amazing with the original Sonic with what makes Modern Sonic great, like being able to play with Super Sonic in regular stages was something I've been missing for the longest time. I'm excited to see where Sega takes Sonic now.

Sure it may seem dated in the eyes of modern gamers, but its throwback to when JRPGs ruled the gaming market sets it apart from most RPGs on the 360, which enough depth and variety in its gameplay to keep it a fresh experience. I absolutely loved this game, from the stunning cut-scenes, to the interesting characters (characters you will care about and others you just wish would die already), its great and efficient means of exploration, I spent a good 70 hours playing through this game for the 1st time. Also unlike many JRPGs, the way this game levels you up removes the need to grind most of the time, which is something I'm sure many gamers had a gripes about. One very unique and one of my favorite things about Lost Odyssey were the dreams portion. I wasn't able to collect them all but every single one I managed to read were interestingly written, giving us background information on the specific immortal while still giving us a great short story at the same time. These were so well written, I didn't care that it was only in text. The graphics were beautiful, as expected. Walking into Numara for the 1st time reminded me of how beautifully crafted JRPGs typically are, especially since I had just played the kind of dark and gloomy settings of Fable 3 and Mass Effect 2 (both are also amazing games). Probably my only negative of the game would be the character designs, with Kaim being kind of bland looking, Seth looking a bit odd, and mainly Mack being dressed like a girl. In the end, Lost Odyssey a game I highly recommend to any RPG fan looking for a well crafted story, lots of content, great battle systems, and beautiful graphics.