Xena Warrior Princess: Talisman of Fate

The company that gave us one of the most horrible games ever, Superman 64, gave us a real decent fighting game called Xena Warrior Princess: The Talisman of Fate. It’s a 4-player fighting game that has you playing as early characters from the show, such as Autolycus, Ceasar, Lao Ma and my favorite, Velasca.

The game is real simple, it’s a fighting game, you pick your character, fight your way to the end boss, which is Despair, and win the game. There are different modes you can play in this game that are quite a bit of a challenge such as God mode, that has you fighting two characters at once, and a mode I refuse to play, Titan mode, that has you fighting against three characters at once. All on the same team.

Yeap, that’s kind of unfair, especially when they all charge at you and you’re by yourself.

Anyways, the designs of these characters are Nitendo graphic-like looks, so they’re kind of bad but not in the most horrific way. The characters move really smoothly, even in the smallest arena they move perfectly fine. You can crouch, jump, jump off walls, change focus on your enemies...

Your characters also have different costumes, but I don’t think you can actually choose to select the costume of your choice. Your character has four in total, and you can view them when you’re fighting against three other computers or friends and they all choose the same character that you’re fighting. Though what’s weird is that, if you’re playing on a mode that has you come back to life after you’ve been defeated, your costume changes to player 4’s costume. And if that person dies all the way, your character will change into player three’s costume that is if they’re still living... I don’t quite understand why it does that, I should be in the same costume I started off in. When you’re suddenly fighting against three other people that looks like you, it can be frustrating to remember what character belongs to you. It just depends on what color team you are one.

Yeah, there’s teams in this game. You’re either the Fire, Sun, River or Forest team. Even when it’s a fatal-four way match, you still pick your color so you know who’s who.

Since I’m talking about teams, lets talk about the modes that you can play for the arcade mode. So there’s mortal, which is easy, then there’s warrior which is norma, and God is the hard mode. God mode is where you’re fighting two against one. Now this is somewhat key to note. So, let’s say you’re fighting Velasca and Joxer at Velasca’s arena. Velasca is going to be on defense while Joxer is going to be on offense. Now the difference between both of them is  that Velasca is just going to be standing still and throwing projectiles out at you every single time you’re not near her. Until your character is within walking range, she will attack you with her weapon, otherwise, she’ll just be throwing. Now Joxer on the other hand, will be coming after you, he will block most of your moves (as he normally does) and will follow you no matter where you go. This is like this no matter what level you’re on. The difficult one, in my opinion, is when you’re facing Xena and her partner on Xena’s arena. Xena has the only projectile that has two more chances in hitting you if her projectile misses. Which is kind of unfair to be honest, but she is the main character of the game go figure.

Since I really didn’t get a fair chance in Titan mode, I can only tell you that how things go in that mode is that they all gang up on you basically No one stands still, they all charge after you. Which sucks because if you’re fighting in a small arena, there’s no way you can move too much.

So what are the characters you can play as? Well there’s Xena, Gabrielle, Cesar, Ares, Velasca, Callisto, Lao Ma, Autolycus, Ephiny, Despair and Joxer. Joxer, who is the clumsiest character on the show is actually the toughest one right next to Lao Ma. He does tend to block a lot, which bothers me in some instances but he is hard to beat at times. Lao Ma, she just throws a series of combos and that long one that most characters have, it just annihilates you. What I do find a tad bit strange is this... When I first got the game, Gabrielle’s name was not Gabrielle in the character selection. Her name was actually “Hope,” the name of her daughter on the show. Why was she first called Hope? Hope isn’t even on the show that much, and yeah, later on she grows up to look identical towards her mother, but still. And, to make matters worse in this situation, there’s even a cheat code to change Hope’s name to Gabrielle! You’d think they would do it where you would change Gabrielle’s name to Hope, not the other way around.

Some of these codes are weird, most of them has you giving your characters clown noses, you can dress Despair in a bunny costume, and there’s a cheat code to unlock the Titan mode. I think they’re just plain weird, and some of them, when I tried inputing them, didn’t work.

