Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is by far one of the best Zelda games that has ever been released, and was Zelda’s introduction to the 3 dimensional world of gaming. This game was originally released for the Nintendo 64 (N64) but has been released on the Wii Virtual Console so that it may be enjoyed again with cleaner and better looking graphics and a smoother frame rate to accommodate the extra power offered by the Wii gaming console.
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time has a rich story which really does truly make it one of the best. Its release on the Wii gaming console is proof positive that this game truly has stood the test of time, and is still extremely popular among gamers old and new. The story is amazing, beginning with the introduction of a boy without a fairly, which is our protagonist. Link is the famed hero of Hyrule who begins as a small boy, but eventually grows into an adult who is able to beat the evil King known as Ganondorf.
The game play is awesome in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The game play is absolutely flawless in many different ways, and it includes a really great Z-Target system. No matter how often you play, the battles in this game never feel old or stale. The dungeons and the field are both amazing, and everything really seems to click together in this game. There really is no way you could dislike the game play. The Z-Target combined with the C buttons make Zelda both enjoyable and fun to play. I have played this game several times through and I still enjoy playing through all of the dungeons and the other various areas in the game. It really does never get old.
The graphics in this game truly have aged beautifully, as every aspect of the game still looks beautiful today as ever. Back when the game was first released, the graphics were stunning and ten years later, even the 3-dimentional aspects of the game still look decent, which is a testament to true graphic quality. There are some graphical improvements devised for the Wii release, but much of the game is still original.
The one downside to the release of the game is that the Wii Classic controller really does not work well with this game. Unless you are using a controller designed for the Nintendo Game Cube, you will likely have problems with this aspect of game play. With the Wii Classic controller, the C buttons have been moved to a right analog stick, which does not work well for this game, since song composing and weapons control are both guided by the C-buttons. If you want to play this game on the Wii, your best option is to use a Game Cube controller, because the game was originally designed for use with Nintendo 64 controllers and not necessarily for the Wii Classic Controller.
The play time and replay value for this game are both phenomenal. For a first time gamer, it should take around twenty hours for this game to end. On the other hand, if you strive for a 100-percent completion, it will take more like thirty hours to complete the game. No matter how many times you play the game, it really never does get old. Personally, I go through the entire game for 100-percent completion about five times a year at least, and I will probably continue to play it pretty much forever. As you get better at playing the game you may find yourself beating it faster, but no matter how good you are it is still a nicely drawn out game with plenty of play time. It is very rare to find a game that you can play and play over and over again without getting sick of it, but this truly is one of those games, as long as you enjoy Zelda or similar game play.
The Nintendo Wii gaming console has teamed up with Marvel to offer “Marvel Ultimate Alliance”, a very fine launch title for the popular new gaming console. Marvel Ultimate Alliance has been brought to us by the very same people who made the X-Men Legends 1 and 2 games several years ago. The story that this game uses is fairly basic, revolving around Doctor Doom from the Fantastic Four, who has assembled his “masters of Evil” with the intention of doing, well, evil. So the Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the greatest super heroes ever, are called together in order to end this reign of terror and to fight off the mad men. This is a fairly basic theme which is drawn from the Marvel themed comic books, which is where the most expansive stories are told. So this game actually has quite a bit of depth when it comes to enemies, characters and the various locales that are visited during the game. You will not necessarily be incredibly disappointed by the story line, but the experience you will have with this game is not quite as involved as with Tales of Symphonia so try not to expect something like that.
In Marvel Ultimate Alliance you are given a team of more than twenty different heroes that you can play as. As you enter certain scenarios, you are given the opportunity to choose four different team members to play as. Just like in X-Men Legends 2, you can combine many really interesting teams using each set of four heroes as they are given to you. As you progress through the game, you can use both basic melee attacks and super powers in order to gain experience for your characters so that they may level up. As your characters level up, you will receive points which can be spent on new abilities or to improve current abilities as well. For example, Spiderman has different web attacks which you can add to your repertoire or upgrade through the game. Storm also has an interesting set of abilities, including several different weather-related powers, and Wolverine is great for learning different ways to completely maul someone. Some of the abilities that these characters learn are defensive in nature or helpful in some other way, so you may want to focus your attention on strengthening other skills at least in the beginning. There are a lot of different upgrades which can be added for each character which makes it fun to customize each one as the game play progresses.
