Let me preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of music games as well as Rhythm Heaven for the Nintendo DS. That being said, it is no surprise that I was very anxious to play Nintendo's latest entry in the Rhythm Heaven series Rhythm Heaven Fever for the Nintendo Wii. So is this game a sharp masterpiece or does it fall flat?

“But before we get started, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
“And what’s that?”
“Who is this ‘Icarus’ guy this game is named after? Can I meet him?”
“Um…actually, no. But let’s not worry about that.”
“…Why not? What happened to Icarus?”
“Let’s just focus on you right now.”

– Pit and Palutena engaging in a typical conversation you should expect from this game.

Nintendo seems to be on a revival kick lately, haven’t they? What with sequels to old cult favorites (Luigi’s Mansion 2), a few new takes on their most popular franchises (Super Mario 3D Land and Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword), and revived new life for some of their old franchises (Punch Out, Kirby’s Epic Yarn/Return to Dream Land and Donkey Kong Country Returns). For my second (and hopefully more successful) stab at video game reviewing, I take on a game that’s an example of the latter – Kid Icarus: Uprising.

Story (and Voice Acting):

Twenty-five years have passed since the defeat of Medusa and the first Kid Icarus game (as the characters fondly remind us), and Medusa has risen again to wreak havoc upon the world. It’s up to the young angel Pit and the Goddess of Light, Palutena, whom he serves under to combat Medusa and her evil Underworld army. The fight is on!

Unlike your typical Nintendo title, Kid Icarus: Uprising features actual voice acting beyond simple grunts and one-two word lines. The characters are all voiced by veteran voice actors; Antony del Rio as Pit, Ali Hillis as Palutena, and Cree Summer as Medusa amongst others. They all give so much personality and quirks to their characters that one really can’t help but fall in love with them, which is only boosted with the excellent writing featured in the game.

The game’s story never takes itself seriously; as it is nearly constantly poking fun at its own story, characters, and game elements. The characters are self-aware and acknowledge several times how they’re in a video game, and it is downright hilarious with their deadpan one-liners and shattering of the fourth wall. It reminds me a lot of the Disgaea strategy RPG series with how its story and characters play out. It even manages to dive into some rather interesting themes and topics like Disgaea. Like any good tale based on Greek mythology, the story is an epic about the battles between gods and the humans dragged into the middle of it all. There are actually some rather surprising twists within the story. While the game does try to shift from comedic to serious at the drop of a hat, it does handle it well enough to not take a player out of the experience.

5 out of 5

Graphics/Design:

Simply put, this is the best looking game for the 3DS. The best thing about the level designs (artistically) in Uprising is how varied all of them are. One moment, you’re flying through a beautiful meadow landscape and town. The next, you’re gliding through the hellish underworld with dark spirals everywhere. There are even trippy levels that have you going through a fortress that you’d expect out of a Picasso painting or battles in space on a space pirate ship. Yes, really.

Which isn’t to say only the backgrounds are pretty. Every enemy is wildly unique, with both goofy and threatening designs; the elemental and laser effects from attacks are explosively eye-popping; and it’s just so shocking to see this level of detail and showmanship all packed into a tiny 3DS screen.

For the most part, the levels in air battles are panning shots of gorgeous environments that lead up to the land battles, where you go through wide and expansive areas with plenty of explorable locations that feel not unlike a Zelda game that are full of secret rooms and treasure chests. In fact, some areas you can’t even get into due the difficulty setting you set for the level. That brilliantly has the player replay levels at higher difficulties in order to access those secrets.

5 out of 5

Sound/Music:

Uprising’s music is all highly memorable and excellently composed. Much like the level designs, the musical pieces ranged from loud and bombastic orchestral scores to cool synthesizer jazzy types to Latino-styled guitar themes. Hell, they even feature old 8-bit chiptune themes in reference to the original NES game! The game made superb use of its songs as well as every one meshed perfectly with the locations and situations, such as the triumphant feel of “The Return of Palutena” as the first thing that plays for a game series that has been gone for over twenty years. I’m not a musical person, so I’m not terribly good at explaining why music is good, as several of you might know from my previous reviews. Here's some sample music to compensate:

5 out of 5

Gameplay:

The game’s main story is divided into several chapters, which all have three parts: An air battle, a land battle, and finally a boss fight. Some chapters stray from it slightly, but they all follow that basic formula. The air battles are probably the most fun as they’re essentially on-rail shooters as you control Pit with the circle-pad, aim for enemies using the stylus, and attack using the left shoulder button. The land battles follow similar controls, but with control the camera now as well with the stylus.