The story and the endings aren’t really that much worth mentioning because it’s not too thrilled to be like “ohmigosh, what happened to them when they won? Did she/he die? Gain immortality?” The game just gets too boring every once and a while because your opponents LOVES to block in this game, and at times I feel like jumping and kicking them in the air does the trick. It’s a redundant thing to do, but this is the only way I can keep myself from turning off the game.

It’s not a bad game, but I wouldn’t call it a good one either. It’s not something I would spend so much money on if you see it behind a case, and why would it be behind a case to be honest unless you’re that big of a Xena fan. Bu’t I must admit, the game does have good qualities in it to play it every once and a while. It just wasn’t that great of a fighting game as there are plenty of flaws I could nitpick about, but because I’m in a good mood writing this, I don’t want to take that way from me.

So, all in all, I’d give this game a C for a grade.

Tomb Raider sucks after Angel of Darkness... Just Sayin'

So, I’m not that huge of a Tomb Raider fan, mainly because I can never beat any one of the games, but I do love the concept that the games bring you. It’s meant to be challenging, otherwise, it would just be a simple game you can beat within two hours or so. The entire time I am playing this, I realize that I can never figure out where I am supposed to go, what I am supposed to look for, and what items I need to be searching for. I play the game with cheats, and even with those I still cannot figure out what the hell I need to do!

That was it, until I heard that they were going to take Tomb Raider to a different level. You see, this time they want to make Lara interactive with more people than just some random people you see in cutscenes. Therefore, they made her talk more... And this feature wasn’t that great. They recycled animations for the scenes, I mean really, how many times does Lara need to raise her hand and twitch her fingers? And they give you a choice on what to say.

So, you’re Lara, of course, and you’re taking to this woman, Carvier, who was an old friend of Von Croy, who’s dead and you’re being blamed for his death. You have a series of sentences that pops up for you to choose from in order to get the good result such as Carvier gives you this specific notebook that Von Croy left for you. Otherwise, if you don’t really please her with what you say to her, she leaves and calls the police, giving you like two minutes before they arrive to find the notebook, which is hidden in some drawer.

Depending on what you choose can leave you with either a good thing happening or a bad ending. Very rarely will you come up to a point where what you say will get you killed. I think that happens only once in the game.

The game also featured a new character to play as, Kurtis! Ahh, our beloved Kurtis Trent. A guy who has incredible eyesight and telekinetic powers. Unfortunately this is the only game we see the guy in, his whereabouts are still a mystery because at the end of this game, it’s believed that he survived his brutal attack from Boaz after you killed her.

The story was interesting and I LOVED the soundtrack to this game. Sadly, this was the last game before the series was handed off to a different developer.

And now the shitstorm rolls in. So the new company decides to remake the first game, giving Lara a bit more of a humanistic look while Natla looks more of an alien than a human she’s trying to portray. Sure, the game featured new things such as those reaction sequences, but other than that, there’s really nothing special that this game has to offer.

Tomb Raider Legend came along and well... I honestly couldn’t stand one minute of it. I feel that Lara felt too loose when you move her, and WHY did they feel the need to cast  Kathy Soucie, the woman behind Phil and Lil DeVille in Rugrats? Although I never realized that she did the voices for the Undead females in World of Warcraft... Now I know why I only stick with the Blood Elves... I HATE this voice actress because she hardly changes her voice in anything that I see her name in the credits. And her character couldn’t be the most readable character ever!

Oh, she was once Lara’s friend who wanted to see what this thing did, unfortunately it led to what people thought was her demise, although she wasn’t really dead, she managed to obtain the evil power that she accidentally released while her friend Lara made it out of wherever they were safely and cause her friend to really, really hate her.

Very, readable.... Ugh, and it was bad enough that they decide to give her a second shot by coming back in Underworld and guess who joins us too? Nata, with a newly refined look to her as well! Hey she looks human this time!!! Ugh, I’m glad I skipped this game. I can’t believe that this game headed in the direction that it did. Even though I was never really good at the game, it still is one of the best series out there because boy did it make a lot of little boys happy and made grown men cry. Even though it was all thanks to a programming error that caused her bazongas to be what they are, still, this game made history even also because it was a game that featured a woman in the main role.