One advantage that only applies to the Wii version of this game is that you can use the “Wii mote” remote controller to equip the super powers to your characters at any time, and then can simply wave the Wii mote remote in order to activate the powers when you are ready to use them. Many of the basic attacks used in this game can also be done using the Wii mote, either by shaking, flipping or thrusting it during game play. The A button will work just fine for basic attacks, but varying your attacks helps to gain a better strategy. The game play for Marvel Ultimate Alliance is proof positive that great things can be done when you combine the Wii mote remote and the “nunchuk” controller.
If you have played this game on either the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3, you may not be all together impressed by the graphics, because these other consoles have much improved frame rates and better looking graphics, but the graphics on the Wii definitely get the job done as long as you have a decently operating television. The graphics in this game are definitely much improved if you compare them to the older X-men Legends 1 and 2, though, so cut them a little bit of slack even if they do not meet your expectations.
Overall, this is a great game for anyone who enjoyed either X-men Legends 1, or X-men Legends 2, or anyone who enjoys Marvel in general. If you are not a big Marvel fan, this game is still worth renting because it offers a really great RPG experience even if you are not typically into RPG games.
The Elder Scrolls series has captured the imagination of die-hard RPG videogame fans for years. The series started on the PC but the third installment of the series, called Morrowind, was also available on the Microsoft Xbox. It sold very well and represented one of the deepest RPG experiences ever available on a console. Morrowind was considered groundbreaking because the player did not have to follow a storyline. Instead you are allowed to make your own decisions and live a virtual second life in a huge fantasy world full of towns, cities, lost ruins, mythology, non-player-characters, side quests, and enemies to battle. The huge scope of Morrowind was, however, a little more than the technology could support. The graphics were somewhat bland with awkward character animations, annoyingly short draw distances, and very long loading times. Many gamers also complained that the quests required a lot of blind luck and endless searching. These problems have been fixed in Oblivion and RPG videogame fans now have an answer to their complaints and prayers.
Oblivion makes use of the Xbox 360 hardware to produce stunning graphics. Many games with the huge scope and draw distance of Oblivion have to suffer from less detail in exchange for the larger draw distance. With Oblivion you get extremely detailed graphics and 3D models, textures that remain gorgeous even up close, and still get a dramatically long draw distance that allows you to see lost ruins, ancient cities, and huge enemies far on the horizon. The lighting is also fantastic and helps set the mood for trips down into caves, dungeons, and hidden fortresses. To make quests more enjoyable there is a compass that points to the object or person you are trying to find. The compass is actually very intelligent and will not point you into a wall. If you need to go through a door to get closer to the quest item, the compass will point to that door. It works very well. Gamers that would rather not use the compass do not have to use it and can simply follow the directions given by characters in the game.
Morrowind had the equivalent of several novels worth of text but the NPCs did not speak. In Oblivion the NPCs speak to you, which is a welcome change because you no longer have to strain your eyes reading endless dialogue. The character models are well made and show a high level of emotion while conversing with you. However, many NPCs share the same voice actor so you will begin to grow tired of certain voices after playing for many hours. The music is very dramatic and appropriate for the game, but after playing for long hours it will start to get boring because there is very little variety in the score.
Oblivion is like the past Elder Scrolls games in that there is a main storyline that you can follow, but you can also ignore it completely and create your own story. Your character begins in a prison and is rescued by the King himself. He tells you that he knows that your fate is to save the kingdom from evil. After getting out of prison you can follow the King’s instructions, or just live a life of adventure. There are many guilds to join including a fighter’s guild, a thief’s guild, and a mage’s guild. They each have their own quests, levels of membership, items to earn, and storylines. There are also countless side quests to do. Even without starting the main storyline you can spend hundreds of hours completing quests and turning your character into a noble knight, a murderous assassin, a clever thief, or a powerful mage. You can also join multiple guilds, become a gladiator fighting the way up the ranks, or just be a mercenary for hire.
Because of the rich character creation system, anyone can create a character that looks and behaves how he or she wants it to. Oblivion allows you to live another live in a beautiful fantasy world full of interesting characters, fearsome monsters, clever storylines, and rich mythology. Oblivion is in many ways the quintessential RPG videogame and offers literally hundreds and thousands of hours of enjoyment. Oblivion is now available for the PC, Xbox 360, and the PS3, so any gamer with a modern system can enjoy it.
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