It's a new contest! Rejoice!

Well, I tried to do an edit to extend the deadline and it erased the poll. That's annoying. Well, we've got our winners, I guess. It was a dead heat between 2nd and 3rd place, so I'll just give the 2nd place prize to both of them. We'll figure out who gets first pick between them when I get back from Tahoe on Sunday or Monday. Thanks again, folks! Hope you had fun with this!

1st place: Geometry Wars

2nd place *tie*: The World Ends With You, Alpha Centauri

 

Gotta run!

PRIZE VAULT:

Halo (Xbox) - disc-only

Halo 2 (Xbox) - complete

Ninja Gaiden (Xbox) - complete

Panzer Dragoon Orta (Xbox) - complete

Final Fantasy X (PS2 greatest hits) - complete

Grand Theft Auto III + Vice City (PS2 originals) - complete (both games count as one pick)

Shadow of the Colossus (PS2 original) - complete

Metroid II: Return of Samus (Original Gameboy) - cart-only

 

 

Halo 3

This newer fps (released September 25, 2007) is in my opinion as close to a perfect shooter as i have ever seen.

The campaign is surprisingly deep (although nowhere close to the original campaign) and there are lots of achievements to get in the campaign to keep it fresh even now, after more then 9 months.

The multiplayer is the best part of the game. I have played most of the newer shooters online (Gears, GRAW 2, COD 4) but this one is the best in my mind by far, it has many different playlists and the ranking system which is a great little extra,  The multiplayer maps are not as good as some of the halo 2 maps, but they'll get better as bungie releases more maps.

The graphics on both single and multiplayer are exceptional bungie definetely took the time to polish the game and it shows the campaign levels are amazingly detailed.

Sound is incredible bungie has always been good with the sound stuff, and halo 3 is no exception it has one of the best soundtracks ever for a game, and the sound effects are perfectly done.

The gameplay is very solid, it is basically a very polished version of halo 2 and bungies new weapons and equipment are a great addition to the game delivering an added element of stratagey to the multiplayer portion.

Overall Halo 3 is a shooter of epic proportions and a cant miss game that everyone should play at least once

9.4/10. 

My review on my favorite game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

So let’s get to the game. I’ve heard the stories, the reviews, the cutscences, & the load times. Well I’ll be honest, it’s not all that bad. To install it takes about 8 minutes, exactly. Don’t mind though you load screen is Old Snake smoking with messages coming up such as “Please don’t play when you are tired”. The load screens throught the game wasn’t that bad. I did find a couple, with about 4 install screens. But I did expect that from a game this long.

Cutscenes

Next up, well the cutscences. To say that these are the best cutscences ever is an understandment. Everything in the series get’s explained in the cutscences. And boy is it epic. From watching Raiden be a bad-ass (seriously) to Gecko’s, to Meryl and Akiba kicking some FROGs ass. I will say that this is not for everyone. This game will mainly depend on what you want in a game. Do you want a great story told during your game or great gameplay? You like both, great this game is for you. I found the cutscences long and maybe not enough gameplay inbetween. But that’s not a major issue, I was able to deal with it. The gameplay was awesome and the cutscences were awesome as well.

Gameplay

Gameplay, awesome. One of the best things about this game was actual gameplay. You can play this game however you want. Want to sneak? Want to shoot everything? Want to do both? Go-ahead play it however you want. Want a First-Person shooter? Rather have a Third-Person view? Play how ever you want. It’s ingenious. There are more ways to play this game and so many different routes it’s unbelievable. I found no flaws in the gameplay at all and I looked. I spent 18 hours playing this game trying to find it’s flaw and I couldn’t. The game dares you to, but good luck finding anything.

Another key element for me was the Boss Battles. I can’t go without talking about the boss battles. These Boss battles are among the best in Video Game history. Seriously no joke. From the Four Beauties and the Beasts (each one is like the original four bosses from Metal Gear Solid on the PS) to Metal Gear Ray to Liquid Ocelot. It’s all here. Hell you even get to fight in the Metal Gear Rex how badass is that? Most of the time I found the boss battles to be awesome and smart. I kept getting frustrated about trying to find the weakspot on the boss and when I did it made sense. There are plenty of boss battles and every single one of them is brilliantly done.

Overall this is the best game I’ve ever played. And I haven’t even talked about the Online where you can play as the Mark III or Solid Snake. Although the multiplayer is not on the level of Halo. This game had a lot of the old games tied in it and I loved it. Especially Chapter 4 when you get to play Metal Gear 1 all over again. From the original version to the remade verision of the map. It is awesome and perfectly rebuilt. There’s even a facemask that is of Solid Snake from the first Metal Gear. It’s even in 8bit. This game makes everything worth it, all those times you’ve played it all lead up to this. Every game you’ve played in the series plays a part in this game and it’s great. And trust me the ending has to be seen to be believed.

Verdict

I give it a 10/10. This game is the best of the best and I give it the perfect score because I couldn’t find anything wrong with it. I really enjoyed every single inch of this game.

LaosPnoy:

Can I include a little bit of spoilers? I'll be making a review on MGS4 if I can. I'll save this spot for the review.

