Welcome to another HISTORIC version of the SUPER THUMBS! In this issue I will be talking about a wonderful series that I had a lot of fun playing over the long long period of time I spent playing it. The other game I will be featuring is not only the continuation of an Epic Series, but also from the legendary collection of one Mr. Paul Franzen, who… isn’t all that great at showing me how NOT to die! Then again, not many have been able to say that they could save me. THAT’S JUST HOW GOOD I AM!!
.hack//Infection (PS2)
.hack//Mutation (PS2)
.hack//Outbreak (PS2)
.hack//Quarantine (PS2)
Since these games all are from the same series, and have basically the same gameplay with the same continuing storyline I just decided to talk about them all together in greater detail, since their similarity pretty much ensures them all getting a THUMBS UP… sorry to ruin that for you, but I really enjoyed these RPGs.
The storyline revolves around a boy getting into one of those MMORPG type games by his friend, and the gameplay consists of you controlling him throughout the game, finding new information and putting it together to save your friend, and putting an end to the madness that is being caused all around the world. It’s a very interesting story that should keep you playing from start to finish.
Each game isn’t that long by itself, as you would imagine from a game broken up into four parts that were all released three months after each other. (Or at least, they were supposed to be.) The actual gameplay is more of a button mashing hack-and-slash RPG game combined with different commands for magic and weapon attacks as well as controlling your party. Your party can have two other people other than the main character, Kite, and you can choose from the characters whom you found and are available at the current time. There are lots of characters you can pick but, as in most games, because of storyline purposes you pretty much stick to the same four-five. The battles and controls are fairly easy to get used to and as you play more you learn better ways of taking out certain baddies than others, such as the ones that can bring themselves back from the dead—that’s never fun!
One of the more annoying things in the game is the camera; it likes to stay put a lot of the times, so in the smaller parts of levels that can be a problem, as you have to play with the buttons that control it to save your ass! Though, the game does have a mini map that is very useful for navigating quickly thorough the different stages. Some of the higher level creatures do take some strategy to take down which is a nice change of pace from some other games like it. However most of the bosses are pretty simple and straight-forward to take down. One miniboss whom you have to face numerous times is tricky however and it takes some patience to take these down.
All in all its a very fun series and its worth a shot at least trying the first game. They are all pretty similar so you can tell if you will like the series or not just by one game—GOOD TIMES
Captain Eric’s Super Thumb Says: Four Games, Four Thumbs Up!
ToeJam & Earl 3: Mission to Earth (Xbox)
Now I only played this game in two-player mode, so that might be one of the reasons that I found this game completely insane and no clue what i was doing. It’s very confusing. Your character can jump and shoot some sorta funkaficing rays or some such at enemies, though it is very hard to distinguish between your allies and enemies. There are also power-ups and such you can find to enable you to do more fun and “exciting” things. However for me they just allowed me to die even quicker now. While that IS my specialty, it doesn’t make it any more entertaining.
Captain Eric’s Super Thumb Says: Thumbs Down 🙁
Shining Soul 2 (GBA)
This is the sequel to another GBA game… can you guess what it is?? CAN YOU?? No, I’m sorry its not Pokémon, it’s… Shining Soul. They are some RPGish leveling-up-your-class-smack-the-baddies-around kind of games. They aren’t all that long but can provide you with lots of entertaining times and are good for just having something to play a bit while you’re bored and have nothing else to do. Now the sequel is better than the original in my opinion because it fixes a lot of the annoying things of the first game and adds a lot more fun things, and has the coolest class ever which allows you to use knives or claws, the coolest weapons around, don’t you know. If you can get some friends together it also has a multiplayer mode, but if all your friends are video game addicts whom gain 50 levels a day and are bored with it within a week, you’re probably kinda out of luck with the multiplayer part. The graphics aren’t much different from the first game, and aren’t exactly stunning or anything—just your run-of-the-mill Game Boy graphics. But it’s a fun game that’s worth a look at if you’re a gamer on the go!
Captain Eric’s Super Thumb Says: Thumbs Up!
Well that’s the end of this issue folks, I hope you enjoyed this month’s ramblings! I am deeply sorry to have to relay the news to you all that ToeJam & Earl THREE really sucks and yeah, I’m sorry, I know how much everyone looks up to their heroes but they just didn’t bring the goods. Damn old people! SEE YOU NEXT MONTH.