As I mentioned earlier, the levels are brilliantly designed as, before every chapter, there is a difficulty setting called the Fiend’s Cauldron that ranges from 0.0 (Effortless) to 9.0 (Nothing Harder!) with a standard difficulty of 2.0. Higher difficulties nets you better weapon/item drops as well as more hearts, which is the currency of this game, while increasing the number of enemies you come across with stronger attacks and higher health. Believe me, the game is already hard enough once you reach at least 5.0. You don’t want to know how insane 9.0 really is…. Combine this with the secret areas in chapters that open at higher difficulty settings, and the player is left wanting to replay chapters to do better every time.

Speaking of weapons, Uprising boasts a colossal set for you to play around with. An array weapon types exist such as Blades, Bows or Claws; each with their own benefits and weaknesses. Even weapon types have sub-categories, which they themselves feature different power-levels and special effects! You can even fuse weapons together to create new weapons with their added bonuses passed on to it. Not only will you want to try out the assortment weapon types, but you’ll be spending plenty of time trying to create the best weapon for yourself through weapon fusion. There’s just too much variety to ignore!

Another really neat feature is that there are actually Achievement-like unlockables for the game. If you perform a certain achievement in the game, you unlock certain special things. They could range from trophies to powerful weapons and powers to simply hearts. And there are quite literally hundreds of these!

Unfortunately, now I have to start mentioning the negatives about Kid Icarus: Uprising. To sum it up: The controls are uncomfortable and awkward. For air battles, they’re mostly all right, as the camera moves for you while you only have to focus on taking out enemies. The issue comes up when you get to the land battles. You have to adjust the camera constantly in order to face the new direction you wish you go in, and sometimes the camera goes into awkward positions in front of Pit as you’re attacking an enemy behind it.

Don’t misunderstand me, though! The camera is surprisingly easy to control and, according to several people I’ve asked about the game as well as myself, you get used to the controls fairly quickly. It’s just that the possibility of not being able to and the fact that holding the 3DS for extended periods of time with one hand results in major hand cramps that is holding back gameplay a little. In fact, I think the controls are a more a fault of the hardware rather than the software. If the game was on the Wii, I honestly believe the controls would be far less painful on the hand.

4 out of 5

Multiplayer/Online:

Nintendo seems to be realizing that online multiplayer really is the way of the future for games, as the online for Uprising is addictively fun and competitive. There are two battle types for you to play: Light vs. Dark and Free-For-All. Free-For-All is exactly what you think it’d be: A wild match with several players duking it out with their weapons and powers obtained from the story mode. Light vs. Dark has two team sets of three that battle each other until they lower their opponent’s meter to zero, which results in a player taking control of either Pit or his dark counterpart Dark Pit for their respective team and the team that manages to defeat the opposing angel wins. This honestly felt a lot like Team Fortress 2, only even more chaotic and with bigger explosions.

Needless to say, the online for Uprising is going help keep this title alive for a while.

5 out of 5

Overall Thoughts:

As you might have guessed from the ratings of all the previous aspects of the game, Kid Icarus: Uprising has excelled in every areas but one. Unfortunately for Uprising, it was gameplay, which is probably the most important part of a game.

I have agonized over this, as the game has proven itself time and time again that it is a brilliant game that had so much content to offer. It features a ridiculously charming story mode that the characters of Kid Icarus have effortlessly established themselves alongside Nintendo icons like Mario and Link. It has beautiful graphics for a 3DS title that honestly would look just as amazing on a home console. The music is outstanding. A difficulty setting that doesn’t alienate both the casual and hardcore gamer. The settings are varied and exciting to explore, with plenty of secrets to find upon replaying them. Combine that with hundreds of unlockables, weapon fusion, and an amazing online that promotes replayability, that should make Uprising one of the best games that Nintendo has produced this generation!

But…the controls. They function perfectly fine, but can turn away people if they are unable to get used to them. I personally found a more comfortable way of playing by simply hooking my right pinky finger around the right side of the 3DS, though I can’t say the same for others. Ultimately, I will stick by my guns.

For this revival of an old Nintendo classic, I give a:

5 out of 5

Positives:
– Amazing story mode with endearing characters full of humor, wit, and charm
– Best looking 3DS game
– Wide assortment of excellent music
– Overflowing with content to go through
– High replayability value
– Wild, crazy and fun online

Negative(s):
– Your left hand will probably be raw after playing for extensive sessions.