Please, no MGS4 spoilers. Some of us haven't had a chance to play it yet.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved (Bizarre Creations, Xbox Live Arcade).

 

What began as a simple program to test dual analog for Project Gotham Racing 2, ultimately grew into the masterpiece available to us today. The game is based on simple controls—shoot with one stick, move with the other as you, the lone warrior take on the hoards of enemy ships in a fixed rectangular playing field.

 

The ships start out as a trickle, first you encounter a single pinwheel. Then two, then a blue diamond joins the fray, then a green square that seems to know exactly where your bullets will end up. But this is just the beginning. It won’t take long before the rectangular playing field is filled with brightly colored shapes all trying to destroy you. Have no fear, this is why you saved your bombs.

 

It’s tempting for new players to write Geometry Wars off as a “twitch shooter,” where your survival is largely based on luck in a sea of chaos.  However, as seasoned Geometry Warriors will tell you, there is strategy and logic to this surprisingly deep game, and like the shooters of old that Geometry Wars emulates, it actually requires practice to get good.

 

Pay attention to the friends leaderboards. Make an effort to beat everyone on your list. When you’ve done that, take a crack at the achievements. The achievements in this game push your skills and some of the most satisfying that the 360 has to offer. Some are difficult and they will take a long time to get, but they are attainable. No one is asking you to play with the developer to earn that twelfth “achievement unlocked,” you just have to get to 1,000,000 points without dying. Eventually though, you will die. That’s the sad part of the back story: you’re a loan fighter trying to defeat your foes. But you can’t possibly win—the hoard will eventually over run you.

 

Play the demo more than once. Then plunk down the 400 points when you’ve decided to take on this manageable challenge. You’ll get more hours out of this $5 than 95% of the games you’ve played.

 

The World Ends With You (Genre: JRPG)

The World Ends With You is a game for the Nintendo DS that was American-ized from its Japanese brethren, It's A Wonderful Life. The game is great for casual and hardcore gamers with its accessible-at-any-time difficulty adjuster available at the in-game menu, spanning from Easy to Ultimate (with Normal and Hard in-between). There is also a Level Adjustor too, making the possibility of playing at Level 1 on Ultimate a reality for the game.

Although it initially seems difficult to master, the combat system does a great job of making players multi-task by using both screens as the fighting area. One screen uses the D-Pad or Buttons to attack (making this game open to both lefties and righties), while the other screen uses the stylus to attack the "Noise." Noise are animal-based enemies that are manifested from the negative feelings of humans, fyi. The combat system is quite deep, having Neku on the bottom-screen use "Pins" to attack the Noise. Each Pin has its own "Psych," meaning that a different use of the stylus is demanded for each Pin, making players open to have their own best way of fighting by using the 304 different Pins.

As if that wasn't enough, there are also Threads that function as armor for the 4 Shibuyans that players direct throughout the game. While it may seem a bit unnecessary, each Thread has a different brand, and each area of the game provides boosts to a character depending on what brands they are wearing. Of course, players may opt to make their characters wear nothing, or have the 3 males cross-dress if their Bravery stat is high-enough. Combat is also aided by the consumption of food. Each food product that someone buys in the game gives a boost to either HP, Bravery, Attack, or Defense.

Replay value is also not an issue. After the main story of the game is beaten, players may select to play any of the chapters that they have already done, and a new chapter opens up to players! There are also miscellaneous values that a player may slowly fill in, such as having 100% of items available throughout the game, how many different types of enemies are encountered, how many enemies are defeated, and how many of the 304 Pins have been Mastered throughout a player's trials.

There are not many downsides to be seen from TWEWY, although there is only one save slot, containing massive amounts of J-Pop (only a downside if your head will explode upon listening), and having an Emo main character (however, throughout the story, he will evolve to see the decency inside of people). However, if someone were to stick it out until the end, they would find one of the best RPGs available for the DS today, containing abundant replay value, charmingly written dialogue, and one of the best stories that has been written in present times.

END HERE

There we go, that's my review for this contest.

Here's the link to the actual discussion I had to create: http://www.goozex.com/community/forums/p/25655/85546.aspx#85546

 What's blonde, has blue eyes, six legs, and fills the hearts of little girls all over America with joy? Well, if you said Barbie, you'd be half right - but if you said Barbie on her horse Blossom, in Barbie Horse Adventures, you'd be completely right! That's right gang, Barbie's back with more horse adventures and this one's called Wild Horse Rescue. This game is definitely a fun one. Of course it's aimed mostly at all those Barbie fans out there, but this one is so cute, everyone in the family can enjoy it. The idea is pretty simple: while visiting the Silver Valley Riding School, a freak overnight storm blows in and all the horses get scared and run away. So, it's up to you to make sure they get back safely. You're going to have to ride, jump, swim, hike, pet and lasso your way through five levels of very cool looking graphics (trails, cliffs, beaches) to save the day. Along the way you collect coins and other treasures that can be used to buy new clothes for both Barbie and Blossom, cuz every girl's gotta look good when she's savin' the day. The game handles wicked-easy and it's totally fun to cruise around. After a while you get to unlock more trails, and then the fun really begins. You can customize your horse by choosing the color, the horse's coat, even its mane! Grooming the horse is great too. You can wash and brush her in the stables, pick your own saddle, blanket and bridle. Also, there's a whole other section to the game (called mini games) where you can race your friends as Barbie, Christie or Teresa, play a co-op coin roundup (where you can play with your pals or against them), a lasso challenge and a beach bird chase. To top it all off, the handbook for the game has a neat list of definitions that tell you all about horses and how to take care of them.