Although, Samus Aran was the first to do so, although, no one really thought she was a woman until you’ve completed the game.

And now, this series is getting ANOTHER redo made by Square Enix, the same people who created Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, and it actually looks really awesome! I mean, we’re going to find out how Lara became a tomb raider and the game is back to being very dark and hopefully bloody like it was before the series entered the hands of the evil people that made Anniversary, Legend and Underworld. Maybe this will be the second chance Tomb Raider gets.

Otherwise, I’m saying good-bye to the series for good.

Mortal Kombat!! Dun dun dun....

I kinda figured that if people want to know who I am, they can just read the introduction post, as I kinda want to just go into the reviews already. Enough waiting, let's get started!

Mortal Kombat is today's game up to be reviewed because it was the first game I ever played, so I wanted to review the games first. Mortal Kombat literally stunned people with the amount of gore and violence it brought into the gaming world, the game created controversy for the video game industry!!! (As if Night Trap and Custard's Revenge didn't do so already.) This game, along with a few others, helped established the ESRB rating system, and now games forever must undergo a reviewing session and see what label it'll get smacked with.

What is it about Mortal Kombat that makes it a success? Its a fun game nonetheless, I encourage anyone who enjoys fighting games to pick this up. When my brother first started playing it, I couldn't help but watch him. He thought his little sister should pick up on the game as well, and what better way to teach them while they're young? My mother was pleased to know that her children can rip out spinal cords and uppercut heads off the shoulders.

Since then, MK made two more games that the two of us got into for the Genesis, 2 and 3... and Ultimate MK3. Of course, I'm still a kid at this age, I just played any game that stopped me from growing bored. I laughed every time I managed to play the Supreme Demonstration just to see everyone's fatalities, brutalities, animalities and friendships. Even though I disliked most of those alities that entered the series, still, they were too fun to watch.

I greatly appreciated the fact that Jax can grow into a giant by magical, super powers. No matter how much that didn't make sense to those who are hardcore MK fans, you cannot say that fatality made you laugh.

But, as I continued to age, something strange begins to happen with me... I'm starting to actually dislike games. Not Mortal Kombat in particular, I mean, I'm developing a sense of criticism amongst video games. What is going on with me? Never did I thought that I would dislike video games!

But come on, Kitty, you cannot tell the audience here that you're praising the crap out of a fighting game and tell them that Mortal Kombat doesn't have a bad game. Surely there is one right?

Oh, indeed there are a few bad games. Special Forces and Mythologies were declared as terrible games, but they do hold a special place in the series... even though, some tend to think that Special Forces never existed... As do I. Mythologies, I really liked the game, but it was just SO damn challenging, I can never get past the Wind level because I die when I get up to the rotating platforms that are barely an inch long. And I certainly cannot play this game without cheating. It's impossible for me because it's too hard.

MK4 was something new. You know, there were a lot of new characters that were being introduced, and not too many characters came back. I never really thought that I would find a liking towards Quan Chi and Tanya. Quan Chi scared me too much and Tanya was just plain annoying with her 'Yaw my cigarette" saying every time she did Cammy's Cannon Drill move.

Then after a few years passed we get Deadly Alliance, the game that brought me a new character to like, which was Frost. I don't know why I liked her, I just did. The game also made me appreciate it more by killing off Liu Kang. Finally!!! And, it was the only game that made Sub-Zero look totally freaking awesome.

I'm probably the only person you'll know that will admit that they like Quan Chi's neck stretch without any bit of sarcasm in that sentence.