Recommendation: Check It Out, with the added Revolutionary!

My Revolutionary recommendation is for those who have tried out the game and determined they don’t mind the controls; as Kid Icarus: Uprising is a brilliantly made game, which is a must-own for those who own a 3DS. With controls the only thing holding it back (which you can change, anyway), I couldn’t give it anything less than a 5. I highly hope Kid Icarus becomes one of Nintendo’s big franchises, which I’m sure the sale figures so far are proving it to become more and more likely. Here’s to a new awesome game series!

Kid Icarus: Uprising was developed by Project Sora and published by Nintendo.

It is available on the Nintendo 3DS and is rated E10+ by ESRB.

I've had the PS Vita since it launched back in late February. After a month and a half of games, demos, videos, group chatting, and pretty much everything else, I feel confident enough that I could give a review on it.

If you're looking for a decent strategy RPG with a truly old school feel, Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together might be the game for you.  Originally created in 1995 for the the Super Famicom by Quest, the game has recently been remastered for the PSP by Square-Enix.

Due to the death of the king and the lack of a true successor, the recently obtained peace of Valeria has ignited into full blown war. As the Hero of Golyat and the leader of the resistance it's up to you to acquire and train soldiers capable of regaining the peace of your isles.  Beware the choices you make. The loyalty of your soldiers will drop if they don't agree with your decisions; if it drops too low they will desert your army.  The enemy units are pretty intelligent, and provide a worthy challenge throughout the entire game. The musical score is amazing. The characters are lively and vivid. Their are multiple endings and side quests, and the best part is due to the "World Tarot", which you can keep your levels and items while you do them.  The game is almost perfect, a fact reflected by the majority of video game reviewers seeing as how across the board it's received a 9/10 rating.  The game's one true blemish exist within its level up system.  Instead of leveling up individual characters, you level up the class itself. This means any time you receive a brand new class you must train it from level one, while fighting enemies on par with the rest of your units. However, if you're someone who's been looking far and wide for a decent game for the PSP I whole-heartedly recommend Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together.

Game Info:

• Alternate Name: Monado: The Beginning of the World
• Production/Development: Monolith Soft
• Genre: Role-Playing (JRPG)
• Release Info: Wii Exclusive. 6/10/10 (JP), 8/19/11 (EU), 4/2/12 (US)
• ESRB Rating: Teen

From Tetsuya Takahashi, the mind behind Xenogears and the Xenosaga series, comes (arguably) the best Japanese role-playing game of this generation. (This review is based on the European version and is pretty much spoiler-free, as with all my other reviews.)

Game Info:

• Sequels: Deus Ex (2000), Deus Ex: Invisible War (2003)
• Production/Development: Square Enix, Eidos Montreal
• Genre: Action, Role-Playing
• Release Info: 8/23/11, XBOX/PC/PS3/MAC
• ESRB Rating: Mature 17+

The Human Revolution is upon us. The limits we once faced are no more and the time has come to redefine what it means to be human. The question is, at what point does this self-created evolution cross the line? Should there even be any line at all? Either way, you have to decide. Will you join the revolution? Or will you join hands against it? (This review is based on the PC version.)

Reviewing all things forbidden, Sayuri is back once again for another R-18 special (underage readers may leave now)! Today’s review is about an eroge called Sugar’s Delight developed by a recently formed visual novel doujinshi group called Neko Soft. By the way, it is free to download! The visual novel contains pure girl-on-girl yuri action. K’yaaaaah! Aren’t you excited for such a heart racing subject? What? What’s with the look you’re giving me?! Anyways, I will note that this review will be as SFW as possible.

Happy 20th birthday, Sonic! It's been 20 years since the speedy mammal ran for the first time on the Sega Genesis. Since Sonic hasn't exactly been considered great in the past few years, the developers decided to do something special. Take us back in time! (...to another world?)

The chubbier, shorter blue hedgehog from the days of yore has returned thanks to a creature called the Time Eater. The story isn't the greatest thing, but when it comes to Sonic the Hedgehog games, the story never is.

Anyway, thanks to the strange creature, we get to play levels as if they were in 2D (with 3D graphics, of course). The visuals are amazing with some parts that absolutely took my breath away. There are 9 different levels with 2 acts, one with classic Sonic, as mentioned earlier, and the other with modern Sonic with levels laid out similar to his newer games, especially Sonic Colors. The level remixes (including music remixes to match the era), were fantastically done. Aside from some visual issues which lead to a few cheap deaths, these levels were some of the best ones I've played in a really long time.