 

 

 

EDIT: For all of those without a knowledge of the forums - This is a joke review. 

what are the penalties for plagiarism?

kevlar51:

what are the penalties for plagiarism?

belly laughs

Nice contest and great idea!

What about recommending to post the reviews in the specific game page, for example in the "Forum Talks" area on the game's page (which links to the "Game discussion" area on the forum)? This way the reviews will be available to all users, and will continue to be visible once this contest is ended (and the thread may disappear in the forum's void...)

Members can then post here the link to their reviews in the "forum talks / games discussion" area.

Just my 2 cents.

That's a great suggestion. I'll add a quick note in the OP suggesting that entrants post in the reviews page and then either link or cut and paste their work here.

And regarding the plagiarism question...just don't do it, okay? I certainly don't have the time to scour the internet for stolen phrases (or, god forbid, whole reviews), and I certainly want a level playing field. We're supposed to have fun, and cheating would totally ruin the point. The prizes aren't that good 

In this review, I will be focusing on the game that I consider to be the greatest of all time, Grand Theft Auto III. Most remember this game for not only being the first really good GTA game, but for also causing more moral panic and controversy than the revealing of Janet Jacksons right *** by a borderline talentless cyst on society during the super bowl 38 half time show. I would like to begin this review with a bit of a prelude on how my experience with the game went. I was but eleven years old, and my mothers boyfriend thought it a good idea to look up the most popular PS2 games at the time. Low and behold, shooting hookers and transporting dead bodies of Joe Pesci lookalikes was apparently a few of the many activities which underage children enjoyed during the year 2001, and Grand Theft Auto III was atop the list. I, being young and naive and being more entertained with the lunatic ramblings of Stuart Scott on ESPN, was unaware of this game, so when I was at the Fred Meyer listening to the acne scarred 21 year old mildly overweight technology center cashier question my mothers parenting skills, I was understandably incredibly excited to dabble in the arts of drug dealing and 1st degree murder. The game begins with a lovely scene in which you are shot by your Rosie Perez sounding girlfriend, whom you would have hated even if she didn't shoot you and leave you to die in an alley due to her obnoxious voice. From then on, the game is a whirlwind of fun and splendor. I distinctly remember the first mission, in which you go and beat the living shit out of some dude at the docks. I would describe this in a more romanticized fashion, if the exact thoughts in my eleven year old head at the times weren't "my god, i'm just beating the shit out of some dude at the docks, and nothing has felt so fantastic". From then on, you slowly move up to the big time, killing everybody in your way if you so desire. I shan't wax poetic about the ability to pay for a hooker and then kill her to get your money back, mostly because I was too young to understand the joy in doing the best green river killer impression I could with the video games during the time period. I usually just cut to the chase and killed the hooker. One great thing about the game is that it is very easy to pick up and play. The first missions are very easy, and it progresses at a rate which allows the player to get better as the game gets harder, so that it's rare for a person to get really stuck on one mission (although the legendary mission in which you have to kill what seemed like thousands of people on a boat for Salvatore Leone was pretty hard). It's very fun to realize how much better you are getting at a game as time progresses, as you do things that would have gotten you killed almost instantly had you tried when you first played (such as try to take on the entire police department). Another great feature is the ability to choose which missions you want to do. Unlike games with totally linear story lines, having the ability to choose who you want to do missions for makes the game much more fun, not to mention adding tons of re-playability because its impossible to do all the missions in one game. Don't like stealing incredibly expensive cars for the Yakuza? Fine, go blow up some dudes car at an Italian Restaurant for the mechanic. Another great aspect of the game is the ability to just play without having to do a real mission or continue your progress in the game. If you want, you can just turn it on, run into a department store, and hurl Molotov Cocktails out of department store windows like a pre-cracked out Dwight Gooden. Lastly, the game is about as dynamic as any I have ever played. It's a shooter, a racer, and an RPG all wrapped up into one ball of Jack Thompson offending fun. There is pretty much something for everybody in this game, as evidenced by the fact that it is one of the best selling games in American History. Some may ask why I chose GTA III over the more advanced GTAs such as Vice City, San Andreas, and IV. The reason is, GTA III was the original to which all the other games can be compared. To me, Vice City, San Andreas, and GTA IV are all amazing games, but I will always compare them to GTA III. Its greatness has spawned oodles of shitty games such as True Crime, which is a testament to its greatness. It is a game that will never be rivaled in it's originality, and will probably always be in my eyes, the best video game ever created.

jay98107:

WALL OF TEXT

 

Hi Jay. Thanks for your review. Would you mind breaking that bad boy up into paragraphs? It's hard to read as it is now.

TahoeMax:

jay98107:

WALL OF TEXT