Another game, well, two more games, that I greatly disliked, were Deception and Armageddon. Mainly due to just what was brought into the story and what the characters were like. I'm sorry, but I have no respect for whoever thought it was necessary to make Sub-Zero go bald and make him look like Shredder from Ninja Turtles. Konquest in Deception was also just boring. So, I'm playing as a character who's taking one move per character and apparently is the main hero since Liu Kang is dead. Oh, did I forget to mention that thanks to him, he causes Earthrealm to be in danger because of his naive little self, he was fooled and released Onaga, the Dragon King... Raiden eventually kills him in his ending.

The mini-games are decent, although I stuck with just one because Chess bored me. The Puzzle mode is too much fun. I either played as Sindel or Sub-Zero. Sindel had the best special by far because she can arrange all the colors together, and if you had a lot of tiles on the board, all you need is that dragon symbol and hello victory!

So there was something decent about that game, but not by much.

And then we get Armageddon, where every character comes back and fights for their right to become the ultimate s.o.b. But, there's one problem... not even half of the cast of the game got bios written for them, majority of the characters that we haven't seen in years didn't make an impressive comeback, and fucking Stryker looks horrible. HORRIBLE!!!

Konquest mode was decent, I'll give it to them, but everything else, even the mini-game just sucked! The mini-game was a racing game that only a few characters were able to be chosen, of course I stay with my main, Sub-Zero. But there were like, only four arenas and it wasn't even a decent racing game. It just felt like you couldn't go anywhere and the speed boasts hardly did anything. And I just didn't appreciate the fact that every person's ending made them some freaking god or whatever. That they were so powerful, so indestructible, that nothing could destroy them whatsoever.

Although Li Mei got a nice death sequence at the beginning of the introduction to the game by a favorite of mine.

So, two games in a row that made you dislike it, what happened?

Well, MKvsDC came out. Now, understand this... Not too many of the series' fans appreciated that there was this crossover game, mainly due to the fact that it was getting a "Teen" rating so that means we cannot kill Batman no matter how hard we try. I though, was not happy that they censored Joker's fatality. The game wasn't that bad, although I will admit, a crossover was not something I wanted to see after two games that greatly disappointed me.

And now we come to MK2011, by far one of the greater games Boon and his friends made. Oh, this time, they made things the way I like it! I don't see anything wrong with the game. I don't think it feels like an incomplete game, I don't think the storyline sucked, I don't think it's a big deal that certain characters have this costume while others don't. I really thought they did an awesome job with the game, I truly recommend anyone this game.

What made me love the series is just how different it feels from the other fighting games that are out there. It has a storyline that's easy to follow, I mean Metal Gear Solid isn't that hard, but there are some random stuff in there that gets my mind boggled at times. The characters are different from each other, even if they were the same for a few years... And, it's just a game that I can really get into. Who cares that the girls wear skimpy outfits with big boobs, who cares if you realized that the only ninja in this game is really Scorpion while all the others aren't, who cares if they decided to go back in time with the latest game and changed a few things to where Sub-Zero is now a cyborg. I honestly love the game in where it headed. Hopefully, one day, I can get a job offer accepted at Netherrealm Studios and work for them.

If not, Warner Brothers isn't a bad company either.

Yeah, I'm a video game freak, at least I'm a girl, loves football, and still believes the Cubs will get a World Series title by the time I die.

My first blog?

Hello thar, my name is Kitty, a name I like to use instead of my real name, of course...

What would I mostly be doing on here? Well, probably talking about video games mainly as in I've been playing them since I was two. My first video game ever was Mortal Kombat. Yeah, kick ass!

I am currently working on getting my degree in animation. I would like to be a character concept artist as well as a director and writer for some video games. My main goal is to work for some major companies, but I highly doubt I'll get a job immediately after I'm done with college.

Other than that, I love to draw basically every single day and trying to come up with some crazy story along with the characters I create. Hopefully, this won't get too boring and be forgetable. I'm hoping one day I can start my own webseries of video game reviews such as what the Angry Video Game Nerd does.

Believe me, it's time that a girl reviews games in ways people want to see, unlike what they do on G4. I've stopped watching that channel. I'll only watch it for E3. Whelp, there's really nothing else to say other than, I can't wait to start reviewing some games on here!